It was “laptop land” at AudioForum@ISE yesterday. The fifth edition of the day-long educational event presented by Connessioni certainly featured digital in every way, as nary a professional audio discussion would be complete without talk of software or DSP.
Topics relevant to audio design, integration and live events were discussed in the context of building knowledge and business for a rapidly evolving industry, with participants taking keen interest in sharpening skills in modeling, time alignment, networking and Class D amplification.
Attendees from the live sound and installation worlds convened at the event. The notion of convergence was very much on the mind of Jack Cornish, a project manager with London-based AV integration firm Tateside. Cornish was seeking to increase his knowledge in acoustical modeling and DSP, noting that many of his firm’s customers are asking for modeling.
Honing his expertise would bring the in-house skill sets for Tateside to “confidently offer end-to-end solutions,” he noted.
Another AudioForum attendee, Thierry Staelens from Event Consult of Belgium emphasised that pro audio today is all “software, software, software—ten years ago it was paper and pen, and now it’s software.”
Staelens’ observation that front-of-house is better known as “laptop land” these days, with one of his most recent jobs requiring four laptops running various pieces of software, seemed apt as Powersoft system engineer Luigi Chelli launched into his session.
With the “high granularity of DSP control,” he said, “you can shape the coverage of your PA very carefully and tightly to your audience.”
The sessions made it apparent that digital is not only essential. As Chelli commented, it’s actually “a no-brainer, because it actually saves you a lot of headaches.”
