Are VCAs relics of the past?

For the uninitiated, navigating a complex mix template filled with folders and VCAs (Voltage Controlled Amplifiers, if you are ever in an audio trivia fest) on every sub-section can be a daunting experience. 

Are they simply organizational relics of the analog past, or is there a deeper purpose to their presence? 

The answer lies in the transformative power VCAs hold in crafting exceptional film sound, and how they are pivotal in a film sound template.

Scenario 1: VCAs - The Deliverables Hero

The first instance where VCAs shine is their ability to streamline the creation of specific deliverables. 

If you work or ever plan to work in broadcast television, you’ll most likely encounter deliverables that require undipped vs dipped stems. But hold on, what is that?

Here’s the breakdown:

Dipped stems are individual tracks (music, dialogue, effects) that have been ducked (volume lowered) during dialogue or narration.

These are your typical deliverables when sending DME stems or an MnE. However, because the volume dips under the native dialogue in the show you’re mixing, how does that affect international dubbing?

The issue with dubbing in foreign languages is that the timing shifts slightly to accommodate the translation. So you’ll have your volume rides baked into what dubbing mixers have to work around in their newly translated dialogue, whether those dips start too soon or too late.

To workaround this, you can create undipped mixes. These are the raw, unmixed versions of your stems - music, dialogue (if under narration), and effects - with no volume automation applied.

It allows the dubbing mixer to control the mix at their will, ensuring a seamless balance without fighting your original edit!

So where do VCAs come into play in this? Well, you can essentially mix an entire show with 1-2 faders, your dialogue routing bus, and your MnE VCA. Here’s what that looks like in my post template:

You create two VCAs: one that houses all your FX tracks, titled FX Dipper, and another with your MX tracks, titled MX Dipper. Then group both those VCAs into another VCA: MnE Dipper. This allows you to mix all your music and effects tracks into 1 fader. Pretty powerful huh?

You still with me? I know that can be more confusing than remembering which dream layer you’re in when watching Inception. So let’s bring this down a notch.

Scenario 2: Mix Minus Supreme

Imagine the pressure of a tight deadline, and you need to produce a "Mix Minus Narration" for a broadcast television show with voiceover/narration. Here, VCAs become your trusted allies.  

By setting the VCAs for dialogue, effects, and music to "unity" (0 dB gain) during sections where the voiceover is absent, and automating them to dip during the voiceover segments, you create a seamless mix-minus track with exceptional efficiency.  No more tedious individual track adjustments – VCAs handle the heavy lifting, saving you precious time and allowing you to focus on the finer details. 

From there, you can have an undipped mix minus narration stem, or if the routing is a little bit daunting (lol see pic above), you can duplicate your Pro Tools session and delete the VCA automation. 

Scenario 3: Gotta Mix Fast!

Deadlines loom large, and every second counts.  

In this scenario, VCAs transform into your time-saving heroes. Turnaround times demand shortcuts. 

Instead of meticulously diving into the intricacies of each individual track within a sub-section (like Foley or background/ambience), VCAs empower you to take control at a master level. This allows for quick adjustments and streamlined workflows.  

However, a word to the wise: Ensure your sub-sections are already meticulously mixed before making VCA adjustments. This prevents any unwanted conflicts arising from interaction between the VCA automation and global volume automation on the individual tracks.

Scenario 3: The Art of Precision

For those audio artisans who revel in the meticulous control of individual track mixing, VCAs offer a unique superpower.  

Imagine a scene with a cheering crowd. Individual cheering sound effects are layered to create a realistic soundscape. However, managing the overall noise level of this cheering "stack" can be a tedious task. 

Here's where VCAs step in. By subtly adjusting the FX VCA, you can effectively control the overall level of the cheering sounds, creating a cohesive and balanced soundscape. This exemplifies the versatility of VCAs in making precise global adjustments across multiple tracks.

Scenario 4: VCAs and the Nuances of Logarithmic Mixing

Diving into the intricacies of logarithmic mixing, VCAs prove their worth in handling tiny bumps and dips. 

When dealing with music tracks, particularly from loud stock libraries, dealing with clip gain edits or volume fader adjustments can be a challenge. 

If you're sticking to the clip gain volume set that most likely the editor made in the AAF, you’ll quickly realize you have less headroom to raise the music volume than you do when dipping the volume. And adjusting each little segmented clip for the right volumes is tediously time-consuming (trust me, I mixed that way for years).

So, nowadays, I convert the clip gain to volume automation. However, I also run into issues there. Because those stock music soundtracks are so loud, your fader can be set to -20db for a track. So any additional dip in volume I make will be wildly too much gain reduction instead of tiny db adjustments.

Why does this happen? 

Well, from 0 to -96db is handled logarithmically. Getting down via a fader from 0 to -10db has more travel room than -35db to -45db. However, that 10db does make a difference in volume! 

If performing your desired target volume via a fader is proving difficult at that volume, instead use your music VCA fader to perform the more intricate volume ride as it will be set to unity, thus allowing you an instance of a smoother, accurate, and precise travel room. 

These are just a few examples that showcase the immense potential of VCAs in the audio post-production world.  

So, the next time you encounter a mix template filled with VCAs, remember – they are not mere organizational relics, but powerful tools waiting to be wielded by the skilled mixer!