MixAction The Theatre Sound Cue Software

What Happened To The "TwoCan"?

scott kane — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:19:15 +0000

Times change, companies shift their focus to match the needs of their customers.

When we first began developing MixAction we had a variety of business interests. This changed in 2009 with a decision for us to focus on MixAction Theatre Sound Cue software and our radio broadcasting software package. Both packages carry the moniker “MixAction”. For this reason the company name became MixAction Software And Audio Pty Ltd – MSA for short – a registered Australian corporation and in the process the name “TwoCan” was dropped.

MixAction Software And Audio Pty Ltd

ACN: 140 093 483

ABN: 41 140 093 483

Theatre Sound Cue Theory – What's Reverb?

scott kane - ceo — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:37:35 +0000

While most readers will probably be aware of reverb having been exposed to it in general life – bathroom to Grand Canyon, special effect “reverb units” and it’s abundant use in modern music and records, to use it effectively it’s important to understand it’s nature and the variety of types of reverb that are available.

Understanding Reverb

When we hear sounds in the “real world,” they are in an acoustic space, as opposed to the sounds we listen to or record in audio which exist sometimes in a natural acoustic space, an artificial acoustic space created by the engineer – or both.

For example, when you are speaking in your lounge room. You hear not only the sound of your voice, but because the your throat generates sound waves, they bounce off walls, the ceiling, and the floor. Some of these sound waves return to your ears, which due to their travel through the air, will be somewhat delayed compared to the direct sound from your throat.

This resulting complex and layered sound caused by these reflections is a fundamental component of “what we hear” and is labelled reverberation.

Sound waves bounce off objects around us, causing them to lose energy and in the process their level and tone changes. If a sound wave hits a pillow or curtain, it’s absorbed more than if it had hit a harder surface like a wall.

Higher frequencies tend to be absorbed more easily than lower frequencies, so the longer a sound wave travel the “duller” its sound becomes. In audio we refer to this as “dampening”. Naturally the sounds heard in a theatre hall filled with people sounds very different than if that same theatre is empty, because the people,their clothing and the chairs they are sitting in absorb sound.

Reverberation is important psychologically because it gives a sense of “space”. For live recordings, there are often two or more mic’s set up to pick up the room sound, which can be mixed in with the instrument sounds. In recording studios, some have “live” rooms that allow lots of reflections, while others have “dead” rooms which have been acoustically treated to reduce reflections to a minimum – or “live/dead” rooms which may have sound absorbing materials at one end, and hard surfaces at the other. Drummers often prefer to record in large, live rooms so there are lots of natural reflections; vocalists frequently record in dead rooms, like vocal booths, then add artificial reverb during mixdown to create a sense of acoustic space.

In recording there are other factors too. Isolation of sounds from natural reverberation makes a sound easier to manage in a mix. It’s always easier to start with no reverb, for an audio engineer, than it is to struggle with tyring to remove or tweak in the mix. To many sounds reverberating in a recording makes for a muddy, indistinct and psycho-acoustically confusing experience for the listener. In a word the mix can become “dead”.

Generated naturally or artificially, reverb is an essential part of today’s recordings and therefore our theatre sound cues. We’re going to briefly cover artificial reverb in this article – what it offers us, and how it works.

Different Reverb Types

Technically there are two main types of artificial reverb we need to concern ourselves with. Synthesized and convolution-based.

Synthesized reverb “models” the sound of a room through the use of various algorithms. For example, a “Hall” algorithm will take into account that waves travel further in a concert hall than in a small room, so the reverb will take longer to decay. A “Room” algorithm might model a small room, like a club or grand central station. Other algorithms model artificial reverbs, such as “Spring” reverbs found in guitar amps, or “Plate” reverbs that were used extensively in the 60s (and have a very distinctive, subtle sound). Each algorithm has a different sound quality, but they all work in the same basic way: A signal comes into the reverb, is analysed, and the reverb algorithm generates echoes and reflections that mimic what happens in the chosen acoustic space.
Convolution reverb is a relatively new type of technology that “samples” the sound of a room. Typically, a device like a snare drum will create a sharp impulse that creates reflections in a room. These reflections are recorded, analysed, and converted into a very accurate model of that specific room. A good analogy is that a convolution reverb’s impulse is like a cookie cutter that you pour sound into, and the sound acquires the characteristics of being in that room.

It might be easier, if you wish, to think of the difference between synthesized and convolution reverb as the difference between a synthesizer and a sampler. The synthesizer will give more control over the sound but have a more “impressionistic” character, where as a sampler provides an extremely accurate, but generally less flexible, sound.

Convolution reverb is a very processor-intensive operation on computers. It’s only in recent times that computers have become powerful enough to allow for real-time operation, and even then, some people will experience some audible delays due to processing (referred to as latency). With enough RAM, a dedicated to sound (and not the operating system) hard drive and a decent semi pro or pro sound card this has become less of a problem.

