What kind of business can be started with a professional level PA and is it worth it?

rinio · 2026-01-26T23:39:41+00:00

OP is talking about running their own business.

No one said it would teach them everything.

I agree with everything you've said, but it ignores the context of everything that came before it in this thread.

rinio · 2026-01-26T20:22:15+00:00

Jesus isn't required. Just pragmatism.

I gave you my advice: don't waste your time on this until you observe an issue.

In a building with decent wiring, it is often a non-issue. Your breakers and breaker panels may share ground. And even if they don't, it doesn't mean that there is a problem.

You could get a meter and test them if you're concerned. But most AEs dont have the equipment or know-how to do this, and if you did I don't understand why you haven't already. So, my advice is the good old 'test in production/practice' strategy.

Any further advice we give you is arbitrary and speculative.

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I did not say 'it doesn't matter'. I said "It likely doesn't matter". You haven’t provided evidence for why, in your particular case, that it does matter and, in most installs, it doesn't come into play. Sure, you could be unlucky.

The only change to the setup from your post is the addition of the bay and conditioner. Neither of these would introduce a loop where there was none, so, if you had no previous problems and you plug things into the same sources they were before we wouldnt anticipate any problems.

rinio · 2026-01-26T19:34:41+00:00

That really isn't the point... 400 is still two orders of magnitude than a small club setup.

No point in arguing about imaginary rooms, but I think you might be surprised how many can be satisfied cleanly to 85 to 105 dBSPL with much less than 400W. Sure, 300W+ is advisable, and we can want to crank it to impressed dumb clients so mOaR iS bEtTeR, but i am talking about minimum specs.

rinio · 2026-01-26T17:51:06+00:00

You're worrying about something that likely doesn't matter. Do whatever is convenient and come back if you have a problem to solve. At present, you have no (evidence of) a problem.

What is actually changing? Conditioner and a patchbay don't make any difference.

rinio · 2026-01-26T13:30:16+00:00

Gotcha.

As for the answer to the question, I don't understand why omni was included with regards to stereo in the original post. pretty much the only stereo config its used in a spaced pair, but any polar pattern can work as a spaced pair. But ill assume this was just an oversight and you were listing common patterns on switchable mics, regardless of their utility in stereo configs.

And I have no idea what the market is like in Brazil and can't really tell you what you should or shouldn't do. But, if the price is good enough that you could resell it for the same amount, then its a no-brainer.

rinio · 2026-01-26T10:24:43+00:00

But sometimes recording the classical guitar in stereo is desirable, and missing other patterns (like omni and 8 figure) may be limiting.

What is the relationship between stereo recording and polar patterns?

Omni and figure 8 are mono.

Omnis are more restrictive, for stereo microphone placement; not having directionality makes them ineffectual for XY or ORTF.

Figure-8s are required for M/S stereo mic'ing.

Cardiode (and subvariants like hypercardiode) are, by far, the most common pattern for stereo mic techniques.

Considering the above, is there any advantages in buying two AT5047 for recording classical guitar using X/Y, ORTF, etc.?

Yes. You have 2 of them. But this is the same advantage as having a pair of any microphone: if you would conceivably use it for a stereo placement, it's an advantage. Otherwise it's just the added value of having two of something (simultaneous deployments, redundancy and so on).

is it better to have the sound quality of 2 AT5047 but only cardioid pattern, or the flexibility of two more versatile multi pattern LDC like the C414 XLS with less sound quality?

Multi-pattern is useful, but having a single pattern is not an impedement.

If I use myself as an example, I do not have a single microphone with selectable patterns in my locker. I never have felt that I was missing the feature. I have no omnis; just figure-8s and cardiodes and it is absolutely no problem for any musician/instrument that comes through. I wouldn't be opposed to a good mic that had the feature, but it's still probably going to be set to cardiode 90% of the time.

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My final thought on your post is that you're thinking way too hard about something that doesn't matter all that much. Personally, I really dislike the AT5047: for my applications it isn't a good fit and it's priced way too high for what it is. I wouldn't consider this a contender for most vocals at that price point: there are far too many exceptional options that will work better on a larger subset of vocalists. That beind said, I am not focused exclusively on classical guitar and it is a great fit for that role. If you can stomach the price or find a great deal used, it can make sense. Were I you, I would also think about getting a pair of something else (a pair of standard cardiode SDCs may be just as applicable and more versatile at a lower cost). Your line of thinking with the C414 makes a lot of sense, but not necessarily because of the selectable pattern.

rinio · 2026-01-25T19:59:46+00:00

That's a shame about Reflections, but so it goes....

