Remember the “good old days” of broadcasting and studio design? If you’re over a certain age, your lower back definitely remembers.
Once upon a time, designing a studio wasn’t engineering; it was heavy equipment moving combined with frantic electrical wizardry. We measured progress in tonnage of rack gear and miles of copper cable. We lived by a simple, terrifying paradigm: The “Boxes and Wires” era. Continue reading
The “Backpack Cinema”: Creating a Portable 22.4 Immersive Studio with USB
Immersive audio is currently stuck in the “Mainframe Era.” To mix in true NHK 22.2 or Dolby Atmos, you traditionally need a dedicated studio, heavy trussing for ceiling speakers, and racks of expensive amplifiers. It is heavy, static, and incredibly expensive.
In 1984, Apple introduced the Macintosh with a promise: we were here to smash the monolithic, droning conformity of Big Brother. We were the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. We bought computers not to balance spreadsheets or optimize logistics, but to write the great American novel in a coffee shop and edit films that would never make it into Sundance.
Apple sold us the “Bicycle for the Mind.” It was a tool that amplified human capability.
So, why is the company currently pivoting to sell us the “Uber for the Mind”—where you just sit in the back seat, drooling, while an algorithm drives you to a destination you didn’t choose? Continue reading
The team meets and learns about the opportunity and challenges, and then agrees on goals and tackles tasks.
The Vibe: Polite, positive, but uncertain. People are treating it like a cocktail party—putting their best foot forward and avoiding conflict.
Key Behaviors: Asking basic questions, looking for structure, defining the scope (e.g., “Which devices go where?”).
Leader’s Role: Directing. You must provide clear goals, specific roles, and firm timelines. The team relies on you for structure.
This is the stage where different ideas compete for consideration. It is the most critical and difficult stage to pass through.
The Vibe: High friction. The polite facade drops. People may clash over work styles, technical approaches (e.g., “Why are we handling GPIO triggers this way?”), or authority.
Key Behaviors: Pushback against tasks, arguments, formation of cliques.
Leader’s Role: Coaching. You need to resolve conflicts, remain accessible, and remind the team of the “Why.” Don’t avoid the conflict; manage it so it becomes constructive.
The team resolves their quarrels and personality clashes, resulting in greater intimacy and a spirit of co-operation.
The Vibe: Relief and cohesion. People start to accept each other’s quirks and respect differing strengths.
Key Behaviors: Establishing the “rules of engagement,” constructive feedback, sharing of data and resources without being asked.
Leader’s Role: Supporting. Step back a little. Facilitate discussions rather than dictating them. Let the team take ownership of the process.
The team reaches a high level of success and functions as a unit. They find ways to get the job done smoothly and effectively without inappropriate conflict or the need for external supervision.
The Vibe: High energy, high trust. The focus is entirely on the goal, not the internal politics.
Key Behaviors: Autonomous decision-making, rapid problem solving, high output.
Leader’s Role: Delegating. Get out of their way. Focus on high-level strategy and removing external blockers.
Tuckman added this later. It refers to the breaking up of the team after the task is completed.
The Vibe: Bittersweet. Pride in what was accomplished (the deployed system works!) but sadness that the group is separating.
Leader’s Role: Recognition. Celebrate the win and capture lessons learned for the next project.
In the high-stakes world of modern infrastructure, two distinct tribes are forced to share the same territory.
On one side, the Network Team. They are the gatekeepers. Their priorities are clear: Security, Stability, and Standardization. They live by the firewall and die by the protocol. Continue reading
It’s a question that gets to the heart of how we understand the universe: “Does radio frequency (RF) move over photons?” The intuitive answer, based on how we experience sound traveling through air or ripples on water, might be “yes.” It seems logical to imagine radio waves “surfing” on a sea of tiny particles.
However, the reality of quantum physics is far stranger and more counterintuitive. The short answer is no. Radio frequency does not move over photons. Instead, a radio wave consists of photons.
This concept is notoriously difficult to grasp. It challenges our everyday perception of the world and requires us to accept one of the most mind-bending ideas in science: wave-particle duality. Let’s break down why this relationship is so complicated. Continue reading
💡 The Mixer, My Grandfather, and the Looming Crisis of Unfixable Electronics
My weekend project—a powered mixer for a friend—was a powerful, hands-on lesson in the changing nature of electronics and the fight for the Right to Repair.
For a friend, I made an exception to my usual “no bench work” rule. The diagnosis was classic: a blown channel, likely from speakers incorrectly wired in parallel. Instead of a minimal patch job, I opted for a full refurbishment, the way I was taught: new, high-quality Panasonic FC caps and fresh, matched transistors. A labour of love, not profit. Continue reading
Beyond the “Lowest Common Denominator”: Why Audio Interoperability Thrives on the Most Common Commonality
In the complex symphony of modern technology, where devices from countless manufacturers strive to communicate, audio interoperability stands as a crucial pillar. From our headphones and smartphones to professional recording studios and live event setups, the ability for sound to flow seamlessly between disparate systems is not just convenient – it’s essential. While the concept of a “lowest common denominator” might seem like a pragmatic approach to achieving universal compatibility, in the world of audio interoperability, it is the pursuit of the “most common commonality” that truly unlocks value and drives innovation. Continue reading
For decades, the foundation of a successful live show has been the patch master—a highly skilled human who translates a band’s technical needs (their stage plot and input list) into physical cables. The Festival Patch formalized this by making the mixing console channels static, minimizing changeover time by relying on human speed and organizational charts.
But what happens when the patch list becomes part of the digital DNA of the audio system?
The demonstration of embedding specific equipment metadata—like the microphone model ($\text{SM57}$), phantom power ($\text{P48}$), and gain settings—directly into the same protocol (SDP) that defines the stream count and routing, paves the way for the Automated Stage. Continue reading