Reverb Elements

Sophisticated reverb units, whether physical or software base, will often have many parameters, but few people seem to get these parameters set to optimal for specific situations they find themselves in. So, we’ll take a brief look at how the various parameters affect your sound – in particular recorded sounds such as those we use in theatre sound cues.

Reverb has three main elements:

Early Reflections (also called initial reflections) consist of the first group of echoes that occur when sound waves hit walls, ceilings, etc. These tend to be more defined and sound more like “echo” than “reverb.” You should be able to adjust the level of early reflections.
Decay – the sound created by these waves as they continue to bounce around a space. This “wash” of sound is what most people associate with reverb, and is often called the reverb “tail”.
Pre-Delay - this is a sets the time for the first sounds to travel from the source to the first set of reflections. The larger the space, the larger the pre-delay because it takes more time for the signal to arrive at a wall or ceiling and start bouncing around.

Advanced Parameters I

Below are some of the parameters found in better synthesis-based reverbs; less expensive reverbs will have a subset of these parameters. Convolution reverbs generally have fewer parameters, but recently there have been some advances in making convolution reverbs more adjustable.

Algorithm - We’ve already mentioned hall and room algorithms, as well as algorithms that emulate “vintage” synthetic reverbs. But you may also find algorithms like cathedral, gymnasium, small room, closet – anything is possible! There are even “reverse” algorithms where the decay builds up from nothing to full volume rather than decay from full volume to nothing, and “gated” algorithms that abruptly cut off the reverb tail below a certain level. The latter was extremely popular in the 80s, and featured particularly with Phil Collins’ albums. Not just his voice either – but that “Phil Collins drum sound” which was at the time a kind of audio “holy grail” for recording studios around the world.In convolution reverbs, the equivalent concept is called an impulse. Impulses may capture the sound of specific rooms – like particular concert halls – or even the sound of spaces like guitar cabinets. It’s even possible to create impulses of older reverbs, so there could be an impulse that sounds like an old Lexicon PCM-70.
Room Size - this affects whether the paths the waves take while bouncing around in the “virtual room” are long or short. Just like real rooms, artificial rooms can have “standing waves” and resonances. If the reverb sound has flutter -a periodic warbling effect) – vary this parameter in conjunction with decay time, discussed below, when aiming for the smoothest sounds.
Decay Time – This determines how long it takes for the reflections to run out of energy. Remember that long reverb times may sound impressive on instruments when soloed, but rarely work in an ensemble context like a band or orchestra – unless the arrangement is very thin. The technical spec for decay time is called RT60, which means the time it takes for a signal to decay to -60dB of its original amplitude. For example, if RT60=1.5, then it takes 1.5 seconds for the signal to decay to -60dB or its original level.
Damping or Dampening - If sounds bounce around in a hall with hard surfaces, the reverb’s decay tails will be bright and “hard.” With softer surfaces – like wood instead of concrete – the reverb tails will lose high frequencies as they bounce around, producing a warmer sound. If your reverb can’t create a smooth-sounding high end, introduce some damping to place the focus more on the midrange and lower frequencies. Listen to these two audio examples to hear the difference.

Advanced Parameters II

High And Low Frequency Attenuation – these parameters restrict the frequencies going into the reverb. If your reverb sounds metallic, try reducing the highs starting at 4 – 8kHz. Note that many of the great-sounding plate reverbs didn’t have much response above 5 kHz, so don’t worry if your reverb doesn’t provide a high frequency brilliance – it’s not crucial.
Reducing low frequencies going into reverb reduces muddiness; try attenuating from 100 – 200Hz on down.
Early Reflections Diffusion – (sometimes just called diffusion). Increasing diffusion pushes the early reflections closer together, which thickens the sound. Reducing diffusion produces a sound that tends more toward individual echoes than a wash of sound. For vocals or sustained keyboard sounds (organ, synth), reduced diffusion can give a beautiful reverberant effect that doesn’t overpower the source sound. On the other hand, percussive instruments like drums work better with more diffusion, so there’s a smooth, even decay instead of what can sound like marbles bouncing on a steel plate (at least with inexpensive reverbs). You’ll hear the difference in the following two audio examples.
The reverb tail itself may have a separate diffusion control (the same general guidelines apply about setting this), or both diffusion parameters may be combined into a single control.
Early Reflections Predelay - It takes a few milliseconds before sounds hit the room surfaces and start to produce reflections. This parameter, usually variable from 0 to around 100ms, simulates this effect. Increase the parameter’s duration to give the feeling of a bigger space; for example, if you’ve dialled in a large room size, you’ll probably want to add a reasonable amount of pre-delay as well.
Reverb Density – Lower densities give more space between the reverb’s first reflection and subsequent reflections. Higher densities place these closer together. Generally, I prefer higher densities on percussive content, and lower densities for vocals and sustained sounds.
Early reflections level – This sets the early reflections level compared to the overall reverb decay; balance them so that the early reflections are neither obvious, discrete echoes, nor masked by the decay. Lowering the early reflections level also places the listener further back in the hall, and more toward the middle.
High Frequency Decay and Low Frequency Decay - Some reverbs have separate decay times for high and low frequencies. These frequencies may be fixed, or there may be an additional crossover parameter that sets the dividing line between low and high frequencies.

