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IN THIS ISSUE

FEATURES

18 |Every Day A New PA

Adaptable audio fuels Panic! at the Disco on tour.by Gregory A . DeTogne

24 |Zen On StageThe latest on IEM and personal monitoring.

by Gary Parks

40 |As Good As It GetsRevitalizing a Long Beach landmark with new

technology. by Live Sound staff

42 |Ahead Of The GameConsole approaches and strategies for festivals.by Kent Margraves40

APRIL 2014

6 |Loading DockEQUIPMENT New software, consoles,

loudspeakers, and more. by Live Sound staff

14 |Tech TopicClarifying audio power and the amplifier/

loudspeaker relationship. by John Murray

30 |In FocusAnalog and digital cabling for performance

audio applications. by Craig Leerman

36 |Front LinesSculpting multiple guitars for distinction,

unity, and placement in the mix. by Chris Huff

48 |Real World GearEQUIPMENT Everywhere a line: A look at

the latest column loudspeakers.

by Live Sound staff

54 |First LookAndy Brown on the new Soundcraft Vi3000

digital console. by Paul Watson

58 |Road TestEvaluating the Yamaha DXS12 subwoofer

and STAGEPAS 600i compact PA.

by Craig Leerman

4 |From the Editors Desk

60 |NewsBytes

63 |Advertiser Index

64 |Back Page

DEPARTMENTS

36

60

42

Live Sound International (ISSN 1079-0888) (USPS 011-619), Vol. 23 No.4, is published monthly by EH Publishing, 111 Speen Street, Suite 200, Framingham, MA 01701 USA. US/Canada/Mexico subscriptions are $60 per year. For all othercountries subscriptions are $140 per year, airmail. All subscriptions are payable by Visa, Master Card, American Express, or Discover Card only. Send all subscription inquiries to: Live Sound International, 111 Speen Street, Suite 200, Framingham, MA01701 USA. Canada Subscriptions: Canada Post Agreement Number 40612608. Send changes of address information and blocks of undeliverable copies to Pitney Bowes International, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. POSTMASTER: send

address changes to Live Sound International, PO Box 989, Framingham, MA 01701. Periodical Postage paid at Framingham, MA and additional mailing offices. Reproduction of this magazine in whole or part without written permission of the publisheris prohibited. Live Sound International is a registered trademark of EH Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. 2014 EH Publishing. Check us out on the web at http://www.prosoundweb.com.

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At the 63,000-capacity Memorial Stadium at the Universi ty of California Berkeley,

the CAL column array loudspeaker creates an ideal sonic environment for everyone,

both inside and outside the venue. Using CALs precision steering, the stadium

system aims remarkably clear speech and music at the audience within the bowl,

while limiting undesired noise spill onto the playing field or into adjacent residential

areas. Happy fans andhappy neighbors. The AVB-capable CAL column array

loudspeaker is built by hand in Berkeley, California.

CALcolumn array loudspeakers

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From the Editors Desk I N T E R N A T I O N A L

VOLUME 23|NUMBER 4

.com

Publisher|Kevin McPherson|[email protected]|Keith Clark|[email protected]

Senior Contributing Editor|Craig Leerman|[email protected] Technical Editor|Ken DeLoria|[email protected]

Church Sound Editor|Mike Sessler|[email protected] Editor|Paul Watson|[email protected]

Technical Consultant|Pat Brown|[email protected]

Art Director|Katie Stockham|[email protected]

Associate Art Director|Dorian Gittlitz|[email protected]

ProSoundWeb.com

Editor-In-Chief|Keith Clark|[email protected]

Product Specialist|Craig Leerman|[email protected]|Guy Caiola|[email protected]

Gary Parks|Gregory A. DeTogneKent Margraves|John Murray|Chris Huff

Live Sound International

111 Speen Street, Suite 200

Framingham, MA 01701

Phone: 800.375.8015

www.livesoundint.com

Jeff Turner|Account Executive415.455.8301Fax: 801.640.1731

[email protected]

Mark Shemet|Associate Publisher Online, ProSoundWeb.com

603.532.4608|Fax: 603.532.5855

[email protected] Rosengard|Ad Production Director

508.663.1500 x226|[email protected]

Jason Litchfield|Ad Production Manager


Circulation and Customer Service inquiries should be made to:

Live Sound Customer Service

EH Publishing

Phone: 800-375-8015, ext 294

(Outside the U.S.: 508.663.1500 x294)

Fax: 508.663.1599

[email protected]

111 Speen Street, Suite 200Framingham, MA 01701

EDITORIAL AND READER SERVICE RELATED EMAIL ADDRESSES

Circulation & Subscriptions|[email protected] Dock Submissions|[email protected]

World Wide Web Inquiries|[email protected] Rate Information|[email protected]

REPRINTS:Erica Halloran


ON THE COVER: Panic! at the Disco

frontman Brendon Urei performingon the bands recent tour with a

stand-mounted collection of pedal

effects for his vocals.

If theres a particular theme this issue, its back to basics. Youll find

several articles discussing some of the bedrock aspects of working in, and

with, professional audio.

A case in point is two pieces by senior con-tributing editor Craig Leerman, who provides

both an in-depth look at the essentials of cabling

and interconnect as well as some direct advice

about insuring success with every show and event.

Often times, its the simple (basic) things like

patching in the wrong cable or failing to gather

enough advance information about a gig that turn

out to be quite humbling.

Its great to welcome back John Murray to

these pages, and he offers some welcome clarification on audio power.

I approached John about doing the piece because weve seen an uptickin focus on the total watts of various audio devices loudspeakers in

particular. But whats a watt? John supplies some constructive clarity.

Were also happy to welcome Kent Margraves aboard in this issue,

and he steps up with a look at console strategies/methods for festivals.

His discussion offers a reasoned take, and looks at the issue from the

sides of both system tech and mix engineer.

Meanwhile, Gary Parks offers a detailed overview of what s happen-

ing in the world of in-ear and personal monitoring, while Greg DeTogne

presents an interesting look at the adaptive, unconventional and interest-

ing approaches deployed on a recent tour with a popular band.

And as always, theres much more. Enjoy the issue

Keith Clark

Editor In Chief, Live Sound International/ProSoundWeb

[email protected]

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www.solidstatelogic.com/live

SSL Live

[email protected]

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LOADINGDOCK

6 Live Sound International April 2014 www.ProSoundWeb.com

Eighteen Sound CX & NCX @Five coaxial drivers, including the 8CX650 and 10CX650

with ferrite motors and extended LF. Both have a 1.75-in (44

mm) diameter HF diaphragm, and a nominal dispersion of 90

degrees. The 2.5-in (65 mm) LF copper voice coil employs the

companys proprietary Interleaved Sandwich Voice coil (ISV)

technology. The 12NCX750 and 15NCX750 have neodymium

motors and are compatible with the companys proprietaryhorns. They are comprised of a 3-in (75 mm) ISV LF voice coil

and a 2.4-in (60 mm) HF pure titanium diaphragm, and have a

nominal dispersion of 80 degrees. And, the 15NCX1000 also

has a neodymium motor and a titanium 4-in (100 mm) dia-

phragm. A dual-magnet motor structure provides added power

for high SPL applications. www.eighteensound.com

AKG DMSTetrad@A license-free digital wireless microphone system offering

128-bit AES standard encryption. The system includes an

integrated 4-channel mixer and an antenna front mount kit.

With 24-bit, 48 kHz audio coding, it provides uncompressed

transmission and a linear frequency response. The 128-bit

AES standard encryption prevents tapping of the audio signal.

