Tuesday 7 June 2016

Music: The Noizeworks Playlist. June 2016


We love talking about all the gear, the technical stuff, new products and all that, but naturally we're also big music fans. So we thought it might be interesting to let you know about some of the great new music we're listening to once a month from some slightly lesser known artists and bands.........and we're also frustrated music journalists. So here goes...........



Three Trapped Tigers: 'Silent Earthling'



It's always great to hear exciting new 'prog'. We're calling it prog anyway. Or would instrumental 'math rock' be a more politically correct term? Don't know. We think its kind of a mix of spacey Ozric Tentacles electronica and Rush. 
Some might be put off by the title Silent Earthling and some of the track names such as Kraken, Engrams and Hemisphere assuming prog indulgence, but it's really much more fun than that and much more emotionally connected than most standard neo-prog. Seventies Rundgrenesque electronic arpeggios collide with shimmering synth harmonies. TTT have a chord vocabulary that would leave even the most analytical of bands standing, yet it never becomes too smart-ass or indulgent. Perhaps the instrumental nature of their music helps in this regard avoiding the pitfalls of prog lyric writing. The music switches instantly and effortlessly between the intense and intricate to the sublimely beautiful and romantic with the title track as a prime example. Other choice tracks are the aforementioned Engrams and the penultimate driving electronic freakout Rainbow Road which has an end section with vocal la's reminiscent of a heavily amped up/pysched up Pat Metheny Group.
We love it!.



Bryde: EP1




We loved Paper Aeroplanes' 'Little Letters' which featured the Janis Long favourite When The Windows Shook. One half of that duo, singer/songwriter Bryde (aka Sarah Howells) has now released EP1. It's a great mix of alt-rock folk but it's got real bite and tension. Great songs. Unfortunately missed recent London gigs due to other commitments but hoping to catch her live soon.
https://bryde.bandcamp.com/album/ep1


Schonwald: Between Parallel Lights


Released last year, but we've only just discovered this wonderful Italian duo. Between Parallel Lights is a propulsive, brooding post punk assault on the senses.
Opening track Inland is a throbbing 'krautish' blast reminiscent of Foxx era Ultravox's I Can't Stay Long. You can almost hear Billy Currie playing those scraping legato synth lines.  

Shatter has a deliciously melodic repeating instrumental section and Lux is an elegantly macabre trip with a creeping distorted guitar riff.
It's all marinated in reverb. The drums bounce off the cavernous walls, the string synth patches slash like violins strung with barbed wire, and Allessandra Gismondi's vocals are an echoing whisper from another dimension. Best heard with the lights off. 


Marshall Lewis: Learned.





Hailing from Bloomington, Indiana, Marshall Lewis' music is an assemblage of folk, rock and some ambient electronics. Maybe think of New Chatauqua era Pat Metheny but with some rich vocal multitracking. It's  a gloriously original mix best demonstrated on new EP Learned. Beautiful, original and just glorious. https://marshalllewis.bandcamp.com/



Tune in next month when we indulge our 'frustrated music journalists' side once again. 





Technical: Mixing Consoles. Pre and Post Fade Aux Sends.




Just a quick look at an FAQ concerning pre and post fade auxiliaries on mixing consoles. 
When do you use pre and when do you use post fade auxes and what's the difference?

For this explanation, we'll use an analog mixing console channel, as most analog consoles follow the same basic signal flow and routing systems (bigger consoles tend to just have more of everything) what's learnt can then be easily applied to any digital desk you might be using. We'll use the channel strip from a small console to keep things nice and clear/uncluttered.


Following the flow from a microphone down a mixing console channel, the signal flows through the mic pre amp, possibly a high pass filter, through the EQ (bass/mid/treble), through the aux section, down into a pan control and then a mute button and some routing switches. You then use the routing switches to send the signal to one of several output busses. Either a main out or a sub-group section which routes the signal to the outputs of the desk and on to your main 'Front-Of-House' PA system. 
The 'aux' section of each input channel allows you to take a portion of that signal and route it to an alternative set of outputs. The aux outputs. (I'll use 'aux' from now on as a shortened form of auxiliary.) 

In a typical live sound setup, the aux outputs perform two major functions. To route a portion of the channel signal to monitors, or to route a portion of the channel signal to effects such as reverbs, delays, multi effects processors, etc, (but generally not EQ or dynamics processor such as graphics, gates, compressors, etc. I'll explain this a little later.)

