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New Directory for AV Technicians and Managers

By Nathan Lively

I recently launched a new directory website called AV Technician Hire to help connect AV companies with freelance techs and service providers. Why Should You Care? For AV Technicians and Service Providers If you're an AV technician or service provider, this platform aims to help you find more work opportunities. It takes less than five minutes to sign up, and at a minimum, it provides a place to promote your services. There's nothing to lose by joining. For Managers and AV Company … [Read more...]

d&b audiotechnik ArrayCalc vs SubAligner

By Nathan Lively

Unlike my previous post about the L-Acoustics preset guide, d&b guide's its users to perform subwoofer alignment using their ArrayCalc simulation software. I have heard from more than one colleague that they stopped using their audio analyzer after they started using d&b ArrayCalc. With such claims of accuracy I was really looking forward to comparing the results from SubAligner. Y7P + Y-SUB At matched level with CUT engaged the center of the crossover region is at … [Read more...]

Know Your Audio Analyzer Averages

By Nathan Lively

After you take several measurements and average them together, what do you expect to see? If these two measurements are averaged, what do you expect? Is zero the average of -6dB and 6dB, or something else? Here are four possible averages you may have guessed, depending on which audio analyzer you use. tl;dr Know what kind of averaging your audio analyzer uses.Collecting more data is more important than the way it is averaged. Here are demos from a selection of audio … [Read more...]

How To Tune A Sound System In 15 Minutes

By Nathan Lively

sound-design-live-professional-sound-system-setup-15-minutes-MAPP-8k

Even professionals often skip sound system setup and go straight to mixing because there just isn't enough time. Unfortunately, you can't go directly to your artistic place without first passing through science. The good news is that even the smallest amounts of time can be put to good use.  How? With a plan. Simple Sound System Goals The goal for tuning a sound system is very simple: manage interactions to reduce variance across the listening plane. Put another way: provide the … [Read more...]

If Poor Speaker Choice and Placement Were a Crime, We’d All Go to Jail

By Nathan Lively

Subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play or Stitcher. Support Sound Design Live on Patreon. In this episode of Sound Design Live I talk with principle teacher at Synergetic Audio Concepts and a co-author of Sound System Engineering, Pat Brown. We discuss the motivation of mistakes, finding clients through retail work, investing in high quality tools, practicing at home, and the biggest mistakes in sound system design and optimization. I ask: If the FCC … [Read more...]

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