Nathan Lively's Blog, page 16

Smaart: Tracking peak frequency without the mouse cursor

You’ve probably run into this problem in Smaart: you are using the RTA graph to find peaks in the response, but as soon as you move your mouse out of the window, the cursor readout disappears!

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This makes sense, though, right? You want the cursor to show information about whatever graph is in focus.

But what if you need the graph to keep tracking peaks while you work in a different window? Maybe you are updating the EQ in X32-edit or adjusting the signal generator output.

As far as I can tell, there is no way to change this functionality in Smaart, but here’s a workaround:

Set your RTA display settings to Track Peak.Make your RTA graph as big as possible by closing the data bar and control bar. Now, even when you move your cursor out of the graph you have plenty of resolution to estimate the frequency the the x-axis labels.[image error]

Here are some other ideas that will help:

Open a simultaneous Spectrograph set to the slowest speed. If you ever miss a peak you can click in the graph and use the up/down arrow keys to go back in time.

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Enabling a long Peak Hold will help accomplish the same thing.

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Finally, if you want to micro-manage, you can even zoom in and use a tool like ScreenBrush to insert more labels for quick identification.

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Have you figured out a better way to continue tracking frequency peaks in Smaart while the mouse handles other business? Let me know in the comments below.

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Bob McCarthy: Where do I place my delay towers?

Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play or Stitcher.Support Sound Design Live on Patreon.

In this episode of Sound Design Live I talk with the director of system optimization at Meyer Sound and the author of Sound Systems: Design and Optimization, Bob McCarthy, about how to decide where to place your delay towers and how many boxes they should have.

NotesMovie: WW1 doc They Shall Not Grow OldRoskilde FestivalSub arrays: End-fire, Gradient inverted stackMAPP XTDesign files for Jockey PlazaDo I have enough boxes in my delay towers?Compare the ratio of boxes in your Main array vs your Delay array to the ratio of distances they are covering.QuotesOne of the big lessons of this experience was how important it was to not just extend 100Hz and above, but to extend the whole show. If you want it to stay impactful, you have to bring it down to 30Hz.If you’re in an outdoor environment, I prefer over covered to under covered.[image error]Trump Wall at the Roskilde Festival

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Analysis: How to Tune a PA System for Live Sound

One of the most popular articles on sound system EQ is How to Tune a PA System for Live Sound by Brad Pack. In this article I will compare and contrast it against my own methods.

Things I do the same

Start by testing the system with a few high-quality tracks that you know really well.

Yes! Listen first. The first step on my sound system tuning checklist is always Console Check (aka output verification).

Walk around and see what it sounds like up front, way in the back and over at the bar.

Yes, but be careful here. Your echoic memory is only about 20 seconds, and that’s in absence of interference. In other words, don’t expect to accurately compare the orchestra to the balcony.

It’s important to periodically bypass the GEQ and see what it sounded like before you made any changes. It’s really easy to make a mix sound worse by over-correcting, and you’ll never know if you don’t A/B (compare) your settings against the original.

Yes! My biggest takeaway from my interview with Jamie Anderson is to always incorporate strategic stop and check points to listen and make sure you are going in the right direction.

Things I do differently

The key to a good sounding show is a good sounding room, but if you don’t have one of those, you can try to fix a not-so-good sounding room by using a graphic EQ to “tune” the PA system.

While it is true that a good sounding room starts with the architecture, there are two problems with this sentence. First, you can’t fix a room with EQ. That requires a sledge hammer. What you treat with EQ are speaker-to-speaker and speaker-to-room interactions.

Second, the graphic EQ is the wrong tool for the job. The logarithmically spaced fixed frequency and bandwidth filters of the graphic EQ will never be able to create the shapes necessary to treat the frequency response created by the interactions just mentioned.

When using a graphic equalizer, try to think of each band as having a “Q” value of 100 — they’re super-narrow notches.

I used to think the exact same thing, that a GEQ was this super precise instrument. Then, I measured one. The truth is that if your GEQ has a filter bandwidth of ⅓ octave, then its Q is 4.31, not 100. There will be varying degrees of overlap between filters depending on the design.

With all of the mics “live”, slowly turn up the gain on each vocal mic and identify the frequencies that feedback

Find the band for that frequency (or the closest one to it) on the systems graphic equalizer, and slowly lower the fader until the feedback stops.

