In this article for Production Expert, James Richmond tests the Trinnov D-MON 12, part of their D-MON series of Digital Monitoring Processors, for those mixing in stereo, 5.1, 7.1 or even 7.1.4 and all their possible combinations.

Trinnov is a French company that began in 2003, when founding partners Arnaud Laborie, Sébastien Montoya, and Remy Bruno were initially researching high spatial resolution audio. Today the company is mostly known for its speaker calibration and monitor controller products which can incorporate multi-channel (surround sound) capabilities. Trinnov is currently represented in 55 countries and has more than 8000 high-performance installations worldwide.

In a previous article I’ve discussed a number of monitor controller products:

Now with the additional speaker calibration capabilities of the Trinnov D-Mon 12, however. As you will see from this review, the Trinnov D-Mon 12 is essentially two products in one, a comprehensive professional-grade monitor controller and a “room correction” product all in one.

Trinnov Product Line

Trinnov’s Pro Audio products essentially fall into three camps.

• The current range is comprised of the ST2, MC Pro and D-Mon products. 

• The ST2 Pro and MC Pro products were first released in 2010.

• The D-Mon products were released a little later, in 2015.

The ST2 Pro is the simplest of the Trinnov products to understand. It has four analogue inputs and four analogue outputs, as well as two pairs of AES IO. This can be regarded as Trinnov’s product for those working in stereo.

The MC Pro is a step up in capability, channel count and price, targeted mostly at post-production environments where multi-channel support is a requirement. 

Several different configurations of the MC Pro exist, including 8 channel, 12 channel or 16 channel versions, plus digital-only versions that have Dante, AES67 OR MADI IO. Some of these versions allow for a staggering 64 channels to meet the requirements of theatrical dubbing stages and research labs.

Both the ST2 Pro and MC Pro are room calibration products only, the D-Mon adds full monitor controller capability to the mix.

The D-Mon product range is comprised of two versions, the D-Mon 6 and the D-Mon 12, supporting six and twelve channels respectively.

• The D-Mon 6 supports stereo up to 5:1.

• The D-Mon 12 supports stereo up to 7.1.4.

In both cases, the D-Mon is freely configurable allowing for multiple monitor sets and fold down for example to stereo.

Two final products make up the Trinnov family, La Remote and the 3D Microphone.

La Remote is, as you might expect, remote control for all three product classes which provides hardware control over some of the features of the system. I much prefer hardware control to endless mousing around in a system. I discuss La Remote in detail a little later in the article.

Trinnov’s 3d microphone is a microphone with four Omni capsules arranged in a ‘tetrahedron configuration’. This is necessary because unlike most of the room correction products on the market, which simply correct in the frequency domain, Trinnov also corrects for phase. As a sound wave hits each capsule in turn the Trinnov system triangulates the location of each speaker in turn, allowing for a much more precise reading of the room.

D-MON 12 Product Overview And Installation

As I have been provided with a D-Mon 12 this is what we will focus on today, which has been configured to work with my Eve Audio monitoring system, in 5:1 surround sound configuration.

The unassuming 2 unit rack has minimal controls on the front, just a power button and USB port, that LA Remote was plugged into. Around the back of the unit is very much ‘the business end’. On the left, you have what looks like ATX style motherboard connectors (USB, serial, DVI, HDMI, Ethernet and even an old PS2 port). The D-Mon will support an external mouse/monitor/keyboard (can I say ‘old school?), but control via the Trinnov Mac OS application is also possible. A PC application is not available but fear not, simply typing the IP address of the Trinnov device into a web browser allows for control from a PC or tablet.

On the right side of the unit, there was a full complement of DB25 and XLR connectors. As I was using the Trinnov in 5:1, I only needed to run a single DB25 connector from the MTRX’s analogue outputs to the analogue inputs of the Trinnov and then connect the DB25 which fed the monitors to the Trinnov’s outputs. The connection took less than a minute.

Configuration of the unit itself takes a little longer but fortunately, I had the assistance of Paul Mortimer from Emerging UK, Trinnov’s UK distributor, on hand to walk me through the install. 

The D-Mon 12 is a comprehensive and capable product but not so complex that had he not been on hand that I wouldn’t have managed to figure out the process, but the assistance was certainly welcome.

As mentioned previously the DMON-12 is essentially two products in one, a monitor controller AND a room correction device. As such, I’d like to tackle each of these in turn starting with room correction.

