SSL (Solid State Logic) Announces LIVE Console

SSL launch first ever live sound console at Prolight + Sound 2013



“We are very confident that we have created a console engineers will fall in love with.”

Expectations of a Soundman!

Countryman E6 Headphone/Earset Mic

Feedback Problems with E6 earset mic
I've had some questions about the feedback issue with this mic.  
After inquiring about the model of E6, I discovered the problem, they bought the Omni version of this mic. 
To get the best possible result from the E6 mic it has to be the directional version of this mic. When you order the directional version, you get a couple of capsule covers:  a cardiod pattern and a hyper-cardiod pattern. This is the only version of this mic that I recommend.
                                                                                                        

Sound System Training Test

I’ve added a link to the online interactive version of the “Test” ( see link in sidebar) or you can take the Test right here right now. Here is the “Test”




The online version does not have any questions from page 3 of the downloadable PDF file but is quite entertaining. It will give you a grade when you are done.

New Active 6" Line Array System

I recently visited the my distributor of light and sound products and Burt showed me a bunch of great new products.

Lights
A new robotic light in both spot and wash versions. Now these lights are going to take the market in a whole new direction. They are about the size of a big coffee can with a price point (under $1K retail) that will make it great for Houses of Worship, DJ, Club, and Touring applications (believe me they are bright enough). The great thing about these LED lights is the capability to have 32 fixtures on one 20 amp circuit.

I will post picture as soon as they go on sale.

Speakers

The Omnisistem B3 R6/R12 Line Array will be available in an active version within the next 2 weeks. Great news for churches with up to 2000 people/seats. they can be configured as follows:
these arrays are extremely compact and with the addition of subs on the floor give you a 5 way system. more....

Home Recording Studio Drum Platform Design

Controlling drum leakage in your recording space, is probably the biggest problem in the home recording studio.
One way to solve the problem is to record the drums in the studio area while the rest of the band is recording in the control room. No more leakage but the scratch tracks are pretty much useless because of the leakage in the control room.
One problem solved and another problem is created. There has to be a better way.
If you isolate the drums properly, the leakage in the adjacent mics is not a problem. So what is the best way to isolate the drums?

The Solution: Build This

Mini Line Arrays Part 2 update

Now we have the trusses up and the mini line arrays in their right location. Here was the sequence of events.

We started the install on Thursday with the 2 uprights and finished the rest of the truss on Friday.

Drum Surround DIY Diagram

Here is the "Live Stage" version of the Studio Gobo design.

The panel is 1/2 the density of the Studio Gobo design. You should notice that the surround uses two panel sizes. One 48" panel and four 36" panels to make the surround.
There are a couple of other things to notice as well, wheels that help you move the panels around and the space it provides for cable management.

Again I must point out that the most important ingredient to this design is the use of "Quietrock".





Get the full size image here....

Home Recording Studio DIY Gobo Design Diagram

Here is a gobo design that I put together for a home recording studio. It can also be used for live applications (drum surround).

The most important part of the design is the use of "Quietrock 525" you cannot scrimp on this, it costs about $65.00 per sheet (4' x 8') but it makes all the difference.

Line Arrays for Small Churches

Here is a temporary install of a mini line array for a small church in Tacoma WA. It is a temporary install because they are putting in a truss system very shortly and the speakers are not in the optimum position right now.

Here is a render of the future truss system with the speakers hanging in future location & a picture of where they are right now:

Church Sound

Church Systems



Most church buildings today are not designed for sound, so even the smallest church building needs a sound system. Therefore the sound system is the cornerstone of every local church.

Why do churches go through at least 2 sound systems before they get one that really works?

First Baptist Church in Tacoma -Sound Booth Complete

As you can see the site lines to the platform are none existent. The new design will fix that. In total they only had 29 rack spaces for the entire sound booth.

Here the sound man is making some adjustments. He has to stand on his toes to see down to the platform. The sound entering the booth was blocked by the huge video rack to the left and there was a balcony railing with a glass insert on the right side of the booth.

This is what my iPhone took when I held it over the video rack. The worship team is on the floor in front of the platform.

Here we started to build up the floor. We raised it one step (approx. 7"). We also got our electrician in to make sure we had 4 20 amp dedicated circuits.

these are the feed wires from the platform and the floor pockets under the first row of pews.

The raw frame of the booth starts to take shape. Under the tabletop there is a 6" trough thats runs the full width of the booth. We painted the trough and the wall black to hide all the cables

Here it is all populated with equipment. The new booth has 55 rack spaces and now they have clear site lines to the platform.

Here is the computer/video side of the booth. The cables just above the remotes are to plug in a laptop to the video system. They use a Apple laptop for special videos.

