Smart to Noise Ratio

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Sun, 31 Aug 2014 05:01:00 +0000

I went ahead and did it. Now you can proudly stick out your chest and show those punks you're not going to take any crap. A must for any engineer slogging it out in the club scene. Or pull it out any time you want to get a laugh from your mates. Use with caution. Wear at your own risk.

http://skinnymac.spreadshirt.com

Proceeds benefit a youth theatre program in Western New York State

"Stand By!" or How I Accidentally Started A T-Shirt Business

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Thu, 07 Aug 2014 14:01:00 +0000

About a week ago while prepping for weekend services at the church where I work I got a wild idea for a tattoo for our relatively mild mannered director. I scribbled down a quick sketch and showed it to him. He said it was probably a bit much for a guy who works at a church and I came back with something about dry bones from Ezekiel and then we started talking about a butterfly wearing a headset and after that it frankly started to get a little weird. If you've never worked in church production it's full of just as many characters as regular production. But I digress.

The long and short of it is that it's incredibly easy these days to get a company online to do a one-off print of a t-shirt idea you have. So one night last week I sat down and did a proper drawing, scanned it, touched it up, and had it uploaded and ready to print in about an hour. I didn't really intend to do much more than order one of these to wear around the office but people seem to like the idea and in a little under an hour more I had an online shop going where you can get this guy on all manner of shirts and tank-tops and hoodies and whatnot.

I make a tiny (miniscule) amount per item that sells but I'm not out to start a t-shirt empire here. Anything I make from this little endeavor will get donated to a local children's theatre nonprofit in my neck of the woods. Here's a link to the store, share it around with anyone you think might enjoy it because after all it was invented just for fun. It's a great gift, whether it's for that "stage manager from hell" that you know, or if things move so slowly on your gig that you feel like you might wind up like this guy waiting for that "go" call, or even if you work at a church and need some "biker cred" to toughen up your image a little bit (just pull out that Ezekiel scripture if anyone stops you in the hall).

"Stand By" Skull Merch

There's a deal going on for the next few days too...

Training Your Memory

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 18:03:00 +0000

I read a lot in my spare time. That being the occasional five to ten minutes that I get here and there during the day. Needless to say it takes many a month to get through an actual book on my cell phone so more often than not I'm just browsing the audio forums on Reddit or reading some tech blog posts. There have been a lot of articles recently about training your memory and when I read the most recent one some things finally clicked into place for me.

The concept of a "Mind Palace" has come to the forefront recently with its frequent use in the Sherlock Holmes series on PBS. It also features heavily in fiction, quite often in a similar vein where a detective uses his photographic memory to go back through things he has seen and pick up on new details. The process involves associating memories with visual anchors to make retrieving them easier. While most people can't achieve the kind of savant-level performance pictured in those scenarios, improvement is generally possible to some extent.

Every time I read an article like this I would get frustrated because while I can hold a pretty long input list in my head (including mics, positions, patch points, inserts, routing, etc) I can't remember all five things I need to pick up at the grocery store on the way home. This has led to my trying a multitude of solutions from paper notebooks to digital solutions with little to no success.

There are problems with both the analog and digital methods. Carrying a slim notebook in your pocket is great. You're not confined to just typing a list into your phone, it's easy to add a little sketch, or turn it sideways and fit some additions in the margins. But they get wrecked easily and eventually they get full and you put them somewhere, often putting that data out of reach. On the digital side you have a little bit of a stumbling block in that it's not easy to jot down a long list of information on the screen of your phone. On the other hand, newer apps make it very easy to snap a photo, clip a web page, sync it all up and you can get to it on any platform from anywhere in the world. The only down side is that you're often standing around waiting for an app to open or getting slowed down by the user interface instead of paying attention to the task at hand.

At any rate, the basis of the technique finally clicked into place for me when I realized that I could take one of the easier methods for memorization and adapt it to an area where I'm really good at remembering things. I'll link to the article but the premise is that you set up a mental template for a ten item list to start. Each item rhymes with the number it's assigned to, one - run, two - zoo, etc. Then you put whatever thing you're trying to remember into the image. So if the first thing on your list is picking up the dry cleaning you picture yourself running in the door of the cleaners, then you need to get your oil changed so you picture your car at the zoo, maybe with a gorilla doing the work. The more outrageous the imagery the better you'll remember.

