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Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Allen & Heath iLive For Revitalized Islington Assembly Hall In London

The reopened Islington Assembly Hall in London has selected an Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing system, comprising iDR-48 and iDR-32 MixRacks with two iLive-T112 Control Surfaces, to manage both front of house and monitors.

Originally opened in 1930, the fully refurbished 800-capacity Hall was reopened in 2010 having fallen into disuse for nearly 30 years. The venue now hosts a busy rota of live music, as well as a vast range of events from conferences and parties to vintage fashion events.

“We chose iLive for several reasons,” explains Dan Turner, events operations manager at Islington Assembly Hall. “First, it sounds great and much better than many other digital desks out there. Allen & Heath clearly spent a lot of time getting the preamps right.

“It’s also an incredibly versatile system in the way it works, and pretty much any input or output can be configured to do what you need it to do. I have mainly used analog desks in the past, and iLive almost feels like it is one as the design is more hands-on than menu driven. This helps you get to grips with the beast a lot more quickly than with other digital desks where features can be hidden in layered menus and thus almost useless in the live environment.”

The venue refurbishment plans did not include the installation of a mixing desk, and as such, no multi-core was installed.

“The beauty of this digital system is that to increase the number of available channels all we need to do is use a larger mix rack, there’s no need to dig up the floor to install a cable. Having the mix rack on stage and the control surface at the rear of the hall connected by a single Cat-5 cable was a big selling point,” continues Turner. “We needed an elegant solution to stage monitoring using as few cables and as little space as possible. Using two iLive systems connected together we have achieved this. All signals are routed to where they need to go without the need for active splits on the floor saving valuable space”

The venue also installed Electro-Voice XLE181 line arrays with additional front fills and subs, and Martin Audio monitors on stage.

“Overall, the system sounds fantastic and will enable us to meet all the challenges that our varied events calendar will throw at us!,” concludes Turner.

Allen & Heath

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Virtual Sound Checks Without A High-End Digital Console

Here are a few ways to get it done

 
Here are some thoughts on doing virtual sound check if you don’t have a DiGiCo or Avid digital console at your disposal.

Disclaimer: This is not going to be exhaustive. There are hundreds of hardware/software combinations that will get you the same result. These are some ideas only.

Also, it should be noted that “cheap” is a relative term. All of these solutions are going to cost money, real money.

However, if you church is serious about raising the level of audio technician performance, it’s money well spent. On we go…

First, let’s define “virtual sound check.” It is simply the ability to record the band with each channel on it’s own track and then being able to play that recording back, in place through the same channels on your console.

To illustrate with a very primitive example, let’s say your “band” is a worship leader with an acoustic guitar. To facilitate virtual sound check, you would need a way to record the vocals and guitar on separate tracks, and you want those sources to come off the board before any EQ or dynamics.

Typically, you’re using direct outputs or the insert outputs. When you get ready to practice, you do a little patching (in software or hardware) and play back that recording through the same channels you use if the worship leader and his guitar were live in the room.

One thing should be immediately apparent here; the bigger your band (and the more sources you have), the more elaborate the system you’re going to need for virtual sound check. If you are running 30-40 inputs every weekend, this post is really not for you as that system is not going to be cheap.

Rather, I’m focusing on those who run fewer than 24 channels per weekend (a number that is not arbitrary, as you’ll see in a minute) and using an analog board. Here are a few ways to get it done.

Audio Interface(s)
The simplest way of doing this job is with a USB or more likely a FireWire interface such as the M-Audio ProFire 2626, a Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 or similar interface with 8 analog inputs and 8 analog outputs.

The first thing you’ll notice when shopping for an interface is that manufacturers get very creative in the way they count I/O. For example, the ProFire 2626 is listed as having 26 inputs and 26 outputs, which it does. But only 8 of them are analog.

And if you’re using an analog console, that’s all you care about. If you have a digital console with ADAT I/O, you gain you an additional set of 8 useable channels.

Now, the catch here is that there aren’t any interfaces with more than 8 channels of analog I/O (at least I can’t find any). So that means if you’re running 12 channels of audio, 4 get left behind. Unless you get creative. You might ask why you can’t just connect two 8-channel interfaces to your computer and send those inputs to your recording software.

The issue is that most DAW software won’t support multiple I/O devices simultaneously. If your DAW of choice doesn’t support multiple I/O devices, there is a workaround, at least on the Mac.

In Audio/MIDI settings, you can create what’s called an Aggregate Device, which allows you to create a virtual device that is made up of two or more actual devices. You then chose the Aggregate Device as your I/O source in your DAW, and all the inputs and outputs on all devices that make up the Aggregate Device are available to the DAW.

So an example system might be made up of two Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 interfaces combined into an aggregate device and recorded using Reaper on a Mac Mini. That would give you 16 channels of recording and playback for around $1500, give or take. That seems pretty reasonable; at least until you consider the next option.

Hard Disk-Based Recorders
There exist on the market a couple of hard drive-based recorders, most notably the Alesis HD24. This little 3-rack-space wonder is capable of recording or playing back 24 tracks of 48 hHz, 24-bit audio.

The HD24 has 24 channels of analog I/O (plus 24 channels of ADAT I/O) and costs about $1600. Really, this is the way to go. It requires no computer, is simple to set up and operate and is rock-solid reliable. Add 24 channels of TRS patch cables and you’re done.

Other options include the Tascam X-48, which is a full-blown 24 channel workstation (and almost $5,000) and the excellent, but somewhat pricey JoeCo BlackBox, which will set you back almost $3,000 by the time you add a drive.

Caveats
There are a few caveats with any of these solutions. First, if your board has direct outputs, it’s a fairly simple matter to patch those direct outs to the inputs of whatever recording solution you use.

Getting back in, however, will require some re-patching. You’ll want to pull your mic inputs, and patch the outputs from the recorder or interface(s) into the Line Inputs on your console.

If you don’t have direct outs, you’ll need to use the inserts. One cool thing about the JoeCo BlackBox is that the inputs are normaled back out to the outputs during every operation except playback.

