Why all the "Bump and Rumble?"

I am watching a locally produced TV show in Grand Rapids and as the hosts talk there is a consistent thump and rumble coming from the subwoofers of my AV system. This is common when you place a condenser microphone on a person and is subject to lots of movement.

Anytime a lavaliere is used with any system it is necessary to use a High Pass Filter or also called Low Cut Filter and even called a Rumble Filter on some consoles. On most mid-level consoles these filters will be fixed to cut 80Hz and below or even as high as 100Hz. The ideal is a Variable High Pass Filter that allows you to select the low frequencies you will be cutting anywhere from 20Hz to 400Hz.

Generally for broadcast you could start your cut at 100Hz and be effective. With today’s PA systems having extended low frequency response you will find it imperative to put one of these in place with settings starting at 80Hz and can be as high as 160Hz before you start to drastically reduce the fullness of the speakers natural voice. Your results will be more intelligible and save needed power and frequencies for inputs that were meant to produce that bump and rumble.

Comp That Video Feed Please!

Watching the local access Religious channel and can't help but notice that the audio seems to take a second place to the video switching and camera angles.

Adding a good quality compressor/limiter would help to smooth out that large amount of dynamic range that either seems to distort the transmitter or cause lots of unwanted noise by having to turn the tv up real loud.

They didn't come to Church to hear the bass player!

Several years ago I was in a project planning meeting with a rather larger church whose project was going take months to complete and cost several hundred thousands of dollars so as you may know there was quite a committee of folks assembled to make this go smooth. In this meeting were people from across the region with more than 100+ years of combined experience in multi-media production. As the meeting progressed we were winding down ans discussing acoustics and the need to reduce the bleed of stage volume into the congregation. Note that the sanctuary would seat 2500. The media director for the Church presented the question of how to deal with the very high level of the bass player’s rig. Of course all ears in attendance perked up as he described the issue that has gone on for several agonizing years with many attempts to squelch the excessive volume. At the end of his description of the issue a long pause took place as the professionals in the room all looked at who wanted to address the problem first, when the eldest of all of us spoke up and said “Well, with love, approach the offending bass player and let him know that the congregation did not assemble to hear the bass.” This of course is the last resort to address such a simple issue but a lesson we can all relate too.

We volunteers and professionals alike all do what we can to keep the musicians comfortable with what technologies he have been given but at times we need to face reality and approach it as it should be approached and that is with blunt truth.

I have met with numerous ministries and have walked all involved, sound guys, musicians, singers and music directors, through the factors involved from the obvious to not so obvious into creating a not so desirable outcome.

The end result of this bass player issue was the media director had several musicians sit in the audience and listen to others play their instruments and the bass player could finally hear the difference and turned it down and all was better.

What kind of technician/engineer are you?

I remember lots of years ago (19 to be exact) I was given the reigns of the sound system of the church I had just recently started to attend. This felt great and I was sure I had arrived to the big time. Of course by this point I had at least 6 years or so of playing with sound gear and the likes so “I knew everything.” Well thankfully for me the church was very understanding as I made my mistakes along the way and used my time with them as a learning experience.

On the other hand there was this man, we will call him John, who was appointed to the position of head of media and his qualifications were that he was a professional plumber, oh and he was willing to take the position. He did alright as far as the ministry was concerned but he found himself falling short.

I bring these two examples to light to show the contrast of how they would deal with the musicians and staff when problems would arise. In my early days I would here the complaints of the people and would make up excuses as to why it was that way and say if you don’t like it then you do this job. John on the other hand would take every comment to heart and just take the attitude of “I am doing the best that I can” and wish he had never offered to serve in the first place.

This is where I ask the question “which type of Technician/Engineer are you?” I hope that I don’t still present to people as a young know it all who most of the time is just faking it at the client’s expense. As well, to the guys like John that the only way to gain the confidence necessary to handle the task is that we both need to continue to learn and grow over time.

After over 20 years of this profession I am heading off to a seminar to learn about more technology that I may already know all about but I look forward most to hearing the questions asked to better understand the hurdles others may have in understanding.