The entire system includes the DSRTetrad stationary receiver,

DPTTetrad pocket transmitter, and DHTTetrad handheldtransmitter, available with AKGs patented D5 acoustics or as

DHTTetrad P5 with standard dynamic capsule. Two sets are

available, the DMSTetrad Vocal Set including the DHTTetrad

P5, and the DMSTetrad Performer Set including the DPTTetrad

together with a C111 L earhook microphone and the MKG L

instrument cable. www.akg.com

Mackie SRM450 & SRM350 @Upgraded versions of portable powered

loudspeakers that now include a 1,000-watt

amplifier and several digital sound-shaping

tools. Users have a choice between four

application-specific modes, each re-voicing

the loudspeaker to be optimized for specific

applications. Also built-in is an intelligent feed-

back destroyer that simplifies sound check. At

the push of a button, the loudspeaker instantly

identifies and eliminates feedback using up to

four narrow 1/16th octave filters. Both models

also now incorporate the companys HD Audio

Processing, which combines patented acous-

tic correction DSP with optimization features

like a precision crossover, driver time align-

ment and phase correction. www.mackie.com

Avid AAXAn expanded live sound AAX plug-in platform for the S3L

live mixing system, including new plug-insfrom Avid as well as Crane Song,

McDSP, and Sonnox. The plug-

ins appear within the systems VENUE

software and are fully integrated within the

session file and snapshots. The release of the free VENUE

4.1.3 software update provides support for the latest qualified plug-

ins, and Avid is continually qualifying additional AAX live sound plug-ins. As part

of the update, current and new S3L customers can also download additional free

AAX plug-ins for their system through their Avid account. www.avid.com

Amadeus ML 8The smallest member of the companys ML Series,

available in passive, self-powered and EtherSound ver-

sions. The 8-in subwoofer is built around a proprietary

internal reinforcement structure designed to neutralize

any standing waves and to suppress energy loss caused

by vibrations. This construction technique creates a cut

in the level of cabinet coloration of sound by using a com-

bination of interlocking panels arranged in two perpendicular

planes. The ML 8 draws 600 watts peak under an 8-ohm impedance and is rated to

produce 118 dB peak SPL. Its available in a wear-resistant black (water-soluble) paint

finish as well as standard and custom colors. http://amadeus-audio.com

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www.ProSoundWeb.com April 2014 Live Sound International 7

Products Fresh Off the Truck

RCF RDNetVersion 2.02

An upgrade for the

companys proprietary

RDNet Control 2 and

Control 8 hardware

interfaces (controlling

a maximum of 64 and

256 devices in subnets respectively)

where each intelligent RDNet-

compatible device has its own built-in communication board,

microcontroller and DSP, with the ability to store presets, receive

commands and continuously send status information. Additional

RDNet 2.0 upgrades include re-designed offline and online

operating mode for a safe system administration, revised mute

management logic rules, improved RDNet protocol communica-

tion and error correction, and Logic ID support for a faulty device

tolerant network operation. The new version is available for

download from the company website. http://usa.rcf.it

Cerwin-Vega! P1000X2A 2-way, bi-amped, full-range bass-reflex

loudspeaker that employs a 10-in wooferand high-frequency compression driver,

with a proprietary hemi-conical horn that

provides enhanced sound clarity over an

even and wide coverage area. Power is

supplied by an onboard 1,000-watt class

D amplifier. A built-in mixer with multiple

channels and I/O connections fosters fast setup, while enhanced

EQ, VEGA BASS boost and high-pass filter controls enable

exact tuning. The lightweight polymer enclosure includes a self-

tightening pole cup as well as ergonomic handles. Built-in rigging

points and a remote volume port make the P1000X suitable forsuspended installation. http://cerwin-vega.com

Grundorf 75-110 A compact rack drawer for wireless racks offering a short depth

body to fit into most wireless racks. It has three compartments with

metal dividers designed to provide separate space for micro-

phones, beltpack or plug-on transmitters, and a host of related

items. With ball bearing draw

glides, the drawer slides

smoothly, and it incor-

porates high-grade foam

in all three compartments.

The 75-110 measures 3.5-in

x 19-in x 8.25-in (h x w x d) and

weighs 7 pounds. www.grundorf.com

DiGiCo D2-RackDesigned to support and

expand the higher sample rate

I/O solutions of the companys

SD Range, the D2-Rack comes

with either BNC or Cat-5 MADI

connections that allow it to be

used with a number of DiGiCoconsoles. By using the latest converters found in SD Racks, the

D2-Rack offers a more compact, more efficient, more affordable

rack solution for connection at either 48 kHz or 96 kHz with no I/O

reduction. Two I/O versions are available: 48 mic inputs and 16

line outputs or 24 mic inputs, 24 AES inputs and 16 line outputs.

Both versions include two blank output slots allowing an addi-

tional 16 outputs in the users desired format analog, AES and

Aviom. www.digico.biz, www.g1limited.com

Yamaha Commercial Audio QL Series @QL1 and QL5 digital consoles include 16/32 built-in mic/line

analog inputs, 18/34 faders, 8/16 built-in analog outputs, 32/64

+ 8 stereo input mixing channels capability, and 16 mix + 8

matrix (or 24 mix total) + stereo + mono outputs. The built-in

Dante interface provides a 64 x 64 matrix for the QL5 and 32x 32 for the QL1. The QL Series also includes internal proces-

sors such as Yamaha VCM and the Portico 5033/5043 created

in cooperation with Rupert Neve Designs. Dan Dugan Sound

Design automatic mixing is offered for speech applications.

Remote control is provided via an iPad with Yamaha StageMix,

as well as online/offline QL Editor software for Mac and PC

computers. Both consoles have two MY Card Slots, 8-space

Premium Rack, 8-space GEQ Rack, 8-space Effects Rack, with

one license of Dante Virtual Soundcard provided as well. The

consoles are compatible with Nuendo Live (sold separately)

and offer Nuendo Live Control, MIDI/GPI Control Ports, and2-track direct to USB and multi-track recording playback capa-

bilities. The QL1 is also rack mountable. www.yamahaca.com

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:: Loading Dock::


Powersoft X Series@

Power amplifiers that natively support AES3 and have two

redundant Dante digital streams and analog inputs, provid-

ing up to four different selectable input sources per channel.

The larger X8 offers eight channels in a 2RU chassis, while

the X4 provides four channels in a single rack unit. Both

models share the same power density, capable of delivering

up to 5,200 watts at 2 ohms per channel. The power supply

includes proprietary Power Factor Correction as well as

Powersofts patented Smart Rails Management technology.

Integrated DSP manages power and also supplies complete

routing and mixing of the input/output channels. Signalmanagement and processing architecture has six separate

sections: input source selection, input processing, matrix,

pre-output processing, speaker routing, and output process-

ing. Set-up parameters are fully integrated into the Armona

Pro Audio Suite. An integrated WiFi connection permits the

amplifiers to be accessed and managed via any smartphone

or tablet. The power supply is suitable for single-phase, bi-

phase or three-phase operation from 85 volts up to 440 volts

AC without need for manual selection. True three-phase load

balancing is directly achievable. www.powersoft-audio.com

Allen & Heath GLD Version 1.4New firmware for the companys GLD mixer range that introduces

a suite of dynamic processors and enhancements to scene man-

agement, including crossfading and embedded scene recalls. V1.4

includes two multiband compressors (3 and 4 bands) and a 4-band

dynamic equalizerrecently developed for

the latest update to

the iLive digital series.

V1.4 also provides

Transient Controller, an accurate model of the industry standard tran-

sient signal processor. Users of DAW software also benefit from the

addition of dedicated MIDI strips. Further upgrades include 12/18/24

dB/octave variable slope on HPF filters, refinements to the I/O patch-

ing screens, and the addition of Soft Keys to the accompanying GLD

Remote and GLD OneMix iPad apps. And, V1.4 now offers multilingual

capabilities. www.allen-heath.com, www.americanmusicandsound.com

Beyma MC5002Ferrite-magnet woofers avail-

able in 10-, 12-, and 15-in sizes,

primarily designed for active loud-

speaker systems and line arrays as mid-

range or low-frequency components. All three

models incorporate 2.5-in voice coils with ceramic magnet as well

as Maltcross technology, the companys proprietary cooling system,

which allows them to handle up to 1,000 watts of program power while

reducing loss due to power compression effect. www.beyma.com

Roland Systems Group S-2416 A digital snake stage unit offering 24-input x 16-output ana-

log and 8-input x 8-output digital for a total of 32 input and

24 output channels. In addition to the analog and digital

I/O, the S-2416 has two REAC ports enabling the ability to

cascade an additional snake for expanded I/O or for a fully

redundant,

zero-loss

audio back-

up solution.

