Kidz Bopping

Oddly, it does seem that many things come in waves.  I rarely speak music with anyone outside a small group of friends because I am so very excitable about the topic and will talk at length about the musical influence of falsetto dance hall singers of the 1930’s and Joe Meek on post punk compositions.  I find it invigorating but I am also vividly aware how mind numbing the conversation can be to those who do not revel in the grand scale of minuta.  

Knowing this I was asked thrice, (yes, thrice) to give my opinion on music related topics this week.  I know you will be shocked to hear that I had quite a bit to say - being the humble quiet type that I am.

First Chris Neto of AV Shout asked me to comment on the Music I bring to secretly test out finished home theater installs when left all alone. Not the ‘best disc’ to verify nor the penultimate SACD from Home Theater magazines hot 100 and especially not the disc or content provided by the manufacturer.   You can read my light commentary here.  

Next the fine folks At AV Nation had me on AV Week Episode 61 and I somehow pontificated on relativity of musical references with the Backyardigans and my kids as exhibit A.

Today I recieved a private message from a long time friend asking me if I let  Rooster and Gonzo -(my nicknames for the boys) listen to all the music I have (or forced them to listen to my collection of 1950’s Hawaiian inspired 78’s).   While the the boys do not have their own MP3 players yet they do have Nintendo DS units which happily play files from an SD card.  So to alleviate my friends concern below is the latest playlist the boys have.  It may not be everyone's cup o’ tea but they helped pick out the songs and happily spend time listening, just listening - remember when you did not do a thousand other things while the music was playing?

• Bad Romance - Lady Gaga 


• Break your heart - Taio Cruz 


• Burning Up- Jonas Brothers 


• Can’t Take another Day - Dennis Brown 


• Dog Days are over - Florence and the Machine


• Dream within a Dream - Propaganda 


• Fire Burning - Sean Kingston 


• Lonely Boy - The Black Keys 


• The News - Carbon Silicon 


• The Addiction - Alkaline Trio


• Tubthumping - Chumbawamba 


• Waiting room - Fugazi 


• We Are Young - Fun 


• Bull in the Heather - Sonic Youth 


• Cannonball - The Breeders 


• Forget You - Cee Lo Green 


• Hold On - Jonas Brothers 


• I Gotta a feeling - Kidz Bop Kids 


• Life in a Northern Town 


• Pumped up kicks - Foster the people 


• Ready to start - Arcade Fire 


• Rudie Can’t Fail - The Clash 


• Space Age Love Song - Flock of Seagulls 


• The Cave - Mumford and Son 


• This Charming man - The Smiths 


• In a Big Country - Big Country 


• People Everyday - Arrested Development 


• Ray of Light - Madonna 


• Still haven’t found - U2 


• Under Pressure - David Bowie and Queen 


• Zombie - The Cranberries 


• 1979 - Smashing Pumpkins 


• Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz 


• Empire State of Mind - Jay Z 


• Kids - MGMT


• Knocks you down - Kidz Bop 


• Girls & Boys (pet shop boys) - Blur


• Nothingman - Pearl Jam


• Say Something - James 


• Battlefield - Kidz Bop 


• Mercy - Duffy 


• Re-Ignition - Bad Brains 


• Sometime around Midnight - Airborne Toxic Event


• Summer of 79 - The Ataris 


• King of Fools - Social Distortion 


• Mysterious Ways - Snow Patrol 


• There She Goes - Chris Isaak 


• It is Love - TRex


• Pudding Time - Primus 


• Purple Rain- Prince 


• Try to throw your arms around the world - The Fray


• A little respect - erasure 


• Biko - Peter Gabriel 


• When I come around - Green Day 


• Boombastic - Shaggy


• El matador - Los Fabulosos Cadillacs


• My Little Underground - the Jesus and Mary Chain 


• Paper Planes - M.I.A


• In the Midnight Hour - the commitments 


• As Long as I’m singing - the Brian Setzer Orchestra 


• My Favorite Revolution - Eugene Edwards 


• Shoplifters of the World - The Smiths 


• Tusk - Fleetwood Mac


• 7 - Prince 


• Red Ballons - Nena 


• At last - Etta James 


• Blues for Dixie - The Brain Cloud 


• British Sea Power - 


• Ghost Town - the specials 


• Here Comes Your Man - The Pixies 


• Lazy Eye Silversum pickup 


• Strange Condition - Pete Yorn 


• Waitress in the Sky - the replacements 


• Creep - Radiohead


• Pressure drop - The specials 


• Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash


• Sister Christian - Night Ranger 


• So Long, Farewell - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy 


• Spoonful - Etta James 

 

I will wait a year or two before introducing them to Diamanda Galas, Rasputina or Lauire Anderson .  I do have high hopes as this is one of their favorite vidoes 

                     

Their Faces Haunt Me, Even Now

*This is a repost from an earlier blog on Tumblr (which is now defunct). The original post was made circa 2008-ish). 

I wrote this brief first person a year ago for a friend who asked on his blog if anyone in the AV industry would be willing to share their experience of September 11th.  My story is not that of those far, far braver than me who were trying to escape the buildings, and it is irrelevant compared to those who charged into the buildings attempting to save others.  It is quite like the thousands who experienced the day firsthand and offer it up only as one record of a moment that is still not settled in my head. 

 While my story is not about escaping from the burning buildings, I was there on that fateful day; more precisely, I was about 20 blocks away.

The company I worked for then and ten years later worked for again installed and had service contracts on the multimedia components for the Museum of Jewish Heritage, the National Museum of the American Indian, and several offices in and around the WTC.  

On September 11th, I was walking down the West Side Highway, making my way to MJH, when the
first plane struck.  I did not see nor hear the plan roar in as I was, in a youthful bout of folly, listening to my music at an obscene level (wearing a pair of Sony MDR headphones, which I still own). 

Just before the impact, I received a pager message asking me to go to an installation job at the Guggenheim first.  I was pissed as this was on the east side and uptown- completely in the opposite direction. I cranked up my music louder and turned my heel to find the nearest subway station.  By my reckoning, I entered the Houston subway at about 8:35.

As I exited the subway at 85th and Lexington, I turned on my radio to listen to WNYC’s morning
edition in time to catch a report that a ‘small aircraft, possibly a helicopter, had crashed into the North Tower.  My first thoughts were of the B-25 bomber that crashed into the Empire State Building in
late 1945.  But that was a cloudy day with low ceilings; this was a clear, bright blue day- odd.  The news went on, and I went into the Guggenheim. 

We were finishing up some project rooms on the lower level when we heard a scream from a meeting room just down the hall. This was no ordinary scream - someone was hurt.  We ran down the hall to find a great deal of commotion, and on the room's large screen TV, the South Tower was also now on fire and visibly swaying.  A second plane just hit, someone told me. I don’t remember sitting down.

As we sat and watched the live feed, the news was reporting three, four, or more planes possibly being hijacked as flight control reported that their transponders were off.  No one knew yet if this was just an attack on NYC or if other cities were to be attacked, but we did know that the subways were stopped and Grand Central had gone into lockdown. Unsure of where the next strike would happen and what famous building would be struck, we decided to leave.  We got outside just in time for my radio to crackle to life with high-pitched voices describing the fall of Tower 1 - which we could see clearly from the front of the museum. 

I could describe the horror. The shock- but what I remember the most is the near-heavy quietness
that overtook the city.  The scream of sirens that seemed ceaseless and the roar of fighter jets flying crossing patterns over the island broke initially but eventually became swallowed up in the quiet shock.  