In terms of pre/post fader status, an aux can be one of three things; fixed pre, fixed post, or switchable pre/post. Larger consoles will give you more of each and may offer all auxes as pre/post switchable. Digital mixing consoles usually have all auxes switchable pre/post as this can be achieved in software without any additional hardware costs (switches, buttons, etc.)

Generally speaking, pre fade sends are used to route the channel signal to stage or in ear monitor systems. This is because, usually, we want the monitor send to be independent. To take the lead vocal channel as an example. We want the level of the lead vocal in the monitor system to be independent of the lead vocal in the main PA. If we want to bring up the lead vocal in the main PA mix, we will move the channel fader upwards, but we don't want this to effect the level of the lead vocal in the monitors. If we want to increase the level of the lead vocal in the monitor, we use the channel aux send control. We have independent control over each. 

Post fade sends are used to send a portion of the channel signal to external effects units such as reverbs, delays, multi-effects generators, etc. The reason for this is that effects generators take a portion of the channel signal and return it via an effects return or another input channel where it's then mixed with the dry signal from the original channel. This is called a wet/dry mix. If you bring the channel level up or down via the channel fader, you will want the amount the amount of reverb/effect level to come up/down in proportion. If you use a pre fade send, the effect level won't change, so if you bring the vocal level down in the main PA via the channel fader, the reverb level will remain the same, leaving you with a vocal sound with too much reverb/effect. Or vice versa. 


A Practical Example. 

It's very easy to familiarise yourself with the concept of pre/post fade aux sends. 
Setup your mixing console, run some music from a phone or mp3 player into Channel 1 and connect a speaker or amp/speaker combination to the Aux1 send output. Adjust the channel gain control so there's an audible sound. Set the channel fader to the bottom (max attenuation). Assuming Aux 1 is pre fade or switchable and set to pre fade, you can bring up aux 1 and the aux 1 master control and you'll hear your music. You'll find you can adjust the level of the music using only the aux 1 channel and aux 1 master controls without using the fader. This is how you would set things up if you're using aux1 as a monitor send. Independent of the fader. 
To see how the aux send behaves in 'post' fade mode, switch the aux pre/post switch to 'post'. If the aux send is not switchable, then move your output to a post fade aux. (Don't forget to turn down/off your amp or speaker so you don't hear any nasty thumps as you re-patch.) Leave the fader at zero (max attenuation) and then bring up the channel aux control and aux master. You should not be able to hear anything. That is because you are now in 'post' fade mode and the output from the aux now goes through the fader. Leave the channel aux and aux master up and then slowly bring up the fader. You will then begin to hear your music. This is how the aux behaves in post fade mode for effects units. Don't forget, the fader is there to control the channel level for the main PA, not the aux out level, but the aux output will come up or down as you adjust the fader so the amount of reverb/effect in relation to the main PA mix remains the same.

The above scenario shows the kind of standard and most-used applications for mixing console channel auxes, but they can be deployed for all kinds of creative uses in which a pre or post setup may be preferable depending on the user. 

Briefly returning to EQ and dynamics processors such as graphics and compressors.... unlike effects units these items process the entire signal rather than a portion of it. They do not employ the wet/dry mix idea of effects units (reverb,delay,chorus, etc). So generally speaking you don't use auxes to connect these items. These type of processors are generally patched into the channel, subgroup or master inserts. More of which in the near future. 

Hope you found this little post useful and helpful. Feel free to share it and tell others about it. You can keep up to date with all the latest Noizeworks stuff including technical papers, new products, special offers by following/liking us on the usual social media platforms and out website link banner. Links below. 

Please note/Disclaimer: As with all our posts, this information is presented on an informal basis to help musicians, artists and sound people get the most from their equipment and help in their artistic endeavours. We accept no responsibility for any events or scenarios resulting from the use or misinterpretation of this information. 


  






Written by Simon Thompson. Founder and CEO of The Noizeworks. The UKs most 'propulsive' sound company. 










Friday 3 June 2016

Special Projects: The Noizeworks Great Sounding Speaker Project. Part Two. Design Brief.






So we've decided that we want to design a PA loudspeaker that sounds as good as commercial products costing many times more, with performance and sound quality far in advance of current budget far Eastern products. We want set out and publish the design so it can be reproduced as a 'self build' project for budget conscious musicians and DJs to build from scratch, to use as a template for loading existing or broken systems, or as an educational project that schools and colleges could use. Also to set out the design principles, decisions and ideas to offer an insight into the workings and functions of PA loudspeakers and design. 

This part (two) will deal with the application and goals of the product (what it's designed to do), and the design priorities. 


Part One of The Great Sounding Speaker Project (Introduction) Can Be Found Here.


