This post grew out of a breakout session at a Willow Creek Arts Conference a few years ago.
The session was titled “Thriving at Front of House,” and speakers included Robert Scovill, Chris Gille and Scott Ragsdale. I give Scovi credit in advance for much of the content herein.
As usual, it will be interspersed with my thoughts and commentary.
I hear from younger sound guys (an occasionally older ones) that they don’t get no respect (with apologies to Mr. Dangerfield) from musicians, their pastor or the church leadership.
Sometimes that’s due to ignorance or egos, but sometimes it’s because the engineer in question (brace yourself for some potentially hard words here) doesn’t deserve the respect he or she things is due.
With the incendiary comments out of the way, let’s unpack that.
Scovill talked a lot about your “Credibility Score.” That looks a lot like credit score and it’s something you should take just as seriously. He talked about some guys who are consistently able to get gigs that they may not be the best qualified for simply because they built up such a reputation for being credible.
Others manage to keep gigs they shouldn’t based strictly on talent because they are credible. Just like a credit score, you earn points for consistently being prepared and staying ahead of the game. The more you do that, the higher your score. Then when you need to speak truth into a situation, people will listen to you. If you come off like a know-it-all punk, well, you know the reaction.
Here’s the deal: We teach people how to treat us. It seems counter-intuitive, right? We all know that we like to be treated with respect. However, we often teach people that we are not worthy of respect because of the way we behave. If we are consistently late, or don’t fix problems quickly or are unprepared, others won’t take us seriously—mainly because we don’t take our own role seriously!
You’ve heard it said, “God is in the details,” so why do we get so lax about doing sound in church because, “It’s only church?” This is entirely the wrong attitude! Our church gigs should be our best gigs because they’re for the King of Kings.
Texting when you should be mixing won’t help win points with the worship team. Making the band wait while you figure out which mic to plug into which channel won’t endear you to the band leader. Updating your Facebook status while the pastors mic is ringing will not set you up as a credible authority on live sound.
Now with this food for thought laid out there for feasting, let’s look at specific ways we can raise our credibility score.
Picking up from where we left off yesterday, let’s figure out how to raise your credibility score.
Following even a few of these ideas will go a long way in making your life easier at front of house.
The worship leader and band will respect you more and it may even make you more popular with the ladies (or maybe not…).
Let’s consider a few specific things that you can do to raise your credibility score.
Always be the first one there. If you’re early, you’re on time; if you’re on time, you’re late. Being there early gives you the chance to pre-set the stage, and get as much wired ahead of time as possible.
Doing this will make sure the musicians aren’t waiting around for you to get ready. No one likes having their time wasted, and seeing you prepared and ready for them will deposit some valuable currency in your bank (I’m speaking metaphorically here…).
Strive to be a communicator. Being a front of house engineer is a lot more than just mixing. You need to be able to speak the language of musicians, worship leaders and even administrators.
If you try to tell church leadership that the reason the sound is bad is because “the Rev 60 time is like, 3.5 seconds, and the mains are behind the front fills by 45 milliseconds and the subs are out of phase with respect to the mains,” you’re likely to encounter a glaze thicker than that on a Honey-baked ham.
If the worship leader informs you that there will be a guitar solo four bars into the bridge and you think a bar is where the “sinners” are instead of at church and a bridge gets you across a body of water, you’re in deep weeds.
Sometimes, the best way to fix a musician’s monitor mix is to go up on stage and stand next to him (or her) and engage them, finding out what they are hearing and what they need to hear instead. As you listen to them talk, and to the mix, you should be able to figure out how to fix it. Sometimes simply the act of caring will solve the problem.
Be accountable—own your mistakes. Let’s get this out on the table right now: We all make mistakes. I’ve mixed hundreds of services and I still occasionally hit the wrong button and unmute the wrong channel. At the debrief, the worst thing you can do is pretend the pastor’s mic wasn’t on (because they will likely start fumbling for it when they realize they’re not on).
The best response is to say, “Oh, that was totally my bad. Sorry about that.” That will pay huge dividends; especially when the pastor does walk on stage with their pack off.
Avoid making decisions that are driven purely by criticism. If you have a good mix going, don’t turn the guitar down just because someone walks up and says it’s too loud. Take pride in what you do. We are artists, just as much as everyone on stage is an artist. Listen to the criticism, but you don’t always have to react to it.
Develop into a detail-oriented pro. This is one of my favorites because I’m such a detail freak. Make up stage plots and input lists—ahead of time. Make sure the wireless gear is full of fresh batteries when everyone gets there. Pay attention to the way the worship leader likes their mic stand and set it that way every time. Take notes during rehearsal and hit your cues.
Finally, bringing up the guitar just as he finishes his solo (because you forgot there was a solo and you couldn’t find the right fader fast enough) will not score points. Forgetting to open the video channel for the video roll is not a way to impress the video team (or anyone else). If you take what you’re are doing seriously, people will take you seriously.
Mix like a pro, listen like a fan. I’ve never thought quite in these terms before, but I’m indebted to Scovill for this phrase. Once you get your mix put together, go out in the house and listen. If you were a fan of this band, would you like the mix? Does it make you want to stand up and say “Yeah!” If not, get back to work. Of course, if the band isn’t very good… well, that’s another post.
So there you have a few ideas on how to raise your credibility score. Again props to Robert Scovill for the basic concept of this post. Thank you sir for sharing your wisdom…
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.
What makes a live recording sound live? The audience, of course.
A live recording is all about the energy of the event, and that energy comes from the crowd, so some real thought has to be given as to how it’s captured.
Just setting up some microphones haphazardly usually produces less-than-desired results.
To avoid that scenario, let’s have a look at some proven mic techniques for live recording.
First, it can be tempting to use approaches that engineers recording classical music deploy, such as spaced pairs, X/Y, ORTF and Blumlien.
Figure 1: Center hall position.
What they’re trying to do is capture the ambience of the environment and a “perfect” stereo image, but our primary concern is capturing the audience.
Note that these are two different beasts and have to be handled that way.
Sure, capturing some of the ambience is essential to a great sounding live recording, but it will come as a byproduct of a well-mic’ed audience, so it’s not important to worry about it until the primary mission is accomplished.
Audience mic’ing is a situation for omnidirectional mics if you have any, but never underestimate the value of a couple of short-scale shotgun mics.
Figure 2: Mono center hall position.
These are especially useful because they help to attenuate the intimate conversations from the crowd that happen around where the mic is placed.
In you don’t have the option of either an omni or short shotgun, make sure that the mics that you do utilize are identical models. Also, don’t forget to engage the low-frequency rolloff switch if the mic has one.
Simple Methods
More often than we would like, we need to record some audience tracks but don’t have anything special in the way of mics or any time to experiment.
Figure 3: Omnidirectional mics hung from ceiling.
Here are some quick ways to get you in the ballpark in smaller venues like clubs. Keep in mind that the larger the venue, the more care and mic coverage is required.
Simple method 1: Place a pair of identical mics at about the halfway point between the edge of the stage and the back wall of the venue. Make sure that the mics are placed at least 3 feet above the audience.
The higher the mics reside over the audience, the better, but if it’s a club with a low ceiling, it’s better to seek placement closer to the audience to avoid ceiling reflections that can impact quality.
Figure 4: Front hall position.
Start with the mics facing directly at one another across the audience as in Figure 1, then aim them both down towards - but not exactly at - the middle of the audience.
Simple method 2: For mono tracks, splay the mics off access, as shown in Figure 2. This configuration produces fuller sound in mono, but will result in a stereo track that’s off balance because one mic is pointed more toward the stage and house system than the other.
Simple method 3: At about the middle of the venue, fly a couple of mics from the ceiling, pointing directly down and hanging by their connectors, as shown in Figure 3. Many clubs use this for more permanent audience mic placement, but it works temporarily as well, assuming flying the mics isn’t too complicated.
Be sure to hang each mic the same distance from the stage as the other to keep the stereo image balanced. This approach is where omnidirectional mics can come in handy.
Advanced Methods
Let’s up our game a bit, and note that the following techniques can be used either by themselves or in combinations for best audience coverage.
Front hall: Directly in front of the stage, place two identical mics between the house system loudspeakers, pointed at the middle of the room, as shown in Figure 4 .
The trick is to find the null point in the loudspeakers, where in general you can hear them the least, and low frequencies in particular are at their weakest.
As a variation, use two mics pointed towards the center, and two more mics pointed towards the side.
Figure 5: Backline position.
This technique works great when you just can’t find anywhere secure to place mics in the crowd. And, if there’s a balcony, aim the mics at the farthest seat instead of the middle of the room.
Backline: Placing mics on the backline of the stage provides a great drum sound (not that you’re really looking for one), but more importantly for live recording, it also results in a great audience sound.
