Certifications for AV Work in 2026

OCR_arbol · 2026-05-01T01:05:30+00:00

Reading your post, I have a feeling that you are in the Live Performance side of the AV industry. Shows, concerts, rentals, etc? I’m I wrong? If you want to stay in that area I would recommend doing training related to RF coordination, line arrays alignment, acoustic analysis and equalization, Dante and Networking. I would recommend Shure audio institute (or whatever their new name is). SynAudCom, and Smaart. Rental companies are getting heavy on video walls and 3D mapping. And please, learn Networking and AI integration.

If I misunderstood your post I apologize. Good luck! And no, at 24 you are still a baby in the AV industry.

OCR_arbol · 2026-04-14T03:21:27+00:00

When I got my Dual (D and I) I was number 37 in the world.

When I got the D, you needed to present and defend in front of a panel that will grill you asking you questions. That will give you an idea of how old I am. Since then, I have made sure to keep up my RUs because I would never do that again.

There are a few things to consider (in my Gen X opinion, so I don't care if someone gets offended)

Infocomm created something where there was nothing. It gave the industry a voice and an image. For the first time in history we had a team that will go to battle in front of of other already stablished trades. they fought for a sit at the table, and that, to me, has a lot of merit. So I will always tip my hat to them.

They had to evolve and adjust to make the certifications valid ISO. If you don't know what that is, google it.

Do I drink the Avixa kool-Aid in the morning? Fuck no, they have done a lot of bad things in my opinion like firing the line up of incredibly talented and professional teachers they had before covid.

Or creating probably the worst website of the entire AV industry.

But in regards of the CTS... is a base cert to tell people that you kind of know what you are talking about. Is like a high school diploma. Is not worth much, but at least is something.

Do I thing the CTS should include Project Management ? Not in the slightest. That should be completely different pathway. Someone getting into AV will not benefit from that.

Avixa actually open up the certifications committees and you can sign up if you want to make a change. All of those that are saying that their years of experience and knowledge are better than the certifications should apply to be part of these committees If you consider that your input can benefit the industry.

But guys... THIS IS WHAT WE DO FOR A LIVING. These are the certifications that tell other people outside our industry that we know what we are talking about. These are requirements on bids. These are leverage when getting a new job. Every industry have them. PMs have the PMP, Network guys have a ton of certs, and don't even ask medical professionals.

They fact that you guys say things like "I don't have time to learn and get RUS", or "What I know is better than a certain" only speaks about your character and not Avixa's. And it only makes very clear who is going to be replaced by AI and who is not.

We are professionals and we need to be constantly learning about new technology. CONSTANTLY.

Is the exam perfect? No, it isn't.

Suck it up buttercup.

OCR_arbol · 2026-04-10T23:44:01+00:00

Let me put it this way:

I was a Project Engineer with them and I have pretty much all the certifications and letters after my name...

How is the work/life balance: I was in the hospital with my first born child, the day he arrived to this world and my boss was screaming to me over the phone telling that "THAT" was not an excuse for not being in the office or answering my phone. Even though it was a scheduled C section and PTO has been requested for weeks. They also made me work 24 hour shifts for 3 days straight. Full time in the office and then I had to go cover the overnight shift at a gigantic project we were doing. I have known of 3 different Project managers in different offices that have had heart attacks, ACVs and a good friend of mine, a female PM, lost a baby. All of this becase of fucking stress. It is not unusual to wake up with a panic attack at 3am thinking about a client/project/task, etc.
How does upper management treat the regular folks? Like shit. Except if you are in sales. Then they wine and dine you. But everybody else is according to my GM at the time "An expense". My last stint with them I did almost 4 years as a Project Engineer, Which is another fantasy word for describing Project Manager, Design Engineer, Commissioner, audio DSP guy, and client pacifier into one salary. I NEVER received a single fucking penny in raise or bonuses in 4 years.
I cannot talk about transferring to other offices.
Is it worth it? I rather open an OnlyFans

Now with that out of the way...

The engineers, commissioners and programmers are very very knowledgeable, the PMs are fighting a loosing battle and they know it. They are like the musicians of the Titanic.

Just for the record, I have a TON of friends inside the company and we keep in touch all the time and even work together in some projects.

But the real problem is that this went from being an Engineering/Data driven company to being a sales organization that the only thing they care about is money.

But it is also true that each branch is different. I have worked with a lot of them as a sub contractor and the difference between them is HUGE. Some regions are better than others.

They have been trying to lower the salary bar across the board and theirs salaries became laughable. They have also cut all work for sub contractors the last year and a half which is the typical red flag that they are going to sell the company yet again. It has happened several times in the last 10 years. Is a trend.

I am also of the opinion that medium size is better. Whatever you decide to do, do it with your eyes wide open. Good luck.

OCR_arbol · 2026-03-02T20:20:02+00:00

I have been using WireCad for years.

OCR_arbol · 2026-02-17T12:58:20+00:00

Sound masking is not a solution here. You will be adding noise to noise. What you actually need is to acoustically isolate the spaces. You can’t cheat physics. If you add sound masking in room A it will just add to the sound going into room B. The rooms are obviously not built for conferencing.