So with a healthy disrespect for current far Eastern budget PA speaker products, we set out to design and build something superior. 

The goal was to design an affordable PA loudspeaker system for musicians and DJs with the emphasis on sound quality and transparency rather than sheer power and efficiency. 
The PA loudspeaker market seems to have developed into a kind of power handling 'arms race', with the increasing use of less critical power handling measurements such as 'peak power' or continuous 'music power'. We wanted honest specs, so clients could make a properly informed decision about the product. 
Despite a focus on sound quality, we still needed a product that would deliver vocal clarity alongside other instruments and backing tracks/recorded music for solos, duos, bands and DJs for 100-150 audience size type venues.....reliably!
The target budget of £300 per pair would make it accessible to cash conscious musicians and artists and be ideal for partnering with powered mixers, PA heads and smaller power amplifiers. 



Compromises...compromises.....

So with this design brief in mind we set a list of design priorities. Product designers and manufacturers will often describe their products as 'no compromise'. In the real world, there are always compromises, and given the budget constraints that we'd set, it was clear there would be some with our product. We thought it would be useful to set out a list of loudspeaker 'factors' and then place them in order of priority for our product. So here they are:

1. Sound Quality
2. Reliability
3. Price/budget
4. Level/power/efficiency
5. Versatility
6. Weight
7. Cosmetics/looks
8. Marketing. 

1. Sound Quality:
We really wanted this to be number one. To develop a product that reproduced vocals, instruments and music crisply and clearly. With a warm and natural bass response, vivid mid range and a natural high frequency response that wasn't harsh or shrill. The vocal area would be critical, reproducing male and female vocals clearly and smoothly. We wanted something that sounded much more like higher end speaker products costing many times as much. The real goal in terms of 'sound' for a PA loudspeaker is to produce a response that is 'flat' (i.e. all frequencies are represented equally) and for the artist to make decisions about 'tone' and response using the EQ on their mixers. But the component choice and system design will always present a sound 'quality' factor and we wanted this to be central. 
We also believe that the sound quality of the system contributes greatly to the next factor which is reliability. If the sound is muddy or unclear, then users will always be seeking to turn things up...and up.....until eventually something may break. If the sound is clear, then this becomes less of a problem. 

2. Reliability:
You can create the best sounding loudspeaker there is, but if it can't do it's job reliably night after night then it's not really much use. In the real world PA loudspeakers have to stand up to some punishment. They should always be used within their stated parameters, but accidents do happen (dropped microphones, etc) so the system had to be robust and reliable. This would be a factor in the choice of drive units and crossover network components. 

3: Price:
We'd set the budget goal to be pretty tight, as stated above. No way around this. They have to come in within budget so they are affordable.

4: Level/Power/Efficiency:
We are focusing more on sound quality than pure sound pressure levels, but the function of a PA system is to get a message across to an audience. A room full of people. So the power handling, efficiency and the resulting sound pressure levels would have to fulfil our goal of clear, undistorted music reproduction to rooms of 100-150 people and 200-250 for speech reproduction.

5: Weight:
Always nice if you can build something as lightweight as possible. Makes it more portable and easier to get onto stands, etc. The budget may be a constraining factor here. Neodymium drivers would be out and we would be using an off the shelf wooden enclosure rather than anything plastic or injection moulded, but if two components performed similarly and one was considerably lighter then this factor would certainly come into play.

6: Versatility:
This factor is largely down to the enclosure. Could the system be used a 'wedge' monitor? Could they be installed within a venue permanently wall mounted or 'flown'? Or would it be primarily a portable, stand mounted system? We were going to use an off the shelf enclosure, so it probably wouldn't be multi-angle for floor monitoring, and it certainly wouldn't have the necessary flying tackle or strength for safe suspension. Wall mounting should be possible via a 35mm stand mount fitting with suitable wall bracket and safety chains. 
Please note: If you are using this system as a 'self build' project, don't attempt to suspend or wall mount any systems without specialist help or advice. Whatever enclosure you are using. 

7: Cosmetics/Looks:
We were not going to overly concern ourselves with looks or cosmetics. It's going to be a black box, although there may be some visual enhancements we can make at a reasonable budget or offer as additional add-ons maybe. Anyway this is about sound, not looks. Why would an audience be looking at speakers anyway? So cosmetics are toward the bottom of the list. 

8: Marketing:
Not really a design priority or principle, but we're not going to produce any glossy printed brochures or spend lots on flashy websites, etc. The marketing for the product would be done 'guerrilla' style using social media, blogs, pdf downloadable spec sheets, etc. 


