QLab - Audio

Basics of building a show file in QLab 3

Getting Started

Basics –

·      There are several “tools” that should be opened when starting a new file.  The will make navigating Qlab a bit easier for you.

o   The Inspector Menu is the bottom of the Qlab window.  It is where you have basics about the cue, the time information, patch information, volume and effects.

o   The Toolbox Menu is on the left hand side of the Qlab window and will give you access to the various cue options. 

o   The Active Cue & Cue Lists menu will be on the right hand side of the Qlab window and gives you access to cue lists and active cues.

§  You can build multiple cue lists to work from if you have a show that needs to have flexibility or if you’ve got different versions of the same show you’re working with.

§  The Active Cues menu lets you “scrub” thru cues to get to specific time in the cue.  The cue must have been fired before you can actually scrub thru the track.

o   The Set Up menu can be accessed thru the icon at the bottom right of the screen.  This gives you access to the audio patch, video setting as well as other features.

·      We do not have Pro licenses for Qlab, so if the features available in the Pro version of the software are needed, then you will need to rent a Pro license for your performance.

Audio Set up –

·      When starting a new show file in Qlab, the first thing to do is make sure that the audio patch is set up correctly.  In Matchbox 1, 2 and 3, you will want to make sure that the Madi Soundcraft audio is selected and in Matchbox 4 it is the Dante Virtual Sound Card.  The easiest way to achieve this is by setting it as Audio Patch 1 is the desired output.  This way all of your new cues that are added are automatically patched to send audio to the sound console.   If you do not set it as Patch 1, you will have to manually change each cue to the correct audio patch.  To change Audio settings, click the settings "cog" at the bottom right of the window, and then select audio. 

o   If you have more complicated sound set up where you need different channels of audio controlled differently, then you likely already know how to do that.   There are a number of videos available online https://www.youtube.com/c/Figure53/ and other support documents https://figure53.com/docs/qlab/v4/  that have details about how to build more complicated cue lists.

Adding Audio Files –

·      It’s important that the audio files that you’re using are actually on the computer itself and not running off of an external drive.  USB connections can become unstable enough to cause your audio file to stop playing and send you in to a pinwheel of death.  Drag all of your files to the desktop before you start building your show file.  It’s generally a good idea to put them all in to one folder.  Save your Qlab show file there as well.

·      When you’re ready to add a track, simply drag the file to the window and it will be added automatically.

o   The cue will come in as the audio track name, but can be changed by double clicking on the name, or by the inspector menu at the bottom of the page.

o   You can also change the cue “number” by double clicking on the number or in the inspector.  You can use alphabetical cues, but you cannot use the same cue “number” more than once.

o   You can change the color of the cue in the inspector as well if you need to differentiate the cues.

Auto Continue vs. Auto Follow –

·      Auto continue is used if you need to fire multiple cues at the same time.  This can be used to build fades, or trigger video or images to play on top of an audio track.

o   The post wait will automatically set itself at 0:00:00 when using Auto Continue.  You can change the post wait time so that the next track waits a specific amount of time before it plays.

·      Auto follow is used if you want a track to play thru to the next track.

o   The post wait will automatically set itself to the track time of the current track and cannot be changed. 

·      Pre-wait can be used with either Auto Continue or Auto Follow.  It can be put at the beginning of the next track and will keep that track from starting until the designated time has passed. 

Audio Fades-

·      You can build a fade in or fade out of a cue using the “Fade” tool.

·      To build a fade in, once you have a track in your Qlab list, add a fade below the track in the list.

o   The fade cue will have a red X next to it.  That means that it is an untargeted cue that currently does nothing. 

o   Target it to the track that you’re wanting to fade in by simply clicking and draging the desired track over the fade cue.  The red X will still be there, but the fade will now say “fade track info”. 

o   Next you will need to set the levels of the fade and the original track.

§  With the fade cue selected, go to the inspector window, under the levels tab, and set the desired level of the track.  You will need to set both the master level as well as the channel number.  Basic cues will always be 1 and 2.

§  Next select the original track, and under the inspector window, under the Devices & Levels tab, set the volume to -INF (blank) on the master and the assigned channels.

o   The final step is to put an Auto Continue on the original track so that when you hit go, it triggers the fade up. 

·      To build a fade out, you add a fade after the desired track and target it the same way as you would a fade up.

o   Set the level at –INF on the fade.

o   Be sure to select “Stop target when done” under the curve shape tab in the Inspector window of the fade if the track is much longer than needed so that you don’t have it running in the background.