The discrete

mic preamps

are newly developed to enhance sonic quality. The chassis

is an EIA design with a 4RU size, designed for touring and

fixed installation. The analog connectors employ Neutrik

connectors and the inputs have 3-color indicator lights that

provide phantom power, clipping, and signal presence at

a glance. The AES/EBU ports on the rear are 25-pin D-sub

types that enable other digital audio devices to be directly

connected. The S-2416 supports 24-bit 96 kHz, 48 kHz, or

44.1 kHz when switched to clock master mode.

www.rolandsystemsgroup.com

Aviom D800-Dante A-Net Distributor Distributes audio and power to up to eight Aviom personal mixers,

and with the integration of Dante, makes them easier to integrate

with various digital consoles and networks. Up to 64 channels from

the network can be availableto the personal mixers in the

system. Performers with an

A360 personal mixer can

mix the channels they want

from this pool of 64 avail-

able channels. The D800-Dante is also compat-

ible with Aviom A-16II and A-16R personal mixers, but

when used with the A360 personal mixers, it also provides the new

Network Mix Back feature, which sends a digital copy of the stereo

mix output from each A360 connected to the D800-Dante back to

the Dante network or to an AN-16/o v.4 output module for simplifiedconnections to musicians wireless in-ear transmitters. In addition,

the D800-Dante serves as a communications hub for iOS devices

connected via an Ethernet WiFi router. www.aviom.com

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:: Loading Dock::


@QSC Audio Q-SysEnterprise CoresDoubling the processing capabilities of the models

they supersede (Core 1000 and Core 3000), the Core

1100 provides up to 256 x Q-LAN network audio Flex-

channels, while the Core 3100 supplies up to 512 x

512 fixed Q-LAN network audio channels. In addition,

a software update, Q-Sys Designer 4.0, will also soonbe available to support both new and existing Q-Sys

Cores. It will offer features such as Core-to-Core pag-

ing that allows individual cores to seamlessly transmit

messages across a campus-wide installation, Timeline

Playback, plus a Dynamic Threshold auto-mixer.

www.qsc.com

Midas PRO X2A digital console provid-

ing 168 inputs and

99 mix or 103output channels

simultaneously on a

control surface that measures

less than 60 inches wide. AES50 digital

audio connectivity allows scalability for up to a

total of 288 network inputs and 294 network outputs.

Seamless integration comes via IP-compliant third-party audio net-

works, such as Dante and CobraNet, using the Klark Teknik DN9650

network bridge. PRO X offers 99 mix buses that can be simultaneously

displayed as 24 mono or stereo mixes on the console surface. Each

of the displayed mixes has its own LCD select switch with RGB colorcoding and scribble strips, plus 11-segment LED bargraph metering.

The onboard Neutron Audio System Engine utilizes advanced FPGA

and MIMD (Multiple Instruction, Multiple Data) architecture to deliver

more than 100 gigaflops of real-time audio processing performance,

translating into 271 simultaneous processing channels at 96 kHz and

40-bit floating point operation. www.midasconsoles.com

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d&b audiotechnik ArrayCalc 7.6.112The latest version of the companys simulation software providing improved room data input

to define listening planes in three dimensions, inclusion of xC-Series column loudspeakers

as well as the new D80 amplifier, and export functions into the new d&b R1 Remote control

software V2. Now called Venue, the room input control enables the user to create a repre-sentation of the audience areas in a given venue in three dimensions. This includes typical

listening planes, arenas, balconies, side stalls and 360-degree scenarios, even with curved

edges. Additionally, the Arena measurement function builds a virtual model using dimensions

determined with a distance and angle finder. Up to 14 flown arrays or subwoofer columns can

be defined in a project file. d&b line and point-source loudspeakers are selectable and can be

included as the application requires. The

new version of ArrayCalc is downloadable

at the company website. www.dbaudio.com

@JBL HiQnet PerformanceManager Version 1.7Provides support for the companys new

VTX F Series loudspeakers as well as newcircuiting functionality that allows for auto-

matic mirroring of delay, bandpass gain, cir-

cuit level attenuation, and limiter reduction.

It also affords the ability for center stacks

to mirror their circuit configuration. With the

new functionality, circuits for ground stacks

on-end are built in an onstage to offstage

fashion, and Harmans Crown VRACK

amplifier channels are now automatically

associated with sub bandpasses by using

channel 1 of all three amps before asso-

ciating with channel 2. The functionality

also separates the circuits of cardioid subs

so non-consecutive circuiting and more

economical triplets can be created. Online

matching now has the option of preserv-

ing physical device addresses and making

the virtual device in Performance Man-

ager receive the HiQnet address from the

networked device. Performance Manager is

available for purchase via license key on the

HiQnet website. www.jblpro.com,

http://hiqnet.harmanpro.com

Better Than You Imagine...

Youve probably known for years that Lectrosonics makessome of the best-sounding, most reliable, and user-friendly

wireless microphones in the world. What might surprise youis that systems from Lectrosonics often dont cost any more

than what youre using now. In fact, they might even cost less.

Scan here and find out for yourself.

lectrosonics.com or 1-800-821-1121

In Canada, call 877-753-2876

...for Less Than You Think.

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:: Loading Dock::


Radial Engineering JDI Duplex The latest generation of the companys 2-channel pas-

sive direct box designed for professional touring and

studio recording. The discrete design is centered around

two high-performance audiotransformers that produce

exceptional linear

response from 10

Hz to 40 kHz and

gently smooth out

transients for a natural

limiting effect that is often

referred to as vintage sounding.

Front panel switches include -15 dB

pad, stereo-to-mono mix, 180-degree polar-

ity reverse, ground lift and XLR select, while connectorsinclude 1/4-inch, 3.5 mm, RCA and XLR on the input

side, and XLR outputs. The 14-gauge I-beam enclosure

reduces opportunity for stress on the PCB.

www.radialeng.com

Shure Wireless Workbench Version 6.9 A software solution that maximizes the efficiency and flexibility of the companys wire-

less microphone systems. Version 6.9 now offers customizable alerts, enabling users

to configure thresholds to trigger hardware alerts for remaining battery life, low RF or

ShowLink levels, and audio signal issues. For easy moni-

toring, these interference and hardware alerts are clearly

visible from the toolbar. Version 6.9 also offers an improved

user interface for more efficient channel management. With

newly-added spectrum data from more countries, the soft-

ware lets users identify channel locations for better frequency

coordination and planning. www.shure.com

@Celestion CDX14-3030A 1.4-in-exit ferrite magnet compression

driver with a 3-in copper clad aluminum

voice coil driving a titanium diaphragm. It

is rated to deliver 75 watts (RMS) power

handling and 106.5 dB sensitivity across

a frequency range of 500 Hz to 18 kHz.

Recommended minimum crossover

frequency (at 12 dB/octave) is 1 kHz. The

driver incorporates the companys propri-

etary Sound Castle diaphragm clamp-

ing assembly to ensure even clamping

pressure on the diaphragm surround,

while actively reducing stress on the

diaphragm during operation. This con-

tributes to lower distortion while enabling

the full internal volume of the rear cover

to act as a loading chamber for the dia-

phragm, resulting in enhanced mid-band

response. http://celestion.com

VUE Audiotechnik hs-20A subwoofer incorporating the companys Active Compli-

ance Management (ACM) technology that combines a

hybrid transducer alignment with sophisticated onboard

electronics to deliver more output and low-frequencyimpact. The hs-20 places a pair of custom, high-powered,

long-excursion 10-in transducers into the ACM alignment.

From there, onboard electronics include ACM-optimized

DSP and dual-channel, high-efficiency amplifiers capable of

maximum output without the need of cooling fans. The hs-20 ships

with SystemVUE networking, allowing users to connect one or multiple h-Class systems

together via wired or wireless Ethernet to a Windows or Macintosh computer. Once

connected, SystemVUE provides access to a selection of network and device-level con-

trol and monitoring functions. The drivers and electronics are housed in a birch plywood

enclosure that includes an integrated pole mount. www.vueaudio.com

AFMG EASE 4.4 The latest version of the companys acoustic simulation software

provides expanded import/export compatibility with Trimble SketchUp,

Autodesk AutoCAD and a long list of others, DXF-compatible CAD

programs, as well as theupdate of STI calculations that

are now performed accord-

ing to IEC 60268-16:2011.

The AURA module has been

added, and along with a set of

additional parameters that can

be derived from sophisticated

ray-tracing calculations, it incorporates a range of sound scatter-

ing simulation options which can be used to achieve highly realistic

results. AURA supports multi-threading, making best use of modern

CPUs with multiple kernels. And, the new EASE InfraRed module isnow available together with EASE 4.4, extending EASE simulation into

the world of assistive listening systems. EASE 4.4 supports Microsoft

Windows up to version 8.1 and runs smoothly under Parallels Desktop

or in Apple Boot Camp. http://ease.afmg.eu

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Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. P. O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90620-6600 www.yamahaca.com

2014 Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc.

