Nathan Lively's Blog, page 26
January 10, 2016
WEBINAR – How to aim any speaker
When you walk into a room, is one of your biggest fears what to do with these big black boxes that you don’t know anything about?
First of all, congratulations for caring! Most people would just put them up without any attention to their specifications. Second, I have something to help you get over that fear.
As you know, I have been kicking around the idea of doing a free webinar training on speaker aim. A couple days ago I sent an email asking about what you’d most want to see covered… and the replies I received were AMAZING!
People want to know:
How do I choose narrow or wide coverage elements, and what are the trade-offs?
How do I choose one or multiple speakers?
Is it more important to avoid room reflections or coverage overlap?
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We’ll cover all of that and more during the live training on January 14th at 9:00 AM Pacific Time.
I’m calling the webinar How to Aim Any Speaker. Here are a few more ideas that we’ll cover:
What can I do when there isn’t enough time for Smaart and I don’t know what gear I have until I’m on site?
How do I get the configuration of an array based on the room size ASAP, so I don’t have riggers waiting on me to make a decision?
Are there speakers that are not built to be arrayed horizontally?
How do I focus surrounds for even coverage?
When do mono and stereo systems really may a difference?
How do I use placement to avoid hot spots in the room?
How do I discover the coverage pattern of a speaker in the field?
When are delay speakers necessary?
How do room acoustics and audience size affect aim?
What factors do you use to determine when to use a sub-woofer and when not to?
How do I use LF control in small venues so that the neighbors don’t call the cops?
It’s going to be fantastic and you’re going to get a lot out of it, so mark your calendar and join us live on January 14th at 9:00 AM Pacific Time.
Add to Calendar
01/14/2016 09:00 AM
01/14/2016 10:00 AM
America/Los_Angeles
WEBINAR – Aim Any Speaker
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/9180215192
Or join by phone:
+1 646 568 7788 (US Toll) or +1 415 762 9988 (US Toll)
Meeting ID: 918 021 5192
International numbers available: https://zoom.us/zoomconference?m=pyoY...
https://zoom.us/j/9180215192
Nathan Lively – Sound Design Live
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January 8, 2016
Build self-confidence for better productivity with this simple habit of relaxation
Support Sound Design Live on Patreon.
In this episode of the Sound Design Live podcast, I talk with Elena Foucher about meditation for busy people and how to build self-confidence for better productivity. Plus, Elena leads a guided meditation starting at 29min. We discuss:
Alternative relaxation techniques to traditional, sit-down meditation.
How to measure improvement in your meditation practice.
How to improve your sleep.
The definition of mindfulness and why it seems so hard.
Why low self-confidence is so common, and ideas and strategies to improve it.
How to recognize stress in the moment, before you spin out of control,
Living in Hong Kong.
The point is not to get rid of stress, or emotions, or thoughts. That’s not what meditation does. What it does do is help us interact with those things in a healthier way. We can make choices about them instead of being overwhelmed by them.
Show notes:
All music in this episode by Rui Faustino.
Toothbrush Meditations
Osho meditations
Homeostasis – Allows the human body to maintain a stable internal environment in response to changes in external conditions.
Meditation triggers – Something that happens in your life, preferably three times per day, that reminds you to practice meditating.
Quotes:
Meditation is a way to focus on something.
It’s like building a muscle. It gets stronger and stronger. You’ll notice over time that you are able to relax more deeply as you practice. I recommend that you practice three times a day.
George Kao said, “There’s the confidence of learning a skill and knowing how to do it, and then there’s the confidence of just going out and doing it.”
Meditation is hands down the most powerful thing I do for personal development. Nothing else comes close.
This article Build self-confidence for better productivity with this simple habit of relaxation appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.
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January 1, 2016
Growth Hack 2016: 13-Day Career Building Challenge
Are you ready to blast into 2016 with new energy and ideas?
Start the year off right with this 13-day career building challenge. Commit to professional growth this year as a sound engineer and as an entrepreneur.
You’ll receive a short lesson and action step each day from such industry leaders as Bob McCarthy, Darryn de la Soul, Dave Swallow, Merlijn Van Veen, Moldover, Larry Crane, Josh Srago, Ken “Pooch” Van Druten, Björgvin Benediktsson, Harry Mack, and Steve Knots.
This article Growth Hack 2016: 13-Day Career Building Challenge appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.
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December 22, 2015
Silence: The secret ingredient to sound design in advertising
Support Sound Design Live on Patreon.
