330. What’s New In Live Audio Technology

It’s time for a summer check-in, as Sean and Andy catch up on festival season and take a look at what’s new in live audio technology, from Sennheiser HD 480 PRO headphones to L-Acoustics Source Intelligence, Alpha Labs De-Feedback for Mac to AuviTran’s HY AVB/Milan card, and more! This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.

Episode Links:
Attend Andy’s “DM7 for Theatre” Workshop On Saturday, July 25 In Person In Chicago Or Online
Studio Technologies Model 762 Stereo Level Control
Sennheiser HD 480 PRO Closed Back Headphones
LALAL.AI Lynx Neural Network
L-Acoustics Source Intelligence
Cohesion Canvas Simulation Software
AuviTran AV-HY64-AVB Card For Yamaha RIVAGE
Signal To Noise, Episode 315: Devin Sheets On De-Feedback
Episode 330 Transcript

Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!

Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”

The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.

Want to be a part of the show? If you have a quick tip to share, or a question for the hosts, past or future guests, or listeners at home, we’d love to include it in a future episode. You can send it to us one of two ways:

1) If you want to send it in as text and have us read it, or record your own short audio file, send it to signal2noise@prosoundweb.com with the subject “Tips” or “Questions”

2) If you want a quick easy way to do a short (90s or less) audio recording, go to https://www.speakpipe.com/S2N and leave us a voicemail there.

Transcript

Episode 330 - Summer Updates

Note: This is an automatically generated transcript, so there might be mistakes--if you have any notes or feedback on it, please send them to us at signal2noise@prosoundweb.com so we can improve the transcripts for those who use them!

Voiceover: You’re listening to Signal to Noise, part of the ProSoundWeb podcast network, proudly brought to you this week by the following sponsors:

Allen & Heath, whose new dLive RackUltra FX upgrade levels up your console with 8 next-generation FX racks – putting powerful tools like vocal tuning, harmonizing, and amp simulation right at your fingertips. Learn more at allen-heath.com 

RCF and TT+ AUDIO.... Delivering premium audio solutions designed for tour sound and music professionals for over 75 years.  Visit RCF at RCF-USA.com for the latest news and product information.

Music: “Break Free” by Mike Green

[00:00:58] Andy Leviss: Hey, welcome to another episode of "Signal to Noise." I'm your host, Andy Leviss. With me as always, the AVB to my Milan, Mr. Sean Walker. What's up, Sean?

[00:01:08] Sean Walker: What's up, buddy? How are you?

[00:01:09] Andy Leviss: Good. You know, like we're, we're kinda, we're, we're sort of the same thing. People don't really entirely understand the difference, but one's, one's a li- a little more by the book. Does that, that, that seem fair?

[00:01:25] Sean Walker: Yep. Sure does.

[00:01:26] Andy Leviss: Yeah.

[00:01:27] Sean Walker: So, so which one am I, which one am I?

[00:01:29] Andy Leviss: Ah

[00:01:30] Sean Walker: wild card, you're the by the book?

[00:01:32] Andy Leviss: I mean, yeah, although now I'm trying to figure like translating us to AVB versus Milan. I'm like, is... Yeah, I mean, I mean, Milan jumps through the extra hoops, but is also a little more polished in like, you know, business, businessy.

[00:01:44] Sean Walker: Well, snap

[00:01:46] Andy Leviss: So yeah, so I, you could go either way. We'll, we'll let, we'll let folks, uh, we'll let folks, uh, weigh in on that in the, in the comments if it were.

[00:01:53] Sean Walker: Copy that. I can't, I can't wait.

[00:01:56] Andy Leviss: yeah. Uh, ba, ba, ba. And I'll, I'll actually, I'll, I'll remind folks too, like if you've ever got feedback on the, on the show, um, good, bad, indifferent, constructive criticism on whether topics, uh, or, or how we're at an im- anything, like reach out to us, man. Like send, send us emails. Like certainly, uh, you know, certainly we, we love when folks post comments on, you know, whether it's Spotify or iTunes, but like every once in a while I'll check those 'cause I don't see them all the time and, you know, there, there will be a piece of feedback there then like, "Oh, I wish you had emailed me."

Like, we could've talked about it and I'd, I'd like to know more about what you're talking about. So, uh, so reach out to us, uh, signaltonoise@prosoundweb.com or I'm at andy@prosoundweb.com. Uh, and, and, uh, let us know. We always love hearing from folks, uh, what we could be doing better or, or what we're doing that you like 'cause we're perfect.

Wait, no. Um, any,

[00:02:52] Sean Walker: yeah.

sure bud.

[00:02:54] Andy Leviss: Yeah. Anyway, it, it's, it's summer right now where I don't know about where you are. I know where I am. It's, we've had like some orange skies and stuff as, uh, as, uh, wildfires from Canada, um, make their impact known way, way further south than one would necessarily expect. Uh, is, is that hitting y'all at all or are you far enough away?

[00:03:13] Sean Walker: yeah, we're far enough away. It, oftentimes in the summers we get that same kind of a wildfire vibe, but we don't, we're not having that this year. Right now it's,

[00:03:21] Andy Leviss: Yeah. And for

[00:03:21] Sean Walker: beautiful and sunny here

[00:03:23] Andy Leviss: Nice. Yeah. No, it's, it's, it's no longer orange here, although the air quality is still kinda... It's, it's wild when like comparing notes with coworkers in other parts of the country. Like, I'm like the 160 air quality index here in New York is actually really good compared to like, you know, my coworker in New England who's in like the 500 and something, 600 and something. Like I didn't know that scale went that high. Um, but yeah. So we're in the, yeah, in the middle of summer, summer festival season for, for you, right?

[00:03:53] Sean Walker: Oh yeah, dude, totally. I got freaking a zillion gigs and g- gear out and people flying from all over the country to come bail my ass

[00:04:02] Andy Leviss: flying in all your, all your heavy hitter, uh, A+ team, right?

[00:04:06] Sean Walker: Totally. Yeah. I mean, the, the beautiful part is you're just flying your friends in, you know what I mean?

[00:04:11] Andy Leviss: Yeah, yeah, yeah

[00:04:12] Sean Walker: Like, you know. But yes, yeah, you, you don't fly in the C team, that's for sure. But the, the, uh... We had a pretty funny phone call the other day where I was like, "Hey, man, I need you to come do this thing, and, uh, I literally just need you to be my security blanket because, you know, we're, we're spread thin.

All our, all our normal, you know, local A team is out doing a zillion other shows, and I just need somebody that I can make sure it's, it's on, it's handled." They went through the whole thing, the whole scope, and they were like, "So there's literally nothing for me to do but stand here and look cute?" I'm like, "100%, bud.

Welcome, welcome to the team."

[00:04:51] Andy Leviss: Yep, here's your day rate

[00:04:54] Sean Walker: All the bands have their own engineers. All the, you know, it's like you mix the one acoustic opener and then stand there and fricking make bad jokes. You know what I mean?