When it comes to the art of mixing, there is nothing more fulfilling than having the

freedom to creatively express yourself without limitations. Yamahas newest digital

mixer, the CL Series, starts with superior pure natural sound, and then allows you

the ability to set your imagination free. With built-in additions such as Rupert Neve

Designs Portico 5033/5043 EQ and compressor and Yamahas legendary VCMeffects, youre able to put your skills to use by creating a musical masterpiece thats

above and beyond the norm.

Yamahas CL Series. Go where the sound leads you.

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YEARS AGO, only car stereo makerswould advertise 2,000 Watts Of Earth-

Shaking Power! But with the recent

shift to switching power supply amplifier

topology, were now seeing this with many

pro-oriented products. Whats behind the

hype? And what about properly match-

ing power amplifiers and loudspeakers?

Answers start by focusing on the funda-

mental unit of measure in audio, the watt.

What is a watt? A strict definition

according to Wikipedia: One watt isthe rate at which work is done when an

objects velocity is held constant at one

meter per second against constant oppos-

ing force of one Newton. In electrical

terms, one watt is the rate at which work

is done when one ampere (A) of current

flows through an electrical potential dif-

ference of one volt (V). Its symbol is W.

The watt is named af ter James

Watt, the prolif ic Scottish inventor

and mechanical engineer. He is notedfor improving Thomas Newcomens

extremely inefficient atmospheric steam

engine so much that Watts version lit-

erally powered the industrial revolution.

In audio, the watt is the unit of power

we use to rate amplifiers and loudspeak-

ers. However, what some may not real-

ize is that power, in watts, cannot be

measured directly. It is a derived quan-

tity that can only be calculated by the

measurement of voltage or current in acircuit with a known resistance. We do

this calculation through the use of Ohms

Law. The most used version for audio is:

P (watts) = V2/R

To complicate things further, loud-

speakers do not present a purely resistive

load to amplifiers. They present impedance

to current flow (Z in place of R in Ohms

Law) that is a mixture of resistance, capaci-tance, and inductance, which varies with

frequency. This is observed as the imped-

ance curve in a loudspeakers specifications,

and it also varies with the temperature of

the voice coil as well. The higher the voice

coil temperature, the higher the impedance

will be. This phenomenon is also the cause

of power compression.

PROGRAM LEVEL& HEADROOM

During my time with Electro-Voice,

Gary Ewald, a loudspeaker design

engineer at the company, spent several

months constructing a room where the

power handling capacity of loudspeakers

could be calculated accurately. This was

not a trivial undertaking. It required ther-

mal probes to connected to the voice coil

area, among other particulars, in a very

controlled environment. As far as typi-cal audio practitioners are concerned, we

never really know how much power an

amplifier is supplying to a loudspeaker

when playing anything other than a sine

wave signal. At best we can only guess.

For example, imagine playing a

music source directly into a 100-watt

amplifier driving a loudspeaker, and the

amplifiers input attenuator is set so the

signal level is just below clipping. How

many watts of power are being deliveredto the loudspeaker? 100 watts? 50 watts?

In fact, somewhere between only 1 and

4 watts are actually being delivered to

the loudspeaker under these conditions.

If the program material was recorded

with 20 dB of headroom, then the long-

term average signal level is 20 dB below

the highest peak of the music 100 watts

minus the first 10 dB of headroom is 10

watts, and 10 watts minus the second 10dB of headroom is 1 watt. If the signal

source was a properly mastered commer-

cial CD, there is a good chance that the

headroom for the recording is 14 dB. If

1 watt results from 20 dB of headroom,

then 6 dB less headroom would be 4

times the delivered power, or 4 watts.

This is why the UL listing on the backof amplifiers is never at the rated power

James Watt, 1736-1819

TECH

TOPICClarifying audio power and the amplifier/loudspeaker relationship.

by John Murray

Whats A Watt?

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Its all about consistent audience

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A shared experience they

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Unite your audience atwww.martin-audio.com

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::Tech Topic ::


capacity of the amp. Its tested at 1/8th

power, in this case, 12 watts, which is a

program level with a significant level of

clipping distortion where only the drunk-

est of partiers could stand to listen to it.Think of the loudspeakers sensitiv-

ity rating, for example, 95 dB SPL (1

watt/1 meter). The level at 1 meter in

our 100-watt amplifier test case would

be between 95 and 101 dB SPL. It

doesnt seem that we get much out of

that 100-watt amp does it? Forget tube

amps if you really want to listen to rock

music at realistic levels. They just cant

supply enough wattage for the head-

room of high-level music. What youend up with at higher levels is even-

harmonic clipping, which is the tube

amplifiers warm tone that everyone

talks about. Its nice, but not accurate.

When Im asked what the wattage rat-

ing for the amplifiers in a sound system

design should be, my answer is always,

How big is your budget? Amplifiers

are rated in watts, and should be able to

pass the peaks of the program material

without clipping. This means they ulti-mately should be sized to pass not only

the long-term program-power capacity of

the loudspeaker, say 500 watts, but also the

peaks that the program headroom allows

without clipping. At 20 dB, that would be

a rather ridiculous 50,000 watts!

HOW WE GOT HERE

The standard 20 dB of headroom was

established way back in the early days

of radio broadcasting when it was notedthat uncompressed speech and music

would never produce peaks more than

20 dB higher than the long-term aver-

age program levels. This is how we stan-

dardized on a +4dBu nominal program

level and a clipping level of +24 dBu for

most audio electronics today.

But there is a problem in maintain-

ing a 20 dB crest factor with the loud

music played today. If the amplifier is

below clipping, then the program levelis often not loud enough for todays

enthusiastic listening levels.

Standard CD mastering has 14 dB ofheadroom as a general rule of thumb. This

enables program levels to be turned up 6

dB higher, while using only 6 dB of peak

limiting, which is not generally noticed by

your typical listener. In sound reinforce-

ment systems, lowering the headroom to

a 10 dB peak-to-average ratio is common

to attain maximum program level without

clipping, though the 10 dB of limiting is

easily detectable by the listener.

This 10 dB of headroom also worksout for loudspeaker transducers, as they

generally can handle peaks 6 to 10 dB

above their long-term average power-

handling ratings. Just remember that an

AES average power rating is a 2-hour

rating. When you employ 10 dB of limit-

ing and can raise the program level 10 dB,

thats 10 times the power to the drivers. If

the loudspeaker catches fire just after 120

minutes of hard use with only 10 dB of

headroom, it still passes the stated rating.Touring sound companies often use

the IEC 268-5 Power Handling Capac-

ity standard as a limit to the average

power delivered to their loudspeakers.

The reason is that it s 100-hour rat-

ing. However, even with only 10 dB of

headroom, a single 500-watt loudspeaker

would require a 5000-watt amplifier

channel to use the loudspeaker to its full-

est average power capacity. Now budget

really becomes relevant, doesnt it!Current class D amplifiers and other

derived topologies with switching power

supplies, etc., finally present units that are

designed for program material rather than

sine wave power. Theyre light, can pro-

duce high peaks, generate little heat, andare very efficient, but with more conserva-

tive long-term average power ratings are

more in line with program requirements.

The newer topologies dont have high

long-term average ratings like the old

class A/B amplifiers did. Understand that

those big numbers of watts we like to see

in amplifier specifications are now short-

term instantaneous-peak or burst ratings

more akin to the car stereo ratings.

THE BOTTLENECK

Heres one last thing about watts.

Remember Ohms Law? With a stan-

dard AC electrical plug, all we can get

out of a 15-amp wall receptacle at 120

Volts RMS is 1,800 watts (P = V x I).

Now multiply that by a roughly 75-to-80

percent class D amplifier efficiency, and

only about 1,400 watts per circuit of sine

wave can be delivered to a loudspeaker.

So anyone that plugs in their Belch-fire 8000 power amplifier to a standard

wall socket, connects the amp to their

loudspeakers, turns it up to clipping, and

claims theyre listening to 8,000 watts

of ear-crushing power is suffering from

consumerdom suckeritus. (Ive filed a

trademark on this terminology.) That is,

unless its like my sound room, which is

wired with multiple 20 or 30-amp circuit

breakers accompanied by those odd, high-

power AC outlets and plugs.How many watts do the amplifiers

in my system supply? As many as my

budget allows. n

JOHN MURRAYis a 35-year indus-

try veteran who has worked for several

leading manufacturers, and has also

presented two published AES papers as

well as chaired numerous SynAudCon

workshops. He is currently the principal of

Optimum System Solutions, a consultingfirm based in Colorado.