That means that for recording (or just sitting there), the insert signal is returned and you can continue to use the board normally. When you hit “Play,” it opens the normal and sends the recorded signal back to the return on the board. From a user interface standpoint, that’s really nice. However, it will cost you twice what an HD24 costs…

When using the inserts, you will likely need to push the cables into the console until the first click. An insert jack is a TRS (tip, ring, sleeve) connector, so it has 3 contact points. Most consoles use the ring as the send, so if you push a TS cable in to the first click, you get the equivalent of a direct out (albeit an unbalanced one). Pushing it in all the way will interrupt the signal, so you’ll only do that on playback.

Using inserts is going to mean a fair amount of patching and some experimenting, so don’t decide to try this out at 8:50 on Sunday morning.

Once you get the system up and running like you want, start recording your services in all their multi-track glory. Then during the week, you can practice and experiment just like the band is there, only they aren’t.

Keep in mind, you won’t have any acoustic energy coming from the stage, so things like drums and vocals will be a little different. But this is still a great tool for training and experimenting with various processor settings.

Like I said, this isn’t exhaustive; I only intended to give a few examples. Hopefully though, it will get you thinking about how you can implement a virtual sound check system in your church.

 

Mike Sessler is the Technical Director at Coast Hills Community Church in Aliso Viejo, CA. He has been involved in live production for over 20 years and is the author of the blog, Church Tech Arts . He also hosts a weekly podcast called Church Tech Weekly on the TechArtsNetwork.

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Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Church Sound: How To Transition From Analog To Digital Mixing

A digital mixer is a whole new way of doing the same old things

 
I’m in the process of helping one of my churches transition from an analog mixer to a digital mixer.

They were in need of more channels than their Allen & Heath 16-channel MixWiz with some outboard gear (front of house EQ, couple of compressors, effects unit) could provide.

Based on the maximum number of channels that they anticipated needing over the next five years, I recommended the PreSonus StudioLive 24.4, one of the least expensive 24-channel digital mixers on the market.

The church has two audio volunteers that are pretty much average in their knowledge of sound and sound systems so this would be a typical transition for a lot of churches in the 100-400 person attendance range. Volunteers selected more for their willingness to serve than their knowledge of audio. I know that nothing has been touched with the front of house EQ, compressors and FX since I helped them set it up about a year ago.

Some things that you need to consider in this transition is how uncomfortable the volunteers are going to be until they make the paradigm switch from the analog WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) to the digital layers.

Depending on the digital board, layers control everything from different grouping of faders (1-8, 9-16, etc) to control over the aux sends, FX, etc. Outboard gear usually goes away and everything is now handled with the digital mixer. It’s a big transition and you shouldn’t minimize it, but treat it with care and planning and the transition will go smoothly.

Getting Started
What I recommend is that the digital mixer not be put into service immediately but be brought into a two-to-four-week training duty cycle. It requires some mics and cables as well as a couple of speakers for monitors and front of house stand-ins. If you have instruments that you can plug in that helps as well. Keep the existing analog system going as the production system until everyone has been trained and is comfortable with the digital board.

Before you start with the digital mixer, make sure everyone has reviewed the user manual. A digital board is a computer with knobs and faders and is significantly more complex than an analog mixer. While they are pretty robust, you can still mess them up and repairs can be costly.

An Investment of Protection
One thing to invest in if you haven’t is a top-line power conditioner like those from Furman. I also recommend a computer UPS (battery backup) from a company like APC or Tripp Lite. Get a decent capacity one. The reason is that because a digital mixer is a computer, when power is interrupted you can’t just switch it back on like an analog mixer. You need to boot it up and, depending on the mixer, that could take anywhere from a minute to several minutes.

Having a UPS unit, the mixer will stay powered on, so even if the rest of the system is knocked offline by the power interruption, when the power comes back on, the mixer will still be up.

Unboxing The Mixer
Once you get the mixer unboxed, check for any damage. If everything looks good bring all faders down to minimum and turn on the mixer. I like to let the mixer “burn in” for about four hours with nothing going on or plugged in just to let all the electronics warm up to full operating temperature. This will check to ensure that nothing is shorting out. Be aware of any burning electrical smell or smoke. If you detect either one shut the mixer down immediately and unplug it. Contact the vendor.

Preparing For Training
The StudioLive is close to an analog board in that all the channel faders are on one surface as opposed to layers. This makes the transition somewhat easier. All effects, aux send levels are controlled through the center “Fat Channel.” That will be where most of the confusion is going to come in so be prepared to spend a lot of time going through this area.

The StudioLive is set up pretty easy so I was able to figure 85% of the board out without looking at the manual. There are also a ton of video tutorials on the PreSonus site and YouTube that can help with anything to do with the board. But for volunteer sound techs it will be a bit of a challenge.

Building A Mini-System
Hook up a mic to channel 1 on the mixer and hook up a speaker to aux send 1 and to front of house. This will be the basic training setup.

Once you get it hooked up, bring up the gain to an appropriate level. A digital board is less forgiving about exceeding the 0 level than an analog board before going into clipping so run the level less than needed for training until you get comfortable with the way the board handles signals.

Don’t worry about EQ settings or FX yet. All you want to do is to learn the signal flow from the channel to the aux send and FOH.

Once you’ve figured out how to adjust the aux send levels for the channel and you can adjust FOH level you’ve gotten over the initial hump.

Using EQ
The next thing you’ll want to learn is how to adjust EQ’s for each channel. Depending on the digital mixer you’ll either have a screen that will have a parametric equalizer, or in the case of the StudioLive, you’ll have the knob adjustments for high, high mid, low mid and low bands. As with all digital mixers you are able to set the frequency points for all these bands as well as the Q, which is the width of the frequency adjustment. This is a lot more adjustability than what an analog mixer has and is worth spending some time practicing.

After the channel EQs get figured out you’ll want to adjust the front of house EQ. On the StudioLive it’s set the same way that the individual channel EQs are set. One nice advantage about digital mixers is that most of them have a library of preset EQs that you can start with. The StudioLive has built in a nice set of professional quality EQ presets that are good enough to leave alone and assign to each channel.

