Charlie Hughes (audio engineer)

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Charlie Hughes
Charlie Hughes portrait.jpg
Born
Charles Emory Hughes II

(1965-02-13) February 13, 1965 (age 58)
Jackson, Mississippi
Occupation(s) Audio engineer, inventor, standards expert
Employers
SpouseBeth Fleeman Hughes
Children2
Website http://www.excelsior-audio.com/

Charles Emory Hughes II (born February 13, 1965) is an American inventor and audio engineer. He is known for his work on loudspeaker design, and the measurement of professional audio sound systems. Hughes first worked for Peavey Electronics designing loudspeakers and horns where he was granted a patent for the Quadratic-Throat Waveguide horn used in concert loudspeakers. He worked for Altec Lansing for two years as chief engineer for the pro audio division and was granted two more patents. In 2021, Hughes was hired by Biamp as principal engineer.

Contents

Hughes designs loudspeakers and performs contract engineering for Excelsior Audio as co-owner. He is an expert consultant in audio measurement and analysis software and systems. He has led committees in prominent standards organizations to develop technical standards for the measurement, modeling and production of audio equipment.

Career

Hughes with Gene Patronis in 2000 Charlie Hughes and Gene Patronis, 2000 NSCA.png
Hughes with Gene Patronis in 2000

Hughes studied physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology including audio engineering under Dr. Eugene "Gene" Patronis. He helped maintain WREK, the campus radio station, and he spoke on the air as talent. [1] His senior project was a 3-way loudspeaker system that Hughes describes as sounding good but looking shabby because of his poor woodworking skills. He graduated in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in physics. Following college, Hughes was hired by Peavey Electronics in Meridian, Mississippi, where he worked for almost 14 years. [2]

Peavey

At Peavey, Hughes served as a loudspeaker designer and the main horn designer for loudspeaker enclosures. He developed a new horn design as a means to improve linearity in mid- and high-frequency reproduction. The design was primarily a simple conic section except that its throat was curved in a circular radius arc to match the desired throat size for proper mating to the compression driver. The mathematical formula describing the cross-sectional area expansion was a quadratic equation: [3]

This quadratic equation suggested to Hughes the name of the horn design: the Quadratic-Throat Waveguide (QT waveguide). Instead of increasing the horn mouth size with a flare to control midrange beaming, a relatively thin layer of foam covering the mouth edge was found to suit the same end. The QT waveguide, when compared to popular constant directivity (CD) horns, produced about 3–4 dB lower levels of second harmonic distortion across all frequencies, and an average of 9 dB lower levels of the more annoying third harmonic distortion. Being without a diffraction slot, the QT waveguide was free from problems with apparent apex, making it arrayable as needed for public address purposes. [3] In New York City, Hughes presented a paper on the technology at the Audio Engineering Society convention in September 1999. [4] His patent for the QT waveguide was provisionally filed on March 5, 1999, and granted on May 9, 2000. [5]

At Peavey, Hughes measured the results of his horn experiments, and he analyzed the total performance of multiple-driver loudspeakers, especially with regard to tuning the crossover to obtain optimum results. In this measurement he used TEF, a professional acoustical measurements and instrumentation system first made by Techron, a division of Crown International, then sold to Gold Line. TEF is a system that incorporates Richard C. Heyser's time delay spectrometry (TDS) method to analyze sound waves. In 1998, Hughes was appointed to the advisory committee of Gold Line's TEF division. [6] As of 2008 he was still on the advisory committee. [7] Hughes also programmed in MATLAB, a computing environment that allowed him to visualize the complex output pattern of a loudspeaker system under test. He used MATLAB to optimize crossovers to achieve smoother directivity results at the crossover transition region. Toward this end, Hughes developed a software tool called PolarSum which eliminated much of the drudge work of taking a great many polar plot measurements. [2] [8] Hughes also used Enhanced Acoustic Simulator for Engineers (EASE), a 3D simulation tool which was developed by Wolfgang Ahnert and Stefan Feistel of Germany.

