AV Technology - August 2008 - (Page 30)

EVEN SOMETHING AS FUNDAMENTAL AS SETTING BASIC LEVELS CAN CONFUSE PEOPLE WHO ARE INEXPERIENCED IN INSTALLING AN AUTOMATIC MIXER. Lectrosonics and Shure recommend using an automatic mixer for speech microphones in the facility along with a standard “board” type mixer for the choir or praise band. Jim Smith, AV system engineer at Polycom, says manufacturer or integrator support for the more complex systems is essential. “It’s extremely rare for an end user to have sufficient audio system knowledge to correctly manage an automixer configuration, especially with the newer DSP units,” he says. “Most users know in advance what types of situations they will be dealing with — a noisy room, an open forum, a quiet meeting, etc. — but don’t know the best settings for an automixer to accommodate those situations. The integrator and manufacturer can quickly set things up so that all of the pre-described situations are available to the end user as a simple preset available with a single button push.” Zagryn concurs: “Setup of an automatic microphone mixer is usually done during the installation process and its configuration depends on the requirements the end user has described to the system designer. The main concern is tuning the automixer for the room and giving it the control functionality necessary through the AV control system. “You need to decide on things like volume control — do you have a single level control for everything or go with discrete controls for program, conference, and sound reinforcement? What about voice lift on or off, or room dividing or combining? All of these factors can lead to complexity in the control system, so we always try to ascertain the technical sophistication and needs of the end users before doing the installation and setting up the control system.” Zagryn notes that the types of microphones used in a room also play an important role in how the system is set up. Table mics, ceiling mics, wireless mics, and lectern mics all play different roles in the system and should be assigned operational priority accordingly, he says. For example, the lectern mic might have the highest priority in the room, so you want to make sure it is not overriden by any of the other microphones in the room. “When we install an automixer, we typically set it up in blocks, creating separate mixers within the main mixer,” says Zagryn. “Each type of microphone — ceiling, table, lectern, wireless — would be grouped in their own blocks and set up in a priority structure. In a really large installation where you’re linking multiple mixers, you want to make sure you can establish priority blocks across all of the mixers so you don’t have incidental audio overriding the important content.” Dugan takes an opposite view, believing that priority systems are unnecessary. “An automatic mixing system should simply be transparent,” he says. “People should determine who can talk when, not a program in a box.” Once a system has been set up and configured, it should run in the background with no problems. But even with the best advance planning, sometimes changes to existing systems are unavoidable. You might need to add more microphones to accommodate additional users, or find that lecturers don’t want to be stuck at a lectern — they want wireless microphones instead so they can move around the room. No matter what you are altering in the room, it wouldn’t hurt to bring your system integrator (or a technical expert from the automixer’s manufacturer) to the facility to help with your new mixer configuration (see sidebar). “Simply swapping things out can have effects you wouldn’t anticipate,” says Polycom’s Smith. “No two vendors’ microphones have the same sensitivity (voltage out vs. sound level in), so even changing the brand of microphones you are using could require some in-depth design capability in re-configuring your automixing system. Room layout changes may only require subtle alterations in the mixer, but could still affect overall performance. Your system integrator can usually make these changes quickly, give you new button presets, and have you up and running again in no time.” Elaine Jones operates a PR agency specializing in the AV industry and is based in Salt Lake City, UT. She can be reached at elaine@ejonespr.com. www.avtechnologyonline.com 30 | AV TECHNOLOGY | august 2008 http://www.avtechnologyonline.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AV Technology - August 2008

AV Technology - August 2008 Contents Precedent Corporate: The Project’s Over...Now What? Government: Generational Diversity and the Rise of the Millennials Education: DIY ISP.EDU HD Videoconferencing On a Budget Using Automatic Mic Mixers The Way I See It: The Standards Dilemma in AV Something for Everybody AV Adds the Magic to Microsoft’s Hat Trick Simple Control for Smarter Classrooms Product Review: VeEX VePAL MX100 Product Spotlight: Amps; Touchpanels New Products Ad Index AV MO: Dealing with Ambient Light

AV Technology - August 2008

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