All of the above does not consume me - it plays out like a TV show in my head, nothing more. What still haunts me are the posters and fliers of the ‘missing’ that were everywhere almost overnight.  Thousands of faces looking back atop and surrounded by desperate pleas to call if someone found them (hopefully in a hospital bed with no ID).

About a week and a half after the event, I was asked if I would be comfortable heading down to ground zero to diagnose, set schedules, and prepare the museums - especially the Museum of Jewish Heritage - for re-opening.   Nothing could have prepared me for the devastation, the still smoldering steel, and the smell.  

The smell of concrete, dust, and charred flesh. The latter hung in the air like a sheer curtain and lodged itself in your nostrils.  The walkways were lined with plywood boards filled with photos of the missing, notes of love and grief, stuffed animals, flowers, and lockets.  It still causes me to stream tears when I think of it, even now. The sense of loss is too great to ever diminish completely. 

My Strongest memory is of walking into Grand Central two weeks after the event and making my way to the missing person's boards around the facility (something, it seems, that everyone did even though the pictures never changed). The quiet urgency that seemed to
become our new normal was broken by a cry that expressed pain, surprise, and something
completely unanticipated, joy.  

As if one, we gathered around the board, moving in almost instinctively.  Grim faces turned and contorted in ways many thought would not be possible again. I saw on the faces of those around me the same quivering lips and streaming tears as on my face, along with the biggest grins.  To this day, this moment, the memory makes me weep openly and smile - to have seen that missing post plastered with large red letters scrawled across - FOUND!  Thank You, NY!

I have never hugged so many strangers before or since.  It was a turning point. She was ALIVE! FOUND and in the company of those who loved her. To me, then and now, it meant hope was still possible.

Intruder Alert Part 1 - Stop Motion Attempt No. 1

 

Rooster and Gonzo's first collaborative Lego stop motion. 
They boys helped write the script, move the set pieces and edit (a bit).. 

It only gets bigger from here. 

Sets built in 10min
Photos took 25min
editing 15min 
 
As a first attempt we are happy with it.   Next time painted backgrounds, a day dedicated to getting the right number of shots and some time in Photoshop to get blaster effects.

 We used a Nikon D90 and Pinnacle 12 editor (got it free with a capture card years ago).  

 

 

                             

A Community By Any Other Hashtag

Article reprinted with permission from AV Shout

What makes a community?

“What’s in a name that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet”
Romeo and Juliet – The Bard

If you recall your Shakespeare the quote above is spoken by Juliet upon finding that her true love is from the Montague’s, the one family she as a Capulet  is sworn to destroy. The full scene is a meditation on the uselessness of judging by labels – love is where you find it.

Is our community by any other name the same but different?  In the past few days there has been a call to move a good deal of industry-centric Twitter posts from the grouping #avtweeps to #proav by a few industry publications.  I found this intriguing, the call for an additional industry hashtag is a good sign of growing involvement on the social platform.  What piqued my interest more was the request to use the new #ProAV in  place of and excluding the existing #avtweeps.  I was further moved into beard stroking ponderance when several folks Direct Messaged me on Twitter curious if I knew who the catalysts were and why they seemed to be so disparaging of the group.

What is in a name?
The group AVTweeps, a derivation of the slang Peeps for friends and a playful nod to the twitter lingo of Tweet for a message, was established by AV integrators looking for a way to group their conversations in and about the industry in one common place about four years ago. It has grown to be the single largest collective of AV related folks on Twitter.  The group did debate other hastag names such as #hometheater, #avpros  #AVcontrol and the like but it was decided that the names were too limiting and did not express the wide scope of work we do.  We also investigated using #AV and #AVPro but these were already in use by the Adult Video folks- otherwise known as the *Porn* industry.   While we know full well that many of the systems we install are used for viewing such or are installed in the producers of such material -the association seemed a bit too much by half.

I like the #ProAV hastag but like stated above I have avoided it as it seemed a bit too exclusive. In way of demonstrating what I mean by this let me describe how I define Pro AV.  I have been lucky enough to have had careers in Recording Engineering, (back when it was a studio not a high end ‘project studio’), Broadcast and Live Event Staging.  Nearly all of these folks, from the camera operators, lighting techs/ designers, FOH audio and associated crew would not view what integrators install as Pro gear or a Pro Audio industry.  No question integrators are considered professionals in a related Audio Visual industry but the definition of pro is of a different order.  I have -to be clear- met few, if any really, Pro AV folks who disparage the integrator market beyond the use of the moniker.

Exclusivity
Being Exclusive does has its benefits in some cases -I agree. When one wants to reach a narrow audience on specific topics like #tonys or #altmusic avoiding a broader audience provides a very focused conversation.  Speaking of the Alt designator, some you older set reading this will recall that early Usnet Newsgroups used the alt prefix to narrow down topic specificity. Usnets were a pre World Wide Web internet discussion system and were the precursor to chat boards and forums. The Alt(dot) hierarchy though less organized was helpful as the main groups could become unwieldy when searching for say, a specific play. Rather than go to the humanities.plays one could subscribe to the Alt.Plays.shakespeare. Very handy indeed. Today this methodology is still very useful for Brands looking to reach potential clients; rather than cast a wide net they use carefully selected keywords to show up in searches and twitter communities.

This is what I thought was going on with the desire to separate from the larger group of AV professionals into one that focused on the Live Event and Broadcast industry.   Yet, this does not seem to be the case.  In fact many of the leading posts are from publications which are not technically in the Pro AV market (at least by the definition I gave previously).

So I ask here
I posed this question to the folks who voiced the desire to separate into their own state why such a move would be warranted.  Was it that the uninitiated had a hard time finding the group? A single day following a manufacturer would  have exposed them to the tag.

Was saving three letters really that urgent a need?

I am sure there is a good answer and being a devotee of all things AV and Social I was curious why the sociological rift.   As you are reading this here I am sure you know the response I received – Crickets.

So I ask here:  Why the desire to create a chasm?  Is there an untoward association #avtweeps has or is it a desire to distinguish a presence in a different space.

All the above are legitimate reasons and I curry no favor other than I have ‘lived’ in the tweeps column on my tweetdeck since its inception.  Heck I think the #proav hastag has some great potential, but I do not go rushing toward new shiny baubles just because they are reflecting the sunlight particularly nicely at a specific hour.  If I did I would be living in a Park Avenue apartment because of the way the light looks on Manhattanhenge, (still a valid reason to do so, as long as one is aware of what the other 362 days look like).

Why this post is here
This is why I have posted this on Chris Neto’s AV Shout platform, to speak from a neutral territory.  Here no one need be concerned about driving traffic to a ‘competitors’ site by commenting.

So tell me I am screwy for laboring over this, Tell my to *expletive deleted* off and mind my own business but tell me how a name does not smell as sweet.

- Tucker

When asked to recap his career and life Tucker responded “Me? I am just a figment of your collective imagination and let me tell you that living this life has taught me one thing- you people are twisted Mofos”

 

John Frum Syndrome

This article was originally posted on rAVE July 9th, 2012

I am a simple man, really; I like my coffee sans sugar and my whiskey straight up. As a general rule I avoid writing on -very- recent current events or product reviews simply because this is generally well covered by the real journos who get paid to perform autopsies. I also get my opportunity to comment on this sort of thing often enough on the AV Week Podcasts.

Even so there are a few subjects for which I am passionate enough about to come out of my shell and shout out about from the rooftops. One of these subjects is the litigious enforcement of an outdated business model or technology. From integrators who still decry the the loss of a single profit source model (flat panel installations anyone? Really?) to box electronics stores and the deplorable act of physical media companies desperately forcing the use of outdated and unwanted formats.