The other nice feature of digital boards is the ability to save all your settings to a scene. So you are able to set up multiple scenes for different worship teams or different instruments and recall them just by dialing up the scene and pressing the load button. So no more needing to reserve channels based on who’s playing that day.

Enter Effects
The power of digital mixers means that you can assign FX to each and every channel, both to auxes and to front of house, so you’ve got a lot of flexibility. Just remember that just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Less is more, at least in the beginning. Some boards give you more FX capabilities than others. The StudioLive offers two channels of FX, others more.

Multi-track Recording
Another advantage that digital mixers have is that they usually provide some form of multi-track recording capability. In the case of the StudioLive, it’s provided by a FireWire port into the provided Studio One software. This means you can record each channel separately into your computer, as long as it has a Firewire port.

One very cool reason for doing this for the worship team is the ability to do what’s called a Virtual Sound Check. What that means is that you don’t need the worship team there to set up the board. You can play back the individual tracks back into their respective board channels and use those tracks as the sound check.

Then, once the band gets in, sound check is very minimal. It’s also a great way for the sound team to train on the board and allows them to massage settings without needing the musicians.

Saving Scenes
Once you get everything set the way you want it remember to save your settings to a scene. I usually recommend naming the scene with the church name and 1. That way you can always recover your baseline settings.

Sound techs should create their own “sandbox” scene, which allows them to manipulate settings and save it to their own scene without affecting the master scene. Make sure that no one other than the lead sound tech saves to the master scene.

Once you’ve got the master scene saved it won’t matter what changes people make to the board during the week. Bringing back the master scene will only require a quick push of a button, and in the case of the StudioLive, resetting the gain and adjusting the faders. In other digital boards, gain settings and fader positions are saved within the scene.

Making The Switch
Once the sound techs are comfortable with the digital board then it’s time to switch out the old analog board with the new digital one. Check all your settings. Be sure any settings you change are saved to the master scene once you’re happy with how everything sounds.

Finally, when you shut things down, do NOT shut things down by just turning off the power conditioner. This WILL damage the digital mixer. Follow the shutdown procedure in the manual. It can be anything from just powering off the mixer with the mixer’s power switch to a shut-down procedure on the screen.

Summary
A digital mixer is a whole new way of doing the same old things. It’s exciting as well as terrifying for volunteers, so go slow. Take it one step at a time and ensure they are comfortable with the new system before putting it into production. You’ll achieve a seamless transition and have fun doing it!

Brian Gowing has helped over 30 churches meet their technology requirements. Brian works towards shepherding the church, analyzing their technical requirements, sourcing the equipment, installing the equipment and training the volunteer personnel.  As he likes to say, “equipping the saints with technology to help spread the Good News.” Contact Brian here.

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Monday, February 06, 2012

PreSonus Adds New Control Options To StudioLive Mixers

PreSonus has announced new updates to its StudioLive Series digital mixers, including a number of features not found on any other digital mixer from any manufacturer. 

New features include:

QMix. Up to 10 musicians can simultaneously control their PreSonus StudioLive monitor (aux) mixes using an iPhone or iPod touch and PreSonus’ QMix app, a free download from the Apple App Store. QMix/VSL is the only solution that allows multiple users to each control their own aux from separate iPhones.

Smaart Engine Technology. PreSonus has begun incorporating Rational Acoustics Smaart Measurement Technology for sound-system analysis and optimization directly into PreSonus Virtual StudioLive remote-control/editor/librarian software.

With Smaart technology and VSL, you’ll be able to precisely identify nasty feedback frequencies and get your loudspeakers to play nicer with the room-all without having a degree in acoustical engineering.

The first version of VSL to incorporate Smaart technology will be part of PreSonus Universal Control 1.6, which is expected to be available later this spring.

Universal Control 1.5.3 and StudioLive Remote 1.2. Universal Control 1.5.3 features an improved version of Virtual StudioLive that supports the new QMix iPhone app, including QMix permissions (so that each user controls only one specified aux mix) and the ability to name aux buses.

Universal Control 1.5.3 also adds VSL features that work with PreSonus StudioLive Remote 1.2 for iPad to enable SL Remote permissions so that iPad users can only control front-of-house mixer features or a specified aux. Tap tempo has been added to both VSL and StudioLive Remote.

VSL adds the ability to copy and load channels, copy main mix to aux mix (and aux to aux), link channel faders so that they can move together, and make your StudioLive mixer default to Fader Locate Mode once a fader has been adjusted in VSL or in StudioLive Remote for iPad.

PreSonus

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Friday, February 03, 2012

Brigham Young University-Idaho Goes Digital With Dual DiGiCo SD7 Systems

The new BYU-Idaho Center at Brigham Young University-Idaho, is a sprawling 435,000-square-foot building that includes a 15,000-seat auditorium outfitted with two DiGiCo two SD7 digital mixing systems as well as six DiGiRacks.

The process to outfit the venue with an audio/visual system took roughly three years from conception to completion, spearheaded by senior project engineer Andrew Prager of New Jersey’s Diversified Systems with the aid of BYU-Idaho audio engineer David Mann.

As a representative of the venue and its principals, Mann’s number one design criterion for the system was overall speech intelligibility. “Because this is primarily a worship facility,” he explains, “the spoken word is the reason the facility exists and was of utmost importance to everyone involved.”

Armed with that missive, Prager identified the scope of the system and its components, which included a front end and monitor mixer, digital signal processing, amplifiers, and loudspeakers.

As for the mixer specifically, it needed enough inputs/outputs to be shared between both the front of house and monitor mix consoles. Additionally, it needed to be digital and fiber-optic based. The sale comprised the two SD7s and six DiGiRacks—one dedicated to each console at front of house and monitors, with four shared between the two.