When the light bulb finally went on for me was when I realized that I already have a list like that. It's my stock channel input list and it's chiseled into my grey matter like words on a tombstone. So for me anyway it was a simple jump to 1 - kick, 2 - snare, etc. If I need fifteen things from the grocery store, the first ten are arranged on a drum kit, the eleventh item is on the bass amp, and so on. I can get as crazy as I need to in that frame work. Picture an avocado shredding a guitar solo and you're guaranteed not to pass them by at the store.

Check out the article if you want it laid out in more depth, but that's the general principle and it's already helped me out a bunch.

Gizmodo: Train Your Brain to Get Smarter, Quicker

Back Again... Thanks Regional Musician!

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 01:49:00 +0000

Well it looks like I've got at least a temporary gig writing for Regional Musician. This month anyway they're running another article of mine. Long time readers will recognize the "Two Mic Guitar Method" so often described in these pages and on the podcast. You can read the musician friendly version and a lot of other cool stuff in the digital pages of their wonderful publication, or keep scrolling down for some links to past posts on the topic.

It comes in three flavors depending on what region of the States you live in. International readers just pick one, it's all good. Better yet, read all three.

Regional Musician West

Regional Musician Central

Regional Musician East

The "Sound Check" article is on page eight no matter what version you check out.

SNR Mini Podcast - Guitar Mic Trick (with audio examples)

Stereo Panning In A Live Mix - Karl Maciag Guest Post

Hey! We're Back! (Sorta)

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 03:21:00 +0000

Yeah, I know. It's been a heck of a long time since you've seen hide or hair of us. Quite simply, life happened. A couple guys that work at churches got hit square in the chops by the Christmas season. Anthony and his wife also had their first kid. So there hasn't been much time for blogging and podcasting for either of us.

The good news is that through the blessed goodness of Reddit, yours truly got asked to write a column for Regional Musician Monthly. The first one just went up and you can check it out here:

There's different versions depending on where you live/gig:

Regional Musician West

Regional Musician Central

Regional Musician East

The "Sound Check" article always features advice from an audio professional. This month that's yours truly and I get into it about safety on and off the stage. It's on page eight.

If you're just getting here because you read my article in RM, here's some links to articles about electricity and such.

Power Conditioners

Which Leg?

Star Grounding

Breakin' The Law

That's just a few. The archives are pretty deep so go ahead and dive in. There's over four hundred posts. Some of them are even useful and informative.

SNR Mini Podcast - Vocal Compression

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 16:46:00 +0000

aaaaaaand we're back... sort of. A fellow Redditor was looking for examples of compression to help train his ear. I had a couple minutes free and whipped up a little sample. Here it is for your edification.

SNR Mini Podcast - Vocal Compression - Examples of no compression, light compression and all out smashing of a vocal sample.

Fast Switching A Backup Mic

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 22:36:00 +0000

I just had a bit of an epiphany. This may already be common practice but I've never seen it or heard mention of it so I guess I'll go ahead and pass it on.

There are certain situations where you need a hot backup mic. This is particularly true for a wireless mic on a lead actor or lead singer. In a professional setting it's not uncommon for an actor to wear a second mic in case the first one fails during a scene. Likewise on a music gig it would be the height of carelessness not to have a second hand held wireless mic waiting for the lead singer.

The trick is making the switch really fast when a failure happens. Easy enough you say, just mute the one and un-mute the other. But what if you've made any adjustments in the mean time. You could always touch the back up channel every time you touch the primary, but I think there's a better way.

The trick (on a digital console anyway) is to set the two adjacent channels up as a stereo pair. Then you've got common controls, any EQ or dynamic adjusment you do on the fly automatically applies to both channels. The pan knob in the case of a stereo pair acts like a balance in most cases, so panning all the way to the left will give you all primary signal and nothing from the back up.