Let us face the facts folks, the days of physical media are over - and unlike the Mark Twain remark - the rumors of its death are not exaggerated, not even slightly. I am of the age demographic that is, according to the research organizations, supposed to be vehemently resistant to digital music formats. While I do still have a rather large collection of vinyl and CDs, (over 1,800 according to my spreadsheet log), I cannot honestly say I have played any in over five years, let alone purchased one. Have you?

I began to think about this around ‘National Record Store Day’ in April. I must admit that I do have a soft spot in my heart for the feel of a record in my hands and the warm hiss of needle in groove. The coverage of the day in magazines like the Big TakeOver, Pitchfork and Alternative Press did indeed make me wistful for the days when I had the time to spend several hours a week in a such stores. The experience, of being on the floor of a record shop with the smell of unfinished wood bins and slightly musty cardboard while enveloped in the sound of the store clerk’s selection, is akin to the romance of used book stores or the stacks at New York Library. - it is impossible to replicate in the digital music arena (not even in Second Life). Despite the many attempts to socialize the process online, the physical act of purchasing music in a communal space and the emotional attachment it conveys cannot be matched.

The success and joy that National Record Store Day generates does so despite the mad dog foaming at the mouth antics of the RIAA and labels. Perhaps this is because we often take musicians as our personal thematic avatars whose songs take on more personal meaning - the soundtrack of our lives. Yet, most of us desire, nay DEMAND, that the content be available in the digital dominion, free of physical restrictions. We all know the major labels have continued to spin themselves into a tizzy about the lack of distribution control and fought hard alongside the RIAA and ASCAP to prevent the inevitable from happening. What I discovered during the recording of AV NationTV’s ‘The DIY show Episode 8 is that the indie, self publishing and alternative music community is divided on the issue as well. The main argument against is that the sound of MP3 sucks and will always suck, but more importantly that digital brings the profit margin to one-tenth of what it used to be - even for the regional labels.

I see the validity of the argument, but even more clearly see that at this point, the fight is merely a philosophical one where windmills are fought and honor is established. Victory will not come for those who would decry or disavow the on demand revolution - but acceptance will not come easy.

It is the John Frum Syndrome which is, as I define it, a near ritualistic desire to bring back the near effortless rolls of profit by simply willing it.

The religion of John Frum is defined as a ‘Cargo Cult’ in anthropological circles - it has many similarities to the modern mystic making of the Rastafarians (who believe that the late Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia was God incarnate). The main preoccupation of the cargo cult devotees is in preparing for the arrival of material goods as gifts from the gods via cargo planes. The religious sect builds elaborate mock airports by clearing swaths of jungle for runways complete with mock air traffic towers and deplaning terminals out of wood and thatch. It is thought that the cult originated late in World War II when Allied forces, specifically American, swarmed into pacific island chains while pushing toward Japan. These forces stepped onto islands where the native inhabitants had never seen another type of person let alone the great cornucopia of material goods the Cargo planes brought in. To these isolated folks the goods appeared to just come out of the aether. John Frum is thought to be a derivation of ‘John From America...’ such as a pilot introducing himself to a local chieftain while his plane is unloaded.

The religion still exists with the congregations acting out ritualistic military parades and maintaining the landing sites in hopes of having the gods grace upon them the riches their devotion and keeping of the tenets has earned.

In both cases, the cults of John Frum and the physical medium could have been excused in the past when the ability to know better was more difficult. This cannot be said today.

John Frum Syndrome

This article was originally posted on rAVE July 9th, 2012 

 

I am a simple man, really; I like my coffee sans sugar and my whiskey straight up.  As a general rule I avoid writing on -very- recent current events or product reviews simply because this is generally well covered by the real journos who get paid to perform autopsies.  I also get my opportunity to comment on this sort of thing often enough on the AV Week Podcasts.  

Even so there are a few subjects for which I am passionate enough about to come out of my shell and shout out about from the rooftops.  One of these subjects is the litigious enforcement of an outdated business model or technology.  From integrators who still decry the the loss of a single profit source model (flat panel installations anyone? Really?) to box electronics stores and the deplorable act of physical media companies desperately forcing the use of  outdated and unwanted formats. 

Let us face the facts folks, the days of physical media are over - and unlike the Mark Twain remark - the rumors of its death are not exaggerated, not even slightly.  I am of the age demographic that is, according to the research organizations, supposed to be vehemently resistant to digital music formats. While I do still have a rather large collection of vinyl and CDs, (over 1,800 according to my spreadsheet log), I cannot honestly say I have played any in over five years, let alone purchased one.  Have you? 

I began to think about this around ‘National Record Store Day’ in April. I must admit that  I do have a soft spot in my heart for the feel of a record in my hands and the warm hiss of needle in groove. The coverage of the day  in magazines like the Big TakeOver, Pitchfork and Alternative Press did indeed make me wistful for the days when I had the time to spend several hours a week in a such stores. The experience, of being on the floor of a record shop with the smell of unfinished wood bins and slightly musty cardboard while enveloped in the sound of  the store clerk’s selection, is akin to the romance of used book stores or the stacks at New York Library. - it is impossible to replicate in the digital music arena (not even in Second Life). Despite the many attempts to socialize the process online, the physical act of purchasing music in a communal space and the emotional attachment it conveys cannot be matched. 

The success and joy that National Record Store Day generates does so despite the mad dog foaming at the mouth antics of the RIAA and labels. Perhaps this is because we often take musicians as our personal thematic avatars whose songs take on more personal meaning - the soundtrack of our lives. Yet, most of us desire, nay DEMAND, that the content be available in the digital dominion, free of physical restrictions.  We all know the major labels have continued to spin themselves into a tizzy about the lack of distribution control and fought hard alongside the RIAA and ASCAP to prevent the inevitable from happening.  What I discovered during the recording of AV NationTV’s  ‘The DIY show Episode 8 is that the indie, self publishing and alternative music community is divided on the issue as well.  The main argument against is that the sound of MP3 sucks and will always suck, but more importantly that digital brings the profit margin to one-tenth of what it used to be - even for the regional labels.  

I see the validity of the argument, but even more clearly see that at this point, the fight is merely a philosophical one where windmills are fought and honor is established. Victory will not come for those who would decry or disavow the on demand revolution - but acceptance will not come easy. 

It is the John Frum Syndrome which is, as I define it, a near ritualistic desire to bring back the near effortless rolls of profit by simply willing it. 

The religion of John Frum is defined as a ‘Cargo Cult’ in anthropological circles - it has many similarities to the modern mystic making of the Rastafarians (who believe that the late Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia was God incarnate). The main preoccupation of the cargo cult devotees is in preparing for the arrival of material goods as gifts from the gods via cargo planes. The religious sect builds elaborate mock airports by clearing swaths of  jungle for runways complete with mock air traffic towers and deplaning terminals out of wood and thatch.  It is thought that the cult originated late in World War II when Allied forces, specifically American, swarmed into pacific island chains while pushing toward Japan. These forces stepped onto islands where the native inhabitants had never seen another type of person let alone the great cornucopia of material goods the Cargo planes brought in. To these isolated folks the goods appeared to just come out of the aether.  John Frum is thought to be a derivation of ‘John From America...’ such as a pilot introducing himself to a local chieftain while his plane is unloaded.   

The religion still exists with the congregations acting out ritualistic military parades and maintaining the landing sites in hopes of having the gods grace upon them the riches their devotion and keeping of the tenets has earned. 