Having a fiber optic-based system was also top priority with a majority of advantages—price notwithstanding—including latency and speed. “It’s very cost effective to run fiber,” states Mann. “Obviously, the cost benefit of fiber is much more budget-friendly, but also the amount of information you can send via fiber optics is incredible.”

“The things that come to my mind when we’re talking about digital audio traveling as light instead of through copper is that it’s faster in terms of latency,” Prager adds. “It gives us a smaller cable pathway rather than big fat copper hoses running around the place, and there is a built-in immunity to grounding problems, which can be caused from different power ground and sources.

“We have a third party digital audio transport system running MADI over Opticore—a dual ring of fiber that goes between the mixer and the DiGiCo stage racks. It’s a very robust, very redundant system and because it’s a ring there’s a connection of fiber and the signal can just come from one way or go the other. “

The consoles are being put through a rigorous pace since their installation, on events ranging from BYU-Idaho’s on-going weekly Tuesday devotional service to a small number of musical and theatrical productions.

“Both the events and the Tuesday services range in size and scope,” says Mann. “The Tuesday service, with its single talking-head presenter, also showcases a special musical number, which ranges from a soloist with piano accompaniment to a 350-voice choir with orchestra. Depending on the week, it can be very simple or very demanding. On our typical devotional, we’re running approximately 6-8 inputs; on an elaborate one, it’s more like 80.”

Perhaps one of BYU-Idaho’s most elaborate events was the “Savior of the World” production performed in March, involving an 80-piece orchestra and a 230-voice choir. The input list alone was staggering—in the high 80s—40 of which were to accommodate wireless mics.

Coming from a live sound background, Mann says the challenges of the worship environment are very much different. “When you’re working with a band and vocalists, you generally get a good strong sound coming into your console so you have something solid to work with. In a worship environment, dealing with a single speaker on stage, especially in a podium-type situation, you don’t always get a great level and so it’s a challenge to get enough signal before it starts to feedback. That’s my main challenge in this environment. I think I would rather mix a 300-voice choir and 80-piece orchestra any day over a single voice speaker.”

DiGiCo

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Thursday, February 02, 2012

Church Sound Files: The Reason For “Bad Sound” May Not Be The Sound System

Three factors, roughly equal importance, play the key role in good sound - and “two out of three” isn’t good enough

Many things around us are getting better. Computers are faster, televisions have more resolution, and dishwashers are quieter and more powerful than ever.

But with all of our digital wiz-bang processors, technology has been unable to eradicate “bad sound.” Why is this so? This short piece is an attempt to shed some light on three possible causes, two of which have been completely unaffected by the technological revolution.

The goal of most sound reinforcement systems is to deliver high quality sound reproduction to the listener. While we would like to think that a high quality sound system guarantees this, it does not.

The quality of the reproduced sound will only be as good as the weakest link in the reproduction chain. Let’s examine some of the major “links” individually.

The Room
The room is a major factor in the reproduction chain. Most large spaces are hostile environments for sound systems, unless they have received special attention from a professional and a considerable financial investment from their owner. Good acoustics doesn’t just “happen.” It is the by-product of careful planning.

A quality sound system may radiate an exceptionally high-fidelity sound field into the room. Unfortunately, most of the radiated energy will create acoustic events that detract from the listening experience. While small rooms have their share of acoustic problems, these problems pale next to the late reflections, reverberation, and energy build-ups encountered in large spaces.

If your sound system doesn’t sound good, ask yourself the question “What have I done to provide a good acoustic environment?” If the answer is “nothing,” then you got what you paid for.

The Sound System
Of course, a good sound system is a vital link in the reproduction chain. But this doesn’t just mean expensive equipment. It means that equipment that is suitable for the environment has been selected and implemented by someone who understands the compromises involved in large room reinforcement systems. Money can be wasted on “features” that offer no real benefit for the large room environment.

The vast majority of auditoriums that I have visited are not suitable for multi-channel formats such as stereo, surround sound, etc. since each channel must be delivered to all listener seats. Loudspeaker placements that are optimal for stereo reproduction are horrible choices for single-channel systems.

Even with monaural systems, “first choice” loudspeaker placements often create problems with sight lines and aesthetics, and are therefore ruled out by venue owners. Multiple loudspeakers must overlap somewhere, and there will be sound problems in these areas.

A properly designed system will often sound bad in the aisles – the very place where casual onlookers will stand to evaluate it. We all have good sound at home, but the rules change as the listening space grows. Intuition that is not filtered through the proper large-room principles leads to errors.

Sound system designers are often forced to compromise away the performance of the system to make it fit aesthetic concerns, budget limitations, and fashion trends within the industry.

The Operator
I’ve intentionally saved this one until last. The most overlooked link in the chain is the end user of the system. This includes the mixer operator and any supporting staff, such as those who run the monitors and place microphones.

A monitor system that is too loud will dump excessive energy (usually low/mid frequency) into the audience area. This excess energy will upset the spectral balance of house sound system, tempting the front-of-house operator to compensate by over equalizing (usually in the form of high frequency boost). This results in a reduction in gain-before-feedback and an unnatural sounding system. Microphone placement is equally critical, as is an understanding of the shortcomings of various miking techniques.

If a lapel mic could sound like a hand-held, then no one would use hand-helds. The overhead drum mic that captures the cymbals also captures the stage monitors and “spill” from other instruments, as does the vocal mic used at arm’s length. And that “mellow” bass guitar sound that the musician likes in the practice hall turns to “mush” in a large space, where increased definition provided by the use of a pick and brighter strings may be required.

These factors and many more “eat away” at the sound quality of the system as a whole. A good mixer operator will evaluate and optimize the sound of the instruments individually before allowing the band to perform as an ensemble. There’s no room for democracy here – effective mixer operators learn to say “no” and “be quiet.”

A question that I recommend for an interview of prospective mix personnel would be “What will you do if something starts to squeal?” If the answer is anything other than “Turn the offending channel down slightly until I figure out what the problem is” move on to your next applicant. Filters implemented in desperation do nothing to preserve sound quality.

