Archive for April, 2013

No Gain, Much Pain

Posted: April 28, 2013 in Pro Audio
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Figure 1

Figure 1

By far the most frequent problem I’ve seen when working on a new board is poor gain structure.  One of the quickest red flags I see is if I sit down at a mixer and see a lot of channel faders that look like what you see in Figure 1.

That almost always tells me that the gain structure was set up by moving the fader to nominal (i.e. the 0db mark typically 3/4 the way up the fader) then bringing up the gain until the volume sounds right.  Typically the soundman will get away with this, especially if he is not running a lot of channels.  What he may not realize is

Figure 2

Figure 2

that he is not getting the best quality of the source signal and he is very likely injecting a great deal of noise into the channel.   If I see faders scatter about like in Figure 2, I have a much higher level of confidence in how the mixer has been configured.  No guarantees, of course, but the odds are in your favor. (more…)

Sound Thinking

Posted: April 28, 2013 in Pro Audio
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Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to mix on a fair number of boards that were not “mine;” that is not one where I was responsible for the setup and configuration.  I’ve also help more than one sound tech or podcaster online who have had problems with getting an effective mix.  From these experiences I have found that there are typically a few repeating problems that are causing people problems.  Because of this, I’ve decided to produce a short series of articles that I hope will help both sound techs and podcasters get the best possible sound. (more…)

Thoughts on Season 2 of Continuum

Posted: April 27, 2013 in Sci-Fi and Fantasy
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Well, season two of Continuum has started.  I thought I’d provide a few of my thoughts for based on the shifts we see coming from season one into season two.  I will say that if you are in the US and do not have Canadian friends or a VPN service that lets you see the show, you may want to skip this post.  There’s not going to be a lot of spoilers after all only the first episode has aired, but I will not be avoiding the season two opener.  If you can’t wait for a sneak peak of what’s ahead, however, read on…   (more…)

OUAT – Lacey (s1e18)

Posted: April 25, 2013 in Once
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Well, after a short hiatus we are back and ready for the final sweep to the finale of Once Upon A Time, season 2.  Lacey was not a high action story, by any means.  Hopefully this has the final pieces in place to get us to a climax and resolution, though I suspect there may be some more positioning in the next episode, The Evil Queen.  We did get yet another character (ok, actually three) entered into the story and this does cause some concern that I will discuss later.

Still, after all this time, it was nice to be able to see some of our old familiar and nearly forgotten characters again.  It was also particularly nice to get some more of the backstory to Rumple and Belle.

Speaking of which, I suspect the “RumBelle ‘shippers” must be pretty much soiling their knickers after this one…

(more…)

OUAT – Selfless, Brave and True (s2e18)

Posted: April 7, 2013 in Once
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It looks like we get a short break before the big rush to the finish.  For that reason, I’m spacing this review and analysis out just a bit to fall midway of the hiatus.  This should also give people a chance to get caught up on any episodes before reading this review.  I will note that this write-up is going to be more analysis and less review than some of the prior.  I am assuming you’ve seen and remember the episode.

Selfless, Brave and True was an episode that had a lot happening.  Though a few new questions were raised, we got a lot more answers — some of which have been hanging since season one.  Not only that, but one story thread seems closed and the pieces are mostly in place for the final sweep of towards the end of this season.  Personally, I think there is also a bit of set-up for season three as well. (more…)