In this episode of the Sound Design Live podcast I talk with Munzie Thind, post-production sound designer at GCRS in London. Thind received the Creative Circle Silver Award in Sound Design for the project National Autistic Society: Sensory Overload. We discuss the career path of a London sound designer in the advertising industry, and the production process of TV commercials.
If I can get silence into a piece of work, that’s half of my job done.
Show notes:
All music in this episode by Steve Knots except for Heer Di Kali by Kuldeep Manak.
This article Silence: The secret ingredient to sound design in advertising appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.
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December 17, 2015
What your parents never taught you about money
Do you wish you had more control over your money? (Yes!)
Do you wish you knew where all of your money was going? (Double yes!)
You Need A Budget (YNAB) is the smart software that lets me figure all of this out for myself. To make sure I was getting the most out of it, I talked to Todd Curtis, their Chief Knowledge Officer.
What is YNAB, exactly? I wrote about it in this article, The Minimalist Guide to Budgeting (for Sound Engineers). You don’t have to read the article to understand this interview; the first part is all about budgeting and applies to anyone and everyone. Then there’s a bit of fanboying at the end for the hard-core YNAB users out there (I love you guys!).
NATHAN LIVELY: Every time someone asks me if I like YNAB I give an enthusiastic “Yes!”, but then I always have to explain that there was a big learning curve that probably has more to do with the fact that I never learned to manage my money responsibly than the software being overly complex. Would you say that’s fairly common?
TODD CURTIS: Absolutely. Almost anything significant that we learn new as adults has a learning curve. As adults, we’ve collected all these thoughts about the way things should be, and we have to unlearn those things as much as we need to learn new things.
On top of that, people’s financial lives are complicated. There are a lot of moving parts, and we have a lot of issues like security and personal goals wrapped up in money. That’s where the stress comes from, but keeping a budget can remove that stress. We like to think YNAB—both the method and the software—does that easily. It’s just easier if you can forget what you think you know!
Understanding how to use money is just as important as language in surviving modern life. Why is our personal knowledge so lacking?
I love that analogy to language. But language is something we learn naturally—our brains are actually wired for language acquisition! Managing our money isn’t something we’re surrounded by from birth. So we each kind of grope around and try to develop our own solutions, which is too bad because in the end, it isn’t especially difficult to learn some strategies that can make a real difference.
More than one person told me that they bought YNAB, got started, then at some point stopped entering transactions and gave up. I bet this happens fairly often and I’m curious if you have any good strategies for maintaining momentum?
I think a lot of people give up the first moment they discover what they actually spend turns out to be different than what they expected.
Because if people have learned anything about a budget, it is that it is a rigid system. Make your numbers or else! As though you get a grade at the end of the month. But that mode of thinking doesn’t recognize that life is unpredictable, even though we all know that it is. When your plans change, your budget – which is just a plan for your money – needs to change, too.
What do you wish your parents had taught you about money? Or, if you could leave behind a collection of values for your children, what would they be?
Be intentional about your money. Set (and change when necessary!) clear priorities and think about how money can help you reach them—or not.
What are the most common mistakes you see people make with budgeting?
Forecasting—budgeting money that they don’t have yet. It’s easy to imagine any amount of future money when you do your budget, but then you don’t see the real need for change in your habits. You’ll go through the motions of what you think is budgeting without getting the positive benefits. Bottom line? Only work with the money you have now. The rest will come.
What are your responses to these two excuses? 1) I don’t make enough money to budget. 2) I make enough money to not worry about budgeting.
No matter how much money you do or don’t have, you have priorities. You’ll be happier and experience less stress if your money is aligned with them. That’s a budget.
How does YNAB compare to Quicken? Sometimes the best way to describe something can be through contrast.
The biggest difference, for me, is that other systems are retrospective. They look backward and give you reams of data. But sometimes, as one of our YNAB teachers likes to say, it’s just a glorious record of your overspending. A YNAB budget looks forward. It says, here’s how much money I have right now. What do I want it to do for me today? Next week? Next month? YNAB’s strategy aligns your money with your future aspirations rather than looking back.
For more information, YNAB has an entire article on the subject you can read here.
YNAB vs Mint? The great thing about Mint is that it’s free and it will connect to all of your accounts and automatically track transactions. The bad thing is that they have ads and you are not as in touch with your spending as when you have to put each item into YNAB. The whole idea is to get you to consult your budget before spending, and if transactions are recorded automatically you might never do that.