The four quadrants of Ohms Law.

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nce the exception

and now the rule onmany tours, the practice

of picking up whatever

hand the house deals in

terms of PA from venue to venue isnt

so much a gamble as it is a chance to

exercise ones ingenuity.

VerTec, V-DOSC, Martin Audio,

I never complain, says Spencer Jones

with an air of existential audio content-

ment. I think its actually kind of fun

to use a new rig every day, some youmay not have even heard before. The

show is never exactly the same, and

with the technologies ever-improving,

we get to stretch our wings creatively

on a regular basis.

As front-of-house engineer for

Panic! at the Disco, Jones latest foray

with the band and monitor engineer

Jeremy Spud Groshong recently tookhim on a PA du jour odyssey span-

ning 25 dates in the U.S. and two in

Canada. Supporting the groups fourth

studio album, Too Weird to Live, Too

Rare to Die!, the tour carried consoles,

cabling, subsnakes, microphone stands,

and other ancillary gear provided by

Camarillo, CA-based Rat Sound.

Playing venues ranging in size

from Vancouver, British Columbias

990-capacity Commodore to the 2,425-seat House of Blues in Boston, the pro-

duction traveled light with a single truck

and one bus with all bunks filled. More

than half of the songs heard on the new

album made their way onto the set list

nightly, bringing a sound to the tour that

asked less of bass and guitar, moving into

the realm of electronica with rich, satu-

rated vocals, delays, and synth sounds,

all layered deeply with golden tones, and

diverse, hard-hitting dynamics.

Calculated Exercise

As youd rightly expect, the real challenge

at front of house revolved around con-

sistency, Jones noted at the end of the

run from his home in Arizona. Given

the room and system changes every day,

getting things to sound like you wanted

them to was always a calculated exercise

in manipulation, all within the context of

the time given to us. Acoustically, somerooms were great and others were hor-

O

EVERY DAYA NEW PAAdaptable audio fuels Panic! at the Disco on tour.

by Gregory A. DeTogne, photos by Steve Jennings

:: Panic! at the Disco::

rible. I never had the opportunity to tune

the PA for a couple hours. Sometimes I

only had 15 minutes.

While the environments and system

elements they found themselves work-

ing with varied greatly, at least both

Jones and Groshong had Avid VENUE

Profile consoles as a constant. With 33

inputs arriving at his desk from thestage along with a few talkbacks, Jones

was enveloped in a digital world, but

he nonetheless took a somewhat analog

approach to the tasks at hand.

It just made sense, he explains.

These musicians are innovators, and

their music continually evolves in a

unique fashion. Theres a lot of theat-

ricality within the new material the

songs come together like a play does,

you can hear a lot of 80s synth popinfluences and that of bands like the

The Panic! crew, left to right: Guitar

tech Kyle Henderson, bass tech Matty

Ensley, FOH engineer Spencer Jones,

monitor engineer Jeremy Spud Gro-shong, and drum tech Dan Pawlovich.

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Panic! at the Discoperforming on the

latest tour, which saw

lead vocalist Brandon

Urei producing some

of his own effects.

FOH engineer Spencer Jones, whos

been with the band since 2011, with

his Avid Profile console and a rack of

largely analog processors.

Electric Light Orchestra. Taking an

analog turn within the confines of digi-

tal was a natural response.

The process saw spare application

of plug-ins. I used stock stuff found

in the console, he says. I kept things

basic, using the onboard word clock

to sound like an SPX990 reverb, a de-

esser on the vocals that s a plug-in, anda Fairchild compressor plug-in.

He also packed an outboard rack

housing (from the top) a TC-Helicon

VoiceWorks vocal processor, a pair of

dbx 162SL comp/limiters, a dbx 160SL

comp/limiter, and a pair of Klark Teknik

DN360 graphic EQs. With the dbx

162SLs placed in-line with each other

and entered into his mains to better

promote the desired feel, the dbx 160SL

was given over to lead vocals.At the console, Jones says, I took

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Brendon Ureis stand-mounted effects

pedals joined by a Radial JDI.

all of the input channels out of the stereo

bus and ran everything through a group.

I ran my mains through a matrix, so left/

right subs and fill were all on separate

matrixes, and then ran my subs off anaux. Compression and EQ were intro-

duced before the amps. In the end, sig-

nals were routed through my console

many times just like a lot of people do

within a traditional analog setting. I find

that I get a tighter sound doing thingsthis way, and sometimes Ill even com-

press my groups to optimize my analog-

in-a-digital-world technique.

Another Dimension

Onstage, the world Groshong created

was an extremely quiet wedge-free one,

with everyone on in-ear monitors built

around Sennheiser G2 wireless systems

and three stereo Ultimate Ears UE 18s

for the band, plus a mono UE 18 usedby frontman Brendon Urie.

For those who havent seen Urie

perform, its interesting to note that the

multi-instrumentalist utilized a stand-

mounted collection of pedal effects

on his vocals. With his wireless Shure

KSM9 condenser mic running in-line

through this pedal board coming out at

line level at the receiver, his vocals pass

through the pedal effects into a Radial

JDI passive DI to bring them back tomic level and into the snake. His effects

include an Electro-Harmonix Holy

Grail reverb, Boss GE-7 equalizer, and

Dunlop Carbon Copy MXR analog

delay, all of which he mixes by hand.

We rigged a mic clip on the edge ofthe stand so he could place his KSM9

in there and go at the effects with both

hands, Jones relates. He can create some

pretty crazy noise. I think he got used to

producing himself early on in his career

and not relying on the FOH guy to hit

the cues. He uses the EQ to cut all of the

LF out of his voice, making him sound

like an old mono AM radio, or as if hes

singing through a bullhorn. The Holy

Grail provides a nice saturated reverb,and then with the delay he accents certain

passages during interludes with a sweep-

ing effect, for example. Its fun for him

and adds a nice dimension to the show.

Another out-of-the-norm produc-

tion element was found at the drum

riser, where a custom SJC kit was built

using a kick drum, rack tom, and floor

tom outfitted with LEDs inside that

shone through perforated rings on each

of the drums exterior surfaces. Con-trolled via the lighting desk out front,

the resulting LED show offered con-

siderable dazzle and flash, but some-

what at the expense of function.

Those drums presented quite a chal-

lenge, actually, Jones says. As with all

the holes drilled through them to facili-

tate the lights inside, they really werent

true drums anymore. Getting that kit

to sound like real drums was hard, butwe made it work. The floor tom was the

worst really rough on the ear.

From the riser, drummer Dan Paw-

lovich also had access to an 808-style

sub-bass drop, as well as a number of

other effects managed via a compact

unit housing six separate electronic

pads. As with anything within reach of

his drumsticks, every effect fit within

a click track heard by the entire band.

The main storehouse of these soundswas an Ableton music sequencer. Run-

ning with redundant backup through a

MOTU interface, the Ableton tracks

traveled through an 8-output, rack-

mounted Radial ProD8 DI via an XLR

connection to the local house subsnake.

Exercising Judgment

As an aid to bringing consistency to

the bands sound at the tours diverse

stops each night, Jones drew from anarsenal of old school tricks. I tuned

the house PA to my own voice at every

stop, he notes, until it sounded the

same as at the stop before. I tuned to

the same songs every day as well. I use


Monitor engineer Jeremy

Spud Groshong also uses an

Avid console, with the bands

Sennheiser G2 IEM systems

racked to his left.

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baudio.com

Sonic harmony, goodbye walking to the amplifiers or the sophisticatedd&b trilogy: ArrayCalc simulation software, R1 Remote control softwareand the pristine D80 amplifier make for speedy setups.

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the songs to tune the low-end I cant

replicate with my own voice through a

58, then I bring it all together with my

compressors and everything else.

I learned this technique from anold school guy, who told me to always

talk through a 58. Youre not using an

iPod onstage, youre using microphones

and musicians. So if you get the 58 to

sound good with the PA, you have a

solid foundation, as we were using 58s

onstage for backing vocals. With that

foundation established, I fine-tuned

from there and it worked every time.

In addition to Urie and Pawlov-ich, Panic! includes Dallon Weekes on

bass guitar, synth and backing vocals.

Within the house mix, Urie was at the

very front, where many fans generally

sing along with him word-for-word.

From there, the rest of the band falls in

solidly behind him.

