Pop quiz: What’s the difference between reverberation and reflection? Thanks to Syn-Aud-Con, I’ll give you the correct answer at the end of this column.

But in the meantime, what’s with that name, anyway? Syn-Aud-Con??

For the uninitiated, Syn-Aud-Con is short for Synergetic Audio Concepts, and it’s mission is perhaps best explained by co-founder Don Davis:

Don Davis

I met a person with a dollar We exchanged dollars I still had a dollar I met a person with an idea We exchanged ideas Now we each have two ideas

From inception, Syn-Aud-Con has fostered the sharing of information among audio peers, resulting in better understanding and knowledge that begets better sound and better systems. It is, without doubt, the pre-eminent independent education resource in the world of audio, and over 28 years has fostered the learning of more than 15,000 graduates.

Don and Carolyn Davis began this mission in 1973, traveling the U.S. in a pickup truck, spreading the gospel of proper sound techniques and practice, and learning something at each stop to be passed along at the next. (Click here to read the Don & Carolyn interview.) Soon, their message was in demand throughout the world, and they were sponsored by a group of visionary sponsors, mostly manufacturers and most of who remain affiliated to this day. (Click here for the current roster of sponsors, including links to their web sites.)

Brenda and Pat, driving forces of Syn-Aud-Con.

Pat Brown, a successful systems designer and contractor, began his apprenticeship with Syn-Aud-Con in the late ‘80s, and by 1995 was so accomplished at leading classes and explaining technical concepts that Don and Carolyn asked him to assume the helm. His wife Brenda soon joined him, and together they have led a new era, taking Syn-Aud-Con to places – like India and the Middle East - that it’s never been before.

They’ve also established a list serve with hundreds of members worldwide who electronically share audio fact, opinion and guidance, and they continue to produce a quarterly newsletter that reflects their community in addition to offering some of the best technical papers to be found. (PSW Study Hall will be offering many of these as a valuable reference – click here to see the first installments, with more to follow soon.)

For years, I’d heard about Syn-Aud-Con seminars and workshops, how the education was invaluable to anyone serious about success in the audio business and also about the motivation resulting from this process. A bit earlier this year, I decided it was time to check it out, encouraged by a gracious invitation from Brenda.

Our weeklong (Monday-Friday) session, held in Pat and Brenda’s “backyard” of southern Indiana at the meeting facilities of a local winery, was the usual combination of a two-day class called System Optimization and a three-day class called System Design. (Attendees have the option of taking one or both. And, most sessions are regional, held at locations throughout the U.S. and the world. Click here for a current schedule.)

System Optimization focuses more on audio theory and basics – overall concepts, signal flow, terminology and what it really means, the relationship of the electrical to the acoustical, grounding (that “Pin 1” definition will never be clearer).

System Design takes this theory and extends it, starting with the “art vs. science” nature of sound reinforcement and then moving into how to determine crucial factors such as intelligibility and coverage, culminating in putting all of this knowledge into practical use. Case studies allow the class to test what they’ve learned.