Month: September 2022

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Sound Masking

Tuning a sound masking system on four new floors at a building in downtown Dallas. PPE is required for active construction, it is not a fashion statement. System is AtlasIED DSP/amps/speakers using AKG omni calibrated mic w/ MOTU PC interface and REW RTA software. System is designed to prevent others from hearing conversations nearby.

The masking system is tuned to an industry standard frequency roll off designed to sound pleasing and unobtrusive. The overall level is set to about 47 dBA.

Attenuators are provided to adjust levels for groups of speakers to provide more granule calibration.

Speakers are hung in the plenum space above the drop tile ceiling in an upward facing position. The speakers are typically spaced about 15′ apart depending on ceiling height, plenum depth and ceiling type. Normally the speakers are part of a 70 volt system. The speakers are tapped at 1 watt but may tap higher or lower to even out the SPL within a specified area.

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Phil Collins Far Side 1995 Tour – Caracas Part 1

We were doing several Phil Collins stadium shows running up from the southern tip of South through Central America with a last stop in Caracas Venezuela before heading to Puerto Rico. In the early 90’s, Venezuela had a large wealthy population from oil and Chavez had not taken over.

We did a show on April 28, 1995 in La Rinconada Baseball Stadium. The venue was okay but not great and the generator that we rented locally to power the sound system was horrible. Sound check went okay and the doors open. The front of house riser was three tier with Sound on the bottom, then lights, then spotlights on top. Rob “Cubby” Colby and I were on the sound riser checking out the crowd when suddenly there was a loud buzz in the system. Turns out the generator had more problems and we were told to hold down the fort and deal with it because it was too close to showtime to work on the genie. I called to the stage and asked for one of the Showco sound engineers, Robert Drewes, to come out and help.

Fortunately he was there because about a third of the way through the show, suddenly a fan that had climbed up on the spot tower got thrown below by the operator. The guy was obviously jacked up and after hitting the sound deck came up swinging. Robert and I grabbed him and threw him down to the hands of the police waiting below. The whole time, Cubby is mixing Phil Collins like nothing is going on and Robert and I go back to finding noisy channels to mute between songs.

Disaster was avoided and the show happened, gear was packed and transported to the Antonov freight airplane for an overnighter in San Juan on 4/29.

Now this is when the story gets interesting, more about this in part 2.