Cedar DNS Questions

[Ira Seigel]

I’m interested in the Cedar units - particular their 8Live - for some projects. I’m disappointed that Cedar Audio’s User Manual or website doesn’t have some block diagrams or training videos. The only videos I’ve seen are more geared to marketing. Has anyone come across some information for actual usage - suggestions for settings, system setups, before and after sound clips, etc? I’ve seen discussions in other threads here about providing processed and raw tracks for clients, and that info is helpful to me but not quite on the mark for helping me figure out the best ways to integrate a DNS unit into the signal flow.
Thanks.

[Wandering Ear]

They are fairly set and forget. 1 in to 1 out in most setups.  The rest is up to how you want to use it, i.e. analog vs digital etc. 
What do you want to know that you haven’t been able to find?

[Jobo]

One of the more common uses for CEDAR in the field is for live news, news magazine shows, or anything with a quick turnaround. I believe it is also common in the scripted world for better dailies, Director feeds, etc. 
 

I have experience with the DNS 2 and the cedar SDNX plugin. My workflow is generally recording unprocessed ISO tracks, and NR to a pair of mix tracks. Often a stereo mix to cameras for news work. In my experience, less is more when using NR.  It is great for some things, but it is not a holy grail magic wand kind of thing. Although what it does do, it does it very well. It is straight forward and simple to use, in whatever version you decide to go with. -6 to -3db of NR is a good place to start. I hope that helps explain more real world usage from an end user perspective.  I’ve never had any negative feedback from any CEDAR track I’ve delivered. 

[Ira Seigel]

Thanks for these replies, guys.

 

My experience with a DNS 8live so far has been extremely positive. My usage so far has been to use the AES outs of Sennheiser receivers as inputs to the Cedar. Outputs from the Cedar into a Yamaha Rivage for live mixing in a very ambient symphony hall.

 

I've double-patched both the analog outputs straight from the Sennheiser receivers and the AES outputs from the Sennheiser/Cedar chain into the Rivage, just in case there were problems with the Cedar.

 

So far, the unit has performed splendidly. The amount of the room ambience being picked up by the mics - dynamic and condenser wireless mics - is has been dramatically reduced. Cleaner audio coming out of the PA and much improved gain before feedback in stage monitors. And these are the results while keeping the Cedar in "Learn" mode. I haven't delved into the manual settings yet. Overall, so far I'm very pleased with the purchase.

Ira