Hi Tim!
>>I suspect that there are few practicing audio people that really
>>knowhow to use the equipment and have the time to do a complete
>>alignment from venue to venue.
>'Scuse me?  As if it mattered at 110db with grunge music.  Did someone
>say, "Smashing Pumpkins" ??  :-)  Okay, that aside...
After a nice round up of the all in one box systems and array setups
that take time alignment of the drivers out of the picture, which is
only one of many things involved in aligning a sound system.
>Remember, these systems - which are on the cutting edge of live
>sound reinforcement technology - use factory designed computers
>to perform many, many functions that used to bog an operator's
>mind: crossover points slide with program material and output
>voltage, limiters are activated and controlled automatically by
>monitoring the amplifiers' output waveform (called "sense" by
>most manufacturers), time-alignment is set correctly for the
>driver population of the proper enclosure(and in some cases
>slid semi-automatically to provide "aural exciter" type effects),
>and much more.  The engineer neither has to monitor or even be
>aware, in most cases, of what's going on.  The box simply
>sounds killer while maintaining and protecting itself via
>it's rack-mount processor.
Yes I agree, we have some amazing tools at hand to to our work.
You can almost set up a sound system and push a button and you
have an automated concert.... NOT! Most of those that have visited
my echo (AUDIO) will recall me ranting and raving to home audio
people about how the environment a sound system is placed in has
to be considered in this equation SOMEWHERE.
Even the finest sound system in a football stadium will still sound
like a football stadium. That's where there is a sizable difference
between a set of ears that runs the front of house and monitor mixes,
and a technician that knows how to plug all of the wires together
and set the equipment up and an audio engineer that knows what
components to use where at what sound levels required to cover the
audience areas and not be hitting places that is just going to
contribute to lessening the signal to noise level between direct
sound and the ambient reverb field of the environment. This interface
between the acoustics of the room and the electroacoutsics feeding it
is crutial to the success of a sound system, and it is largely not even
being addressed by the majority of the "sound engineers" out there.
Most rock or other concert acts have no consideration of even coverage
over the entire room, even spectral distribution over the seating areas.
>An engineer may have a White or Ivie piece in his FOH gear simply to
>montior SPL.  Granted, that's a _way_ excessive choice for a volume
>meter, but the artist pays the bill, not the engineer.
I find a 1/3 octave display to be very useful EVERYWHERE, in the studio,
in the live sound, etc. to check for basic spectral balance, feedback
points, room resonances, etc.
>Processed, self-monitored systems are the way of life now, and it's
>a damn good thing, too.  Leaves more time for the engineer to operate,
>and not technically analyze, his system.
Too often the engineer is left at the shop and the operator operates.
It's the seeming lack of REAL engineering that goes into the design and
installation of some of these systems and the arrogance of
some of the operators who mistakenly believe that they are engineers is
what bugs me.
Those of us that have engineered major installed systems and had to meet
specifications in contracted systems have to do much more than turn the
amps on (after warming up everything else before it) and then starting
to tweak knobs to taste. Granted, good equipment and experience go a
long
way to getting acceptable sound quickly, but excellent sound takes that
extra effort, experience, engineering and tweaking USING TEST EQUIPMENT
EXTENSIVELY.
Bonnie *:>
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