Modern mixing consoles pack a considerable “wow factor.” It’s fashionable to sit behind a large one and move knobs all of the time. But doing so doesn’t make one an engineer. Completing an accredited academic program or piloting a locomotive does. The decision as to which console to purchase is often made with no consideration as to whether anyone at the facility will be able to operate it. The result? Bad sound.

I have personally witnessed the performance of many good sound systems ruined by bad rooms and incompetent operators. I have also seen skilled operators “salvage” the sound reproduction in situations where the room and system were less than optimal.

The performance of a sound system is only as good as its weakest link. Unfortunately, all of the links that I have mentioned are of roughly equal importance, meaning that “two out of three” isn’t good enough. Good sound requires all three.

Experienced, well-trained audio people realize this and are there to help you find your weakest link. Pay for their advice and follow it.

Pat & Brenda Brown lead SynAudCon, conducting audio seminars and workshops around the world. Synergetic Audio Concepts (SynAudCon) has been a leader in audio education since 1973. With nearly 15,000 “graduates” worldwide, SynAudCon is dedicated to teaching the basics of audio and acoustics. For more information, go to http://www.synaudcon.com

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Stagetec NEXUS Supporting Jimmy Fallon Show Remote Production In Indianapolis

Tied into the upcoming Super Bowl game in Indianapolis, late night television host Jimmy Fallon is broadcasting four shows from the Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtown Indianapolis.

It presents a challenge in recreating the studio setup of the “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Show,” which is normally broadcast from NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Center. 

Nathaniel Hare, front of house mixer for the show, was tapped as the sound designer for the four dates (three live-to-disc and then a live show after the big game). Wireless First, a Clair Global company, was selected due to their experience in both TV and touring sound to supply all of the necessary equipment.

Hare decided on Stagetec NEXUS to provide the backbone of the audio routing, with all audio signals from all stage sources to front of house and monitor— and to the Music Mix Mobile and Game Creek Trucks parked outside—are being transported through the NEXUS system.

The NEXUS network comprises of some 1728 inputs and 1984 outputs. Central to the system is the NEXUS Star, which connects 12 remote base devices throughout the theatre and the OB trucks. 

Further, several consoles connect via MADI, including front of house, music and main production, and the rest have direct connections to the NEXUS via AES/EBU.

“As the show after the Super Bowl is going to be live, I need to be 150 percent sure that there will be no equipment failures,” states Hare, “and the NEXUS not only has complete redundancy built in but it’s track record on reliability speaks for itself.”

Stagetec

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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Potawatomi Bingo Casino’s Big Payoff With DiGiCo Upgrade

Earlier this year, the staff of Milwaukee’s Northern Lights Theater at Potawatomi Bingo Casino decided to embark on a console upgrade in its intimate, 500-seat theater. Production manager Jamie Cobb called upon Kerry Miller and the integration team at Clearwing Productions to help.

Wanting to upgrade the sound and make the move to digital, the group collaborated on selecting a DiGiCo SD10 and SD Rack at FOH—handling the basic room feeds (L, R, balcony, and subs), hearing assist, green room feed and CD record—with a second SD10 on deck at monitor world. The payoff was an amazing-sounding system that better showcased the room’s warm, intimate acoustics.

“We wanted a console that was forward-thinking as far as digital technology,” explained Cobb, “with better A-to-D converters and an overall better sound quality than what was out there at this price point. I’d had experience working on a DiGiCo D5 in the past, and saw the SD10s deployed this summer at a local music festival, as well as noticing DiGiCo products featured in publications with the top touring artists and spec’d by leading engineers.

“For that reason, we thought it was the best choice for this install and offered a substantially better system than other theaters in this area. There was no comparison to what we’d used previously… it was like taking a blanket off the PA! DiGiCo has developed another layer of sonic quality that wasn’t there before and we are reaping the benefits.”

Once in place, the theater’s sound technicians found the SD10’s ease of use and unequivocal sound quality among the console’s most impressive features.

“A musical equalizer is a must, but ease-of-use is really the big one,” said Cobb. “If a visiting engineer is frustrated by the work surface, then all the features serve no good purpose. The SD10’s control surface has the flexibility to be laid out exactly the way a visiting engineer would want, and we’ve been able to show these engineers how to use the features of the soundboard so they’ll be able to get up and running quickly for their show.”

The first major, long-term production to employ the new system was Cheap Trick, who reprised their “Dream Police” show for a second time in 2011 at the venue—the first in January/February and more recently in October/November.

The multimedia opus featured a performance of the platinum-selling Dream Police album in its entirety, followed by hits from their extensive catalog—accompanied by the 18-piece Rhythmic Noise Philharmonic Orchestra, the 4-piece men’s Mind Choir, and state-of-the-art video. The production came to fruition through collaboration with production designer Butch Allen (Paul McCartney, Metallica, No Doubt), producer Bello Nock and world-class video and film director Jim Yukich.

For the Fall run of shows, the theater’s sound technicians operated FOH production alongside the band’s analog-driven production team—longtime engineer Bill Kozy and A2 Mark Gustafson—who teamed a Midas 3000 at FOH for mixing the band along with the new DiGiCo SD10 to handle orchestra and additional playback feeds.

With a very short setup/rehearsal schedule of only a few days—and a massive number of inputs to coordinate for the band, an 18-piece orchestra, 4-man choir, guest artists and multimedia sources—the guys were able to get in sync quickly.

“With myself quarterbacking from the analog console and Mark running the SD10, it was important that we were both on the same page right away,” Kozy explained. “We did a training seminar with Matt Larson from DiGiCo before the actual load-in and the console sounded great and was easy to get our hands-on quickly, which was very important. I was impressed with how easy it was to implement the console given the tight schedule we were on; we really didn’t have time for a steep learning curve.

“We literally were building a show, preparing the stage and basically starting rehearsals all within a couple of days of the first show. I was able to take about 40 inputs from the analog console of the band’s inputs and create 3 stereo stems and a mono vocal stem that was fed to the DiGiCo, which served as the show’s main mixing production hub with Mark at the controls.