These controls have a huge effect on the overall reverb character. Increasing the low frequency decay creates a bigger, more “massive” sound. Increasing high frequency decay gives a more “ethereal” type of effect. With few exceptions this is not the way sound works in nature, but it can sound very good on vocals as it adds more reverb to sibilants and fricatives, while minimizing reverb on plosives and lower vocal ranges. This avoids a “muddy” reverberation effect that doesn’t compete with the vocals.

Finally: Applying Our Reverb.

Now that we know how reverb works, we can think about how to apply it to our theatre sound cues.

Scott Kane

Using Audio Software for Theatre Productions

scott kane — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:50:59 +0000

Traditionally live theatre has used an orchestra or band in a pit to take care of the music and special effects people to take care of “sound effects”. But increasingly theatre is turning to recorded music, where appropriate, and sound effects for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is flexibility and cost. Not all productions have the luxury of musical artists and sound wizards and certainly not all have the budget.

Whether you are a theatre company, theatre group, school or community group, like a church, it’s possible to use audio software in your theatre productions and it’s not painful at all.

The MixAction Editor – As Simple Or Complex As You Want

For most people starting out with pre-recorded audio, for use in theatre productions, it’s important that the basics are easily accessible with a minimum of fuss. At the same time the more experienced and professional are increasingly turning pre-recorded theatre sound cues into part of the art of theatre.

What MixAction does to assist is introduce the concept of sound ‘”Sequences”. Not to be confused with a “sequencer” which is an altogether different kind of animal. Most audio media players are nothing more than complicated versions of Windows Media Player or iTunes. A “Sequence” in MixAction is a collection of audio that perform as a complete group.

Sequences Of Tracks

A Sequence can be one or more tracks – just like a multi-track used in a studio – although MixAction takes a cleaner, simpler approach than most studio style software packages, because, after all, this is live theatre where excess complexity means mistakes.

Through the Sequence(s), which can be exported and imported into other MixAction “Projects” – at MixAction we love reuse of labour, it saves time and frustration – you are able to achieve complex special effects without having to mix-down to a single file. This fits the theatre paradigm well as PA systems rarely sound quite the same at the theatre as speakers do in the studio, allowing last minute tweaks and settings to be applied without having to remix down again. Not to mention those pesky directors who’s hobby in life can be asking for minutiae changes.

MixAction’s editor allows you to specify easy to configure options for how the sound will playback. Without going into to much detail for the purposes of this article suffice to say that if you’ve used a program for editing images then you will be familiar with setting “properties” on a “property sheet”. Tracks of audio can be single, like traditional sound cue software – or layered like a multi-track audio production.

To put it into a single phrase: A Sequence, in MixAction, is one or more audio files with playback parameters (effects, timing, mixing) set and able to be played back at the same time.

This is quite different to the more conventional “Playlist” which plays audio tracks one at a time, one after the other. What’s more an Act or a Scene can be made up of many different “Sequence” according to your needs. A “Sequence” is a stand alone object, in a sense.

MixAction Playlists?

Yes, it does use “Playlists” too. Obviously it’s a great idea to have music before the curtain goes up, between Acts, during intermission and at the end of the show. A “Playlist” is perfect for this. So for those occasions where you need one MixAction allows you to use them – and it does the mixing for you – each song fading or segueing into the next – just like your favourite radio station.

Special Effects

We envisage releasing two initial versions of MixAction with a higher end version again coming later on. While the “lite” version won’t incorporate DirectX Effects the “Standard” version will. So if you’re looking to take things further than just the average sound effects and music tracks then you’ll be able to choose from:

Echo. The classic effect from light to grand canyon.
Reverb. From room to Central Station.
Graphic EQ. Boost or cut frequency spectrums.
Parametric EQ – Hone in on specific frequencies and cut or boost.
Flanging. For that “Itchycoo Park” feeling.
And a few more to boot.

For some really weird action you can make a track play backwards and prove once and for all that The Beatles track “Revolution 9” does not say “”Turn me on, dead man.” or “Paul is dead.” but rather clearly and concisely says “bloop, scrb, schhhht, bok”.

Project Based Theatre Sense

Because MixAction is project based and divided up into easy to navigate Acts and Scenes it’s possible to introduce what would otherwise be complexity in a simple to use interface during a performance. All the editing and parameter setting is done – but still accessible should you need to change anything – and automated freeing you up to deliver theatre sound cue art.

And in keeping with clean simplicity – it does so by allowing you to perform playback using only three buttons during a performance.

In Summary

Each Act or Scene in your production contains a list of sequences that correspond to the script or action of your production.

