What?

I watched the pre class video's and screen shot parts I found interesting. I did some research on balanced vs unbalanced cables. In class I searched online for equipment hire so I could create a signal flow diagram of a budget AV pa system.

So What?

I learnt about ohm's law and how to use its formula for different situations. Ive never needed resistors before in any of my projects in the past and I learnt why and how to use them, more importantly how to calculate what one I would need. I learn that the difference between bal and unbalanced cables is bigger than I thought. I knew about the + and - signals but never knew you could use one signal and neutral wire to have the same out come using a different method. Initially I wasn't fond of the learning journal layout for this class but I have gotten used to it.

Now What?

Finish project 1 and prepare for project 2.

Week 3: Project 1 Electronic Components and Soldering

For this project we were tasked with creating a cable from scratch using a piece of wire an XLR connector and a TS connector. Both the wire and connectors we used meaning we had to prepare the cable and connectors before we put them together. 

What?

This week we were tasked with creating a XLR to TS cable by soldering both connectors to a piece of wire. We also had to look at two images and determine what the five components were I will point it out.

So What?

This week I learned what's inside of an XLR connector and how to make a XLR to TS cable. I also learned more about the polarity of the positive and negative wires and more on how they are used to reduce electrical RF interference. I've done the soldering in the past but it was enjoyable being able to do it properly and do it with a pair of helping hands and create a product which is useful and that I'm actually happy with. I think I'm on track with the data side of my assessments, I'm happy with how my cable turned out along with my live sound plan design. However writing is still an issue of mine especially when it comes to talking about practical things like creating cables.

Now What?

I want to start working on project 2 and start putting more time on the side for writing for this class and my other classes.

Week 4/5: Project 2 AV Presentation Part 2

In class:

We were tasked with setting up a live PA system.

For project 2 part 2 we were tasked with setting up and packing down a live sound AV system based on out plan in part 1. While I had my set up running Conor got me to go for a walk around the campus with the wireless microphone to test it's range and show the other students how far it can go, I did commentary on my walk so they knew where I was on the campus in relation to the class.

I also connected the mixer to a Mac to try and record through it as there was an issues last time they tried it. I was able to get it to work but only with the built in recording software, pro tools as usual wasn't cooperating.

Week 6:

Outside of class:

This week I decided to make my own DIY 4 channel cat6a cable snake/ drop box.

Since cat6a ethernet cabling has 4 shielded twisted wire pairs this allows me to run 4 mic or line level signals over the one cable with all 4 channels sharing a common ground which is required for phantom power. I was initially going to use a shielded rj45 connector breakout board but I couldn't find any locally so I decided to use a shielded joiner and one half of what used to be a standard cat 5e ethernet cable to create the tail end and the end that's in the stage box. All channels work and I recently got some shielded cat6a (which was really hard to find) which allowed me to test phantom power which also worked.

Week 7: Uni Closed

Week 8:

In class:

This week I was apart of the front of house team. First we had to setup some tables to work on then we placed the equipment on top and opened all the flight cases. We then connected the cable snake to the back of the console based on the provided input list. Next we connected the outboard gear and set up the pa system and amplifiers. After playing some music through the system and doing a sound check we then had to pack everything down as it was the end of class.

While doing the sound check I was trying to get the reverb unit connected but somewhere I had accidentally created a feedback loop which went through the pa. I after undoing what I did we decided to just leave it out and try again next week. You don't realise how fat your reflexes are until you have to slam the master faders down to prevent damage to equipment and people's ears. Lest just say I was a but shaken after that.

Week 9: Away on holiday

Week 10:

In class:

This week I was apart of the stage team. Setting up the stage is easy but making sure to label everything was the hard part as conor came through and unplugged everything to make a point. We still got it done with a lot of time to spare before out sound check. We also did not realise the returns for the stage boxes were colored coded.