[00:05:02] Andy Leviss: Nice. That's nice work if you can get

[00:05:05] Sean Walker: Totally.

[00:05:06] Andy Leviss: And say, "Well, uh, on- once I get more vacation time

[00:05:08] Sean Walker: on the,

[00:05:09] Andy Leviss: up,

[00:05:09] Sean Walker: know, same with the monitors, dude

[00:05:13] Andy Leviss: Yeah. That's-- Th- those are fun. It's like, I mean, we've talked about before. It's like it's, it's when you're in that position, sometimes it's a little weird 'cause you're like, "Well, I'm good enough to be doing that too," but that's not what it's about. And once you get in the flow and when you've got like cool n- cool guest engineers with you, it's like it can be awesome.

Like you get to help out, you know, you

[00:05:32] Sean Walker: Dude, totally

[00:05:33] Andy Leviss: come on, and like you're also not the one who's gonna get fired or get, you know, a wedge thrown at you

[00:05:40] Sean Walker: Yeah, dude, totally. Th- this, this particular engineer was like, "I, I mean, I kind of feel bad for charging you." And I was like, "No, no, no, no. No, no, no. Don't feel bad." Like, you know what I mean? Even though you're

[00:05:50] Andy Leviss: I knew who I was hiring and I knew what I was hiring you for

[00:05:53] Sean Walker: the thing is 100%. And the, you know, I knew what it cost, I knew what I needed, and the value that you provide or the co- the security blanket you provide for me to be there even though you're not doing a bunch of mixing necessarily is wonderful, you know?

And, uh, it also helps that there's a bunch of guests, guest engineers that have asked for a particular platform,

[00:06:19] Andy Leviss: Mm-hmm.

[00:06:20] Sean Walker: this person is super hip to that platform in a way that most people aren't, so they can really help them through any, you know, challenges, thoughts, and they can just-- Like some of them sent show files ahead of time, but they were either old or incomplete or, you know, whatever.

And so all these guest engineers get to leave with a super polished baller file for the next time they're on this platform, which will just be wonderful. You know what I mean? And so, you know, I kind of, I had to, you know, tell them like, "Dude, it's more than the m- the mixing, right? Like the, it's, it's about everybody's experience coming through here, right?"

I, I view this whole thing as hospitality, and I know that sounds weird. I know I'm-- I don't wanna get all

[00:07:04] Andy Leviss: I

[00:07:05] Sean Walker: on a tangent here, but

[00:07:06] Andy Leviss: Yeah,

[00:07:06] Sean Walker: just think about when you're i- when you're in the middle of it and you show up and everybody's freaking grumpy and everybody's freaking having a day and nothing works the way it should, and then you're the guest engineer that's gotta go figure the whole thing out.

Like, you just wanna blow a gasket. You're like, "This is, this sucks." You know what I mean? But if you, if you show up and it's all worked out and everybody's happy and smiley and they're like, "Hey man, what do you want? W- we're going to the coffee shop next door. What do you want?" And they're like, "We're in the middle of a field.

What coffee shop?" You're like, "The one at the end of the marina." They're like, "Oh my God. Yes, I'd love a coffee. And what do I gotta do with the rig?" You're like, "It's already tuned. It's dialed, this freaking thing. And by the way, the guy that made the desk is standing here so that any questions you got, you can sort it the fuck out."

And they're like, "Oh my God, I love

[00:07:43] Andy Leviss: gonna say that confirms what platform and what person we're talking about. Understood.

[00:07:48] Sean Walker: But like, you know what I mean? You just, it's just a whole different, it's a whole different experience for people showing up, right? And so it, it just makes everybody comfortable and happy. And when you've got people that also natively make people comfortable and happy, right?

Like this particular person makes everybody that's around them feel comfortable. You know what I mean? Like, it just, it's a great vibe. It's a... You know what I mean? Like, you just get hired to be like, "It's gonna be just fine." You know? And then the, in my particular case, because this is a music show

[00:08:23] Andy Leviss: Mm-hmm.

[00:08:23] Sean Walker: and the rig that we've got is a corporate rig, I hung a giant corporate rig for a music show, and everybody's like, "I mean, I guess we'll take it."

You know what I'm saying? Like, uh, to just have that extra touch point of like, "It's all gonna be just fine. Everything is fine." You know what I mean? And I know this is kind of a, you know, fluffy rant about it, but like, take notes as freelancers. Like, you're paid to just make sure everything's fine and everybody's comfortable.

You know what I mean? And that's,

it's great

[00:08:56] Andy Leviss: why we've done so many long episodes on how to be a good freelancer and stuff like that, and you just boil it down to, like, one sentence

[00:09:04] Sean Walker: Everything's gonna be fine.

[00:09:06] Andy Leviss: Yep.

[00:09:07] Sean Walker: That's it, dude. Here's your money. Everything's gonna be fine

[00:09:09] Andy Leviss: be the dog with a cup of coffee in the middle of the meme.

[00:09:14] Sean Walker: That's

[00:09:14] Andy Leviss: is fine.

[00:09:15] Sean Walker: Everything's gonna be fine. Nothing's on fire here. Everything's fine. Everything's fine. Yeah. So that, that's cool. And, and same thing at, uh, sa- same show actually, 'cause we've got-- I, I can't, I've lost count of how many shows we're at today, so I don't know. Garrett would know. But same thing, flying engineer on monitors.

She is a baller. Just a baller monitor engineer. Super freaking talented, easy to hang with, and, like, showed up, did the thing, slide right in, got her did, boom, shaka-laka. But just, it's just awesome, dude, and it makes you, like, as, as the, the team is running around like chickens with their heads cut off, making sure all the I's are dotted and T's are crossed, and then to have those kinds of people go, "It's all good, dude.

No problem." You know what I mean? And then handle it. It's freaking, it's great, dude. It's so great, and worth every penny of the flights and hotels and, you

[00:10:08] Andy Leviss: Nice

[00:10:09] Sean Walker: It's, it's awesome. So that's... Remem- remember, I know we talk about it a lot and, and people are probably tired of hearing about it, but it's so freaking important.

Like, don't be a dick. Be good at what you do, or as good as you can be, and just be cool. And make sure everybody is comfortable, you know? Freaking can't, can't do it enough. Can't, can't talk about it enough, dude.

[00:10:34] Andy Leviss: Yeah. And I, and I mean some- something you-- No, I was gonna say like something you kinda mentioned there in passing that's worth, that I, I'm pretty sure we've talked about before when we were talking about like unreasonable hospitality, is the whole knowing when to like splurge and spend that money that seem, that might as an individual item seem exorbitant, but like you know you can afford and you're kinda budgeting towards that one thing for the outsized payoff it's gonna have.

And, and, and like in your case this weekend, it's, it's flying in those two folks to make sure the sh- show goes super smoothly and like is that potentially like, uh, like I, I don't know your numbers, but is that potentially a significant chunk of your budget for that? Yeah. Is it like much more than like you could probably find somebody, you know, drivable, you know, if you looked around?