Jones began touring with Panic! in

2011, working the monitor console, and

took on the responsibilities of FOH

along with other production duties

in September of last year. The band

has been exceptionally liberal when

it comes to them letting me do my

own thing, Jones says of his working

relationship with the group. When I

stepped in at FOH they really didnt

tell me anything. Id been mixing moni-

tors for years, so I knew all of the songs.

And while at the monitor console

I created my own house-style mix formy own listening use. I listened to the

albums carefully and studied them; Ive

always known what theyre going for,

he concludes. I may get a few pointers

or questions now and again, but most

of the time Im left alone to exercise my

own judgment. Its a pleasure to work

with these guys. n

GREGORY A. DETOGNE is a

writer and editor who has served thepro audio industry for the past 30 years.


A selection of Shure microphones, seen

here, capture drummer Dan Pawlovichs

kit. (Theres also a Beta 52A outside on

kick, and a Beta 91A on inside kick.)

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ZEN ON

STAGE

company called Garwood, based in the

UK. The system consisted of a trans-

mitter and a commercial stereo receiver

unit (as I recall it was from Sony) oper-

ating in the FM band, with a pair of

ear buds for monitoring. In talking with

some sound engineers for corroboration,I heard that a handful of singers were

trying the system but rarely the other

players, and that not hearing other

musicians and the audience live was

a common objection. (It should also be

noted that Future Sonics was another

pioneer of this approach at the time.)

Fast-forward a couple of decades,

and in-ears and other personal moni-

toring solutions see wide usage. Lets

explore how manufacturers and engi-neers are pushing the boundaries of

monitoring.

THE ADVANTAGES

Monitoring a performance and what

the rest of the band is doing while

wearing in-ear monitors has a num-

ber of advantages over monitor loud-

speakers. Typically, the performer has

personal control the level of the mix

via a wireless beltpack receiver or otherinterface, and unless the level controls

RELIABLE MONITORING IS

essential to performers on stage, allow-

ing them to blend their musical contri-

butions with the other players keeping

them in time, on pitch, and able to

creatively interact. Traditionally, this

function was performed by low-profileloudspeakers aimed generally toward

the areas where the performers were

active, with level control, sufficient cov-

erage, bleed into open microphones,

and feedback all issues that needed to

be overcome. Another issue, especially

with acts performing at high levels, was/

is its contribution to hearing loss.

I first became aware of in-ear moni-

tors, and wireless delivery of the mix,

more than 20 years ago when I wasasked to check out a prototype from a

and limiters are overridden, that level

will be safer than the uncontrol led

output of stage monitors and

additional sound sources.So theres less potential for

hearing damage as well as

listening fatigue, but still enough level

to stay present with the performance.

And no matter where the artist moves

on stage, the mix will remain consistent

and much cleaner.

That mix can be even more highly

controlled, either by the monitor engi-

neer or by personal monitor-mix sta-

tions where the performer can selectexactly what they want to hear at which

relative levels, and make adjustments

on the fly. With the mix going straight

from the board into the ears, personal-

ization of a mix is much more refined,

and can make achieving a satisfactory

mix faster and easier.

For the engineer and audience, hav-

ing fewer or no monitor wedges lowers

the level coming off the stage into the

house, so that the house loudspeakersystem isnt competing with the stage for

attention. This can be further enhanced

with isola tion boxes on instrument

amplifiers, along with side/rear-firing

them, and similar methods. Also, either

having no wedges on stage or having

them at lower levels to supplement in-

ear monitors will help with gain-before-

feedback as well as mic isolation.

A major part of performing is mak-

ing the connection with the audience,and that energy is part of the live feel-

ing that can be compromised by wear-

ing isolating in-ears delivering a clean

personal mix. An early and ongoing

solution to this problem is adding side-

stage audience mics to feed applause and

other ambient sounds into the monitor

mix. Pulling out one ear bud or loosen-

ing them to hear whats going on can

defeat the benefits of hearing protection

and a more consistent mix.Performers also need to interact on

The latest on IEM and

personal monitoring.

by Gary Parks

SPOTLIGHT

Drummer Ray Luzier

of Korn wearing earbuds fed by an Aviom

A-16 personal mixer.

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stage, and this includes being able to

talk with each other during or between

tunes. Artists also want to communicate

with techs and the monitor mixer duringa show. With in-ear monitors sealing

the ear canal and attenuating ambient

sounds by 20 dB or more, that commu-

nication can be much more difficult.

A so lu ti on from Sensaph on ic s

addressing these challenges is the 3D

Active Ambient IEM system. Each

custom earpiece contains a microphone,

and what it hears can be added to a

monitor mix at any desired level. The

beltpack has a toggle switch that goesbetween a performance mix with your

preferred ambient level mixed in, and

a communications mode that brings up

the level of the mic and dials down the

monitor mix for those necessary con-

versations. Another approach is found

in the JH Audio Ambient FR earpiece,

which has an ambient bore to let in

an attenuated version of

outside sounds.

AT THE EAR

The elements for personal

monitoring include the

method of mixing the sources the

monitor console or individual mixers

for the musicians, the delivery system

for those signals, and the transducers

themselves. Though headphones are

occasionally used, ear pieces or buds

as theyre commonly called are muchless obtrusive. Some of the differences

among these in-ear devices involve

custom-molded versus standard foam

tips, the number of individual trans-

ducers used to reproduce full-bandwidth

audio, the types of drivers used and how

they are crossed over, and how they are

constructed.

Some companies, such as Ulti-

mate Ears, Future Sonics, JH Audio

and Sensaphonics, only offer custom-

molded in-ears that fit the exact con-

Engineer Sean

Quackenbush (O.A.R.,Robert Randolph) with

part of the Sensa-

phonics 3D Active

Ambient IEM system.

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::Spotlight ::

tours of a particular musicians ear

canals. This precision leads to a tighter

seal to attenuate the ambient sound,

potentially greater comfort, and a

more controlled audio environment.The process begins with a visit to an

audiologist who takes molds of both

ears. Some even provide guidance to

find a qualified audiologist, with pre-

cise instructions of how deep into the

canal the mold should go and that the

persons mouth should be open during

the process to ensure a more secure fit

while the artist is singing, playing and

instrument, or talking.

Having a tight seal within the earcanal also enhances bass performance.

Jack Kontney of Sensaphonics notes

that the soft silicone flexes with the ear

canal when singing and changing facial

expressions so that a complete seal is

maintained. An incomplete seal can lead

to a loss of low frequencies, especially

below 100 Hz and is especially impor-

tant when using balanced-armature

drivers. A tight seal also prevents the

loud ambient sounds from entering, sothat effective monitoring can be attained

at lower levels. Further, according to

Sensaphonics, medical-grade silicone

provides several dB better attenuation

than acrylic, reducing outside sounds by

greater than 30 dB.

Ear buds use either dynamic or bal-

anced-armature drivers, or a combination

of both, to reproduce the audio signal.

Dynamic drivers function similarly to

loudspeaker cones, only are miniaturized.They can be more efficient at reproduc-

ing bass frequencies, with potentially less

detailed highs. Balanced armatures sus-

pend a rod surrounded by a coil within

a magnetic field, and the motion of the

rod is coupled with a diaphragm. Theirresponse tends to be highly detailed. As

an example, the Audiofly AF140 uses a

dynamic and a balanced-armature driver

in tandem for the lows, crossed over to a

balanced armature for the highs.

With some buds, the frequency

spectrum is divided between a pair

of drivers; others use multiple drivers

with several crossover points, and offer

models with three, four, or more. Ulti-

mate Ears 18 Pro Custom IEMs havesix balanced-armature drivers two

LF, one each low and high mid, and

two HF while the Audiofly AF180

offers four balanced armatures and the

JH Audio JH16 is a 3-way design with

eight drivers per ear (double dual LF,

dual mid, and dual high). Recently

introduced mg6pro ear buds from

Future Sonics incorporate multiple 13

mm proprietary miniature dynamic

transducers, crossover-free, and withproprietary +/-20 dB Ambient Noise

Rejection (A.N.R.).

Universal-fit in-ear monitors are

available from a variety of companies,

such as Shure, Audiofly, Avlex MIPRO,

Westone, Etymotic, and others. These

units couple the earpiece with replace-

able foam tips that conform to the

contours of the ear canal. While they

dont offer the fit and seal of a custom-

ized system, they are high-performanceaudio devices, like studio headphones.