Hughes involved himself early with the more practical aspects of operating sound systems. He served as head sound engineer and sound designer at the Meridian Little Theatre from 1989. Beginning in 1991, Hughes teamed with Peavey Product Manager Mick Donner to form Meridian SoundWorks, a local sound reinforcement company providing gear and engineering to mix concerts, corporate and political events, and theatrical productions. Meridian SoundWorks also provided sound system design and optimization for permanent installations. The experience allowed Hughes to assess the performance of sound gear in real-world applications. [1]

In 2000, Hughes became an instructor of TEF II systems, part of a team that included Don Eger and Russ Berger. [1] [2]

Altec

Hughes joined Altec Lansing in May 2002 to serve as senior engineering manager in the professional audio division. This included both component-level and overall product engineering for the installation market as well as for touring systems. [9] While at Altec, Hughes was granted two patents. The first was a patent for the optimum spacing of driver elements in a line array, using a minimum of drivers. [10] This technology, marketed as "InConcert", was at the core of Altec's compact computer speaker system FX 6021, a satellite and subwoofer system which used the patented process for its two satellite speakers, each containing six drivers mounted vertically. The two center drivers covered the frequency range from 150 hertz up to 20 kHz, the next two drivers above and below covered up to 6 kHz, and the top and bottom drivers covered up to 1 kHz. This allowed for good sounding results with six drivers mounted on a columnar surface that could physically accommodate eight or nine. [11] Hughes' third patent, his second with Altec, was a patent for a dipole and monopole surround sound speaker system which used indirectly aimed drivers added to the top of the usual front left and front right loudspeakers. [12] Altec brought the technology to market as the GT 5051R—a 3.1 system which included a center speaker and a subwoofer. The front left and right speakers bounced surround information off of the walls and ceiling for customers who did not want to clutter their listening space with a pair of rear speakers. [13]

Excelsior Audio

Hughes left Altec in late 2004 to co-found Excelsior Audio in North Carolina. [2] He serves as managing director.

Biamp

Biamp, an audio electronics and media networking manufacturer in Beaverton, Oregon, hired Hughes in May 2021 as principal engineer of the electroacoustics division. Biamp had recently bought Community Professional Loudspeakers of Pennsylvania, and Apart Audio of Belgium, to broaden the Biamp loudspeaker portfolio. [14]

Audio measurement and analysis

Hughes in 2013 with audio test and analysis equipment Charlie Hughes with audio test and measurement equipment.png
Hughes in 2013 with audio test and analysis equipment

The EASE simulation software that Hughes had been using for years came under management by the Ahnert Feistel Media Group (AFMG) in early 2006. At the beginning of 2011, AFMG brought Hughes on board to consult on software development and to join their team of product support and advanced training experts. [2] Hughes supports AFMG software products such as EASE, EASERA, SysTune and SpeakerLab. Through AFMG, he trains and supports customers of Renkus-Heinz audio products. [15]

Professional associations

Since 1994 Hughes has been a member of the Audio Engineering Society. He has contributed to four standards committees: SC-02-01 (Digital Audio Measurement Techniques), SC-04-01 (Acoustics and Sound Source Modeling), SC-04-03 (Loudspeaker Modeling and Measurement), SC-04-08 (Sound systems in rooms). [16] After his first paper in 1999, he teamed with Ahnert, Feistel, and Bruce Olson to present a paper in New York in 2007 on simulating the directivity of loudspeakers. [17] In 2008 in San Francisco he took part in a panel discussion about the state of the art in loudspeaker design in profession sound reinforcement. The panel included consultant Tom Young, Tom Danley of Danley Sound Labs, Aleš Dravinec of ADRaudio, Dave Gunness of Fulcrum Acoustics, and Pete Soper of Meyer Sound Laboratories. [18] Hughes also gave a talk called "Loudspeaker Directivity Improvement Using Low Pass and All Pass Filters." [19] In New York in 2009, Hughes once again spoke in a panel of experts on the state of live sound loudspeakers. [20] In San Francisco in 2010, Hughes chaired a panel discussion about achieving directionality with subwoofers; the panel was composed of Dravinec, Steve Bush from Meyer, Dave Rat of Rat Sound, and Bill Gelow from Bosch Communications. [21] Hughes also participated in a panel discussion composed of Peter Mapp, Floyd Toole and Kurt Graffy comparing objective audio measurement results with subjective methods. [22] In New York in 2011 he revisited the topic of subwoofer directionality as a member of a panel including Jim Risgin of On Stage Audio, Paul Bauman of JBL, and consultant Doug Fowler. [23]

