A recent shift in live music sees us dealing with more and more live dance acts, most of which rely on a substantial frequency content below 50Hz. Whilst we are more than happy with our TSW718 bins for most band work, various events are making us consider options for going a little lower.
Having attended many festivals already this summer and hearing large systems from most of the major manufacturers, d&b, JBL, EV, L’acoustics, Nexo etc. I’ve been hearing a lot of sub content. But, for the most part it sounds wrong. ‘Forced’ and ‘Un natural’ are descriptive terms which spring to mind. Nexo, in my opinion shows a most obviously processed low end. Whilst L’acoustics seems to be the most neutral sounding of the bunch.
Interesting the L’acoustics SB218 is well known as a relatively inefficient cabinet, a simple 2 x 18″. On it’s spec sheet the FR graph suggests that it is just that, a well tuned reflex cabinet. With a -3dB point somewhere in the high 30’s.
The Nexo S2 on the other hand, sounds unreasonably slow, forced and processed, and interestingly the spec sheet for this cabinet doesn’t even provide a FR graph, nevermind an unprocessed response. The S2 is a bandpass design, or as nexo like to call it “a high efficiency resonator design”. Now, to me the word resonance, suggests amplification through standing waves, and the loading of air between the chambers in the cabinet. It also implies a long ringing sound. Nexo state, as many modern manufacturers do that the S2 must be used with their own proprietary controller. This to me sets alarm bells ringing immediately as to how much processing may be going on under the bonnet.
So, we’re weighing up the options, I guess the first thing to consider is quite how low we need to get, i would consider -3dB at 30Hz as a reasonable if not slightly ambitious target, unprocessed. Much lower than that and we’re getting into seriously large cabinets, and seriously large amplifiers. There are many designs which can accomplish this common modern designs are are listed below.
- Horns – manufacturers such as EM acoustics and EAW are making long, powerful bass horns. By logic and reason a horn will have the fastest transient response, but the major disadvantage is the physical mouth area a 30Hz horn must have. It will however have the greatest efficiency when used in the correct quantities.
- Direct Radiators – A great compromise between size, and LF extension, however pretty inefficient. Consequently we’d need a large number of boxes to match the SPL of the system running above it.
- Bandpass – Loads of output but generally sounds a little ‘false’.
What to do is the next question. Build or buy? Whilst keen to keep a branding on the FOH PA. We are in no way against using our own designs, if they are the most effective way to satisfy the requirements. Whilst in production, cabs manufactured in house will be the cheapest solution, they are not necessarily the cheapest option overall. There are a few criteria to fulfill in either instance. Firtstly, the frontal size must be similar to the turbosound bins that we currently use, to satisfy aesthetic and safe stacking needs, secondly they must be high efficiency if we are to mix with the floodlight system in a 1:1 ratio. I personally think the options are limited to a well designed bandpass, or a good reflex design. Both will be power hungry if limited by cabinet volume. It’s the old word compromise isn’t it. Everything to do with loudspeakers is a compromise.
I’d be interested to hear other peoples views on this seemingly ‘hot’ topic. More importantly how we can make a natural and effortless <50Hz cabinet.
Well, I just thought I’d better get the first crew blog in while I’m just sitting around watching ‘come dine with me’! For prosperity’s sake I thought I’d better have the first one. Not really sure what to say so maybe i’ll try and upload a photo….. here goes….. oooooh, done. Well that’s enough work for one day. I’m out of here. WORD!
We are proud to be supplying some equpment and crew to this years Beach Break Live festival. Beach Break Live is the largest Student festival in the UK, with an event capacity of 18,000 and an ice cool line up, this is the one to watch this June.
Shad Yelland from Cornwall based SPS Audio, contacted me with an enquiry about hiring an iLive T system, along with a mixrack. Since the initial contact we have also been asked to supply a second complete iLive system, and two monitor systems for the smaller stages. I will personally be attending this festival in a sound engineer capacity, and can also play an on site support role for any iLive based queries which may arise. We are proud to once again be working alongside SPS Audio. I’ll try to get some pictures up after the event.
Also, worth noting, is the amount of iLive systems that will be present at Beach Break Live, at the last count it was four (2 x BMA, 2 x SPS).
Hello Summer!