Place these on tall stands on the back of the stage pointing at the back of the singers(s) heads, as shown in Figure 5.
Rear hall: In cases where you’re already using the front hall or backline configurations, a pair of rear hall mics is usually needed as well.
Figure 6: Rear hall position.
Place these mics forward looking at the stage and 6 feet or so from the rear wall and/or corner of the venue so they don’t pick up any unwanted reflections, as shown in Figure 6.
At The Console
Sometimes the easiest place to put audience mics is at the front of house console, especially in a large venue.
Assuming that you’re set up in the middle of the audience and not under a balcony or some other obstruction, locate four mics (preferably shotguns) at the corners of the mix position, as shown in Figure 7.
The front two mics should aim toward the front of the house. just in front of the PA stacks, while the rear mics should point at deep house left and right – in other words, towards the corners of the venue.
Figure 7: Mics at the console position.
This approach works great by itself, and even better with the addition of front hall or backline mics.
Further, any combination of any of these methods that cover the front, rear and middle of the audience present not only a lot of options for great audience coverage, but for capturing some really nice ambience as well (Figure 8).
Keep in mind that when using multiple pairs of mics, it’s best to record them on multiple stereo tracks to keep your variations open during mixing.
Figure 8: Mics at multiple positions.
The Great Outdoors
Mic’ing a crowd outdoors poses a different set of circumstances in comparison to the indoor experience. For one thing, placement is usually a lot more difficult, with fewer options for hanging mics.
In addition, the ambience of the venue is lessened, so you usually need to resort to using more mics as a result. And don’t forget the windscreens, because nothing makes a track unusable like wind blasting across the mic capsules.
Next time I’ll discuss the pros and cons of using a DAW for live recording.
Bobby Owsinski is a veteran audio professional and the author of several books about live and recorded sound.
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What’s In A Title? An Audio System Engineer By Any Other Name…
In it’s most distilled form, this is work about working diligently to live up to the definition of a true professional
“Audio System Engineer” - has a nice ring to it, eh? Very official sounding.
Not so very long ago there was a controversy about this title. I believe the crux of the argument revolved around the use of the label “engineer” when there was no college degree earned. But like most things, this too did pass.
What’s in a name anyway? The Audio Engineering Society (AES) has accepted me as member since 1978, and if it works for them, it works for me! (Nope – I don’t hold a college degree in engineering, or any other discipline for that matter.)
To me, an engineer is someone who has come to intimately understand the workings of a given technology along with its idiosyncrasies. This knowledge and experience is then used in a practical application of the technology toward a (hopefully) successful outcome.
I guess most of us just call ourselves whatever we want until the “Job Title Police” show up. I kind of like the sound of Audio System Engineer. And after 28 years of hard knocks, maybe I feel like I’m due.
But what, exactly or thereabout, does an Audio System Engineer do? Most folks have their own concept about the nature of my job and think it’s a pretty cool way to earn a living - road trips with rock stars, dining on catered meals and staying in nice hotels. (Hey, that does sound like fun. Sign me up!)
The part that goes overlooked is the tremendous amount of effort and responsibility involved, the too-numerous-to-count 12- to 16-hour days of sweat, grind and problem solving. At the same time, there’s nothing quite as rewarding as working at something you truly enjoy. In this regard, I’m blessed.
Getting back to the job title discussion, I’ve recently formulated a new one: ASE, pronounced “ace” as in spades and short for Audio System Engineer. Acronym titles are very cool and trendy, plus this one makes it sound like maybe I shot down a rogue lighting guy or two along the way.
Now that I’ve defined a new title, on to the important stuff. As in the definition of this lofty profession, at least as I see it.
A good ASE will understand many interrelated entertainment industry technologies, and how to utilize them together. Success is measured in the audible results of a performance, and perhaps the efficiency of the installation and striking of the equipment.
The objective is fairly straightforward: To provide the person mixing sound with the tools needed to excel at that craft. To accomplish this, there must be an audio system appropriate for the application, optimized for performance, installed properly and safely, and delivering the desired outcome. Oh, and without malfunction.
The caveat: the ASE should never expect to garner praise for these efforts. The person behind the console will be the hero. Mixers with a real understanding and appreciation of the system work will, on occasion, deliver kudos. Regardless, the ASE must be a good team player, taking satisfaction for things vital yet often taken for granted by most.
What about those “interrelated technologies” anyway? Like job titles, this terminology sounds a bit on the high falutin’ side. Yet any ASE worth anything knows exactly what I’m talking about.
Flying Circus
Let’s start with rigging. To understand rigging is to recognize how the arrangement of the individual audio components making up each chain motor point interacts with the stresses placed on those components. It’s very easy to put large loads on the rigging system. even while hanging only moderate weight – if one does not have knowledge about how it works.
The angles between the steel cables making up bridals are a very important variable in the rigging equation of load and tension. As bridal points get farther apart for a given leg length, those legs get flatter and flatter toward horizontal. The tension in those legs goes up exponentially! Any bridals that contain flat bridal legs should raise a red flag.
The key is knowing exactly what the angle of the cable is, and the weight of the load being hung, in order to calculate the tension being created along the steel cable leg (generally the weakest link). This, in comparison to the weight rating of the steel.
There are many ways to skin a cat (or fly a rig), but a good rigger will always find a safe way to hang the load. Or it will not be hung. In my role as ASE, when I see things I perceive as dangerous, I ask the rigger about it. If a satisfactory answer is lacking, you’re probably in trouble and must carefully consider your next move.
Riggers traveling with touring shows are generally very knowledgeable and do a good job of overseeing the local guys at each tour stop. If working on a regional or local level, even more caution should be taken to observe what is happening with the steel during load in.
Rigging hardware must be in good working order and used properly to safely perform its function. There must be awareness of the real world limits of all of the elements involved when hanging thousands of pounds over people’s heads.
Mind you, understanding these concepts doesn’t make me a rigger. They must have a much deeper understanding of their craft and an ability to do solid math in their heads fluidly each morning while running around a venue floor and yelling to their brothers in the ceiling.
But a good ASE will understand the basic concepts, to the point of being able to look up at the rig and recognize if there’s a potential for a problem. Most riggers are human, like the rest of us, and are glad to explain if something is troubling.
Power Play
The AC power provided at the venue is the energy that makes all things electronic happen. Regardless of the power distribution scheme, there will be a number of connections and should be safety devices in place to insure that every piece of gear gets the energy to operate safely and efficiently. All of these elements scale accordingly to the electrical load.
An ASE will always make sure that the connections to the building disconnect are made properly by the local electrician. I always tell the electrician the power configuration I need, and try to get a feel as to whether the electrician knows what I’m talking about.
I also let them know that I’ll be returning to evaluate their work, even tugging on all connections before the system is energized. This approach lets them know I expect everything to be shipshape for my check-up.
I also follow the feeder cables and check the connections. Stagehands sometimes neglect to turn cam-loc connectors completely to lock them, and more than once, I’ve found connector colors crossed up, which is common when working in the shadows under a stage.
Returning to the disconnect I tug on the wires, being sure to check the screw that attaches the ground lug to the panel chassis by pulling sideways a bit. If everything looks good, I’ll energize the system and check the voltage before connecting any gear to it.
While sound systems don’t appear to be power mongers like lighting rigs, there must be ample headroom to allow for dynamics in the music, providing amplifiers the ability to reproduce very high transients without clipping. Ask well in advance for adequate AC capacity.
A well-designed power distribution system will contain large feeder cables to handle this capacity and the means to distribute and balance the load on the service to achieve efficiency.
All Around Us
Understanding the interaction of a sound system with its surrounding space is one of the most challenging aspects of being the ASE. A bad room can take a well-designed rig and make it sound like… well, you know.
Most of the newer loudspeaker designs do a pretty good job of evenly distributing mid- and high-frequency energy. Line arrays, with their predictable coverage, have been nothing short of a revolution. Software programs now accurately predict sound pressure levels throughout the audience area.
Bass frequencies can be another thing altogether, however. Particularly in larger rooms, the biggest challenge is often getting a smooth low-end response.
Big rooms often have resonances based on room dimensions - if the ASE can determine the problem frequencies ,and notch two or three of these out of the response, the bottom end tends to clean up, usually leading to everything sounding better.
Reflections can also be a problem. Many times a scoreboard will be in exactly the wrong place for a sound system. The first move of a traveling ASE is often to talk with venue management to get a scoreboard trimmed out of the way as much as possible.
There are various workarounds to this dilemma as well, such as deactivating compression drivers impacted by the scoreboard, along with deploying loudspeakers on delay to bolster coverage to affected regions.
A good alternative is carrying a small curtain truss to mask this object. A couple of chain motors and some 12-inch truss with soft goods is not a high price to pay for successful audio performance. Your clients will appreciate the attention to detail.
