Jamie Anderson
Boston AES Meeting
March 2011
On Tues. March 8th, 2011, the Boston Section of the Audio Engineering Society featured Jamie Anderson who presented "Time Domain vs. Frequency Based Analysis -How our measurement choices effect our results".
It is important to understand the range of amplitudes and frequency spectrum that are being reproduced and the complexity involved in getting an accurate measurement. The objective is to create an even sound field whether it in theater spaces, churches or arenas. It's a lot easier to make something sound good but intelligibility takes a lot of planning. Sometimes they can work together and sometimes you have to sacrifice one for the other.
The studio guy only worries about what it sounds like at one position. The live sound guy has to make sure a larger area sounds good and intelligible which becomes very complex. You need to have a method to what you are trying to accomplish, solve the problems at the source and use the right tools. Keep in mind that an analyzer is only a tool. The engineer must make the decisions. Use your ears to make it sound right. It is not always about looking at data.
Measuring System Response - go between time-domain and frequency domain and compare the two. Compare input to output. Make sure to monitor for overload stages to ensure that the waveform that you are measuring is accurate. Knowing what is wrong with the system and knowing what doesn't sound good.
Jamie has been teaching and working in the field of sound system engineering, measurement and alignment for over 19 years. He is currently the Owner, Founder, CEO of Rational Acoustics LLC and Lead Smaart Instructor. He has an MFA in Technical Design and Production from Yale University School of Theater and a BSEE in Physics from Worcester Polytecnic University. During his career, he has worked as a technical support manager and SIM instructor for Meyer Sound Laboratories, as a system engineer on tour for A-1 Audio (kd Lang) and UltraSound (Dave Matthews Band), and as a product manager and instructor for SIA and EAW. In 2008, he and 3 partners founded Rational Acoustics in order fully dedicate themselves to the development, support and training of the Smaart® acoustic test and measurement software platform. He has been the house system engineer for 4 Montreux Jazz Festivals and 6 Telluride Bluegrass Festivals, has worked with the Grateful Dead, Anita Baker and Louis Miguel tours and has been involved in hundreds of system alignments across a vast and diverse range of venues (studio to stadium) and applications (theatre, church, clubs, rock and roll tours, conventions, etc.).