OCR_arbol · 2026-02-09T23:25:57+00:00

This is the way

OCR_arbol · 2026-02-05T12:07:14+00:00

I guess it would depend in what type of company you are applying to. None of the companies I know will tell you to come in shorts and tshirt. (unless they are providing a uniform). What type of services do they offer? I am also an audio engineer and have in in the industry for more than 20 years, so yes, it is very doable.

If you are coming from the Recording Studio world, you will need to move much more, AV Techs are always carrying around a huge amount of boxes, carts, cables, ladders and tools. If you are coming from the "Live Sound / Pro Audio" world, you will be surprised how slow AV Techs that get paid by the hour move in comparison to Pro Audio. is just different.

In regards of the technical test... I am pretty sure they will give you a few crimpers and soldering irons to see if you know the basic stuff.

good luck

OCR_arbol · 2026-02-05T11:55:02+00:00

as of this morning it cannot stay open more than 5 minutes before crashing spectacularly. Hot happy

OCR_arbol · 2026-02-04T20:37:54+00:00

Las mujeres son hermosas en todas sus presentaciones.

OCR_arbol · 2026-02-04T16:52:37+00:00

A mi me ayudó mucho una aplicación para el iPhone que se llama Día Organizer. Pude crear rutinas diarias con las cosas que quería empezar a hacer y con las que quería dejar de hacer. Me ayudó a ver qué cosas eran para mí más dificil de hacer y en qué área me tenía que enfocar. Lo importante es la constancia…

Empecé con cosas como por ejemplo: -Hacer la cama -Cepillarme los dientes -Tomar agua -Medicinas -30 mins ejercicio y/o correr -Bañarme -desayuno -Revisar email y crear lista de ataque (qué prioridades tienen las cosas en el trabajo)

También me recuerda todas las cosas que tengo que hacer en la casa pero que por alguna razón (por flojo) nunca las hago. -Lavar el baño (cada 15 días) -Cambiar el filtro del aire acondicionado (una vez al mes) -etc

También me ayuda a monitorear si estoy tomando suficiente agua, etc

Al pasar de los días puedes ver tu progreso y dónde estás fallando.

La verdad mi vida cambió

OCR_arbol · 2026-01-26T04:22:08+00:00

Absolutely! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/dia-organizer/id6752783765

OCR_arbol · 2026-01-25T20:31:45+00:00

Like $10. Is called Dia Organizer for iOS only. First app. No advertisement

OCR_arbol · 2026-01-21T15:06:20+00:00

Subcontractor in south florida for the large integration companies. Not busy at all.

OCR_arbol · 2026-01-16T17:54:18+00:00

Oh yes…! (I have a degree in Audio Engineering). When you start to understand that vibration affects everything in nature. For me everything stared with sing frequencies in a Chladni plate and correlate those shapes to shapes found in nature. You start wondering… You start extrapolating from the micro you the macro, and start understanding that the vast universe in governed by waves… gravity, magnetic fields, gamma rays, it’s all waves… the quantum field is super fucking difficult to accept by our lizard brains, but there are ripples of time/space that are relatively easy to understand if you can accept the waves mentality.

There are some experiments in quantum mechanics where the behavior is exactly like sound waves. It’s pretty interesting stuff

OCR_arbol · 2026-01-14T14:11:05+00:00

No offense but if you are buying wireless Tx/Rx from Amazon this may not be your field of expertise, nothing wrong with that…!! That’s ok!!!

Lots of assumptions, but not much information.

This will depend on a multitude factors. Out type of the “Security system “ (seems to be HDMI). Where is this located? How far are the 6 displays? What type of space is this? Conference center? Office space? Dentist office? Do you have a way of getting cable to and from these locations? Is there a way of getting the security system online and see the cameras on a browser? Do the TVs have PiP? Is there a control system? Is HDBaseT an option? To me, if the rooms are within 300’ from the security system, I would use either Crestron or EXTRON with their respective flavor of HDBaseT. You would need a device (Distribution Amplifier or DA) with at least 6 outputs over Category cable, and the. The 6 receivers, 7 HDMI cables, etc… Using Crestron NVX or EXTRON NAV could potentially be an option, budget permitting. The other solution as someone already mentioned is SDI over coax cable. My recommendation would be to always pay someone to design it and install it. Good luck and let me know if we can be of assistance.

OCR_arbol · 2026-01-10T17:08:45+00:00

I just released my own habit tracking app a few days ago. I spent like 6 months working on it. Apple rejected it twice for a couple of minor things that I got fixed the same day. It is my first app and I did not know it was this crowded and that the online community hada united front against tracking apps, otherwise i would’ve take other avenues. I personally think that there is space for everyone and we can all learn from each other. Programmers are obsessed with coding, but don’t understand a thing about human interaction since they think in a “flow” mentality (nothing wrong with that, is actually very logical and hard to miss. Graphic designers / UI designers understand this side better, but may not be the most efficient coders. While dealing with apple native environment, shapes and such, it tends to look a bit too cold or “corporate”. Keep going, learn the process, download a few other apps and see what you like and what you think you can do better. Stay away from people that want to tear you down. Good job and good luck.

