Audio Fundamentals and System Engineering Basic’s Training – Batch I!

Recently in February, I in association with School of Sound Art, conducted a 3 day training programme on Audio Fundamentals and System Engineering Basics.

The plan to do so started a while back, when in the recent times I had been receiving requests to take sessions on System Engineering, how to use Smaart and such related topics!

Baba Jamsandekar sir had the same in mind and was on the search for someone to teach Systems at their institution. Through a common friend, we got in contact with each other, had a few meetings, discussed our vision!

Sharing a similar vision, We Clicked! And went ahead with this training session

Our intention was not to just teach in a closed classroom but actually show our students how all the learning translates in the real world, enabling them to start applying the learning in their work immediately!

Keeping this in mind I planned the sessions accordingly, and to maximize the efficiency of the learning, I took all the sessions in Hindi, so everyone could undertand it!

Day 1 : Audio Fundamentals.

Day 2 : Smaart Basics.

Day 3 : System Practicals – On Field System Alignment and Sub woofer Deisgn.

This particular session was a closed session for the Alumni of School of Sound Art and a few other close ones. This was my first ever training session on System Engineering and what an experience it was. And what satisfaction to hear all those wonderful reviews from the students who came in!

Here, I’m sharing a few key moments from each of those days !

Day 1 : Audio Fundamentals!

• The day started with an Introduction!

• Running onto the basics of Audio : Frequency, Wavelength and Time Period.

Once you start seeing Audio, you realise how everything in Audio boils to down to just these three things and how you play with it and hence I put a good amount of time on laying a strong foundation.

• Understanding Comb Filtering :

The Audio basics followed by how 2 signals interact and how the three basic factors affect and are affected by this interaction.

Day 2 : SMAART Essentials!

• Answering the big question : Which Audio Interface to use!

We compared :

• 1)Roland Octa-Capture.
• 2)Focusrite Scarlett 2i2.
• 3)Motu Ultralite MK3.
• 4)Personus Audiobox.
• 5)Steinberg UR22.

A brief comparison of 5 different brands, so one can decide for themselves as to which one suits them the best!

• What is SMAART : A TOOL!

Its really important to understand that SMAART is just a tool which provides us with data. It is upto us on how we interpret it and how we use it!

• SMAART I/O Configuration.

• Understanding Phase : Are we looking at the Past, the present or the Future! Yes, those squiggly lines have a time machine coded in them😂😎!

• Interpreting the Screen!

We finally started to make sense of the data that the screen shows us and how to interpret each of those different types of data and use it to make decisions!

After an exhaustive long session with a lot of Information to digest, we called it a wrap for day 2 and also a wrap to our classroom study!

Day 3 : System Practicals!

Day 3 was all practicals with a custom made Line Array and Subs. In my personal opinion custom made boxes are the best when you wanna learn.

• A quick revision on Signal Routing on field!

We started Day 3 with a quick revision on our Signal Routing and verifying if we are ready to start with our measurements!

We dived into the day with measuring the custom made boxes, working with the crossover and understanding driver capabilities and limits. The importance and the things to consider while deciding mic postions, followed by time aligning the system!

A word from the owner of the system after aligning and tuning the system :

I have never heard my system sound like this! Is this really my System!

Tinku Patil.

• The LR Sub Setup and its behaviour!

• Spaced Subwoofer Array !

It was really fascinating for all the students how subwoofer placement affected coverage across the venue and what are the differences between LR and other subwoofer setups.

• Understanding the Cardioid Subwoofer theory!

After experiencing the LR and Spaced Array setup it was now time to get into cardioid and end fire.

After listening to Cardioid setup, the shocked expression on the faces of everyone was amazing.

A word from Aatish Devrukhkar :

I had only heard the name cardioid and always thought it was just another gimmick, but today I actually heard it working and realised that it is not just a myth! It works! It really works!

Aatish Devrukhkar

With this I wrapped my very first training session on this topic. An amazing experience taking this session and sharing my knowledge.

It’s with this education that we come a step closer to understanding sound and getting better and more consistent results, and that is what matters at the end of the day! Being staisfied with our work.

Thank you School of Sound Art, Baba Jamsandekar Sir, Manoj Patel Sir and all those who became a part of this First Training Session! A lot more sessions coming up soon!

Cheers!