Wait, you say. Doesn't that leave you with your lead mic panned all the way to the left in the house? It would. So the last bit of the trick is to route it through a mono bus, panned straight up. If you need to place the mic somewhere other than center you do it on the bus. If and when the mic craps out, just grab the pan knob and swing it hard right. Now you're hearing just the back up (with all the same settings) and it's still right there in the middle of the mix.

I'm not sure if this one is going to change the world but for myself anyway, any little thing that can help with redundancy in a zero fail type of situation is a big deal no matter how small a trick it is.

How To Nail Voice Overs When Working Solo

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Every week I have a couple of voice overs to record to hand over to the video guy at work. Some readers are great, they come in, one-time it and walk out. With others it's dozens of takes and sometimes a little editing on top of that. But what about when you're tracking yourself?

It can be kind of difficult to criticize yourself on the fly. You can always hit the playback and listen to the entire performance again, but there's a simple way to check on your diction. Just open up any speech to text app on your computer or phone, hit record and go to town. When you finish, if what's on the screen matches your script, you're good to go.

It's not a perfect catch-all, but it can be a help when you're tired or in a hurry and having trouble running your own session and performing up to spec. I tried it with my phone a few minutes ago and it seemed to make getting complicated phrases right a little easier. After all, one of the biggest issues in VO work is rushing. Even if you don't look at the output of the program, just knowing that you have to speak so that Siri or Dragon can understand you will help you nail the take.

Save Early, Save Often

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 10:30:00 +0000

Save early, save often has been the mantra ever since the advent of the computer in modern life. Who hasn't experienced the agony of loosing an hour or two of work for lack of hitting Control-S?

I got caught off guard at an outdoor stage this last weekend. At FOH was a Presonus 24 and just as I had finished setting up the routing a GFCI breaker tripped and I was left staring at a blank console. It was only a few minutes work and easily re-done We weren't under too much time pressure so it wasn't really a big deal. Later on in the morning though, with sound check completed and the lawn filling up with patrons it was starting to creep back up on me. As I was walking to my vehicle to grab something I got on the radio and asked if someone would kindly drop by FOH and save to slot eight for me.

In the studio world it's no different. Nobody likes doing drum edits and losing even a few minutes of progress to a power glitch or a system crash is enough to drive one to drink. But there's another level of saving beyond that.

Working over the internet with a client recently we were passing versions of a short clip back and forth to get a feel for what the client wanted. It seemed like a pretty serial progression to me, with each version yielding a new set of notes and the next version turning out closer to what they wanted. After a while though the client started comparing version five to version two and it hit me that I was in a little bit of hot water.

Even though I've been computer savvy for most of three decades and pretty handy with a DAW, I'm still pretty much an analog guy at heart. Let's face it. If the power drops out on you at a show, a good old fashioned analog desk won't let you down. But the saving that would have helped me out in this instance is the kind that sets a way point every time you output a version.

Session files are pretty small. All they are is a road map for how the DAW is to handle the recorded files and how to steer the plugins. It's barely any strain on the hard drive or the engineer to simply click "Save As" and then go to work on that next version. In my case, I was able to just listen to the previous version and make the needed adjustments. But the more complex the project is and the more time elapses, the more handy it is to be able to exactly recall the way you were doing things several tries ago.

Studio Work In The Age of the Internet

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 10:30:00 +0000

There's a lot of talk bashing places that do "internet mastering". Understandably, you don't want to finely craft your songs and then send them off to someone who supposedly knows about putting the final polish on only to have them squash them all to hell with a couple "mastering" plugins and send them right back, possibly without even listening to them. There's a bright side though.

In the last year I've gotten drawn in to the group of engineers, both live and studio, that hang out on Reddit. In the course of that year we've seen many appeals for help with a project that was more than just a plea for advice. Some people showed up looking for people to collaborate with as an alternative to expensive studio time. Periodically there are guys that offer their services and while that's somewhat frowned upon, there are places to do that and people are finding work that way.