Hughes is a member of the Consumer Electronics Association Standards Committee. In 2006, he served as chairman of the sound measurement working group which established testing methods and marketing specifications for subwoofers. Hughes pushed for standardization so that consumers would not be confused by incompatible specifications between subwoofer brands. He said, "Consumers trying to interpret figures from two different manufacturers are in a quandary. The numbers may be the same, but they may sound completely different." [24] In October 2013, the CEA honored Hughes at their Technology & Standards Awards Dinner in Los Angeles, naming him as the 2013 recipient of the Technology & Standards Achievement Award, recognizing his contributions to the advancement of "new technologies or significant enhancements to existing technologies." [25] The award acknowledged Hughes' leadership in producing the guideline CEA-2034, Standard Method of Measurement for in Home Loudspeakers. [25]

Beginning in the 1990s, Hughes joined a LISTSERV discussion hosted by SynAudCon, an audio training organization, and he assisted SynAudCon in training students. [1] As well, he wrote articles for SynAudCon's newsletter. [26] Hughes also joined another industry LISTSERV called Live Audio Board (LAB), hosted by Dave Stevens, a live audio engineer. The LAB was bought by ProSoundWeb (PSW), and Hughes submitted articles for publication by PSW. [27] Hughes also writes for Live Sound International , a magazine published by PSW. [28] Hughes is a member of the Acoustical Society of America. [1]

Personal life

Hughes graduated from William B. Murrah High School in Jackson, Mississippi. He moved to Atlanta to attend the Georgia Institute of Technology. Upon graduation he moved to Meridian, Mississippi, to work for Peavey. On May 27, 1989, he married Beth Fleeman. First a daughter, Tori, then a son, Ben, were born in Mississippi. The family moved to Milford, Pennsylvania, in mid-2002. In late 2004, the family moved to Gastonia, North Carolina—the hometown of Beth—where Hughes established Excelsior Audio. [1] In December 2012, Hughes presented his daughter at the Gastonia Debutante Ball. [29]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subwoofer</span> Loudspeaker for low-pitched audio frequencies

A subwoofer is a loudspeaker designed to reproduce low-pitched audio frequencies known as bass and sub-bass, lower in frequency than those which can be (optimally) generated by a woofer. The typical frequency range for a subwoofer is about 20–200 Hz for consumer products, below 100 Hz for professional live sound, and below 80 Hz in THX-certified systems. Thus one or more subwoofers are important for high quality sound reproduction as they are responsible for the lowest two to three octaves of the ten that are audible. This very low-frequency (VLF) range reproduces the natural fundamental tones of the bass drum, electric bass, double bass, grand piano, contrabassoon, tuba, in addition to thunder, gunshots, explosions, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loudspeaker</span> Converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound

A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A speaker system, also often simply referred to as a "speaker" or "loudspeaker", comprises one or more such speaker drivers, an enclosure, and electrical connections possibly including a crossover network. The speaker driver can be viewed as a linear motor attached to a diaphragm which couples that motor's movement to motion of air, that is, sound. An audio signal, typically from a microphone, recording, or radio broadcast, is amplified electronically to a power level capable of driving that motor in order to reproduce the sound corresponding to the original unamplified electronic signal. This is thus the opposite function to the microphone; indeed the dynamic speaker driver, by far the most common type, is a linear motor in the same basic configuration as the dynamic microphone which uses such a motor in reverse, as a generator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horn loudspeaker</span> Loudspeaker using an acoustic horn