Each sequence contains one or more audio tracks.
As each sequence ends MixAction stops, unless you have configured it to automatically start the next sequence.
An Act or Scene list can contain one or more sequences.
Traditional “Playlists” are possible and they auto mix.
As each Act or Scene completes MixAction automatically loads the next until the end of your production, ready and waiting for that Act and or Scene to commence.
A project in MixAction can have more than one Act and an Act can have one or more Scenes.

We’ll be talking more about some of MixAction’s features prior to release.

Scott Kane

CEO MixAction Software And Audio Pty Ltd

Crash, Boom, Bang! The Most Distinctive Sounds in Movie History – And Why Theatre Needs Them

scott kane - ceo — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:23:20 +0000

Almost everyone you meet around the world, whether they be intellectuals, couch potatoes, fashion models or family men, have a certain fascination for movies.

We laugh and cry because of them, they may even inspire some of us to do great feats of our own, and more often than not they transport us to other worlds, alternate realities we can participate in safely – more intense and fascinating than our “real” and sadly often more mundane realities.

And a big part of the leap in movie quality is because of advances in audio technology. Even the most realistically plotted black and white films seemed removed from reality because of their initial lack of sound. But with the arrival of advanced audio techniques to the scene, movies would never be the same again – and it’s time live theatre caught up!

Lets Get Creative

Often some of the sounds you hear in one movie may be unknown to you, yet are replicated in other movies, especially of the same genre. Sound effects, as opposed to music, can be used again and again for shows of different purpose without the fact being noticed. Because of this, some sound effects have become so popular because of their applicability and distinctness. In fact some “movie” sound effect sound more “real” than the sound that naturally occurs.

Thunder storms

Lighting crackling and booms that sound nothing like those used in movies. In fact real thunder storms as sound effects are pretty wimpy compared to the audio panoramas produced by sound effect engineers. A lump of corrugated iron waved, rippled and banged sounds more like a “thunderstorm” over speakers than anything in nature. Indeed this was once a common way of producing this effect in radio plays for many years – before sound synthesizers were available.

Car crashes

Rarely do we hear in real life the “tinkling glass” that we hear in a Hollywood sound effect of a car crash. Listen to one in a movie and compare to the real thing. Bang! Tinkle in the effect, yet a real crash is more a dull thud or crack. However remove that fake tinkle of shattering glass and the effect utterly fails to convey the same emotive response from the viewer. Oh! And don’t forget the screeching tyres that tell our mind in advance to “brace for impact.”

“Walla Walla”

A classic. A crowd of people behind the main action give the “sound” appearance of talking. In actual fact they are saying nothing at all – often nothing more than “Walla, walla, walla” from which this effect gets it’s name. An effect that can be made to sound like five, ten or a hundred people by simply using multi-tracked layers and bouncing/duplicating, chorus effects, delay effects, reverb and pitch adjustment.

Animal noises

Most often in films that you see, the animals are never silent. Dogs always bark or pant, cats will do their distinctive meow and spit, and snakes always hiss or even rattle, in spite of a particular snake not being a rattler in the first place! It follows that animals usually reveal personality or add colour to the films by using sound – we relate the sound to “real” even though real animals rarely react with sound on cue.

Horror flicks use it perhaps most effectively, with wolf howls, owl hoots, and rodent squeaks being standards – the scene is nothing without them.

The Martial Arts Swish

It’s hard to forget all those fancy martial arts sequences and how they are usually accompanied by those swishing sounds that make even the slowest moves seem so much faster than they are actually executed. This is a sound effect used in virtually all of the older martial arts flicks in particular. Notice that they all sound exactly the same?

How about that classic “smack” from a fist in a bar fight? Heard a real bar fight? They are nothing compared to the sound of a “scene” from a movie.

The ubiquitous Telephone Ring

This is one sound that has been reproduced to the point of it being cliché. Everything from Quincy,Magnum PI, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind to Ghostbusters has featured this classic of the 70s and 80s. It’s become so cliché that some sound mixers and editors will refuse to use it today, for fear that the effect may now sound artificial.

Time To Up The Ante In Theatre

Listed in this article are but a few. Learn from the movie masters when selecting sound effects for your theatre sound cues. They convey reality, even though they are absolutely not. Think, like the movie sound producers. Layer sounds, create something new – something audibly larger than life.

Something that has impact on the psyche of your audience.

Theatre sound cues are one part science, one part sweat and two parts imagination and experimentation. Aim to stun, shock, woo, please or terrify. Pick your emotion and devastate the audience!

Screen Shots

scott kane — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:00:00 +0000

What Features Do You NOT Want To See? MixAction Theatre Sound Cue Software – Beta Soon.

scott kane - ceo — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:19:56 +0000

During the process of building MixAction our emphasis has been on two things.