Of course every time this happens people come out of the wood work looking to work on a project just for the experience. That's a good thing really. The days of paying your dues at a real studio are fast slipping away and you've got to seek out experience where you can. More often than not the projects turn out OK. Someone with little or even no budget can get that last little bit of help mastering a project and the budding engineer walks away that much more experienced and with one more credit on their resume.

My own experience with this kind of work has been great. I've got friends who run studios right in the area who would love to keep their mastering work local. But I'm not up to snuff yet. Having some projects with less on the line to work on has been a godsend. The first couple I did for nothing, just to help some guys out and gain that little bit of experience. After a while offers for small paying jobs started coming in. And now after just a few short months I'm getting work pretty regularly. Nothing that's going to let me quit my day job (not that I would, I have the best day job in the world) but an extra couple hundred a few times a month for work I can do with my laptop has been wonderful.

It's been a real adjustment getting used to the pace of things though. The initial negotiations are always a little weird. Two people who will never meet in real life have to get to a point where they trust each other. One to put his or her music into a stranger's hands and the other to feel comfortable that they're going to get paid at the end. Luckily I'm used to putting musicians at ease, and the more my portfolio grows the easier that part gets.

The real stretch though is getting through that period of getting used to each others work and finding out exactly what the expectations are. It's no longer a matter of the client sitting in a session. That client might not even be on the same continent. So what could once be accomplished in half an hour of steady work at the desk is now a matter of sending version after version through DropBox until you finally hit gold. That stretches that first hour or so of work out over the course of multiple weeks sometimes.

It's worth getting used to though. In an age where anyone with a computer and a few dollars can set up shop things are getting ever more competitive. As schools continue to churn out "engineers" into an already saturated market the competition is growing ever more fierce. Learning to work in this new paradigm where the client and the engineer are at opposite ends of a broadband connection is a significant hurdle, but it's the way things are now and it's well worth doing.

Stocking Your Tool Box

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Sat, 24 Aug 2013 10:30:00 +0000

If there's one thing my years in construction taught me it's that having the right tools makes the job go a lot better. The crew I worked on had a well stocked box truck with just about everything you could imagine that would come in useful when building a house. That same philosophy served me well when I was doing a ton of live sound work. I took my whole rig with me even if I was going to do an acoustic night at a coffee shop. If some oddball request came up I had what I needed to take care of it right on hand.

At some point though, you have to put a cap on it. While there is something to be said for having everything under the sun at your disposal, most people can't afford to do that. The more I got to thinking about my carpentry days the more I realized that while we had a lot of specialized equipment, most of it served many, many purposes.

When you're out on a gig you could carry pliers, cutters, a kinfe, and several screwdrivers on you at all times. Or you could just strap a Leatherman to your belt and be done with it. It's not as good as any of those things individually but when something needs fixing in a hurry the tool that's ready to hand is the one that saves the day.

So just like you can have a full height tool chest full of everything Craftsman ever made you can stock your DAW with hundreds if not thousands of plugins. And while you can spend all the time in the world figuring out who's version of the LA-2A is better, wouldn't you be better served to just have one good compressor that you know really, really well?

In my own DAW I've got a couple hundred plugins, sure. But only a couple dozen of them see regular use and only about half of them are my true daily drivers. My EQ might not add all the pizazz of a Pultec, but I know what good saturation sounds like and I can juice it up a little bit. My compressor might be Plain Jane but I know how to run it. I can make it whip crack fast or slow and mushy like the good ol' days.

So if you're sitting there wishing you could afford the latest and greatest, maybe you should stop day dreaming and just spend some time getting to know the plugs you have right now. Because really, a good engineer can make gold with whatever you put in front of him or her. It's not the logo in the corner of the plugin that makes things great, it's the hand on the mouse.

If It's Not Breakaway, Don't Wear It

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Thu, 08 Aug 2013 10:30:00 +0000

I spent the day out at a local music festival with my house band from work and was given yet another laminate pass to add to my collection. This one, like the vast majority of the other ones hanging up in my shop was on a lanyard that didn't have a breakaway feature.

People who work in healthcare are used to seeing these. When you handle patients for a living you don't want one of them to be able to get a hold of your name tag and strangle you with it. On purpose or by accident it's unpleasant and dangerous. It's just as dangerous to be walking around back stage where there are a million things for a lanyard to catch on. They're not as common or as cheap as a regular solid lanyard but that little piece of plastic could save your life.

