Friday, February 26, 2010

Intelligible Large Venue Audio

Grant's Perspective on ... understanding intelligible audio in a large venue setting.

Just wanted to note that one of my co-workers Ralph Niekamp published an article on page 37 of the December CM&E (Corporate Meetings & Events) magazine. The article provides an understanding of how to deliver intelligible audio in a large venue. The picture of the meeting set up is actually an indoor soccer complex. With a crowd of over 1,000 understanding the speeches can be a challenge. A screen capture of the article is posted below.



Several small sets of speakers and the use of time delay is the answer. Well done Ralph.

Grant

Friday, February 19, 2010

How To Use a Microphone Solutions

Grant's Perspective on ... how to use a microphone.

So how does one avoid or resolve issues of people not knowing how to use a microphone? See the last post for the list of issues.

Knowledge, Education, and Support.
The following may all sound really elementary, but by my quick estimation, microphones are not used properly approximately 60% of the time.
1 - Courtroom: In the case of the Courtroom, Court staff should confidently educate the users to:

- Speak towards and into the microphone. Just like taking a photo, you point the camera towards your subject, not away.

- Get close to the microphone. In the case of most courtroom microphone types, no closer or further than about 12” – 18” away. The source (mouth) needs to be in the vicinity of the mic head.

- Speak loud and clear, do not mumble. If the source (mouth) isn’t loud enough, the mic, just like our ears, can’t pick it up.
2 - School Choir: In the case of the school choir all the requirements from above are still very much applicable but some production knowledge should come into play. In my opinion, and being a parent, I feel that the majority of parents would rather hear their child than only see as restricted by stage positions. Ensure you have:

- An adequate number of mics.

- A proper mixer.

- An experienced operator, whether it is someone on staff who has the prerequisites for such a task or a local hired pro.

- A rented system, if necesary, designed to fit the environment (but remember more speakers & amps are not always better).

In the case of a school play, as children generally speak quietly in front of an audience, give each child a mic. Teach the children to speak into the mic,  to monitor themselves thru the sound system and adjust accordingly (OK that isn’t always easy), and…….forget the stage positions and ques and have the children go to a mic to say their lines. Like I said, I’m sure the parents would like to hear the line; the kids can walk up to the mic, say their line and return to their spot.

3 - Meeting: In the case of the lapel mic on the belt, typically meeting planners will have enlisted the support of professionals. A good Audio Tech will operate the mixer to keep the audio level as constant as possible and take care of the technical details. The tech will also ensure the lapel is attached properly, in the correct location, and will advise to:

- Remove jewelry that might clank against the clip.

- Speak up (I suggest to speak like you’re projecting to a classroom size room - without a PA).

- Monitor themselves through the system. Have you ever noticed professional speakers are always at that “right” level? You may recall the person who introduced the Keynote Speaker was quiet enough that you needed to strain to hear (which is fatiguing and will wear out your audience before lunch!) then the Keynote came on and you heard every detail of their voice.



Now remember, you can always ask your friendly neighborhood Inland AV for assistance. Service calls may be arranged for training or setup of equipment. Techs are available for hire for operation as well.

For information on choosing the right podium microphone read this Inland AV archived article.

Grant

Friday, February 12, 2010

How To Use a Microphone

Grant's Perspective on ... how to use a microphone

Over the years I've seen many instances where people do not know how to use a microphone. I'm not faulting them but here is some quick & easy education: you have to speak into the microphone and project your voice.

Sounds like I'm being facetious but here are some examples that will make this clear:

1 - Courtroom: The lawyer pushes the mic away as they place documentation on the table. The microphone is now pointing away from the lawyer. The result is the recorder is not recording their voice and the gallery can't hear the lawyer.

2 - School Choir: The music teacher has one single microphone placed at the front of the stage 5 meters in front of the school choir, expecting the soft and shy voices to be projected out to the audience like at a rock concert. Many times a microphone designed for rock music (only picks up loud audio that is directly in front of the microphone) will be used.

3 - Meeting: I've seen people clip a lapel microphone onto their belt.Come on, that is not near your mouth!


I would be interested in hearing from our readers on any other microphone bloopers.

I will discuss some solutions for these blunders soon.

FYI

The Inland AV website has an archived article on Podium Microphone Choice.

For a longer history of the microphone and explanation of the types of microphones and pick up patterns, I suggest this Microphone article in Wikipedia.

Grant

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Epson BrightLink Interactive Projector at Winnipeg Open House

Grant's Perspective on ... Epson BrightLink 450Wi Best of Show.

Our Winnipeg Open House was last Friday. Glenn Corthey, Inland AV Sales Manager, reported that it was attended by a record number of people. It was great to host guests from Portage LaPrarie, Brandon, The Pas, Selkirk, as well as the Winnipeg area. 

The Epson BrightLink 450Wi interactive projector garnered a lot of positive attention. I watched a few of Jared Scott's demonstrations (pictured below at the Epson booth and Inland AV Presentation Theatre) and noted that the interactivity was very smooth. In other words, the BrightLink system responded fast, no drop outs, the projected image looked great and the annotations also looked great. The double-tap (like a mouse double-click) works just like it would on a tablet PC. The pen needs to make contact with the wall to write so as long as you maintain contact on the wall, a continuous line is made, just like a real pen. The fact that you use a regular wall as the projection surface means that the active image size is flexible.

While Canadian pricing has not been announced, the cost of the interactive projector will be significantly less than a traditional interactive whiteboard and projector system.
BTW- The system comes with the 450Wi projector, mount, 2 pens, 4 rechargeable batteries and charger.

Grant