From the Editor’s Desk

It's often said in the industry that half the job is 'being a good hang,' for better or for worse. This is true to varying degrees in different roles, the point being that not everything is about physics, math and technical know-how. Engineers also need a lot of 'soft skills.' Things like communication, organization, preparation and adaptability.

This month, we're covering the full gamut. We touch on the technical side first with Luis Gomez Duran delving into clocking issues and their impact on sound quality. He discusses how traditional measurements and specifications may be missing information, and some different measurement strategies that can reveal low-level modulation effects, noise floor behavior and tonal artifacts that may be otherwise missed.

Next, our cover this month features a stage design used for two of Montreal's flagship music festivals, Les Francos de Montréal, which celebrates French-language artists, and the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. The piece discusses the design decisions that were made to mitigate SPL issues in the middle of downtown Montreal, as well as how they integrated spacial processing into a standard left/right system deployment.

Bridging the gap between technical and soft skills, Carl Sterwart's article focuses on working in the smaller side of corporate AV. He shares tips for optimizing console templates in order to be prepared for anything that arises at these types of gigs. The importance of doing as much planning as you can before the gig cannot be overstated.

Further, touching on a interesting idea for live sound engineers, Steve Smith wrote a thoughtful piece on keeping a mental list of changes while building a mix. Coming from the studio, he recounts the many times where he's had to remember exactly what changes he made to a track while working on mix revisions for artists.

As usual, we have a handful of other great articles this month that I hope you enjoy. Thank you for continuing to read Live Sound International.

Carolyn Slothour
Editor In Chief, Live Sound International/ProSoundWeb
cslothour@livesoundint.com