Room Correction

The room calibration process is done within the Trinnov application, you simply have to temporarily remove the audio interface from the Trinnov’s inputs to connect the 3d mic. The 3d microphone is placed in the mix position with careful placement necessary to get a good reading.

The Trinnov system passes MLS (maximum length sequence) noise through the monitors which are picked by the 3d microphone. The direct sound from the speakers and early reflections from the room is used by the Trinnov system to analyse the room, correcting for frequency response and phase. Trinnov room correction address issues in the frequency domain but also can correct slight issues with monitor placement and positioning using a capability known as ‘remapping’.

As I have been working in 5:1 for the first time I’ve had to be pragmatic about the placement of some of the monitors. For instance the centre speaker positioning is higher than I would like because I need to get the speaker higher than my 32” display. Centre speaker positioning can a problem when working in surround because it is usually where you need to be looking to control your DAW. The Trinnov identified the raised positioning of my centre speaker and adjusted for it, presenting a centre speaker position as it *should be* rather than how it is. It also adjusted the position of my rear speakers to be in an optimal position. Neat.

For more information on the Impulse Response measurement process and how Trinnov uses MLS noise click here.

The initial reading of the room showed the position of the microphone azimuth (angular measurement) to be slightly askew, so a second reading was performed. The room measurement takes no time at all. Unlike some competitor products, Trinnov uses a multi-capsule microphone and the software does not make it mandatory to take multiple readings from different places in the room. The 3d microphone handles it all from the mix position. Once the reading of each speaker is taken the Trinnov system uses an algorithm to calculate the distance of each speaker and the height of each speaker relative to the microphone position, processing to correct for amplitude, phase and delay. Additional readings of the room can, of course, be taken, for instance from the client/producer position at the back of the room. For those of us with more modest mix environments, such as myself, just a single room reading was necessary.

As you can see from the frequency response, my room is quite lumpy around 40 Hz and 80 Hz, which the Trinnov evened out beautifully. Describing the effect the Trinnov room correction has had on my mixes is difficult to put into words, beyond simply using superlatives. As I have been working in a pretty compromised environment (essentially a converted triple garage) I’ve never been able to get away from the fact that I hear the room pretty much all the time. With the Trinnov working its audio magic I am hearing much less of the room and much more of my speakers and the music coming out of them. I find I am making better decisions when mixing and pulling sounds. Even listening to music is much more pleasurable and I can listen louder with less of the room interfering. It is, quite simply, fantastic.

Do We Need Speaker Calibration?

Whilst speaker calibration technology could never be said to be preferable to having a well-designed room this does bring me to an interesting point. In the past, a recording studio wasn’t something that travelled particularly well. These days there are many more people with studios, pretty much everyone I know who works in music has some sort of recording capability. 

In the days of large format consoles and 2” tape machines, the cost of the room was simply a part of the fit-out for a new studio. For most of us, those days have well and truly gone. The modularisation of the studio means it is now possible to pick up your studio and move it without it necessarily being a huge deal. The room acoustics, then, change each time you move. 

I’ve moved studio four times in the last decade, each time the process has taken me a couple of weeks. In each of my studios, it simply wasn’t possible to do a full room design, with a consultant acoustician on hand to advise me about optimal room design. I imagine this is the case for a large number of us working from converted garages, spare bedrooms or annexes. 

I did do this once when I had a studio in New Jersey in 2006-2008. The room design and implementation cost me around $20k and even this was the budget option, with me doing a lot of the building work (not my forte) considering what I could have spent. When I moved on from that room after a couple of years I swore I’d never do it again and largely I’ve lived with whatever room acoustics I had, tried to mitigate some of the major issues with bass trapping, acoustic treatment and placement.

In a perfect world, it would be brilliant to have an acoustician on hand but it is unlikely to be a realistic possibility in the foreseeable for most of us and I still see a lot of rooms essentially untreated, which are going to be a nightmare to mix on.

So, what do you do?

Buy a bunch of bass traps, place them where you can and hope for the best?

Hopefully not.

A product like Trinnov Room Correction allows you to mitigate some of the main issues of working in sub-optimal rooms without the expense of an acoustically designed room that cannot be moved about. It will also improve a well-designed room too, of course.

Monitor Controller

The monitor controller functionality built into the D-Mon is fully Eucon compatible for integration with S6, S3, Dock and the Avid Control application. As I have an Avid Dock it was short work to have the Trinnov D-Mon appear in the Avid Control app’s Monitor section. Simply enable Eucon in the Trinnov application, then lock the Trinnov to the ‘Monitor and Control Room’ option in the ‘Assign’ page of the Eucon application. 

