FRONT OF HOUSE
ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS | Kent Morris
With our accelerated life cycle and continuous is still widely considered the best and most SynAudCon is offered near you, please make
flow of information to digest, knowing how comprehensive short-term training available. the effort to attend. It will be the best money
we arrived here can be difficult to ascertain. Their book, Sound System Engineering, is you will ever spend on audio.
Social media provides a never-ending stream the backbone of the industry and is required of scrolling data while cable channels of all reading for any serious audio engineer. Don stripes emit their news angle on a moment-by- and Carolyn owned the world’s first Real Time moment basis. It is said we know more about Analyzer (RTA), a prototype built by Hewlett- the last 24 hours than we do about the last 24 Packard. They took it to contractors around the years. But knowing how we got here matters. country and discovered sound system design The present is a culmination of the past. In the was opposite of what was needed. Instead pro audio community, our relatively short history of designing from the mic to the speaker, is peppered with innovators and pioneers who the proper method was to look at the room’s forged a path to success for the rest of us to acoustic signature and then decide the best follow. We have migrated quickly from simple place to put the loudspeaker, then which four channel mixers and column speakers speaker, then an appropriate amplifier, then the to complex networked digital consoles and right mic to fit the application. After a quarter- massive line arrays. This journey required century of teaching, they passed the baton to a creative thinking and masterful engineering. husband and wife team they trained.
DR. EUGENE PATRONIS
Dr. Eugene Patronis is professor emeritus at
Let’s take a look, then, at some of the people
Georgia Tech where he taught for over half a
who made it possible for us to produce quality
century. He has authored numerous articles on
sound with relative ease.
everything from nuclear physics to acoustics.
I was blessed to have him as a mentor in the
early 1990s when I worked for OAP Audio, a
speaker manufacturer, and he was our primary
consultant. Dr Patronis was kind enough to
answer my questions as I accompanied him
on many trips where he would lecture on
loudspeaker design. Dr Patronis invented the
OAP Pro-Ax, a coaxial high efficiency model for
us and would go with me to NSCA and AES
events to explain how the system worked.
PAT AND BRENDA BROWN
Once, at a big conference, a cocky attendee
Pat and Brenda Brown came to SynAudCon challenged his formula and said his calculations
when instructor were wrong. Dr. Patronis tried to gently correct
cancelled due to illness. Pat and Brenda were the student, but to no avail. So, Dr. Patronis
Don and Carolyn Davis are an appropriate place the perfect couple to take over after Don and turned to me and said, “Kent, go get me several
to start any conversation about modern sound Carolyn retired since they worked as a team in more white boards.” I did so immediately and
reinforcement. Don was the right-hand-man for the same way and Pat added the practical side Dr. P wrote out every step of the formula in great
Paul Klipsch and then went on to Altec Lansing of instruction to Don’s theoretical approach. Pat detail across a dozen white boards to show the
where he co-invented the 1/3 octave graphic Brown has a natural ability to explain complex student the error of his ways. The student was
equalizer. In 1973 Don and Carolyn created concepts in simple terms and uses it to share so humiliated; he slunk out of the hall in shame.
Synergistic Audio Concepts as a means his extensive knowledge with anyone willing But, Dr. P went and found him and encouraged
to educated up and coming audio techs in to learn. As technology moved forward into him to not give up, to study better and, most
fundamentals, speech intelligibility and system the digital realm, Pat and Brenda have made importantly, to develop a sense of humility. Dr.
operation. SynAudCon, as it is now known, understanding it easy and straightforward. If Patronis sought to create speakers with clear
DON AND CAROLYN DAVIS
178
the
primary
October 2019
applications
Subscribe for Free...