In the future...there are no consoles

http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/going_mobile_the_2_pound_72_channel_wireless_console/ It is somewhat difficult to imagine a future in the audio industry either working FOH or Monitors without a console and splitter box or one of the staples of the audio system setups of today but this is just what Bob Lentini has done. He has introduced a new system for mixing live sound that does all of its mixing from a single computer. Bob Lentini is the brainchild behind the S.A.C(software audio console) a 72 input, 72 output virtual front of house console that runs off of a Windows PC. It should be added that according to the article the sound quality of one of these systems matches, if not bests, that of a high end digital console and comes very close to reproducing the quality of analog sound. All of this is achieved at a fraction of the price of many of the digital consoles in use in the market today. One of the things that allows the SAC to operate so well is its use of assembly language. As I understand it, assembly language is very close to binary language, or machine language as opposed to C++ which requires a lot of decoding by the computer. Because SAC makes use of assembly language it is able to operate much quicker than many of the computer softwares on the market today that deal with audio. Because it can operate much quicker it is able to do more complex conversions of digital to analog sound thus resulting in a high sound quality. Another incredible thing about this system is that once you purchase the software it is something that could be assembled entirely by the user. The SAC website has a step by step guide that takes one through the process of building the computer and the input rack. With the introduction of tablets and wireless computer systems into front of house mixing it is allowed the front of house engineer to be completely mobile while building a mix for the audience. The SAC continues this trend with the only exception being that there is no console still sitting somewhere in the middle of an arena. The size of the SAC and inputs and outputs is quite small which frees up room for more seats which ultimately means more money for a venue and for an artist. While the system can be mixed remotely it is not dependent on the remote mixer in order to operate. If the wireless signal were to go down between the tablet and the SAC the SAC would continue to operate at whatever levels were previously set. It is quite possible that what we have in the SAC is a glimpse of the future without large audio consoles. At this time it’s almost impossible to see this happening, but over the next few years if this technology can prove to deliver a great sound at a lower cost and a better efficiency we may just see some of the larger console manufactures scrambling to keep up with this small company.

Audio Coverage

http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/the_big_5_how_to_illuminate_the_audience_with_beautiful_consistent_audio_co/P1/




1. Provide even sound coverage of all audience.
2. Provide adequate loudness before distortion.
3. Provide adequate loudness before acoustic feedback.
4. Be easy to understand.
5. Reproduce musical sources with adequate clarity and fidelity.

These are the “Big 5” rules of sound as outlined by Pat Brown. At first glance it may not seem so impossible to follow these rules, but when one begins to see that all 5 of these rules must be followed simultaneously it begins to seem not quite as easy. There are plenty of rooms that meet the requirements of two or three of these rules at a time, but it can sometimes be hard to find a room that will meet all five.
I know for me personally, many of the rooms I grew up playing music in and mixing in at my church barely met these rules. The rooms very rarely were actually built for music and the couple of rooms that were built with music and speech in mind were very spotty in terms sound coverage.

In the article comparisons were drawn between a lighting designer and a sound system designer. Similar to the ways that a lighting designer has to make sure that his light covers the stage evenly and completely, it is the job of a sound designer to make sure that his speaker choice at the distance they are away from the audience project sound evenly and completely. Brown translates this to terms of directivity, defining directivity as, the two variables that determine coverage: distance and coverage angle.

According to Brown, the larger a speaker is the more directivity it will have.
So if a speaker is to be far away from an audience it must be large enough to cover that audience with sound, however the closer a speaker is to an audience the smaller it can be to provide the same amount of coverage. This is not always an option as sometimes the person for whom you are designing a sound system might have strict requirements on where speakers can be placed. If this is the case it is important that one knows their room and takes the time to listen to the speakers in the room to determine if coverage is good or not. The problem comes when someone wants a small loudspeaker far away from the audience. It would be very hard for a sound designer to follow the “Big 5” with these kinds of restraints put on him.

Brown suggests that in order to ensure the best coverage one should hire a sound specialist that is equipped with the tools needed to measure sound coverage so as to get the best sound out of their system as possible. He suggests that one do it this way since the tools needed to measure sound coverage are often very expensive to acquire and it would be more cost effective to just hire someone to do the job.