The D-Mon allows for various different configurations, depending upon what you want it to do. In my instance, I have the 6 outputs from the Avid MTRX which usually would feed my monitors. As such, we configured the D-Mon to have those 6 inputs (L, C, R, Ls, Rs, Lfe) configured as the primary input group for 5:1 monitoring. We also configured the 5:1 mix to fold down to stereo and also to 2:1. You can also configure Cue mixes, should you need to. 

As I have an extensive Cue mixing set-up done from Pro Tools I didn’t need to do this but the capability is there- up to two sets of cue mixes. There is a great deal of flexibility on offer. If you have, say, 3 sets of stereo monitors and don’t work in surround then you can configure the D-Mon to give you control over three sets of monitors. If you have a single subwoofer and want to use it with all three sets then you can do that too. The only limitation is the number of inputs and outputs you have available on each unit. You can optimise up to 12 speakers with the D-Mon 12 (6 with the D-Mon 6).

Input sources are also up to a maximum of the available inputs of the unit and can be configured similarly to the way you configure output. You can sum sources too (handy for Mac System sounds, or for those using multiple interfaces) or toggle between the available inputs.

La Remote

La Remote is Trinnov’s Remote Control for Trinnov systems, compatible with ST2-Pro, D-Mon and MC Processors, and it works very well with the D-Mon in particular. I’d even go so far as to say it is close to being essential but that is largely down to my own dislike of using the mouse when I’d rather have hardware control. Your mileage may vary here but certainly consider La Remote if you are thinking about a Trinnov system.

The unit itself is weighty with a rubberised base to protect surfaces and, unlike some competitor products, has display that can be labelled to suit your specific set up. Seven of the eight illuminated buttons surrounding the display can be freely configured, only the mute function is fixed. 

La Remote connects to the Trinnov via USB. As my mix position is a little further away from the rack I employed a Logilink USB Cat5 extender and can confirm that La Remote worked perfectly with it.

La Remote is configured using the Trinnov application where a handy drag and drop interface allows you to configure and label buttons, change lighting for buttons or screen, changing the resolution of the volume knob and even the wheel acceleration. A nice touch is being able to import a .png with your company logo.

Another helpful feature is the ability to create limitless layers, controlled by the select knob in the top right on the unit. As you switch through layers of the unit you can really dig into some of the monitor controller features in a way that isn’t possible with most other products. Working in 5:1 means I was able to configure a layer where I had individual speaker mutes available to me. Another layer gave me meters for the main 5:1 mix from Pro Tools.

Most of the time though I stayed on the top layer where the left side buttons allowed me to elect sources and the right side allowed me to select output configurations (5:1, stereo, 2:1), with mute and dim (-20dB). 

La Remote also has a talkback microphone contained within it but sadly no headphone amplifier. This is a small niggle and certainly would increase the price of the unit, which at £879 is reasonable considering what you get.

Conclusion

Anyone who isn’t aware of Trinnov’s room correction capabilities simply needs to know that it is the best currently available. Having used various other types of room correction over the years, they feel like toys in comparison. Trinnov has a number of products that provide room correction but the DMON family of products add a hugely useful monitor controller to the mix and does so with aplomb.

The D-Mon 12 is unlike any other product currently available, there are room calibration products and there are monitor controllers but none that have the comprehensive feature set of this product. The closest would probably be the Avid MTRX or DAD AX32 with the optional SPQ card but neither of those products correct for phase.

Having used the D-Mon 12 for the last few weeks I now have a bit of a quandary. How am I going to go back to my old way of working? I’m genuinely not sure that is going to be possible. The D-Mon’s Speaker calibration in particular, addresses a problem that has plagued me for a considerable number of years.

People working in acoustically compromised rooms (which includes me) used to only have two options- 1) live with the problem or 2) get an acoustician into design a room for you which can potentially cost tens of thousands of pounds to do it properly. 

Yes, the D-Mon Pro 12 is an expensive beast but it is a beast. At around £10k the D-Mon Pro 12 is close to the top of the pile in the Trinnov product line and there are cheaper alternatives available for those people not working in high channel count scenarios.

Pros

• Room correction is superb.

• Excellent monitor control functionality.

  Easy to set up given the complexity of what it does.

• Excellent user support.

• La Remote is excellent.

Cons

• The cost will be prohibitive for some.

• A headphone amplifier in La Remote would have been nice.