“He would bring in my stems, all the audio/video feeds, the orchestra, the men’s chorus, and then assemble them, about 30-40 inputs in total, in the DiGiCo. The STEM sounded great and had a lot of headroom, so all the analog stuff sounded awesome and it was really easy to hit the ground running using the DiGiCo. As far as the drum compression and processing, the DiGiCo really kept the Midas sound in tact… and the sound of the SD10 was really transparent.”

“With the band being a primarily analog band, the DiGiCo had wonderfully analog user-friendly aspects that my brain could comprehend,” Gustafson added. “I’ve used other digital consoles and consider myself to be tech-savvy in that sense and the SD10 didn’t feel foreign to me; the technology didn’t get in the way, it only enhanced the experience.

“Handling nearly 40 inputs, I was able to use the local I/O, which was very handy. I thought the onboard effects were quite nice, and although we had the option to use outboard gear we didn’t need to because everything was right there and sounded great. My favorite feature was the Gain Tracking with digital trim, which seems very silly but working with two consoles sharing the new SD Rack made things incredibly fast. Working with an 18-piece orchestra, you can imagine the soundcheck for that… it was hairy!

“Bill and I were able to work together on the main gain structure and then do our own separate things without touching or restricting each other’s boundaries. Earlier in the year we did the show with another consoles and with this new setup, DiGiCo’s flexibility enabled us to cut down our setup time. Even the string players, many of whom were on the last show, were astounded at how fast we were able to get them up and running.”

After the close of ‘Dream Police’, the theater seamlessly moved on to host productions with Kenny Loggins, Air Supply, Lee Greenwood, Smokey Robinson, Jon Anderson/Rick Wakeman and the Tubes with great reviews.

“The Cheap Trick engineers loved the new DiGiCo consoles and the increased detail to the room,” summed Cobb. “I have to also say that the consoles—coupled with the L-Acoustics DV-Dosc 4-way stereo array system—offered a sound quality that was simply amazing in our intimate theater.”

DiGiCo

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Monday, January 30, 2012

Compact iLive Selected For Stripped Down Rodrigo Y Gabriella Tour

Internationally renowned guitar duo, Rodrigo Y Gabriella, recently embarked on their EU tour, cutting out the big production and stripping back to just two people and two guitars. Performing in a handful of intimate venues across Europe, the tour also carried a compact Allen & Heath iLive digital system, comprising the iDR-16 MixRack and iLive-R72 rackmount Control Surface, with a Dante audio interface card for virtual soundcheck.

“We kept all the gear down to just what we could carry,” comments production manager, Mike Taylor. “You might think that two guitarists can’t need much but we didn’t want to compromise quality just because we had to fly from venue to venue. Both Rodrigo and Gabriella have two set-ups each - a full electric and an acoustic - so in reality we are taking 4 guitar rigs. We are carrying a total of 9 cases of guitars and production equipment, plus luggage, so ‘small’’ was the watch word for this tour. Allen & Heath has nailed it with this iLive system - there is absolutely no compromise, not even slightly!”

As well as being compact, FOH engineer, David Marchant, also wanted a desk that he could call on at a moment’s notice, and supplement what was in-house.

“Rodrigo and Gabriela are extremely high energy and dynamic. We needed a small desk with a big desk capability and we certainly found that in the iLive-R72,” explains Taylor. “We have been turning up at venues and putting our small desk next to these big format analogue consoles and hearing a few sniggers from the local crew but that all stops the second the sound kicks in!”

We managed monitors and FOH from the same console, and also a number of matrix outputs for additional areas. Using inputs and outputs on both the Surface and MixRack we were able to adapt to everything the venues threw at us,” he concludes.

Rodrigo Y Gabriella will return to Europe and on to the US in 2012 with their project “C.U.B.A”, performing all of their hits with a full Cuban band.

Allen & Heath

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New Wave Entertainment Utilizes Fairlight EVO and Xynergi Consoles

Supporting New Wave Entertainment in its content production for creative marketing campaigns and original TV programming is Fairlight’s EVO and Xynergi consoles.

New Wave Entertainment, located in Burbank, California, specializes in the creation of content, which spans the realm of creative marketing for TV networks and major motion picture studios to original TV programming. Their work has supported campaigns for blockbuster movies such as Avatar, Harry Potter, The Hangover Part 2, Happy Feet Two, and Alvin and the Chipmunks. Some of their recent TV promo work includes a spot for “The Ellen Degeneres Show” which was awarded a Creative Emmy, and a TV launch campaign for “Extra.”

New Wave Entertainment has five production suites, each with Fairlight’s EVO console. One room hosts the Xynergi console with a sidecar, adding tactile mixing controls. That elevates the traditional console-like hardware interface on the Xynergi platform to a full range of audio production capabilities from recording, editing and mixing. With limited space, the, the compact digital consoles of Fairlight provide the luxury of additional rack space.

A majority of the work New Wave tackles is on-air marketing, including television spots and theatrical trailers. They also do a large amount of Blu-ray Features & Menu Design, Broadcast Design, Mobile Content and 3D Modeling and Animation, which has been enabled by the flexibility of Fairlight consoles.

According to Mark Rodrigues, Chief Engineer and Senior Mixer for New Wave Entertainment, “The biggest selling point for us is the new dual video track, allowing us to work with 3D video. As 3D advances, the Fairlight systems give us the chance to evolve as well. The dual track helps us recognize the changes being made as many eyes are constantly viewing the content and adding input.”

“The presentation of the video track makes it extremely easy to follow. The ability to take video sections from one spot and string together a bunch of segments with the added option to edit with sound included is fantastic,” Rodrigues added.

With five suites each working on the same project, New Wave can do 20 spots and convert them to 10 different versions for different broadcasts quickly. Everyone can mix the same way with default settings for standards and compression, and simply add in their changes, which helps Rodrigues to take on the substantial number of projects that they do. “A project can be posted on a FTP site and we can be ready to mix and edit it within seconds.”

