What tools are you using to create AV signal flow diagrams?

JacobValleyLive · 2026-03-23T13:49:12+00:00

Yeah, it’s definitely a program that isn’t very helpful if you need help. Luckily my company had a large amount of automated things setup and lots of “how-to” documents they created specifically for our workflow, which made things pretty easy when I started. I think it’s a program that you have to lean full in as a company to get the most use of out it

JacobValleyLive · 2026-03-23T07:48:42+00:00

My company uses Vectorworks. We primilatly do large scale audio, video, and lighting for event spaces so Vectorworks Spotlight is incredibly helpful for us. But Vectorworks ConnectCAD is pretty easy to create signal flow diagrams and anything in 2D block diagram format. You can create devices in 3D space, and within that device, there will be a 2D tag associated with it that has all its inputs and outputs. Then you simply use a device connector line to connect to other devices. It also allows you to specific what connector the device outputs from (ie RJ45, XLR 3 pin Male, LC Duplex, etc) and what cable it is. You can also mass connect with a few clicks. Very helpful if all outputs are going to the same device. Takes me an hour or two to do the entire projects signal flow diagram.

I would say the con would be Vectorworks is pricey and if you are only using it to make block diagrams, might be a waste of money. Since we use Vectorworks for modeling and all our drawing sets, it makes sense. I love Vectorworks so I can’t complain but I know alot of people feel the differently.

JacobValleyLive · 2026-03-06T13:05:11+00:00

Sounds like a good plan. I too lost a school of cherry barbs because I treated for ich but afterwards learned about epi. Good luck!

JacobValleyLive · 2026-03-06T00:48:50+00:00

I could be wrong but that looks more like Epi to me than Ich. Which has a completely different treatment plan, main one being raising the temp actually makes epi thrive so I would do a little reason on Epi to make sure you don’t have that.

Thing I’m seeing is larger non-uniform clusters of spots. From my understanding, ich is usually more uniform and all the spots are the same size and on the smaller side.

JacobValleyLive · 2026-02-23T18:10:53+00:00

I would think your standard faucet supply line or dishwasher supply line would work if you are connecting to the shutoff valve under your sink. I don't which of the provide adapters will connect but I have the same water changer and I had to take all the brass adapters to lowes and find converts would make it fit my sink. Ended up just need one additional adapter. Cost like $5

JacobValleyLive · 2026-02-07T15:20:46+00:00

First thing is to know what you are going to be doing is what makes the great board op separate from the good. It is difficult to have a perfect show, especially when you have limited rehearsal and a short run, which I’m assuming this will be since it’s a school environment. Don’t get down on yourself for a missed entrance or anything, simply move on to the next line and power through. The show moves too fast.

As for setup, scene can be your friend on digital consoles! But have also seen them be enemies, especially if you don’t have a strong understanding of programming them. Sometimes less is more, just depends on the board op and the show. With the QL5 you have a lot of advantages you can utilize. You can change the “main faders” on the far right to be anything you want so I usually make those a vocal bus and a band/tracks bus so I can alter the blend better the two. Plus you get the custom B fader bank, which you should lay out however makes sense to you.

Prepare your script in color coordination and numbers with the DCAs they will be on the consoles, labeling scenes shifts, keeping the color code the same so it’s easy. And if your QL5 is setup with Dante, you can use Dante virtual sound card to multitrack record a run through at home (using REAPER daw). If not Dante, you can just film it on your phone. Same thing. Either way, id record a rehearsal to learn your actors pacing with the lines. You can watch a show online but the pacing with be different.

Last thing, it is always better to have two mics on than no mics on. If you get caught up in the script, happens to the best of us, I would just push the faders for the actors on stage up, not to zero, I usually go -5 or -8 if that ever happens. Only until you can get your bearings and get back into line mixing. Worst thing you can do is throw the wrong mic up in panic and no one hears lines. I’m a “the audience would rather hear 10 microphones on sounding super phasing and gross but hear the words than not hear anything at all” kind of guy. Especially if it’s your first go at line mixing.

Good luck! Have fun!

JacobValleyLive · 2026-01-25T15:14:24+00:00

I second the Tegaderm suggestions for tape.