In both cases, the cults of John Frum and the physical medium could have been excused in the past when the ability to know better was more difficult. This cannot be said today. 

 

Fear, Loathing and Peanuts

Today my youngest goes in for allergy testing - While all of the Blood tests show this should go fine it is nerve racking.

As you may know my oldest has a severe allergy to peanuts (and most likely to all nuts). The youngest had failed the scratch test a year ago and given the severity of his brothers reaction we were advised to treat him as if he was anaphylactic as well. A couple of months ago he passed the scratch and blood tests -(as negative for the protein antibodies).

We Carry four of these at all times

Today we go to the hospital with the Allergist for what is called a food Challenge. Most folks first reaction when I mention this is "he is a competitive eater?" I many ways yes.

The Challenge is to have my son eat peanut butter products and see what happens. Everyone is nervous - so much so that we have a team to be at the ready to treat him with epinephrine IV and more Epi pens and who knows what else.

To be honest I am confident in the tests but the slight chance that this test could do harm, however temporary, has my stomach in knots. My son is outwardly excited - he always like trying new food- and hopefully he will not get the willies at being asked to eat something he as been warned, trained not to go near while surrounded by medical people.

Wish us luck!

*Update*

Gonzo, my name for my youngest, passed with flying colors.  He even had his very first Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich..... !  

 That PB&J Sandwich did not stand a chance

We started with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup but he said that they tasted sour, he toatally dug the Mr GoodBar and the doctor gave him enough of the candy to have him ingest 10 peanuts in three and four nut servings over three sittings.  Each time we watched him for five minutes then sat in the waiting room for 15.   Finally he was given a full PB&J -  Good Grief !  after one bite he consumed the entire sandwich in about a min, licking his lips and vibrating with joy.  

On the way home he connected the dots, twice.  Once to declare that he could now eat Magnoalia Bakery cupcakes - where mom works. The Second was the equivilant of survivors guilt - he stated that he wished he was allergic so he could eat normal food like his brother. 

It is going to be an interesting few weeks. 

 

 

Social Circle Pictograph

Some Messing around with ways to promote Social community building. 

 

Version One Below: 

 

 

 

Infocomm 12 - Rock Soup

Pardon the Bold format here folks... The post was written in MS Word when I did not have access to my online tools *sigh* .  For some reason the MS formatting is being read as bold and is STICKY as hell. 

Infocomm has wrapped up and if my facebook feed is to be believed even the largest booths have been packed away in crates and are well on the way home. The pictures of tired but obviously satisfied faces with a drink in hand tell you all you need to know.  This show went without a hitch and 34,268 -up 4%!-  found good food, lodging and business deals.

Now, thousands of products were exhibited on the show floor - .  You can find reports on nearly every one in nauseating detail from great industry news outlets like System Contractor, PLSN and many, many others.  rAVe Pubs also did a fine job video documenting nearly every booth on the floor and have them posted in a handy, searchable site.  

To save you time I am going to boil down the main elements for you in seven points

What was Infocomm 2012 all about?  

1). Simplification

 You have heard of multiplication or perhaps even anticipation (it’s making me waa -a-a-it) but Infocomm this year was all about making things “Simpler”, “Easy”, “little ramp up time to operation” and “With in House staff in mind”. These common catch phrases spun as revelatory exclamations seem to show that manufacturers and developers finally understand that interface matters.

There is a darker side to all this happy ‘we get you’ preoccupation with making set up, controls and configuration as easy as a three fingered salute.  I have to ask at what the root catalyst for this sudden interest in implementing the Wizards cry to Dorothy “Pay no attention to that man behind the screen!”.  Are we giving up on the need for basic understanding of the physics and simple mechanics because they are no longer needed for standard operation or because we can no longer find the  personnel  who can or are willing to dig deep?

Certainly the industry is ch-ch- changing but is it for the right reason?  We have a serious youth deficit in this industry, doubly so for the Event Staging world, is this the way to get them into the fold, by bypassing all the hard knowledge stuff ?

2. iPad

Apps  are still everywhere but no one is hysterically shouting about them from booth rigging. Yes they are a good thing. Yes they make things more flexible and, well let's admit it, sexy. Thankfully they appear to have become standard accessories not above or beyond actual equipment.

3. Speaking of hysterical nonsense

 Thank <enter deity name of choice here, or null> -  that 3D is only a footnoted specification now.  Last year in Orlando attempting to avoid the clamour of 3D from any booth was akin to trying to enter a vegas hotel without having to claw your way through the forest of slot machines, blue smoke one could cut with a bowie knife and over eager cocktail waitresses.  If you read my Twitter rants or listen to the AV NationTV podcasts with any regularity -you know just how enamoured with 3D I am.  Oh Muybridge! Up Yours (with apologies to Polystyrene)

4). HD over Structured Wiring

 AV over “Cat 5” was everywhere - or should I say HDBaseT was ubiquitous under various and sundry names throughout the show floor.  For Installations folks the era of UTP / STP as THE wire for everything is now nearly at hand. Another shake up in the wire biz is due soon as fewer and fewer cable types are used.  I wonder what pseudoscience babble Monster Cable will start using to market theirs.

5). IATSE Booth

Before anyone starts with me, I love the folks involved with IATSE- some of my best friends are IATSE members. Yet the large set aside space with a stage and chairs never seemed to have any activity in it. Perhaps I was on a  different schedule or something happened while I was recording AV Social or the Live Life. I spent a good deal of time in the ‘Lighting and Staging’ section and never saw anything beyond a few folks eating.

The eerie atmosphere reminded me of the a scene in the book  Travels with Charley  by John Steinbeck. The book is part travel journal, part memoir and part  literary extension of   Kerouac’s  On The Road, it is the story of his travels across the United States with his dog Charley. Steinbeck wrote the book while living in Sag Harbor Long Island, (My Home Town!) which is also where he wrote the Winter of Our Discontent - but that is another tale altogether. Early on in the book, while he is traveling through deep Vermont Steinbeck comes upon a fully lit and operating roadside cafe but it is empty of people. After waiting for half an hour he decides to get behind the counter and cook his own breakfast which he eat and cleans up after.  With still no one showing he leaves money for  his meal and moves on.   

I really wanted to have some folks on the Live Life podcast but since I could not find anyone in the “booth” the opportunity was lost.  If anyone from the organization is reading this, we would love to have you on a future show!

6). AV NationTV

Rocked with our first Live broadcasts of  The Daily Rave, AV Week, AV Social and The Live Life.  Our Broadcast table, in the front of the rAVe booth drew crowds of regular listeners and many new ones. We had a fantastic time chatting with integrators, press, Infocomm staff  and lots and lots of exhibitors.  When the recorded versions of the shows post I will update here with links.   

7). Finally

Speaking of AV NationTV, we want you for the AV Nation Army- Join us by suggesting topics, guests or even joining us on air as a panelist. We started the network but it is for and about our industry - it can only grow when we work together.

All in all it was a great show. I am unclear if anything really new came out of this show but I found it informative and a great networking opportunity. In the last hours of the exhibit I kept thinking about the story of Rock soup. It may not have started out as much but it was damn tasty in the end with all the help.   Hope to see you all in Orlando next year!

 

 

… and now a word about my hotel room.

After  a day of looking over the finest audio visual gear our industry can provide all racked and wired to in an immaculate manner, it is even more apparent how poorly wired my hotel room is.

I do not want to sound petty here, the room is paid for by my employer and I am grateful for the opportunity to attend and find grab hands on the products I need – and may not have known I needed-  to solve existing and future projects.   It is a room and a fairly well-appointed one at that.

