No, I don't mean the Auto EQ on Driveracks and DEQ2496s....
I had an idea the other day that could be fantastic for people like me, who have to set up, soundcheck and run sound in small clubs and bars where, in an ideal world, you would like to break out a reference mic and 'pink' the room with AutoEQ to set up your PA with a baseline response curve for that room, allowing you to just do any minor tweaks to taste.
Trouble is that these venues always seem to have several dozen customers before the band even arrives. Leaving aside for one moment my other idea for a gear trolley with a cow catcher on it to clear away those small groups of people who invariably cluster right in the doorways or the narrowest parts of the bar when you're trying to load in or out, the last thing that these customers would put up with is 5 minutes of pink noise whilst you fiddle around with EQ.
So I thought, 'what if' there was some kind of smart device where you could RTA your system to your preferred response curve at your leisure, in any room of your choosing. You could then play some pre-recorded material (again of your own choosing) and tweak the rig so that it was exactly as you and the band members might wish to hear it. Pretty conventional so far.
But, my thoughts went on to...what if you could flip the Auto EQ into 'learn' mode, so that it would then start to analyse the sonic profile of any given playlist of pre-recorded material and learn what those tracks should sound like when played through your ideally EQ'd PA, and store those profiles in an internal reference library. Then, when you arrive at the gig you just set up the PA and hit 'play' on your playlist. The system would then just sit there 'listening' to the reference playlist and tweaking the EQ until the sonic profile of the tracks being played equals the profile it holds in its library. That way, you would be EQ'ing the room and the audience would just think they're listening to your pre-show soundtrack.
Like most 'great ideas' I'm sure I'm not the only one who has ever thought about something along those lines (if I am then I'm off to see my son-in-law who is a patents attorney, 'cos you heard it here first folks), but does anybody know if such a device already exists, or if greater minds than mine are already prototyping?
I'm sure that in these days of digital desks and modelled FX, this is not impossible...after all modelling stuff like the Kemper must use similar comparative algorithms must'nt they?
I had an idea the other day that could be fantastic for people like me, who have to set up, soundcheck and run sound in small clubs and bars where, in an ideal world, you would like to break out a reference mic and 'pink' the room with AutoEQ to set up your PA with a baseline response curve for that room, allowing you to just do any minor tweaks to taste.
Trouble is that these venues always seem to have several dozen customers before the band even arrives. Leaving aside for one moment my other idea for a gear trolley with a cow catcher on it to clear away those small groups of people who invariably cluster right in the doorways or the narrowest parts of the bar when you're trying to load in or out, the last thing that these customers would put up with is 5 minutes of pink noise whilst you fiddle around with EQ.
So I thought, 'what if' there was some kind of smart device where you could RTA your system to your preferred response curve at your leisure, in any room of your choosing. You could then play some pre-recorded material (again of your own choosing) and tweak the rig so that it was exactly as you and the band members might wish to hear it. Pretty conventional so far.
But, my thoughts went on to...what if you could flip the Auto EQ into 'learn' mode, so that it would then start to analyse the sonic profile of any given playlist of pre-recorded material and learn what those tracks should sound like when played through your ideally EQ'd PA, and store those profiles in an internal reference library. Then, when you arrive at the gig you just set up the PA and hit 'play' on your playlist. The system would then just sit there 'listening' to the reference playlist and tweaking the EQ until the sonic profile of the tracks being played equals the profile it holds in its library. That way, you would be EQ'ing the room and the audience would just think they're listening to your pre-show soundtrack.
Like most 'great ideas' I'm sure I'm not the only one who has ever thought about something along those lines (if I am then I'm off to see my son-in-law who is a patents attorney, 'cos you heard it here first folks), but does anybody know if such a device already exists, or if greater minds than mine are already prototyping?
I'm sure that in these days of digital desks and modelled FX, this is not impossible...after all modelling stuff like the Kemper must use similar comparative algorithms must'nt they?
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