smiley face eq

Hello All,

I wanted to talk a little about the 'Smiley Face EQ' setting that a lot of people like to use for their mains or any stereo for that matter.

The idea is based off the Equal Loudness Curve or Fletcher-Munson curve.  It is a tool used by Psycho-Acousticians to basically show compression of hearing as the level increases.

A 1k tone was presented to the listener at a certain level... say 20 dB SPL (20 Phons)...  The listener was then played a different frequency and they had to raise the level they were hearing until it matched the loudness of the 1k tone presented as a reference.  As the 1k tone gets louder (100 Phons), you can see that the levels are more consistent across frequency.

The idea of this 'Smiley Face EQ' is that you should match this equal loudness curve... Maybe a good idea in theory, but a terrible idea in practice.  The purpose of the graphical eq is to be able to correct the system to try and match the environment.  For example if the room naturally has a boost at 4k, you should reduce the level at 4k on your graphic eq.

If the room requires a 'Smiley Face EQ', then that is really cool, but most of the time that eq setting is applied pre entry to the room.

So in short, the FFT of the room will show you how the system eq should be set... (well if you can help it, the room should be acoustically treated to have a pretty flat response, but you cant always help that.)

My professors used to hate the fact that people used to fix a room by eqing the system, and had a good reason for it... in another post I will explain why. For now if the only thing possible is to eq the system, do it. lol... it can help provide a more consistent sound and also help reduce feedback in the monitors.

Thank you!

Tom

Being Technical In A Church Service

Hello All,

I had the opportunity to have a great conversation with a worship leader at a church a few days ago that got me really thinking about technology in a worship service.

As a tech guy, I love to get my hands on all sorts of technical gear and produce a great light show... or have the bass thump so low that you can feel it in your chest.  These are my talents, and like anything in church, I should use my talents the best way that I can for the Lord.

I used to attend a church where these technical achievements were possible, then I ended up at a little church on the campus of the UofI.  This church is so behind the times of technology that it is almost non existent.  All the tech guys/girls are probably running through all the negatives of this kind of atmosphere... and of course there are tons of negatives, but there is a major major positive.

This church is so stress free... all the time.  I have yet to have a Sunday where technically speaking I was upset... I get upset a little with myself if I don't play well on a Sunday morning but that is another story.  But we don't have to problem solve all the time because there are very few parts of the chain to go wrong.  You get to sit back and just enjoy the service

On the other side, not having the technology has limited us on the sound we can get (no compressors, limited eq, no reverb..etc), doing effective dramas, or most other cool things you can think to do with technology.

On the other side, if you have the technology you should use it to its fullest potential in my opinion.  You cant let it become the main part of the service, but use it to add a little salt and pepper to your service.  Just as the chair people set up chairs well, or the musicians play well, or the pastor preaches well, so you should do your job as a tech well.

Moral of the story... Being with technology is not all in all that much of a bad thing, but if you have it, you definitely should not be afraid to use it in a way that is tasteful and excellent.

Tom

Tips for criticism from non audio people

Hello All,

If you ever do audio, video, or anything related, you will at some point receive criticism from someone that has no idea how to do your job.  You will have someone say that something sounds bad, or while you are trying to problem solve, they will hover over your back to try and 'help'…  This frustrates almost every audio person I know.

To try and help out with this issue for A/V people I have a few tips to consider.

1) Most people that come to you with an issue or concern most likely have good intentions.  They seem to come at crisis times, but they do have good intentions.  This can be frustrating, but it should be remembered that they are most likely trying to offer help.  I will agree that some do not come with good intentions... for this see below.

2) Listen... Sometimes when someone comes up to you, there may really be an issue that you didn’t catch.  Listen to the problem and address it appropriately.

3) Be slow to speak...When someone comes to you and says something that you might take offensively, the last thing you want to do is sling back some insult.  This does nobody any good, and can often make the problem worse by adding in personal conflicts.

4) Be slow to anger... Ben Franklin said "Anger is never without reason, but seldom with a good one"  Getting angry will not solve any kind of issue and will once again most likely result in you saying something you will regret.  Instead if the claim is legit, be honest and deal with it, and if it is not, politely blow it off.

5) I know some people that get frustrated with ambiguity when describing an issue.  Think to yourself how many words that are not borrowed from another sense are used to describe audio.  For example bright, dirty, muddy, dark, live, dead.... Just realize describing issues to one another requires an understanding between the two people involved.  Different descriptions can mean different things to different people based on the training they received.  If you are not sure what they mean ask them politely to elaborate.

I realize that these tips are easier said than done.  It is easy in the heat of the moment to flip out on a criticizer and then regret it later.  Just take these tips to heart and try to implement!

Thanks!

Tom