Auto Director
Auto Director is Falcon Play automation for VOD studio productions where camera switching can follow microphone or audio activity. It listens to linked audio sources, chooses the best camera candidate, performs cuts through the vision mixer, and writes each automatic camera cut into the On Air rundown so the producer can see what happened.
Screenshot is coming soon...
What you will learn
- How to enable Auto Director in General Settings.
- How to create and maintain Auto Director profiles.
- How audio levels, camera candidates, hold time, cooldown, and wide shot logic work together.
- How to start and stop automatic switching safely during production.
- How automatic cuts are added to the On Air rundown for producer orientation.
Recommended workflow
- Open Settings > General Settings and enable Auto Director.
- Open Director and select the Auto Director tab in the bottom control bar.
- Create or select an Auto Director profile.
- Map each camera row to a camera label, role, audio source, and vision mixer input.
- Choose the Wide camera and configure whether silence, both-speaker situations, or long close-ups should return to the wide shot.
- Set the rundown On Air before starting Auto Director. If no rundown is On Air, the start action can offer to put the current rundown On Air first.
- Click Start to activate automatic switching. If the On Air rundown has no active shot yet, Auto Director cuts to the configured Wide camera first.
- Watch Current, Candidate, State, Last, and the audio meters while the system runs.
- Click Stop before taking full manual control or changing profile routing.
Buttons, fields, and controls
| Control | What it does | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Auto Director Enabled | Controls whether the Auto Director tab is visible in the Director control bar. | Enable this in Settings > General Settings before configuring profiles. |
| Profile | Selects the active Auto Director profile. | Use separate profiles for different studio layouts or shows. |
| New | Creates a new profile from the current profile structure. | Use when building another studio or camera layout. |
| Save | Stores profile changes. | Use after editing timing, audio thresholds, camera links, or wide settings. |
| Delete | Removes the selected profile. | Use only for obsolete profiles. |
| Name | Profile name shown in the selector. | Use clear names such as Studio A Interview or Podcast 3 Cam. |
| Smoothing | Controls how quickly audio levels react in the decision logic. | Use lower values for calmer decisions and higher values for faster reaction. |
| Speech dB | Minimum level before an audio source counts as speaking. | Raise it if background noise triggers cuts; lower it if quiet speakers are missed. |
| Strong dB | Reference level for strong speech. | Use to tune how confident speech activity appears in status. |
| Mic diff dB | Difference required before one speaker clearly wins over another. | Increase it when cameras switch too aggressively between similar voices. |
| Hold ms | How long a candidate must remain valid before Auto Director cuts. | Increase it for calmer switching; decrease it for faster reactions. |
| Min shot | Minimum time a camera should stay On Air before another automatic cut. | Use to avoid jumpy camera changes. |
| Cooldown | Minimum time after a cut before the next automatic cut can happen. | Use to prevent rapid back-to-back switching. |
| Silence wide | Time without speech before Auto Director can return to the wide shot. | Use for pauses, applause, or resets between speakers. |
| Manual ms | Time Auto Director waits after a manual camera cut before resuming automatic decisions. | Use to protect intentional producer overrides. |
| Camera role | Sets whether a row is a Speaker camera or Wide camera. | Use Speaker for close-ups and Wide for the fallback or overview shot. |
| Audio source | The fader/server source that drives a camera decision. | Link KAM 1 to the audio source for speaker 1, KAM 2 to speaker 2, and so on. |
| Vision input | The vision mixer input Auto Director cuts to for that camera. | Match this to the real mixer input for the camera. |
| Use wide | Enables automatic use of the wide camera. | Use when the production should return to an overview on silence or both-speaker moments. |
| Wide chance | Random chance that long close-up periods can return to wide. | Keep low for predictable interview switching. |
| Start | Starts Auto Director for the On Air rundown. | Use only after routing and thresholds are checked. |
| Stop | Stops automatic switching immediately. | Use before manual operation, troubleshooting, or profile edits. |
| Status meters | Show live audio activity per camera and the current decision state. | Use to verify that the expected source is driving the expected camera. |
Best practices
- Test every profile with the real audio sources and vision inputs before using it live.
- Keep camera names identical to production language: KAM 1, KAM 2, Wide, Host, Guest, or similar.
- Start with conservative timing: longer Hold, Min shot, and Cooldown values make the system calmer.
- Use the status Candidate value to confirm that Auto Director is hearing the right source before expecting a cut.
- Keep a clear Wide camera configured so Auto Director always has a safe fallback when no speaker is active.
- Remember that automatic cuts are inserted into the On Air rundown, which gives the producer a visible history of the decisions.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Auto Director tab is missing | Auto Director is disabled in General Settings. | Open Settings > General Settings and enable Auto Director. |
| Start does not activate switching | No rundown is On Air or the current rundown was not accepted as On Air. | Set a rundown On Air, or accept the prompt to put the current rundown On Air. |
| Meters move but no cut happens | Hold, Min shot, Cooldown, or Manual override is still blocking the cut. | Check the State line in the status box and review timing values. |
| Candidate is wrong | The camera is linked to the wrong audio source or the mic difference threshold is too low. | Check each camera row and adjust Mic diff dB. |
| It cuts to wide too often | Silence wide, Wide chance, or both-speaker wide behavior is too aggressive. | Increase Silence wide, lower Wide chance, or review Use wide. |
| It never cuts to wide | Wide camera is not configured or Use wide is disabled. | Select a valid Wide camera and enable Use wide. |
| Manual cuts are overwritten too quickly | Manual ms is too short or the manual cut was not recognized as a camera in the profile. | Increase Manual ms and verify the vision input matches a configured camera row. |
| Automatic cut goes to the wrong mixer input | Camera row is mapped to the wrong vision input. | Correct the Vision input field and save the profile. |
| Cuts are too busy | Thresholds and timing are too sensitive for the room. | Raise Speech dB or Mic diff dB and increase Hold, Min shot, or Cooldown. |
Related guides
- Director Layout
- Rundown Operation
- Falcon Audio Mixer
- Vision Mixer Input Settings
- Sound Mixer Settings
Screenshot is coming soon...