Yeah. But is it worth it for the, the client and, and engineer experience and for your confidence of, "I don't have to hire somebody on word of mouth. I know I've got somebody that I trust and that I've worked with and who's awesome"? Yeah.

[00:11:35] Sean Walker: If I look at it on a spreadsheet or, you know, in the, in the software on the, on the, uh, the reports, right? It destroys my, my profit margin for the show, right? Flights, hotels, that shit is expensive.

[00:11:48] Andy Leviss: Mm-hmm.

[00:11:50] Sean Walker: But if I look at it holistically as the client, it ensures the client is stoked and the, this super valuable client to us who is awesome and we love as people and as a client, it ensures that all the other shows we do for them year round, year after year after year, it goes smoothly, they go smoothly, they're stoked.

And so when we're spread thin, if I just look at it at this show, it doesn't make sense, right? I did not bill for flying engineers. I billed normally, and then we had a stack of shows, and that's not my client's fault, right? Like, so I didn't re-bill my client for hotels and flights and all that

stuff. That's right. That's not appropriate in this particular case, right? I'm eating all of those costs. So there's Probably five grand that I'm just gonna fricking eat out of the profit of this show,

[00:12:42] Andy Leviss: Yeah

[00:12:43] Sean Walker: you know, ish. Let's say heavy on the ish, right? And, uh, that sucks

[00:12:48] Andy Leviss: yeah, but, but your reputa- reputation bo- both with that client for future shows and just broadly your reputation as a company is, is it's an investment in that too

[00:12:59] Sean Walker: Absolutely. And all of those engineers coming through this weekend, right? Every-- There's Eight or 10 guest engineers this weekend coming through, and every one of them is gonna have a freaking awesome experience with two baller engineers to talk, check with them, hang out, nerd with them, right? Like bro down and nerd, and not just have some grumpy local vendor that's burnt to the ground, but they got like, dude, they got A-li-

[00:13:26] Andy Leviss: to be found

[00:13:27] Sean Walker: they got A-list people on both ends of the snake and they're gonna be stoked.

You know what I mean? "I don't know how to use this platform." "I do."

[00:13:33] Andy Leviss: Yep.

[00:13:34] Sean Walker: You know what I mean? Like, "How do I...?" "Here's how." "Is this...?" "Yes, it sure does." "Can I do it like this?" "You sure can." You know what I mean? Like it's, it's gonna be great. But anyway, let's get off this and get onto something more

[00:13:45] Andy Leviss: We were gonna do like we, a, a while back we did a little bit of like news and like product and cool stuff roundup, and we thought maybe, maybe for the summer, you know, it might be, you know, in, in the lull between when everybody we've been talking about getting on is just like slammed with their own festivals too.

We thought maybe let's just

[00:14:01] Sean Walker: Yeah, they're all out of the country right now.

[00:14:03] Andy Leviss: yeah. Um, so

[00:14:05] Sean Walker: can I jump right in and tell you how excited I am for the fricking Cohesion software, dude?

[00:14:13] Andy Leviss: Yeah. Let's, let's do it. So yeah, Cohesion, uh, Canvas, which just announced yesterday, yeah, yesterday,

[00:14:21] Sean Walker: Like how cool is that? Like from a, you know, as a company much smaller than Clair, looking at what they're doing, going, "Dude, how freaking cool that they started as a sound company, started just ripping by doing a, a great job," right? 'Cause you don't, you don't get to be that big size by not doing a great job, right?

And then are just vertically integrating and now they're like, "Yeah, we're gonna just own a speaker manufacturer. Ooh, and then we're gonna do a great job at it, and then we're gonna make it predict, and then we're gonna..." Like, dude, how cool to just watch them grow and do the darn thing, and now they've got like what appears to be a super cool complete prediction software.

That's freaking awesome, man

[00:15:05] Andy Leviss: Yeah. So for, for those who know, obviously Cohesion is Klir's like current, like, you know, top of the line, you know, like line array and sub product family, um, which they've spun off to their-- its own company, Cohesion Audio, um, at cohesionaudio.com. And, uh, and they are-- I don't think in the US market they're selling it other than for like installs, but they've started selling it in like other markets, so other providers in areas they don't work in can have it too.

And up until now, the EASE was their prediction software, which is, you know, much more commonly used in like speaker design and like the install world, and is super powerful, but certainly not really designed for the type of workflow that

[00:15:51] Sean Walker: Yeah. I mean, they, they make a Focus, like Ease Focus 3 is a free version that you can predict a lot easier, a lot closer to a RECALC or Soundvision, but it doesn't have the depth that those, like, brand-specific things do. So this is really cool, dude. And when it's tied that tightly, that's, that's freaking sweet

[00:16:09] Andy Leviss: Yeah. So that's, that's, that's a cool big thing, um, for that. We're excited to see that. We know there's a couple folks in the Discord who've been involved in like testing and helping develop and give feedback who are, you know, both like excited about like where it's been and where it's come from, and also excited to be able to like tell folks about the thing they've been secretly, you know, using on their gigs for the last few months.

[00:16:31] Sean Walker: Totally, dude

[00:16:33] Andy Leviss: Yeah, that's, uh, that's like, that's the big headline this week is that. Um, what el- I-- Oh, you know, I was gonna say just 'cause they're, they're sitting here on, on my head 'cause my, my, uh, in-ears are, are in the hospital right now through, uh, totally my own fault. Um, but, uh, I've got headphones on that are-- Sennheiser dropped these headphones a while ago, and we're-- We'll talk about them more in depth later 'cause I think Sean and I both got a pair that our friends at Sennheiser were kind enough to send us to check out.

But the HD 480, which is their new closed-back, um, they're, they're definitely like mixing-oriented closed-back, but, like, you can use them for live. I-- We gotta get them out on some loud gigs to actually feel like we can talk in depth about them, and I know Sean just got their... They're basically, they came out with the 490, which is their open-back studio ones a while ago, and these are the can you make a closed-back, you know, version of that basically.

So, uh, Sean's actually got both of them and is gonna, like, do some side by side, and we'll talk about that for folks 'cause I know there's a lot of us who bounce between both of those situations and use cases. Um, but yeah, I've been, I've been using them here to record, you know, podcasts the last little bit and do some listening and mixing too, and they're, they're one of the comfiest pairs of over-ear headphones I have ever worn.

Um, some cool, like, useful features, um, so figured men- mention that. Um, yeah, like detachable cable that you can switch to either the left or right, which super-duper handy to keep out of the way, and there's like, there's a little, like, spring coil of cable right below the ear. So like, if you're the asshole like me that, you know, drives away with the, uh, with the gas, uh, you know, spout from the gas tank at the,

[00:18:09] Sean Walker: Oh my God

[00:18:10] Andy Leviss: station, and you, you know the meme I'm talking about, and, you know, we all do it at the console.

