# Advanced SQ Seminar - Feb 21, 22 - Atlanta, GA Area



## Mark Eldridge (Jul 23, 2008)

Great news for all of you in the mid-Atlantic area that have been asking for this one… 

We have just scheduled another one of our Advanced SQ Seminars in the Atlanta, Georgia area on February 21, 22 (Saturday and Sunday). 

It will be held in Alpharetta, Georgia. Ben Vollmer has been pushing me to schedule a seminar in the area, and has really helped out with the coordination work, arranging for the room space, etc. We'll have a great classroom, and an excellent parking garage area for working on the cars. This seminar is only a few weeks before the competition season gets moving, and there have been more people asking for the ASQS to be presented in the Atlanta area than anywhere else, so we should have a great group in attendance.

Thanks for getting this one going, Ben!

The Advanced SQ Seminar is designed for anyone that is interested in learning everything they possibly can about the design, installation, and tuning of high-end sound quality mobile audio systems. Whether you are an installer, enthusiast, SQ competitor, work for a manufacturer, etc, and whether you are new to the field, or have many years experience, this class will give you more information in two days than you can find anywhere else in several years of searching! 

Like the seminars earlier this year, it will be an intensive, very full two-day seminar, jam packed with everything that can possibly be covered regarding the design, installation, and tuning of high-end and SQ competition mobile audio systems. A very abbreviated seminar outline is at the bottom of this post. 

We touch on the theory just enough to get deep into what really makes car audio systems sound great. We cover things like the acoustical characteristics of the car's interior, reflections, absorption, speaker placement, all of the electronic tuning issues (EQ, crossovers, delay, etc), and we get into the details of music, and establishing a great audio reference with which to compare our car audio systems. 

The class format is based on presentation of the topics, with many actual demonstrations, and lots of time for attendees to get their hands and ears on the test gear for practice and technique learning sessions. It is a TON of information presented in a format that no other training class can offer, and every bit of it is directly geared towards developing practical application skills and knowledge that can be used when designing, fabrication, and/or tuning high-quality car audio systems.

We've got several different audio reference systems, many different practical demonstrations for setting EQs and crossovers, setting speaker placement, finding and controlling reflections, lots of acoustical experiments, etc. You will not be bored in this class!

We promise you'll get more out of this seminar in two days than you can find anywhere else! 

We will start at 8:30 each morning, and go until everyone has had enough, usually between 6 and 7 PM Saturday, and around 4 PM on Sunday.

The attendance price includes extensive hand out notes, several test CDs, and a t-shirt. 

For pricing and more information on the seminar, either e-mail me at [email protected], or call me at (918) 810-2535. 

If you’ve got questions about the seminar, please contact me, and/or post them here so everyone else can see the answers too. You can also check the other threads from the Tulsa and DFW seminars to see what people thought about the class, and probably get some other questions answered as well.

Make plans to attend if you can. 

Again, please give me a call or e-mail if you have any questions.

Thanks!


Mark Eldridge
[email protected]
Mobile Phone (918) 810-2535

Mobile Soundstage Engineering
11110-J South 82nd East Place
Bixby, OK 74008
www.mblsound.com



*Two Day Advanced Sound Quality Workshop Outline *


*Introduction and Overview *

Why Do We Do What We Do???
Workshop Curriculum Overview - What We Will Do in the Workshop
What Really Matters in a Great Sounding Audio System… 


*The Many Parts of Music *

Definitions and Terms
Instruments and Vocalists
Amplified and Un-Amplified Performances
Performance Venues: Studios, Clubs, Concert Halls, Etc.
The Emotional Involvement - What is it that gets our blood pumping?


*Our Audio Reference*

_The standard with which we compare audio system performance _

What is an appropriate reference, and how do we get one?
Live Performances vs. Recorded Music
The Recording and How It Affects What We Hear
Listening Critically to Recordings
The Listening Room and Environment 
Near-field, Far-field, Car-field?
The Sound Reproduction System - Studio, Home Audio, Headphones, Etc.
So what is the “perfect” reference system?


*Using Your Ears 101 *

A simple setup to teach yourself how to recognize acoustical problems
Equalization, crossovers, Signal delay, etc.
Comparison of analyzer measurement techniques with our ears

*Tools, Tools, Tools…….*

CDs and Software
Acoustical Analyzers: (RTA, TEF, etc) How they work, how to use them, how to interpret the data 
Other useful tools – oscilloscope, Radio Shack amplifier, DVM, etc.
Books, Articles, the Internet, and other sources of “information”
Your Ears - Definitely the most important and effective tool in your arsenal!!!!!
Using the Tools Most Effectively
Analyzing the Data


*The Human Hearing System*

Why We Hear What We Hear
Do We All Hear the Same Things?
How We Localize Sounds – Spatial Responses
What is Ambience, anyway???
Perception of Frequency Response
Loudness Effects
Psycho-Acoustics
Distortion – How much is too much? 


*The Vehicle’s Acoustical Environment *

Defining the Problem Areas
Reflective surfaces, absorptive surfaces 
Near Field vs. Far Field – What do we really have?
Pathlength, pathlength, pathlength
Relative locations of tweeters, mids, and other drivers
Comb filtering, and other acoustical issues
Reflections Good and Bad…


*Acoustical Treatments*

What’s the purpose?
Types of Acoustical Treatments
Basic Acoustical Treatment Philosophy
Controlling “Bad” Reflections 
Controlling Speaker Dispersion Patterns
Recognizing and Finding Reflections
Diffusion


*Car Audio System Design*

Vehicle Selection – If you have a choice
Important vehicle interior considerations
Basic System Configuration
How many speakers are really needed?
Equipment Selection Questions
Speaker Locations - General Philosophy
Speaker Locations – Specific Recommendations and Techniques 
Speaker Placement Experiments and Testing
Enclosure design, size, and construction considerations
Mid-bass and Midrange enclosures


*Component Selection *

Signal Processors
Front Stage Speakers
Subwoofers
Mid-Bass Drivers (if needed)
Everything Else…


*System Level Setting and Gain Structure *

_The Most Important Tuning Step!!! _

What is it and why is it so important?
The Important Factors
Tools Needed
The Steps on How to Do It


*Advanced System Tuning Tips and Techniques *

Crossovers, equalizers, etc
What works best in different situations
Acoustical analyzers vs your ears…


*Competition Specific Topics *

Installation Presentation
RTA / SPL Tuning and adjustments
Photo Book guidelines
Specific rules interpretations


*You Name the Topic / General Discussion *

This is open to any topic brought up by the class that you feel needs to be covered. Anything Sound Quality related is fair game…


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