We’re really excited about a development we have just around the corner that will allow YNAB to connect directly with your bank. We shied away from this a bit in the past because we do believe, as you said, in being in close touch with your money. We never wanted automation to go so far that it put you out of touch with decision making. But by helping you stay organized with your transactions, we can keep you focused more on decision making. What do these dollars need to do for me right now? That’s an active process you need to be a part of. It’s what reduces your stress and allows you to take total control of your money.
Many sound engineers are independent contractors with irregular income. YNAB can work well for them because it has you wait until you have income before you budget any dollars, but what about the future? How much money should I have saved (buffered) so that I can take advantage of things like automatic transfers into my retirement account and automatic bill payments?
That is a decision that depends a lot on variables specific to your business. I mean, we tend to say that you should have at least a month’s worth of expenses in reserve. But what’s your risk tolerance? How even or uneven is your cash flow? How much do the cash needs of your business tend to vary? A lot of business owners would look at this and decide they need three, four, even six months of expenses saved.
What are some successful methods you have seen people use for budgeting with shared expenses? Colleagues, partners, spouses? Expenses that you don’t have complete control over (eg: you split grocery shopping with your girlfriend, but you do all of the shopping)?
I’d love to say there are tricks that will make it easy, but it really comes down to communication. Whether it is a business partner or a life partner, you’ve got to be clear about both your individual priorities and your shared priorities, especially at the places where they overlap or diverge. Have regular conversations about it. Have a budget date.
The other important thing in a shared budget is to leave some space for some autonomy. Hey, here’s money that is just for you or just for me, and we don’t have to report back to each other about it. That really helps things work smoothly.
TECHNICAL
How important is reconciliation? I haven’t done it, ever. Every day I spend about ten minutes checking all of my accounts for new transactions to make sure there was nothing I missed or entered wrong. Then once a month I “Adjust Balance” on each account because it is usually off a few dollars.
Reconciliation is important because you want to make sure the dollars in your budget truly exist in your accounts! If you don’t have an accurate record of transactions, you may be budgeting money you don’t have anymore. Having said that, making that adjustments you describe does the same job. You know you’re up to date.
I made some scary rookie mistakes when I first started using YNAB that I want to share with everyone. If you have any corrections or comments, that would be great.
TIP #1: It took me a while to wrap my brain around YNAB and credit cards (pre-YNAB I used debit cards only). For the first five months that I used it, I was budgeting all of my credit card expenses, but then I was also budgeting money to pay the credit card bill. That means I was budgeting twice as much as necessary and really stressing about the bill. When I finally realized what was happening I went back, corrected the problem, and realized that I had about $6,000 I had saved…on accident.
TIP #2: Since no one really taught me how to use a budget, traditional thinking told me that I should estimate my spending into categories for the coming month. It turns out Mark Butler calls that budgeting with Monopoly money. The way YNAB works is that you never budget a penny until you actually have it. So when you get paid, you apply those dollars to your budget. This is more like the envelope method that you may have heard about. One way to estimate into the future, which I have been using, is to use next month’s budget. So if we are in January, then you can go ahead and play with the budget in February and look at the summary at the top to see how much you have available.
Absolutely. That’s the sort of conventional wisdom about what a budget is – a plan based on what you think might happen if all your account balances follow a perfect path that happens to match exactly the last six or twelve months. But that is far less powerful than intentionally giving a job to every dollar you have right now. Want to look into the future? Set aside money for those future ambitions right now. When you have next month’s studio rental fee already set aside, there’s no need to forecast. You know you’re doing well.
This article What your parents never taught you about money appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.
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November 24, 2015
Don’t sell services; sell solutions
Support Sound Design Live on Patreon.
In this episode of the Sound Design Live podcast, I talk with Brennan Dunn from The Business of Freelancing and Double Your Freelancing. Dunn tells the story of how he went from making $50/hour to $20,000/week by solving business problems for his clients instead of delivering services.
Download the Audio Contractor to Consultant workbook
Major points covered in this episode:
To be a successful freelancer, you have to understand both the business that your client is in and how they make money.
Stop thinking about yourself as merely a skilled artist and craftsman, and start also thinking of yourself as a consultant.
Being a consultant allows you to make more money and have more creative freedom.
How to use Socratic questioning to discover your client’s underlying business problem.
How to gather the information you need to package your services as a solution.
Strategies to build confidence and deal with imposter syndrome.
The importance of using case studies to show credibility.
How to start a conversation about your clients about RoI.
Make sure you only work with clients who respect and trust you.