Like, it gives you a little less of, uh, whipping it off your head. You've got that little bit of, like, strain relief to catch yourself, so I dig that. Um, and even on a hot day with crazy air quality, like, these pads are really nice for a stock pad. Anyway, uh, not, not a commercial per se, but also not a, not a review, just a cool new thing that came out that we, uh, we got to poke at a little bit, so I wanted to mention.

Um, on the headphone front or the in-ear front, as I mentioned in-ears, uh, some, some sad

[00:18:45] Sean Walker: don't. You're gonna make me sad. Don't

[00:18:46] Andy Leviss: I know. I know. No. Oh, so you, you're gonna make, you're gonna make me be the one to

[00:18:52] Sean Walker: Oh, 100%. 100... Yeah, good cop, bad cop, bro. You're bad cop

[00:18:55] Andy Leviss: yeah. So, so sad news recently from our friends Tal and Dave at, uh, Dark Matter Audio Labs is that, uh, Dark Matter Audio Labs is no more.

Uh, they, you know, they gave it a solid go for a couple years and just between, as they put it, like market headwinds where they were trying to grow, um, finances and stuff, and then some, like, health issues internally that, that one of them needs to deal with, um, they just It, it was time to stop the bleeding, and so they stopped new sales recently.

They are, they've committed to a couple years of supporting those of us who have them with future products. They're open to trying to figure out a way to, to bring it back eventually. But, um, you know, we wanna raise a glass to Tal, Dave, and the, the rest of the Dark Matter family. We love you guys. We love the, the Zen Ears, and, um, we are hoping for the best.

Um, you know, good thoughts towards, uh, towards the, the medical stuff that, uh, that the, you know, the OneKey person has going on. Obviously I'm not gonna get into specifics past that about who or what. Um, although, although they've, they've talked, uh, in broad strokes, uh, publicly a little bit about, so I'm comfortable saying as much as I did just say.

Um, but, uh, yeah, that's, that's kind of a bummer. Um

[00:20:14] Sean Walker: I cannot overstate how much I love these 6s, bro. I cannot... Like, it is not overstateable. Love these freaking things. I hope they create something new with whatever they're doing next

[00:20:27] Andy Leviss: Yeah. And I know they've, they've, z- s- they've got some other irons in the fire for some projects and, and again, they've, they've said they, they hope at some point in the, in the hopefully not terribly distant future, but also not like immediate future to try and figure out a way to, to bring, you know, some of the "Dark Matter" stuff back.

But, uh, we'll see how that goes. And

[00:20:49] Sean Walker: Th- this is the one. This, this one is the one.

[00:20:52] Andy Leviss: Yeah.

[00:20:54] Sean Walker: Like, figure, figure it out. Bring it back, fellas. We love you, kisses and hugs

[00:20:58] Andy Leviss: Yeah. But I mean, that's a, that's a hard market and there's a lot, like people have lots of allegiances there, and it's particularly as a, as a small like kind of startup company, like trying to market to, you know, this industry with the, what, you know, if you call it headwinds, inertia, whatever there is, you know, it's actually kind of astounding like the inroads that folks like FIR and 64 have made, um, you know, the last few years out of what seemed like nowhere.

And some of that is luck, some of it's marketing, some of it's just how much money you can put behind something to get it started. It's, it's-- this is a hard business, man.

[00:21:36] Sean Walker: Totally, dude. Totally. Dude, FIR also makes an incredible sounding set of ears. Their Xenon, I don't remember if it was four, maybe it's also the six. I don't, I don't remember the model number exactly, but is also a stunning set of in-ears, but they're like four grand, bro, for a pair

[00:21:51] Andy Leviss: say it's like there-- Yeah, it, it's, it's

[00:21:53] Sean Walker: But they're stunning sounding.

The, it's the only other one that sounds as good as the DMA 6s that I've listened to,

[00:21:59] Andy Leviss: And I mean, that was the astounding thing on the DMA 6 was, was that sound at that price point. That's what I've always said is like I,

[00:22:06] Sean Walker: 100%.

[00:22:07] Andy Leviss: you know, like, I mean, I, I literally I gave them the quote for like their marketing materials that at, uh, you know, NAMM last year, and that's literally what I said is like just the-- to sound like this at this price point is just jaw-dropping.

[00:22:19] Sean Walker: Yeah, dude. Yeah, totally

[00:22:21] Andy Leviss: um, and, uh, I mean, yeah. So yep, sorry to see that, guys. You know, we love you both. Um, well then, you know, as, as, uh, paths forward and, and next adventures happen, you know, we'll, uh, we'll, we'll be here to share it with folks.

[00:22:36] Sean Walker: Totally, dude. Totally

[00:22:38] Andy Leviss: I was gonna say of like, of all the, the companies and guests we've had on, particularly ones we've had on more than t- like I, I, I think it's safe to say Tal and Dave fall into, into like what we'd consider family at this point.

[00:22:48] Sean Walker: For sure.

[00:22:49] Andy Leviss: Yeah,

[00:22:50] Sean Walker: Yeah, for sure

[00:22:51] Andy Leviss: handful of guests that like we feel like, you know, are like good friends and family and like I, I think Dark Matter has definitely become kind of part of the, the unofficial Signal Noise family, so, uh,

[00:23:01] Sean Walker: Can we talk about something happy though? Can

[00:23:03] Andy Leviss: yeah.

[00:23:03] Sean Walker: just fully squirrel and talk about something happy? Dude, there is a fricking Milan card for Revage, bro

[00:23:11] Andy Leviss: is. I think we, I think we might have mentioned that, like, it, it had gotten teased at around NAMM or InfoComm, like at something a while back, but it was-- information on it was super scarce. Even as somebody who works for Yamaha, information on it was super scarce. Um, so Avatran, who I think we've also talked about before, they just, they-- I'm trying to remember which protocol used to be theirs.

They had one of the other, like, network sound protocols for years. Um, but their big thing is they make the ATB, like, audio toolbox converters that have, like, a bunch of modular slots that you can put an AVB module in or a Dante module or analog or AES or you can put three Dante modules in, connect them to three different networks, and have it be a Dante bridge.

You know, if you need, you know, you know, a broadcast network to tie into, you know, your venue network without, you know, without effing up your network, but, you know, don't need the power or expense of Dante Domain Manager, you can do stuff like that. Um, it's-- Like, I've used that in the past to get, like, you know, like a, a Yamaha, like, Dante ecosystem onto, you know, either Meyer, you know, AVB Milan stuff or L'Acoustics.

Um, but yeah, Avatran came out with the, what do they call it? Um, the AVHY64 AVB card, uh, which is a s- I believe it's 64 by 64 based on the number, although I'm not seeing that in the press release I'm looking at.

