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Day 297 - March 16 - Fly to Japan

There are several non-human things with which my life, as I have chosen it, I consistently depend. My laptop, my cell phone, my car (not so much lately) and to some degree, my camera. Avoiding losing these things provides a constant and often humorous challenge and yes, I do lose my car in just about every parking lot. Additionally, since my world of motion is so inter-woven with these items, it brings me great pleasure to assure that the ones with which I chose to interact are optimized for my particular desires. So with that argument built up as a self justification, I set out out and purchased the new sexy Blackberry 8800. Ooooh! Smaller, built in GPS, plays videos and holds a micro SD card so I can send pics from my camera. I may even figure out a way to blog from it now that I can get my camera pics into it. Excited about my new acquisition, I show Dave Lee who immediately invokes a durability test

It is an on going roadie joke that when anyone gets something new and fragile that we try and politely "take a look" followed by pretending to bite, step on, twist, disassemble and in any way possible, cause dismay to the owner. Dave Lee did very well, pay back is a bitch and I deserved every second.

So we are at the airport terminal and take a shuttle to the lounge that is like a mile away in trailer that requires the shuttle bus to traverse several runways. Fortunately for the plane riders, a wise man has placed this useful notice assisting a safer journey for all.

To the plane and yumm! Read this menu,

wow, does that not sound delicious or at least interesting? Well, being the adventurous eater I am, I am all good with giving it a shot. I under estimated the potential. Oh my, and then I remember that I have already learned this last and perhaps every time I fly to Japan.

I love sushi, I love clean simple healthy foods. I do not love slimy gelatinous and rubbery items of unknown origin. I do not love fish goo, and though the pic does not represent it's full glory, I do not understand why such great lengths of complication would be taken to transform what was at one point, perfectly good food into complex fish flavored jelly.

Simple clean healthy foods, how hard can it be?

**** Sound Nerd Speak ****

The realization that I have been ignoring my fellow and fellowess sound nerds struck me and brought a sad feeling to my heart so I pondered a bit and came up with this to share.

One of the big issues with subwoofer arrays is that they provide significant sound in front of the stage and considerably reduced sound levels off to the sides. Early in the blog days I describe the method we use on this Pepper's tour to increase side sub coverage and made up the name "Sub Cannons" for them. Well, not ever tour or show has the flexibility to build the stage as part of the sub woofer array sooo.....

Here is a simple method of increasing that horizontal dispersion of sub woofer coverage utilizing the side firing sub cannon method with all the subs are stacked in a straight line. This setup is useful both indoors and out and allows you to easily alter the amount of low frequency energy you provide off axis to the people on the sides. The main subs on send 1 are facing forward and have zero time offset. The side firing subs are pointed outwards at 90 degrees and delayed incrementally such that their acoustic focus is 90 degrees off axis. The delay times listed on the drawing are based on a 2 foot deep subwoofer and a 1 foot spacing between the subs.

In order to envision how the setup works, think of the main subs including the first (non spaced) side firing sub as one system which I have circled in red. Think of the spaced side facing subs as a second system. The main subs form the typical forward facing sub array that is quite common and tends to lack adequate side coverage. The fact that the zero time delay sub on the end is pointed sideways is of little or no consequence. Now think of the the +3 feet delayed subs as waiting for the sound from the subs behind it before it radiates it's sound. Then the +6 feet delayed sub waits for the sound of the combined zero delay and +3 delayed subs before it radiates and finally, the +9 delayed sub waits before radiating as well.

This incremental addition increases the volume for the listeners off to the sides while having a relatively minimal effect on the listeners in front. The setup works quite well and is easily adapted to various venue types. If you increase the side firing sub spacing, increase the delay times accordingly. The delay time in feet of each increment is (cabinet depth in feet) + (spacing in feet). So, if your subs are 2 1/2 feet deep and you space them 18", then you would use 4 feet of delay per increment.

You can alter the ratio of the quantities of forward firing to side firing subs as well as the quantity of side firing spaced stacks to achieve different coverage's and volume levels as well. The real beauty of the setup is that it does not require any complex measurements, it transfers well from venue to venue, you can keep all your settings intact as long as you keep your spacing's on the side firing subs the same and if the sides of the venue need more sub you just turn up sub send #2.

Cool cool, if ya give it try, don't forget to let me know what ya think and how it works for you.

**** End Sound Nerd Speak ****

The not afraid to nerd it up,

Dave Rat

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Nathan on :

That's really cool... I wish I had the equipment to try that out on! (The subs, not the fish jelly!)

