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Author Topic: Quad PA  (Read 14350 times)

Al Schatz

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Re: Quad PA
« Reply #10 on: January 03, 2014, 06:51:59 PM »

Quad-especially with the performers in the middle is going to be pretty bad for most people.

But it depends on what you are "going for".  If it is sound quality-then it will probably be a big bunch of "mush"

If sound quality doesn't matter and you simply want to "surround" people with sound and the "experience" is what is most important then you may be fine.

Just remember that the more points of sound-the lower the quality will be.

thats a really good way to sum it up thanks.
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duane massey

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Re: Quad PA
« Reply #11 on: January 03, 2014, 07:53:49 PM »

I'm going to go against the flow here, BUT with conditions.
If you're going to do a conventional live show, bad idea.
If you're doing a show with specific music (mostly recorded or electronic) that is composed and intended for the discrete 4-channel experience, totally different. We did a few shows back in the 70's in medium-size rooms (1000 people) and it was pretty amazing. Was it worth the effort? To us, yeah. To you, maybe not. However, with today's technology I would love to do some shows like that again. It has to be specifically planned out, and I would think that the "quad" speakers would have to be treated as special effects, which would imply that you would need a separate FOH system as well.
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Duane Massey
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Mac Kerr

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Re: Quad PA
« Reply #12 on: January 03, 2014, 08:05:54 PM »

hello all,

im new to the forum. I'm touring FOH for an electronic musician. we're in the preproduction phase of a tour and were talking about renting raw space and bringing in our own PA. we're talking about doing the PA in Quad with the performers in the center. maybe 1000-2000 people. I've been searching the web for advice but haven't found much. Does anyone have any advice on things to keep in mind?

I can't see any way this could work with the performers in the center. That layout will make it very difficult to get coverage of the entire audience from each of the 4 speaker positions. In addition the performers will be hearing a loud PA (that has to project far behind them) way out of time with themselves. This is not a good situation.

If the performers remain on a stage in the traditional sense with left and right mains as well as left and right rears it should be much easier to cover the audience equally from all the speaker sources and the performers will be out of the PA.

Mac
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Al Schatz

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Re: Quad PA
« Reply #13 on: January 03, 2014, 08:20:45 PM »

i see what your saying. the "best seat in the house" will be taken up by the performers/stage.

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Al Schatz

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Re: Quad PA
« Reply #14 on: January 03, 2014, 08:26:16 PM »

I'm going to go against the flow here, BUT with conditions.
If you're going to do a conventional live show, bad idea.
If you're doing a show with specific music (mostly recorded or electronic) that is composed and intended for the discrete 4-channel experience, totally different. We did a few shows back in the 70's in medium-size rooms (1000 people) and it was pretty amazing. Was it worth the effort? To us, yeah. To you, maybe not. However, with today's technology I would love to do some shows like that again. It has to be specifically planned out, and I would think that the "quad" speakers would have to be treated as special effects, which would imply that you would need a separate FOH system as well.

thanks for saying that. i am really inspired by things that were tried in the 70s. i see what your saying about having it be a separate system.
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Ivan Beaver

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Re: Quad PA
« Reply #15 on: January 03, 2014, 09:37:24 PM »

A friend of mine saw The Who Quadraphenia  tour.

He said that the sound really sucked when they were using the quad effects.

It depends on where you are listening.  I am sure that at some seats it was fine and really cool.

But most of the people were not in the "good" seats.  So their experience was not as good as others "thought" is was.

Just consider your audience and consider that they paid their money and will all or at least most of them get their moneys worth?

It depends.
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Ivan Beaver
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Steve M Smith

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Re: Quad PA
« Reply #16 on: January 04, 2014, 02:52:47 AM »

I would think that the "quad" speakers would have to be treated as special effects, which would imply that you would need a separate FOH system as well.

Pink Floyd used to do it with left, right, front and back so it could be done with a standard stereo system with additional front and rear speakers, only being used when the effect is required.

Probably no need for separate front and rear subs. Some full range speakers at front and rear would be enough for a small venue.


Steve.
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Ivan Beaver

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Re: Quad PA
« Reply #17 on: January 04, 2014, 08:14:46 AM »

Pink Floyd used to do it with left, right, front and back so it could be done with a standard stereo system with additional front and rear speakers, only being used when the effect is required.

Probably no need for separate front and rear subs. Some full range speakers at front and rear would be enough for a small venue.


Steve.
And depending on where you were seated-the effect could be more annoying than cool.

Quad setups can work in smaller places.  But once you get into  larger places the additional distance and coverage requirements make it much harder to do right.

Even in a large space-the middle seats will still work-but in this case that is where the stage is.
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Ivan Beaver
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John Roberts {JR}

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Re: Quad PA
« Reply #18 on: January 04, 2014, 09:02:57 AM »

I'm not sure this deserves much discussion. The OP/band seems to have some misperceptions about sound reinforcement. The basic concept of sound reinforcement is to make it appear like the sound is coming from the live performers on stage, which is generally on one wall. There are round stages where the audience surrounds the stage, but again the sound is designed to come from the stage and performers.

Quad or surround sound is generally not a live performance practice while there are notable examples (Pink Floyd) where songs were engineered/produced with specific front, and rear or surround content. An alternate quad set up is dual or crossed stereo for playback of stereo material in venues like dance clubs.

FWiW stereo presentation is not about presenting sound with L-C-R content, but tricking our monkey brains into perceiving a recreated sound field that has directional content. In live sound reinforcement we have plenty of that and visual cues, so stereo PA would only make sense if the band was spread 50' wide.   

Good luck...   

JR
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Jim McKeveny

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Re: Quad PA
« Reply #19 on: January 04, 2014, 11:30:02 AM »

For a playback only situation many things are possible.

If live performer(s) are involved, they become "time zero" and add multiple challenges regarding physical spacing of reinforcement devices.

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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: Quad PA
« Reply #19 on: January 04, 2014, 11:30:02 AM »


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