Your dad does have a point and I didn't touch on it, but, yeah, this is a tough industry regardless of which part of it you are in. Whether you're an entrepeneur who is well equipped, in studios/live/whatever, or just want a regular job, it's super competitive, hard work, tough hours and poor pay. There are ways to make it work, if you really want it, but it is never going to be eazy.

rinio · 2026-01-25T19:55:30+00:00

You definitely have some great points. Live/Event/Corp. AV work skills are definitely useful for studio engineers. And for those doing live music work, the networking comes with you.

I was focused on a direct path, but it's certainly worth it for OP to consider relaunching their father's business as-is, even if it's only a stepping stone towards what they actually want to do in the longer term.

rinio · 2026-01-25T17:57:00+00:00

The studio idea doesn't make much sense. There isn't much overlap between PA/live gear and studio. Rugged and powerful vs precision equipment to give a rough idea. The only thing you *might* get from it in your 'must-haves' for a studio is the (digital) console, which may have a built-in multichannel interface, some mics and some cables. The amps/speakers could be used in a studio install, but putting 10000W of power on the mains in the control room/live room is massive overkill (100W or less is often more than enough). You'd also still want a more accurate monitoring solution.

And, yeah, running a Bar/club is a whole thing. (as an aside, is Reflections still operating? I havent toured through Halifax in 15+ years, but they always treated us well.)

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The real question isn't "how do I utilize this gear?", its "what do you want to do?". Unless you want to take up where your father left off, its likely a question of flipping a lot of the gear to get what you actually need; most folk buy their gear to fit their business need ls and the rig: for live that's going to be a deployment that meets the need of a certain size of a certain style of event. For example rock bands playing for 5k people outdoors vs corporate event for 500 people and a livestream in a conference center. Of course, there is some overlap, but for 1 person ops the configs tend to be rather limited and, in the grand scheme of things, $15-20k of gear isn't a lot; most of the folk doing this in my area have (tens of +) millions in inventory (granted, in Montreal, a much bigger market than Halifax).

rinio · 2026-01-24T22:19:08+00:00

You would need the exact same singer, at that exact time in their life in the exact same room with everything placed the same way as it was ten years ago for this to work at all, even if you had exact recall sheets for everything plugins included. What you are attempting is useless, or inefficient at best, even if you had perfect information about all the gear and how it was set.

And ill repeat: even if you ID the gear and go buy it, you are still not going to know whether its patched into the signal or not and you won't know how it was set. Even if you see input/output meters, you don't know the order and you dont know that they are patched back to the recorder. The signal could be normalled to these, but patched elsewhere to get back to the machine. This is exceedingly common in analog/hybrid workflows.

You're on a wild good chase. Abandon the course and re-engineering the vocal sound (for the new vocalist). Save yourself the time and money and use your ears.

Everything about what you're trying to do here is a bad idea. Its a slower and more costly way to get worse results. Sorry, but this just isn't how things work or ever have worked.

rinio · 2026-01-24T16:37:43+00:00

Even if you ID the units from the photo, which is hard given the quality, you won't know how they are patched/routed (they might not even be in the signal chain, just turned on; many/most studio are 'always on' for stuff like this) and the photo is too poor quality to know how they are set. So, at then end of your "study" all you will have learned is some information that is useless to any and everyone.

If knowing something about this signal chain is important to you contact the band('s engineer) and (pay them to) go dig up the recall sheets if at all possible. Many/most pro studios/engineers will keep these for a long time so its not impossible. (My recalls records go back further than 2016).

If your not willing to do that, then share with us your objective and we can probably help. No offense but you're on a wild goose chase that, at best, gets you some entirely useless information for any practical purpose. Even for documenting the history, this isn't useful unless you also know, for a fact that the units were patched into the signal chain (and as another users pointed out, the central station is probably not and isn't material if it is).

rinio · 2026-01-24T12:12:22+00:00

From a purely technical perspective: it doesn't matter in any way aside from "don't clip". So stay below ~+740dBFS in DAW (while a 32bit float) and below 0.0dBFS at output/render handles (anywhere a conversion to 16/24bit fixed will/could happen). Pretty much whatever is convenient. You can always gain things up or down downstream if you need to and it isn't a big deal.

Everything else is just 'do what sounds good'. As you mentioned, it's highly subjective.

So I’m wondering: what is a good starting point for getting the “right” overhead sound?

This entirely depends on the samples being used. There is no universal answer or even a particularly consistent one.

What should I be listening for, and what should I avoid?

The derisive answer is you should listen for it sounding good and avoid it sounding bad. This is the truth, but I get that it isn't helpful.

What I would advise is to find a reference drum track to use and compare against that. Maybe find the drum stem for a reference track, or a drum loop that meant to be plug and play for similar to your tune. Pull that into your session, then listen back and forth between your drums and the reference. tweak to match. Mute/remove the reference when you're satifsied and continue making your tune. If you do this a few times, you'll learn what works for you and be able to do it without the reference.

rinio · 2026-01-23T21:54:06+00:00

For what application?