[00:24:42] Sean Walker: But how cool that you can now hit your P1 or Galaxy or whatever from AVB. That's sick, bro

[00:24:48] Andy Leviss: Yep, and it's, it's got a primary and secondary out port on it. It's,

[00:24:52] Sean Walker: primary and secondary

[00:24:54] Andy Leviss: yeah, so it just, it pops into an HY slot in, in, uh, a Revage DSP or, or a CSDR7 if, uh, if you're rocking the PM7 life and straight out to, to AVB and, uh, it is Milan certified, so

[00:25:10] Sean Walker: Heck yeah, dude. That's dope

[00:25:12] Andy Leviss: Yeah.

It, it either is or it's, it's going to be is what I was told. Um, so yeah, that's gonna be it. Yeah, it'll begin shipping in September. Um

[00:25:20] Sean Walker: Now we just need to get them to make one of those for a DM7 and then we'd be

[00:25:25] Andy Leviss: card would be,

[00:25:25] Sean Walker: g- Heck yeah, dude.

[00:25:27] Andy Leviss: be slick.

[00:25:28] Sean Walker: That'd be super slick.

[00:25:30] Andy Leviss: yeah, but that's,

[00:25:30] Sean Walker: I could, then I could just hit that Galaxy that's sitting backstage with AVB rather than having to take AES out of the Rio. Not that it really matters, I guess, but still. The nerds in us wanna just, you know, do it

the different

[00:25:48] Andy Leviss: like any, any conversion adds latency, you know? Like we're, we're, we're a, a bunch of folks that like to trim back latency, you know, understandably so. Um, but yeah. So yeah, if, if you've-- if you're in the RIVAGE ecosystem and, uh, and going to, to, like we said, either, either Meyer or, uh, or, uh, L-Acoustics L-ISA, so- solid option opening up in a couple months.

And, uh, speaking of L-ISA and the L-Acoustics footnote a few weeks ago

[00:26:18] Sean Walker: Dude

[00:26:21] Andy Leviss: It

[00:26:21] Sean Walker: been getting videos for a year and I'm stoked that Source Intelligence is finally announced at Keynote, dude. Ryan's been sending me videos of like lead vocals in stadiums out on tour that, you know, sound like stadium lead vocals isolated, and then you turn on Source Intelligence and it sounds like they're in a recording studio and I'm like, "Get out of here, dude.

Get out of

[00:26:43] Andy Leviss: It's so-- Yeah, it's, it's like a, a v- vocal isolation. Um, so to, to address the obvious comparison that, that folks are making, it's not dissimilar to De Feedback, although different and, and similar things, but, but I think targeted towards slightly different goals for it. Um, runs on at least a processor, um, so, uh, so you need to have an acoustic system.

So, you know, price point compared to, you know, like, you know, corporate event, you know, driver run and De Feedback on your laptop is, you know, it's definitely a different point and a different use case there. But it's really cool to see technology like this, you know, exploding and becoming real, and it, it-- I mean, I think even, even, even as it, you know, competes with De Feedback, I think it's seeing more companies going down similar roads also helps legitimize it more for the like, "Oh, you should just learn to EQ and do your job," you know, folks that, that...

[00:27:45] Sean Walker: It's not the same thing.

[00:27:46] Andy Leviss: Yeah.

[00:27:47] Sean Walker: It's not the same thing. The De-Feed, like we've had De-Feedback for a while now on our Waves li- Live Box Dante. It's like freaking cheating, dude. Like, you do all your normal stuff. It's, it, it's what we always wished a 5045 was. You know what I'm saying? Where you were like, you do all your normal stuff, you do the best you can, you dial the rig in normal, you do all your EQing, all your gain staging, all your blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, shit we normally do, and then you put this on and you go, "Get out of here.

Really?" And it's the-- it's so good, the clients notice how much better everything is, right? They're like, "It was great before and I didn't know that there was more you could do to make it greater 'cause it was so great." And then you're just like, but now it sounds like, like the vocals sound like you're making a podcast, like rather than you doing a live show, right?

Or in a recording studio or whatever, right? And then Source Intelligence is the, the same thing turned up to 11. It's fricking, it's unbelievable. And I, I don't know how much I can say without getting in trouble. I, I'm gonna just say, and they have made it more competitive with the package that I've, I've already got so that it's not quite so out of reach for people that wanna have that. And the Elisa box works on, I believe, AES67 and MADI, and I think also AES.

I, I was-- It was a late night last night when I was talking to Ryan about it. But, but they've, they intentionally have re-looked at the market and got it a lot closer to a live box with, with the De-feedback license rather than the $2 trillion it was before to go do that. So, you

[00:29:29] Andy Leviss: Yeah, and there's like-- And there's so much cool stuff you can do with like the L- L-LISA too. Like even at like when we were at, uh, NAMM in January, there was... I'm blanking on the name of the broadcast truck that basically does everything through an L-ISA processor, both for monitoring

[00:29:45] Sean Walker: Oh, dude, that truck was dope

[00:29:46] Andy Leviss: Yeah, and, and also basically we were saying like that they actually-- they take their surround mix and then their stereo mix that they put out for like broadcast is actually a binaural mix rendered down from the L-ISA processor. 'Cause he basically said like you, you still get stereo information from that if you're listening to it on traditional stereo speakers, but it actually fee- He, he said it to him in, in the demos we listened to, it feels like it opens up a little more than a traditional stereo mix would.

And then if you do put it on headphones, then you have that holy shit moment of it sounding like way more than, than two, you know, you know, drivers firing right into your ear holes.

[00:30:25] Sean Walker: Totally, dude. Totally. That was one of my favorite moments this year actually, uh, at, in the truck, 'cause it was quiet. After the craziness of the NAMM show floor, you just walked in and the place is quiet and you're like, "Ah."

[00:30:40] Andy Leviss: Mm-hmm.

[00:30:41] Sean Walker: And then they were like, "Could we play you something?" It was all like chill, and I was like, "Yes, dude, that's great.

Let's do it." It was awesome. And their speakers, dude, they, they make speakers too in that, you know, whoever they... It's, dude, they were incredible sounding. They were so good

[00:30:56] Andy Leviss: Um, yeah, so that's-- And, and while we're talking about this type of stuff and mentioning dFeedback, we should also mention they've had big news in the last month or two

[00:31:05] Sean Walker: Oh yeah, dude. They just had a massive overhaul and it's way more DSP efficient and it has some more features.

[00:31:14] Andy Leviss: Yeah, and specifically on Mac. So, 'cause when we talked to Devin earlier, it was, they had a Mac version. They were like, "It's, it really depends." They're like, "Some Macs it works really well, some it doesn't. We're not entirely clear on why," 'cause there's Apple... A lot of the ways they optimize stuff on, on cores is, is tricky and is often the, you know, just trust the OS.

It'll, it'll, it'll do what's best. And for the type of stuff their, that plugin is doing, it doesn't always, unless you really, really get into the weeds of what you're doing. And so they-- There was enough demand that they went and, you know, hired another developer to come take a look and optimize it. And like in that beta, which is now released, it went from, you know, like using like, you know, a very strictly configured PC is like the best option and like maybe gets you like eight instances or so.