Bill
The long raging debate of analogue vs digital continues, something which can be applied in all of our daily life. There are serious purists, who will argue analogue all the way, after all, sound by it’s nature is an analogue thing. But with the pressing of the first test CD in 1981, and it’s widespread acceptance over the next two decades, the CD had made its mark. Along with other digital formats such as the .mp3 we are truly living in the digital age. It is interesting to note that I was not born until 1984, years after the CD was conceived!
Around the same time companies started to offer various digital units for sound processing, FX units, Delay lines, EQ’s, Crossovers and Digital mixing solution. All of these revolutionised the way sound engineers could work, and caused a change in the way we approached our jobs.
What I will be examining in this post, and through a series of practical experiments is the use of DSP to process multiway loudspeaker systems. When companies such as BSS started to offer products such as the FDS388, rental companies saw an instant benefit. The ability to totally reconfigure their systems to suit based on a few button pushes, where previously this may have meant hours of soldering manually configuring the crossover points, slopes, and limiter characteristics.
This alone increased the efficiency of warehouse preps, and also cross rental flexibility. Being able to hire in a different loudspeaker system, and quickly reconfigure your crossovers to suit is a massive advantage, clear for everybody to see. However, recently during several conversations with people I have found myself asking why I invested in digital signal processing. The only answer I can see to this is that, it’s because everybody else does! This ‘me too’ approach does make me wonder. Seeing as we use Floodlight, a system designed to be run with no time alignment, and no eq over the output bands, then why have we got all of these unused options inside the digital brain, and what would the advantage be if we made the switch over to analogue, to run the floodlight ampracks.
So, the experiment begins. Our current processors are BSS Omnidrive Compact FDS355, pictured on the left. The 355 is a very high quality, very flexible unit, which can be openly configured in any combination of three inputs and five outputs. Every input has a delay, every output has it’s own gain, EQ, limiter settings, phase, time delay (in 0.022 ms increments), variable slope HPF, variable slope LPF and adjustable crossover points. A win all round then. You can time align your PA, add delay stacks and precisely time delay them. Cut anomalies out of the system frequency response using band specific equalisation. What more could we want?
Better sound! As already mentioned, the floodlight system is designed to run without the excessive DSP that many modern systems require to sound even close to good. It needs a basic set of filters, and some limiters. The BSS FDS 360 picuted below is an ideal unit for the job. It has a pre set 30Hz HPF over both inputs, each band features 24dB/octave
Linkwitz Riley HPF and LPF slopes, Adjustable phase, a full 18o degrees on adjustment, very accurate band limiting, and it can be configured as a four way mono unit. This really ticks all the boxes for this experiment.
The FDS 360 is long discontinued product so the hunt was started to find a second hand pair. Fortunately, my colleague Chris Wilkinson knew exactly where to look and helped me source a pair very quickly. The units were picked up, and swiftly delivered to Mark Hudson at Hi-Q Sound in Lincoln. Who is currently fitting and designing the cards to work with floodlight. It is worth mentioning that Tony and Mark at Hi-Q Sound have been an invaluable help in my understanding and appreciation of various audio principles and will one day get a long blog post full of ‘thank you’s’ on this site.
The next stage in this experiment is to get the two FDS360’s back and do a lot of A/B testing. If we decide that the FDS360 is the better solution, then we will likely purchase more of these units, whilst selling some of the FDS355’s but keeping a few in stock for those odd occasions where we have to do some clever delays, and are using an analogue mixer, or when we are cross renting another system, and using our amp racks.
I can’t wait to post up the results here.
Bill
We have once again been asked to supply audio for the popular Fake Festivals events. This nationwide series of festivals are placed right in the heart of local communities, and attract approximately 1000 party people each day. We will be supplying a similar analogue based system to the previous years, utilising an Allen & Heath ML3000-32 console at each end along with the relevant outboard. FOH systems are based around 4 stacks of Turbosound Floodlight, and monitor systems will be 10 x FLW15 plus drum fill. This medium sized PA has proved to be one of our most popular systems, it is a cost effective answer to Fake Festivals. Whilst providing sufficient punch and clarity for the audience. The bands are always complementary about the monitor system too, which puts a smile on my face every time.