Listening recently to a CD through a

pair of Audiofly AF140s, I had a whats

that reaction and realized that I was

hearing the detail of the flute players

breathing on the recording.

MAKING IT PERSONAL

Going beyond a handful of different

mixes provided by the monitor engi-

neer, compact monitor mixers can bepositioned by the individual musicians

who can then customize the ir own

mixes. Professional personal mixers

allow musicians to select and custom-

mix 16 channels or more (discrete chan-

nels or sub-mixes) of digital audio fromall available channels, adjust levels, pan,

EQ and effects for each channel, plus

save and recall presets of previous mixes.

Aviom is a pioneer in personal mix-

ing, and recently introduced the A360,

offering 16 mono or stereo channels that

can be selected from a 64-channel A-Net

or Dante digital audio network, plus an

additional dual profile channel that gives

the musician instant access to a most

important channel of their choice. The

system also has an onboard mic that can

be enabled for one-touch ambience, or astereo ambience feed from the console

can be tied to this control.

The Roland Systems Group M-48

provides access to either 16 or 40 chan-

nels of digital audio when the appropri-

ate Roland digital snake is connected to

a Roland V-Mixer console. The setup

of connected M-48s can be controlled

locally or via software on a control com-

puter. The personal mixer offers multi-

ple outputs to feed a pair of floor wedgesas well as headphones or IEMs. The

Inside an Ultimate Ears 18

Pro Custom earpiece.

JH Audio JH16 (above) and

Future Sonics mg6pro multi-driver

ear buds.

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Allen & Heath ME-1 personal mixer

works seamlessly with the companys

iLive and GLD digital mixers, comple-

mented by the ME-U hub that opens it

up to use with other consoles via Dante,EtherSound or MADI. ME-1 also has

an Aviom compatibility mode.

The dbx professional PMC16 per-

sonal monitor controller can be used

with the dbx TR1616 converter or

any other Harman BLU link compat-

ible device, and multiple PMC16s can

be daisy chained using Cat-5e, allow-

ing each user to receive 16 channels. It

also is outfitted with onboard Lexicon

reverb. The Movek myMix system hasa powerful yet simple interface that

includes a large backlit screen, rotary

controller, and four function push but-

tons, allowing the user to select and

control a 16-channel mix.

And another step far ther, Pivitec

and PreSonus combine hardware with

configuration and control software run-

ning on tablet PCs and smart phones.

The Pivitec system is based on AVB

Ethernet protocols, using compatiblenetwork routers and switches plus

16-channel rack-mountable input

modules. PreSonus offers an app called

QMix to provide up to 10 musicians

with individual wireless mixes on their

iPhone or iPod Touch, when used in

conjunction with the companys Stu-

dioLive console. The iOS device will

detect all StudioLive mixers on the

network, and can create a mix that

includes all mixer channels. Aviom hasalso announced that iOS support for

the A360 is coming this year.

GOING WIRELESS

Today s performer may be wearing at

least two wireless packs one to trans-

myMix-Mixer and Allen & Heath ME-1, both personal mixers.

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::Spotlight ::

mit voice or instrument to the console,

and one to receive a personalized stereo

mix. Being wireless provides freedom ofmovement while retaining a clean, con-

sistent monitor mix. Several wireless

microphone manufacturers also offer

wireless IEM systems, including Shure,

Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, Lectroson-

ics and others.

Shure offers the PSM900 single-

channel and PSM1000 dual-channel

wireless personal monitoring systems,

whic h operat e in the UHF band .

They are analog systems with a fre-quency response of 35 Hz to 15 kHz,

with a stereo separation of 60 dB. The

PSM900 covers 36 MHz of spectrum,

and up to 20 compatible frequen-

cies can be used together. Transmitter

power is selectable at three levels 10,

50, and 100 mW. The slim bodypack

is ruggedly constructed with a metal

chassis, and has a detachable whip

antenna, stereo mini jack, and a rotary

level control.Audio-Technica offers the M2 sin-

gle-channel wireless monitoring system

operating in the UHF band over 33

MHz of spectrum, with multiple bands

available. Up to 10 systems can operate

together per band. In addition to L/R

inputs, an additional input for a click

track or ambient mic is provided. Mean-

while, Sennheiser SR 2000 single-chan-

nel and SR 2500 dual-channel wireless

IEMs also operate in the UHF band,with the system spanning a 75 MHz

band. The transmitter has a 5-band

graphic equalizer that can be accessed

via the menu.Note that as the term wireless

makes clear, these systems use RF

spectrum, so these systems need to be

coordinated along with wireless mic,

instrument, and intercom systems at

every show.

Quality in-ear monitors are avail-

able at many price points, ranging from

a couple hundred to a couple thousand

dollars. Hearing a consistent mix is

certainly easier when using them,and at less damaging levels. There are

benefits to be had in isolation, com-

fort, and sound quality with some of

the custom units. For performers who

want to instantly adjust their mix dur-

ing the performance, the technology is

available. With all the movement on

stage, many choices of reliable wireless

delivery are available, and to my ears

sound as good as wired. In the end, it

all boils down to meeting the needs andpreferences of the musicians for quality

monitoring. n

GARY PARKSis a pro audio writer

who has worked in the industry for

more than 25 years, including serving

as marketing manager and wireless prod-

uct manager for Clear-Com, handling

RF planning software sales with EDX

Wireless, and managing loudspeaker

and wireless product management atElectro-Voice.

Shure PSM 900 and Audio-Technica M2 single-channel wireless monitoring systems.

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www.eaw.com

0 to180 in1.7 seconds.*

Degrees that is. 0 to 100, 0 to 180, or simply a three-dimensional coverage pattern

that is perfectly matched to your show. With the power of Adaptive Performance,

the coverage of an Anyasystem can be optimized to match the needs of any situation in mere seconds, ensuring

that show set up is simple and fast. But what if things change? Barricade moved? Stage moved? Sold the balcony?

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You owe it to yourself and your clients to listen. Visit EAW.com for more information.

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*Do not attempt at home. Professional system engineer in a closed venue with plenty of time for catering.

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ITS ALL

INTER-

CONNECTED

choose from, and its getting better on a

constant basis.

Digital audio transport technology

(a.k.a., digital snakes and networks)

have taken pro audio by storm in the

last few years, pushed at least in part

by the proliferation of digital consoles,with virtually every manufacturer offer-

ing some way to move audio over Cat-

5/6, coax, and fiber optic cabling. While

digital networking certainly offers a lot

of advantages and flexibility, it hasnt

pushed analog completely out of the

picture and in my opinion, at least, I

dont think it will, at least in the foresee-

able future.

One reason is personal preference,

another is the sheer amount of cablingthat will have to be replaced, and yet

another big one is that digital systems

A FEW WEEKS AGO one of the

neighbors in the industrial complex

where I keep my shop came over to sayhello while I was in the middle of doing

some PM (preventative maintenance)

on cables. As I sat at a bench surrounded

by piles of microphone and loudspeaker

lines, he asked why I was spending so

much time on stupid cords. I replied,

simply, that without the stupid cords,

the rest of my equipment is worthless.

A system is only as good as its cables,

interconnects, snakes, and networks

period. Fortunately, we have a widevariety of analog and digital options to

need A-D and D-A conversion at

each end of the cable (or fiber), which

increases cost, and this is particularly

dramatic for smaller systems that onlyrun a few channels of audio. As tech-

nologies improve and prices come down,

Im sure well see even more digital, even

on the smallest of shows, but theres still

the issue of preference.

That said, lets take a look at the vari-

ous cables, connectors, and audio trans-

port used in production audio systems.

HERE TO THERE

The first cable in the signal chain isusually the humble XLR cable sporting

3-conductor connectors at each end.

These cables connect low-impedance

microphones and direct boxes to con-

soles, as well as send line level signals

around to various gear.

They operate on the balanced prin-

ciple and contain two insulated conduc-

tors that are twisted together inside a

shield under the outer jacket. The audio

signal is applied to the pair of conduc-tors differentially, that is to say that

one wire has the polarity of the signal

reversed but the levels are the same.

Any noise or outside interference that

gets into the signal lines will mostly be

defeated because one conductor trans-

Analog and digital cabling

for performance audio

applications.

by Craig Leerman

Left to right: XLR (female end), TRS

1/4-inch, signal 1/4-inch, loudspeaker

1/4-inch, loudspeaker 1/4-inch with

larger barrel, 4-pin Speakon, 19-in

Soco male, and 19-pin Soco female.Note the use of colored heat shrink to

quickly ID signal (blue and red) and

loudspeaker cables.

