Although the line-up and technology for RBC Bluesfest has changed from year to year – sometimes dramatically – some constants are always a part of mounting a lengthy multi-day, multi-band, multi-genre bill.
“Ninety percent of my anxiety with Bluesfest is always adhering to our sound pressure limit,” says Bluefest’s in-house FOH mixer, Ken Stone. “People always ask, ‘Is that dB measurement right or wrong? How did you calibrate the system? Did you push the microphone right down into the calibrator?’ With 10Eazy, all of those questions were easily answered. The level of the festival wasn’t a concern of anyone after I told them that the sound pressure level was being measured and monitored by 10Eazy.”
In our last piece covering RBC Bluesfest, we discussed the Meyer Sound PA and DiGiCo consoles deployed for the festival, but this year, as far as products distributed by GerrAudio are concerned, “Number one was the 10Eazy system”, Stone remarks.
“No one even blinked an eye because it’s an internationally recognized system,” Stone adds. “Big Mick from Metallica uses 10Eazy. Everyone knows about it and doesn’t question it. There’s no back and forth, like, ‘How did you calibrate it? What kind of A/D converter are you using? When was the last time your Earthworks mic was calibrated?’ It was ‘That’s the number?’ Yes, that’s the number. ‘Okay, we’re cool.’”
10Eazy is a turnkey sound level meter that provides a trusted measurement of a system’s SPL output over time. The system takes the complexity out of SPL measurement, allowing users to reduce the chance of SPL becoming excessive, ensuring a given event complies with local by-laws while allowing mixers to maximize SPL where there are strict noise limits without concern or argument.
As for the impact 10Eazy had this year, says RBC Bluesfest Technical Director and Production Manager Scott Pollard, “One word, huge.”
By ensuring SPL is appropriate with 10Eazy, everyone benefits; the audience gets a great show, incoming engineers, artists, and city workers tasked with ensuring the law is being followed, know measurements are accurate, and incoming sound engineers don’t have to have arguments with Pollard, Stone, or anyone else.
When it comes to the city’s ‘sound police,’ Pollard adds, it’s not an adversarial relationship, “We want to be good corporate citizens,” he says, explaining that RBC Bluesfest is a signature Ottawa summer event. “Everyone knows that the festival is a huge draw.”
“10Eazy is awesome,” Alex Benn, Wall Sound’s A2 for the festival, adds. “We put it on the big screen at FOH and sent an HDMI split back to the production manager’s offices so Scott could see the 10Eazy display we were looking at, and there was no uncertainty. Everyone seems aware of the system, so we could just point to the screen. There was no uncertainty on our end or their end.”
Stone designed the PA, so it was 95 A-weighted at FOH, and then, in the back of the field, dropped down to 75 dB, meaning the closest residence was getting no more than 60-65 dB. “Ken had it set up so it would go red as soon as we hit 95 dB. So, super simple – the city workers measuring SPL could watch it,” Pollard notes, adding that providing that visual cue meant there were essentially no arguments. “In the past, I’ve got to read somebody the riot act every couple of days. This year, I only did it once – on the last night when the opening act hit 107 dB.”
Most engineers got it immediately. He adds: “Guys who know what they’re doing, they go okay, these are the parameters, and they can make it sound good.” At 95 dB, they shouldn’t have an issue, and 10Eazy was super accurate – if anything, the city workers were getting readings a dB or so less than 10Eazy.”
“There were no fights anymore,” Stone sums up. “So, it’s a life-changer, so much so that Scott saw how it worked and said, ‘You’re leaving that with me.’ He was so impressed with it he bought it on the spot. When I was tearing down at the end of the festival, I put it in the box and gave it to him.”
“After the first day, I told Ken to call GerrAudio and tell them ‘I’ll take it.’ It was that simple.” Pollard notes, adding he’s considering deploying a second 10Eazy system in another area for 2024’s festival.
Put mildly, the product lives up to its name, providing accurate and unquestioned SPL measurements that met not only within the municipal threshold limits but also no resistance from other engineers and artists. “10Eazy made it easy,” Pollard concludes, “If someone asked me, ‘How would you rate the product?’ Like the name, it’s a 10 out of 10 as far as I’m concerned.”
It may not be something that’s on the audience’s radar, but 10Eazy eased everyone’s job throughout this year’s Bluesfest, which, frankly, speaks to GerrAudio’s careful curation of innovative technology.
“All of the brands I see Gerr representing, they’re all recognized and known to be reliable, high-quality products,” Benn says. “Across the board, pretty much all of their suggestions are known quantities you can trust in a professional environment, which is awesome.” Equally important, he says: “Their staff know how this stuff works in the field and what sort of issues you might run into on the road. “They’re very responsive, super knowledgeable, and we can call them pretty much anytime. They understand the product and what we’re going through – which is extremely helpful if we have questions.”
That variety of ‘on call constantly’ support benefits everyone, Stone sums up, “I never have to worry because if I have a question, Gerr has no problem calling me back quickly and answering it.”