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Deep in the Black Rock desert in northern Nevada, USA, far from signs of traditional civilization, an annual event occurs that is so unlikely, it borders on the mythical. Known to the world as Burning Man, its central purpose, if there is one, is to burn a giant effigy of a Man on the sixth night of this eight-day affair.

Underscoring our ancient and instinctive quest for fire, albeit on a scale that would make our distant ancestors intensely jealous due to the liberal use of propane and jet fuel, is the radical self-expression and self-reliance that Burning Man is famous for. To live in the desert for eight days, with no support system other than what you choose to bring with you, is no small concern.

As the 60-foot Man perishes in a spectacle of pyrotechnics, the self-proclaimed ‘burners,’ 40,000 strong, are perhaps vicariously purged of their own inner demons. Or maybe they’re egged on to find more exotic or erotic ways to express
their inner flame? Well, each to his and her own (with the ‘hers’ providing their own personal brand of incendiary excitation). One thing’s for certain. You have to be there to decide for yourself. And yes folks, it’s definitely worth the trip.

While rumours of this international event abound, the truth is quite literally stranger than fiction. Borrowing from Rod Serling’s Twilight Zoneintroduction; “Picture, if you will, 40,000 people from around the globe camping for a week in brutal daytime heat and freezing nights. They bring everything they need to survive, as nothing is available for sale, not even drinking water. They build large works of art, erect giant domes for parties and dances, and walk around in outlandish costumes or nothing at all. They remove every last trace of their presence when the week of celebration ends. Look. There’s a signpost up ahead. It says ‘Burning Man’.”

What started as a spontaneous occurrence among a few friends 23 years ago on Baker Beach in San Francisco, today has become large and well... jaded... as some of the long-time burners would say. So jaded in fact that one unlucky performance artist set fire to The Man a week before his properly scheduled transformation to ashes, in an effort to protest against the escalating structuralism of the event (in
recent years one must now obtain a ‘burn permit’ to be allowed to burn a fire). Sadly, this free-spirited soul faces years in prison for arson. The irony of being charged with arson at an event that glorifies fire is a bit beyond this writer’s ability to describe or understand.

So what does any of this have to do with sound? Well you can’t have an event without sound... can you now?

Burning Man is no exception, but it’s not a rock concert or a typical festival. For one thing there is no main stage. The participants (and Burning Man is all about participation) design, build and run their own stages, dance domes, and whatever
else that tickles their fancy. Think generator power. Millions of dollars worth and hundreds of megawatts, spread across the thousands of acres of Black Rock City.

The singular exception to the above is the Center Camp Café, which, geographically, is at dead centre in the semi-circular layout of the city. This acre-large shade structure plays host to a non-stop stream of performers ranging from introspective flute and tabla ensembles, to surf-rock bands and wild, bellowing gypsy art-rock acts, the latter being more the exception than the rule. Jazz, classical, folk and world music can be heard around the clock. The only no-no is DJ house and dance, as this genre is more than adequately represented in literally hundreds of locations outside of the Café’s relative oasis of calm.

To accommodate this wide range of talent and musical styles, a loudspeaker system from Community, based in Chester PA, was specified by the Café’s sound designer in 2006. Powered by excellent Powersoft amplifiers built in Florence, Italy, the system did all that is was meant to do and more. Always sounding great, it handled the wide variety of musical demands with ease.

The Community arrays were brought back in 2007, this time
twinned with Crest amplification, however there was one extra high-tech enhancement: Enter CONEQ.

East meets West
CONEQ, which stands for CONvolution EQualisation, is a radical new measurement and correction technology invented by Real Sound Lab, headquartered in Riga, Latvia. The brainchild of Latvian acoustician Raimonds Skuruls, CONEQ is the result of nearly 20 years of experimental R&D.

CONEQ is based on Acoustic Power, also called Sound Power in some textbooks. Unlike a conventional SPL measurement, which is analogous in electrical terms to voltage, a CONEQ Acoustic Power measurement consists of literally hundreds of broadband (20 Hz to 48 kHz) measurement points taken around a sound emitter, which are then mathematically converted to Power versus Frequency over Time, or (po x fq / t). The resultant measurement is the Acoustic Power Frequency Response of the sound-emitting device. In simple language, Acoustic Power is ‘energy in the form of sound waves over a
given period of time’.

In order to simplify this explanation, the effects of the atmospheric pressure and area are not included, although strictly speaking, they are relevant components. Referring back to electrical terms, Acoustic Power is analogous to voltage multiplied by current, which equals wattage. This is true because current is already a time-based measurement; i.e. Coulombs per second.

