Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Post by Rick Sarson on May 30, 2008 10:10:52 GMT 1
Thanks, I will check those out.
|
|
Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Post by Rick Sarson on May 30, 2008 10:10:13 GMT 1
I don't know if this will be any help but, a few years ago, I filled in for a week at LAMBDA during one of the student productions. When they do these shows they hire in a few professionals to help the students. An old mate was running that part of the college at the time and we commented to each other that if something went wrong the pros' would jump in and sort it out, rather than leaving it to the students to figure out. Personally I found it very hard to resist as you want it to go well. However it struck us both that the students were missing out on discovering what it was like when things went wrong because it was being fixed for them. What better environment to learn how to deal with problems than on a course? Maybe you could build some kind of scenario where they are under a little bit of show type pressure and then introduce problems for them to deal with in real time? At least they would learn how they cope with it and what to do about it without wrecking a real gig/not getting paid/getting a bad reputation. His description was that it should be a Kobayashi Maru type of thing [glow=red,2,300]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobayashi_Maru[/glow] I hope this helps.
|
|
Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Galileo
May 17, 2008 10:47:11 GMT 1
Post by Rick Sarson on May 17, 2008 10:47:11 GMT 1
Just done my gig with the Meyer Milo/Galileo systetm at the Royal Festival Hall. What an awesome rig! Really high quality sound. We had to send the client away to get the originals of the music tracks they wanted to play for walk in because the system was so good it showed (even to a client) how poor MP3's really are. It felt effortless, the whole rig had real "horsepower" for want of a better description. It was 8 Milos a side with a 120 on the bottom of each hang. 2 x 700HP subs a side with UPJ's as front fills. Driven, via Galileo, with an M7CL. A real pleasure! ;D
|
|
Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Post by Rick Sarson on May 12, 2008 17:44:01 GMT 1
I have had the same thing. It seems to be a random occurence. I have not found out a good reason yet. Other sound guys I know have had the same problem. Sometimes unplugging the mains adaptor and running on batteries for ten minutes and then reconnecting is enough to get rid of it. Very odd!
|
|
Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Post by Rick Sarson on May 11, 2008 19:10:52 GMT 1
Been thinking about this for a while, it is a much harder thing than I thought it would be to start with. I don't know if you will be able to instill such a thing, but something that always ticks me off with newbies is that they think they now everything already! I have been at this for umpteen years and am amazed at how much more there is to learn. Always. Also for them not to be afraid to ask. I was putting a musical into a theatre (it had to be in Ireland) and gave a local some cable and a comms belt pack with the instructions to rig it in the flys above prompt corner and drop the cable down there. He came back 45 minutes later and said "Wots der flies?" I would much rather some one asked and did it right the first time. I would expect them to have a working knowledge of how most sound kit works, to be able to rig it, connect it all up and (most importantly) perform basic fault finding. I would also expect them to have some grasp of acoustics, of how speakers interact with rooms and each other, so that they can achieve a clear and coherent system appropriate to the job they are working on. Rock and roll is not jazz, which is not a musical, which is not a conference. They all use similar (ish) kit but need different approaches which are sensitive to the needs of the situation. I don't know if this will be any help, but I will keep on thinking about it.
|
|
Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Post by Rick Sarson on May 11, 2008 18:44:52 GMT 1
I have just had this I've just been reading Theatre Sound by John Leonard. It has been a reasonably straightforward little book with fairly strong emphasis on sound electronics and I now require a companion volume that is more along the lines of acoustics for beginners. Got any ideas? This is by way of shaping up my educational ideas to provide budding performers (actors mainly) with a basic package of Sound knowledge. from a chum, anyone out there got any ideas. It must surely be a good thing if the 'turns' have some kind of idea about what we are trying to achieve and why we do the things we do to make it happen.
|
|
Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Post by Rick Sarson on May 7, 2008 10:37:45 GMT 1
Yet another bijou tip-ette. If you are recording to the usb key and need to add track marks as you go then set up one of the "user defined" buttons for 'Auto record'. Not only will that button start the recording without you having to go to the recorder page but each time you subsequently press it during a recording it will start a new track instantly.
