For audio technicians, it is an important job to ensure that any conference meetings that take place do not hit roadblocks. Although an audio technician pays a lot of attention and helps to prevent these mishaps, it’s also important to know how to troubleshoot these problems.
This is why it is important for an audio technician to gain this valuable knowledge through extensive training in audio production programs.
Common Audio Issues in Business Conference Settings
There are four main audio problems that come up all the time in business conference environments that a technician identifies and solves. In no particular order, common issues that a technician encounters are: low volume, delays in communication, feedback and echoes, and poor call signals.
How Audio Technicians Address Volume Concerns
When it comes to issues of low volume, an audio technician tests all of the microphones in the conference room thoroughly before the meeting takes place. After this, the tech sets the desired volume for the meeting.
If one of the microphones drops in volume as the meeting is taking place, the tech springs into action and adjusts the volume subtly. If a VoIP system is in use, the tech checks the bandwidth signal on both the upload and download channels.
Poor Call Signals
This leads us into the issue of poor call signals overall. An audio tech checks the bandwidth’s speed of the signal if it’s a VoIP conferencing system. This helps to also see if there’s any other applications that could be interfering with the bandwidth use.
During this test, the audio technician also checks for malware and spyware that slows the signal. Another aspect deals with the jitter and jitter buffer effect. “Jitter” refers to that amount of variation in arrival times of the voice packets that conversations are bundled in. The jitter buffer collects all of these packets and sends them from one receiver to another at an even rate.
Feedback & Echoes
When it comes to feedback and echoes, solutions are a little bit trickier for an audio tech. This of course depends on the conferencing system being used.
A computer-based systems tends to have more echo problems than one which utilizes microphones and speakers. One main issue that people encounter is an electromagnetic interference. This issue can be solved by disconnecting any splitters from the router. If this does not work, the audio technician can move the router away from the computers.
Sound Delays
Lastly, communication delays may result in choppy audio. This can be solved by working on bandwidth issues as mentioned before. In some cases, there many be applications that drain the bandwidth. An audio tech can also troubleshoot the router’s quality of service by switching it to prioritize voice applications. After this, the audio tech should turn off other computers on the network and monitor bandwidth uses.
Businesses rely on a level of high efficiency and seamless productivity to be successful, and conference calls are a huge method of communication. Those trusted to manage these meetings work hard to maintain a professional quality.
Want to Learn More?
If this intrigues you enough to learn more, take a moment to check out IPR’s Audio Production and Engineering Program and the training that they provide on-site about the tools needed to succeed in performing these duties.
Contact us today to learn more about the audio production and engineering program and starting a rewarding career in the music industry.