The first is simplicity for the person using the software – you.
This is not an unusual statement in itself from software developers. We’ve talked about “user friendly” software going back at least to the nineteen eighties – and invariably by and large few suceeded. This is because there is a paradox in software development. Ease of use for the user equals complexity for the programmers. Reducing functionality to the simplest implementation takes bucket loads of work.
The Second Is Our Premise – Theatre Sound Is A Creative Expression
It’s our view that theatre sound cue products on the market today are utilitarian. They seem to start with the premise instead that all the sound engineer wants to do is playback sound cues (music and effects) and nothing more. Kind of iTunes or Windows Media Player with extra playback options. Where as our view is that as software like MS Publisher, Adobe Fireworks or Sony Acid Pro are focused on being creative - first – and that theatre sound cue software should follow the same approach.Consider that the creation of sound – truly melding and molding it to suit a specific requirement in a production is a more rewarding experience than “out of the box SFX”. People perform better when they “own” the process themselves. In other words when they are growing themselves and culture through being creative.

Products like the examples listed above excel at this. They focus on providing creative expression and creative opportunity to the user of the software. They automate complexity, reduce it to simplicity (in varying degrees) and still manage to allow you to produce the “final result”. As simple or as complex as you want.

As most of the low level, complexity is now completed we thought it would be a good opportunity, prior to the first beta tests commencing soon, that we ask you something you hardly ever hear software companies ask. In fact nearly without question they will ask you the opposite. Yet the question is pertinent as to often the features that end up in a software product are those chosen by the software developers for you.

So here it is. We invite you to tell us – right here on the MixAction blog, in the comments section below – or use the contact form if you prefer:

What Features Do You NOT Want To See?

Even Sound Guys Can Get Stage Fright. Why Am I So Scared? What Can I do? Beginners Advice

scott kane - ceo — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:42:30 +0000

You are not alone if you suffer from what actors have come to call, in hushed whispers, stage fright. It doesn’t hit everyone – but it does hit many. Here’s some suggestions on how to deal with it.

I do not believe I can recall any experienced actor saying they are not nervous at all before a performance. Many are actually terrified and get physically sick prior to a public performance. The basis for this is in some ways a good motivator, we want to be good, we want to be accepted.

That is a good thing but being debilitated by stage fright is not.

There are some effective ways of dealing with this condition.

First – Accept it as real and completely normal.
Next - one of the most effective way to manage the phenomenon of stage fright is constant performance. For some this may not be possible or you may just be starting out and you are struggling at the starting gate, so to speak.

If you are just starting out and cannot even imagine performing in front of people yet, find a friendly audience that will accept you no matter what, your family!

Perhaps you can pick a family function and “handle the sound”, maybe even playing “DJ”, but treat it and set it up just like a regular performance ; a certain time etc. It may sound silly, but you will be nervous even though you know they will accept you no matter what you do.

When you perform for them try not to talk to them as they were your family, but make it a little “impersonal” if you will. Pretend they are an audience of strangers. If you make a mistake, keep going .This is very good practice. You will always make mistakes in your life as a sound technician so get used to it. In fact you need to learn to “roll with it” or even sometimes make something out of it. This can lead also to improvisational opportunities, but we will discuss that some other time.

Once this little “concert” is over you will feel a sense of accomplishment. Even if you made a mistake or two, you will feel good about what you have done. I guarantee it!

Now you need to continue to build on these performances. Do them more often, invite others but do not get too comfortable either. you must continue to stretch yourself. If you have a teacher or an experienced tutor that has taken you under their wing, the chances are good that they will give you the chance to actively participate in rehearsal before you start taking the reigns – and yes – sound engineers in theatre should participate in real theatre rehearsals and treat them as the “real thing.” It’s good for the actors, the backstage crew, lighting, roadies and YOU.

Once you are past the first stage of performing and are on to performing for larger groups of strangers, there are some other ways of dealing with stage fright .

Practice, practice, practice.

You must know your piece or pieces of sound cues backwards and forwards if you are to be truly prepared. Even if you do not have to memorize the cues you must know them very well. Suffice it to say you must constantly practice to overcome any technical limitations on your performance, then you can more easily deal with stage fright as a separate issue.

You may have a very real reason to be afraid if you do not know your performance!

On the day of the performance I think it is best not to practice very much at all. You can wear yourself out and “peak” too early. Like actors you can over practice and sound perfect two hours prior to performance but be worn out by the time the curtain goes up.

Just rest a lot and go over the cues in your mind. Warm up, to be sure, but only that. Sound checks are integral – and leave time for solders, blown amp’s and other gremlins.
If you know your script you should be fine. Some like to take a nap before performance so they can be rested. If you cannot actually sleep, then just laying down for 30 minutes or so may help.

Save the booze for after the curtain goes down – and if mobile – after equipment is safely stowed.

Damage to hire gear is usually done when the performance is over as few enjoy physical labour after hitting the post production plonk.

Now when you take the stage, remember all of the work you have done, tell yourself, ” I am prepared, I can do this! You will be amazed at what you can do if you believe in yourself. Be not afraid!

