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Setting up Cue Mixes in Console and

your DAW
Note: This article only applies to owners of Thunderbolt & USB Apollos. Apollo Firewire users
should refer to the Apollo Software Manual (Firewire System) for notes on using Console 2
for FireWire to setup Cue Mixes.
This article will guide you through the steps required to con9gure both Console and your
DAW software to achieve multiple headphone mixes.
Often when recording, engineers need to provide separate headphone mixes to each of the
artists involved in the session. The vocalist may want a large amount of reverb on their own
track to help get inspired, the bassist may want to hear the kick drum at a high volume to nail
their timing, whereas the drummer may be the only artist who wants to hear the click track. In
general, each performer will want a diQerent mix than each other, which will in turn be
diQerent from the main mix that the engineer is listening to in the control room. Fortunately,
all of this routing is entirely possible using Console 2.0s Texible routing options.

Console Setup
The 9rst step for our setup will be to decide how many Cue Mixes you need for your setup. If
you own an Apollo Twin, you have a maximum of 2 Cue Buses. However, if you have any of
our rack mount Apollos you can increase your Cue Bus count to a maximum of 4 separate
Cues. Go to Console > Settings > Hardware panel and click on the CUE BUS COUNT menu to
increase the value up to 4 if desired.

SIGN IN

Setting up your Cue Bus count.

Next, hit the CUE OUTPUTS button on the far right column of the main mixer window in
Console to open the CUE OUTPUTS popover where we can con9gure the destinations for the
various Cues.

Opening the CUE OUTPUTS popover.

Within the CUE OUTPUTS popover, we can select both the source and output destination for
each of the Cue Buses. Under the SOURCE column, you can choose whether each Cue gets its
signal from the main Monitor bus (select MON), or if it pulls from its own bus (select CUE 1
for Cue 1, CUE 2 for Cue 2, and so on). On the far right, select which of the headphone
outputs you would like to feed from each Cue Bus. Under the OUTPUT column, you can
choose an additional output destination apart from the headphone outputs via the OUTPUT
menus. In the picture we have chosen Line Outputs 1-2 as the output for Cue 3 - this would be
useful if you also have an external headphone ampli9er that you want to use. Please note that
these additional output destination routings will make those particular outputs unavailable
for direct access from your DAW software, but you can still route signal to them through the
Cue you have just con9gured.

Con9guring the SOURCE and OUTPUT for your Cue Buses.

When you are using more than one Apollo at the same time in a multi-unit con9guration, you

have some additional options. In general, Cue Routing is restricted to the Monitor unit in a
multi-unit Apollo con9guration. This is one of the reasons it is recommended to assign your
most powerful interface as the Monitor unit (e.g., an Apollo Quad as monitor unit and a Twin
as expander will give you 4 Cue Buses, but the reverse arrangement would restrict you to 2
Cue Buses.) The OUTPUT 9eld will be limited to the outputs of the Monitor unit, however, you
can still route to the Headphone and Line Out 3/4 of a Twin (or the headphone outputs of any
other rack mount Apollo assigned as the expander unit).

Additional Output options for a multi-unit con9guration.

Now that we have con9gured their output destinations, we will want to con9gure what is
feeding the various Cue Buses. Within Console, there are 2 possible views and approaches to
achieve this. The 9rst option is to use the OVERVIEW view, selectable from the View Column
in the top left corner of the main Console window.

Selecting the OVERVIEW view.

Using the Overview method, hitting the SENDS 9eld on each particular channel will open the
SENDS popover for that channel, where you can then set the amount of signal you will be
sending to each of the Cue Buses. With this technique you will need to then proceed to click
on the SENDS 9eld for each other track and then set your Send levels accordingly. Dont
forget that the Aux Return channels also need to be routed to the Cue Buses if in use (for
example, to provide the singer with more reverb that only they will hear in their headphones).

Con9guring the Sends faders within the OVERVIEW view.