·      Fade times can be changed in several ways

o   Double click in the main window under the “action” column and change the fade time directly.

o   Using the Curve Shapes tab in the Inspector window, change the duration. 

·      You can change the curve of a fade by manually changing the curve under the Curve Shape tab in the Inspector window.

Looping Audio –

·      Audio files can be looped to play infinitely. Under the Time & Loops tab in the Inspector window, click the Infinite loop, or set the play count to a specific number of loops.

o   Be sure to set up a fade cue after the file so that you can fade out the audio and then stop the file.  Or you can use the “stop” tool to stop a track.  You use this the same way you would use a fade, it will just stop the track immediately.

Video Set up –

·      When starting a new show file in Qlab that uses video or still images, you will need to add the projector to your show file as a new “Surface”. 

o   To add one of the projectors, in the settings menu with the video option selected, click the small plus button on the bottom left.

§  Select “New with Display” which will show the devices connected to the computer.  Make sure that the projector is actually on before trying to add it.  In each theater, the projector should already be connected physically to the computer.  When you select “New with Display”, one of the options will be the iMac, the other is the projector.

§  When the projector selected, a window will pop up that has the new device information.  It is usually a good idea to rename that “Projector” or something that will help you remember when working in your show file. Close the window and go back to the video settings.

§  At the top of the page, change the Default Surface to the Projector for all new cues.  This will keep you from having to change it each time when adding a new cue.

Adding Video Files

·      To add video files, as with audio files, be sure to put the originals on to the computer itself, ideally in the same folder as any audio files.

·      When you’re ready to add a video or still image, simply drag the file to the Qlab window. 

o   As with the audio files, you can rename the cue either by double clicking the file name or thru the Inspector window at the bottom of the screen. 

o   You can also change the color, cue number information as with audio cues thru the Inspector window.

·      If the video file or image is not showing on the projector, check under the Display & Geometry tab of the Inspector window to ensure that the correct video surface has been selected.

Auto Continue vs. Auto Follow – see above

Manipulating video/image files-

·      Under the Display & Geometry tab of the Inspector window, you can access controls that will let you manipulate the video/still images.

·      Under the Display & Geometry tab of the Inspector window, you can change the mode of the image or video. The default is Full Screen.   If you select custom, it allows you to change the scale, opacity and rotation of the file. 

o   When you have custom geometry selected, you can move the image around in the surface area (to the right of the window) and thus around the projection area.

o   If you click the lock icon in the scale, you can skew the image/video file.

o   You can change the opacity of the image by changing the percentage of opacity.  This will be how you create a fade in for a video/still image.  

o   You can organize multiple images/video files in to layers so that when playing multiple files, you can control which layer they are in.  All files default to the top layer

·      Fading Video Files

·      The same rules for audio files apply to the audio for video files (see above), but you also can fade the video itself.  When adding a fade to a video/still image file, add the fade after the target file. 

o   Be sure to set the opacity of the original file to 0 if setting a fade up cue. 

o   On the fade itself, make sure to check the Opacity box and put it at 100% (or the desired percentage).

o   Set the original file to Auto Continue so that it triggers the fade up. 

·      To fade out the video/still image, add a fade after the original file and set the opacity to 0.  When triggered it will fade out the original file. 

o   Be sure to select Stop Target When Done so that you don’t have the video files playing in the background.

·      Moving Files on the Screen

o   You can have a video/still image move across the “Surface” by using the Translation option under the Display & Geometry tab.

o   To have a video/image file move from one point to another, use a fade cue after the original file. 

o   In the original file, with custom geometry selected in the mode, move the image in the window to the right to the desired start position.   This will show up in the Translation portion of the tab and give you new coordinates.

o   In the fade cue that follows, check the Translation box and move the image in the right had window to the desired final position.

o   The video/image will move across the “surface” when the fade cue is triggered.

·      Rotation Files on the Screen

o   The same rules apply to rotation as with translating files. 

o   Click the rotation buttons to access the X, Y, Z factors to set the rotation points.

·      Qlab Remote

o   The MATCH iPads have the Qlab remote on them. (iPads must be checked out from MATCH Director of Production)

o   iPad and iMac must be connected to the same WiFi network in order to communicate.  MATCH Tech is the appropriate network to use.