Studio Monitoring – Tips On Creating Theater Sound Cue Projects In Advance

scott kane - ceo — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 08:27:03 +0000

One of the primary purposes behind using a computer for theater sound cue playback is automation and the ability to prepare that automation in advance – at home, at the office or at the studio, or home studio for those of us fortunate enough to own one.

However, as much as it solves many problems it can in fact introduce many new ones. One of these problems is the whole issue of reproduction in terms of the acoustic differences between the location we create a project and the place it’s ultimately performed – live theater.

For this multi part article we’ll be looking very briefly at the issue of studio monitors and reproduction live and the differences. The assumptions we make in our “project creation environment”, henceforth referred to as “studio” in this article are often responsible for some sonically ugly sounds. These can be minimized though with the right tools and the right techniques. We’ll be discussing two issues together, in these articles, because they are specifically related. They are: Sound Levels and Studio Monitoring.

1. Sound Levels

Sound levels, in a software product like MixAction, afford us with something that, until computer software technology, wasn’t easily visualized. So learning about them and recognizing the good, the bad and the insanely ugly is a lot easier than, say back in the early 1980’s when I did my first gig in a pro recording studio. These days most of us are familiar with the “waveform” display.

What many are not so familiar with is what that display can tell us, beyond the obvious “start, end, quiet, loud” peaks and falls that appear to tell the story on first glance. I won’t be going into any of the theory of physics and sound in this article, we’ll keep it simple. So, consider the screenshot below (taken from inside one of MixAction’s editors BTW):

You can click on the image to zoom in a bit closer if you like…

Now. Why is this “ugly”?

Take a look at the largest sections – the “loudest” sections – represented by the gray and black areas in the screenshot. Those “loud” sections are certainly “loud” but they are also “clipped”. Clipping in digital audio is a little different to analogue clipping one might expect to hear from our speakers as “distortion”. Not all digital clipping can be perceived by the average person as “distortion”. Yet – distortion it is. The sacrifice here is that the signal, while very “loud” is lacking in clarity in the audio spectrum. Detail and true frequency prescience is lost.

The track illustrated was created on purpose by me to give you a starting term of reference. If the tops of the waveform are squared off or flat like this you are digitally clipping and the better the reproduction system (speakers) the worse it’s going to sound.

Take a look at this next screenshot, again you can click the image to zoom in if you wish, that shows what the original sound looked like as “recorded” in our studios:

See how there is a wide variation of dips and peaks, the signal to noise ration is good (no noticeable spikes in quiet sections indicating noise) and there is significant variation in the levels. You’ll also notice the waveforms are not chopped off. This is a natural waveform in the sense of a recording, though the content is actually a combination of analogue Moog and DX7 synthesizers and a collection of modern digital and samples synth sources.

The two screenshots – above and this one to the right – are of the same audio signal, the same recording, but the one above has been mistreated.

Now – who would do this to an audio signal? You’d be surprised! In fact in the quest for the “loudest sound” it’s very common to see this both amateur and pro recordings.

In fact take a look at the track “I Kissed A Girl” performed by Katy Perry shown here:

Now I’ve not done anything to the signal except read it up into the analyser in the MixAction editor straight from the MP3 released by studios and sold online.

While there is very little “cut off the top” going on here the signal is extremely dense and there is very little variation. I can’t give you as sample to play of the Katy Perry track here, but I can for the first two images above. So in a moment we’ll use our “ears” to show use what our “eyes can hear”.

But before I do – one more screenshot – the same track as the first two above, not the Katy Perry track:

You’ll quickly notice that while louder than the second screenshot above, it’s not as pronounced as the first example or indeed as pronounced as the Katy Perry track pictured directly above.

Yes, there are some “cut off” points here. Best to avoid this, true, if we can, but there are specific times when this kind of waveform can actually be our “friend” and not our “enemy” and I’m going to explain that too in a moment.

Before I go into it, click the player button below to sample the audio. This is the “untreated” natural waveform, second screenshot in this article:

Notice that it sound kind of natural, but, perhaps, just a little low or even hard to hear on some, or your, computer speakers? We’ll get to why that is so presently…

Now sample the same audio file from the screenshot directly above:

Hear how it’s just that little bit louder?

OK. Here’s the last sample, which is the first screenshot of the waveform we showed you at the start of the article. The resampling to MP3 in this instance has introduced audible distortion too:

See how much louder it sounds compared to the “natural waveform”? I would argue for theater cue usage it’s boosted to far. Remember, normally we’ll be performing through the relatively powerful and usually suspended speaker bins of the PA system. A more natural waveform is going to give us, usually, more desirable results. The place to use the last sample, the one you just heard above, is where we need to broadcast a signal over, for example, the Internet. In fact I use this signal in the video, below, for advertising MixAction’s forthcoming release.