For Rodrigues, the drag and drop conversion process helps to save time and energy and allows workflow to stay constant. He notes, “Quicktime support is very valuable to us since most of our approval isn’t done in-house. It’s great to send short clips and have our clients understand what we are working on and they can give their input as well. We can change the frame rate and merge different files together without a worry.”

Rodrigues says one feature he enjoys is the ability of Fairlight to have full support of native plug-ins wherever you need it. “We use it on a daily basis for surround mixing and dialogue cleaning, and it has enhanced the process of editing.”

“I’ve always loved the sound with Fairlight consoles,” adds Rodrigues. “They have a warmth that other systems lack. Everything has worked out extremely well and we are happy with everything that Fairlight offers from the speed of workflow to the support that they have given us to help us meet the needs of our clients.”

Fairlight

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

PreSonus StudioLive Mixers Now Outfitted With Smaart System Analysis Tools

PreSonus has begun incorporating Rational Acoustics Smaart Measurement Technology directly into the software used to control its StudioLive digital mixers.

PreSonus Virtual StudioLive (VSL) remote-control/editor/librarian software will now incorporate Smaart Spectra and Smaart Locator, powerful tools for sound-system analysis and optimization, as part of PreSonus Universal Control 1.6, expected to be available later this spring.

Smaart is not a single technology but an evolved collection of audio measurement tools and techniques. Using Smaart technology, users can tap into the power of the StudioLive mixer’s EQ to improve the sound of their system.

With Smaart-enhanced VSL users can view the spectral content of their mix in real time, and easily make changes.

Clicking on the Graphic Equalizer button in Universal Control 1.6, Smaart Spectra’s Real Time Analyzer activates Spectrograph’s algorithms, displaying the spectral content of whatever is routed though a particular graphic EQ.

Users can also activate a Real Time Analyzer, much like the plug-in used in PreSonus’ Studio One 2.

In addition, the Smaart Spectra Spectrograph display can help to precisely identify feedback frequencies, enabling even less experienced users to more easily tune their loudspeakers to the room.

Smaart Spectra graphs a continuous series of spectrum measurements, showing frequency on one axis, time on another, and level indicated by colors - making it particularly useful for quickly identifying feedback frequencies, which can be easily addressed using StudioLive GEQs.

“This is just the start of a beautiful relationship - PreSonus products are about to get a lot Smaarter,” says PreSonus chief technology officer Bob Tudor. “This is the real thing, trusted by acousticians and live sound engineers the world over. We’re thrilled to be incorporating Smaart Spectra and Smaart Locator into Virtual StudioLive.”

PreSonus

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Jackson Rancheria Casino Upgrades To Yamaha Digital Consoles

GJM Sound and Lighting of Placerville, CA recently installed a sound and lighting system for the Jackson (California) Rancheria Casino ballroom that is used as its indoor concert hall, and it is also designed for use with the casino’s outdoor event center.

Owned and operated by the Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwok Indians, the ballroom concert venue seats approximately 600, while the outdoor venue seats 1,000. Both venues offer a variety of entertainment for their guests from rock and blues bands, to reggae and jazz, as well as comedy acts.

“The casino wanted to go digital for both front of house and monitor consoles and were sold on the Yamaha M7CL-48ES and LS9 digital consoles working together as a team,” states Greg Mace, owner of GJM Sound and Lighting. “The ES version of the M7CL was chosen because it is a more cost effective and convenient solution than having to purchase and install a splitter for an analog snake.”

The Yamaha M7CL is used primarily as the casino’s front of house console, and the Yamaha LS9 console is used in the “crows nest” which is located in the a/v booth overlooking the entire casino ballroom.

The LS9 is also used for front of house when events require a smaller amount of channels; for example, presentations, speeches, or comedy acts.

Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems

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Church Sound: Building A Simple Box To Add Two Mixing Boards Together

A device to combine all of the functions of two mixing boards to feed graphic equalizers and crossovers

 
We’ve all been in a fix from time to time when we needed to sum two audio signals into one.

Much of the time, we need to convert a stereo signal into mono.

The other situation is typically when you need to add the outputs of two mixing boards together, summing the left, right, effects and monitor outputs into common lines so that two boards act as one large mixer.

For a church situation it could be that you need to add a “side-car” console beside your main mixing board so you can plug in another eight mics for the youth Christmas show, or perhaps add a temporary console to handle wireless mic inputs for your Passion Play.

The quick but incorrect fix is to plug everything together with “Y” cords from Radio Shack, jamming two outputs into one with typically disastrous results. If the output drivers of the gear to be summed have build-out resistors, sometimes this will work.

But most semi-pro and pro audio gear is designed around a 600-ohm output stage. If you attempt to combine most pieces of gear this way, bad things can happen, the simplest being a large signal imbalance between the two pieces of equipment.

In some cases severe oscillations and signal distortion will result, with possible circuit failure. Yes, you can blow up the outputs of a mixing board this way, so don’t use simple Y-cables to combine them.

Mackie used to sell a very nice active bus mixer called Mixer Mixer, which did individual buffering and allowed for master volume controls to be added where desired. But that’s been a decade or more so don’t be looking on Craig’s List for Mixer Mixer.

Time to build your own. My original Bus’tr I built back in 1990 isn’t quite so fancy: I designed it into fit in an aluminum project box with 1/4-inch phone jacks and 680-ohm build-out resistors. To use it, you just hook the outputs of anything you want to mix together into two of the jacks, and the signal comes out the third jack, simple as that.

You can modify Bus’tr to sum as many separate channels as you like, from two to dozens of buses are possible. Don’t try to make it something its not. By modifying it to allow more than two signals to be summed into a common output, the losses become too great very quickly.

I usually build my own Bus’tr boxes with eight sets of inputs, allowing me to combine all of the functions of two mixing boards to feed my graphic equalizers and crossovers. There will be a 3 dB insertion loss the two boards because of the passive summing, but normally you’ve got lots of extra signal, so losing a little output won’t hurt you a bit.