Yet… why would you have an AC outlet like this in the room?

Why would you allow the flat panel monitor feed to mounted like this?
And what is with the Knotted Ethernet cable – That just has to hurt. 

Or leave proof of a mistaken mounting 

 

 

Even my ironing board looks like a second stringer.

 

Now before folks think I am actually staying at the local by the hour dive in the naked city know that the Westin Folks are very accommodating and friendly.   I also really like that this hotel has the single smallest casino floor in Las Vegas – it actually may be smaller than the ones in Punta Cana resorts.   No having to run the gauntlet of slot machines, blue smoke of cigarettes and over eager cocktail waitresses.  It is soothingly quaint and un- Vegas like.   

 

 

 

 Although my much ballyhoooed "City View" upgrade looks much  better at night when the dazziling lights in the background obscure the foreground. 

Another positive is that the monorail station is right across the street -  love the monorail ( a great deal for getting around the main strip and to and from the convention center). Still,  I just feel like I am staying in a local AV installer’s spare room where all of the unfinished project are stored.

 

Update:  June 20, 2012

A few days ago the Westin sent me a survey to complete.  I dutifully filled out the agree, disagree, strongly disagree radio button selections and when asked filled out the text boxes to explain in more detail I let it all hang out and even provided a link to this post for clearer explanation and photographic evidence.   To reiterate - the hotel was nice and the staff super helpful, I just took issue with the half done appearance of the room. 

I am happy to report that I received an email in response- yes an actual email not a form letter. 

Dear Mr. Tucker,

Thank you for choosing the Westin Las Vegas Hotel, Casino & Spa for your recent visit to Las Vegas. We received your opinions on our Satisfaction Survey regarding your latest experience with us. Your recent feedback certainly assists us with our continuous efforts as our team strives to offer exceptional service and amenities to our guests.

I have reviewed the comments you posted, along with the photos. They have been forwarded on to my General Manager and Director of Engineering. I am pleased to announce the Hotel is currently undergoing a much needed, major renovation project, where our rooms and the amenities offered around the property are being upgraded and refreshed. We are also having the entire property updated with the latest in wireless technology. Please rest assured your concerns have been addressed and will not be reoccurring incidents in the future.

In spite of our best efforts we do occasionally make mistakes and for this we truly apologize. We hope that you will allow us an opportunity in the future to change your outlook of our property by visiting us during your future trips to Las Vegas. Please feel free to contact me directly should you have any further thoughts or concerns.

Evolve and Inspire,

Amanda Rodriguez
Guest Experience Team Leader

Working in Social as I do this was a great response!  It is also good to know that the Westin does not see itself as just a Motel 6 gussied up in a ball gown for the evening. Thank you for letting me (and my readers) know that you listen and do care.  Would I recommend the hotel to others?  Perhaps, it does have one thing the other mega monstrosities do not - a lobby casino that does not assault you with a cacophony of ringing, dinging, bleeping slot machines. This is a major plus in my book any day. 

 

Salvation From My Own Stupidity

And on the second day of the show new discoveries were made.   Indeed yesterday was a day of finds at Infocomm 12  -Here are just a few:

• My Android calendar does not seem willing to update my appointments to local time, although the reminder notifications do.  I found this out the hard way by getting my sorry sleep deprived buttocks out of bed and down to the show floor at 7:30 am to attend a booth tour that was actually scheduled for 10:30am, with the WorldStage crew.  This led me to discovery number 2


• Infocomm 12 has a North Hall.   Yeah, shocking right? I, of course knew that the show was spread over two halls – at least somewhere in my hazy head the information was there but dammed if my little grey cells were going to give this tidbit of knowledge without a fight at 7:15am.  I wandered around the central hall for about 10 min in what I presumed to be the ‘projection ‘ area  until my ID finally came on line and demanded to know what the actual booth number I should be making my way to
  
   
  

Unlike the rest of the manufactures Projection exhibitors are NOT grouped into one area of the show floor.  In point of fact a great many of them are completely across the main lobby – so any inclination of just following your nose whilst walking the floor should be thrown right out the door

 

The Infocomm show app is the best product of the entire show, hands down.  I downloaded the app a few days prior to arriving in Lost Wages but had not made much time to investigate its features.  It is a god send, literally the  Deus ex machina  that makes the entire show truly accessible.  The response I had to finally opening it was nearly the same epiphany that occurred when I switched from Twitter’s web based client to Tweet Dyck – FINALLY it made sense and became infinitely more useful.    The App lets you search for manufactures booth gives updates on events and news as well as a My Location feature that shows you how to get from point A to point B.  Brilliant!

 

 

 

 

Of Personal Seizures and Mispronunciations

 

The Live Life show went broadcast its very first live stream yesterday afternoon and it was a hoot.  I am still new to the webcasting, hosting thing and have begun to feel a bit more comfortable with recoding the show over Skype from my room, alone.  I thought that I had really overcome my butterfly moments with ‘talking in public but goin’ live is a whole other beast. 

Normally the podcast has a very specific theme or topic – media servers, rigging, etc- and I usually have days if not a week to come up to speed on a topic. Or at least to know enough to ask the dumb questions but the theme of Infocomm is, well Infocomm.  We had decided early on to make the theme of the show the exhibitors and specifically those who relate to the event staging industry.   While we reached out to a number of folks who had previously been on episodes of ‘The Live Life’ we also wanted to find other booths which related to the industry but may not get the press of adjoining 300Lb gorillas.  This required some serious foot work and scheduling and to make it even more fun the way the show is set up limits just who and what is defined as ‘staging related’  and contained within the grey rugs.  Some like Chvet Lighting  were there as to be expected but Speaker Arrays and professional audio desks are over in the red carpet and projection and media servers  require hiking boots and some water bottles to get to. 

This became the overriding theme of the show as it turns out.  Midori Connely of Pulse Staging is on the cusp of being elected to head the committee on the Lighting and Staging portion of the show and discussed some initiatives she would like to implement immediately. 

In keeping with the desire to get some unsung but essential voices on the show we had the good fortune to have about 15 exhibitors spend some time with us, discuss their offerings and chat about the larger effect their services and products have in the everyday success of shows.

This is also where my penchant for massacring names amused and confused my co-hosts and panelist alike.  *sigh* I am terrible with names and unless I have time to spell them out phonetically it can be a truly horrific, and funny , car wreck to witness.   It also appears that in my attempt to wave over people and say hello to associates, former co-workers and friends while not interrupting the show flow made some of the panelist think I was experiencing small seizures.  I am thinking that we can make this a show at  the Westin Las Vegas – maybe we can open for the Red Skelton homage  that plays there now.  

 

 

Moses and Hannibal walk into a Bar

“I love it when a plan comes together” -  John  “Hannibal” Smith, A-Team.

You know how it is, despite your best efforts to pour over the show floor maps and make your tradeshow travels as efficient as possible, Day one always forces a change in plans and to paths less traveled. 

Yesterday was indeed the social show and thankfully I am not a germaphobe  or I would still be scrubbing my hands with brillo pads as I felt my walk about the show floor was one long hockey handshake.  Everyone – from attendees to exhibitors wanted to chat but not necessarily about the products.  Indeed there was the eventual emergence of the sales personality from deep within the tormented psyche of the booth staff but this was a gradual process, no Jekyll and Hyde here.

