Smaart Operator Training

Who it's for

FOH and monitor engineers, system techs, installers and venue technical staff who want to measure and tune sound systems properly. Some live-sound experience helps; no previous Smaart experience is needed. The course is taught in English, and every student works on their own laptop — there are lots of practice sessions.

Your trainer

James Woods

CEO, Woods Engineering · Madrid

James Woods is a prominent audio engineer and CEO of Woods Engineering. Based in Madrid, the company evolved from James’s free-lance work in Spain and other countries in Europe that included concert sound, TV, design/build installations, system troubleshooting, consulting, and electro-acoustical analysis (SIM® and Smaart).

What you'll learn

• How Smaart works internally, so you can troubleshoot your measurement rig and know what the data is — and isn't — telling you
• Single-channel measurement in Spectrum mode using the RTA and Spectrograph views
• Dual-channel (transfer function) measurement and why it is so useful
• What comb filtering is, how it happens and how to reduce it
• Reading the phase trace and checking measurement quality with coherence
• Using the Live Impulse window to see arrivals, room reflections and interference from nearby loudspeakers
• Comparing microphones, and multi-mic versus single-mic spatial averaging
• Finding the reference mic position, then EQ and delay for mains, fills and delay systems
• Aligning subs to mains, plus cardioid subs if time allows
• Using Smaart for maintenance, live mixing and studio work too

Agenda

1. Day 1

   • Introduction to Smaart and single-channel measurement: what affects alignment results and how Smaart works inside
   • Spectrum mode with RTA and Spectrograph views; configuring measurements and saving traces for recall

2. Day 2

   • Dual-channel (transfer function) measurement and why we use it; comb filtering and how to reduce it
   • Phase and coherence traces, the Live Impulse window, reading the results and first processing changes

3. Day 3

   • Practice day on a full system: microphone compare, multi-mic and single-mic spatial averaging, finding the reference position
   • Measuring and EQ'ing mains, down fills, front fills and delays, setting delay times and aligning subs to mains

Timings may shift slightly on the day.

What to bring

• Your own laptop (Windows or Mac) — one per student; computers can't be shared
• Smaart v9 Suite demo and Dante Virtual Soundcard installed and working before Day 1 (older laptops: check compatibility on the Rational Acoustics website)
• A wired Ethernet port on your laptop, or a USB/Thunderbolt-to-Ethernet adapter — class audio is sent over the network
• Your own measurement microphone, if you have one, to compare on Day 3
• Notebook and pen