Like, you know, folks are building custom PCs and pushing it past that to... And like Mac, you maybe get one or two, depends on the host, depends on your Mac, depends on which way the wind's blowing. To now it's like basically any Apple Silicon Mac can run like po- like a, a modern one, like even a Mac Mini can run like 16, 24 instances of this without breaking a sweat, like minimal optimization.

You know, you don't have to, you know, you don't have to order a special nut from overseas.

[00:32:35] Sean Walker: Dude, we were so excited. Well, we did the up- we did the upgrade and then, uh, immediately took it to a convention center and networked the whole place. So we had like, uh, you know, DM7 up front of house and-- Or, uh, uh, I'm sorry, DM7 up front of house in the general session, and then DM3Ds at all the breakouts.

And so around this convention center, we networked them all together with the Wave server at, in the general session, and we were able to then just hand out De Feedback licenses around all the breakout rooms over the network, and it was fricking sick. And

[00:33:12] Andy Leviss: just like, "Pat, here's your send and return. Just patch it to this Dante, uh, pair," and

[00:33:17] Sean Walker: Yes, exactly, dude. And so all these breakouts that are used to getting a 1402 and half feed and back thing now have, you know, this fricking super cool technology that just makes it all clear, and it was, it was awesome, dude. The client was just blown away 'cause they were like, "Do we really need to pull all this cable?

Do we really need this?" And I'm like, "No, you don't need it,

[00:33:43] Andy Leviss: Need it, but

[00:33:44] Sean Walker: it's gonna be pretty cool." Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, "But you're, you're streaming all of these, right?" And they're like, "Yeah." I'm like, "Okay, cool." It was, it was killer, dude. They were just like, "Holy moly, this is great." So I'm stoked. Thanks Devin for kicking butt, buddy.

[00:33:57] Andy Leviss: Yeah. That's, that's-- it's-- this, this wild new frontier of, like, all these processing things are, is, is... Yeah, I mean, like, I'm looking, I'm looking here, I'm looking at, you know, at, uh, ProSoundWeb's, like, news page, and there's also this, uh, LALAL.ai, L-A-L-A-L.ai, has launched a, a new Lynx neural network for speech denoising.

Um, so again, something else kind of in that, uh, that realm that's, uh, that's, you know, uh, an, uh, neural network trained to separate speech from background music, crowd noise, mechanical and environmental sounds. Um, I don't-- This doesn't talk about latency, so I don't know how, how well it will work for, uh, for live audio versus post-processing or streaming.

But, you know, yet another, yet another company working in, in, you know, this same corner. So it seems like it's really, you know, validating that as a powerful tool.

[00:34:56] Sean Walker: Dude, totally. And it, it is a powerful tool, and the upgrade's worth it. If you've already got the, the V1, going, going to the new, new version, like, it's so

[00:35:06] Andy Leviss: 'cause it-- and it's not even V2. Like, they're still working on V2, but th- this is just, like, V1 point... I think it's, like, 14 or something like that. Um,

[00:35:14] Sean Walker: number, but it was, it's awesome. Do it

[00:35:17] Andy Leviss: Yeah. Um, let's see what else. What other kinda, uh... Oh, yeah. And pl- so, um, FedDSP, I, I was just seeing, has, uh, uh, Hush, a source-aware drum gate processor that's a drum gate and bleed processor, uh, that y- yeah, a- again, like a source-aware intelligent detection system with four modes: basic kick, snare, and toms.

Um, and they do have a live mode that, uh, should be usable, uh, well, like in performance low enough latency. So that's kinda,

[00:35:50] Sean Walker: That'd be interesting, dude

[00:35:52] Andy Leviss: And, uh, uh, I don't know what it, what it translates to in US price, but I've heard the introductory pricing just went away, so it's 50 pounds, uh, is the current pricing for it.

So that seems

[00:36:04] Sean Walker: Which, which makes it five grand in US pricing because our whole shit is plummeting right

now. I, don't...

[00:36:09] Andy Leviss: you know. Yeah,

[00:36:12] Sean Walker: But let's not go down that rabbit hole. That's just, that's gonna piss everybody off. Let's just go back, back to audio

[00:36:17] Andy Leviss: Yeah, it was about 67 and change today. Now, what, what that'll be tonight, who knows?

[00:36:24] Sean Walker: Yeah, right. I mean, that's, that's re- totally reasonable for a plug-in, man. That's

[00:36:27] Andy Leviss: Yeah. No, that's pretty-- It's, again, it's in-- 'Cause that's always the, like, there's always that question on like De-feedback, like, "Oh, does it work on drums?" It's like, "No, no, at least not right now. It's made for vocals." So it's cool to be seeing folks

[00:36:38] Sean Walker: And spoken word vocals, not sung vocals

[00:36:41] Andy Leviss: Yeah.

All the-- Yeah. It's in, and that's the thing is that like it, it works on sung vocals because people are using it there, but it's certainly not optimized for it. I know that that seems to be one of the things they're talking about working for V2 is actually optimizing it for sung vocals too. And, you know, I know they've ta- like when Devon was here, he talked about potentially like trying to get it to, you know, more recognize and remove, you know, like drum bleed and other stage wash that's not just like PA and reverb

[00:37:09] Sean Walker: Source Intelligence does an incredible job of exactly that, right? In, in, in my mind, those are two different tools for two different jobs, and the

DeFeedback does a wonderful job for headsets, lavs, that kind of thing in a corporate environment, and it does exactly what it says on the tin, right? Like, it has a little bit of noise removal in it, but really it just makes it that much more stable and that much more, you know, you just get more gain before feedback and it's, it's awesome, dude.

It's awesome

[00:37:39] Andy Leviss: Yeah. It's-- They're, they're eating the same, they're eating the same foot-long sub, but they're eating it from opposite ends is, is my terrible analogy for it

[00:37:48] Sean Walker: And, and Source Intelligence is-- It, it probably does have some of the same effects and, and we'll, you know, we'll just have Ryan on to talk about it more intelligently. But

[00:37:57] Andy Leviss: Yep

[00:37:58] Sean Walker: it's a lot more noise removal, right? 'Cause like he was sending me, he was sending me st- uh, uh, examples of like on and off and stuff, and on it was like, you know, what all of us have heard our whole life with live sound vocals, right?

There's bleed and everything. And then on, is that-- Did I just say that right? On is, it was quiet. It was just, just the vocal. There was no bleed at all. It was like standing in a recording studio. It was incredible. It was stunning, dude.

[00:38:24] Andy Leviss: Nice

[00:38:25] Sean Walker: I, I would pick those two different tools for two different jobs, but it may be that they could both...