Doing Homework
Today’s ASE must be well educated about the various electronic components scattered throughout a sound system. Either acquire and carry manuals for all pieces, or make other arrangements to have access to this information.
Many manuals are now available in PDF format, and an average computer can carry thousands of these files without a problem. Most are also posted on-line at manufacturer web sites. Some manuals are good, some not so hot, but even a little information is always better than none.
An ASE also uses downtime to do homework, being diligent in learning as much about every piece of gear prior to a gig and/or going on tour. The time for questions is as soon as possible, not an hour before show time.
While an ASE should be able to solder and make minor equipment repairs, it’s difficult to become a truly qualified repairperson. In my view, it’s far more important to have a work-around for failing components than it is to diagnose and repair them on site.
Besides, having spare components in the racks is standard operating procedure for all good sound providers. Be sure these spares are indeed included before hitting the road, and further, they should be ready to use by having an assortment of interface options and the necessary tools to circumvent the defective equipment in short order.
The Point
There you have it. Only there’s so much more to being an ASE that’s of true service and benefit to everyone else involved with a production.
I’ve covered a lot of ground here, in general and rather large swaths. My point is to make a point: this is serious work, there is a lot to know, every show is different and one must be able to adapt to survive.
But the underlying message is that this work goes beyond trivial job titles and patronizing slaps on the back that may or may not even be deserved. In it’s most distilled form, this is work about working diligently to live up to the definition of a true professional.
Dan Laveglia has worked as an ASE for more than 30 years, working with a wide variety of tours, larger and smaller.
Lexicon LXP Native Reverb Plug-In Bundle Provides A World of Sounds For Simone Giuliani
Simone Giuliani is a film and TV composer, music producer, orchestrator and keyboard player born in Florence, Italy, based in Manhattan and inspired by music from all over the world.
“I have been interested in Lexicon products going back to 1992 when I was recording and producing an album in Florence with Funkareem, my band at the time,” said Giuliani. “At that time, I first heard the Lexicon 480L digital effects system and fell in love with it.”
“My good friend, bassist Amanda Ruzza told me about the LXP Native Reverb and when I tried it I instantly knew I had to add it to my studio arsenal,” explains Giuliani. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Lexicon’s ability to maintain a very special sonic flavor for their products throughout the years. The sonic texture of their reverb units has always been unique.”
Giuliani is using a Mac Pro 8-core Intel Xeon desktop running Logic and Pro Tools. “The Lexicon LXP works like a charm in this setup.”
Currently Giuliani is working on recording and producing Sambismo, a contemporary vision of Brazilian music with Zé Luis Oliveira (Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil) and Béco Dranoff (Bebel Gilberto, Red Hot + Rio).
“A top-line roster of guest artists like the one we have on this project can only deserve the best I can give them, and the LXP Native Reverb is an obvious choice for this production. It gives me a selection of those warm, uniquely lush Lexicon reverbs that perfectly complement male and female vocals and a wide variety of instruments.”
Giuliani co-wrote the soundtrack for Vice magazine’s documentary “TOXIC: Amazon” with Guilherme Monteiro of Forro in the Dark, a New York-based collective of Brazilian expatriate musicians. “I used the LXP Native Reverb on all of Guilherme’s acoustic guitar parts and the results were excellent, perfectly complementing his beautiful tone and skillful playing with stunning ambience and depth.”
“I get to work with musicians from all over the world in my projects – for example, I’m now scoring a beautiful Italian movie by director Fabio Mollo and for the occasion I will be working with musicians from different parts of the world; I’m thrilled at the chance to try out the LXP on such a different variety of instruments.”
Giuliani feels that every plug-in has a different flavor and its own reason to exist and the Lexicon LXP remains one of his favorite choices because of its versatility, regardless of the project he’s working on.
“No matter what style of music or approach I take when I’m working on a project,” Giuliani concluded, “it always feels good being able to count on such a solid effects plug-in like the Lexicon LXP Native Reverb.”
The Lexicon LXP Native Reverb Plug-In Bundle is designed to work with popular DAWs like Pro Tools and Logic, as well as with any other VST, Audio Unit or RTAS-compatible host. PC- and Macintosh-compatible, it offers four of Lexicon’s most renowned algorithms – Chamber, Hall, Plate and Room – plus 220 finely crafted studio presets. Its intuitive user interface provides easy access to key parameters, with a graphical real-time full-color display.
Brussels-based Studio La Buanderie has recently installed a 16-channel API 1608 – a console that its owner and engineer, Pieter Apers, calls, “the holy grail in recording.”
Apers purchased the fully-analog console through API dealer Amptec, who is credited with quickly bringing multiple 1608 consoles into Belgium.
“I have always been an audio enthusiast, so I have known about API for a very long time,” said Apers. “But when I was choosing a console for my studio, I considered a number of alternatives.”
“To be fair, some others offer deeper DAW integration and more bells and whistles than the 1608. However, when it comes to sound and sheer build quality there is no doubt – the 1608 stands high above the others.”
Apers founded Studio La Buanderie in his home eight years ago to fulfill a longtime dream of having a comfortable space to work on his music in his home.
After discovering a passion for recording live instruments, he decided to upgrade his small digital system to a full-fledged Pro Tools rig, later adding analog outboard gear and now, the API 1608.
“I am part of the newer generation of engineers who never worked with big boards and tape. However, although I bought the 1608 only recently, I really have had an ‘aha’ experience with it,” he said. “I thought, ‘Oh, so that’s why everybody likes a console.’”
Apers records mostly jazz and acoustic music but also works within the pop-electro genre.
Since opening Studio La Buanderie, he has worked with a number of Belgian artists such as Tom Van Dyck, Tutu Puoane, Ewout Pierreux, Anja Kowalski, and Nox.
Of his new console, Apers said, “Run a mix through it with the faders flat and it’s already an eye-opener. Just look at the chassis and hefty external power supply and you know this console will do its duty for many years to come.”
The congregation will be the source of your greatest joys. They will be the source of your greatest frustrations.
Guess what? That’s the way it should be.
All of your work, from mixing to microphone placement, centers on giving to the congregation.
There are two areas of importance when working with (perhaps working for) the congregation:
—Meeting expectations —Understanding needs
Meeting Expectations
The congregation has expectations just like the pastor and the musicians. The problem is their expectations are unspoken. The pastor will tell you when you aren’t meeting an expectation. A congregation member will complain to friends, the pastor, or, if you are lucky, they will tell you.
There are five primary expectations of the congregation:
1. “I want a distraction-free service.” What does this mean as far as your work? It means you have microphones on when they need to be on. A person in the sanctuary chairs doesn’t want to be distracted because they didn’t hear the first sentence where he said “Turn in your bibles to Psalm 27.” It means you pro-actively prevent feedback so they don’t get knocked off their seat if it were to happen. It means you do everything possible so they stay focused on the pastor, the music, or whatever else is going on at the front of the church.
2l “I want to understand the pastor.” I’ve had a surprising number of people tell me they can’t understand the pastor at their church. Their common complaint is “he’s not loud enough.” However, it’s more than just volume. Referring back to the EQ process, specifically on EQ’ing for the spoken word, you can see how a person’s speaking voice can be enhanced so their words are easier to understand.
*Tip on EQ’ing the pastor’s voice; when the sanctuary is empty, playback a recording of the sermon and see how you can improve the sound using the EQ. The playback might not be exactly the same as you hear it live, but it gives you a place to start.
3. “Can I get a copy of the sermon?” People are now asking for sermon copies as soon as the service ends. In the old days, a copy of the sermon would be available the next week in the form of a cassette tape. Today, modern technology allows us to not only record the service, but have it available for download as soon as the service ends.
* Tip: Digging a bit more into sermon/service recording, make sure the recording volume is set at an appropriate level. Hardware can have controls over the volume of the incoming signal. A signal that’s too low requires the listener to crank the recording on playback. This is bad for a couple of reasons; increases noise in the output and when they stop the playback and switch to something else, they could be shocked at the sudden volume hit because they forgot to turn the volume down.
4. “This porridge is too hot. This porridge is too cold.” The story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears is a perfect illustration regarding appropriate volume levels. The congregation wants the volume “just right.” Be aware that the volume you think is right may not be best for the congregation.
*Tip: if the sound booth is in a balcony, take volume readings of the same sounds in the sound booth and then throughout the main level. Draw the sanctuary floor on graph paper and mark down your SPL meter readings. Also note the reading in the sound booth. Readings can be taken using the proper type of constant noise generator. If the booth reading is +/- 6 dB then you know you are hearing at significantly different levels than the congregation.
5. “The band should always sound good.” I’m not sure I’ve ever heard someone utter those words, but the sentiment is very much implied. This means you need to do a few things; support the musicians and the worship leader so they can play their best, you can mix your best, and provide a consistent mix.
