Why in the heck would Soundies go to LDI? Hellooooo? "Lighting Dimension International," oh boy! Come on, sound people, let's go listen to the lights! You must be joking. After the fifth person asked me, I began to wonder a bit and decided to do some research. Well, actually, I just walked over and asked Jon Rat what the deal was. Turns out that unlike the "real" audio trade shows, these Lampies came up with the idea of setting up a round robin of full-blown sound systems on actual stages all pointed to a central area. Over the course of three hours, you can hear each of the six stages do a 30-minute presentation showing why they are the magic solution to all that is sound. After some internal deliberation, it was decided; Rat would delegate Daniella Rat and Dave Rat on a journey to 'Mouse Town East' to see what the real deal is all about. Unfortunately, due to prior audio commitments, Jon would stay back and hold down the Rat's nest. Our mission–seek out the things that make sound and determine if the legend is true.
As I stood in the middle of SoundHenge, I realized that I was in a truly rare and unique place. Here, each shrine has been designed and constructed to highlight the assets of that specific sound god, some more successfully than others. Some shrines were flawed in design while others were out of their element, and yet others were less-than-optimally implemented.
So, without risking bringing the wrath of the sound gods upon myself, I would like to share some thoughts on the shrines. I will leave it up to you to unravel the mysteries of which entity I'm referencing.
Subwoofer LF Coverage: The range varied from amazing to pathetic.
Best: One had a truly amazing new idea, and while it may run into implementation issues in some venues, I see true vision. Another was just as solid and smooth as the subs should have been.
Worst: Holes so deep in coverage that you could fall in them and end up in Japan.
Subwoofer Tone: The range was much tighter; at least two manufacturers have a well-damped, low-tuned box that lacks that irritating 40 to 60Hz "bonging" that so many companies love to sell.
Main System High-Frequency Fidelity: I always listen to see if the high hat sounds like sand blocks or as though there is actually something metal being hit. Before I walked in, I knew of at least one shrine that would not pass this test. Several shrines did well in this area. Sonic Implementation: I was stunned when one P.A. came up sounding like a wet blanket was over it, especially considering I know the system can perform better. One excellent- sounding system came up so loud and hard, it sent the worshippers scrambling, while a third had such poor quality input signal sent that it was hard to hear its flaws. I felt that all in all, two shrines did a fine job, and one did a great job with three falling behind. Those gods will surely be displeased.
Main System Coverage: This was one of my favorites, and it truly points out the beauty of "robin" forums such as this round one. Though not as drastic as the subs' diversity, there were clearly superior and inferior shrines. I was listening for actual coverage width, tonal quality at the fringes and tonal smoothness within the coverage area. I did my best to factor out system size. The field faired pretty well here with most falling well within the window of acceptability. Two of the designs were excellent.
Thoroughness of Presentation: I was surprised to see gorgeous stages and messy mix positions, like they don't count. Oh, hey, I'm going to apply for a job, I will wear a nice suit and no shoes because they won't be looking at my feet. I found it interesting to analyze what the various presenters felt was important. The shrines ranged from sloppy and hodge podge to three-quarters pristine. Not one was thoroughly flawless to the "car show room" level that we should expect from some of these manufacturers, though one was closer.
Biggest Screw-Up: No beer, no water, no food, nada! Hello? Let's see, lure all the Soundies a mile away with lots of P.A., as a carrot of temptation in the hot Florida sun, and then try to dehydrate and starve them during a three-hour sound marathon. It's an evil Lampy plot, I tell ya!
Biggest Wish: That each shrine would have picked a CD track that was then combined into a medley with the tracks from all other shrines that they would then all approve. This medley would then have played through all of the systems in succession after each round robin, as a grand finale, so we would have had a fair and common reference point to compare by.
OK, kidding or seriousness aside, whichever you prefer, I must say that the idea of the "sound-off" is brilliant. Finally, a way to truly hear and compare large-scale systems and an opportunity for manufacturers to step up and be judged on the products they offer in real time. Hell, if they can't set them up to sound good and impress the heck out of us, how can they expect us from the sound engineer tribe to do so? Is there any excuse for a manufacturer with total control over every variable to present anything less than a stellar presentation? That being said, this is a new concept and developing. Manufacturers have shown they are willing, and we as engineers and vendors must support it with our interaction. I learned a tremendous amount about multiple systems in an extremely short period of time. I only wish the presentations were more refined. And I hope our Soundy tribe attendance was strong enough for manufacturers to press the presentations to new levels. Plus, letting so many Lampies congregate without any Soundies keeping them in check is never a good idea.
And finally, thank you to Daniella Rat for taking all the photos, for her massive patience, inspiration and changing her holiday plans to investigate the worthy cause of locating SoundHenge!
Dave Rat is the founder of Rat Sound Systems Inc. He can be reached at www.ratsound.com.