Could this be a macro influence of social media?  One would like to think that all of the talking head chatter about engagement,  outreach and natural voices has finally changed  the perception of what it means to ‘act professional’

Part of this may be due in some small part to the methods and reporting of the rAVe Pubs folks whose diligent efforts cover and record every single booth at the show. Part of the pressure is off, PR folks can use videos as reference and focus on delivering the message, not creating every part of it.  Booth staff can focus on building relationships with clients, not hammer us over the head like simple customers.

Within this happy din AV Social broadcast a live stream of the show  (Episode 6! Whoa)  out in the middle of the main lobby on Wednesday –( a recording of the show will be posted to the rAVe AV Nation site shortly) – this was social as social does.  The experience was both invigorating and daunting all at the same moment.  Normally we record the AV Nation shows from the comfort of our respective offices or homes via a Skype connection.   While our regular shows have a feeling of comfort and coziness – this was a whole new ballgame.   The cast was up on a small dais as attendees passed by or stopped to listen for a bit or ask a question.  Nearly all of us, cast and guest panelists alike constantly caught the eye of associates, co-workers, friends and a few family members.  We were finally not just talking to you but with you.  Freaking  awesome.

The Women in AV hosted a very fun Tweetup at the Los Vegas Hilton with a great turnout of folks some old friends but especially nice were all the newcomers.   To be honest I was all ready to end the evening there, head off to some room service, gentle tea and much needed sleep.  Yeah, thank Hannibal.

A few hours later I found myself, quite lucidly – no really, wandering the long freakish avenues of the Bellagio in search of food with a gang of six.  I would like to say that we rolled the wide paths of gold and faux Italian marble like hipsters on the prowl but the heavy bags of computers and show tags kyboshed any hope of that.  I was personally carrying an SLR, a great swag bag from Panasonic (pictures to be added later) , my rAVe bloggers thank you package and of course the albatross of Polyphemus  (my Dell XPS 17” laptop) around my neck.  It started out with such hope, like Moses leading his people out of Egypt, I also felt like we traveled through the desert.  The turns and twists and going up to go down had me so turned around that if not for the hysterical banter of my companions I would have sat down to bake some unleavened bread.   

Finally back at home base of my Hotel room I did take some tea and curl up under the covers with the air conditioner on full blast, the window shades open to a city scape and mountains framing it all in the background.

Oh, the gear?   Yeah, we looked at a bit of that too, we will be recording a Live stream of the Live Life today – check to hear some of the exhibitors describe this year’s offerings and some insight from our panelists.  

 

 

 

#Infocomm12, How do I love thee?

So here I find myself in the most unlikely of places - The City of Lost Wages NV.  I am here to celebrate the Audio Visual industry and to kick off AV NationTV’s coming out party.   Like my associate Matt Scott I love trade shows.  I love the dynamics, the press of bodies, equipment and the hands-on handshake experience.  

Truly this is how I view my beloved AV industry – A living breathing, evolving organism, a life that is alive! 

                     

In short I Love you AV industry,  It is a love that I never dared to seek but you found me and because of this you have become an inseperable part of me. I cannot conceive of a life, myself without you.

 

                     

How much do I love thee?  I only need to count one way – you have managed to get me to travel to Las Vegas to celebrate you.  This town, so full of fear and loathing that the air itself is dense with the machinations of greed and gluttony that it creates the impulse in me to barricade the door, drawn the blinds  and become a Howard Hughes shut in and wait out the end of times – or at least the show.  It is a city of snake oil salesmen who settled down with cement shoes.

I love thee AV Industry, so much so that I will bite my tongue and enjoy this time together much like watching “The Housewives of…” shows with my wife – it is not where we are but that we are doing it together.

 

 

 

 

BBQ as unfettered patriotism

It is Memorial Day once again - Which means that we are to be berated by editorialists and talking heads for not treating the day and this country's veterans with enough deference. The technicolor yawn of store sales, car dealership blowouts and focus on BBQ’s and beer diminish our appreciation of the brave men and women who sacrificed their lives to protect our freedoms they will shriek from every antenna tower.

While there is something to be said about the over commercialization of and the outright marketing of a date once called ‘Decoration Day’, I feel that the these uber critics may have it all wrong. If point of fact I feel that these distractions are the ultimate form of respect and praise to the service of veterans. Now before some of you get your panites in a bunch understand that I am not calling for complete disregard of the ceremonies and parades and laying of wreaths. All of those who have served should be honored - and I have proclaimed as much previously, especially when it comes to appreciating some of the overlooked hereos. ( see my post " station x...)

Yet, there is something to be said for hard won complacency of celebrating such a day with great orchestrations of distractions.  This was hit home for me while listening to a segment on NPR's Weekend Edition. In the piece a solider recounts spending a memorial day on the Afganistan / Pakistan border with an inpromptu barbecue.  The soilder descibes getting together the fixings, spices and of feeding thirty people non stop - creating a feeling of normalcy, a distance from the war and more like being home. 

In the end is this not what we truly do hope for, to find a time when we do not have to think of such things? We do strive toward a future that sees war as a distant act of antiquity.

So celebrate with bowls of pasta salad,  hamburgers and coolers full of beer ,(please make it a decent beer, none of this Coors or Budwiser nonsense, thanks), with only a passing thought of our troops.  it is what they fought for.

Image source = The Krafteredge

Alexander the Great is Pissed (Again)

Originally posted to rAVe Pubs on March 14, 2012

We humans produce a lot of information - great gobs of it.  So much information, in fact, that we have deforested large swaths of the earth to record and propagate it. We built great institutions called libraries to make these ideas available to anyone and everyone... 

Or, at least we used to.  

Forget the four horsemen of the the apocalypse, Alexander the Great is pissed and is most likely now assembling an army to retake the largest continents once again. The goal? To reestablish the most basic forms of sharing and documenting human endeavors.  

Alexander the Great, or AG to his friends, was more than a military genius, brutal warrior and the handsomest (*cough*) emperor of the known world- he also built the greatest library in human history. You may think the Library of Congress has a lot of books but they are just peanuts compared to what was stored in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.  

If you are of a certain age group, or just a science junkie you will recall walking through the great library of Alexandria as guided by Carl Sagan via the TV show ‘Cosmos’. This collection of knowledge, Sagan told us, was the greatest repository of human thought in the ancient world, and if the stories are true, is almost unmatched in our modern era. Special envoys were sent out  to any newly conquered lands to seek out all writings, screeds or documents to be brought back to the library where they were copied.  The originals were categorized and filed while the copy was sent back to continue enriching the people who created it.  With such a collection, scholars in 300 B.C. could  directly reference the original text of Elements  or the  complete writings of Homer.  Human philosophy and science flourished until, allegedly, Julius Cesar destroyed it, inadvertently, during a siege of the city. We even lost the knowledge of the ‘flush’ commodes for thousands of years.

Fast forward a handful of millennia and we can now access the Library of Alexandria times ten.  We live in a time when information on anything can be accessed from anywhere at anytime. We even have our own personal Bibliotheca’s to archive our beloved material. Yet so much of our knowledge and history are missing from the this networked repository.  

Yeah, I am looking at you technology manufactures. Just why is it so difficult to find information on products you sold only five years ago?! (Don’t even start to look for something ten years old.) Recently I was tasked with the job of putting some of our pre-owned gear up for sale on our own site. The process of collecting and organizing the gear included trying to find verifiable manufactures' specifications on the units. (Yeah, I know somewhat of an oxymoron there). 

