I’d like to share something I’m very proud of learning; but first some context.
I often like to trust the universe in directing me to the next thing, and this time it delivered. I was laid off (non-performance based) from my tech job of almost a decade. Since then I have done some soul searching and this had lead me to some interesting places: learning sound design for video games using Wwise, learning how to create sound journeys using Ableton live to loop and develop ideas using audio and MIDI, and most recently learning how to design audio systems for music venues and production sets.
Back in December I was approached by Jackpocket to help them with their weekly live lottery broadcast that they film at their headquarters in Santa Barbara. They wanted ideas on how they could create a better experience for their viewers from an audio perspective. They sent me an example video (under NDA) that I could review for ideas.
I sent them a few ideas:
1. Since this is a lottery drawing, no gambling is complete without loud, highly compressed sound FX. I suggested they revisit their sound design content and maybe hire me to develop out the sound design to create more of the gambling experience people are used to when they go to a casino.
2. Remote capability would be huge for any audio engineer to be able to control their system from anywhere in the world during their live streams. This is valuable because their set was small and so the fewer bodies that needed to be present, the better.
3. The audio was not clean and clear. I surmised they were not using a good microphone, pre-amp, or acoustic treatments. I suggested I audit their current setup and provide a consulting rate to provide them with an audit, suggestions, and presentation.
They accepted 2 and 3. This kind of work immediately felt second nature. I suppose it makes sense since I had spent the last 18 years as an audio engineer, building my own production studio, and have a degree in audio design from Berklee. I took measurements of the space, took stock of their current inventory, and got to work on a suggestions document and presentation. I even reviewed their current OBS system and found that the way they had integrated their audio system was not optimal.
After I suggested different acoustic treatments to use that provided dampening or dispersion, provided options for pre-amps and microphones, changing their audio system to make it remote, and gave them a presentation on how audio works and the reasoning behind my suggestions; they were absolutely floored. They said “You knocked it out of the park” and were so thrilled to be educated on sound, and now have tangible aspects to their production that they could upgrade and how to do it.
Well, the next month when I moved to Newport RI, I needed to find some more freelance work and I felt like I had a knack for this type of work. I visited all the venues downtown and one of them took big interest, One Pelham East. They not only wanted me to totally revamp their downstairs sound system, but they had also purchased some QSC line array boxes for their 3rd floor venue as directed by one of their musicians that plays there regularly.
I got to work, first attacking the downstairs. I took the exact model I used for Jackpocket, and applied it here. Their current system was a column array system that looks like it was installed completely wrong. If you walked in any direction from the center of the floor, you got comb filtering and dead spots every 3 feet, it was Bad. This time I gave them 5 levels of different budgets they could spend to replace their system; the most expensive being a complete L-acoustics overhaul (my buddy is a rep for them), and the least replacing it with some low budget QSCs. They elected to take the 2nd highest level and install some EAW AC6s, which are active column arrays with DSP technology to throw and disperse the audio in any direction you’d like.
While this was happening, I decided to help with the upstairs. Problem is, designing an audio system for recording is different from a system for live music. They have some similarities, like acoustic treatments, but the hardware has the opposite function, in stead of recording, it’s playing it back.
Through talking with EAW, they suggested learning EASE Focus, which allows you to take the specs of any pro-audio speaker and put it into a CAD like program to create a predictive model of the room. It also allows you to balance and optimize the location, rotation, splay, and tilt in 3D space. First I took some measurements of the space and used their existing blueprint.
I am the rare kind of person who likes to learn from manuals. So I read the entire EASE Focus 6 manual and created a digital representation of all the listening areas in the space. Since the venue owners had already purchased the speakers they wanted to use (it wouldn’t have been my first choice), I just grabbed the specs from that manufacturer and imported it into the software. I was able to play around with all the different parameters to give a pretty decent coverage of the entire space from a SPL perspective (loudness).
The other thing the program allows you to do is take measurement of the frequency response in any spot in the venue. What I immediately noticed is that these 8″ line array boxes wouldn’t provide enough of the low end necessary to get a sonically balanced mix. And so I went to the manufacturer and tried out some different subs in this same program.
This worked out great because the sub I chose was 2x 12″s and the response graph showed a drastic improvement. The owners were happy so I worked with their installer and got these line arrays flown.
Meanwhile, the downstairs was coming along. The predictive models had come back from EAW. The adaptive nature of the EAW AC6s was of huge value to the owners because their bartenders were constantly having issue with the noise volume when taking customer orders, and with this, we could effectively cover the oddly shaped room’s dance floor and pull the coverage back around the bar area so the bartenders could spare their ears.
Stay tuned for the end of this saga!