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Thursday, May 16, 2013Avoiding Poor Judgment & Getting A Handle On Subjective Audio
James Cadwallader 05/16/13 06:08 PM,I suspected trouble when I accepted responsibility for something I had no control over. There was a 50/50 chance of either being the hero or the whipping boy. I didn’t care for those odds, but I couldn’t change them. It all started when a friend of the family asked me to help make sure that the sound for his wedding didn’t ruin the ceremony. The catch was that I wasn’t handling the sound - his cousin, the part-time DJ, had… View this post
Filed in: Live Sound • Feature • Blog • Engineer • Measurement • Signal • Sound Reinforcement • System • Technician -
Square Waves And DC Content: Deconstructing Complex Waveforms
Charlie Hughes 05/16/13 05:56 PM,I’ve heard it argued by that square waves contain DC. How else could they have the flat top and bottom that make it square? Let’s look at a square wave and see what causes it to have its square shape. A complex waveform can be constructed from, or decomposed into, sine (and cosine) waves of various amplitude and phase relationships. This is the basis of Fourier analysis. A square wave consists of a fundamental sine wave (of the same frequency… View this post
Filed in: AV • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • AV • Measurement • Processor • Signal -
Pro Production: Understanding The Language Of The “Show”
Alan Hamilton 05/16/13 05:44 PM,When first starting out in audio, a newcomer will hear terms that may seem like a whole new language. These terms are very common to hear in arenas, union halls, theatres, and similar venues. While not so common in clubs, even there you can hear some of these terms used by the seasoned veterans of the business. This would be particularly true of clubs that work with regional and national touring acts. You can expect to hear experienced production people… View this post
Filed in: Production • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Production • Audio • Lighting • Rigging • Staging • Video • Analog • Business • Concert • Education • Interconnect • Loudspeaker • Mixer • Signal • Sound Reinforcement • System -
Can Award-Winning Recordings Be Made In A Home Studio?
Bob Buontempo 05/16/13 04:41 PM,To begin with, there are many things that you cannot do in a home studio. A competent recording of a live band - still the mainstay of the recording industry - is usually impossible in your bedroom. Fitting an orchestra in there is also challenging. And even though the topic of this piece is whether award-winning (i.e., Grammy) music can be conceived, recorded and mastered in a home studio, there’s nothing to indicate that any such recordings actually have been.… View this post
Filed in: Recording • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Digital • Digital Audio Workstations • Monitoring • Software • Studio • System -
The Single-Mic Technique: An “Old-Fashioned” Approach That’s Surprisingly Effective
Bruce Bartlett 05/16/13 04:08 PM,What goes around comes around. From the 1920s through the 1940s, PA systems for music often used only a single microphone. Band members would gather closely around this mic, balancing their sound by moving toward or away from the mic. Radio broadcasts and recordings often used one mic as well. And over the past several years, this “old-fashioned” technique is making a comeback. Many bluegrass and folk bands use the one-mic method with surprisingly good results, typically using a large… View this post
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Microphone • Mixer • Processor • Sound Reinforcement • Stage -
Tuesday, May 14, 2013The Bigger Picture On The Equalization Of Loudspeakers
Pat Brown 05/14/13 04:06 PM,The procedure often followed for equalizing a loudspeaker is to place the measurement microphone on-axis and adjust for the flattest frequency response. This often involves boosting some filters when the axial response over a range of frequencies is lower than the average. Those that are opposed to the use of boost filters may choose to arrive at the same resultant response by reducing (cutting) parts of the response to the lowest common denominator. This results in the same electrical curve,… View this post
Filed in: AV • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • AV • Loudspeaker • Measurement • Processor • Sound Reinforcement -
Monday, May 13, 2013How Do You Know What Sounds Good?
Karl Winkler 05/13/13 04:41 PM,Most of us feel that we know good sound when we hear it. We also have tools to help us analyze the properties of sound, and we’ve learned to interpret those measurements and equate them with good and bad. But I find it fascinating that sometimes even when things measure “poorly,” we say that it sounds good anyway. Or, conversely, sometimes the measurements look spectacular but “there’s just something wrong.” The challenge is defining what actually constitutes “good” sound, and… View this post
Filed in: Live Sound • Feature • Blog • Concert • Digital • Engineer • Line Array • Mixer • Signal • Sound Reinforcement • System -
The Relationship Between Amplifier Damping Factor, Impedance & Cable
Jerrold Stevens 05/13/13 03:21 PM,Ever have one of your friendly amplifier reps walk in your office to present their new mondo-gazillion-watt beast and point out the damping factor spec of greater than a bazillion? Why, gee-whiz! That’s like 10 times more than the other guy! It must be awesome! Right? Well, as we have seen before, it depends on how you are going to use it. Let’s start with defining damping factor and see what it means to us. Amplifier damping factor is defined… View this post
Filed in: AV • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Amplifier • AV • Interconnect • Loudspeaker • Measurement • Signal • Subwoofer -
Church Sound: Keeping The Workspace Organized Is A Big Key To Success
Gary Zandstra 05/13/13 03:07 PM,Having the luxury of visiting and mixing in many different church sound booths I’ve seen almost everything, from an 8-channel powered mixer sitting (precariously, I might add) on a chair to a fully loaded DiGiCo mixing board/workstation in a 20- by 40-foot decked-out production booth However, the most indelible impression that sticks with me about each and every booth that I have been in is the organization—or the lack thereof. Mama always said. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness.’ I don’t… View this post
Filed in: Church Sound • Feature • Blog • Study Hall • Consoles • Engineer • Installation • Sound Reinforcement • Technician -
In The Studio: Seven Mixing Techniques That Can Really Pay Off… Or Get You In Trouble
Matthew Weiss 05/13/13 02:51 PM,This article is provided by the Pro Audio Files. This article is about some pretty crazy techniques that can really take your sound up a notch or totally screw up your mix! These aren’t techniques I use all the time, but enough to warrant a mention. If you’ve got some experience under your belt, here are a few things you can do when the situation warrants it. 1. Multiple Outputs Tor Group Sends This is useful if you know… View this post
Filed in: Recording • Feature • Blog • Video • Study Hall • Digital Audio Workstations • Engineer • Interconnect • Processor • Software • Studio
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