A consistent mix is best described as the song you mixed last week sounding like the same song you mixed two months ago. You can have improvements in your mix and subtle differences but as far as the congregation is concerned, it should sound familiar.
You might be new to church audio and if that’s the case, you should expect your mixes to change each week. How then can you mix consistently? In this case, you should be improving your mix each week. In time, you will settle into mixing a consistent sound.
Understanding Needs Of The Congregation
During my college days, I spent time behind a different kind of mixing board – a radio broadcasting board. I discovered an interesting fact related to the broadcast audience. It’s this—they will call you, asking for information on everything from parade times to road closures to event locations, and they will expect you to have the answer.
In order to understand the needs of the congregation, let’s look at the needs of those radio listeners. They perceived the radio station broadcaster to be in a position of knowledge I was the one reading traffic reports, weather reports, and urgent news alerts. Doesn’t it make sense that I would know when the local Catholic church was having their spring carnival? In their minds, yes, it indeed made sense.
Working in church audio production, you are perceived to be in a position of knowledge. The presumption is that because you work directly on producing the church service that you must also know:
—The location of empty seats when people walk in at the last minute. —When it’s too warm or too cold and you have the ability to change the thermostat. —The time that any church event starts, ends, and where it takes place.
Congregational Requests
You will find people asking you a variety of questions. You will have the answers to some, but not to all. And sometimes, you just don’t have the time to answer them. For example, the service starts in 30 seconds and you need to be ready to start.
When it comes to congregational requests, I deal with them in this order:
—Answer the question if I know the answer. —Point them to people who can answer their question. —In the case of first-time visitors, I with call out to someone else or I will walk them over to someone who can help.
Be courteous and professional at all times. They might ask you a question at the worst time. No matter how bad the timing, remember you are representing the church and God so let that show through your actions.
Their Need To Vent
People need to vent their emotions. They can be upset over what the pastor said, the choice of songs, the volume of a song, or even over the smallest of mistakes. Maybe they are just having a bad day. They might even turn to you to vent. I’m an easy-going person so I tend to listen and they give some words of encouragement.
If they are upset over something regarding the audio, then you need to start asking questions. Your goal is two-fold: expressing concern over their complaint and looking for the cause of the complaint.
Consider these statements and the follow-up questions:
—The music didn’t sound right. What was it that didn’t sound right to you? Could you understand the singers? Was it a problem with the volume? —The music was too loud. Was it all of the sounds or was it a particular voice or instrument? Where were you sitting? —I couldn’t understand the pastor. Where were you sitting? Could you understand anything that was spoken by anyone during the service? How could you not understand it (was it a volume issue, was it unclear, etc). —What happened with the feedback? This is a complaint or they are just giving you a hard time. You can either explain in detail what happened or say “I made a mistake, I’m sorry about that.”
Asking questions will give you answers as to why there was a problem. If they were sitting right in front of the loudspeakers then it makes sense if they thought it was too loud.
At one church I know, people were complaining about getting headaches. It turned out there was a lot of low-end frequencies that were gathering into a part of the sanctuary. Maybe you had the guitar too loud in the mix…maybe they just don’t like the style of music. Learn what you can and change what you can.
Asking questions also shows you care.
The Joys
The joy you get from the congregation comes in a couple of ways:
—You overhear then say “the band sounded great.” You mixed the band, so take that as a huge compliment. —They tell you directly, “you did a great job today.” This usually comes after a particularly crazy service that keeps you hopping. They see that you were able to keep up with all the changes and maintain your cool. —You watch them worship. God used you to help build that mix, that sound, that feel. He used you to give the musicians what they needed. —You heard them talk about the service. In short, they kept their eyes and ears focused on the church service. Take joy in that because it means you’ve done a good job.
Summary
The congregation will be the source of your greatest joys. They will be the source of your greatest frustrations. Guess what? That’s the way it should be.
Give them what they need. Treat them with respect. And take joy in the fact they are focused on the pastor, the music, and God.
Ready to learn and laugh? Chris Huff writes about the world of church audio at Behind The Mixer. He covers everything from audio fundamentals to dealing with musicians. He can even tell you the signs the sound guy is having a mental breakdown.
Below is an interesting video of The Beatles recording one of their biggest and most iconic songs, “Hey Jude.”
The video was shot for a BBC television show called most appropriately Music.
Take note about 2:22 where you’ll see engineer Ken Scott (in the fashionable pink shirt), George Harrison and producer George Martin together in Abbey Road (actually it was still called EMI Studios at the time) Studio 2.
The real story is that what you hear on the video was almost the basic track to the song, but not quite. The film company, doing what film people do (“Don’t worry, you won’t even know we’re here”), put everyone on edge, causing Paul McCartney and George Harrison to get into a row (which is why George is in the control room instead of playing).
The next day the band took what they thought was the basic track to Trident Studios because it was the only studio in London that had an 8-track tape machine at the time, and the band wanted the extra tracks for the various overdubs to come. It seems that they had a difficult time transferring what they did at Abbey Road to 8 track, so they wound up re-cutting “Hey Jude” again and then finishing it at Trident.
There’s a lot more to the story, including how the song had to be saved at the last minute due to a giant problem, but you’ll have to wait until Ken’s memoirs are published.
The book is titled Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust and will be available for pre-order soon (publish date is June 6). In the meantime, you can read a lot more about the book by going to the Abbey Road To Ziggy Stardust website.
Bobby Owsinski is an author, producer, music industry veteran and technical consultant who has written numerous books covering all aspects of audio recording. For more information be sure to check out his website and blog.
Is There A Better Way? Thoughts On Sound System Security Measures
What if instead of trying to control everything and everyone, we instead fostered an atmosphere of freedom, learning, mentoring, encouraging, and trust?
I’m not big on physical security for audio systems. Locked sound rooms and doors. Locking rack cabinets. Security Torx screwheads. Warning signage and sticky tape threats (Do not touch this knob!).
And we’ve all seen the locking rolltop desk that covers the entire sound system.
Why do folks do this? In a word – Fear. Fear of damage. Fear of loss of control. Fear of the unknown (if someone twiddles with the knobs – they’ll totally screw up the sound for this Sunday!!!)
Yes, a sound system is a significant investment by the organization, and it’s true that its misuse by untrained personnel could result in lots of financial exposure.
But it’s also true that the sound system is not a nuclear reactor. It is not rocket science or brain surgery. Running a sound system is a lot more like driving a car. It is a skill that can be learned with some training, observation, and experience.
It drives me crazy when I go into a sound room and see pieces of masking tape attached to the mixing board, the CD player, the video camera, or other gear with threats or warnings in black magic marker. Here’s some recent examples of ones I have seen: “NEVER TOUCH,” “DO NOT MOVE,” “ASK BOB BEFORE TOUCHING THIS,” “MAKE SURE FADER IS AT 1/3.”
I have to be honest here – if your sound room contains such messages, it is an indication of bad leadership. The sound techs running the console shouldn’t need those kinds of signs because 1) they’ve been trained, and 2) they know what those knobs do and what their optimal settings should be.
Here’s a wild thought. What if instead of trying to control everything and everyone, we instead fostered an atmosphere of freedom, learning, mentoring, encouraging, and trust? What if instead of investing in security hardware, we invested in the training and development of those who have an interest? What if our book of rules, administered by the cranky head deacon or defensive facilities guy were replaced by a much smaller set of rules, such as:
1. A single sign - “We only allow trained and approved sound techs to run our system. To sign up for training, please see John Doe.”
2. A requirement - All personnel who might have reason to enter the sound booth (music director, programming guys, theater operators, drama director, techs in other disciplines, maintenance staff, musicians, singers, etc.) must first go through audio training. This models the right thing to others, gives everyone a consistent baseline of learning, and prevents “accidents” from people doing ignorant things.
What’s the best way to learn how to run a sound system? The same way you learn to do anything else! Here is a great little system described by John Maxwell in the book, Developing The Leaders Around You:
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1. I Do. You Watch. We Talk.
2. I Do. You Help. We Talk.
3. You Do. I Help. We Talk.
4. You Do. I Watch. We Talk.
Then you repeat these steps with someone else. This is how you build a team that is confident and capable.
Q: Are There Any Circumstances Where Security Hardware Is Prudent?
A: Sure. The System Processor is a part of the system that should not be adjusted except by a trusted professional. A security password or security cover is completely appropriate for this piece of gear.
Jeremy Carter is a veteran of the pro audio industry with extensive experience designing and operating church audio, video, and lighting systems. Learn more at Sound Sessions.
Sometimes You Need To Able To Dance As Good As (Or Better) Than You Mix
What can we do to sort it out, meet needs, and help them put on the best performance possible?
The venue where I serve as technical director has recently had a number of touring acts come through.