The video section. The middle rack has four 7" monitors and the DVD recorder. One for each camera and one for each Roland V4 switcher output. We doubled the video feed of all the devices to feed each V4. One V4 sends signal to main screen and the other to the back screen which is on the balcony face.

Here is the audio setup. On the left is the CD/Cassette playback, in the middle is a power-strip, verb, and an audio distribution amp. The right side has the patch-bays. The 1/4" patchbay is used to bring all the playback devices into the system and the TT (tiny telephone) patchbay connects the platform feed to the channels in the board

all pictures were taken with a first generation iPhone. We prebuilt the parts for the booth and installed it from a Thursday morning through to Saturday at about 8:00 pm.

Home Recording Studio Sound Proofing

For years now I’ve been on the search for the most practical, beneficial sound proofing material for Home Recording Studio. I now feel it is possible to build a quality home recording studio inside a home or garage. With basic construction skills you too can build a professional level recording studio in your home. Here is a case study using Quiet Solutions product to pull it off.

First Baptist Church in Tacoma - Sound Booth Overhaul

The First Baptist Church in Tacoma gets a Sound/Video Booth overhaul. They have a very tight space and a lot of gear. We took their equipment list and put together a very efficient design. The install takes place from Jan 21 - 23. We are also raising the floor one step (7”) to get better visibility for the sound/video personnel.



Phase One of the overhaul was to move the monitors amps down to the platform. We did that in Nov ’09. The amps for the mains are still in the booth (as you can see on the audio rack on the right side of the booth).

Phase Two - the design, construction, fabrication and install of new booth.

Once the install is done I will post an update.

First Baptist Church in Tacoma - System Rewire

Chris Pak from First Baptist church in Tacoma contacted me about their system a few weeks ago. They felt that the system was not operating properly and there were some wiring issues regarding hum in the system. I don’t know who designed the system but I did meet the installer. The amplifiers were placed in the sound booth under the mixer, feeding the monitors and the main speakers from the balcony. The system design consisted of a center cluster with additional speakers for side fills all located behind the suspended ceiling.
The cluster: 6 boxes of McCauley M120 speakers, and 2 subs cabinets (mounted one on each side of the array) not sure what the side fills are.
The processing for the system: DBX Driverack PA The driverack was set to a JBL 3 way speaker system with subs. (The McCauley system is a 2-way box)
The sound was very thin and I could tell that the mids where none existent.

We programed a custom setting in the driverack and the speakers came alive with all kinds of good sound.

TV Show Audio for Video

We just finished doing a pilot (4 shows) for V-Boys Productions. The show is a talk show format similar to "The Vue" but with a Christian perspective. The Show is called "The Vanessa Waller Show". We provided the audio recording for the shoot. Here is a picture of the set.





There are 5 hosts for the show and a small live audience. We mic'd the hosts direct with wireless lapel mics, and recorded everything to Logic Studio. An important thing to remember, is the format. You need to record the audio in 16 bit 48 kHz because that is the format for the video when you bring it together in post. The show was shoot in HD (720p 30p) using Panasonic HVX200 cameras.


The next shoot takes place next month. We are going to record directly into one of the cameras and to Logic from now on. It is much easier to edit in post if you have good audio synced to a camera when you bring all the footage into post and the logic recording will be the backup.

How to Build a Home Recording Studio Recording Studio

First off this picture is not a picture of a home recording studio. It is however a good example of what to target towards.



I recently was invited to visit a ministry that is in the process of building a recording studio in Seattle. They are taking 2 rooms of an existing building, and converting then to a recording studio. The proposed design is to build a box within a box retaining the original shape of the room just building a new wall inside of the rooms with an air gap. Not sure who did the design but it will definitely create problems. This setup is a recipe for Standing Waves

How Important is it to Aim Speakers?

I just finished correcting a problem at the St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Issaquah. The problem was a very reverberant space with lots of echo. In the sanctuary there wasn’t a lot sound absorbing materials, tile floors, plaster walls in a basic rectangular shaped room. The 4 speakers providing sound to the 4 seating areas were located in the skylight structure. see pics

ISP in Idaho

We just finished doing an install of a pair of ISP HDM 115 speakers in the All Saints Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho. We had to create special brackets for the beams in the sanctuary. As you can see from the pictures, the beams have different angles from one side to the other. Here is a picture with the old speakers (Mackie SRM 450) and what it looks like now.

United Church Complete

Well here we are all finished with the install. We moved some of the equipment we replaced (with the new equipment) downstairs to a multifunction room. Put it all in a rack (see above pics) We also brought a feed down from the sanctuary so they could use this room as an overflow.


We installed a custom plate that they can plug the mics directly into and the speaker cables with a choice of spring clip or speakon connectors. Here is the back end of the rack with all the cables neatly in place.