Gainlab Audio Lieutenant

In today’s audio production practices, our workspace —the studio— has become an integral part of our daily lives and immediate surroundings. Monitoring is the cornerstone of any studio setup, and everything else comes after. But what follows monitoring? The answer is the monitor controller.

The Lieutenant is designed to be the true command center of the studio. It allows you to select between four sources and route them to three destinations, featuring a relay-based volume control. Additionally, its built-in power sequencer can manage the studio’s power distribution across three independent zones. It includes a separate Cue loop with headphone output, complete with a talkback system, as well as a master headphone output.Among its four input sources, two are stereo, balanced analog, one is a digital S/PDIF source, and one is Bluetooth. All three destination outputs are stereo, balanced analog. The output levels can be manually or automatically trimmed to ensure seamless switching between speaker pairs without volume discrepancies. A Pad function is available, which reduces the output volume by a preset amount with the press of a button, a Mute function is included, allowing you to instantly silence the output. A Focus function is built in, allowing you to isolate and monitor specific frequency ranges—low, mid, or high—for detailed analysis.

The power sequencer is capable of managing the studio’s electrical supply across three segments. These segments can be turned on and off manually or automatically. A typical setup might include the first segment for the computer and audio interface, the second segment for the side rack with outboard gear, and the third segment for the studio monitor system. In this configuration, the first segment (computer and audio interface) powers on automatically first, followed a few seconds later by the monitor system. The outboard gear segment is controlled manually from the lieutenant’s interface and activated only when needed. Power-down is automated: first, the studio monitors are switched off, followed by the computer and audio interface, and finally the outboard rack. Of course, all of this is fully configurable.