"Smaart" is a great software that we use at Life.Church to visually analyze audio volume and data in our auditoriums. If you do not already have Smaart at your location, it will be coming soon!
This article will provide some light training on how Smaart is used throughout Life.Church.
At Life.Church campuses, we use Smaart for spectrum analyzation, but it has the capability to do MUCH more.
Smaart Overview
1. These areas highlighted in green are called Data Windows. They show the spectrum analyzation of each selected source. Lower frequencies are on the left, and higher ones are on the right. The higher the bar goes, the louder that frequency is.
2. The Broadband Meters show the dB level of the selected source. dB is a measurement scale to tell us how loud the room is. Each mic is professionally calibrated to show an accurate measurement. You'll see metering options such as "dBA Slow", "dBC Slow", or "LEQ 10". We focus mostly on the dBA measurement at Life.Church. For more information on metering, feel free to jump to weighting and target levels.
3. This area is dedicated to selecting which sources are in the spectrum analyzer. To view a source, click the play button next to its name. If viewing more than one source, click on the name of the one you want prioritize over the others. For more information on the sources, visit sources and measurements.
4. This little arrow provides the ability to change the analyzation tool that displays in the window. For example, you could choose to view an RTA view on top, and a spectrograph on the bottom if preferred. A good place to start might be to set both data windows to RTA, and view the mic input at the top with the console input at the bottom.
5. This arrow provides the ability to select the measurement source for each data window. This allows you to view the Mic or the QL5 or CL5 input in any window you would like.
A-weighted measurements are what we focus most on when measuring dB levels. A-weighted measurements tend to reflect what the human ear perceives most accurately and is what national standards are based off of.
Typically, our worship sets at Life.Church bounce around between 92-98dBA using a "slow" measurement in Smaart. This leaves us with an average dBA level of 93-94dBA throughout the worship set.
During sermons at Life.Church, we keep the SPL between 70-75dBA.
C-weighted measurements are also available in Smaart. C-weighted measurements tell us our SPL (sound pressure level) without human perception in mind. C-weighted measurements do not reflect human perception as accurately as A-weighted, but are useful to keep us all in check with the sub frequencies in the room.
LAeq is the average decibel level measured using A weighting over a certain period of time. The standard time setting for LAeq at Life.Church is 18 minutes due to worship sets being approximately 18 minutes in length. This measurement tells the average decibel level of one whole worship set. At the end of the worship set, we like to see this number sit between 93-95dBA.
The MIC measurement shows what the RTA (real time analysis) mic is picking up from the room. This measurement will display each frequency's average level over 1 second. Using averaging allows us to view and analyze the data in the clearest way.
The MIC INF measurement is another measurement that shows what the RTA mic is picking up from the room. This measurement will display each frequency's average over an "infinite" amount of time. This measurement is useful to look at the frequency curve throughout a whole worship set.
We've set up the QL5 (or CL5) measurement one of two ways. Both measurement configurations will have a time averaging setting of 2 seconds.
The more common configuration of this measurement displays frequencies direct from the QL5 (or CL5) CUE output. This measurement shows an RTA readout of specific channels. To view a channel's RTA readout in Smaart, just hit the "CUE" button found just above that channel's fader.
The second way that you may see this measurement set up is to show the stereo output's RTA readout. This measurement will reflect the entire mix being sent to the auditorium speakers.
We've set up the QL5 (or CL5) INF measurement one of two ways. Both of these measurement configurations will have a time averaging setting of INF ("infinite"). The INF time averaging allows us to view an average of the QL5 (or CL5)'s output over an "infinte" amount of time. If you want to reset the reading's average, hit the "V" key on the keyboard.
The more common configuration of this measurement displays frequencies direct from the QL5 (or CL5) CUE output. This measurement shows an RTA readout of specific channels. To view a channel's RTA readout in Smaart, hit the "CUE" button found just above that channel's fader.
The second way that you may see this measurement set up is to show the stereo output's RTA readout. This measurement will reflect the entire mix being sent to the auditorium speakers.