London's Regent Street Apple Store uses iPad to control acoustics for live performances
Apple turns to existing solutions for many of the challenges it faces in retail. AppleInsider has learned that the London Regent Street Apple Store uses MOTU software to control the audio environment, both for technical reasons, as well as as a practical demonstration for store-goers.
Classically, when running live sound, the sound engineer runs a mixing board that is located in a fixed position, sometimes in the middle of the audience, sometimes off on the side the room in smaller clubs. For live performances in the Apple Retail flagship stores, that won't do.
AppleInsider editor-in-chief Neil Hughes was in the Apple Store as artist Saint Raymond began performing. Hughes noticed an Apple retail employee managing the live sound using an iPad Pro and an app the employee called "Motu."
Check out the Stage-B12 being controlled by the app here
With a little bit of detective work, it appears the app is MOTU AVB Discover which works with MOTU AVB hardware. The MOTU AVB hardware provides multi-channel mixing with networking, allowing the mixer to be controlled over the Wi-Fi network by the app or a web browser.
A large production might require hardware with more inputs, like a Stage B16 connected to a power amplifier for house audio, connected to a router so that the iPad's Wi-Fi can control it. It appears the Apple Store is using either Stage B16 or something equally as powerful, given that the store employee's iPad shows the interface at the top as Stage-B16 at a 10.200.xxx.xxx address.
As long as the app is in the same network as the hardware, the Apple retail employee can check the sound from a range of locations in the venue just by walking around. Sound engineers never had that much freedom in years past.
MOTU, or Mark of the Unicorn, has a long history, beginning in 1984 when they launched Professional Composer for Macintosh. In 1985, they launched Performer, whose legacy as a sequencing tool lives on today in Digital Performer 9.5. Artists like Pat Metheny, Geddy Lee, They Might Be Giants, and Suzanne Ciani are Digital Performer users.
Given the long history working with Apple and making the right hardware for the job, it's no surprise Apple is choosing MOTU for their in-store live audio.
Classically, when running live sound, the sound engineer runs a mixing board that is located in a fixed position, sometimes in the middle of the audience, sometimes off on the side the room in smaller clubs. For live performances in the Apple Retail flagship stores, that won't do.
AppleInsider editor-in-chief Neil Hughes was in the Apple Store as artist Saint Raymond began performing. Hughes noticed an Apple retail employee managing the live sound using an iPad Pro and an app the employee called "Motu."
Check out the Stage-B12 being controlled by the app here
With a little bit of detective work, it appears the app is MOTU AVB Discover which works with MOTU AVB hardware. The MOTU AVB hardware provides multi-channel mixing with networking, allowing the mixer to be controlled over the Wi-Fi network by the app or a web browser.
A large production might require hardware with more inputs, like a Stage B16 connected to a power amplifier for house audio, connected to a router so that the iPad's Wi-Fi can control it. It appears the Apple Store is using either Stage B16 or something equally as powerful, given that the store employee's iPad shows the interface at the top as Stage-B16 at a 10.200.xxx.xxx address.
As long as the app is in the same network as the hardware, the Apple retail employee can check the sound from a range of locations in the venue just by walking around. Sound engineers never had that much freedom in years past.
MOTU, or Mark of the Unicorn, has a long history, beginning in 1984 when they launched Professional Composer for Macintosh. In 1985, they launched Performer, whose legacy as a sequencing tool lives on today in Digital Performer 9.5. Artists like Pat Metheny, Geddy Lee, They Might Be Giants, and Suzanne Ciani are Digital Performer users.
Given the long history working with Apple and making the right hardware for the job, it's no surprise Apple is choosing MOTU for their in-store live audio.
Comments
In fixed venues, what one would normally do is send white or pink noise through the system and then equalize to the house. This is what the calibration modes in A/V pre-pros and receivers attempt to do. Once you do that, you should not be playing with the overall frequency response (as opposed to the frequency response of a single instrument or mic input).
Due to no soft surfaces at all, the Apple stores that I've been in would actually be great for acoustic performances, but they would be terrible for amplified performances as the sound just bounces around endlessly. Back in the days before amplification, concert halls were designed to have long reverberation times and since amplification, they've largely been designed to have very low reverberation times (except for Classical/Opera music venues). Likewise with movie theaters. And the Apple stores have very long reverberation times.
I've told this before, but when Siri was first released, I went to the Lincoln Square store in NYC to try it out. That store has stone or concrete floors, stone walls, the usual hardwood tables and glass ceilings. Siri wouldn't work because there was so much noise in the store, it didn't understand what I was saying. Then I heard what I thought was a live band coming from the lower level. I went down there and it was just one of those boom boxes to use with an iPhone or iPod Touch, but it was loud and reverberating due to all those hard surfaces. If I were designing those stores, I'd put in random, sound absorbing cloth panels on the walls. And while carpeting would be hell to maintain, it would really quiet those places down.