With each tour, there are always special technical requirements that the artists need, particularly in these tight economic times where few of them are able to travel with everything they need.
The last three events, the venue was responsible for providing the entire house system, and for two of them, I served as the front of house engineer.
When a tour group comes to a venue they never know what they’re going to get. Yes, the rider said six separate wireless in-ear monitor systems, but the venue only has two and is unwilling to rent any more. Yes, the rider said the PA needs to hit peaks of 110 dBA, but the installed system can only hit 95 dBA. I know, I know…
I understand this type of thing happens all of the time on tours, and I also know it must be very frustrating for touring artists.
On the venue side, I’ve seen many riders that really don’t mean much at all because they’re not specific enough. Things like “concert quality sound system required” or “adequate monitors for the band” are so open to interpretation that it’s almost comical.
I’ve also seen riders that are rife with overkill, i.e., microphone requirements that include every exotic studio mic that you can think of, the latest, greatest stadium-caliber line arrays, and so on.
In light of all of this, what can we do to sort it out, meet needs, and help them put on the best performance possible?
Learn to dance.
I’ve found that every one of the tour groups that comes through has a certain dance. It usually starts during the pre-arrival check-in by the tour manager.
Good tour managers tell you exactly what they need, and are willing to negotiate on the items that you can’t provide without renting or that just aren’t feasible (such as, if your front of house mix position is on the front edge of the balcony, moving it to the main floor may not be feasible).
The ones that are either stubborn or incompetent (and I’ve dealt with a couple who were both) either can’t tell you what they need, or are completely inflexible in their demands.
This initial engagement with the tour manager usually provides a feel for the type of dance you’re going to need to perform.
Here are some dances I’ve done over the years:
Waltz. This tour came in with 18 people crammed in on one bus. Right from the very first contact, I could tell it would be a great event for all. The tour manager was very specific about the technical needs, but also understood some of the limitations that our venue imposed.
Upon arrival, the tour manager immediately came and shook my hand. He then went over all of the details of the day, handed me a schedule, and asked for my cell phone number. He went on to say it was going to take a couple of hours to load in, so he offered to call me when all of the back line gear was in place.
Needless to say it was a great (and very smooth) day. With the extra time, I was able to program some additional lighting looks that enhanced the concert.
Mosh Pit. This was the exact opposite of the waltz. The tour manager never contacted me in advance, and when he arrived, he expressed his frustration that we only had four subwoofers—not the twelve he was used to. Note that our room seats about 1,000, and this was a contemporary Christian band - not hip-hop. To top it off, they were doing what they were calling an “acoustic tour.”
This tour manager then demanded that that the front of house position be moved. I politely told him it was not possible, and mentioned that if he had called me earlier, perhaps we could have rented a console and snake and had it on the main floor. He was not amused and made a veiled threat to pack up and go home.
All day, I had to continue to push back on things that he wanted done, including removing the brick wall compression that our system hits at around 105 dBA (the system just can’t do more that and I was not going to let their inexperienced mix guy blow stuff up!) Needless to say, it was more of a fight than a dance, and unfortunately, the event suffered because of it.
The tone the tour manager set played out in the entire crew and musicians. People were almost at each other throats and the artists didn’t even look happy to perform.
Line Dance. Much like the waltz this event ran like clockwork. As I was the going to be the front of house engineer for the event, the tour manager had contacted me in advance and offered to forward some of their music so I would be familiar with it.
When they arrived, everyone made me feel part of the team. The artists went out of the way to introduce themselves and thank me for being there. The crew asked tons of questions about the set-up, and also came up with some good solutions based on our venue’s limitations.
The entire day everyone seemed in step with each other and performing the same moves. Of course, this turned into a great event, and everyone walked away pleased.
Now, I know there are a lot more “dances” out there, and each tour has its own particular version. To me, the key is figuring out the general dance that’s going to be done as quickly as possible, and then doing my best to anticipate its rhythm and movement. In other words, based on what I learn early in the process, to be well-prepared to meet needs, adapt, improvise, negotiate, and so on.
One thing I’ve found is that it’s almost impossible to get them to change their dance, so I need to be up to speed on all of the steps.
Gary Zandstra is a professional AV systems integrator with Parkway Electric and has been involved with sound at his church for more than 25 years.
I wanted to provide a glimpse into what I think are some significant changes that will be coming over the next 5-10 years that will effect what we as church techs in large contemporary or modern churches do every week.
First let me say that I in no way think our current model is necessarily bad.
And by current model I mean the highly produced services that can often resemble rock concerts. Big, well played music, lots of haze and moving lights, a loud PA, video backgrounds, IMAG; those are all tools we use to engage our audience.
And as long as the audience is engaged, they are a good thing. And to be sure, there is still a large audience that wants to experience that during their weekend service. This is good.
On the other hand, it’s important to recognize that there is also a growing number of people who don’t want that in their service. They don’t want a “hip” experience, they prefer people to come as they are, be who they are and if the singer hits a wrong note from time to time, oh well.
To them moving lights are a distraction and they are less concerned about the mix sounding exactly like it does on the album. They come to church to be with other believers, both cool and uncool, to connect with God and to serve others. This is also good.
Again note that I’m not making value judgements. One is not better than the other, and I don’t want to pit one side against the other. Both are equally valid and both have their place. The problem arises when we want to force one into the other’s mold.
Our church is a great example of this. For many years, Coast Hills has been the place to come if you want to experience a great worship service. We hired the best musicians, employed professional technicians and spent thousands of dollars on sets to make the experience amazing. And it was! People came, lives were changed and the church grew. And then the church changed.
Slowly, over time—partially driven by economic realities, but only partially—the congregation began to realize they didn’t need that level of production each week. In fact, it started to become a distraction. What they really wanted was to see people they knew on stage leading worship. They wanted more time in the scripture, and more time to spend together. And so, our production has scaled back considerably.
I believe we’re seeing this happen in more churches, and at some point, this “less produced’’ style of weekend will become the norm. To be sure, this will be a gradual change, probably taking 5-10 years, but I think it will happen.
And it will happen because many in the next generation doesn’t care that much about high level production in their church service. They come for different reasons now. And in some cases, high production turns them off.
Now I don’t think this means that we’re headed back to crappy sound and overhead transparencies (thankfully!). In fact, I think we as church techs will develop more fully in our roles, becoming truly invisible and non-distracting.
The sound will still have to be good, but it won’t be the main reason people are there. The words still need to be on the screen at the right time, but no one will get fired if they make a mistake. We still need lights to see, but I think we’ll see a lot less ballyhoo and color chases.
I suspect there will still need to be a minimum standard that is met each week with regards to production, but that standard may be lower than it is now.
Instead, I think what we’ll see is tech doing what tech really does best—creating an atmosphere where people can connect with God. The trick will be doing it in such a way that it doesn’t appear that we’re using a lot of technology.
I believe we will get to a point where sound, lighting and video will just be there, like microwaves and wi-fi. Yes technology is important, but it’s not the point. It will still need to work, but it will be background.
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.
Foo Fighters took home five statues at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards for an album produced entirely using a 32-channel API 1608 console.
For its Wasting Light album, the band went back to basics, switching off the computers and tracking and mixing to tape via the all-analog API console, with the help of engineer James Brown and producer Butch Vig.
In his acceptance speech after the band received the Best Rock Performance award, frontman Grohl said, “Rather than go to the best studio in the world down the street in Hollywood, and rather than use all the fanciest computers that you can buy, we made this one in my garage with some microphones and a tape machine.”
Commenting that winning the award “shows that the human element of making music is what’s important,” he continued, “It’s not about being perfect, it’s not about sounding absolutely correct, it’s not about what goes on in a computer, it’s about what goes on in here” – pointing to his heart – “and it’s about what goes on in here” – pointing to his head.
At Brown’s request, the API 1608’s expansion slots had been outfitted with sixteen API 550A three-band EQs, eight API 550b four-band EQs and eight 560 graphic EQs prior to recording. “The 1608 had a way of gelling the mixes,” said Brown. “I can’t exactly put my finger on why or how, but the reality of it was pretty undeniable.”
Is there something more legitimate than personal preference that would add credibility to using compression?
A while back I was pondering mixing live shows, as I strangely so often find myself doing, and I began to analyze the varying aspects of dynamics in live reverberant fields.
Is there something more legitimate than personal preference that would add credibility to using compression?
The studio humans and mastering labs use a ton of it, but comparatively, we live engineers use fairly little. I know it works well to control the variations in a band’s playing, and also helps with smoothing the sound, but is there yet another advantage of compression that is not so readily apparent?
On the surface it’s quite obvious that compression can be used on bass to reduce the differential between the louder and softer notes resulting in a more consistent sound. Same with vocals, and I put compressors on guitars as well.
