As we discussed earlier, the weakest parts of any audio chain are cables and transducers. While many will tell you there are subtle differences between cable materials and construction, they are anything but subtle. Basically, you want copper conductors of the largest gauge you can afford and will fit your connectors. You want a jacket that will take a little abuse and, of course, the most solid mechanical connections you can achieve. Without going on a long expedition, suffice to say that the slew rate of your power amp (how fast the amp returns to zero after a signal) goes to hell when it has to drive a long length of undersized cable to get to the big subwoofer at the other end and the speaker cone flops around like a dying fish. Since cables are so simple to optimize, and buying good quality microphones and electronics will guarantee a reliable output signal, all that remains is to optimize the speaker array. We will do the best with what we have to work with and I will assume that you're not working with touring quality enclosures or dedicated microprocessor controls.
MI speakers aren't flat. Period. Not JBLs, not Mackies, not any of them. The hottest selling processing device in the last few years has been the dbx DriverackPA. This is a digital signal processor dedicated to compensating for the deficiencies of MI loudspeaker enclosures. If you already have an active crossover setup that features delay functions, you can accomplish about the same thing with a digital narrow-band equalizer and access to a real-time analyzer. An analog 31 band EQ will come close but will not be as accurate as the digital one (by the way, if your speaker enclosures aren't on the list of 'pre-programs' in the dbx unit, you'll be doing the same thing anyhow).
Take each speaker enclosure outside, away from any physical barriers (like walls, dumpsters, telephone poles, etc.) and stick it as high in the air as you can. Set up the RTA and microphone (again, avoiding any interfering objects, including the ground) and pump pink noise through an amp and out of the speaker. Adjust the DSP or EQ to be as flat as possible and then do it three or four more times with the microphone in different positions. Here's where the analog device falls WAY behind. If you're using an analog EQ, superglue the sliders in position and write the name of the speaker enclosure in huge letters on the top of the equalizer with a Sharpie. I now pronounce speaker and equalizer married forever. If you have a digital device, save the settings and, if you have a PC output jack, back it up. Pairing enclosures and processors this way is MUCH less expensive than buying touring quality speakers and will make a bar buster band sound GREAT!
In all my years in this business, it still amazes me that nine out of ten bad sounding shows are due to poor speaker placement. I have heard so-called professionals state that the appearance of their speakers is more important to them than their sound! Most musicians, store clerks, and self-proclaimed 'soundmen' have little or no idea how to properly position speaker enclosures in a given room. There is NO electronic means of compensating for bad speaker placement. Equalization can compensate for VERY minor problems, once speakers are correctly placed. While I highly recommend the the Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook and the JBL Professional Sound System Design Manual (which can be downloaded FREE from jblpro.com), the best information I've seen on speaker placement is the PA Bible from Electrovoice (also a free download). It's beyond the scope of this post to elaborate on placement and besides, EV does a great job!
One personal word about speakers on a budget. Peavey. Early in their history, Peavey was known for producing very powerful amplifiers. They had a very difficult time finding loudspeakers that could handle the output of their cutting edge amps and earned an undeserved reputation of using 'cheap speakers'. They began manufacturing their own loudspeakers because they wanted better quality and were tired of their loading dock being piled with blown speakers. As far as I know, they are the only manufacturer that is willing to spend the few dollars extra to make their speakers field repairable (their speakers have 'bolt-on baskets' that circumvent the down time and inconvenience of having a blown speaker re-coned). They were one of the first MI suppliers to sell digital processors for their speaker enclosures and, in my humble opinion, provide the most reliable 'bang for the buck' in the MI world.
I chose to address speakers early on because this is an area where there is the most wrong information freely offered and it's easy to blow your budget in the wrong places. My feeling is that buying the best speakers you can afford and learning how to get good sound out of them is the most vital determinant of how good your system will sound. Next time, we'll talk about amps and limiters, then I'll separate the men from the boys and start explaining gain structure; the most essential concept in sound reinforcement.