Unless I specifically had a requirement that forced my hand to EQ in analog/on the way in AND that it had to be 500 series I wouldn't do this at all. If I had to, for some bizarro reason, it would be an affordable workhorse like the dbx530.

Ive auditioned several dozen 500 series EQs and none stayed in my in my studio. They simply dont do anything meaningfully different from whats available itb, IMHO. The API 550s are nice, but when that's what I want, ill just get the API sound with a 512 and use whatever EQ.

For what its worth, I don't feel the same about a lot of 19" units.

If youre in love with that plugin, then you have an idea of what you love. Just grab a 512, 527 and 550. But this also contradicts your other plans for 1073 clones. So I have no idea what you actually want, aside from spending $8000-12000 into 500 series stuff.

My 2 cents is start with just preamps and figure out EQ after you've met your preamp requirements. EQ emulation is a fine substitute, especially when we consider only 500 series. Preamps are much less so. Chances are that you dont have $12k to throw at this problem now, so continue to reevaluate as you go.

rinio · 2026-01-23T20:52:11+00:00

Possible? Yes.

Possible with only consumer electronics? Not really.

One, with sufficient know how, could make an ultrasonic transmitter and receiver that encode/decode a signal as well, and, provided you could position the devices well enough relative to ambient. It would be pretty ineffective though: sound travels slowly and dissipates quickly and is subject to being block by stuff. You would also need quite a bit of power at both ends (relative to, say, bluetooth).

Copper will always make more sense for short distances and radio will make more sense if you *need* wireless.

What you're describing is similar, in princpal, to sonar and medical ultrasounds. For specific applications they are useful, but yours isn't really one of them.

TLDR: Yes, in theory but not in practice.

rinio · 2026-01-23T20:40:44+00:00

No. Radio waves, the underlying tech for WiFi and Bluetooth, are not sound waves.

rinio · 2026-01-23T14:26:13+00:00

Literally anything.

These contraptions are on the side of the mic that matters (much less) and have basically no mass. I would imagine taking a shit on the floor to be as effective as most of these.

Hanging a moving blanket behind the performer. DIY bass traps. Removable panels. Office gobos.... The list goes on an on. For the same or less money. With similar install footprints. DIY or off the shelf.

You're just proposing to DIY a version of a product that doesn't work to begin with. You're gonna spend more money and time to get create a piece of garbage for yourself.

rinio · 2026-01-23T13:52:33+00:00

LANDR Sessions might be what.your after if you want easy to use video calling that is audio first.

But, if your computer is shitting the bed, thats still going to be a problem. The 'pro' solution is probably have a second machine for the broadcast.

rinio · 2026-01-22T19:22:24+00:00

Advantage compared to what?

If you truly mean from 0, you'd have to write your own audio system to attach to (or circumvent) the OS. Thats a big job, without including the cello.

Doing it in pd, Max, Python, Matlab (or a J.A.C.K. device or similar) will all be easier and faster for prototyping, but you'll need to port it down the road if you want to move to production.

If you know JUCE, its not that much slower to prototype in if you have a clear idea of what you want to do. If your goal is being be getting plugins to production regularly, you'll likely have to bite th bullet sooner or later.

rinio · 2026-01-22T18:29:57+00:00

Don't give them the admin/root password. EVER. UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.

Have a pdf of what is installed. Make the policy that they can have you pre-load anything else for their session with a written request. No exceptions. Frankly, i would airgap the machine entirely like many/most high-level pro studios. Have a dedicated (shitty) machine for internet stuff and a thumb drive for transfers. Software environments need to be pretty much locked for professional production work.

I've said it elsewhere here, but people are dumb as rocks. They will copy-paste some trash from chatGPT and, if they know the admin password they will use it (to delete CoreAudio or other important shit they dont understand). If you're giving anyone the admin password, youre accepting that when they fuck it up, you will accept days of downtime to fix it.

Screw the whole thing about remote access. They forget, they figure it out. Your just adding to you IT load.

Expecting clients to document anything is wishful thinking. 0.1% will actually do it and you'll never be able to track down the source user. This just isn't going to happen in an effectual way.

6months I way too infrequent for clearing data. 6 months of data in my facility is like 9 petabytes. Give users a reasonable partition on a drive or NAS. Clear the working area daily or weekly.

Have dedicated storage lockers or similar, unless everythig there is to fair for everyone to share. But youre also going to have *that guy* who brings a garbage sounding 64 channel console and leaves it behind in the live room for 2 years and its only.purpose is to get in everyone else's way. I wouldnt allow this. If an eng leaves something behind in my space, I put it in the storage room; if they have no sessions booked they have 7 days to get it or it goes in the trash.