When I read the headline, what I thought this was going to be about was Apple using electronic environmental noise reduction. Those are systems which input the environmental sound with a microphone and then send out an out of phase signal to counteract it, much the same way as noise reducing headphones work.
CORRECTION: This is really just MIDI control software, not music creation software.
I did check out current iPad music creation software and was surprised at how many options there are.
http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/14-of-the-best-ipad-iphone-ios-daws-and-workspaces-574065
http://musicappblog.com/genome-review/
I’ve been doing this for years. On my Soundcraft console I use ViSi for iPad. I can control all the major functions directly from my iPad(s).
Now I wouldn’t actually run a live show from an iPad - for that I’d be sitting at the console. But during setup it’s invaluable. I can move around the stage checking mics and other inputs or setting up monitor mixes. I can also move to different audience locations and make adjustments to try and get the best sound overall.
Even better I can let musicians control things with their own iPad. And no, they don’t get control over the whole console (disaster in the making). I can lock them out from all but some specific settings they are allowed to control (like settings for their personal monitor). Musicians love this (as opposed to yelling out to the engineer or using hand signals to get their monitor turned up).
Several high-end console makers have Apps that perform very similar functions.
As someone who does live sound reinforcement I find these comments a bit offensive and stereotypical.
I’m hardly deaf and I don’t “fiddle” with things just so I can feel like I’m doing something. I don’t crank the levels as the show progresses either.
Equalizing “to the house” using pink/white noise only gets you part of the way there. When a venue is filled the frequency response changes because human bodies are actually pretty good at absorbing sound. Then you have environmental changes (temperature/humidity) which also alter the sound (esp outdoors for an all-day-evening show). This often requires changes to be made as a show progresses. And these are only a couple things that might require fine tuning during a show (there are so many I don’t have time to list them all).
I find playing reference songs I’m familiar with through the system as one of the best ways to determine how a venue sounds. Pink noise/room analysis software and a spectrum analyzer follow
In our high school, children's ministry jr. high, coffee house, and even our outreaches when we pack up our sound system and go beyond the church campus. It's really liberating and even fun.
Technically you can use just just about any tablet as their are not only apps, but network web interfaces. It's amazing at how much better the setup is with an iPad and compatible audio mixer.
Smaart and Spectrafoo if you don’t. Won’t run on an iPad, though.
The first time I saw an FoH engineer walk around the venue with his iPad, talking to the musicians directly on stage as he edited their monitor mix, was pretty rad. This was about six years ago, and the iPad was fairly new - but the industry was already embracing it.
Today, it’s almost rare NOT to have iPad support.
During setup, it's invaluable.
Live, it is nice to have physical controls, but even then, an iPad on a stand works just as well.
We also fill fill our rooms with noise and go until we get feedback and dial it in from there.
I dont know what it is about folks folks that make them think if they hear one thing, they must then know everything and feel compelled to respond in kind. Indicative of our culture at the moment I'm afraid.
Weve got three amazing sound techs. Two of them are audio engineers with band and concert backgrounds and one of them works for a rather large venue which hosts major productions throughout the year. Then their is the all important "ear" which is basically a gift to know what sounds good and what doesn't - that's the most important part. You can teach most people to operate a "sound board" but when someone has an ear for it, there is a world of difference. Even in this amazing age of tech, the most important thing is people.
Theyre pretty much experts. And... they love mixing sound on the iPad. whether you're sitting at a console or using an iPad, you're doing the same thing - controlling the board.
And it it works great.
Having the talent remotely adjust their own monitor mixes seems like a great idea though. What I wonder about, since mixing music is a whole different discipline than performing it, is does it work out well, or do the musicians just mix up a muddy mess that adversely affects their performance? I guess we'll never really know if it's less than ideal, because there isn't a musician in the world who's gonna admit that they messed up their own monitor mix and want someone else to do it for them!
Just have to remember to assing a password for the wifi or everyones phones will log on to the network and jam the whole thing.
As a child of the 80s, that is the only thing I associate the acronym "MOTU" with!
The Qu-Pac series that we worked with has a limited monitor mix app for phones, where a qualified sound guy uses the full iPad app (Qu-Pad) to set up stems (e.g. keys, drums, backing vox, etc) that can be level-adjusted. I assume most others have a similar mode.
It’s rare for musicians to get access to the full individual channel strips. I usually have for the last few projects, but I know my way around a console.