It is hard to believe that we are already a month into 2025, but here we are again, just in time to navigate through the slowest work time of the year. This is the time that every road weary engineer is calling to let me know they are available for work while, at the same time, I’m trying to find things for my regular guys to do. Mostly it’s a good time to take stock and reflect on last year’s performance. How can we improve on what we did? What new equipment is needed and where are we headed in this new year? While we are reflecting it is also a good time to repair broken gear, make new cables, take inventory and generally prepare for the year to come. A lot of that preparation includes the purchase of new equipment, and while that may seem like an easy task, it is fraught with anxiety considering there’s usually a budget and typically more equipment needed than the budget might allow.
Consolation
For example: I have been getting calls for Allen & Heath consoles. My clientele consists of local-to-touring engineers playing one-offs in various size rooms. I neither want to go too small or too big with a console, but I need to please all requests. If both are basically the same price, do I opt for the Avantis 64 channel or the C3500? Then, there are other factors to take into consideration, such as my need to satisfy all the calls I receive for CL5 consoles. Buying a CL5 is out of the question, as they are being discontinued. Therefore, I would need to purchase a DM7, which is twice the price of either of the Allen & Heath consoles. “Buy both,” one might say, but remember, there are budget constraints. Since it takes a few years to make one’s money back on the higher-priced items, one must keep in mind the shelf life of each particular piece of gear; and shelf life is not as long as it used to be. Case in point, the Midas Heritage console was released in 1999. We purchased one in 2002, and in 2004 it became a boat anchor with the release of the Yamaha PM5D digital console.
The Wireless Issue
The same sort of thing just happened in RF World. Shortly after we invested in eight new channels of PSM1000s, Shure released the Axient PSM 1000s. In this case, all is not lost and we can still make use of the old PSM1000 belt packs with the new Axient transmitter, but it won’t be long until every rider is requesting the Axient PSM1000s. Two years ago, on my suggestion, we purchased a Quantum 338, seeing that I looked into my crystal ball and saw that the SD line was on the way out. This bit prescience on my part meant that our SD10 consoles were soon to go the way of the Midas Heritage. Fortunately, my all-seeing eye was ahead of itself since I’m still getting use out of the SD10s, but I’m sure that they will soon become unacceptable choices for the discerning engineer. The question is, how much can I squeeze out of them before I lose the chance to sell them at a decent price?
AI — Coming at Ya!
I get it. Companies need to develop and release new products to stay in business. Some of the new products are merely an upgrade of the old, and some of the new product is created to answer the needs of the industry. Example: the older boards such as the Yamaha PM5D or the Avid Profile were fine, until everyone needed stereo ears, thereby making 24 channels of output insufficient to meet the “modern” requirements. Speaking of modern requirements, AI is here and being incorporated into, among other things, mixing audio and video. In the past, I have let my imagination run loose and — based upon whatever the current technology might be at the time — I have presented my feverish thoughts regarding the future of live sound. As recently as last year, I wrote about a console of the future that could basically mix with very little, if any, input (no pun intended) from a human engineer. While I’m aware this may seem a little farfetched and most likely not something that will happen very soon, I do believe it’s not that remote of a possibility, especially as I learn more about the capabilities of AI.
The difference between AI and automation is that while automation executes predefined tasks, AI learns from data, adapts and makes decisions without explicit programming. Now, when you upload your file from a previous show, the console reads the file and resets your mix, but with AI it might upload that very mix and then the AI-driven console would change the parameters based on the room size, the audio system or even the temperature of the space. While there are AI-assisted programs such as Neutron 4 and Ozone 11 for mixing and mastering prerecorded audio, it may be a while before these programs are incorporated into live sound. I can easily imagine a (near) future where a voice activated program lets the engineer mix hands free. “Hey Siri, go to the vocal on channel three and add the CLA-2A compressor, drop the threshold to -10, ratio 3-1, 15ms attack with an 80ms release and boost the make-up gain 3dB.” I’m not suggesting Siri will be the voice, but you get the idea.
The AI can even let you know if it thinks something you’re doing is wrong or can be done better “Hal, put the Abbey Road reverb on the snare drum with a 3.5 decay and a 45ms pre-delay.” “I can’t do that Dave… this is not that type of song.” Or perhaps we will encounter some artistic differences, “Hal, why did you raise the guitar?” “The solo was being buried Dave.” “No, Hal, I want it to be underneath the vocal. I’m going for that wailing-from-behind sound.” “I’m sorry Dave, but that does not make sense, it needs to be boosted.” “Hal you’ve got to let me mix my way.” “I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that. I need to lock you out of the console.” “Hal, Hal, listen to me!” “I’m sorry Dave, I can’t do that.”
Although I’m painting a bleak future, I’m sure that not all AI has to end in apocalyptic mayhem. Of course, while AI and voice recognition mixing will most likely be a boon to the audio world, there’s a good possibility that there will be those who refuse to embrace the future. Much like the engineers that prefer to mix analog rather than digital, there will be a select few who choose to mix the old manual way. Of course, it’s only a matter of time before these purist holdouts will discover themselves in a relationship with AI, and while there might be some problems initially, let’s remember that all relationships take time to develop and mature, and in time whatever problems there might be can be worked out once you get to know each other better.