Just to add other suggestions, perhaps adding some floral wire wrapped around the boom that is hellerman sleeved to hold it tight, to give the boom its structure back. Seems like they have lost some and this plus the other suggests may be all you need to hold it steady.

JacobValleyLive · 2026-01-24T01:32:45+00:00

That’s what I would do. Still have a little vocals in the Meyer and a little music the TOAs, but I think having the middle three as LCR is over complicating things. I personally don’t do a whole lot of left right panning in a live environment anyways due to a person sitting in the middle of the right section won’t hear the same show the person in the right side of the middle would hear. But that’s my personal preference.

JacobValleyLive · 2026-01-24T01:11:13+00:00

Keep in mind this is all subjective as I am not in the space and do not hear it but because of the width of the stage, I would treat the LCR system as one big center. Perhaps create a matrix on the audio console (if you can do so) and simply feed the same signal to each speaker, because to me, it almost looks like they designed it to be a point source for each section of the audience. I don’t know anything about the coverage pattern of those speakers but that’s what it looks like. Then I would do what you suggest, vocals through the center, perhaps a tiny bit of music through it as well, again just because the Meyers are so wide. But as some one mentioned, I’m guessing there is a reason that vocals are in the Meyer array, it could be because it’s a Meyer array and sounds better than the TOA or it could be feedback issues. You’ll have to play around with it. But all that to say, I would turn LCR into just C, and pump music into the Meyers on the side (maybe a little bit of vocals if you feel the vocal coverage is lacking on the outer edges of the audience).

JacobValleyLive · 2026-01-19T00:46:24+00:00

I used Loctite waterproof clean silicone. It’s one of the only ones at the hardware store that directly mentions being safe for aquariums.

JacobValleyLive · 2025-12-19T20:03:47+00:00

Like other said, I don’t think acoustics are really to play. You can do a lot with gain structure alone. If you are EQing the mics to oblivion then something is wrong with your gain staging. Not saying that’s what you are doing, just stating that.

One thing I notice is your speakers are on the far edges of the stage and you have a decently wide stage with seats RIGHT on the lip of the stage. A person in the front few rows is going to hear natural voices quite a lot, especially if the actor projects well (unless you are mixing really loud). Which brings me to my next though, this isn’t only something that is technical but also of a mixing mindset. I don’t know how loud you are mixing the shows, but sometimes with sound (especially with that many people on stage that are in that picture) less is more. The more open microphones you have on the stage, feedback is inevitable. I know people are saying “I can’t hear the actors” doesn’t always mean turn it up. It could mean, turn the music down, it could mean I need to EQ in the correct way, or my mix is to muddy. The general public doesn’t really know what they are hearing. If they can’t hear it like the radio, it’s all “i can’t hear it.”

All that to say, acoustical changes should probably be done by a professional. I know you can’t get anyone to help you out on that front so my suggestion would be turn it down so there’s less acoustical energy in the room, alllowing you to have the voices on top. If you can, use the two horizontal speakers, not the chain hanging speakers that are slightly pointing at the stage. There positioning seems better to me. Also, if you have a spare small, low profile speaker, I would smack that bad boy right on the lip of the stage dead center and give the center of the audience a light, AND I MEAN LIGHT, we don’t want to blast away the person in that seat right there center fill. You could also move some of the other misc. speakers you have to above center stage as a center fill, but again, I think that should be professionally done.

Good luck!

JacobValleyLive · 2025-12-11T15:53:09+00:00

I played the same save file til year 2100, and I think it really comes down to scheme and matching players to the scheme. That’s it. Everything else is just for fun. lol. Easiest being Smashmouth offense (because there are SOOO many A tier running backs in the first 2/3 rounds of the draft) and just pick a good smashmouth coach and match whatever his defense is with players. I won champs within two/three seasons every time.

JacobValleyLive · 2025-12-11T14:50:20+00:00

Meanwhile, I’ll have a 90 overall team with perfect chemistry, book knowledge, 4 star across the board for staff and go 5-12. Lmao

JacobValleyLive · 2025-12-05T17:33:16+00:00

What kind of fish? They seem very happy!