A horn loudspeaker is a loudspeaker or loudspeaker element which uses an acoustic horn to increase the overall efficiency of the driving element(s). A common form (right) consists of a compression driver which produces sound waves with a small metal diaphragm vibrated by an electromagnet, attached to a horn, a flaring duct to conduct the sound waves to the open air. Another type is a woofer driver mounted in a loudspeaker enclosure which is divided by internal partitions to form a zigzag flaring duct which functions as a horn; this type is called a folded horn speaker. The horn serves to improve the coupling efficiency between the speaker driver and the air. The horn can be thought of as an "acoustic transformer" that provides impedance matching between the relatively dense diaphragm material and the less-dense air. The result is greater acoustic output power from a given driver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JBL</span> Audio hardware manufacturer

JBL is an American audio equipment manufacturer headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. JBL serves the customer home and professional market. The professional market includes studios, installed/tour/portable sound, cars, music production, DJ, cinema markets, etc. JBL is owned by Harman International, an independent subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.

Altec Lansing, Inc. is an American audio electronics company founded in 1927. Their primary products are loudspeakers and associated audio electronics for professional, home, automotive and multimedia applications.

Henry Kloss was a prominent American audio engineer and entrepreneur who helped advance high fidelity loudspeaker and radio receiver technology beginning in the 1950s. Kloss was an undergraduate student in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but never received a degree. He was responsible for a number of innovations, including, in part, the acoustic suspension loudspeaker and the high fidelity cassette deck. In 2000, Kloss was one of the first inductees into the Consumer Electronics Association's Hall of Fame. He earned an Emmy Award for his development of a projection television system, the Advent VideoBeam 1000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loudspeaker enclosure</span> Acoustical component

A loudspeaker enclosure or loudspeaker cabinet is an enclosure in which speaker drivers and associated electronic hardware, such as crossover circuits and, in some cases, power amplifiers, are mounted. Enclosures may range in design from simple, homemade DIY rectangular particleboard boxes to very complex, expensive computer-designed hi-fi cabinets that incorporate composite materials, internal baffles, horns, bass reflex ports and acoustic insulation. Loudspeaker enclosures range in size from small "bookshelf" speaker cabinets with 4-inch (10 cm) woofers and small tweeters designed for listening to music with a hi-fi system in a private home to huge, heavy subwoofer enclosures with multiple 18-inch (46 cm) or even 21-inch (53 cm) speakers in huge enclosures which are designed for use in stadium concert sound reinforcement systems for rock music concerts.

The Isobaric loudspeaker configuration was first introduced by Harry F. Olson in the early 1950s, and refers to systems in which two or more identical woofers operate simultaneously, with a common body of enclosed air adjoining one side of each diaphragm. In practical applications, they are most often used to improve low-end frequency response without increasing cabinet size, though at the expense of cost and weight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Studio monitor</span> Speaker designed to reproduce sound accurately

Studio monitors are loudspeakers in speaker enclosures specifically designed for professional audio production applications, such as recording studios, filmmaking, television studios, radio studios and project or home studios, where accurate audio reproduction is crucial. Among audio engineers, the term monitor implies that the speaker is designed to produce relatively flat (linear) phase and frequency responses. In other words, it exhibits minimal emphasis or de-emphasis of particular frequencies, the loudspeaker gives an accurate reproduction of the tonal qualities of the source audio, and there will be no relative phase shift of particular frequencies—meaning no distortion in sound-stage perspective for stereo recordings. Beyond stereo sound-stage requirements, a linear phase response helps impulse response remain true to source without encountering "smearing". An unqualified reference to a monitor often refers to a near-field design. This is a speaker small enough to sit on a stand or desk in proximity to the listener, so that most of the sound that the listener hears is coming directly from the speaker, rather than reflecting off walls and ceilings. Monitor speakers may include more than one type of driver or, for monitoring low-frequency sounds, such as bass drum, additional subwoofer cabinets may be used.