It, it may be that they're competitors doing the same job, but, but I'm not clear on that yet and I'll have to talk with some more people more intelligently about it before I just go, "Hey, this is better than the other." You know? But I, I would pick them for

[00:38:43] Andy Leviss: that, that's my impression, which is what I was trying to, like, hardly make with, like, the, the, the sub sandwich analogy is basically the de-feedback attacks eliminating feedback by removing bleed and background noise. And it sounds like source intelligence, uh, and, you know, end, ends up as, as the after effect removing so- you know, some feedback because its main goal is to remove the background noise.

So it's similar things, similar w- similar functions, but two slightly different ends

[00:39:17] Sean Walker: Yeah, yeah,

[00:39:18] Andy Leviss: thusly with, like, optimized in slightly different corners of what you can optimize.

[00:39:23] Sean Walker: Well, I'll buy us-- I'll buy a Elisa box and the source intelligence and for our company, and we can just fuss with it, and then I can speak intelligently about it once we've used it some more

[00:39:33] Andy Leviss: There we go. Um, so you'll source it and then we'll speak intelligently about it

[00:39:38] Sean Walker: Oh God, you did it.

[00:39:39] Andy Leviss: I did it. I made the face. Pe- people can hear the face I was making when I,

[00:39:42] Sean Walker: Oh God.

[00:39:43] Andy Leviss: yucked it up after that waka, waka, waka. Um, what else is...

[00:39:48] Sean Walker: I can't get him to stop, guys. I've tried. He, he won't

[00:39:50] Andy Leviss: He has. I'll just-- He'll text me while we're recording and it's just like, "Stop."

And that just, that just, that just, that just feeds me. It's, it's like, it's... Yeah, it, it's like feeding me after midnight. It's, that's just gonna make me bigger and, and worse.

[00:40:05] Sean Walker: No water after, no water or food after midnight for the Mogwai?

[00:40:08] Andy Leviss: Yep. Um, what else is, um... So I, I don't even know where I would use this live, but super handy gadget just gener- So, you know Studio Technologies?

[00:40:19] Sean Walker: I do

[00:40:20] Andy Leviss: So for folks who don't know, they, I mean, they used to make other like analog kinda like intercom-y feedback announcer-y stuff, and they're big, they do tons of Dante stuff. Like they make basically intercom belt packs that are just Dante endpoints. Um, you know, announcer, you know, stations that have, you know, monitoring, you know, IFB and, you know, mic with a push to talk or COF and like all sorts of stuff like that.

And they just came out with a thing that I know I have certainly said a bunch of times, like, "Doesn't somebody just make..." Which is they've got a stereo level control that's just Dante I/O. It's just a little box with a big knob on it and a network connection, PoE, and you just patch a couple Dante channels into it, a couple Dante channels out of it, and you've got a big volume knob

[00:41:05] Sean Walker: Is that kinda like the Focusrite Rednet AM2?

[00:41:08] Andy Leviss: Kind of, except not going to an analog output, because the Focusrite is like a headphone amp. This is like take the volume part of that, but it's like literally

[00:41:18] Sean Walker: Just turns your Dante network down, these two streams

[00:41:20] Andy Leviss: it turns, yeah, your two Dante channels down. So, you know, if you, like, if you've got, you know, like monitor speakers that are Dante, or if you're feeding, you know, Dante over to, you know, like a broadcast or something that doesn't have any level control, you've now got a big, a big volume knob that'll actually turn it down and send it out on another two...

So, and it's not modifying the signal on the existing Dante channels. It is, you know, you patch two channels into it, and then you patch its two outputs out to your destination device

[00:41:47] Sean Walker: Sweet

[00:41:49] Andy Leviss: uh, yeah. So that's, that's a pretty cool thing to see. Um, I don't think there's like anything else. Those were like the biggest things I've caught in the last couple weeks on like new fun toys and gadgets and exciting news.

I don't know if you've caught anything else that I've, uh, that I've missed.

[00:42:10] Sean Walker: No. No, I think we got it all. I was, I was stoked about the Claire software and the, and the AVB card for RIVAGE. That's sick. Sick, bro

[00:42:22] Andy Leviss: Yep. No, those are-- I am, I am stoked about... Yeah, definitely stoked about the card, um, obviously given my, given my day gig. Um, but,

[00:42:31] Sean Walker: Oh, dude.

[00:42:32] Andy Leviss: yeah.

[00:42:33] Sean Walker: You know what I am stoked about? Totally unrelated, just squirrel off into left

[00:42:37] Andy Leviss: All right, let's do it

[00:42:38] Sean Walker: I got a call from a Discord member that was like, "Hey man, I got the biggest gig of my freaking little company's life. I don't know what to do. You know, talk me through it." Talk, talked him through it, and they had also done my playbook, basically.

Just hire awesome people to go sort this out for you. And they hired some of the other members of the Discord server that were awesome at what they do to go do that, and then went and crushed it. And I thought it was freaking awesome that, like, our whole little community, dude, is all working together.

They're all, like, hiring each other and going, you know, like, it's freaking awesome, dude.

[00:43:17] Andy Leviss: Yeah. No, I love

[00:43:19] Sean Walker: was super, it was a super cool moment to have like, you know, our, all, all our members are calling each other to start working now, and I was like, "Yes, dude, that's awesome."

[00:43:26] Andy Leviss: It's like Sean's having a proud

[00:43:27] Sean Walker: How cool. Yeah, right? Totally. No, it's, it's not, it's nothing to do with me.

It's, it's to do with, like, the, the community starting to call each other rather than like, "Where do I go find somebody? I got this big gig. Where do I find somebody?" They were like, "I already called the guys I know that we've been talking to for a year." And I'm like, "Yeah, dude, smart move. That was great." And they crushed it.

Everything went great. Client was stoked.

[00:43:49] Andy Leviss: Love,

[00:43:50] Sean Walker: So I'm, I'm, you know, proud, you said a proud parent moment that, you know, our little community is freaking help- helping people more than listening to us yap on the freaking podcast. It's awesome

[00:43:59] Andy Leviss: That's good. I mean, 'cause that's the thing, it's like, I mean, you're not, you're not really... You, you wi- wisely for your own sanity, like stay away from like the management and, uh, like admin and moderation side of the Discord. Um, whereas I am kind of in, in the thick of it, and it's the, you know, it's the thing as, as it grows and honestly grows a lot past just listeners to this podcast, which, uh, which is the interesting thing, and just becomes a community in the audio industry that is tangential to the podcast.

It's, it's good to see the, like that communal thing still rocking and maintaining that. I know that's the thing like we on, on the like mod team struggle with sometimes is the how to find that balance of, you know, keeping a handle on things as it grows and as people who weren't in that small original community come in, but without making it, you know, suck and be a heavily moderated like, you know, like place online.

And I, uh, it, it feels like we're most... I, I, we don't know, we, we, like, I mean, I'll cop to like I as, as the, as the admin, you know, have, have certainly, you know, made calls that in, in hindsight were like, "Okay, you're right," you know? I, I wouldn't have done that again, you know? Like I made the bad call, but it's, you know, it's, it's cool.

