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Author Topic: EASE Focus 3 Questions  (Read 3001 times)

John Schalk

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EASE Focus 3 Questions
« on: March 18, 2019, 01:10:53 PM »

I am new to using EASE.  I have watched the YouTube videos put out by Turbosound and they helped me create what I think is a reasonable representation of my target audience area as well as adding my target sound sources.  Now I could use some help interpreting what the program is showing me so I thought I'd start with this forum where I am already a member.

My goal is to use EASE to model our most challenging outdoor venue, which happens to be a winery, and then to try out different loudspeaker configurations to see what will provide the best coverage and SPL.  I started with the DB Tech IG3T speakers because they fit within my other criteria which are as follows:
  • Budget.  I can afford 4 of these speakers.
  • Lightweight which makes stacking easier
  • Get the mid/highs as high as possible without rigging/flying speakers (see last paragraph)
  • Built in presets for use in pairs
  • Wide horizontal coverage
When I first viewed the results and saw all of the "cold" blue in the middle and rear of the audience areas, I thought these speakers were a bust.  But then I looked at the SPL numbers and, if I'm reading them correctly, this setup will produce ~98dBA on the centerline, at the point where the deck starts (the rectangle at the rear of house right) which isn't pounding but seems reasonably loud to me.

My questions are as follows:
  • What is controlling the initial SPL level of each speaker cluster and is it set correctly?
  • Am I reading the SPL figures correctly and do people think 98dBA is reasonable at 135'?
  • I am using Direct SPL A weighted, is that appropriate for a system with a 90 Hz HPF?
  • Is "IG3T double" the right cabinet setting to use for a vertical pair of these speakers?
  • I see white squares on the edges of the audience areas, especially house left, what is that telling me?
  • Is there anything I should do to fix or improve my model?
I am trying to honor Tim McCullouch's maxim that there is no magic box, rather the key is getting the speaker system up in the air, but to do so without getting into the "rigging speakers" business.  Mainly for safety, but also for budget, transportation, and time to setup and strike concerns.  Please feel free to suggest other system possibilities or share your own solution for a venue like this winery.
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Taylor Hall

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Re: EASE Focus 3 Questions
« Reply #1 on: March 18, 2019, 02:11:00 PM »

I can't speak to that particular cabinet's coverage or use of EASE (there's a pun joke somewhere), but getting speakers in the air isn't really too much of an additional cost in money or labor. Logistics is really the only kicker for that depending on how large your vehicle is. You can rent the proper crankup lifts for a hundred bucks or so each per day, and deploying them only takes slightly longer than a beefy SOS setup. You say this is an outdoor venue, but is there a permanent stage or other hard surface that all this will be deployed on? That would certainly help in the safety area, and whoever you rent the lifts from should have the wind capacities on hand to make sure you're working within the safe limits of your load.
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Russell Ault

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Re: EASE Focus 3 Questions
« Reply #2 on: March 19, 2019, 01:06:22 PM »

When I first viewed the results and saw all of the "cold" blue in the middle and rear of the audience areas, I thought these speakers were a bust.  But then I looked at the SPL numbers and, if I'm reading them correctly, this setup will produce ~98dBA on the centerline, at the point where the deck starts (the rectangle at the rear of house right) which isn't pounding but seems reasonably loud to me.

I can't speak to EASE or the accuracy of its data (although if that's 98dBA peak that's going to be pretty quite assuming a normal crest factor of ~15-20dB), but here's why the cold blue concerns me: looking at the side view, there appears to be a roughly 20 dB drop between the audience in the front half of the main bowl and the audience at the back of the listening plane. This might be acceptable for your application (especially if what's happening on stage is more background music and less a concert scenario), but it means the people at the back will be getting a vastly different show than the people at the front.

I can't really say whether or not those speakers will do the job you need them to, but to my eyes the positioning isn't nearly high enough. (To put things in perspective, the rule of thumb for point-source speakers I was taught is that you want the furthest audience member to be no more than 4 times the distance from the speaker as the closest audience member, which my napkin tells me would require your speakers to be at least 25' off the ground.)

-Russ
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John Schalk

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Re: EASE Focus 3 Questions
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2019, 07:31:06 PM »

I was able to spend some time today reading tips on using EASE Focus which allowed me to make some improvements to my model.  I also learned the answer to my question about the drive level of the speakers.  By default, EASE Focus uses the maximum level set by the manufacturer.  For the IG3T, Db Technologies has provided a gain adjustment in the speaker's properties and it is set to 0 by default.  It can be increased to +6dB, so I think my model has 6 dB of headroom.  The signal source is pink noise.
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ProSoundWeb Community

Re: EASE Focus 3 Questions
« Reply #3 on: March 19, 2019, 07:31:06 PM »


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