Meyer Sound Laboratories is an American company based in Berkeley, California that manufactures self-powered loudspeakers, multichannel audio show control systems, electroacoustic architecture, and audio analysis tools for the professional sound reinforcement, fixed installation, and sound recording industries.

ADRaudio is a manufacturer of high-end concert loudspeaker systems based in Novo Mesto, Slovenia. They offer a wide range of self-powered products with internal all-analog processing, as well as rackmount signal processors for system integration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Kenneth Hilliard</span> American engineer

John Kenneth Hilliard was an American acoustical and electrical engineer who pioneered a number of important loudspeaker concepts and designs. He helped develop the practical use of recording sound for film, and won an Academy Award in 1935. He designed movie theater sound systems, and he worked on radar as well as submarine detection equipment during World War II. Hilliard collaborated with James B. "Jim" Lansing in creating the long-lived Altec Voice of the Theatre speaker system. Hilliard researched high-intensity acoustics, vibration, miniaturization and long-line communications for NASA and the Air Force. Near the end of his career, he standardized noise-control criteria for home construction in California, a pattern since applied to new homes throughout the U.S.

KEF is a British company specialising in the design and production of a range of high-end audio products, including HiFi speakers, subwoofers, architecture speakers, wireless speakers, and headphones. It was founded in Maidstone, Kent in 1961 by a BBC engineer Raymond Cooke OBE (1925–1995).

A coaxial loudspeaker is a loudspeaker system in which the individual driver units radiate sound from the same point or axis. Two general types exist: one is a compact design using two or three speaker drivers, usually in car audio, and the other is a two-way high-power design for professional audio, also known as single-source or dual-concentric loudspeakers. The design is favored for its compactness and behavior as an audio point source.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soundbar</span>

A soundbar, sound bar or media bar is a type of loudspeaker that projects audio from a wide enclosure. It is much wider than it is tall, partly for acoustic reasons, and partly so it can be mounted above or below a display device. In a soundbar, multiple speakers are placed in a single cabinet, which helps to create stereo sound or a surround-sound effect. A separate subwoofer is typically included with, or may be used to supplement, a soundbar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altec Lansing Duplex</span> Line of loudspeakers

DUPLEX was the trade name given by Altec Lansing to its line of coaxial loudspeakers, beginning with the first model 601 in 1943. However, the name was most commonly associated with the subsequent model 604 which was a seminal loudspeaker that became a milestone in loudspeaker development. Well over a dozen different models carried the Duplex name over a near 50-year period. The vast majority consisted of a high frequency (HF) compression driver mounted to the back of a large diameter paper cone low frequency (LF) driver. However, there were also a few models with small diameter LF cones and direct radiator tweeters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Gunness</span> American audio engineer

David W. Gunness is an American audio engineer, electrical engineer and inventor. He is known for his work on loudspeaker design, especially high-output professional horn loudspeakers for public address, studio, theater, nightclub, concert and touring uses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clifford A. Henricksen</span> American inventor, American musician

Cliff Henricksen is a musician, inventor and audio technologist. He is self-taught as a musician with a graduate degree in mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Throughout his career Cliff has found innovative ways to apply engineering basics to electro acoustics and to audio technology as it applies to music and in particular to live music performance. He has invented and engineered a wide variety of technologies and products well known in the world of professional audio. Today he balances work in audio and work as a performing musician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D. B. Keele Jr.</span>

D. Broadus Keele Jr., also known simply as Don Keele or D. B. Keele Jr., is an American audio engineer and inventor who has helped shape and influence the professional and consumer loudspeaker industries since the early seventies. He is one of the developers of the constant directivity horn design with several patents of Bi-radial horns from companies like JBL, and Electrovoice.

