Meeting Reports

Central Indiana – July 18, 2019

Meeting Topic: An Evening with John Cooper

Moderator Name: Michael Petrucci

Speaker Name: John Cooper, freelance FOH mixer for Bruce Springsteen and other noted artists

Other business or activities at the meeting: It was announced that Section elections will commence at this time. Nominations are open and should be submitted to the Secretary. Voting will be done electronically (via special website). Results are expected on/about August 20, 2019.

Meeting Location: ESCO Communications, Indianapolis, IN

Summary

This evening’s guest presenter has been an FOH engineer/mixer for Bruce Springsteen since 2001. He has also worked as FOH engineer/mixer with other numerous other artists, including: John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, Keith Urban, and Lionel Richie. 

John talked about his approach and experience in mixing for major, live music performances. Some of the things he highlighted included: 
• Understanding and maintaining the proper gain structure. 
• A result that sounds good/acceptable, not something that reads ideally on a meter. 
• Having appropriate backup equipment and a strategy to deploy, when necessary. 
• Be cautious of level limits with digital consoles. Some people are using analog matrices to do certain mixes in order to work around these issues. 
• Use of delays to achieve some stereo effects from a mono source. 
• Protools can provide a virtual sound check. 
• The teleprompter is a key element in this scale of road show — everyone uses it to know the where they are in the show. There could be as many as 20 displays. Related to this — many shows are automated. 
• The entire stage is on UPS. 
• There is a definite difference in energy level between an afternoon rehearsal and an evening performance. 
• Bass guitar balance (with the rest of the band/orchestra) is a very important consideration. 
• Front fills are important, especially for the performer to be understood. Balance can be tricky and important. 
In regular business, biennial elections for the Section were announced and the process will commence promptly. The value of AES membership was highlighted, including product discounts (Apple, Dell, Sound Particles and Focal Press) plus career resources (profiles, forums, and job board postings from sustaining member companies).

Written By: Barrie Zimmerman, Secretary

On February 16, 2013 the Central Indiana Section of the Audio Engineering Society hosted the Second Annual Central Indiana Audio Student Workshop. The event was hosted by Section Chair Fallon Stillman, and coordinated by Workshop Advisor Kyle P. Snyder with great assistance from the Executive Board of the Central Indiana Section as well as the faculty and staff of the Indiana University Department of Recording Arts. The Central Indiana Audio Student Workshop 2013 was held on the campus of Indiana University Bloomington, in the Department of Recording Arts studios and related facilities.

Like other regional events, the Central Indiana Audio Student Workshop was modeled like a mini-convention. Our goal was to provide an intimate learning environment, open to anyone interested in audio, including local professionals, university students, and high school students. The Workshop provided attendees the opportunity to improve their skills with some of the best in the business, who presented on topics in recording, mixing, live sound, and acoustics.

We also wanted to provide the Workshop free of charge, to give students of all means equal access to the audio instruction we were providing. Also, not only did we want to provide high-quality instruction for free, but also we wanted to incentivize attendance with useful giveaways from sponsors. Finally, we wanted to ensure that an acceptable student to teacher ratio was achieved, so that students felt less like they were part of a crowd and more like they were in a small classroom where they could ask questions.

Our pre-registration topped out at over 250, and we saw physical attendance at over 200 including numerous walk-in’s, reaching a group of audio students and professionals from every corner of the state and many from neighboring territories, who were appreciative beyond words. We couldn’t have been more pleased with how the event turned out.

For additional information on the event including sponsors, posters, artwork, schedules, and much more please visit the official event site.

Additionally, the official event report is available for download (pdf).

Press:

• AES.org Student Blog
• Indiana University Press Release
• ProSoundWeb.com

The Central Indiana Section, Jensen Transformers, Audio Precision and Wright Consulting Associates sponsored a seminar with Bill Whitlock entitled, “An Overview of Audio System Grounding & Interfacing”.

Bill Whitlock’s powerpoint slides (pdf): Indy AES 2012 Bill Whitlock Seminar w-Notes v1-0

The Central Indiana Section of the Audio Engineering Society recently held its first summer meeting on June 26, 2012 with a near-record attendance of almost 30 members! The first part of the meeting featured dinner hosted at Shapiro’s Deli courtesy of the Section for members which was certainly a hit with everyone in attendance, followed by a tour of Lucas Oil Stadium.

That’s right, dinner and a tour! The tour was courtesy of the Lucas Oil Stadium Sound & Lighting Department’s very own Floyd Paulsen with assistance from systems integrator and friend of the Central Indiana Section ESCO Communications.

Floyd took the section on a compressive tour of the stadium, including the field level where he discussed the complex system of speaker arrays and delays in the bowl, one of the amazing amplifier rack rooms, the press box, and the video and audio production suites. Along the way the section also received demonstrations of the Media Matrix and Crown Hi-Q operating systems which were in use throughout the installation.

The meeting was absolutely a must-attend for anyone interested in live production and installed sound and we are very thankful to Floyd, Lucas Oil Stadium Sound & Lighting, and ESCO Communications for their generosity and support of the section. Those interested can find a digital version of the handout distributed at the meeting here on ESCO Communications website.

To stay up to date on section activities, be sure to follow us on Facebook or Twitter, and feel free to contact any member of the executive board to let us know your thoughts about the section.

The Central Indiana Section of the Audio Engineering Society was pleased to host its Spring meeting on May 23, 2012 on the topic of Advanced Intercom Systems for Live Sound, Broadcast, & Recording Environments.

The meeting featured Steve Quillin and Michael Brown of Bosch Communications Systems, presenting on the new lines of Production Intercom systems from Telex and RTS. This included the Digital Matrix, Partyline systems, and BTR wireless units.

An excited audience gathered to learn not just of the latest advancements within the Telex and RTS lines, but also on intercom use and installation best practices with regard to frequency coordination and much more.

The meeting was held May 23, 2012 at 7:00pm in the conference room of ESCO Communications’ Indianapolis office.

To stay up to date on section activities, be sure to follow us on Facebook or Twitter, and feel free to contact any member of the executive board to let us know your thoughts about the section.