Luxembourg Show Day

 

“Never ever forget that no matter how good or bad it is, it can always get worse.” That is the happy thought that keeps running through my mind. A friend asked me today “What do we do? I have never felt more alienated, the country will be controlled by people that hate me, what do I tell my kids? There must be something smart I can do, I don’t know what to do.” And I am so sad to say I just don’t know either, other than support the ACLU and organizations dedicated to fighting for our rights. What I do know is that the more active and unified people are, the higher probability they will get the outcome they desire. In the meantime regardless of which side of the equation you are on, people voted to break the system so hang on tight because a broken system is painful, rough and miserable ride for everyone.

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Moving on happier places, I made it back to the bike shop in Amsterdam and met Vincent who turned out to super cool. Not only did I hang out for several hours at the shop 2 days in a row, I bought a brand new Brompton 6 speed black edition and he and some friends came and hung out with me at the show. Meeting wonderful people really does make everything a bit better.

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Oh, anyone is curious about following my bike adventures, my profile name on the Strava App is cryptically Dave Rat. And before we get into some sound stuff, here are few pics riding from Luxembourg hotel to gig.

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And at near freezing out I stop to warm my hands almost magically a little friend comes for a visit to offer a furry assist

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I done 80 miles since monday and this how I roll

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I stopped again to take a pic and my friend here lays down and shows me how he rolls

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And on that note lets talk sound.

So here is a photo of three older pieces of gear that I rely heavily upon and I know of no alternatives that work nearly as well.  I will start with the top unit, the Dorrough 1200 today and cover the other two soon.

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The Dorrough is a stereo metering unit with 40 LEDs, a 1db resolution and master attenuator offering a 100db range.  Additionally, the meters simultaneously show averaged and peak audio levels. Having this extremely accurate metering on my stereo cue bus allows me not only match left and right levels but also the difference between the peak and average levels allows me to see how much compression is effecting what ever I solo.

Another feature I rely upon is the sum/difference setting.  In this mode the left meter indicated the sum of the stereo signal I have cue’d and the right meter shows the difference between the signals. This is a powerful tool for determining if two mics mic’ing the same source are in or out of polarity. Also, the meter will help indicate how different two signals are. When two signals are identical, the sum meter reads a high level and the difference meter shows little to no level.  In order to reduce comb-filtering and increase stereo imaging, I try to send different signals to the left side and right side of the PA whenever possible, using the 1200 helps me optimize that goal.

OK, will cover why I really really like the PCM60 and H3500 in some future posts.

Oh, does anyone know what this thing is?  I passed it on the way to the gig pretty much in the middle of nowhere Luxembourg.

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Author: Dave Rat

Sound consultant, sound system designer, curious human