The reason is that computer speakers are designed to play games primarily. They are not designed for accurate reproduction. So to get the signal to a level that it “sounds impressive” you have to cheat a bit. So the signal is boosted. This is also why modern pop songs are boosted, BTW, to levels similar to the “I Kissed A Girl” sample waveform above. These days much of this material is played on iPods and portable players. Boosting to this extreme level makes the song sound “louder” and “louder” is perceived as being “better” by the average listener. As engineers we know this is not actually true, but since when did fashion and trends necessarily stand in the way of the truth – and sending yourself stone deaf?

In the next article we’ll zero in on speakers in the studio, compared to our PA bins, why we need to use reference monitors, the kinds available and how to fit out a little studio on a budget in the article after that.

Oh…

The video with the boosted signal. It’s here. Yes, it’s corny, yes we know, we know and the interface isn’t the final one, but that of a few months ago in respect of MixAction. But switching in between a recording studio and a software compiler all day every week brings out the corniest in us and we had to get Sony Vegas working properly on 64 bit Vista, which has been a challenge until now. But – I love the Moog synthesiser and it’s an example of where an unaturally boosted signal should be used and that place is not in our theater sound cues and productions…

Scott Kane

CEO and Primary Developer MixAction Theater Sound Software

MixAction Software & Audio to Release New Version of its Theater Sound and Mixing Software for professional and amateur theater, For Windows 7, MixAction.

scott kane - ceo — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:16:15 +0000

For Release June 26, 2009 GMT+10

June 26, 2009

TwoCan Software to Release New Version of its Theater Sound and Mixing Software for professional and amateur theater, sometimes spelt theatre in some regions, MixAction.

Melbourne Vic Australia — June 24, 2009

TwoCan Software today announced it will launch the new version of its application, MixAction, to work with Microsoft Windows® 7/Microsoft Windows Server® 2008 R2 so as to offer customers enhanced security, as well as innovative user interface features and reliability improvements. MixAction enables theater sound engineers to automate complex music and sound effect mixing, known as “sound cues”, simply and cleanly during a live theater performance. MixAction does this through its unique approach that allows sound engineers to lay out their production into logical Acts and Scenes, just like their play or theater production, by dividing advanced editing facilities for audio from the playback interface. Rich, synchronized layers of audio can be achieved effortlessly.

“Our ISV* community is alive with innovation, and we’re committed to helping our partners drive the next generation of software experiences,” said Ross Brown, Vice President of ISV and Solutions Partners for the Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft. “Adding compatibility for the latest Microsoft operating systems helps ISVs to stay ahead of the competition and give their customers access to cutting-edge technologies.”

*ISV – Independent Software Vendor

TwoCan Software is excited to be launching a Windows 7 compatible version of MixAction from the start,” said Scott Kane, CEO at TwoCan Software. “Making our application

compatible with Microsoft Windows 7/Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 helps us offer our customers compelling benefits, including: intuitive user interfaces, improved security and reliability features, advanced graphic hardware acceleration, sophisticated management features and intelligent power management, while taking advantage of the multimedia features available in modern Windows systems. We encourage people to try MixAction free and without obligation by downloading from http://www.MixAction.com and see for themselves how automated, multi channel mixing on a computer is a better investment for their productions”

MixAction has been developed to take advantage of the rich multi-media afforded by Windows 7/Windows Server 2008 R2. MixAction is designed to provide theater audio engineers flexible, cost effective, modern creative audio reproduction for theatrical projects. Emphasis is on creativity, experimentation and originality for the live sound engineer in theater.

TwoCan Software are developers of specialized professional multimedia tools to business. Our focus on business and professional use, through our experience as software developers over three decades, our work in multimedia in recording studios, theater and live sound, allows us to address the needs of businesses who are striving increasingly to stay in front of their competition, while helping them to save money.

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Products or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information, press only:

Scott Kane. CEO TwoCan Software

31 Daphne Cres, Hurstbridge, Vic

Australia, 3099 – Tel: 61+ 03 97181246

Email: ceo@twocansoftware.com

Evolution Of Theater Sound Effects Towards Players And Theater Live Playback Software

scott kane - ceo — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:30:10 +0000

I know what you’re thinking, you’ve been stuck mixing a band or doing sound for actors who look exactly like the guys on the left!

But seriously, theater sound really has evolved over the years. Now, if you’re a bit worried I’m going to mess with your head in this article on the whole “evolution” subject, please relax, the picture is for amusement – not argument.

In theater audio the sounds we have to work with have changed drastically. Before the 20th Century you were pretty much stuck with sound created by people literally making noises off stage, actors getting audibly creative (with often painful results) or musicians.

I’ll be honest here, I think musicians are awesome! I love live music and firmly believe new technology should compliment live musicians. But sometimes music simply can’t be included via “real musicians” for reasons running from budget, venue size, target audience and indeed the nature of the production we’re working on.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

The reasons sound in theater have changed are as much a result of society changing in other areas – cultural – as they are technological. Clearly recorded sound effects simply weren’t possible before the invention of devices to record and playback sound. To get an inkling as to how sound effects were created – if they used at all – watch the movie “The Night That Panicked America“ which is about the 1930’s Orson Welles radio broadcast of War of the Worlds. It features some radio “sound effect guys” making “live sound effects”.