I even take it further and run kick and snare into a subgroup that has a bit of compression on it to keep the two a bit more locked-in, volume-wise, to each other.
So what got me started (again) on this train of thought?
Not long ago I was listening to a super punchy horn-loaded sound system. Boom, crack, boom, crack, as the drums jump out at me - and they do sound cool.
But I also know from experience that the reverb decay time from the loud “on to” super punchy sounds blurs the intelligibility of everything else that immediately follows.
So if an uncompressed snare is 10 dB “on-top” of the mix, then the correspondingly loud roar of the room-reverb-decay-level from that snare will hurt overall intelligibility long after the original snare hit has been heard and ended.
Conversely, that means that if the instruments are all compressed to a fairly narrow volume range, they then would stay at an even level consistently above the room reverberation rather than the loud sounds setting off room reverberations louder than the following softer sounds.
What I’m getting at is that controlling the differential between the loudest and softest sounds not only improves intelligibility by reducing volume inconsistencies, it’s also helpful in dealing with reverberant room acoustics.
The sacrifice? The loss of some of that “slam-hit eye-blinking” impact.
But hey, the upside is your mix will sound a bit more like an album, the audience will be able to hear the various instruments and vocals, especially in reverberant rooms, and you’ll be able to get more overall volume from the PA with less clip lights flashing.
A theater designer describes his methods for setting delay loudspeakers
Editor’s Note: While this article discusses delays in a theater environment, the information can be applied to any situation.
In an ideal world, the best system would be a single point source that would cover every single seat in the house at the same level with the same frequency response.
This is easy to state, tough to execute. Most theaters have walls, ceilings, domes, balcony boxes and balcony fronts, chandeliers, canopies, sidewall projections, pillars, pilasters, plaster pachyderms, which get in the way of that ideal single point source.
Getting sound into a room is easy. There are a lot of boxes on the market that will throw sound as far as you want to heave it.
The problem is what comes back because for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If sound hits a plaster back wall, it’s bouncing off the wall at about the same level. If there is any focusing going on, the reflections are greater, and it’s goodbye to that ideal world.
Delay systems offer a good solution to combat reflection problems. Minimizing a reflection requires either changing the angle of the sound incidence, reducing the level of the sound hitting the wall, or both. Adding delay speakers extends the reach of a system and makes reducing unwanted reflections possible.
In large touring productions, delay systems are usually standard with the shows carrying everything necessary to hang several zones. A system design, such as Martin Levan’s Showboat, could devote as much of the processing and amps to the delays as the mains.
Although the delay system for a show that goes above 100 dB-SPL, such as Rent, will be different from a book show, the intent is the same. The idea is to get speakers as close to the audience as possible thereby keeping the levels in all speakers as low as possible to ward off the bounces.
Where the main system can be hung may be fine for the main floor, but it could be the wrong position to cover under the balcony. Delays hung in the correct position at a better angle than the mains will get sound directly onto the audience that would be blocked from the mains.
As the delays are closer, they are subject to less air loss so the highs are crisper. The mains do not need to be as loud because they do not have to throw that extra distance.
There isn’t any direct sound hitting the dome under the balcony. The engineer will not be as likely to over EQ because usually the mix position is at the back of the main floor and they can now hear full bandwidth.
What To Ask For
Good delay doesn’t just happen; it takes some planning and budget, and it all comes down to time and money.
I have seen many systems, usually from a low bid, that aren’t up to what is required.
The only thing worse than not having delays is having blown or distorted delays.
The more you plan, the better you can use and defend your budget.
The first consideration is the type of event or range of events being bid on. The loudest material creates a minimum requirement. A big balcony may dictate delay boxes as big as the mains.
The more bandwidth the delay system delivers, the more natural it sounds. Warm vocal reproduction cannot be achieved without a phase coherent box that goes down to at least 100Hz.
The cabinets should be small enough for minimum visual impact but big enough for bandwidth and level impact.
Delays mean more outputs, so the second consideration is the desk. It must have matrix outputs. Feeding signal to delays is generally done with matrix outputs. This allows the mix to be altered for different zones.
Connecting the boxes is usually done with 16-gauge or smaller cable. Do not skimp on wire gauge. The length of run can get to hundreds of feet, and the added impedance makes it difficult for the amps to tightly control the cones, adding low-mid problems.
The Gloria Dei Church in St. Paul, MN, hides the delay speakers in each column.
A minimum 14-gauge cable is needed with 12 and 10 gauge even better. The difference can be heard.
Another consideration for a musical is the pit orchestra. Will there be separate orchestra and vocal systems? Usually if there are separate systems, the delays will be vocal only but there are exceptions.
Plenty of orchestra may be in the balcony, but the main floor could be hollow because all the direct energy travels upstairs.
The solution is more output mixes to separate floor delays and balcony delays to rebalance the pit. Also relative to matrix size are how many balconies, their depth and width? How many side boxes? Many times, these need a different mix balance because of more interaction with the main system.
Can box patterns overlap in an aisle? This will affect the box coverage patterns necessary.
Where can we hang all these speakers? Are there balcony rail positions available? Do we install unistrut or is a delay truss advisable? Are the speakers in sight lines? Will the spotlights hit them? Can we get cable to them?
The director or producer will scream if the speakers hang in the wrong spot or start costing too much. So you (as the engineer) will have to make the case for extra cabinets, cable, electronics, amps, rigging, labor and time. They will scream much louder if they can’t hear or can’t sell as many top price seats.
Timing Is Everything
Several aesthetic questions play a big part in determining delay times and placement.
What is the intent of the show? Is it supposed to be transparent to make the stage the primary focus?
Or should it be in-your-face-loud? What is the director’s intent?
To focus the image on stage, the mains need to be set back in time, along with the delays, to let the actor’s natural wavefront hit the audience first.
In some cases, the time reference point for the system should be down center three feet upstage, others 20 feet upstage, or the center cluster is at 0 msec and everything delays to that.
Each gives a different imaging to the stage.
The first wavefront that hits the audience establishes the direction of the sound source via phase offsets between their ears.
A 25 to 30 msec window of opportunity is then available to raise the perceived level of the first wavefront by introducing a second wavefront from a different direction and at a higher level.
The art of delays is playing with this window. The closer the time is set between the arrival of the first and second wavefronts the better the articulation, but the direction clue shifts to the second arrival when more level is applied.
Delay speaker used at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, MN.
The further apart the two arrivals are in time, the more level can be applied to the second until the image shifts to the second source.
The best way to set this delay is to have a remote for it in the seats and set it by ear. You can get in the neighborhood by using 1msec per foot as a rough guide. Set an average level that the mains will run. A mic being tapped will do for input, but as that drives me crazy, I use music with good articulation.
Turn the delay up until it becomes loud enough to fill in the area. The delay source will disappear by running the delay time up and down. The two sources lock just before they disappear. If the delay level comes down a little, the time can also shorten up a little.
Split The Difference
All delay settings are a compromise in time depending on how far off axis any particular seat is to the main and delay. How high the image should be is relative to where most of the audience is seated.
In some houses, two-thirds of the audience may be in the balconies. The main floor may need to have an image shifted slightly higher to improve the balconies.
At this point, walking the area covered by the delay and the areas most affected by reflections out of the delay coverage will point out remaining problems. If the delay is too loud, the reflections will be very late out of the coverage area.
The delay imaging of the stage action plays a part in the perception. If the imaging is good, the audience has enough direction clues to pick out who is speaking when many people are onstage.
Allowing the audience to read lips is a tremendous help in perceiving dialogue and filling in the gaps if a word or two is lost. Imagine Vincent Gardenia doing the dialect in I’m not Rappaport, which is tough to project 110 feet. Sometimes, we need all the help we can get.
As simplicity is genius, the fewest speakers with the shortest delay times are the goal. The bottom line is that the audience should leave talking about the show, not the sound.
A former Sound Department Head for the Ordway Center in St. Paul, Jim Pfitzinger is a freelance engineer with extensive background in facility construction, renovation and sound design.
During the AES Convention in New York City this past October, I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture given by mastering engineer Scott Hull of Masterdisk Studios.
The lecture focused on creating mixes and masters for vinyl pressing. Though there are those of us who might not even release music on any physical medium these days, there are many who like the look, feel, and most importantly, sound, of music on vinyl.
While there are “rules” associated with recording in the digital domain (keep sample rate and bit depth high, do not go over 0 dBFS, etc), audio engineers don’t necessarily worry about the effects of printing this digital data onto a compact disc. Vinyl records are a much different animal, however.
Those who wish to release music in this format would do well to know how the physical characteristics of these records might affect your sound.
The Physical Disc
We all know that the needle of a player traces along the grooves of the record. The groove is an analog representation of the audio. In the days of mono, the needle only moved side to side while tracing through the groove.