So we now had a pretty clear picture of what we were looking to achieve and what the priorities were. This would inform our choices when we started designing the speaker and choosing components.....more of which in Part 3.




















Thursday 2 June 2016

Opinion: You Can Feel The Bass. But Can You Really Hear It?




You can feel the bass, but can you really hear it ?

"The huge stacks of double 18" subs were producing plenty of sound and heft, but it wasn't very musical, and, as previously discussed, the whole artistic and musical experience was compromised as a result."

When it comes to the 'bottom end' don't confuse quantity with quality. Some thoughts....







Our bass sound is thunderous, massive, earth-shaking. Loudspeaker manufacturers and PA companies like to boast. That's all very well, but can you really hear the notes? I mean really HEAR the notes?

For me, one of the more frustrating elements of modern live sound is the lack of definition and musicality in the bass guitar department. The bass guitar, like most other instruments is capable of contributing in all three of music's basic elements. Rhythm, harmony and melody. The bass notes can determine what chord the entire band are playing, it's also a vital part of the rhythm section driving and defining the rhythmic feel of a piece and, perhaps in more adventurous bands, it's also used as a melodic device, often as a solo instrument, but also doubling melodic lines with other instruments. So it's really important that it's clearly heard, defined and different notes are clearly audible.
  
A couple of years a go, I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing one of my all time favourite bands headline a large scale outdoor music festival. It was a thrill to see them again after many years and they played a great set. Now I know festivals are probably not the ideal situations to hear bands at their best. They can be fraught with difficulties. Short setup times between bands, no soundchecks, line checks only, noise limits, wind, etc.But from my own experience, sound in outdoor environments always tended to be much easier with no walls to create reflections and more system gain before feedback. The problems of outdoor sound when compared to indoors tend to be more logistical than sonic.
The bass player in question was a legendary rock bass player of yore. One of the greats. But unfortunately the PA sound really didn't match his or the band's abilities. Whilst the bass was plentiful and audible, it wasn't really very clear or well defined. The huge stacks of double 18" subs were producing plenty of sound and heft, but it wasn't very musical, and, as previously discussed, the whole artistic and musical experience was compromised as a result. And it remained that way throughout the set. It's what loudspeaker designers used to call 'one note bass'. 

This was the most memorable case of the problem I've experienced, but by no means the only one. Most of the gigs I seem to go to seem to present a less than great bass sound.  

So what was the problem and what can be done to address it? Personally, I don't think front loaded double 18" inch sub cabinets help. Whilst, as mentioned, with big amps, they may be capable of lots of output, but they are also rather 'slow' , although I doubt this is the entire story. I've always preferred 15" sub boxes for all but the largest of music gigs, although for particularly heavy and/or recorded dance type music some 18s or double 18s may be preferable. Taking care of the sound for any indie/guitar/rock band or music lineup in any small or medium sized venue and I'd be far happier with some nice powerful, high quality 15s. 
Maybe the sound coming from the guitar and the bass rig wasn't very good. Maybe it was an artistic issue?
Maybe it was the guy behind the FOH desk. Maybe he was confusing quantity with quality. Perhaps he was satisfied that the bass levels were good enough without really paying attention to the musicality of the sound. 
Audiences may now share in the illusion that really extended, badly defined, sound at the bass end is preferable to a more precise defined, albeit less extended bottom end having become accustomed to it for so many years. Sound engineers and system designers may share in that belief. 

I'm really only summising here. I wasn't part of the technical team, so I don't know. The point is that for whatever reason, the musical artistic endeavours of a great artist and a great band were compromised as was the whole audience experience. 

We'll take a closer look at what tools and techniques could be employed to aid in a more refined and musical bass sound some time in the near future, but for now, I really just want to urge sound men, system engineers, and indeed the artists themselves to pay close attention to the bass sound. Because there's lots of it and you can feel it, doesn't mean it's clearly audible and/or musical. 
Make sure you can really hear the notes. Make sure that bass is contributing clearly to the rhyhmic 'feel' and that any bass melodies can be clearly heard. Although ultimately, I guess it's an artistic issue. Who knows? The artist may want a muddy, badly defined bass sound, but I think that might be quite unusual in most rock/pop scenarios. 

As a gig-goer I, for one, don't expect perfection at festivals, or any live music event for that matter. The commercial, logistical and time constraining elements of live music usually make that impossible. But the live sound industry must always remain focused on the fact that they are reproducing an art form. It's not all about specs. How low something goes. How efficient it is. We must always ask how musical it is.





Written by Simon Thompson. Founder of The Noizeworks.