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One of Those Days

The Borgata Casino in Atlantic City

One of Those Days

Today, I am enjoying a Sunday off in a hotel room outside of Youngstown, Ohio. As I write this article, the NASCAR race from Pocono Raceway is just getting underway. My laundry is now done. After finding the nearby Starbucks, I then enjoyed a leisurely lunch on the bus in the hotel parking lot. Sounds idyllic enough, doesn’t it? Actually, today is only notable when viewed in contrast to yesterday’s workday at the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. However, before discussing yesterday’s events, I need to skip backward in time one more day.

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The Band Perry performs at Nashville’s LP Field during the 2015 CMA Music Festival

Nashville’s Big Weekend: A Whole Lotta Audio Goin’ On

The population of Nashville swelled by over 100,000 people one week in June. Hoteliers, restaurateurs and others watched happily as people poured in for the perfect live-event storm of the week-long CMA Music Festival, which sprawled across numerous stages with massive NFL stadium LP Field as its locus; the Bonnaroo festival, which took place in Manchester, about 60 miles to the south but had the Nashville airport as its main funnel; and finally a visit by the Rolling Stones to LP Field days after the CMA shows concluded. But what really shined was how well the city’s storied touring infrastructure handled what would have been a huge load even in New York or Los Angeles.

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Waves H Delay puts access to delay-based effects into a simple to use, plug-in format.

Understanding Echo and Time-Based Effects

Delay — a.k.a. echo — might be the most popular effect used in live sound. Sure, we use reverb, but sometimes the natural reverb of the room negates the need for adding reverb to, say, a snare drum. Delay is much more fun. You can do all kinda fun and crazy stuff with a delay, whether it be hardware or software, out- or in-board. Note to all you super-picky types: we know that, technically speaking, there is a distinction between echo and delay (delay is a postponement of a sound, whereas echo is a repeat of a sound), but most engineers use the terms interchangeably when referring to effects. I’ll have a Coke, please.

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Large expanses of reflective surfaces in this church were treated by Auralex ProPanel absorbers.

Simple Acoustic Fixes for the Church Environment

Let’s face it — most of us work in less-than-ideal acoustic environments. The main sanctuary at our church has a primarily wood interior, and while it is aesthetically beautiful, it can be an acoustical challenge. Our main sanctuary is used for traditional worship, so the longer decay time is acceptable for the typical choral and orchestra performances we do in that space. Our “Contemporary Worship Space” is another story — it’s a gymnasium. Sound familiar?

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Illustration by Andy Au

Having What it Takes

An audio engineer friend of mine sent me this item from Wundergroundmusic.com: “Sound engineering has officially been declared the grumpiest profession in the world at this week’s International Jobs Summit in Tokyo, Japan. According to the keynote speaker, Steven Jobless, “sound engineers have reached a level of grumpiness only previously seen in roles held by post-Internet librarians and a specific member of the Seven Dwarves.

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