Astonishingly I could not find this information on a good number of the manufactures' sites - not even a support documents link -  (you know, where a lot of companies just pile up scanned documents with product names buried in gobbledygook of ampersands, percentage signs and random letters - nice work unpaid intern!). This seemed to be especially true on professional/theatrical lighting sites. What gives, folks? Is it a question of not wanting the riffraff out there getting information on your products?  Fear that used gear will flood the market and dent your coming year sales?  If not - what then?  

I was forced to find information and documents on used gear sites and suspect forum threads. Not to question these forums' belief that the information is true, but it would be nice to use actual science tenets and have a way to verify the information. In addition to wasting my day, the process has me questioning the trust I can put in these companies - what else are you hiding from me? I know this sounds crazy but next thing you know you’ll start proactively start removing documents from my storage accounts.That could never happen right?

There are extremely important cultural artifacts still missing from the collective cloud from one of a kind academic thesis and pop culture philosophy to early recorded history of American music. It  is not to be suggested that the documentation of one product from a single manufacture should take precedent over the aforementioned, yet how do we know that a product - your product - will not wind up on a future remake of the BBC’s ‘The History of the World in a Hundred Objects

I have an associate who has long scanned and saved documents of any product he purchases onto the company's drives - something I smirked at with a confused bemusement. Now I know just how smart he has been and now view my past expectations with chagrin. Heck, even those in Ptolemy’s era knew that denial is not just a river in Egypt.  

And yes, I DO have that cut sheet and manual circa 1995 scanned and stored.  I will be happy to provide you with a copy, but first a question - how much cash to you have on you right now? 

 

Convenience vs Consistency In Marconi’s Magical Ether

Convenience vs Consistency In Marconi’s Magical Ether

Marconi, the fantastical genius (second in renowned and sheer infamy only to Tesla, despite Yahoo Serious's portrayal ) who brought us the ability to transmit information from one location to another without the need for miles of wire would be amazed but quite comfortable with our wireless world. After all  the first wireless phone/mediadelivery system was in use by 1922.  The tools and interfaces would no doubt astound him, yet the process and application would be as natural as reading the newspaper.  The modern 'Golden Age of Wireless'  is mother's milk to most of us - we are as afraid of its presence, with a few odd exceptions, as we are of indoor running water. So why does it so often befoul and frustrate us?

This dichotomy was brought to my attention when, in the process of teaching a class on Ethernet and Wireless essentials this past week,  I opened my #inSSIDer tool to show what our local Wi-Fi looked like.  The plan was to use the live readings as a simple example of just how interference comes about.  Well I was, admittedly, just as stunned as the class.

 

Whoa! This is what the 2.4GHz frequency range looks like in the Secaucus, NJ warehouse where I spend a good deal of my working day - a somewhat isolated space. How could the IT manager let this happen, someone wondered aloud.

I have experienced similar reactions when teaching high school students about Ethernet, specifically Wi-Fi and RF principles. I have found that even many of these Millennials were unclear on just what is going on beyond the very basic setup.  

Why would this be?

Wireless Internet Access is ubiquitous, so much so that it has become an appliance and as such is nearly invisible to most folks - until it ‘stops working’.  In other words, it is like using a telephone, you may need to know whether to dial 9 to get an outside line and the number you are calling but other than that - it just works.  Off the shelf manufactures sell us the instant gratification of ‘pushing the Little Red Button’ to set up and connect - no need to worry about what is going on behind the curtains and in fact, these boxes intimate,  it may just be dangerous to look dear Icarus.

Our own industry, one which prides itself on being the most informed on the multitude of distinct technological disciplines, is still is coming to grips with the world of Wi-Fi.  Six years ago as the install industry was still  making the hard change to Ethernet many manufactures started to introduce Wi-Fi based products. As a technical support manager  I witnessed first hand the confusion from lack of knowledge in the field and in the support room.  The initial thought and assumption was that the technology was fairly common and therefore would be in the general knowledge meme of the installers. We could not have been more wrong.  It turns out that a great majority of our clients had very little experience with wireless Internet setup, let alone Ethernet in general.  This is not a dig at the companies and individuals involved - my discussions with other offices and support personnel at other manufacturers (yes many of us chat in private forums, even with competitors -  we are professional and know where the lines are, get over it) confirmed an industry wide problem.  

As a result of this miscalculation it became common to work hour long support calls-walking an installer step by step through the basics of setting up the Wi-Fi router/ access point.  In my company a great effort was made to teach the client on the other end of the phone line just what we were doing and what each process was for - ‘...teach a man to fish...’. While this total support helped the individual, it did nothing to stem the tsunami.   The recognition that our incorrect presumptions had a detrimental effect on call times pushed us to develop an extensive training and certification program for staff and dealers. The process took about a year to show a decline in calls and service time on the basic concepts but reduce it did. Now we could deal with issues stemming from new technologies like WDS  and general RF interference which, once recognized caused apoplectic fits.   

RF and EMF interference are funny things, if you are unaware or just limited in knowledge it can be a very vexing problem. The question is just where  can you learn the essential techniques and troubleshooting without having to digest electrical engineering text books or RF circuit design manuals?  My personal path started with having the responsibility of testing wireless microphones become part of my job description. 

Unlike wireless data networks which have data detection and correction techniques built into the transmission / reception process,  audio cannot send a request for the vocals to be resent live. This means that the concepts can be learned without getting into the minutia of error checking and checksums.   Many RF mic manufactures publish pamphlets on the basics of best practices. As we gathered more and more material books and tear-sheets   I studiously and obsessively  hand copied the main points, sometimes the whole booklet, into a small sketch book. Remember this was just pre-world wide web days and portable devices were barely smaller than a breadbox. 

I have always found that just as many audio concepts can be more easily taught by first starting with real world applications of Standard POTS (Plain Old Telephone) lines so can many RF basics be explained using wireless microphones.  This may not be the exact connection you may need but it is a start. I would suggest the following primers: 

Crestron Best Practices for Installation and Setup of Crestron RF Products  (shhh, don’t tell anyone I helped write and edit this) 

Wireless Microphones and the Audio Professional

Texas Instruments has a great overview ‘deck’ entitled RF Basics, RF for Non-Engineers

Shure has some interesting documents that discuss some of the tertiary issues 

You could just trust that is will all work but then it is a question of  program or be programmed - which brings us back to the maligned IT manager we 

mentioned above. Looking at the spectrum analysis it might strike you that it  is amazing that any of the connections work at all.  The Truth is that the network administrator, like you and me, can only contain not control  the unwieldy beast of unlicensed RF. 

 

Convenience vs Consistency In Marconi’s Magical Ether

Convenience vs Consistency In Marconi’s Magical Ether

Marconi, the fantastical genius (second in renowned and sheer infamy only to Tesla, despite Yahoo Serious's portrayal ) who brought us the ability to transmit information from one location to another without the need for miles of wire would be amazed but quite comfortable with our wireless world. After all  the first wireless phone/mediadelivery system was in use by 1922.  The tools and interfaces would no doubt astound him, yet the process and application would be as natural as reading the newspaper.  The modern 'Golden Age of Wireless'  is mother's milk to most of us - we are as afraid of its presence, with a few odd exceptions, as we are of indoor running water. So why does it so often befoul and frustrate us?

This dichotomy was brought to my attention when, in the process of teaching a class on Ethernet and Wireless essentials this past week,  I opened my #inSSIDer tool to show what our local Wi-Fi looked like.  The plan was to use the live readings as a simple example of just how interference comes about.  Well I was, admittedly, just as stunned as the class.

 

Whoa! This is what the 2.4GHz frequency range looks like in the Secaucus, NJ warehouse where I spend a good deal of my working day - a somewhat isolated space. How could the IT manager let this happen, someone wondered aloud.

