Modelling how sound engineers counter global gain rise in live mixes to evaluate possible implementations of automatic gain adjustments. Hannes Lindström Audio Technology, bachelor's level 2020 Luleå University of Technology Department of Arts, Communication and Education Abstract Smart tools for audio production have been making its way into modern audio production and is getting more popular in studio and postproduction work. In live sound however, there is few alternatives that exist. In this study live sound engineers experienced in live music sound reinforcement were interviewed about how they use gain and what considerations they make when adjusting gain. The aim of this study was to use their answers to create the foundation of a framework to an algorithm that can adjust gain automatically. The interviews were semi- structured, and the transcriptions were analysed using grounded theory. From the transcripts five categories were created and further divided into subcategories for deeper analysis. The study showed that the data in the study could not easily be proceduralized but instead two alternative ways of implementing this in practice, one that monitors the input signals and passes the information to the engineer. And another that adds a control layer to the monitoring where the parameter can be selected based on mixing strategy and the algorithms control can be switched on or off. Table of content Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................... 1 Table of content .......................................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgement ....................................................................................................................................... 4 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 5 1.1 Artificial intelligence .......................................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Machine Learning .............................................................................................................................. 6 1.3 Deep Learning .................................................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Live sound .......................................................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Gain management tasks in live sound ............................................................................................... 7 1.6 Aim ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 1.7 Purpose .............................................................................................................................................. 8 2. Method .................................................................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Interviews .......................................................................................................................................... 8 2.1.1 Demographic data of the subjects ............................................................................................. 9 2.2 Pre-study ........................................................................................................................................... 9 2.3 Main Study ......................................................................................................................................... 9 2.4 Follow up interviews ....................................................................................................................... 10 2.5 Transcriptions .................................................................................................................................. 11 3. Results and analysis ............................................................................................................................... 11 3.2 Actions during performances .......................................................................................................... 12 3.2.1 Adjusting gain ........................................................................................................................... 12 3.2.2 Factors influencing gain settings .............................................................................................. 13 3.2.3 Counter rising levels ................................................................................................................. 13 3.3 Musicians ......................................................................................................................................... 14 3.3.1 Working with known artists ..................................................................................................... 14 3.3.2 Difference between instruments ............................................................................................. 14 3.3.3 Differences between genres..................................................................................................... 15 3.4 Planning ........................................................................................................................................... 16 3.4.1 Planning and setting gain ......................................................................................................... 16 3.4.2 Expectations and estimations................................................................................................... 17 3.4.3 Mix setup .................................................................................................................................. 18 3.5 Plug- ins ........................................................................................................................................... 19 3.5.1 Using plug-ins in live music ....................................................................................................... 19 3.5.2 Thoughts on automatic gain ..................................................................................................... 19 2 3.6 Other findings .................................................................................................................................. 21 3.6.1 Work around ............................................................................................................................. 21 3.6.2 Suggestions ............................................................................................................................... 21 4. Discussion .............................................................................................................................................. 22 4.1 Proposed functions of automatic gain adjustment ......................................................................... 23 4.2 Further research .............................................................................................................................. 24 4.3 Critique ............................................................................................................................................ 24 4.4 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................................... 25 5. References ............................................................................................................................................. 25 6. Appendix ................................................................................................................................................ 26 6.1 Original Swedish quotes used in analysis ........................................................................................ 26 6.1.1 Actions during performances ................................................................................................... 26 6.2.2 Musicians .................................................................................................................................. 27 6.1.3 Planning .................................................................................................................................... 28 6.1.4 Plug-ins ..................................................................................................................................... 30 6.1.5 Other findings ........................................................................................................................... 32 6.2 Full interview transcriptions ............................................................................................................ 32 6.2.1 Interview 1 ................................................................................................................................ 32 6.2.2 Interview 2 ................................................................................................................................ 39 6.2.3 Interview 3 ................................................................................................................................ 43 6.2.4 Interview 4 ...............................................................................................................................