First, this won’t work with a GEQ because you’ll never be able to select the correct frequency. Does your GEQ have a filter at 839.2Hz? I don’t think so. Instead, you’ll end up damaging the frequency response of your speaker and reducing the system’s gain-before-feedback.

Second, this method will only work if the vocal mics you are using along with the speakers remain in the exact same position through soundcheck and show. A 9kHz sound wave is only 1.5 inches long. Moving the mic 0.75 inches is enough to alter the path length by 180º from a nearby surface and cause a 6dB peak where you previously had a valley.

Instead, I like to insert filters to reduce feedback on microphone groups with a parametric EQ. I send all of my vocal microphones to a vocal group. I follow the steps that Pack recommends, but instead of leaving the filters inserted, I bypass them until soundcheck. Then, during soundcheck, if I can’t get enough gain before feedback, I enable the necessary filters.

To quickly and easily find the most offensive frequencies, use a stagehand or mic stand to point the mic directly at its respective stage monitor.

Take a look at a microphone’s polar pattern. It is not uniform from back to front. Don’t expect to get the same results measuring from the back as you do from the front.

[image error]Shure SM58

For more on my methods for dealing with microphone feedback see 6 Smart, Proven Methods To Control Feedback Onstage (Without EQ).

This article Analysis: How to Tune a PA System for Live Sound appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.

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Moving from Discord to Mighty Networks

I am moving my online community for students and clients from Discord to Mighty Networks.

What’s Discord? What’s Mighty Networks?

That doesn’t really matter. What matters to you is that it will be a better experience all around.

Why?You hate Discord. It’s difficult to keep track of conversations and promotes mostly surface level interactions.Mighty Networks (MN) has a familiar interface, much like Facebook Groups without all of the distractions and ads.Mighty Networks has many features built to serve groups like ours.When?

Jan1 is moving day. Discord will remain active and I’ll check in regularly to pick up any stragglers. It will also be accessible to past members who want to search the archives.

Will there be a party?

Sure! I’ll be hanging out in the new group all day on Jan1.

Why would I want to stick around for 2019?Networking. Colleagues are the best source of job referrals and support.Make better decisions. Learn how to make better, more well-informed choices about your work and designs.Find inspiration. Thought-provoking conversations and expert perspective every day.Share stories. Swap stories, experiences, and ideas.Get answers. Navigate topics that don’t have easy or obvious answers (the stuff you can’t Google). I’ll be inviting industry leaders like Robert Scovill and Bob McCarthy to join in the discussion.Have an impact. Actively contribute to the community we’re building online and in real life so that together we can have a positive impact on the world.

What other questions do you have about the move?

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How Robert Scovill Got Fired by John Cougar Mellancamp and Hired by Prince

Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play or Stitcher.Support Sound Design Live on Patreon.

In this episode of Sound Design Live I talk with Robert Scovill about the importance of good training, subjectivity vs objectivity, the dangers of becoming tribal around a brand, and how to earn the respect of John Cougar Mellancamp and Prince with excellent relationship management. I ask:

How did you get your first job in audio?In 1985, you were 24 years old and you learned that there was an opening in the monitor engineer position on the John Cougar Mellencamp tour. You write: “I was certain that this was my shot. I lobbied VERY hard for that position.What does lobby very hard mean? What exactly were you doing to try to get the job?” You did end up getting that job, but then lost it. What happened?After you lost the job you had a very difficult decision to make: go home or attempt to stay in a place where you had just been rejected. I think most people would not have given it a second thought. Losing the job means you go home. But you saw an opportunity here. Take us to that moment in your life. Describe what was happening and what was going on in your head.One of the most helpful pieces of advice you give in the book is: If you want to be a FOH mixer, build relationships with artists. If you want to be a monitor mixer or systems technician, build relationships with sound companies. Tell me more about this. It sounds like maybe the artist wants to choose the FOH engineer, but not the monitor engineer and system tech. Is that correct?I want to talk about how you like to set up your mix console. You have an excellent training video online called Console Management & Live Mixing and in it you describe the signal flow of a typical input going from the preamp to Preamp saturation emulation to tape compression to EQ and then all of your channels go into groups before they hit the master bus. Is that correct?What’s wrong with setting all of my mic preamps in such a way that all of my channel faders will sit at 0dB?What outputs do you send to the PA? Subs on an aux?What’s in your work bag?What is one book that has been helpful to you?[image error]

Can you learn it all on the job? You can, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it.

