[Meeting Report logo]
AES Pacific Northwest Section Meeting Report - April 29, 1997

The Art and Science of Sound System Troubleshooting

with Mac Perkins, Cal Perkins and Rick Chinn
Images from the meeting - 3 GIFs, 50KB each.
Approximately two dozen people gathered at Jack Straw Productions Studios on April 29, 1997 to hear about sound system troubleshooting. Famed local troubleshooters Mac Perkins (Pacific NW Theater Associates), Cal Perkins (Mackie Designs) and Rick Chinn (t hen with Mackie Designs, now with Uneeda Audio) shared their experiences and troubleshooting tips. The meeting was co-sponsored by WAPS, the Washington Association of Production Services, a trade association of companies in the live event production busin ess.

Section chair Dan Mortensen began the meeting by having everyone introduce themselves. Aurika Hayes, PNW Section member and co-chair of the AES 14th International Conference, "internetaudio.aes.org", announced the conference, and Allen Goldstein, PNW Sect ion committeeman, announced his job as Volunteer Coordinator for the conference, and called for volunteers.

Rick, Cal and Mac each gave fascinating accounts of their lifetimes in audio, with many anecdotes about the history and evolution of audio, as well as many troubleshooting stories. Of course, everyone's story reminded someone else of another story, so the evening was filled with stories. Among other tales, Rick spoke of childhood fun, interfering with the sound crew's CB radios at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair; Cal spoke of early PAs at Swanson Sound in the Bay area, and Mac spoke of being the authorized Teac repair station aboard the destroyer he served on.

Rick provided a handout with many troublehooting hints and tricks, such as:



He also included a schematic for a cable tester, and info on some interesting products for troubleshooting - the Whirlwind QBox tester and MD-1 mic to line driver.

At intermission, attendees enjoyed some light refreshments, then reconvened for the rest of the meeting.

The trio brought out many of their favorite gig bag hardware tricks, and did some demonstrations of troubleshooting fundamentals on a small sound system. The analytical process was outlined, and the importance of understanding what the real problem is, an d how to logically solve it. More stories were shared.

It was a long evening, but filled with solid help for every audio pro.

Reported by Gary Louie