|
|
Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Smaart
Apr 30, 2008 12:05:01 GMT 1
Post by Rick Sarson on Apr 30, 2008 12:05:01 GMT 1
You are right on the money there. If your ears say it is wrong then it is, no matter what any kind of analyser says. One of things I like about Smaart is that in the manual they keep on telling you to go and listen. That said, I find it a very useful tool, especially for time alignment. An out of time system is an incoherent system. Since I bought Smaart I have had more positive comments about my systems than ever before. My old rule of thumb being that if no one complains you must be doing something right! So, very good tool, but not an end in itself. Just listening is the best thing, always will be.
|
|
Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Galileo
Apr 25, 2008 13:51:24 GMT 1
Post by Rick Sarson on Apr 25, 2008 13:51:24 GMT 1
I would recommend having a poke about with a device before you have to use it in anger. I have just visited the very helpful chaps at Ambersound for a walk through it and was very glad I did. It is a sophisticated bit of kit. They also pointed out that it is important for the software version to match the hardware. I just love toys!
|
|
Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Galileo
Apr 23, 2008 19:34:08 GMT 1
Post by Rick Sarson on Apr 23, 2008 19:34:08 GMT 1
Hullo chaps. Anyone out there ever used Galileo/Compass with a Meyer Milo rig? Any useful hints and tips? Ta!
|
|
Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Post by Rick Sarson on Mar 3, 2008 18:10:09 GMT 1
Obviously this is on the CAD website so it is not going to say anything bad, but interesting just the same www.cadmics.com/RichardFortus.htm I have also read about people using the fact that ribbons have "true" figure of eight polar pattern to exclude sounds the don't want by careful angling of the null points. Has anyone out the tried doing M&S stereo? It is a really cool way of achieve stereo and makes a fantastic drum overhead too.
|
|
Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Post by Rick Sarson on Jan 1, 2008 14:31:21 GMT 1
Anyone out there used any ribbon mics? I have read some interesting stuff about the CAD Trion 7000, but know nothing about potential pitfalls. There must be reasons that there are so few ribbons around. I have heard of fragility in the past, but is that still true? Anybody?
|
|
Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Post by Rick Sarson on Nov 20, 2007 13:43:59 GMT 1
The previous posts are dead right. There is a lot to be said for a simplified approach to such a potentially complex job. Part of the conductors job is to create the optimum mix where he stands, and he has spent his whole career doing it. Have a look here www.dpamicrophones.com/ at the "Microphone University" you might pick up some handy hints on mic technique. If you are going to buy then the Rode NT5 matched pair are good for the price. But Mr Ryder is right, hire the best mics you can possibly afford and you will not regret it. If the end user is going to listen on headphones then dummy head is a fantastic tool, the stereo field with that technique is a thing of beauty. Let us know how you get on.
|
|
Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Post by Rick Sarson on Mar 8, 2007 16:26:44 GMT 1
YoHo Captain, What you need is a bit of kit called TiMax. I did the self same thing as you, ie played the clients' 5.1 program at a conference. Because of the way it works it actually improves the "sweet spot" of the 5.1 and you do not need to use two seperate sound systems, just add the rears and think hard about speaker positioning. You do not need a decoder, just a DVD player with the full set of outputs. Also you can move sounds about in real time. Go to www.outboard.co.uk to have a look. Delta Sound have one, as do Dimension Audio and Blitz. And no, I don't work for Outboard!
|
|
Rick Sarson
Senior Engineer
In search of fidelity
Posts: 106
|
Post by Rick Sarson on Feb 26, 2008 21:16:04 GMT 1
I was just on a job in the Palais Des festival in Cannes, where they do the film festival. We were just starting the get in this happened. No body was working with this flying bar, it just decided to make a grand entrance. Sorry about the quality of the pictures ( a lampie took them, what can I say?) It bent like spaghetti, none of us had ever seen the like before. The was quite a bit of French grouchiness amongst the locals because this was all in house. There was still no proper explanation of what caused it by the time I left, I will let you know if I find out. It caused us a bit of stress too as we were not allowed on stage for six hours whilst they got it all down and made safe. It all helps keep the interest up I suppose.
|
|