It can be a little clip or some other form of release that will just simply give up if about more than five pounds of force is applied to it. That can be the difference between picking up your lanyard and rubbing the rope burn on your neck and gasping for air while you dangle from a railing. Simply put: If it ain't breakaway... don't wear it!

If the event you're working for is run by a bunch of cheapskates that don't care about your safety here's a couple ways you can be a little safer without raising a ruckus and looking like a whiny brat.

Wear it on your belt. - Still slightly dangerous but better a wedgie than a noose.

Jam it in your pocket. - If anyone needs to see it you can drag it out. Sometimes just the sight of a lanyard dangling is enough to get you past security.

Hack your own breakaway. - By far the best solution, your tag is still visible and you look like a total bad ass genius for improving the item all on your own.

Here's two quick ways to accomplish that hack. Whether it's nylon webbing or a round cord, just cut that sucker with your Leatherman and join the two halves up with a piece of gaff tape. Even better, you can show off your expertise in rope craft and tie a fisherman's knot on one side. Pull it tight and leave the other end bare. Pulled tight it will hold on all day but slide off in an emergency. It has the added benefit of shortening the length by a couple inches too which will help keep it out of your way all day. (I'm not going to explain how to tie that here, go look it up if you don't already know.)

Christian Music Festivals

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Wed, 07 Aug 2013 18:34:00 +0000

This is as close to talking about religion as we're ever going to get here so don't get nervous. For the purposes of reading this article the only thing you need to understand is that there are Christians in the world. You do not need to believe anything in particular nor will I try to get you to believe anything related to religion. This post is about a music ecosystem.

I just came back from mixing a date at the local Christian music festival which takes place in and around an amusement park. When I got home my Facebook page was full of pictures and comments from folks from church that all had a wonderful time and enjoyed the music and the sights and the general experience. Then there was one from a friend who just happened to be at the park as a regular patron and didn't even realize there was a music festival going on.

His post went on at length about kids sporting t-shirts from the local Christian college running around with foul mouths, making out in public,trampling small children to get where they were going and whatnot. There was also a video clip posted of a drummer on the main stage who had an elevated, panning, tilting, spinning drum riser a-la Tommy Lee. A couple of the comments on that were that it was money that could be better spent elsewhere.

Which brings me to the point of this post. The only thing I'll say about the poor behavior of the event patrons is that college freshman are idiots no matter what school they go to. As for the behavior of the rest of the patrons it can be hard to tell who's there for the event and who's just there for the water slides so I won't say anythng.

But beyond that, if the Church is supposed to be acting like Jesus would, why are they spending all this money on a big festival? The first reason is that in rich countries church is often just one more thing that people consume and not something you actually participate in. So blame consumer culture and be done with it. But it goes even deeper than that.

There are artists who want to make music that is geared toward church people. That can be anything from music actually written to be used in church services to pop oriented stuff that's more for musical enjoyment. That simple act excludes them from pretty much the entire existing music ecosystem.

Regular venues don't want to book a Skillet or Thousand Foot Crutch because what church parent is going to let their kid go out to a venue that serves alcohol to see their favorite act? Also, except in rare (very rare) cases, nobody outside the Church cares about going to see those acts. So a venue is looking at a very limited box office night where they're not going to sell any drinks.

Hence the Christian Music Festival Circuit. It's quite simply just a vehicle for people that want to see Christian acts on stage. Apart from a few big churches that bring in acts it's the only vehicle, really. Christian music has to create its own ecosystem. That actually works out pretty well for the regular ecosystem because they don't have to even think about it.

It's a shame that those weekends are often the least favorite for venue staff and locals. Jerks come in all shapes, sizes and colors and there are plenty of them that go to church and don't come out any better for it. It's a shame that in a crowd of tens of thousands of people the ones who are acting poorly are the ones that stand out and leave a bad taste in your mouth when the vast majority of them are just quietly enjoying themselves. But I guess that's true for any group of people.

