Theatrical mixing stage

A theatrical mixing stage (also known as a dub stage) is a large theater-sized room used to create the final mixdown for feature films that will be presented in theaters with surround sound. These types of studios are very complex, dealing with hundreds of audio tracks at once through large mixing consoles along with high-quality video and film playback systems.

In this example, Nuendo is only one part of a very large system of devices that need to be perfectly synchronized with one another. An external master 9-Pin controller will operate the transport of the entire system remotely from the console and timecode will be handled via 9-Pin interface through the SyncStation. The audio clock will be referenced to tri-level HD video sync fed to the SyncStation which will output dedicated word clock to both Nuendo and the digital console.

  • Audio clock is generated out of the video reference signal.

    In this example, video sync is being fed to the SyncStation as both a speed reference and a phase reference. Word clock goes from the SyncStation to Nuendo and the digital console.

  • The console is the machine control master, sending 9-Pin control commands and status messages to the SyncStation.

    The console controls the playback in Nuendo via the SyncStation. Nuendo is the timecode slave. The SyncStation is acting as a machine control slave.

  • Timecode is fed to the SyncStation via 9-Pin and then via a USB connection to Nuendo (as MTC).

    The SyncStation’s 9-Pin interface is capable of using 9-Pin timecode effectively for accurate synchronization. Direct serial port 9-Pin connections should not be used this way.