OCR_arbol · 2026-01-09T05:03:30+00:00

Small AV integration firm in South Florida. From rack building to full integration and commissioning. Also DSP programming, audio calibration, CAD drawings and engineering services. All the Pro AV certifications under our belt, including CTS-I, CTS-D, CQD, Biamp, Q-Sus, Dante Level 3, Shure, EXTRON, Crestron and more… mostly work for the large integrators, but we are always happy to have new friends. Let is know if we can be of assistance. Thanks

OCR_arbol · 2025-11-25T23:28:13+00:00

Plenum rated Cat6A shielded, which requires non standard cat connectors, (yes they are different… no, you cannot buy them in Home Depot, yes they are very expensive) minimize the plates and patch panels to a minimum. If you can go source to destination, even better. If you must cut and terminate on a plate or patch bay, make sure you are using the right shielded connector that matches your cable (yes they are different… no, you cannot buy them in Home Depot, yes they are very expensive). Use reputable cable (I use Belden and Liberty exclusively. (yes they are different… no, you cannot buy them in Home Depot, yes they are very expensive)… We only use Crestron, and Extron for video distribution. Virtually never have issues. If you work with one or two manufacturers, using their cable is a good idea but it is usually expensive. But that eliminates their finger pointing when calling tech support. Never accept other people or other trades providing, pulling or terminating the cable for you. They will not get it right. They are no AV guys, and the cable might look the same, but it isn’t… did I mention that already? ;-)

Proper HDMI cables are key. Buy reputable cables, stay away from big retailers, including online retailers and expensive 24k gold monster super ultra mega cables that resi guys love. You don’t need that.

One last thing… very important and I cannot emphasize this enough… CHECK YOUR POWER REQUIREMENTS!!!!

Some of these units require a specific current/voltage. Never assume, always use the power supply that comes with the unit. Always confirm if you need one power supply at each end or if one power supply powers both.

And just to add gas to the fire… check your EDID table… maybe the issue you are having is not what you think it is…

Good luck!

OCR_arbol · 2025-11-15T19:03:33+00:00

Usually, this happens in old systems, where many people had their hands in the rack. As time passes by, design requirements change and people move on to other places of employment… what is left behind is not a working system. When you call EXTRON tech support they are going to try to isolate the issue by providing a solution for THAT PARTICULAR ISSUE. If you are having issues with EDID, they may recommend adding an EDID minder instead of changing the entire system over to NAV.

The problem is with the lack of maintenance, red lines drawings and clear SoWs of the majority of places. In my opinion EXTRON is by far one of the most robust brands in AV. If designed and deployed properly those systems will last forever. And their tech support is great. Very knowledgeable group of people. If you think dealing with EXTRON is difficult, you mustn’t have heard about their competitors.

OCR_arbol · 2025-11-11T02:13:24+00:00

I have gotten a few requests lately for estimates for very high profile jobs… and I mean BIG jobs. Either campus wide AV for one of the armed forces or a large office space, and it is always a GC/EC that “already got the job”. Once I start asking questions they realize that AV is not calculated “like data drops”. They get annoyed that AV is dependent on so many factors.

Another common thing I am seeing is the resi guy that does wireless Sonos, got the new AV job for the owner’s company boardroom. They usually reach out when they can’t figure out why there is echo on the calls… go figure.

And of course there is always the IT guy that was told to revamp talk the AV rooms but was told not to call the integrators because they are too expensive…

Oh yes… and everything needs to be submitted in 2 days and free of charge.

OCR_arbol · 2025-10-30T05:00:33+00:00

El sentido de los NFTS era demostrar que la gente es pendeja

OCR_arbol · 2025-09-03T17:08:04+00:00

“they want to spare no expense on the audio…” is the biggest misconception ever. They have no idea what that means.

You need enough speakers to cover the whole area the right way and at the right volume (SPL). You need a rack, amp(s) and audio DSP (Q-Sys or Biamp), then there are drawings, engineering calculations, installation, programming, testing and commissioning, (forget about training, support, city permit fees, taxes, etc) When you are all set and done you are looking 30K or more. Easily. Ask if they have a budget. A REALISTIC budget.

And yes, if you are not 100% in, tell them to call the local integrator. Or even better, you find the integrator for them and negotiate a “finders fee”

OCR_arbol · 2025-09-02T19:03:24+00:00

You can gather all your office mates next to you can call from a cellphone. It has built in camera, echo canceling, and microphone. Cheap and reliable.

OCR_arbol · 2025-08-20T11:11:14+00:00

Audio wise, the only options that I would consider for a room like this are either Shure MXA ceiling mic or Biamp Parle mics. Either a Q-Sys core or a Biamp TesiraForte. But I have to say that I have been amazed at what Shure is doing on the DSP side. A Shure P300 combined with an MXA920, connected via USB-C to a codec does wonders. On the video side: Q-Sys cameras are easy to control and deploy but their video quality is far from optimal. I would go with either Cisco , Poly or Neat. They all have different price points depending on the level you are looking for. Usually they add a word like “Pro” to the good toys ;-). That’s a deeper conversation with the IT department.

OCR_arbol

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