SNR Podcast #55 - 8/4/2013 - Family Life, DAWs in Live Sound

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Sun, 04 Aug 2013 10:30:00 +0000

This time around Jon and Anth talk a little bit about family life, the separation you deal with when you work in production. Then we get into it about using a DAW as a live sound console. As always there's an MP3 link to stream or save for later and eventually there will be a YouTube link as soon as we can get caught up on processing.

SNR Podcast #55 8/4/2013 - Family Live & Live Sound DAWs - Jon Dayton and Anth Kosobucki talk about family dynamics and using a DAW as a live sound console.

How I Ditched My Console And Loved It

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 10:30:00 +0000

This last weekend was jam packed for me. I work at a good sized church and on a regular weekend that's two rehearsals and three services. I spend a good deal of time behind the desk and a good deal more time running around getting ready. Usually when it's all over I go home and collapse for the rest of the day. This week though I had to stick around for an additional rehearsal for an upcoming event and then stay after that to tech an outdoor baptism service.

Last year I did that service with just four QSC K-10s, a little Allen & Heath console and some outboard. I also brought along a laptop and interface to capture audio to pass along to the video guy. This year I decided to lighten the load even a little more and ditch the console and outboard.

I've got a MOTU 896mk3 interface with eight analog ins and eight analog outs. That sounds like plenty enough I/O to run an event with so little going on. I tried using the included CueMix software from MOTU which I have used before on small corporate style events but when you start needing monitor mixes things get dicey. Since I was going to have Reaper open anyway I figured I'd give it a go as a live mixing tool.

I was not disappointed.

The input list was keys, acoustic guitar, two singers, a mic for testimony, a shotgun to point at the water and playback from a phone for walk in music. I needed two monitor mixes, a main PA mix and a delay fill because the seating area was narrow and over 300 feet deep.

I set up tracks for my inputs, labeled them and set up a limiter on the pre-record insert chain just to be safe. That took care of everything on the recording side. Everything else is a separate process so I could throw EQ, compression and effects as well as mix levels without disturbing what was going to tape. (Please forgive my old terminology, it really was tape when I got started in this business and old habits die hard.) I did my EQ and compression right on the tracks while I set up separate buses for delay and reverb effects. Once that was all in place I set up one more bus to catch everything for the delay line and threw the appropriate milliseconds on there.

With everything in place it was just a matter of assigning hardware outputs to the appropriate auxes and buses. I tested it out in the shop the night before and felt pretty confident. Just to be safe though I stuck a little analog mixer in with the rig. There was no need for it though. I did a clean boot up and everything just worked. I got channel EQs and compression dialed in, adjusted the time on the delay fill, and everything worked like a charm.

EDIT: To deal with latency I just cranked up the sample rate. Running at 96 kHz instead of 44.1 cuts the length of each sample in half. Since latency is determined by how many samples are in the buffer at a given time, shorter samples means less latency. I also reduced my buffer size which helped even more. In the end I had a stable DAW with 2.8 milliseconds of latency which is undetectable under most if not all circumstances.

Reflection Filters

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 10:30:00 +0000

In an effort to at least provide you with some interesting reading while we're on a partial Summer hiatus I've got a pretty cool link for you guys today. This one is for studio and live guys alike. It's a reflection filter you can fit around a mic to provide some pretty incredible room sound reduction.

You can read all about them on the ProSoundWeb article that tipped me off in the first place, then check out the company website. There are budget options for those looking to test the waters starting at just over $100. Prices go up from there, and there's even a pretty good deal on a five piece kit.

We Have Not Abandoned You

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 20:08:00 +0000

Fear not Brethren of the Knob and Fader. We have not abandoned you. It's just the busy season. As many of you are experiencing first hand, festival stages are raging and many of us are spending far fewer hours in front of our screens. Also... sometimes life happens. Such has been the case for a couple of podcasts lately. We're not a big organization. Sometimes It's eleven o'clock at night and we just look at each other, bag the podcast and go have a cigar.