And I mean, I think both with that community and with this podcast, I know like when you and I, you know, came on board and, you know, and, and, you know, and when Katie came on and like that short, you know, period that she was with us, it was... I think I certainly feel like that it's not about me, that it's like this is both the podcast and the Discord server are like a big community that like I would feel the gap in the, in the industry if they went away, and the opportunity kind of fell into my lap to help make that not happen.

And I take that, yeah, like I take, I take that seriously.

[00:45:55] Sean Walker: Totally. Yeah, you guys are awesome. We appreciate you. Keep, keep being awesome Well, that seems like a pretty good place to, like, wrap it up for the, for the week here. Thanks for listening to Yap for another week about audio. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Do it. Go. Squirrel.

[00:46:11] Andy Leviss: top and didn't

[00:46:12] Sean Walker: Squirrel

[00:46:12] Andy Leviss: when this episode's coming out. Uh, I am going to be in Chicago next week, so Saturday, July 25th through Monday, July 27th for the TSDCA annual meeting. I think I mentioned it in passing recently.

[00:46:28] Sean Walker: So deep dish pizza and coffee, or you're getting it down with it?

[00:46:32] Andy Leviss: I mean, it's, it's not fucking pizza, man.

Go watch the Jon Stewart rant. I'm gonna... But it is-- I do know where to get the, get the good, get the good stuff there. I'll, um, I'm gonna try and make a Peckwood's trip happen at some point. Um,

[00:46:43] Sean Walker: picking on New Yorkers about Chicago pizza, dude. They just get r- riled up. But wait, wait, wait. Speaking of pizza, you do have, you do have one weird quirk about pizza for being a New Yorker. Can, can, can I spill it,

[00:46:53] Andy Leviss: talked about that before.

[00:46:55] Sean Walker: Can I spill it, dude?

[00:46:56] Andy Leviss: I mean, I've talked about it on the podcast before

[00:46:58] Sean Walker: This dude loves Domino's

[00:47:01] Andy Leviss: That is not accurate. I do not love it. It is when I'm doing a gig out of town and I need something particularly late at night and I just need to know I'm getting a consistent product

[00:47:13] Sean Walker: AKA this dude loves Domino's Pizza.

[00:47:16] Andy Leviss: I mean, we, we, we, through

[00:47:19] Sean Walker: You're not wrong though. It was, it was good. It was,

[00:47:21] Andy Leviss: gonna say through, through fiascos of housing, Sean and, Sean and I ended up as roommates at, uh, at NAMM this year when we were out there.

[00:47:27] Sean Walker: Eddie, you were right. You were totally right. It was fricking... It was exactly what the doctor ordered at fricking 1:00

AM.

[00:47:33] Andy Leviss: it, the best pizza in the world? No. I-i is it, is it pretty solid and consistent and I can order it and, and know nine times out of 10 what's gonna show up? Yes.

[00:47:43] Sean Walker: I do, 100%. 100%. Any- All right. Anyway, off, off me giving you a hard time about your dietary choices

[00:47:49] Andy Leviss: It is-- So it is free for TSDCA members, which, uh, Theater Sound Designers and Composers Association.

We talked about it in the Lindsey Jones episode a couple years ago. Um, but also open to the public. Um, it's, I think it's 25... I'm not 100% if it's 25 a day or 25 for the whole, like, the couple days.

[00:48:09] Sean Walker: Either way, that's cheap

[00:48:10] Andy Leviss: uh, yeah, and there's like, there's a whole bunch of workshops. Um, like I'm doing on Saturday, I'm doing a DM7 for theater workshop.

Um, there's, uh, Meyer in conjunction with, uh, I think it's Steph Farina, who's a, a, like, designer and engineer in the theater world on, you know, like s- uh, like efficient workflows for system tuning. Um, there's, I mean, there's gonna be a, a panel on

[00:48:39] Sean Walker: Wait, wait, what? System tuning? Don't you just turn it on and it works

[00:48:46] Andy Leviss: Sh- ShureShon. Yeah, we'll go with it. Um, uh, yeah, so there's like a whole bunch of wor- uh, so of workshops on-- It's basically they do like half of the weekend as workshops and half as like TSDCA business, which obviously that

[00:49:02] Sean Walker: Dude, that'll be cool

[00:49:02] Andy Leviss: to members. Um, but yeah, if anybody's in Chicago next weekend, uh, check it out.

And then the cool thing is we're like all of the sessions are running through the DM7 and they actually for attendees had, um, have had or have a sign-up that like folks can volunteer to like mix a panel and get hands-on the DM7 and I will be there to guide them both with my official Yamaha hat on on the DM7 side, but then also with my guy who, you know, spent much of his career freelancing on corporate events to like kinda mentor folks a little bit in, "Hey, this is like a corporate style event.

You're used to mixing theater. Let me, let me show you some tricks." So

[00:49:42] Sean Walker: Dude, cool. That'll be super fun, dude

[00:49:44] Andy Leviss: And then, and yeah, if there's anybody in Chicago who like can't make that but is around for like drinks or coffee or something like, you know, shoot a message, drop, you know, drop-- I'm gonna drop a thing in the Discord, uh, later today to kinda start seeing who's around and see if at least like one night I can catch up with folks for like drinks or food or, you know, tomato, you know, casserole in a bread bowl That's the, that's the Jon Stewart, that's the Jon Stewart, uh,

[00:50:09] Sean Walker: I gotcha. All right. All right, I got

[00:50:12] Andy Leviss: But sorry,

[00:50:12] Sean Walker: Touché.

So you're, so you're not going to Giordano's

[00:50:16] Andy Leviss: Uh, we'll, we'll see. I mean, I, I... In the more traditional ones, Gino's East's toppings on Uno's dough would be my combination. But that said, um, yeah, I think it was Giordano. The, uh, I, I only got to taste lukewarm as like a catered loadout meal on a loadout of

[00:50:39] Sean Walker: Oh, you can't judge anything on that. Doesn't matter what it is

[00:50:42] Andy Leviss: on that. And then Peckwood's I love, but that is-- I mean, th- it's almost a, it's like a Chicago spin on Detroit pizza. It's, it's definitely a, a bit of a different, you know, it's, it's deep dish, but half the, half the, half the crust is dough, and then half of the crust is, you know, caramelized cheese at the end.

Um, it, it's a slightly different construction, slightly different cheese than Detroit style, but kinda it's, it's a hybrid between the two, and that's my favorite Chicago pizza. Um,

[00:51:11] Sean Walker: All right. All right. Well, send pictures.

[00:51:14] Andy Leviss: Yeah. Now that I remembered to plug that, now it seems like a perfect, uh, perfect spot to wrap it up, so I'll let you do your thing.

[00:51:20] Sean Walker: Cool. Well, thanks for hanging with us again for another week, y'all. Thank you to Allen and Heath and RCF for letting us yap. That's the pod. See you next week

Music: “Break Free” by Mike Green