Fake Festivals is a great event. Check out the website, and pop along and say ‘hi’ if you can.
I am excited to announce that we have just taken delivery of an Allen & Heath iLive T112 control surface and an iDR48 Mixrack. To cope with the demand over the summer season of 2010.
The T112 & iDR48 combination has been purchased through LMC to work as a standalone solution, as well as working alongside our existing T80 and iDR 32 system. A pair of M-Ace cards have also been ordered to facilitate digital mic spilts between the systems. This will provide a very lightweight solution to a ’standard’ festival setup with the t112 being installed at FOH, and the T80 going on stage. It has been proved numerous times that the T80 is ‘quick’ enough to handle a festival monitor environment. And the extra physical control provided by the T112 surface will prove to be intuitive enough for visiting engineers to build a fantastic mix from, in the minimum time. We already have bookings for the dual console system in for various Fake Festivals, Beach Break Live festival, Leeds Festival and Vale festival. This list will certainly be much bigger in a couple of weeks time as bookings keep rolling in.
The decision to make this investment was an easy one. The T80 / iDR32 system that we’ve held as stock for less than 12 months has been the busiest system we own to date, it’s flexible, reliable and sounds fantastic out of the box. There have been several dry hire jobs for the T80 this year with a marked increase in the number of engineers specifying an iLive. I am keen to extend the stong relationship with Allen & Heath, and LMC Audio Systems and am confident that this is not the last time BMA will buy an iLive product.
Reports will follow after a few shows. In the meantime, if you are interested to read more about the iLive system go to http://www.ilive-digital.com.
Black Magic Audio was formed in 2006 by Bill Keown. Who had been working in the industry as an engineer for around 3 years. Bill had a good amount of touring, and festival experience, and spent most of these years having a (day)dream about earning enough money to put together a little PA system. Taking a handful of good idea’s from the ‘big boys’ and at the same time observing what doesn’t work. With a set of mental notes, there was a day in the middle of 2005 where the idea ‘clicked’. The time was right and Black Magic Audio was born. The initial plan, was to do small club gigs and perhaps some very small outdoor shows such as town centre events.
This was quickly realised as being ‘not enough’. In 2007 we started using freelance crew on a regular basis, supplying full systems with monitor and FOH consoles and dealing with crowds of 1000+ people on a regular basis through the summer. Steadily building up a reliable client base, most of whom are still using BMA today.
There are certain quality standards which we insist on meeting for every single show;
Planning - A well thought out plan, with details clearly laid out on paper. This is crucial to you having a smooth event.
Prep. - All equipment is counted out of our small warehouse. Each job is prepared specifically to it’s needs.
Cabling - If you’ve ever been let down by equipment it’s likely the fault of an inferior or worn out cable, this is an area where we will not skimp, ever. End of. We spend an incredible amount of money keeping cable stocks up to our high standards.
Crew - We make sure that you have the ‘right’ crew for your job, everyone has a different personality, some clash. We try to avoid this at all costs by choosing carefully. Our regular ‘core’ of freelance crew have a comprehensive list of past credits.
Maintenance - If there is a fault with any BMA equipment, it is taken out of service immediately, and repaired or replaced as appropriate.
Well, just as the 2010 festival season starts to warm up nicely, I thought it would be a good idea to update http://www.blackmagicaudio.co.uk to suit the busy season. With a site that’s both easier to update, being blog based, and more interactive. BMA crew are encouraged to post on here, to keep a little variety.
Since the last website revision things have moved at a rapid pace. We’ve moved the operation to Sheffield, UK. For a variety of personal and business reasons. This move, whilst being challenging a times has been beneficial to business. We can service any Midlands or Yorkshire city within 90 minuites, meaning less overall cost to our wide reaching clients. The new premises are only 5 minutes from junction 34 of the M1 motorway.
We have also invested heavily into new hire stock. With the addition of more Turbosound Floodlight, many new microphones, and the brilliant Allen & Heath iLive series of digital mixing consoles. This is not without good reasons, the summer season this year is averaging 2 festivals per week. And the winter’s rock and roll and theatre touring work looks set to be as good as summer too!
See http://www.ilive-digital.com for more information on the Allen & Heath iLive mixing system.
Updates to follow soon.
Bill