So while the articles are still going to be a little few and far between, and we may yet miss another podcast or two, we will be getting back on track as the summer draws to a close. July is historically a slow month for blogs. So for those of you not gigging your backsides off just hold tight and we'll be back to full strength in a little.

Thanks for hanging with us.

Link: Dodgy Technicians

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 17:19:00 +0000

July continues to be what it typically is, busy. We're still trying to keep up some semblance of bringing you audio goodness to think about on a regular basis. Which for the next couple weeks at least means you get links when I find something interesting. So for those of you not out fighting heat stroke at festival stages and in fair tents, here's a little something to keep you going.

It's a Facebook page called "Dodgy Technicians" which chronicles any and all stupid rigging, mixing, electrical and any other safety botches that people have documented. At 35,000 members strong there's not shortage of snap shots coming in and it's a good education in what not to do.

The comments under each photo are worth their weight in gold. If a picture is worth a thousand words then the words underneath each picture are worth at least a thousand bucks. Every post is a fountain of information on how each situation should have been done properly. So check it out Brethren of the Knob and Fader. It's worth a look.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/dodgytechnicians/

PSA: How To Speak At A Podium

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 20:01:00 +0000

Here's something else I'm sick of seeing. People crouching to speak into a podium mic. Now unless said mic is some bargain basement dynamic mic and the system is really substandard there's just no reason for this. More often than not you're looking at a pretty decent condenser gooseneck with a nice tight pattern. Even if it's a humble SM57 there's still nothing to worry about. You can put enough gain on in either situation to pic up a speaker from a good distance away.

That's why it drives me nuts on everything from the Grammys to a small high school graduation to see people turn their head sideways and crouch down to kiss a mic that was set up to pick them up from a foot or two away (and stay out of the camera shot). Even if the announcers are properly trained you'll see winner after winner come up to do an acceptance speech and holler right into the wind screen. I can understand rockers not being able to help themselves, it's what they're used to. But actors do it, politicians do it, the music teacher does it at the recital in the church basement.

That's all I got for ya today. End rant.

SNR Podcast #54 - 7/14/2013 - EAW Anya, Rigging

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 22:34:00 +0000

This week hosts Jon Dayton and Anth Kosobucki go over some details they overheard about the new EAW Anya line array system. Then talk turned to rigging, a little bit about what to do and a whole log about what not to do. Things are still a little busy at SNR headquarters this week so the YouTube version had to take a back seat again. If there's enough clamor we'll get after it. Until such time feel free to use the MP3 link to stream or save for later. Also, take our survey about whether the YouTube version should stick around or not.

SNR Podcast #54 - 6/14/2013 - EAW's new Anya line array and then Jon and Anth get into some rigging.

SNR Podcast Survey

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 21:56:00 +0000

Hi all. Sorry the podcast is a little late this week. It's done, we've just got our hands a little full. While I was at it though I wanted to ask a question of our listeners. Publishing the podcast twice is a bit of a pain and we've been thinking of loosing the YouTube version and just providing better support for the MP3 version. RSS in particular.

Here's a quick survey via Google Docs. No private information need be shared and your answers will directly help us serve your needs.

If You're Not A Rigger... DON'T RIG!

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 14:36:00 +0000

I was up in the rigging at work a good bit last week, rigging a new projection screen at the back of the stage. The process was great. The piece came with all the hardware I needed and gave spec for the type and size of chain I was to use. The right size crew was gathered and with a minimum of effort and maximum of safety the new screen was rigged and will now hang securely for years to come.

This post isn't about that though. It's about everything else I found when I was up there. We don't have a fly space, just a hard grid with a few battens hung from it. If lights need to be focused, you get out the lift and take a ride up there. In the past though I've only gone far enough up to get to the back light cans and stopped there. Going up a couple feet more to get to the grid (and not having PAR cans shining in my eyes) revealed a world of rigging horrors.

I found a dozen lighting safetys holding up short chunks of pipe or just dangling with hooks added to them that had apparently been used to support set pieces in years gone by. I was glad to have those back and also glad that nothing happened while they were in service incorrectly. Those safeties are strong little suckers, they're designed to take a pretty good shock load if a light falls. They're probably plenty strong enough to hold up whatever else they were holding but the problem is using them for something other than their intended purpose.