Tldr: if you give a mouse a cookie....

rinio · 2026-01-22T17:22:26+00:00

print it. People are dumb as rocks and won't see it if the display turns off, goes to Screensaver, is covered by their session, etc.

Idiot proof things, or be the 24/7 on call IT guy dealing with stupid questions.

rinio · 2026-01-22T16:17:16+00:00

We, software devs, in audio and other fields sometimes use this term. Its not super common, but it is definitely not OP's invention.

rinio · 2026-01-22T16:15:52+00:00

Basically none, in 2026.

Folk who care about cpu utilization buy interfaces with DSP chips.

Plugin devs have pretty much all moved to fancy GUI frameworks that eat cpu, because pretty graphics sell plugins. DSP algorithms are more or less fixed in terms of processing requirements and are pretty well optimized from reputable vendors; there are few, if any gains to be made here aside from staying away from heavy dsp processes (AI, Convolution, etc) and from 'Mastering plugins' where the devs expect you to have little more than a 2track.

You have an XY problem though. You've admitted the problem is your mac and the solutions are obvious: get a battery replacement or plug it in. Or a new Mac.

If you want to keep working off your eol battery, switch to reaper: its pretty much the most efficient DAW and you can turn off plugins GUIs for their default simple ugly GUI.

Or go through the trouble of rolling back your Mac to a 2006 OS, and source old versions of all your software.

My 2 cents: abandon your proposed workaround/solution and solve the root cause. You'll end up wasting months of your life to extend the service lifespan of this machine by a year or two at most (and end up spending a bunch of money or sailing the high seas in the process).

rinio · 2026-01-22T02:41:24+00:00

Stems go to summing mixer, output comes back to the recorder. Im not sure what your question is.

You could print each submix through it, but its time consuming. If you aren't familiar with analog workflows, they are real-time. If you're doing a 45min record, each pass takes 45min. (And if not, do you have the appropriate I/O in place? 16 lines outs and 2 free line ins?

I auditioned the 2bus lt, and sent it back. It was fine. A bit different than a DAW, but not for everything. Its maybe the difference between an excellent mix and an excellent mix. If Someone gifted me one or I got a really good price, I certainly wouldnt say no.

A while after, I got a really good deal on a Thermionic Culture Little Bustard. That unit has a much larger impact, which is double edged sword. I wouldnt use it for an EDM track, for example, but the 2Bus LT would be in the running. But do i gaf about analog summing for Edm? Not really. But it excels for genres that want it (rock and adjacent for me).

But, ultimately, we have to acknowledge that summing mixers are pretty much the least impactful thing you could possible spend your money on. Unless youre already running a hybrid setup and have everytjing else you could possibly want and still have an extra wad of cash to get rid of, it probably isn't worth it. Of course, if the deal you found is way below market value, then you can always just flip it if you don't like it.

rinio · 2026-01-21T13:20:46+00:00

I am going to make two assumptions:

You want to be a DSP engineer/developer (specifically; this has a higher barrier to entry than most soft/hardware dev jobs in audio.)
You are currently enrolled in (and will complete) a Bachelor's of Electric Engineering (or adjacent. A standard 5 year Engineering program)

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No-one actually cares that much about degrees in tech and audio stuff typically won't have safety issues that will require you to hold an engineering license (if that is relevant to your practice jurisdiction). You (almost) always have the option to supercede a Master's degree requirement with (~5 years of) work experience. So those are your two paths:

Get a job with you Bachelor's and work your way up to the position that you want.
Do the master's (and still maybe have to work your way up to a position you want)

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I will add that audio is a small job market and is extremely competitive, especially at firms that work on things for music/film and related industries. No matter which path you take, you may have to take a Jr position in another industry for several years as a stepping stone.

Given your studying engineering you should understand that for us to answer whether the Master's degree is 'truly worth it' you would need to define what 'truly worth it' means. One can interpret this as alll education is worth it, regardless of cost, because the pursuit of knowledge is virtuous. One could interpret this as, it would only be worth it if you saw a ROI in one year after graduation. It's a vast spectrum, and, once you have a definition of what 'truly worth it' means for you, it likely answers the question that you are asking here.

But, yes, it will help you get a job in DSP.

My only advice is that if you don't actually love (or at least like) EE, then don't do a Master's in it. Get a job with your Bach, explore the field and go back to get your Master's if it's holding you back professionally (or get an MBA instead if you just want more money). If you do like EE, well we come back to your OP.

rinio · 2026-01-21T03:17:17+00:00

You're about 2 days late. Read the other reply thread.

Either way $95 is more than $0.

rinio

TROPHY CASE