The Jeff Show: Hold Up in Cancun

I love international meetings. It’s always a challenge, but it’s fun. 

During April's set up in Cancun, Mexico for Bankers Life & Casualty's annual meeting for their agents, I experienced a first in my thirty years of working in AV. After spending more than a month making sure all the paperwork was submitted correctly for Mexican customs (which by the way takes 10 days to clear) so the gear can be transported in a 40’ sea container, the big day arrived when it was supposed to be delivered to the hotel for set up. At 9am, with a crew of 14 on the dock ready to go, there’s no truck. It’s 9:30am, and there’s no truck.

I call the office. Margaret, our office manager, calls the freight people. Now comes the good part: it seems that customs lost power the day before, and the gear could not clear customs until power was restored. They tell us that the truck is being loaded in customs and should be on the road in an hour. And by the way, it’s a good five hour drive to the hotel.

Now, when I was in school I had some really good excuses on why I did not do my homework. But I believe that I just heard the freight version of “my dog ate my homework.” Good times.

Doing some quick math, I figure that I need to entertain the crew for about 6 hours. Since it’s Mexico that 5 hour drive will easily become 7 hours. I’m hoping the truck will arrive at 4:30pm at the earliest. I could do a stand-up comedy routine, but my crew speaks a little English, but their English is better than my Spanish. This will be a long week.

Long story short, got the truck at about 5:45pm and we spent a long night in a warm humid ballroom.

I do have a great tip on the food and drink front. Late one night we hit the bar for a drink before we went back to our rooms. OK, here it is: Bacardi Añejo on the rocks with a wedge of lime. Best rum ever.

Remote Monitoring Systems for Line Array Speakers

Line Array Speakers

I’d like to discuss the use of remote monitoring or sensing systems for usage with multiple box line array systems. Every year the use of multi-box line array systems grows a little bit deeper into the fabric of industrial theater. Rental houses and production support companies are updating their inventory with the latest technology. With this influx of multi-box systems, it's not just enough for a specialist to know that all the boxes are plugged in and are on, he needs to know that box three in the left mains hang has a blown woofer and needs to be replaced. And he needs to know it before the system flies out of reach.

What is RMS"

A typical RMS system consists of a laptop computer running a manufactures’ proprietary software and a cable system that polls the speaker modules and reports status and control information in a real-time environment. Various manufacturers use different hardware to accomplish this information loop, here we are going to look at the Meyer Sound RMS system for use with their lines of active speakers. As stated the Meyer system starts with a Windows laptop running Windows 7 and Meyers RMS software.

The next element is a computer interface card that links the software with the reporting modules that are built in to the active speaker system. Meyer accomplishes this with the use of a simple 2-wire non-shielded twisted pair cable that connects from the computer interface to the first module and simply loops to additional units. Up to 50 modules can be connected in this manner, more with the use of a network repeater, up to a max of 100 units. Several hundred nodes can be connected when using an Ethernet based connections. Meyer has used an Echelon Corporation network platform, a longtime leader in sensing and remote control networks to accomplish this. The addition of an i.LON 10 Ethernet adaptor then connects to the 2-wire twisted pair network to the host computer and allows for a standard 10-base T cable run.

What Does RMS Do for Me? 

Once the modules have been commissioned or registered in the system, the operator has the choice of 4 different views to manage the modules, small icon, large icon, meter view, and text view. The Small Icon view has status indicators for: Amplifier channels, Mute, Solo, Communication, Wink, and Information. The Icon view adds a graphic of the speaker layout so you can tell instantly if a component is working correctly, shorted or being limited etc. The Meter view uses a different graphic to represent power usage, voltage, fan speed, and temperature. It also gives you input level and polarity, but there is a trade off in loss of control of Mute, Solo, and Wink in this view.

The most complete control is provided in the Text view where values are displayed in text fields but control is retained for the Mute, Solo, and Wink function. Mute I’m sure is self-explanatory, but Solo in this case is very handy in trouble shooting speakers as it allows only one unit to work at a time, so you know that what your hearing is the speaker in question. The Wink function lets you identify the physical loudspeaker corresponding to a speaker icon in the RMS panel.

This system gives the Tech a complete overview of system components and operational values in real time. This means it’s easy to judge the sonic performance of a system because feedback data is telling you directly about component operation.

User Guide: RMS™ Remote Monitoring System 5.9.1

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Craig Vlasic | Technical Director/Audio

Joining WAV in 1982, Craig has engineered over 700 meetings with audiences ranging from 20 to 35,000 people. While current in the latest audio techniques and theories, he brings knowledge in fundamental audio logic to every production from corporate talking heads to rock-n-roll bands.