I also found long stretches of half inch electrical conduit hanging from tie line, paracord, and in one spot, a shoelace. (shudder) All of that got chopped out with a quickness, never to return... at least not on my watch.

And last but not least I found all kinds of cheap tie down rope and little plastic pulleys that had apparently also been used to fly set pieces in and out. While I can only hope that they were just chunks of cardboard or styrofoam, more than likely they were big beefy flats because that's the way they used to do things around here. Gone. Gone. Gone.

Brethren, it's one thing to use a little chunk of rope from the hardware store to hang something up in the back yard. It's another thing entirely to rig something over the heads of performers and audience members. Every time I see someone doing something that's not specifically in the instructions or laid out in industry standards I get on them. My line is, "OK, so when something happens you can be the one to contact the surviving relatives and ask them what they want to name the venue they just became owners of."

I'm not going to lay out any of those standards and practices because I don't want the liability. When I rig something I follow the instructions to the tee. Or if I'm flying by the seat of my pants I'm looking very carefully at loads, documented strength ratings and doing some serious calculations to make sure everything is over rigged to the nines. If you rig something, whether it's hanging a PAR can or flying an eighty foot wide truss assembly, you better be damn sure it's done properly. If the slightest thing goes wrong the lawyers will be looking for you and you had better have your ducks in a row or you're going to be in a world of hurt.

The take away here Brethren of the Knob and Fader is quite simply the title of the post. If you're not a rigger... DON'T RIG!

Humor: Festivals

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 13:27:00 +0000

Having taken care of a few festival stages in the last couple weeks it makes me realize how lucky I am to work on an permanent system with people that I'm used to. Some of the comments I've heard (and made) in the last few days really bring that to light.

"My band needs five mics across the front" (unsaid: two of which will never be used and the third will only be used by the bass player to tell jokes nobody will get)

"OK, I got the equipment all working for my stage. Now all I have to do is try to care."

"Huh, I've been on stage for five seconds and nobody has miced up my amp... better CRANK THAT PUPPY UP or no one will hear me."

"Whoa! Turn that monitor down I can hear myself (shudder)."

"I see these girls every year at this stage. Last year I told one of em to get a pickup for her guitar and she showed up with one this year. Then I told her not to be afraid of the mic and get right up on it and whaddaya know... SHE DID! I guess I'm making a difference in the world after all!"

"Whelp... all the GFCIs are tripped so we can't actually do anything on this stage... but at least we're all safe. Dang humidity!"

"I mix my own set with my computer and this little mixer because I don't trust sound guys. I'll just give you a feed." (Constant feedback and vocals drowned out by music.)

"Hey man, the police are here looking for your guitar player"

"I gotta go shower before the gig." (What? Shower? Before you get all sweaty and nasty under the lights?)

Add your best to the comments Brethren of the Knob and Fader.

UPDATED: Traktor for iOS is Free Today Only

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 20:20:00 +0000

A couple of companies are jumping the gun on celebrating the five year anniversary of the iTunes app store. Native Instruments is one of them and you can get Traktor for iOS free today only.

For iPad - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/traktor-dj/id592052832?mt=8
For iPhone/iPod - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/traktor-dj-for-iphone/id625335999?mt=8

UPDATE: My mistake. Traktor is free for the duration of the promotion. They just got in on it a day or so before some of the other apps. Download away while it lasts!

Speaker Directivity

noreply@blogger.com (Jon Dayton) — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 10:30:00 +0000

July is typically a slow month for online endeavors. All the college kids are out doing their summer jobs and us working schlubs are off running festival stages. But for those still tuning in somewhat regularly I've at least got a few links.

ProSoundWeb had a decent article this week about the directivity of speaker arrays. It covers both line arrays and sub woofer arrays and talks about the different effects of physical aiming and aiming with delay have. It's by no means exhaustive but it's a good primer for those who have no idea on the topic and might even clear a few things up for people who already have some understanding.

ProSoundWeb - Shaping Coverage: An Analysis of Electronic and Physical Array Directivity