The importance of a CONEQ Acoustic Power measurement is that it takes into account the entire sound field around the loudspeaker system’s included angle of coverage, as opposed to just one, or perhaps even a few, SPL (Sound Pressure Level) measurements taken in front
of the loudspeaker system. Where sound pressure is, by definition, the amplitude of acoustic pressure measured at one specific point in space in relation to the sound source, Acoustic Power is quite a different animal altogether.

So what does Acoustic Power have to do with people taking
their clothes off in the middle of the desert in Nevada, a state
that’s better known for gambling than for high technology? Well everything, actually.

The sound system in Center Camp, which sounded quite brilliant to begin with, was transformed into a large set of critically tuned studio monitors after CONEQ had its way.

Bruce Collins, lead system tech, says: “I spent five hours using my usual alignment equipment the day before Real Sound Lab’s Ken DeLoria showed up on the scene. CONEQ put all my tuning work to shame. It was hard to believe how much the system improved from barely five minutes of work. It was like waving a magic wand. I will definitely use this piece of kit in the future.”

CONEQ works by acquiring several hundred measurement points around the loudspeaker system, a process that takes only two minutes. The operator walks back and forth through the sound field, moving the measurement microphone smoothly and consistently.

After acquiring several hundred datum points, CONEQ then
integrates the individual measurements into a 4096-point composite response curve that represents the true Acoustic Power response of the system.

“That’s all well and good if the only goal was to display the
results,” says DeLoria. “However, CONEQ doesn’t stop there. The CONEQ computational engine synthesizes a 4096-point correction curve, the precise inverse of the loudspeaker’s deviation from a flat response. The result is a sound reinforcement system that sounds so natural, so much like the source material itself; it’s hard to tell that the musicians on the stage are being amplified at all. That is, until
you mute the system.”

“During sound check we did just that... muted the system,” adds Bruce Collins. “The effect was amazing. You could barely even tell that this large, multi-thousand watt system was ON, until you turned it OFF.”

4096 EQ Points
So if you actually had a 4096-band parametric equalizer, what would you do with it? You’d probably end up in a mental hospital, trying to use all of those controls in a meaningful way. And even if you didn’t, you’d almost surely burn yourself out trying to EQ every nuance and subtlety that you identified with your spectrum analyzer. So in a word, there’s the beauty of CONEQ. It does it all for you, and it only takes about five minutes from start to finish.

DeLoria continues: “The important distinction between a CONEQ measurement with its 4096-point EQ correction, compared to a traditional FFT or TEF measurement and a manual parametric or graphic equaliser, is that CONEQ is based on hundreds of measurement points taken around the sound system... and thousands of corrective points.

“Instead of trying to fix the sound at one point in space with six, or even 12 filters, a CONEQ correction takes into account the entire included angle of the sound field of the loudspeaker system and applies 4096 filters. In many ways a CONEQ experience strikes me a lot like visiting Burning Man. You’ve got to experience it yourself, to fully comprehend the implications,” he concludes.

On reflection
As trite as it may sound, it’s true. A CONEQ corrected sound
system, at least the one that this writer heard at Center Camp, sounded more real to me than just about any large PA I’ve heard in the past.

Gone was the typical ‘honkiness’ of the MF and HF horns that we all have seemingly come to tolerate. CONEQ technically doesn’t do anything about reducing distortion, but it certainly sounds like it does.

When the system is flat, and I mean really flat,
it’s amazing how clean and clear it becomes.

I was able to hear the CONEQ processor being switched in and out during testing. When CONEQ was switched IN, It sounded
like a heavy drape was taken away from in front of the system... a lot like they claim in the ads.

If I had to compare this CONEQ corrected Community system to something else I’ve heard, I’d say it comes pretty close to the large format studio monitor systems that were
popular in the 1980’s like the discontinued Meyer 833s, or the Westlake studio monitors that were standard in many top Hollywood recording facilities, but with far more power
and coverage. Without question, this was not
only the best sounding Community loudspeaker system I’ve heard, but also one of the best sounding medium-sized PA systems I’ve heard just about anywhere.

During the eight days of Burning Man, I managed to speak with quite a few of the volunteer engineers who manned (and
woman-ed) the modest console over the 180 hours of 24/7performances. Many of these folks had worked the event in past years. I heard the same comments over and over:
feedback issues were gone. Channel EQ was rarely used.

The sound quality of the system was so pleasing that a lot of volunteers signed up for additional shifts. Most of all, smiles were abundant as they each spoke of their personal
experience. CONEQ seems to be that rare ‘magic bullet’ that we all hope for; it’s able to make a vast improvement with a minimal amount of time and effort invested.
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