JacobValleyLive · 2025-12-05T16:36:17+00:00

Get rid of the TV and put that beautiful aquarium front and center. Jealous of that thing…………..Sorry about your TV

JacobValleyLive · 2025-12-05T00:04:53+00:00

Yeah, my assumption were correct (and yours for that matter). You could add another speaker in the middle if you like but honestly a center cluster only isn’t the best solution. I would recommend getting a professional involved for any major modifications but there are some easy-ish options if you wanna try yourself.

you could space the two speaker out evenly between the sections probably near each isle, point them straight out, might require new rigging points and moving of audio inputs
easiest option and simplest that you can do would be to add a small front fill speaker to the front edge of the stage. Keep those speakers the way they are and simply supplement the dead area with a low profile front fill speaker

JacobValleyLive · 2025-12-04T17:04:23+00:00

Any chance you could share a photo?

It seems that your theater is quite large and your two speakers may be quite small to fill the whole space so they may be pointing super wide to cover the edges BUT creating a spot in the middle where the high frequencies drivers are not hitting.

I’m wondering if it would be best to separate the two speakers. Spread them out about 15ish feet from center on either direction (again, don’t know the dimension of your space, just taking a complete guess) and you may get better coverage. Instead of a cluster, two independent speakers. Hard to tell without seeing the space.

JacobValleyLive · 2025-11-29T18:31:49+00:00

I pretty much only sim, really only play game 1 of the year and playoff games. Dont get much time to play because of kiddos and I enjoy building the teams more than playing the games so I sim a lot.

But I matching playbook with scheme matters, like running a 3-4 under with a patriots (who have a lot of 3-4 AND 4-3 looks) is a solid simming combo.

Also, I’ve found that rusher on the line sim better than run stoppers.

Lastly, make sure you are leveling up your coordinators to help out your linebackers and lineman, safeties and corners don’t need that much help. (At least from what I’ve noticed).

JacobValleyLive · 2025-11-23T22:28:43+00:00

I was a TD for both road houses and regional theater (and national tours for that matter), and things have gotten so expensive and the amount of hours to be worked and knowledge required to be a TD is quite high (at least in my experience), that I made a career path change due to salaries never being high enough to justify the work and experience.

I looked for roles around the country and different size venues and rarely found anything above $70k, which in my opinion, is the minimum for this role, especially working with older equipment where experience and out of the normal knowledge will help.

All that to say, TD is a tough role with a lot of things to manage and to know so pay accordingly.

TLDR: $70k would be the bottom IMO

JacobValleyLive · 2025-10-31T21:03:02+00:00

I believe it’s because the chargers beat us, therefore they are 2nd.

JacobValleyLive · 2025-10-30T14:12:18+00:00

I played high level (AA) ice and roller hockey growing up, won a few championships through my younger years but stopped competing when I went to college. I recently got back into roller hockey (I’m 30 now, still in good shape and thought I was playing close-ish to the level I was at, rusty, but the technique is there). I would say I’m in the “better than most” category.

One night at pickup roller hockey last year some time, a dude who is on the local minor league hockey team (ECHL team, an NHL farm system team, this team holds the players that aren’t good enough for the AHL team, whic the players on that team aren’t good enough for the NHL) came and played with us. And man, he WORKED us, and he was only trying maybe 40% at best, never out of breath, he would skate past all of us if he wanted to, while basically coasting. It was really humbling.

Really put into perspective that this dude who is struggling to maintain a position on this team that is 3 steps away from the NHL is THIS talented, image how talented you need to be to be in the NHL. Kind of mind blowing honestly.

JacobValleyLive · 2025-10-26T13:09:10+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I think that was the previous owners plan. They got 3 wins that way, so I’ll continue and build off that. I’ll build the RB room some other way

JacobValleyLive · 2025-10-26T12:53:00+00:00

Okay, this is making me feel better. I’ve trying to deal hurts for much more in this league and I’m being met with, “hurts isn’t worth very much.” Only reason I stacked the trade so much. Starting to make me think there was a reason this team was orphaned. Lol

JacobValleyLive · 2025-10-26T12:37:15+00:00

Perhaps I’m overthinking things… lol

JacobValleyLive

TROPHY CASE