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Trent Valley Show - 2014


Northpoint

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"Sound" - or more precisely "Sound Volume" - is one of those 'touchy subjects', especially in an Exhibition context. If the three layouts in your room had been in the main hall, their sound would have had a lot less impact. I know my sound system has effects that were totally lost - but at home could be far too loud.

You can go next to 59th Street next time, Dan - police sirens & all :D If Long Island Jack had turned up the volume more on his Alco RS, I could have synch'ed mine with it - that is NOT a complaint though - I thought it was superb sound, from such a small loco!! ;)

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Dear Daniel,

 

At the risk of sounding like a broken record:

 

- what you heard was obviously not _scale_sound_

- higher ambient noise levels at a show is not a valid excuse to "turn it to 11"
(If the sound is truly appropriate, the layout is displayed at appropriate height for both viewing and listening,
and the crowd is truly engaged, they will lean-in, and truly scale-sound will still shine thru)
- it doesn't have to be loud to have presence and bottom-end

 

I totally agree that overblown and "dB Drag Racing" approaches to layout and onboard sound helps no-one,
detracts from the exhibiting experience (both for the punters and the fellow exhibitors), 
and can (in some cases very visibly) actually discourage punters from getting close enough to appreciate what is an otherwise standout model/layout.

 

(One notable example I've witnessed was a Japanese city layout which used a small 4" LCD + PC multimedia speaker rig to emulate a Tokyo-esque "city centre" scene. The playback level exceeded 96dB SPL-A @1m. The result, as viewed from the elevated stage area at the end of the show hall was a very visible empty area at that corner of the layout, which the punters literally would not enter. It was amazing to watch, you could pick a punter, watch them walk casually along the layout front-edge in a straightline, and literally, unconsciously, and entirely-predictably from our vantage point, make a deliberate wide skirting detour into the centre of the aisle and the wave of oncoming traffic, to avoid the invisible-yet-undeniable cloud of noise-polution emenating from that corner of the layout...) 

 

In contrast, at the very same show, "Brooklyn : 3AM" featured:
- a scale Doof Doof warehouse Rave party, 
the sounds of "the city that never sleeps" as a bed track,
- a genuine first-person-perspective NYPD "Federal Signal" siren-equipped cruiser + SWAT truck
- a front-n-centre group of 5 homeless guys muttering away between themselves
- dogs and cats verbally "working out their differences" over the surrounding 4 blocks of cityscape
- the forklift and loading activity "buzz" at "S.L. Services" at front Left

(not to mention the MRC diesel sound module, Brooklyn is a 100% analog layout)

 

and all of this is achieved without exceeding 60dB SPL @ 1m,...
(and yet being clearly audible to those punters who stop and "lean in", even against the average 85+dB SPL show hall ambience).

 

The point being, what you heard "sounds like" virtually all the typical "go loud or go home" approaches commonly seen in Layout Sound,
and rest assured, it need not be that way....

 

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr
 

PS 298, "perfecting layout sound for exhibitions" is not hard, truly. However, it does take:
- the effort to build the sound to the same scale specs as the visual models it is supporting
- the conviction that "Scale Sound should stay scale" and be presented as such.
(You don't mount O scale detail parts on a HO model, just so the punter walking by is guaranteed to notice that "this model has added details".
Sooo, Equally, why turn supporting super-detailed scale-sound audio up to "scale Krackatoa Earthquake" excessive-dB playback levels???)

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Okay lets see what we have - these are only reduced in size - otherwise as they come, In Batches of 10

Setting up Saturday AM

post-6688-0-36896800-1402915016.jpg

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I'll try to add Layout names later  -

 

The one with the flags is la Ciénaga
post-6688-0-28251300-1402915021.jpg

 

Dan and Cane River

post-6688-0-85690000-1402915022.jpg

 Chris Gilberts  Haston replacement (Layout with no name) - The end boards were painted at 4.00am Saturday morning - Last minute as standard practice!

post-6688-0-51097300-1402915024.jpg

post-6688-0-27254000-1402915026.jpg

post-6688-0-15372400-1402915028.jpg
 

Ray  (Long Island Jack)s 59th and Rust
post-6688-0-09648700-1402915030.jpg
 

post-6688-0-60540500-1402915014.jpg

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Last ones - These have all been Batch reduced in size(doing them individually I'd be there all day!) so they may not be as detailed as we would like - if anyone wants fullsize copies of their layouts photos - PM me with an email address and I'll send them on to you

 

 

Landor Street

post-6688-0-26286200-1402918215.jpg

 

post-6688-0-15301100-1402918217.jpg

 

post-6688-0-78798900-1402918218.jpgpost-6688-0-10799500-1402918212.jpg

 

I have named these from memory (which is no longer as good as it used to was!) - so if any are wrong please advise and I will correct them - If your name doesn't appear - my apologies but that is because I don't know it - if you would like it added - again let me know - it isn't a problem to edit it 

Again - Thanks to all who made it a great day - but for you the photos wouldn't be there- Some layouts I know I have missed taking a photo of - and again , my apologies

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Next year I'll likely need another operator just to run the layout, nevermind to allow me to snoop around the show for a bit.

 

That also means a second Powercab purchase on the horizon.

 

Expensive times ahead! :P

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Dear Daniel,

 

Um, another Powercab? Why? If the layout is already powered by a PowerCab (1.28 or 1.65 firmware),
adding a single CAB04 will give you an additional "engineer cab" for a 2nd operator.
(and is much cheaper than a full "hammerhead" throttle handset)

 

Alternatively, add a NCE <> USB adaptor + headless JMRI unit (maybe Rasberry Pi?) + a WiFi router, 
and anyone who can log onto your WiFi network with a smartphone (running WiiThrottle/EngineDriver app),
has their own "BYO Throttle" ready to go...

 

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

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Dear Daniel,

 

Um, another Powercab? Why? If the layout is already powered by a PowerCab (1.28 or 1.65 firmware),

adding a single CAB04 will give you an additional "engineer cab" for a 2nd operator.

(and is much cheaper than a full "hammerhead" throttle handset)

 

Alternatively, add a NCE <> USB adaptor + headless JMRI unit (maybe Rasberry Pi?) + a WiFi router, 

and anyone who can log onto your WiFi network with a smartphone (running WiiThrottle/EngineDriver app),

has their own "BYO Throttle" ready to go...

 

Happy Modelling,

Aim to Improve,

Prof Klyzlr

There were a lot of layouts using NCE equipment at the show....!

 

My chief operator brings his Powercab to shows just in case we have a catastrophic failure (not that we have), and although I don't use half of the functionality and only have one loco moving at a time, I do like the thumbwheel and display, and do get fed up when the layout is set up in the study or car-hole, and I'm up in the loft and need to test a chassis...

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20th June 2015 - Nick is giving us an extra week to get stuff finished for next year...!! :friends:

 

I had a Christmas card from my niece/Goddaughter saying keep 13th June 2015 free as she is getting married. I said to Liz I wonder what they'd say if I said I already had something pencilled in for that day.......

 

Hence the change of weekend.

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