Robert Scovill

NotesAll music in this podcast by François Leclerc.Robert’s workbag: Headphones – Shure 840, polarity checker –Console Management and Live MixingRobert’s “sometimes applicable” process for aligning front-fills:Send test signal to the drum-fill.Time align at first row so that the front-fills match the drum-fill.Time align matrix sends from console subgroups to front-fills so that all instruments arrive with drum-fill.Books: The Revenge of Analog, The PerfectionistQuotesCan you learn it all on the job? You can, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it. It’s the slowest hardest path. Find the people to get quality insight from and find good work to do. It’s a real challenge for our industry right now.The technology has outpaced the user group, especially in this IP based world.The thing that I fight so many times with younger guys or fresh guys is confusing subjectivity with absolute truths.I’m so tired of this: Just use your ears! Well, I do use my ears. I just also use science to back up what I believe.It doesn’t serve anyone for all of the users to become tribal.All of a sudden I became keenly aware of that relational aspect to the job and I was watching like a hawk and learning every time I watched someone interact with an artist.If you’re on the list of mixers who have been fired by Prince, you’re on a pretty elite list.We have the terrible tendency to try to provide you with a silver bullet. If you use this, you’ll have the analog sound. No. If you go back and look at what caused that sound with analog, it’s a lot of things. Not just one thing.It’s important to understand where line level is on your [consoles’ input].I like to keep the faders between +6 and -10 because that is the highest resolution of the fader.My LR buss is only band. My vocal bus goes directly to the matrix. This allows me to tonally and dynamically address that music mix without ever affecting gain before feedback on the vocal.If you’re gonna be the mixer, you should also be the system tuner.[image error]

This article How Robert Scovill Got Fired by John Cougar Mellancamp and Hired by Prince appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.

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What do all of those squiggly lines mean? (a short intro to the graphs in Smaart)

If you find yourself asking questions like, “What information are those graphs depicting?” and “What does that measurement tell me?” then I have a list of resources for you. Go through each one of them, then come back and tell me what questions you have left.

Read the Magnitude Response, Phase Response, and Coherence sections (Pg 113-125) of the Smaart Users Manual.Watch Understanding Phase – Part 1.If you are a student of Pro Audio Workshop: Seeing Sound, watch Lesson 1.8 – Amplitude and Phase Response Measurements.Watch What does a mic cable look like?.

This article What do all of those squiggly lines mean? (a short intro to the graphs in Smaart) appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.

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How To Find Work And Become A Freelance Sound Engineer

Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play or Stitcher.Support Sound Design Live on Patreon.

In this episode of Sound Design Live I talk with Niclas Jeppsson about how to find work and become a freelance sound engineer. We discuss the method he has used to successfully get work at recording studios and live music venues in London through authentic outreach and relationship building. I ask:

How did you get your first job in audio?Looking back on your career so far, what’s one of the best decisions you made to get more of the work that you really love?In your book, How To Find Work And Become A Freelance Sound Engineer , one of the first tips that you share is: Don’t ask for work. So, why shouldn’t I ask for work? Don’t I need to get myself out there by emailing all of the studios and venues in town asking over and over again if they have any work for me? What should I do instead?Who should I be building relationships with? Is it more important for me to reach out to recording studio owners and concert venue owners or someone else? How do I meet those people?How do I continue building relationships with them?1: I have done great work for them. 2: I have spent time building that relationship so they think about me when they hear about an opportunity.When it comes to money, you say: Whenever there is an offer to work, you should always propose a higher rate than your actual rate. This will give you leverage when you are negotiating so you don’t (hopefully) walk away with less money than you deserve. Aren’t you afraid that that potential client will just walk away instead of attempting to negotiate?Tell us about the biggest or maybe most painful mistake you’ve made on the job and how you recovered.Jhed: Sometimes as an audio engineer, bands or their management approach you and ask you to work for them (because you were recommended to them, or because you were in the right place at the right time and impressed them, which is my personal experience). However- what if there is a band you particularly would like to work for, and it’s up to you to approach them? My question is- what is the best way to approach a potential client and ask if you could be their sound engineer (without coming across as an eager-beaver)? Should you contact the band directly? Try and speak to a manager? Send them a barrage of emails until they just give in and just take you on tour to make you leave them alone?What’s in your work bag?NotesAll music in this podcast by Niclas Jeppsson.How to find work and become a freelance sound engineerFind out as much information as you can about the person or studio.Email them with some highlights from your research and ask for an in-person meeting., Wait a week. Send a reminder, if necessary. Book recommendations: The e-Myth[image error]

This article How To Find Work And Become A Freelance Sound Engineer appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.