I have experienced similar reactions when teaching high school students about Ethernet, specifically Wi-Fi and RF principles. I have found that even many of these Millennials were unclear on just what is going on beyond the very basic setup.  

Why would this be?

Wireless Internet Access is ubiquitous, so much so that it has become an appliance and as such is nearly invisible to most folks - until it ‘stops working’.  In other words, it is like using a telephone, you may need to know whether to dial 9 to get an outside line and the number you are calling but other than that - it just works.  Off the shelf manufactures sell us the instant gratification of ‘pushing the Little Red Button’ to set up and connect - no need to worry about what is going on behind the curtains and in fact, these boxes intimate,  it may just be dangerous to look dear Icarus.

Our own industry, one which prides itself on being the most informed on the multitude of distinct technological disciplines, is still is coming to grips with the world of Wi-Fi.  Six years ago as the install industry was still  making the hard change to Ethernet many manufactures started to introduce Wi-Fi based products. As a technical support manager  I witnessed first hand the confusion from lack of knowledge in the field and in the support room.  The initial thought and assumption was that the technology was fairly common and therefore would be in the general knowledge meme of the installers. We could not have been more wrong.  It turns out that a great majority of our clients had very little experience with wireless Internet setup, let alone Ethernet in general.  This is not a dig at the companies and individuals involved - my discussions with other offices and support personnel at other manufacturers (yes many of us chat in private forums, even with competitors -  we are professional and know where the lines are, get over it) confirmed an industry wide problem.  

As a result of this miscalculation it became common to work hour long support calls-walking an installer step by step through the basics of setting up the Wi-Fi router/ access point.  In my company a great effort was made to teach the client on the other end of the phone line just what we were doing and what each process was for - ‘...teach a man to fish...’. While this total support helped the individual, it did nothing to stem the tsunami.   The recognition that our incorrect presumptions had a detrimental effect on call times pushed us to develop an extensive training and certification program for staff and dealers. The process took about a year to show a decline in calls and service time on the basic concepts but reduce it did. Now we could deal with issues stemming from new technologies like WDS  and general RF interference which, once recognized caused apoplectic fits.   

RF and EMF interference are funny things, if you are unaware or just limited in knowledge it can be a very vexing problem. The question is just where  can you learn the essential techniques and troubleshooting without having to digest electrical engineering text books or RF circuit design manuals?  My personal path started with having the responsibility of testing wireless microphones become part of my job description. 

Unlike wireless data networks which have data detection and correction techniques built into the transmission / reception process,  audio cannot send a request for the vocals to be resent live. This means that the concepts can be learned without getting into the minutia of error checking and checksums.   Many RF mic manufactures publish pamphlets on the basics of best practices. As we gathered more and more material books and tear-sheets   I studiously and obsessively  hand copied the main points, sometimes the whole booklet, into a small sketch book. Remember this was just pre-world wide web days and portable devices were barely smaller than a breadbox. 

I have always found that just as many audio concepts can be more easily taught by first starting with real world applications of Standard POTS (Plain Old Telephone) lines so can many RF basics be explained using wireless microphones.  This may not be the exact connection you may need but it is a start. I would suggest the following primers: 

Crestron Best Practices for Installation and Setup of Crestron RF Products  (shhh, don’t tell anyone I helped write and edit this) 

Wireless Microphones and the Audio Professional

Texas Instruments has a great overview ‘deck’ entitled RF Basics, RF for Non-Engineers

Shure has some interesting documents that discuss some of the tertiary issues 

You could just trust that is will all work but then it is a question of  program or be programmed - which brings us back to the maligned IT manager we 

mentioned above. Looking at the spectrum analysis it might strike you that it  is amazing that any of the connections work at all.  The Truth is that the network administrator, like you and me, can only contain not control  the unwieldy beast of unlicensed RF. 

 

 

Alexander the Great is Pissed (Again)

Originally posted to rAVe Pubs on March 14, 2012

We humans produce a lot of information - great gobs of it.  So much information, in fact, that we have deforested large swaths of the earth to record and propagate it. We built great institutions called libraries to make these ideas available to anyone and everyone... 

Or, at least we used to.  

Forget the four horsemen of the the apocalypse, Alexander the Great is pissed and is most likely now assembling an army to retake the largest continents once again. The goal? To reestablish the most basic forms of sharing and documenting human endeavors.  

Alexander the Great, or AG to his friends, was more than a military genius, brutal warrior and the handsomest (*cough*) emperor of the known world- he also built the greatest library in human history. You may think the Library of Congress has a lot of books but they are just peanuts compared to what was stored in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.  

If you are of a certain age group, or just a science junkie you will recall walking through the great library of Alexandria as guided by Carl Sagan via the TV show ‘Cosmos’. This collection of knowledge, Sagan told us, was the greatest repository of human thought in the ancient world, and if the stories are true, is almost unmatched in our modern era. Special envoys were sent out  to any newly conquered lands to seek out all writings, screeds or documents to be brought back to the library where they were copied.  The originals were categorized and filed while the copy was sent back to continue enriching the people who created it.  With such a collection, scholars in 300 B.C. could  directly reference the original text of Elements  or the  complete writings of Homer.  Human philosophy and science flourished until, allegedly, Julius Cesar destroyed it, inadvertently, during a siege of the city. We even lost the knowledge of the ‘flush’ commodes for thousands of years.

Fast forward a handful of millennia and we can now access the Library of Alexandria times ten.  We live in a time when information on anything can be accessed from anywhere at anytime. We even have our own personal Bibliotheca’s to archive our beloved material. Yet so much of our knowledge and history are missing from the this networked repository.  

Yeah, I am looking at you technology manufactures. Just why is it so difficult to find information on products you sold only five years ago?! (Don’t even start to look for something ten years old.) Recently I was tasked with the job of putting some of our pre-owned gear up for sale on our own site. The process of collecting and organizing the gear included trying to find verifiable manufactures' specifications on the units. (Yeah, I know somewhat of an oxymoron there). 

Astonishingly I could not find this information on a good number of the manufactures' sites - not even a support documents link -  (you know, where a lot of companies just pile up scanned documents with product names buried in gobbledygook of ampersands, percentage signs and random letters - nice work unpaid intern!). This seemed to be especially true on professional/theatrical lighting sites. What gives, folks? Is it a question of not wanting the riffraff out there getting information on your products?  Fear that used gear will flood the market and dent your coming year sales?  If not - what then?  

I was forced to find information and documents on used gear sites and suspect forum threads. Not to question these forums' belief that the information is true, but it would be nice to use actual science tenets and have a way to verify the information. In addition to wasting my day, the process has me questioning the trust I can put in these companies - what else are you hiding from me? I know this sounds crazy but next thing you know you’ll start proactively start removing documents from my storage accounts.That could never happen right?

There are extremely important cultural artifacts still missing from the collective cloud from one of a kind academic thesis and pop culture philosophy to early recorded history of American music. It  is not to be suggested that the documentation of one product from a single manufacture should take precedent over the aforementioned, yet how do we know that a product - your product - will not wind up on a future remake of the BBC’s ‘The History of the World in a Hundred Objects

I have an associate who has long scanned and saved documents of any product he purchases onto the company's drives - something I smirked at with a confused bemusement. Now I know just how smart he has been and now view my past expectations with chagrin. Heck, even those in Ptolemy’s era knew that denial is not just a river in Egypt.  

And yes, I DO have that cut sheet and manual circa 1995 scanned and stored.  I will be happy to provide you with a copy, but first a question - how much cash to you have on you right now?