Listening Angles 2: The Role Of The Soundsystem

[Mitch]

While we can think of a song that we really like and imagine it in our minds, there still isn’t really a way to transport music to listeners without speakers. The role of the soundsystem is an important one for music creators and enthusiasts. Thousands of hours and dollars can poured into creating a track but if it’s played on the wrong system, then the meaning may be well and truly lost.

Understanding the role of the soundsystem is most important and there is no hard and fast rule to success. These days we hear the names of high end brands thrown around in casual conversation, almost as much as in professional circles. Parties and night clubs even leverage this branding in their marketing strategies.

However accessing a professional rig is only one piece of the puzzle. Many nights don’t go wrong on the brand of equipment, but the elementary aspects of the set up; the acoustics of the space, positioning of the system, size, equalising and on-site mixing. Having a professional system loses its drawcards when it domineers a space and pulverises your ear drums. This is why festivals and venues spend so much money on acousticians and audio engineers, to custom design spaces and systems, in synergy. All the pieces of the puzzle can fit together for the perfect listening experience.

In pursuit of this perfect listening experience, I was lucky enough to chance upon an absolute gem, through a friend. Melbourne’s D-Rex advised me he was assisting the set up of a party, run by Melbourne collective Billion Underground.

The brief?

Bringing a hybrid Nexo set up into an old morgue. Packing enough grunt to move 300 feet to Tresor (Berlin) residents, Krenzlin and 88uw.

As the guys were bringing in the whole system and testing and treating the morgue from scratch, this measured up to be the perfect case study of how to get sound right.

Dave Thomson of Lost Few and Duaa Svim heads up the audio side of Billion Underground; I ventured down to the morgue that day to have a chat with him, as he and the crew made preparations.

So what are the specs of the rig?

We’re using Nexo Alpha S2 subs paired with the PS15 monitors. We’re covering most of the audible sound range with this.

The first time you came into the space and you were looking at using it for a Billion Underground event, what were your thoughts? What did you think you’d bring in and how did you look to treating the room?

The first time was for my EP launch, almost a year ago. I had to find a space in a week and I found this old morgue. I’d been here for a noise festival.

It’s quite perfect; low floor and lots of beautiful pipes for diffusion. The venue owner has even put in false walls, which have been a great addition.

You can really hear the difference the walls make. I was expecting boominess from the concrete but the ply walls soak up just the right amount. The sound is diffused and just simmers at the edges of the room.

We use drapes over the false walls too. We’re working together with the owner to mould the space for the parties. Usually there are skylights but we cover them. It’s a point where we really can’t let the sound escape. There is a metal lift too which we cover with mattresses. We’re right under a residential area, so we have to make sure that the bass doesn’t leak.

In its past life this place was a morgue, then a dry cleaners. It’s very raw but has exactly what we need. We won a grant from RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) and will use it for installations soon. There’s so much potential.

How did you decide on the system you would bring in?

We used to use Funktion-One in here and I also wouldn’t be opposed to using d&b audiotechnik, L’acoustics or Martin. However I’ve been really happy using the Nexo system. We’re able to fully curate the night ourselves and take on the engineering side of things. That’s what we do in our day work, so it makes sense. It has the right blend of clarity, headroom, depth for the space, yet absolute utility; a very easy system to work with.

We run it at 50% and it’s still physical. These subs aren’t usually matched with these top boxes. We’re using dual a side instead of single a side. It doesn’t look like much but it will be so physical. It’s very straight forward, which is good. It didn’t take very long to do the reference test and get the EQ correct.

What gave you the idea to do surround sound tonight?

That’s what I’m interested in, spatial sound modelling. I’ve been studying ambi-sonics and surround sound, working with sixteen channel audio. It came from a couple of gigs that I played in Sydney with a few friends. I’m more ambient, drone and bass. If you’re going to present something in a 4×4 techno environment and change the format, you need to present it in a different way. It’s not so much about energy, but instead about engagement.

During the show I’m using a recording that I did recently. I recorded the whole storm. It’s 30 minutes and I’m using it start to finish.

How will you mix the sixteen channel surround sound?

I have an eight channel firewire soundcard and Ableton. Stereo one is the front, two is the granulator, three is percussion and four is the rear send. I’m sub mixing the front with effects and filters. I’ve got group send as well for front and back, so that I can make everything move.

Within the percussion I have a lot of automatic things that I can set up early; a nice bell which moves around the speakers. It has sends within it. As soon as the bell goes out, it will spin through the whole thing!

The microphone goes into the Roland Dep-5, which is a really nice digital effects unit. It makes very good drones. That goes into the DB4 so that I can do some more effects and looping if I want. Then that goes into a line input.

So how long did it take you to perfect this set up?

About a week; twenty hours. Usually I’m working with seven channels of audio. This is the first time that I’ve done genuine rear speakers. I’ve been testing it. Not sure how it will all go but if this goes well, then as Lost Few I will continue to do surround and installation based sound. I think it’s a more experimental show. I should promote it more but I’ve still been deciding. It’s worked though and I’m happy, it’s been incredible.

For more information on Billion Underground, see http://www.facebook.com/billionunderground

By Sonia Miles-Khan – CDR Melbourne

Source - cdr-projects.com