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Why Andrew Stone Only Mixes For Himself

Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play or Stitcher.
Support Sound Design Live on Patreon.

In this episode of Sound Design Live I talk with Andrew Stone from MxU about the moment on tour that changed his whole identity. Plus, Andrew and I battle for the worst complaint ever. Spoiler alert, Andrew wins. I ask:

How did you get your first job in audio?
Who hired you for your first tour?
The most shared article on your website is called Own It. In it, you describe a time in your life when you were working as an audio engineer and tour manager. You were in the middle of doing a bunch of shows and you were on a plane flight with the artist, your client. You guys were talking and you were explaining a problem you were dealing with and she said something to you that turned out to be a pivotal moment your life. Take us to that moment and describe what happened?
What are some of the biggest mistakes you see people making who are new to mixing a worship service?
What’s in your work bag?
What is one book that has been immensely helpful to you?

[image error]You can’t make everyone happy. Figure out how to please yourself.

Notes

MxU events, podcast, video training library, coaching
Get On Tour
Church on the Move
Andrew’s audio analyzer: Smaart, Earthworks M30, USB Pre2
The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck
Quotes

They said, Bus call is at midnight. I said, should I bring a sleeping bag?
That identity situation is so important, of still knowing who you are apart from that situation.
I sit at FOH and I mix for myself.
The benchmark in my head is the highest. No one else has one higher.
You can’t make everyone happy. Figure out how to please yourself.
I can’t please everyone, but that does’t mean they don’t have a point.

 

This article Why Andrew Stone Only Mixes For Himself appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.

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Build a 2-element Cardioid Subwoofer Array

Our best tool for low-frequency control is the directional array.

Enjoying this free preview lesson of Pro Audio Workshop: Seeing Sound? Then you’re not going to want to miss the full course.

Learn More about Seeing Sound
Notes

Gradient = Ø and delay to rear sub

Delay by spacing distance or the center frequency of the subwoofer’s operating range with fc=√f1×f2


Cannot be used under stage
Subwoofer Array Designer

This article Build a 2-element Cardioid Subwoofer Array appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.

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6 Most Popular Training Videos on Sound System Tuning

With over 537,200 minutes of video views over the last 18 months across YouTube and Facebook, these are my six most popular videos on sound system tuning.

#1 – 3 Simple Ways to Phase Align Main+Sub with SATlive

Make the pictures match.
Math (just a little!)
Automatic (Delay Suggestion Tool)

Make the pictures match.

This is the method I used for years and is the most common, but it has two problems: 1) It’s slow and 2) It’s not easy to tell if a polarity inversion is required.

Math

This makes the process faster.

Automatic (Delay Suggestion Tool)

This makes the process faster and can detect polarity inversion.

Download the Aiming Triangles Business Card.

#2 – Expectations: How do you measure an EQ in Smaart?

Wait till you see the shape that a graphic EQ makes!

Watch the entire Get Started with Sound System Tuning series here.

#3 – Where do I phase align a center sub?

My comments on Merlijn van Veen’s original article.

#4 – What does a full-range speaker look like in Smaart?

After you have practiced measuring an EQ, the next step is to measure a speaker in Smaart. Finally!

Download Meyer Sound Speaker traces

#5 – How loud does the test signal need to be in the room for Smaart?

How loud is loud enough? Program level? Speaking level?

You’ll be surprised to learn how quiet it can be to get actionable data in the high end and how loud it might need to be to get usable data in the low end.

#6 – Connecting Wavelength to Frequency

This is a method I learned from Dave Swallow to easily connect frequency and wavelength. If we know the speed of sound, then we also know any wavelength that is a multiple of 10, simply by moving the decimal place. Fun!

This article 6 Most Popular Training Videos on Sound System Tuning appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.

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3 Phase Alignment Hacks to Make Your Sound System Tuning Easier
How to Find Polarity Problems Ruining Your Sound System