To continue – It follows the “do it by hand” method was the only option. Frequently that meant you made noises offstage, as already stated, that for the audiences of the day worked extremely well. However cinema changed that forever. Once cinema got sound – once known as Talking Pictures or “Talkies” – it began to be on even footing with theater. While there were silent plays and mime has been around for thousands of years, by and large the cool thing, in the early 20th Century, about theater was that it has sound and movies did not.

Of course early silent films were frequently played to audiences with a live musician, pianolas and a variety of other tools. Even live “sound effects” were attempted. But once movies got sound and that sound started to progress from the boxy sounds of the 1920’s and 1930’s replete with music and real sound effects that were carefully chosen – indeed often created specifically for movies – things changed and it was tough for theater to compete in the technical sound wizardry department. For example, real thunder storms have lighting but nothing in nature sounds anything like a Hollywood thunder and lightning sequence. In fact Hollywood movies turn thunderstorm reality on it’s head and lightning cracks are louder than the rolling thunder we are more familiar with in the real world. Those sounds were created for movies, not taken from nature, and over time became “the sound” and anything less simply didn’t cut it with the audience.

Clearly some entrepreneurial theater folks would be drawn to experiment with introducing live sound into theater. Italian Futurist composer Luigi Russolo, cobbled together mechanical “sound-making devices”, dubbed “intonarumori”, for Futurististic theatrical/music performances sometime around 1913. Russolo’s contraptions were designed to simulate natural and manmade sounds, including trains and bombs. Some sounds in theater never seem to change!

However one of the first recorded, no pun intended, uses of pre-recorded sound in the theatre was indeed a gramophone or phonograph playing a recording of a baby’s cry in a London in 1890. Most theater audio engineers today of course recognise that this was not necessary as a sound effect as you can always rely on a baby in the audience to perform this effect for you on or off cue and with frequency and gusto!

For the bulk of the 20th Century there wasn’t a huge amount of progress made. Let’s face it, cueing a gramophone is no mean feat! The introduction of magnetic tape was promising, but again it wasn’t “theater friendly” as anybody who has worked “live” with reel to reel tape machines will attest. Cool tools in the controlled environment of the recording studio, but live they were cumbersome, difficult to cue and confusing. I won’t even touch on the horrors of trying to use cassette or cartridge tape here!

To be fair a lot of creative theater audio guys and gals experimented with things like tape loops and so on for “beds” of sounds and had some success with them.

But really it wasn’t until the 1980’s that some real revolution started to take place. MIDI became a reality as did digital and analogue sampling. Though it’s use was restricted due to it’s cost and in many cases the computer equipment was simply to chunky and operationally cumbersome to “do it live” for most productions. Ever tried to work with an early Fairlight CMI live?

The photo on the left gives you and inkling as to how this might have been if you had…

Now if you were Disney and it was for a fixed venue like Disney World you’re on a good thing, but for those of us working in most other venues it was “cool” but to “cumbersome.”

However, back then in the 1980’s, when the writer of this article was cutting his audio teeth in the studio and for stage, there was a reprieve. The ubiquitous CD or “Compact Disk”. Finally something you could cue relatively easily, was sonically brilliant, was cheap and on a level almost as good as that “Dolby Surround” stuff they were pushing in the cinema at the same time in history.

The only real problem with CD’s was that they tended to be a little awkward to change quickly, burning them yourself was not an option and if you’re gopher put their sticky fingers on the disk after they ate a hamburger you, like it or lump it, got to perform the d-d-d-d-d-digital stutter to the delight – not – of all present on stage and in the audience. Further, these goofs were not seen as creative expression but rather a mega stuff up by a mega incompetent sound engineer.

Yes. It’s always our fault, isn’t it?

Rather than go on and depress you irrevocably with how unhelpful CD’s could be, there is good news. The age of the computer is here and it’s here for live theater too. Theater sound software is a reality in the 21st Century and it’s potential is only just starting to be tapped. In a sense, if you’re using a computer in theater, you’re still breaking new ground. You are literally a pioneer and there is enormous scope to do something stunning that will make your audience (and director/producer) sit up and take notice.

What’s more most modern computers, or even laptops, have the necessary grunt to pull it all off!

As you know, if you’re reading this blog, one of those theater sound software packages is our product MixAction. More than a sound effects player or theater live playback playlist software package, the focus on MixAction is to create. Like the early pioneers at the dawn of the last century, but with tools and clarity that would make Russolo and his “intonarumori” weep.

Theater is, always has been and should be, an immediate experience. A movie evokes different reactions from audiences – and actors – than theater. It’s up to us, as theater sound cue engineers, to push that envelope and bring a whole new feeling, a whole new experience to the world of theater.

Are you up to this challenge?

Scott Kane

CEO and Primary Developer – MixAction Theater Sound Software