First Client:

While at work a guy asked for some help with his PA setup, after talking for a while we ended up exchanging details and I now have my first possible client for my business. Once I got home I got an email from him with the equipment he's using and I created a signal flow diagram for him so we could figure out what cables he needs to get and how he can to set up his PA system. I came up with two ways he could set up his system using the equipment available to him. Option B is a stereo setup allowing for a better sound for the audience but sacrificing control of the foldback speakers. Option A is a mono setup which sacrifices stereo image but gives control over the foldback speakers through an AUX send on the mixer. There wasn't much information online about the speakers they are using but I was able to find a maintenance schematic for the E12 PA speakers. I used that schematic to verify that the connections are in parallel which would allow us to daisy chain them as we only have a 2 channel amp and they want to run 4 speakers, 2 PA and 2 Foldback.

On Wednesday I am meeting up with the band manager to help look at there equipment and run them through how I think it could be set it up.

Week 11:

In class:

This week I was apart of the front of house team for a second time.  This week setup went faster then out first time as it was the same procedure. We were able to work with conor to get the out board effects working. When the stage team was doing there sound check they played pink noise through the foldback speakers just as I had touched a knob on the FOH console and it again left me shaking as I thought I had done something but it wasn't me this time. I can only imagine how scary it would be to have something like that happen on a million dollar system.

Week 12: Project 3

This week I was apart of monitor team for the first time. Setup was similar to FOH however there's less equipment involved. I mostly spent time setting up the ProTools computer and interface and helping the people set up FOH and the stage split.

Project 3: Event Planning and Production

Part 1: Cost of equipment used at SAE

Part 2: Stage Plot - Gorillaz

Part 3: Signal Flow

Part 4: Input List

Part 5: Run Sheet

Reflection:

This project stress me out a little bit as I was really struggling to find the exact models and prices of all the equipment that the university uses as a majority of it is now discontinued and can only be found on reselling sites. All of the official websites don't have their MSRP public which made it really hard to find an accurate price for the whole setup.

I love doing signal flow diagrams and figuring out how to connect things together to the point I spent 2 hours making multiple diagrams for a random band I met at work who needed help with there live equipment. Working on the input list, signal flow diagram and stage plot was really enjoyable for me however creating things like the run sheet was quite difficult as I am terrible at planning events specially those that involve other people. I'd rather be a part of the setup and pack down than to be in charge of planning how it's done as I'm a bit more of a follower than a leader.

Halfway through doing the signal flow I realized that I didn't have a budget so I could have picked anything and could have gone really extreme but I decided not to as I felt the lower quality equipment matched the sort of sound of their original songs, not saying that they're bad quality but it's just that sort of genre. I know I could have gone into more detail like where to put the 240 Volt outlets and more detail on the cable runs but I decided that it should be common knowledge and who ever is setting it up can figure it out.

It was really interesting looking into the cable snakes as I've been wanting to get one for my home setup for ages realizing that they're not actually that expensive. However I highly doubt I could fit one of the those multicores under a door. I wanted to do more with this assignment but as the term got longer life got in the way and I'm looking at putting a on pause for a year or so just so I can get my life back on track and try to focus on starting the business I created halfway through this class. The timing of this project was really helpful though as at work I had a customer come through who I end up doing live sound for as a part of my own production business.

Live Sound Unit Final Reflection:

Overall I really enjoyed this class I found it was good that I did the foundation of recording first as this was a good follow up to that class taking all of the studio knowledge and applying it to a live environment. Initially I was a bit thrown off because Conor wanted us to format our learning journal differently to how I have been doing it so far for all of my other classes which threw me through a loop for the first couple weeks as I tried to adapt. Which I guess makes sense as setting up for a live sound gig is not always going to be the same every time and you're going to have to adapt on the fly.

I really enjoyed that we did soldering because I was already tossing up creating a cable snake myself using an Ethernet cable and the soldering project was the final push I needed to just do it and I'm quite happy with the results. I didn't realize how complicated festivals and concerts were as I've never actually been to any but I'm hoping that will change soon as I might be helping run the live sound for a band run. I wanted to do really well in this class however I've gotten to a point where I wanna move on from uni an focus on my life and my business more. I've enjoyed my time here and I would like to finish my diploma but I'm going to put that on hold for little awhile.