Later, the format was designed so that the stereo information could be read from the up and down movement of the needle. This was done to ensure that older, mono only record players could still play newer stereo records. [1]
With a CD, the music encoded on the outer portion of the disc has the same fidelity as that encoded towards the center of the disc. The same is not true of vinyl records, however. While the record spins at the same rate at the outermost and innermost portion, the amount of vinyl the needle encounters is reduced as it works its way to the center.
(click to enlarge)
Say you took a piece of string and wrapped it around the outer edge of the record. For a 12-inch (diameter) record, the string would be about 36 inches long. If you wrapped string around the innermost groove, you’d have a 4-inch diameter circle and about a 12-inch length of string. The needle traverses both these lengths of strings in the same amount of time.
So if it takes the needle one second to trace the entire circumference of the record, it would be traveling 36 inches per second at the outside and only 12 inches per second towards the middle. This is effectively like recording on analog tape at 30 ips at one end of your album and 15 ips at the other end. [2]
Limitations Of The Format
It is first important to realize that cutting a record literally means just that. Putting your album on wax means scooping out pieces of the material. The louder your material, the more room the needle needs to move.
If your material is too loud, it could cut through to the next adjacent groove. Another consequence of this is the inverse relationship between groove size and the number of grooves you can fit on a record. The wider the grooves, the fewer you can fit. This means the louder your music, the less of it you can fit on one side.
Keeping low frequency information panned down the center will help reduce the motion of the needle and keep your playback clean. An effect like stereo chorus on a bass guitar would wreak havoc.
Don’t try to fit too much material on a disc. As noted earlier, the stuff in the center can sound a bit nasty. If possible, reserve the first tracks for the more complex program material, and the later tracks for less harmonically dense music.
Self-mastered releases are competing more and more with professional mastering houses and producing similar results. Sending your mastered audio to a pressing plant for duplication may result in a release with sub-par audio quality.
For a vinyl release, it is recommended to create your own masters only as a reference for a mastering engineer who understands what will and won’t translate to vinyl. They’ll be able to create the best version of your release for the medium without sacrificing the quality you strove for.
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[1] The way stereo information is encoded onto vinyl is more complicated than simple Left and Right channels. The term “mono information ” refers to L+R, while the term “stereo information” refers to L-R. This type of encoding is similar to mid-side processing.
[2] The numbers used here are created arbitrarily to illustrate the point.
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After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music and a master’s degree in composition from Duquesne University, Barak Shpiez (www.spearheadaudio.com) composed music for television, advertising, and film in Los Angeles. Through partnerships with publishers such as Jingle Punks, Barak’s music has been featured on television programming on MTV, The History Channel, E!, and advertisements for ESPN, Bravo, and more. He is a member of the American Federation of Musicians and the Audio Engineering Society.
History Files: Tycobrahe Sound Company And “The California Jam”
54,000 watts of audio power... 105 dB SPL at one mile... 200,000 satisfied rock fans...
Oh, what an interesting time it was! Concert sound reinforcement was in the early stages of moving to where we are today.
This article originally appeared in the June 1974 issue of Recording Engineer Producer (REP) magazine, and Live Sound also ran a text-only version many years ago. It is presented here in its full glory, without editing and much as it originally appeared, to provide a fuller understanding and appreciation of that time and place and the people behind it all.
It also shows that marvelous “new” concepts like digital delays really aren’t so new at all. And, see if at least some of the names mentioned sound familiar. They should.
Shortly after one o’clock in the morning on April 6, 1974 young people from throughout the West started snaking through the gates of the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California.
By two A.M. over 15,000 people were bedding down on the grassy infield and at sunrise the crowd was well over 150,000. At ten A.M. over 200,000 rock fans began shouting their approval as Rare Earth opened THE CALIFORNIA JAM, a twelve-hour rock concert produced by the American Broadcasting Company and Pacific Presentations.
In a motel a mile away seven other groups were standing by to be flown by helicopter into the backstage compound at the speedway. They had come from around the world.
Months of careful planning had preceded the Jam and the on-site construction and installation was started weeks in advance. Miles of chain link fence had been installed. Thousand of drinking fountains and portable toilets were in place. A 45-bed hospital had been constructed in the infield. A six hundred foot length of railroad track was laid across the front of the staging area.
Here’s what it looked like on the cover of REP, June 1974.
Dubbed “The Grand Funk Railroad,” the track supported three moveable stages constructed on railroad tracks. One stage was to be permanently set for the closing act, Emerson, Lake and Palmer. The other groups would alternate between the remaining two staged. While one act performed, equipment would be set up and checked out on the remaining stage for the following group. The plan was to cut the set-up time between acts to almost nothing.
The concert was to be recorded for commercial album release and videotaped by ABC-TV as material for future “In Concert” programs. To knit the entire project together the producers needed a sound reinforcement company with the know-how and equipment to saturate the broad expanse of infield, provide two-channel monitor to the stages and feed signal to the recording vans (Wally Heider Recording) and the television audio trucks.
They called in TYCOBRAHE SOUND COMPANY of Hermosa Beach, California. Tycobrahe had provided both equipment and technicians for most of the groups on previous tours and had developed a very sizeable inventory of high power sound reinforcement gear.
In the early stages the Jam producers were estimating an attendance of approximately 60,000, and the initial objective was to provide coverage only to a distance of 1,000 feet from the stage.
“The Grand Funk Railroad” – side view of the moveable stages.
One of the first factors considered was the placement of the staging area within the infield to take advantage of the prevailing winds. The stage was set on the western quadrant of the field so the prevailing westerly winds would carry the sound eastward across the audience area.
“We were lucky,” said Jim Gamble, Tycobrahe Vice President and Director of Engineering, “The wind blew just the way it was supposed to all day long. If it didn’t, there would be nothing we could have done to compensate… nothing.”
The amount of power required to cover the area to the 1,000 foot perimeter was swiftly determined. According to the company’s V.P. and Director of Marketing, Ralph Morris, “We rate our standard arena system as adequate for 10,000 people in an outdoor situation. That’s a 6,000 watt system. We use that formula and add in multiples thereof. Of course, it’s only a rule of thumb because the sound doesn’t just go out so far and then stop. But the formula works.”
Some days before the concert it became apparent that the attendance would almost certainly surpass the 200,000 mark and appropriately the capability of the reinforcement system was upgraded. An additional array of speakers was added on towers at the 1,000 foot mark. These speakers were faced outward and fed through an 859 millisecond delay.
All the basic hardware used by Tycobrahe was designed and built by them and carried their brand name. The company began manufacturing its own equipment when it recognized the need for a specialized sound refinforcing mixer. The specifications established by their engineering team called for a mixer that was simple and straightforward, highly ruggedized and portable.
The Tycobrahe Model MX24-4 input mixer has stereo main and monitor outputs, with separate panpots on each input. It was designed solely for sound reinforcement and can accommodate the “screaming microphone levels which would clip the inputs on most studio consoles.”
View from the mixing tower, looking toward the stage.
Each input has 3 band equalizers with 3 selectable frequencies in each band. There is no EQ on the outputs so that inexperienced, or overzealous mixers cannot get into too much trouble with a single EQ control.
Overall EQ is available for the monitor mix, but those controls are included in the monitor power amp circuitry. Dual band limiters are in the outputs of the mixer which limits about a half a dB from the clipping point of the power amps. They are similar to Altec dual band limiters, with a crossover frequency of 250 Hz. 250 was chosen because that frequency is just about the dividing point between vocals and bass.
Dual band limiting is necessary, according to chief engineer Jim Gamble, to prevent pumping the midrange and highs during those very heavy bass parts.
The amplifiers used at the Jam were also Tycobrahe products, their 2,000 Watt BFA 2000 bi-amplifiers. Like the mixers, the amplifiers were designed specifically for location sound reinforcement applications. The low frequency section of the amp delivers 1,500 Watts, and the high frequency channel delivers 500 Watts. The crossover frequency is at 800 Hz. The units are packaged in a rugged portable case, and are mounted in drawers for easy access
The electronics for both amps are mounted on a single, fan cooled, heat sink which can be unplugged and instantly replaced in case of failure. The raw power supply transformer, rectifier and filter capacitors are mounted separately in the drawer, although the voltage regulators are mounted on the heat sink assembly.
According to Gamble, “Each of the amplifiers has its own voltage regulator, although they are fed from a common raw supply. This is necessary because of the very heavy power demands, especially from the bass amplifiers. Often the demands are so heavy that the AC supply for the entire concert site fluctuates up and down with the music, dropping from 120 volts to as low as 90 volts. We feed the voltage regulators from a +/- 75 VDC raw supply and regulate down to +/- 55 volts. This allows for nearly a 30 percent reduction of input voltage before the amplifiers will fall out of regulation.”
