Doug Siddons Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 [Your ears are the final arbiter, but without even coverage you'll have to pick which zone you want to sound right. Mac Devils advocate here but I agree with Mac that your ears are the the final arbiter, however on who's ears do we base the final outcome? An audience can comprise of people of any age with all the deficiencies age entails, does any predictive software contain an age related algorithm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mackerr Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 Devils advocate here but I agree with Mac that your ears are the the final arbiter, however on who's ears do we base the final outcome? An audience can comprise of people of any age with all the deficiencies age entails, does any predictive software contain an age related algorithm? You base the final outcome on the supposedly experienced and talented ears of the soundman. Do think it is wise to have a half deaf 80 year old make the decision just because he may be in the audience? How the show is mixed probably should take into consideration the audience and their expectations, but whether the system is well set up or not will be left to the tools and the ears used by the person setting it up. Line array prediction software is about getting the interbox angles right for even coverage over the specified audience area, over a specified frequency range, it is not generally about setting equalizers. It is possible in several of the packages to model some eq and level changes to see how they effect coverage at different frequencies, but in the end it is about getting even coverage. The challenge is maintaining that specified frequency response over the entire audience area. Tools like Smaart, SIM, or SysTune, can help verify what your ears are hearing, and help you identify problems like reflections that are causing comb filtering, but deciding what finally sounds good, or right, is up to the ears of the skilled operator. Mac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambrose Thompson Posted October 22, 2010 Share Posted October 22, 2010 Hello Blue Room, I stumbled on this thread today, the general topic of loudspeaker array setup (with software) is one that I have spent quite a bit of time trying to improve. Manual array design, that is where you repeatedly change some [splay angles/gain/EQ/... etc] and go look at the result, can really help with your functional model of the system. The more you do the better your array becomes but it can take quite a bit of time, an abundance of time is not something the touring community generally has. The quality of the result will also depend on the speed, accuracy and resolution of the predictive software, examining a handful of frequency responses throughout the venue or similarly inspecting the SPL over your venue at a handful of frequencies does not provide the full picture. If the calculation takes more than a few (ideally 1) seconds then the flow of manual iteration is compromised and the user will become frustrated/bored. Lastly, the prediction must be based on a sufficiently accurate acoustic model of the system, especially if you intend to go a bit further than experimenting with splay angles. Considering all the factors (human and technical) it should be no surprise that there is considerable volatility in the quality of the end result. I don't think that a user should have to understand or be required to explore the intricacies of the interactions between elements in an array simply to get a particular normalised coverage in their venue. In the same way, my incomplete understanding of ignition advance in the internal combustion engine does not affect my ability to drive. It is entirely feasible to provide a level of abstraction that allows the user to achieve the real objective of defined normalised coverage without manual trial and error. I suspect the march of integration will provide many more opportunities for manufacturers to make their systems increasingly more easy to use. In the meantime, happy exploring to those of you with a compulsion to fiddle with stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted October 23, 2010 Share Posted October 23, 2010 Ambrose, Great to see you on Blue Room! Your insight and knowledge is most welcome! Simon Lewis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambrose Thompson Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 Thanks for the welcome Simon, I'll try to chip in where I can avoid the commercial stuff. Going back to the OP, it's worth finding out whether the manufacturer supports EASE Focus (free to end users - the manufacturer pays upfront), just had a look at the latest version and it looks OK, reasonably fast and now supports 3D areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bessie Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Not here to ruin people's fun but this situation sounds like it is best left to the big boys. I know it may be great to get a big gig under you're belt but in all seriousness, if you're sub hiring a system with a tech to do this gig and you came on here seeking advice on modelling software does it not occur that it may be a little out of your league? Someone who actually knows what they're doing with the an L Acoustics system and uses Soundvision on a regualr basis should be doing this gig. Anyway, hope it goes or has gone well :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted October 27, 2010 Share Posted October 27, 2010 I'm sure that Ambrose is too modest to mention this, but a paper he co-authored (Methods and Limitations of Line Source Simulation) will receive the AES Publications Award in November. It was considered to be one of the best papers published in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society from the previous two years. Congratulations! Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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