Best habits for growing your business.
The biggest benefit of joining mastermind groups.
No one pays money for audio engineering. They pay money for the outcome they get.
Show notes:
All music in this episode by Dynamo Team
Charge what you’re worth
Podcast motor
Quotes
If you are selling your technical services, you are selling a commodity. To the buyer, all commodities are equal.
I started shifting toward the questions, what underlying business problem are they willing to spend money on and how does that need to be solved? When I started doing that, everything shifted.
What is the number one problem behind the project and how does that affect you financially?
If this project gets done, paint me a picture of what your business should look like tomorrow.
No one pays money for audio engineering. They pay money for the outcome they get.
If the client wants a solution and you are giving them technical information, then the client is responsile for translating that into the solution they are looking for.
When you engage with a new lead, try to understand the problem they need to solve.
Consulting is an equal exchange of value.
Businesses pay money to either make more money or loose less money.
The word client comes from the ancient French, to protect. So when you have a client, you are offering them protection.
The way to [not be a commodity] is to not sell audio engineering.
The one thing that we have that is limited is our availability. It’s a non-renewable resource. So you want to make sure that you kinds of projects that you work on are the kind that move you and your business forward.
If you don’t have any data on how your business is doing, then it can be easy to second guess yourself.
This article Don’t sell services; sell solutions appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.
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November 21, 2015
Today is my birthday — will you do me a favor?
I know I shouldn’t ask for birthday gifts, but I couldn’t resist.
At the start of a brand new year, I want to do something a little bit different. I’m preparing my next audio training programs and instead of making everything up by myself, I thought it would be fun to ask you what you want to learn.
So on this day, my 35th birthday, here is my request for you:
Take 2 minutes to tell me what the single biggest challenge is that you’re struggling with as a sound engineer right now.
That’s it! That’s all I want for my birthday. It would mean the world to me, and will help me make sure that my upcoming training programs will give you exactly what you need.
Sure, Nathan. I’ve got 2 minutes. Happy birthday!
Best,
Nathan
This article Today is my birthday — will you do me a favor? appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.
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November 10, 2015
Mixing the most difficult musical on Broadway: Rock of Ages
Support Sound Design Live on Patreon.
In this episode of the Sound Design Live podcast, I talk with Daryl Bornstein about Rock of Ages, the most difficult play he has ever mixed. We discuss:
How he first got work on Broadway.
How he got the gig with Rock of Ages.
The complicated setup procedure before every show.
The sound system design and tuning.
How to visualize sound in a room.
What it takes to learn an intense Broadway musical.
The moment of panic on every show.
People want to work with somebody who is a team player, who is going to do what they need to do to make sure their work isn’t compromised, but understands the big picture and approaches problems as a challenge as opposed to an annoyance.
Show notes:
All music in this episode from Rock Of Ages (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
Hardware/software: Avid Profile, LCS, Galileo, Sennheiser 5212 and HSP2 and MKE1, Ultimate Ears
Quotes
Think of it as light. How is it going to reflect off of walls and other surfaces?
Rock of Ages is the most difficult show I’ve ever had to mix.
It’s unlike any other show I’ve ever done, because you cannot make a mistake.
The single most important decision I ever made was to approach a producer and lobby to be the production sound engineer on a musical…
The only criteria [for hiring crew] was, “Is this somebody that you want to sit across from at dinner and have a fun time?” You want to be around people that you enjoy being around. And that’s probably what makes for success, aside from skills.
This particular [Digidesign Profile] has more plugins on it than any other Profile in the world.
This article Mixing the most difficult musical on Broadway: Rock of Ages appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.
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November 3, 2015
SynAudCon “How Sound Systems Work” online training REVIEW
I want to win!
Bottom line: “How Sound Systems Work” is a solid introductory course that is well worth the $200 price tag.
At first I thought “too expensive”, but then I compared the cost to my first semester at the Sonic Arts Center, which is basically what’s covered in this course. Let’s see, $200 vs $4,000? Now it makes more sense.
Here’s the intro video:
Things I liked
The human hearing system is quite easy to fool. -Pat Brown
I’m a big fan of step-by-step courses, so this is perfect for me. Also, most of the lessons are videos, which is good for me since I am a better audio learner who tends to skim long passages of text. Written summaries of the videos are also provided for folks who learn through reading, but I found I didn’t need those.
I like that Brown separates the art and science of audio.