Notice that all three jacks have a build-out resistor, allowing any two jacks to act as an input. Also, since this is a purely passive circuit, you can use this box to route a single channel into two outputs, while adding 680 ohms in line. This won’t affect the signal at all, except under some conditions of very long line runs.

You can substitute RCA jacks for the 1/4-inch jacks if desired, just be sure that the equipment you’re hooking together is rated at 600 ohm or less output impedance. Higher impedances can be made to work by substituting a large resistor value, but I’ve never encountered a modern piece of musical gear where this is necessary.

Also, if you want to keep your signal balanced using TRS (Tip Ring Sleeve) or even XLR jacks, all you need to do is duplicate the same resistor trio on the “Ring” circuits for TRS or Cold-minus (pin 3) on XLR circuits.

The actual value of the summing resistors isn’t too critical, with anything from 220 ohms to 1,000 ohms probably working just fine (just keep all three resistors in a stack equal) and even 1/8 watt resistors should work just fine.

You can find resistors like these in five-packs for a buck or two at Radio Shack or Allied Electronics, so even without raiding your junk box,

Bus’tr only costs about $5 a channel in parts to build, so this is a cheap and easy project. A fancy Bus’tr in a nice aluminum case shouldn’t set you back more than a couple of Jacksons.

I always keep Bus’tr handy in my gig box for those times when I’ve got to hook up a second mixing board in an emergency, feed a press mult when I don’t have an extra output on the board, or simply make stereo into mono for a delay stack, and it has never let me down.

There are no batteries to wear out, no possibility of overloading active circuits with excessive signal levels and no induced noise.

Plus it’s cheap to build. What’s not to like?

Mike Sokol works with the HOW-TO ASSIST Tour (Academy of Sound System Integration, Setup & Troubleshooting) which provides sound and electrical contractors and sound system installers with the best possible training on how to setup, integrate and troubleshoot live sound systems of any size. Find out more here.

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Peavey Debuts New PVi 8500 & PVi 6500 Powered Mixers

At the NAMM 2012 Show, Peavey Electronics introduced the new PVi 8500 and PVi 6500, both 400-watt powered mixers that combine staples of the company’s proprietary technologies with modern amenities such as an input dock for iPhone and iPod.

Eight combination XLR and 1/4-inch inputs (six on the PVi 6500) based on proprietary high-quality, low-noise Silencer mic preamps provide versatility and clear audio reproduction, while proprietary Mid-Morph EQ control improves the tone and clarity of vocals and complements the low and high EQ bands by boosting high-mids or cutting low-mids.

Both models feature a 9-band graphic EQ that is assignable to the main or monitor output as well as the patented FLS Feedback Locating System, which makes accurate feedback elimination simple and intuitive.

Kosmos-C technology provides spectrum enhancement to both the low and high end of the frequency range, while the foot-switchable 24-bit digital effects section includes multiple varieties of rich, highly detailed reverb and delay.

Dual power amplifiers provide 400 watts total, with independent level control and parallel (main and monitor outputs) or stereo (both amps on main output) operation. Users can connect virtually any audio device to this versatile mixer via the onboard 1/4-inch, RCA and 1/8-inch mini jacks.

Features:
—400 watts (dual 200W power sections, assignable with independent control)
—Eight input channels (PVi 8500) or six input channels (PVi 6500)
—Patented FLS Feedback Locating System
—Exclusive Mid-Morph EQ
—Onboard 24-bit digital effects
—Combination XLR and 1/4-inch input jacks
—Selectable 9-Band Graphic EQ for Mains or Monitors
—Patented Kosmos-C low frequency and spectrum enhancement system
—Master Mute
—Phantom Power
—Foot-switchable effects defeat and Master Mute
—Input dock for iPod and iPhone devices
—RCA and 1/8-inch media input
—RCA record output
—LED Meter bridge
—Power amp subsonic filtering
—25 pounds (11 kg) for both models
—U.S. MSRP $399.99 (PVi 8500); $329.99 (PVi 6500)

The Peavey PVi 8500 and PVi 6500 will be available in Q3 2012 from authorized Peavey retailers.

Peavey Electronics

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DiGiCo SD9 Sees Constant Use By Dutch Company Soundlink

Soundlink, a Dutch audio company which added a DiGiCo SD9 digital console about 18 months ago, reports that the board has been in constant use since joining the inventory.

Owned by Bas Jansen, Floris Roelfzema and Hugo van Meijeren, Soundlink is based near the town of Roden, just west of Groningen. After five years of providing sound reinforcement as a hobby, in 2008 they turned Soundlink into a full-time business.

“In the summer of 2010 we were in the market for buying a new analog console and multicore,” says van Meijeren. “We contacted TM Audio in Utrecht and they suggested that we look at digital consoles because of the advantages in size, weight, the convenience of a fiber optic multicore and the many other possibilities that digital consoles offer.

“Although we are a relatively small company, we’ve always had high standards. After looking at all the available options, we agreed to do a side-by-side comparison between the DiGiCo SD9 and one other digital console. Once we had done the comparison, we all felt the SD9 was the best option. It is very user-friendly - it’s really easy to understand if you’re used to an analogue console - and the audio quality is excellent. Within a few days of the test we contacted Martijn Verkerk at TM Audio to order an SD9.”

A year and a half later, the SD9 has been used by Soundlink on every show where more than 20 inputs are required.

“We use the SD9 on a lot of our smaller shows, where an analog console would be impractical because of its size and the requirement for outboard gear,” says van Meijeren.

Recent examples have included one of the many stages throughout Groningen at Groningens Ontzet, a celebration of the Dutch victory at the city’s siege in 1672; Rodermarkt, a festival in Roden which begins with an open air concert, and the two-day Christmas in Harmony, a festive show with orchestra, choir and rock band.

“We also do a lot of community and amateur theatre,” adds van Meijeren. “We will be using the SD9 next summer for one of the largest open-air plays in the northern part of the Netherlands. This takes place over three days and needs around 20 radio microphones for speech and live music. The ability to use snapshots on the SD9 comes in very handy to do these kinds of shows.”

DiGiCo

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