Thomas J. Danley is an American audio engineer, electrical engineer and inventor, the holder of multiple patents for audio transducers, especially high-linearity, high-output professional horn loudspeaker systems. Danley first gained notice in the 1980s with his novel servomotor-driven subwoofer systems used to reproduce very low frequencies in concert tours and theme parks. In 2000 he advanced the implementation of multiple-entry horns in 2000 with several designs led by the SPL-td1, a seven-driver loudspeaker. In 2005, he started a new company, Danley Sound Labs, through which he patented further technologies and produced a wide variety of loudspeaker models based on these technologies.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "About". Excelsior Audio. Retrieved October 24, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Becker, Shannon (2013). "Q&A: Charlie Hughes". Audioxpress. Archived from the original on January 1, 2014. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Murray, John (2000). "The Quadratic Throat Waveguide: A white paper on an invention by Charles E. Hughes of Peavey Electronics Corporation" (PDF). Peavey Architectural Acoustics. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved October 23, 2013.
  4. ↑ Hughes, Charles E. (September 25, 1999). "A Generalized Horn Design to Optimize Directivity Control and Wavefront Curvature". Audio Engineering Society. Retrieved October 24, 2013.
  5. ↑ USpatent 6059069,Charles Emory Hughes, II (Peavey Electronics),"Loudspeaker waveguide design [Quadratic-Throat Waveguide]",issued 2000-05-09
  6. ↑ "Jobzone - People". Sound & Video Contractor. July 1, 1998. Archived from the original on January 1, 2014.
  7. ↑ "TEF Advisory Board". Gold Line. Retrieved October 24, 2013.
  8. ↑ Hughes, Charlie (Summer 2001). Pat Brown (ed.). "Alternative Ways of Viewing Polar Data" (PDF). Syn-Aud-Con. 29 (3).
  9. ↑ "People News". Sound & Video Contractor. February 1, 2003. Archived from the original on January 1, 2014.
  10. ↑ USpatent 2005091809,Charles Hughes and Kirk Lombardo (Altec Lansing),"Optimum driver spacing for a line array with a minimum number of radiating elements",issued 2005-12-22
  11. ↑ Roche, Jean-Pierre (July 20, 2004). "Altec Purports Pro Sound with Lansing FX 6021 Speakers". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  12. ↑ USpatent 20060072773,Charles Hughes and Olin Williford (Altec Lansing),"Dipole and monopole surround sound speaker system",issued 2006-04-06
  13. ↑ Roche, Jean-Pierre (April 12, 2005). "Altec Lansing GT 5051R: 5.1 Sound Without the Clutter?". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  14. ↑ Staff (May 12, 2021). "Charlie Hughes Joins Biamp As Principal Engineer". ProSoundWeb. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  15. ↑ "AFMG and Renkus-Heinz Transition with EASE". Renkus-Heinz. August 2012. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Charles Hughes". AES Member Profile. Audio Engineering Society. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  17. ↑ Simulating the Directivity Behavior of Loudspeakers with Crossover Filters
  18. ↑ The SOTA of Designing Loudspeakers for Live Sound
  19. ↑ Loudspeaker Directivity Improvement Using Low Pass and All Pass Filters
  20. ↑ State of the Art Loudspeaker Design for Live Sound
  21. ↑ Subwoofer Directionality
  22. ↑ Audio System Measurement and Subjective Evaluation
  23. ↑ Subwoofer Arrays and Beam Steering
  24. ↑ Jacobson, Julie (April 27, 2006). "CEA-2010 Levels Subwoofer Playing Field: Organization specifies how manufacturers test subwoofers and report specs". AVS Forum. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  25. 1 2 "CEA Announces Winners of 2013 Technology & Standards Awards". Consumer Electronics Association. November 11, 2013. Archived from the original on November 14, 2013. Retrieved November 29, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Articles written by Charlie Hughes". SynAudCon. Archived from the original on January 1, 2014. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  27. ↑ "Articles written by Charlie Hughes". ProSoundWeb. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  28. ↑ "Live Sound International about SysTune". AFMG. June 29, 2009. Retrieved December 31, 2013.
  29. ↑ "Twenty-one young women make debut at 2012 Debutante Ball". Gaston Gazette. February 2, 2013.
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