An alternative approach is to use the SENDS view in the View Column, which shows you the
Send faders for every channel, but only for one Cue Bus at a time. Select which of the Cue
Buses you are seeing using the SHOW 9eld in the View Column.

Con9guring the Send faders within the SENDS view.

Now that we have our Cue Mixes set up for all realtime signals coming into the Apollo, the
next step is to con9gure the DAW for routing of pre-recorded material.

DAW Setup
Although the details may vary slightly from DAW to DAW, the overall setup to create Cue
mixes is similar across the board. For this article, we will be using Logic Pro X for our main
example. If needed, please refer to your DAW's manual for speci9c instructions on setting up
Sends and Aux returns in a similar fashion.
Pro Tools users take note - the 32 channel I/O limit will aQect your routing options. If you
need to use all 4 Cue Buses, you will have to re-assign them to fall within the 9rst 32
channels. Refer to this article for more detailed instructions on working with the 32 channel
restriction in Pro Tools. For Pro Tools-speci9c instructions regarding setting up the DAW for
use with Console's Cue Mixes, see the video at the bottom of this article.
Main Example - Logic Pro X
For a brief video walkthrough of the Logic Pro X setup, see the video at the bottom of this
article.
To get the setup started, select all of your tracks in the Mixer view of your DAW and create a
new Send from each track. In some DAWs, this will automatically create an associated Aux
Return track, whereas in others you will need to manually create the Aux Return to be fed
from those sends.

Creating a Send and Return in Logic Pro X.

After creating the Send, you will also need to increase the value on the fader or dial in order
to feed some signal to the Cue Bus. You will create your headphone mix by adjusting the
relative value for these Sends across all of your channels. Each Cue Bus will be fed from a
separate Send, so you can either 9nish all the routing 9rst (if you are creating multiple Cue
Buses) or create your headphone mix as you go. Please note that you will want to set the
Send to "Pre Fader" so you can adjust the main mix with the volume faders independently
from adjusting the headphone mix using the Sends.

Increasing the Send value on a channel in Logic Pro X.

Next, route the output of the Aux Return to the 9rst Cue Output in Console. Some DAWs will

read the names provided the driver, but others will only oQer you generic channel #s, so look
back at the Core Audio panel of the Console Settings if you need a reminder as to what
channels you need to route to for each of the Cue Buses.

Assigning the Aux Return Output channels in Logic Pro X.

Next, repeat the process to create Sends and Returns routed to the other Cue Buses. In this
example, we have created 4 Sends on each channel, with 4 associated Aux Returns each
routed to their own Cue Bus in Console.

Sends and their associated Aux Returns and Output destinations in Logic Pro X.
There is one other possibility when setting up your routing - you can route the signal from
your DAW to a pair of Virtual Inputs instead of directly to the Cue Outputs. If desired, this
approach will give you an additional place to adjust levels from within Console. First, assign
the output for each of your Aux Returns in your DAW's Mixer view to a pair of Virtual Input
channels.

Assigning the Aux Return Outputs to a pair of Virtual Channels (rather than a Cue Bus.)
Next, make sure to also increase the send level in Console from your Virtual Input pairs to
each Cue Bus.

Adjusting the Send value for each Virtual Input pair.

Logic Pro X Setup Video

UA QuickTip: Apollo Thunderbolt Headphones and Logi

Pro Tools Setup Video

UA QuickTip: Apollo Thunderbolt Headphones and Pro

Now that we have 9nished setting up the routing in both applications, you are ready to create
multiple Cue Mixes for yourself and the artists you are recording. The speci9cs for your setup
may vary based on what con9guration of Apollos you are using and your choice of DAW
software, but the overall concepts covered here will apply.

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Related articles
UA Product Manuals
Setting up Cue Mixes in Console and Your DAW
Setting up Cue Mixes in Console and Your DAW
Getting Started with Apollo - Videos (FireWire / Console 1.0)
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