If the director tells the A1 to roll the Green Machine, what does that mean?

• A. Hit play
• B. Raise Fader
• C. Do nothing
• D. Start recording

Answer: (A)

When someone says to roll something in a studio, it means to start it moving so you can hear what’s on it. The Green Machine here is the playback device you want to monitor, not a recording session. So the A1’s job is to cue it to start sending sound to the room. Pressing play starts that playback, letting the director hear the take or track being reviewed. Raising a fader would change levels while the device is already rolling, doing nothing in itself to start audio. Starting recording would imply capturing new audio, which isn’t the goal when you want to listen to what’s already been recorded. So hitting play best matches the instruction to roll and hear what the Green Machine has to output.