For house engineers working a fixed installation such as a church, there’s a good chance you deal with an entirely different kind of control: system automation.
Whether utilizing solutions by AMX or Crestron, they can be controlled remotely via several terrific Apps.
From Crestron Electronics comes Crestron Mobile Pro which is capable of communicating via Wi-Fi and Cellular connection with any Crestron 2-Series Control Systems.
For those using AMX or any users who require complete customization comes iMasterControl Pro. Also capable of communicating with any IP-enabled Crestron 2-Series control system or AMX NetLinx controllers, the iMasterControl Pro is a perfect compliment to any automation system and is completely customizable via desktop software which facilitates the porting of existing AMX or Crestron programs.
Info On The Run
No engineer can know everything, so it’s fantastic the iPhone OS has innumerable sources of information accessible at just the tap of a finger. If you’re not quite sure about a Pinout, just look it up in Pinouts by CP3 Inc., which includes pinouts for audio, video, and computer connectors.
Need to determine the load or span of trusses? iTruss by Xtreme Structures may well be the App for you as it provides a complete resource for those in the field.
Less than confident about a calculation? Several fantastic audio calculators are at your disposal. LiveToolkit, created by programmer and sound-engineer Andreas Zeh is the ideal tool for anyone in the trenches of live production.
This App allows computation of time and frequency conversions, limiter-settings, lighting fixture start address, and other calculations often required by audio and lighting engineers in an intuitive interface. Equally useful is Backline Calc by Audofile Engineering.
Geared toward live, recording, and broadcast engineers, Backline Calc allows easy comparison of power and voltage, conversion between frames and timecode, estimation of recording file sizes, and many other useful features.
Something for the Clients
What about the musicians? Ever worked a concert where a musician needed to borrow a tuner or metronome? Maybe volunteered at a church where it’s just good practice to have these tools handy for any eventuality? When it comes to tuners, there’s a clear-cut favorite among musicians: Cleartune by bitcount. A chromatic instrument tuner and pitch pipe, Cleartune packs features like custom temperaments, transposition, and adjustable calibration. A perfect compliment to Cleartune, Tempo by Frozen Ape is the most comprehensive metronome I’ve found for the iPhone OS.
Looking Forward
These are just a few of the countless Apps available to audio professionals who are willing to avail themselves of the latest advances in mobile computing. Be it the iPhone, the iPod Touch, or the iPad, these devices and more to come stand to change the way we work forever. Never before have we as an industry been given the ability to utilize such amazingly flexible tools with such a diverse and individual set of applications; it only gets better from here.
Kyle P. Snyder is an audio engineer with innumerable credits in the public and private sector, writing about audio engineering, recording technology and a multitude of other topics as Associate Editor of ProSoundWeb. Find out more about Kyle at his website and blog http://kpsnyder.com.