Pet Gripes from a cranky old poop
I grew up before the video generation, before MTV, even before color TV, believe it or not. When I was a kid, we had three or four TV stations and spent a lot less time staring at the box. We listened to AM radio and then, when we became cool teenagers, FM. My parents were professional musicians, so I started piano at age 3 and violin at 10. When I was 13, I heard Jimi Hendrix and Cream for the first time on the same day, and it was all over for me. Little Poindexter put away his violin and, because I was one of thirteen siblings (Irish Catholics, you know...) my guitar dreams stayed on hold while I hastily purchased an Electrovoice Model 664 microphone in a pawn shop and joined a band as lead singer. This was the cheapest and fastest way into the garage band scene (Ozzie Osborne started the same way, being accepted as a singer because he actually owned a mike by kids that beat him up at school ).
Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be complaining about something, according to the title of this blurb. As I mentioned, my generation grew up actually LISTENING to the music. We had very little imagery of our rock idols, with the exception of the Ed Sullivan show on Sunday night, so the lighting trusses, video screens, and dance groups associated with today's concert productions were non-existent and we concentrated much more on the actual music. Our culture has become so fixated on video and images that the music has started to take a back seat to the 'show'.
If you listen to several recent recordings and then slip in something from the 60s, you'll immediately notice that the overall sound quality is substantially less on the older recordings. The technology has come a long, long way and the quality of music should also have improved. In many ways, it has. The technical ability of many very young singers is frankly astounding but predictable, given the legacy of recorded performances and the competitiveness of the current market.
What concerns me is these two phenomena, which I have seen grow substantially in recent times: (1) Intended to be humorous, many television episodes, as well as commercials, feature off-key singing which, to the musically proficient, equates to fingernails on a blackboard. This is funny? Yikes! (2) Many people watch American Idol only during the beginning of the season and are bored by the actual talent at the end of each season. This is taken further by the show's producers who have capitalized on the 'Best of the Worst' episodes, where the most God-awful renditions are played over and over...
It concerns me that so many young people who couldn't sing if their very lives depended on it are lied to by their friends and families to the extent that they humilate themselves on national TV. This, to me, is the musical equivalent of the Springer show, capitalizing on the unfortunate circumstances of folks who are just plain too dumb to keep their mouths shut!
I pose the following question: Is our current generation so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of imagery bombarding them every moment that they are incapable of actually recognizing whether someone is singing in tune? Is the audience of American Idol REALLY so aurally numb as to honestly not understand the word 'pitchy' when they boo the judges? Do we really think Simon Cowell's honesty is 'mean' or have we abdicated integrity for popularity?
Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be complaining about something, according to the title of this blurb. As I mentioned, my generation grew up actually LISTENING to the music. We had very little imagery of our rock idols, with the exception of the Ed Sullivan show on Sunday night, so the lighting trusses, video screens, and dance groups associated with today's concert productions were non-existent and we concentrated much more on the actual music. Our culture has become so fixated on video and images that the music has started to take a back seat to the 'show'.
If you listen to several recent recordings and then slip in something from the 60s, you'll immediately notice that the overall sound quality is substantially less on the older recordings. The technology has come a long, long way and the quality of music should also have improved. In many ways, it has. The technical ability of many very young singers is frankly astounding but predictable, given the legacy of recorded performances and the competitiveness of the current market.
What concerns me is these two phenomena, which I have seen grow substantially in recent times: (1) Intended to be humorous, many television episodes, as well as commercials, feature off-key singing which, to the musically proficient, equates to fingernails on a blackboard. This is funny? Yikes! (2) Many people watch American Idol only during the beginning of the season and are bored by the actual talent at the end of each season. This is taken further by the show's producers who have capitalized on the 'Best of the Worst' episodes, where the most God-awful renditions are played over and over...
It concerns me that so many young people who couldn't sing if their very lives depended on it are lied to by their friends and families to the extent that they humilate themselves on national TV. This, to me, is the musical equivalent of the Springer show, capitalizing on the unfortunate circumstances of folks who are just plain too dumb to keep their mouths shut!
I pose the following question: Is our current generation so overwhelmed by the sheer volume of imagery bombarding them every moment that they are incapable of actually recognizing whether someone is singing in tune? Is the audience of American Idol REALLY so aurally numb as to honestly not understand the word 'pitchy' when they boo the judges? Do we really think Simon Cowell's honesty is 'mean' or have we abdicated integrity for popularity?
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
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