The art of audio takes place in the mixing console. Not in the post-mixer signal processing. – Pat Brown
I also picked up some facts I never knew:
Most of the applied electrical power is lost as heat. – Pat Brown
Tone control and technical filters are other ways to say channel EQ and system EQ.
The 3:1 rule for isolating mikes to reduce phase issues.
I failed the first quiz and immediately thought, “Shut up Pat Brown, you don’t know anything!” After going over the answers I realized that a lot of this course is getting familiar with its particular vocabulary. For example, Brown uses high Q and low Q where Bob McCarthy would use first, second, and third order.
A majority of the time I felt like what was being presented was connected with the practical work I do and I could put it to use right away.
If a lot of these topics are new to you, the forum will be very valuable. I was confused by the explanation of dB usage, so I posted a question and Brown got back to me pretty quickly.
The section on common system problems is really valuable. Brown’s advice for dealing with microphone feedback is right on the money. I was happy to hear him say never to defeat the electrical ground on a piece of audio equipment. You would be surprised at how often I still see people use an AC ground lift unnecessarily.
I appreciated his advice on speaker aim for isolation and to avoid overlap when combining elements. That is one of the most common mistakes in sound system deployment.
Things I didn’t like
Never attempt to design a loudspeaker array.
What? Designing an array is fun! And it can be as easy as combining two matched subwoofers for low-frequency control. It’s also necessary. On many events I work on, I arrive to a pile of speakers on the floor. I then have to figure out how to combine them to best fit the room and the event.
One disappointing feature of this program is that you do not have lifetime access to it. Although I appreciate that a time constraint provides motivation to get it done, I would love to be able to review it again after six months or a year.
Make sure you listen to the section on precedence effect in video clip 2 of the final lesson. This is a frequently-misunderstood idea in system tuning and is not served by a rule of thumb. Afterward, make sure you listen to Sound System Design for Small Venues with Bob McCarthy at 20:54.
Things I got excited about
I’m comfortable with the inverse square law, but the inverse distance law was a completely new idea for me. I wrote to Merlijn Van Veem to make sure Brown wasn’t trying to pull a fast one on me. Here’s what Merlijn said:
The inverse distance law (aka inverse square law) is about loss rates and is often expressed in SPL level drop per doubling of distance. Normally, SPL level drop is 6dB per doubling of distance for point sources that produce a spherical wavefront. Line arrays produce cylindrical waveforms up to a certain distance, which is frequency-dependent. Beyond that point, they revert back to point source behavior. The lows fall back first, then the mids, and finally the highs. But factor in absorption by air, which acts like a HF loss rate accelerator, and effectively, only the mids adhere to cylindrical behavior. Cylindrical wavefronts drop at only 3 dB per doubling distance. This is why poorly-tuned line arrays sound harsh, like the proverbial ice pick in the forehead. Because the lows and highs can’t keep up with the mids.
Got it.
Final thoughts
This would be a great place to start if you are new to live sound. I think you will be left with more questions, but it is a great jumping off point to help you identify what you need to learn next.
This article SynAudCon “How Sound Systems Work” online training REVIEW appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.
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September 23, 2015
ATTENTION, MUSICIANS: You need to figure out where money is made.
Support Sound Design Live on Patreon.
In this episode of the Sound Design Live podcast I talk with Rick Goetz, the founder of Music Consultant, about music marketing, promotion, and consulting. Rick has worked with Kid Rock, Matchbox 20, Dream Theatre, and Pantera. We discuss the top career mistakes that musicians make, what it means to create an enduring lifelong career in audio, and how to expand your opportunities to start playing at a higher level.
I don’t know how to say this more emphatically: you need to figure out where money is made.
Notes from the podcast:
All music in this episode by episode by RapBau.
Music Consultant is a boutique marketing firm specializing in developing enduring artist careers.
The Runaways
Derek Sivers
Quotes
Being an entrepreneur of any kind is about making sure you have your eye on that next lily pad you’re going to jump on, because the one you are on is almost always sinking.
When you are a guy that says “No” 99% of the time for a living, you don’t necessarily get people on the phone anymore when you don’t have a big bank behind you.
Being an ex-A&R guy is like being a cop in prison.
If you just want to be famous, there are easier ways to do that.
The music business was set up by gamblers and thieves.
The music business will always have a 1%. Making a living at it is a real triumph.
There are a lot of back doors in to work if you have a secondary skill set.
This article ATTENTION, MUSICIANS: You need to figure out where money is made. appeared first on Sound Design Live. Sign up for free updates here.
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