INFOCUS

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:: In Focus ::

mits the noise with a positive polarity

and the other is at a negative polarity.

When signals with opposite polarity

(in this case, the noise) are combined,

they will cancel each other out. The rea-son the inner conductors are twisted is

that it allows external noise to be intro-

duced to both signal conductors equally

(or as equally as possible) and improves

the common-mode rejection ratio.

Some cables use four inner conductors

(two pairs of two) that offer better rejec-

tion from outside electromagnetic inter-

ference like transformers and fluorescent

lighting ballasts.

The conducting shield that wrapsaround the inner wires is used for the

signal common and can be a spiral

winding or a braided winding. Braided

shields provide more surface area cov-

erage and better rejection of radio fre-

quency interference (RFI) than spiral

wound shields.

Similar in construction to the XLR

is a cable that instead has 3-conductor1/4-inch phone plugs at each end, usu-

ally called a TRS cable. The TRS refers

to Tip, Ring, and Sleeve, the three

conductor positions on the connector.

These are commonly used as intercon-

nection cables between rack gear and

are a popular option for manufactur-

ers who want to use balanced connec-

tions but have limited real estate on the

product in which to squeeze in XLR

connections.Many consoles have insert jacks that

allow patching of external processing

into a channel or group. They normally

uses a TRS 1/4-inch jack and a special

Y cable called an insert cable that is

outfitted with a TRS plug on one endand a 2-conductor 1/4-inch plug at each

end of the Y that is used to route to the

inputs and outputs of the external pro-

cessor. The TRS end is usually wired so

the tip is the send to the external unit,

the ring is the return and the sleeve is

the shield or common.

While similar in looks to a TRS

cable, a regular 1/4-inch signal cable

is quite different. It has only one inner

conductor surrounded by a spiral orbraided shield. These are used with

high-impedance signals from a guitar

or keyboard to connect them to a stage

amplifier or DI. The outer braid acts as

both a conductor and a barrier to help

keep RFI and other noises from reach-

ing the center hot conductor.

When used with a guitar or other

high-impedance input, the cables

capacitance couples with the high

impedance to create alow-pass filter that var-

ies depending on cable

length. The longer the

cable, the more highs it rolls off, so

1/4-inch cable runs are usually kept

under 25 feet in length unless theyre

serving electronic keyboards, which

output a hot line-level signal that can

drive longer runs.

Another cable that may look iden-

tical to these first two is the 1/4-inchloudspeaker cable. While they may have

a 1/4-inch plug on each end, the loud-

speaker cable is a different animal alto-

gether, designed to move large amounts

of output current from an amplifier to

a loudspeaker, not the mere milliamps

that signal cables handle. Constructed

of two heavy-gauge inner-insulated con-

ductors housed in an outer jacket, these

cables are commonly used to connect a

stage amplifier head to its loudspeakercabinet, or a small PA loudspeaker to a

powered mixer.

Just a reminder signal cables should

never be used for loudspeaker lines, and

vice versa. Signal cable isnt designed to

handle high current, and loudspeakercable is not shielded from outside

interference.

SCALING UP

The most popular loudspeaker connec-

tor in pro audio is the Speakon (stylized

as speakON) from Neutrik. They come

in 2-, 4- and 8-pin varieties, allowing a

multitude of connections options. The

wire size (gauge) of loudspeaker cable

depends on a few factors, chiefly theload impedance and the length of the

cable. Simply put, the longer the cable,

the larger the conductors should be.

Common sizes for audio production

include 12- and 14-gauge, with a few

manufacturers also offering multi-con-

ductor cable in 13-gauge.

Some sound companies deploy an

18-conductor cable with a 19-pin con-

nector called a Soco, borrowed from the

lighting world. The term Soco comesfrom the trade name of the most com-

mon 19-pin connector manufactured by

Socapex, but companies like Veam and

Kupo also make compatible connectors.

Lighting folks use the cable for six cir-

cuits of power, while audio folks wire

up their systems differently and can get

up to nine speaker circuits in one cable.

A Soco to fan out distributes signal to

the various loudspeaker cabinets.

Speaking of multi-circuit cables,snakes are the answer for running mul-

tiple channels of audio from one place

to another. These cables could have a

breakout fan on one or both ends to

individual channel lines, or could use

a box at one end (usually at the stage

end) that individual XLR cables can

be plugged into. Snakes can also inte-

grate multi-pin connectors that make it

faster and easier to hook up a system. To

save weight and size in the cable manysnakes use a foil shield around each

Two 50-foot,

6-channel boxes to

fan stage snakes.

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:: In Focus ::

pair of channel conductors instead of a

braided or spiral wrapped shield.

Aside from the obvious stage to

FOH mixer application, smaller stage

snakes are a popular way to help managecable runs on stage and keep things neat

and organized. Another use of snakes is

for crosslink cables running the signal

to the PA system from one side of the

stage to the other.

Many snakes have the capability to

run signals from and to the stage. The

sends are for the mic inputs to the

mixer and the returns get the output

of the mixer to the amp rack or powered

loudspeakers. Larger systems may use aseparate return snake for the line-level

outputs to keep any crosstalk (interfer-

ence from adjacent snake channels) to

a minimum.

Splitter snakes provide more than one

output off the send side of a snake, so the

same inputs can be sent to multiple con-

soles (i.e., when using a separate moni-

tor or broadcast console along with the

house console). Some splitters are pas-

sive and simply hardwire a Y off eachchannel. A better practice is to use iso-

lation transformers to isolate each con-

sole from potential noises and hums and

buzzes caused when plugging them into

different power sources. In a split snake

system, usually one split is hard-wired to

the inputs so that the console can pass

phantom power to mics and DIs.

Another version, cal led a power

snake, combines a few loudspeaker lines

along with the signal channels. These canwork well for a small system on short

runs but their use is usually limited to

about 100 feet. Yet another multi-circuit

version that has become popular recently

is cable systems that include signal and

power in one jacket. These are perfect for

getting audio and AC power to a pow-

ered loudspeaker or floor wedge.

NETWORKED WORLD

While analog cables still fill the roadtrunks, digital systems are starting

to take over many of the audio trans-

port duties. They offer a host of signal

routing benefits that analog simply

cant match, including using a small

thin cable to route multiple chan-nels of audio. Smaller cable equals less

stagehands required to lay out a digi-

tal network as opposed to large, heavy

multi-core snakes. Digital cables are also

less prone to RFI and crosstalk.

Networks, as we now call our digi-

tal transport systems, can offer audio

almost anywhere along the line, and

can easily interface with multi-track

recording systems, personal monitoring

rigs and broadcast trucks.

Transport ne tworks use one ofthree types of cable: coax, fiber optic

or Ethernet Cat-5/6. Coax cables offer

up a rugged solution and are used by

a few manufacturers to transport sig-

nals between stage boxes, consoles and

recorders. Fiber optics offer the ability

to send signals over very long distances,

and because the signals travel as light,

are immune to all outside electromag-

netic disturbances and RFI. Ethernet

Cat-5/6 cables are the most popular,found in many different systems to

transport audio at distances of up to

about 330 feet (100 meters). Some of

these have accessories that can extend

this distance.

Ethernet cables have RJ45 8-pinconnectors that are stout enough for

home computer use but not rugged

enough for most gig uses, so theyre

best replaced with rugged Ethercon

connectors that surround the plastic

crimp-on with a metal barrel that pro-

vides added protection in addition to

better locking.

Ethernet cables come in a variety of

styles. Some have solid wire conductors

that offer the best performance, whileothers have stranded conductors that

provide greater flexibility. They can be

unshielded but its better to go with

shielded in noisy environments.

Ethernet cables can also be wired in

different ways. The standard wiring

scheme runs pin 1 to pin 1, pin 2 to pin

2, etc. Crossed over cables wire pin

1 to pin 3, pin 2 to pin 6, pin 3 to pin

1 and pin 6 to pin 2. Before choosing

an Ethernet cable, check manufacturerrecommendations on which cable is

recommended for interconnection of

specific gear.

As noted earlier, a downside to digi-

tal transport is that there is the need

for analog to digital conversion, and

further, manufacturers utilize a variety

of variety of different protocols that are

not compatible. However, thats been

changing rapidly, as more and more

devices support multiple protocols

lsi 1404

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