Dave Rat on :

Hello Nathan, Yes, it does take a few subs, rock out and some day!!

Andy W. on :

Hey Dave talking about subs - have you had the chance to get hands on this new 2x21" sub from Adamson ( T-21)?

Krzysiek on :

Hi Dave It’s my first post here. I’m reading this blog from the same beginning and must admit that your blog brings a lot of fun and a lot of knowledge. When i’ve got a little time I’m always checking out what’s new out there in your roadi world. About the Japan have You ever take a ride in one of those buses without a driver? http://pateam.pl/images/expo_full_017.jpg and there are some more pics from my journey to japan: http://pateam.pl/expo2005indexen.htm I’ve got one question about the system. I’m wondering about the signal routing from the console out section to speaker amps. Maybe you wrote about this already and i’ve mised that thing. I understand all things with groups and vca’s but: - how you divide/rout signal to the outer, inner and side clusters, means witch console outputs/faders you use to send this signal (stereo out / mtx?), are the EQ’s inserted in this outputs? - is the sub on aux goes straight from aux send to subs amps and if so what about comps, if you compress signal at the groups what about aux sub compression? Hope You nerd it up for me, maybe some kind of a diagram, thank’s in advance : ) P.S. Waiting for You and Peppres in Poland, it will be the first time for peppers in my country - 03.07.07. Hope to get a chance to say hello to You and maybe chat for a while. Krzysiek

Dave Rat on :

Hello Krzysiek, No, have not rode the busses but will keep my eye out for them next trip over. I will answer your other questions in a dear Ratty blog post sometime soon!

Monique on :

Wow--what a shame! Frankly the menu sounded AWESOME. I would have been salivating only to be highly disappointed as well. Even the rice looks wrong. How can you mess up rice? Now I'm craving sushi...and it's almost lunchtime! :)

Dave Rat on :

Yes, that menu tricked me good and then I was hungry and too embarassed to ask for other food. The worst part is that I fell for the same menu trick last time I flew to Japan as well!

Mikey B on :

Dave I know you love discussing all things subbery. As a nostalgia treat I will share this. Back in 83' or 84' my wiley, wired partner and I created Underground Sound. As we ventured into the So Cal venues we happened upon Fenders Ballroom. As we thought we were the shit with our Klipsh "W" bins, and our Studiomixer boat of a console. I recall a couple of days meeting with you. I recall fondly the wadirment that ensued about all things sub. You were in the design phase of rat subs I believe. And I too was a front load lover myself. It went on about your boxes being tuned to 30 cycles and the ups and downs of the folded bins that were becoming so prominent then. I remember thinking to myself after these meetings "Hmmm I think were in trouble!!" I think also we were mired in the greatness of the 1040 Yam X-over we had aquired. I had modified it to insert limiters. And you mentioning subs on an aux kind of torked our little brains. Also I can't forget you getting one of the first 2404 consoles and how we were agog about it. Well we only lasted a few years then like all things abusive, destruction was eminent. So it has been nice to yak it up a little online with you again and delve into the woofing world again. With all the sub steering,cardiod stacking, and cannonery their is more wadirment than ever. I am glad there are still some folks that find it interesting. So thats my nostalgia treat for the day. I found a picture from that time a while back, and it was extremely shocking. I am sure you have some shocking pics of your own from that era.

Dave Rat on :

Wow Mickey!, You bring up some old stuff, way cool! I forgot that I was just as nerdy back then as I am now. I can't put a face to your name, send me a pic, I want to see if I remember you. Love to see the old picture as well. I did do some "blast from the past" pics in earlier blog posts that are pretty old school Rat world. I will do more at some point.

Monique on :

Dave, Did you ever do sound for John during his earlier solo years? I can't remember if I read that you did in one of your entries or if I'm imagining it. If you did, how did that work considering the emotions of the other band members? I guess what I'm asking is, was it difficult to do sound for both? Maybe that's too personal of a question. I leave it up to your discression and take no offense if you prefer not to answer since I'm simply curious as I sit here and listen to The Will To Death. -Monique

Dave Rat on :

Yes, I did some of John's solo gigs early on and also did sound at ATP once as well. As far as the band's concerns of JF solo gigs, I have seen or heard no tension. Quite the contrary as they support, attend and reinforce each other's various creative outlets while holding unity in the Peppers. They are extremely close and unified and whenever issues do arrise, they confront them and solve them so they don't smolder into actula problems.

Monique on :

Thanks so much for answering. I wasn't sure if I was entering none-of-your-business town. Curiosity sometimes can get the better of me.

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