The monitor amps are packaged similarly; the electronics are mounted on a replaceable fan cooled heat sink, installed in a separate drawer in the same cabinet with the bi-amp unit. A six band graphic equalizer is included for the monitor amps to counter feedback problems that arise on stage due to the proximity of the monitor speakers.
The Tycobrahe loudspeaker units are the result of several years of research. In explaining the reasons behind selecting the elements of the Tycobrahe system, Gamble says, “bass horns are the most efficient, but there is a tendency to produce peaks and nodes as you walk across in front the speakers, differences in levels of as much as 10 dB. The infinite baffle is of course, the flattest, but it is really inefficient. The bass reflex has the next flattest response, and is more efficient.
“If you stack a lot of them together in the right configuration to get good bass coupling, you get a very flat response without those peaks and nodes, as you move through the audience. That is why we use, mainly, the bass reflex enclosure. We have tried all sizes from 7 to 30 cubic feet and there was a point where more cabinet volume didn’t make any difference. That was around 10 cubic feet. Our enclosures are 10 1/2 cubic feet and have 2 JBL 2220A’s, a 2482 driver with midrange horn and 2075 tweeters in them.”
To support the speaker arrays and amplifiers two, fifty-four foot, six level towers were installed, one on each side of the stage. The first level was a utilitarian platform left empty. On the second level of each tower were two eight-foot bass horns driven by 18-inch woofers. Seven smaller rear loaded horns were mounted on the third level. The upper three sections of each tower supported fifty Tycobrahe bass reflex cabinets.
Detailed view of one (right) of the main speaker towers.
Care was taken construct the towers and mount the loudspeakers so the speaker elements were directly over each other in a vertical line to keep the system in phase.
Following a standard company procedure, speaker lines are run individually to each woofer in the bass reflex enclosures because, as Jim Gamble pointed out, “If you put the two woofers in parallel across one line, there’s a chance that they won’t react exactly the same and you get a reflected impedance back across the speaker lines. Also, two speakers in parallel present twice as much of a load in series with the speaker cables. Any resistance in the cables will then become twice as significant and more power will be dissipated in the cables. It’s a matter of maintaining as much efficiency in power transmission as possible.”
Gamble went on to talk to REP about the sound dispersion: “A lot of people told us our bass was going to roll off. They said we were just going to have a hell of a time getting bass way out there. I said that’s just not true. The air disperses high end, not low end. And I was right. We found we had to really crank up the high end to get the tweeters out over that broad an area. We had about 225 tweeters in the system but what was really predominant was the bass. It was solid and it sounded good.
“If you put enough speakers together you get a big, wide plane to project off of and that acts as a huge coupling board and that’s what we were depending on that coupling. With that much coupling you can really project it out there. A lot of people say if you don’t have a horn you can’t get the bass out there. Well, that’s not true. We even found that the horns we did use contributed very little to the bass level.”
“The system developed 54,000 watts RMS and we measured 105 dB SPL at a point one mile distant from the stage. At the mixing tower we measured 120-126 dB, and that was about 160 feet from the stage. We were originally told to put the mixing towers up 50 feet from the stage, but no way were we going to be that close.”
The amplifiers were installed on the towers with standby units in place and a compliment of spare components handy. Each bank of amplifiers was manned by a technician who monitored the meters and was ready to exchange any amps that failed. A complete lab and repair station in a Tycobrahe van was located in the backstage compound.
Two Tycobrahe mixers fed the main system. They were installed on a tower in the audience area 160 feet from the stage. The cabling between the mixing tower and the amplifiers was redundant. A spare line was available to each tower and the tower technicians had the ability to switch lines instantly in the event of a failure by using specially constructed switchboxes.
One main system mixer was assigned to each of the two stages for which Tycobrahe was responsible. (The Emerson, Lake and Palmer set-up on the third stage was mixed by their own personnel.)
Two additional MX24-4 mixers were used to feed the on-stage monitor systems. One was installed on each stage behind the acts so the monitor mix was completely independent of the main system feed.
The delay in the system that fed the auxiliary speakers at the 1,000-foot distance was accomplished by using tape delay recorders augmented by an Eventide Clockwork digital delay unit. It was found, however, that the delay system and auxiliary speakers were not necessary. The primary on-stage amplifier-speaker array was sufficient to cover the entire area.
Although the delay arrangement was stipulated in the contractual arrangements if the attendance estimated approached the 200,000 mark, the Tycobrahe people were confident that the on-stage system was adequate and the company is philosophically opposed to delay.
The effectiveness of the reinforcement system was checked prior to the Jam by simply driving to all points in the infield while recorded music was fed through the system.
A three-man Tycobrahe crew was assigned to each of the two stages for set-up and miking. The microphone selection was very straightforward; Sony ECM22p’s were used for the drum overheads and Shure SM57’s were used on each instrument.
The SM57’s were chosen because, according to Jim Chase, Tycobrahe’s director of operations, “You have to use a real close-pattern cardioid dynamic microphone on any instrument that is going to be put through the monitor system. Other people use a lot of wide-pattern stuff, even good cardioid patterns, but no good enough. There’s only one mike that works for us and that’s a Shure SM57.”
Everything on stage was miked except the bass, which was also taken direct, so as to deliver through the system the distortion and other effects created in the guitar amplifiers. As Chase points out, “We don’t much get into studio techniques in terms of miking or direct instrument feeds. The groups are looking for a sound and they want to be in control of that sound. They don’t want us to color it or change it. We’d make it clean if we had our choice. If we were to take the instruments direct we wouldn’t get the musician’s tube amplifier mushing and his power supply saturating and the speakers moving to maximum excursion, and all the other things that create the particular noises that you can get out of a guitar amplifier. The talent wants that and they want us to simply reinforce it.”
At the Jam the signal from each mike on stage had to feed four separate and distinctly different entities: the main Tycobrahe sound system, the Tycobrahe monitor system, the Wally Heider 24-track recording vans and the ABC-TV videotape trucks.
Two vans were use by Wally Heider, one for each stage, and it was determined that the Heider mixers would feed the signal to the ABC-TV mix.
From the early planning stages the interfacing of the four systems was considered one of the primary potential trouble areas. As Ralph Morris stated it, “The equipment was all different and the concepts were all different. And, of course, each group of engineers had different points of view. We anticipated ground problems as with any interconnected system so we left plenty of time to work them out. Sure enough, when we plugged it all in, it hummed!”
In considering how to isolate the various signal feeds from each microphone any resistive method was quickly discarded because of the substantial gain loss that would occur. Instead, each microphone fed a separate four-winding transformer. The transformers were special-ordered from Sescom and mounted in boxes with ground-release switches.
The installation of equipment began on the Tuesday before the Jam with Wednesday and Thursday devoted to the set-up of speakers and electronic hardware and the check-out of each individual system. On Friday morning the main system, monitor system, recording and TV systems were interconnected for the first time. It was then a question of methodically going through the systems and eliminating the ground loops. Ralph Morris told the story of one potential area:
“At one point we found we were still picking up an additional ground on some channels which was then no an overall problem. So we started going through them and found one connector with the shell wired to ground. Some manufacturers make them that way and they have to be disconnected. At that time our chief engineer said, ‘Oh, my God, we’re going to have to go through 180 connectors and clip the grounds on all the shell connections!’ But most professional audio engineers will remove the case ground if they use that brand of connector so as it turned out that was the only connector in the system that was causing the problem.
“Our MX2404 mixers are wired with all internal grounds returned directly to the center tap of the power supply secondary. If a mike cable with the connector shell wired to the shield is plugged in, this creates an exaggerated ground loop and a lot of hum, even if the input is turned down. We did this on purpose so we could instantly recognize an improperly wired cable.”
Another interesting point was the special attention paid to the delivery of power to the site. Separate mains were run to accommodate the Tycobrahe equipment and isolate it from the power source feeding the on-stage equipment of the groups. Otherwise, as Jim Gamble pointed out, “We’d have had the whole band playing and sucking up the A.C., especially on the bass notes. The power gets eaten up by the low end instruments. Consequently the AC starts dropping on every low note. It can drop from 120 volts down to as low as 90 volts. Instead of more power when you need it most, we’d get less.”
All-in-all the problems involved with bringing 12 hours of an ultra high level of audio entertainment to a potentially volatile audience of over 200,000 supercharged rock fans seemed to be very few… Very few, indeed, as typified by the comparative brevity of what the producers and their sound contractor had to say about problems.
Perhaps a statement from one of the producers summed it all up: “We were delighted to do without any lurid post concert headlines.”
Our sincerest thanks to Mark Gander and the gang at JBL Professional for supplying these materials.
Quote meon an estimate et non interruptus stadium. Sic tempus fugit esperanto hiccup estrogen. Glorious baklava ex librus hup hey ad infinitum. Non sequitur condominium facile et geranium incognito.
