NEXO’s ETC training programme has gone from strength to strength since it was launched in 2013. Hosted, free of charge, all over the world by the company’s Engineering Support Division, the ETC seminars educate, train and certificate audio engineers of all levels, from beginners to the professional elite.
Essentially organised into three categories, starting with the introductory ETC1, then the next-level course for users of NEXO equipment which is ETC2, and finally, a specialist pro-engineer tutorial ETC3. The ES Division has just pioneered its first ETC2i training seminar, dedicated to the preparation, design and implementation of fixed installations.
NEXO’s ES Division is accustomed to finding many variations of student audience, production facilities and demo equipment provision around the world. Typically, our local representatives (distributor or dealer) will hire an appropriate venue and provide the ETC ‘rider’, supplying many different NEXO cabinets and systems for hands-on training and experimentation, as well as a large quantity of sandwiches and coffee!
Two recent ETC seminars, held in the USA and in Japan, demonstrate the diversity of audience, as well as the expanding syllabus of the ES Division’s training experts.
In Orlando, Yamaha Commercial Audio (NEXO’s distributor in the USA) organised a remarkable ETC1 seminar with Full Sail University. Full Sail is a very large educational establishment, with impressive modern facilities dedicated to music recording and production. ETC was presented in their sound stage, which had enough ceiling height to use a genie tower to fly a GEO M10 line array system.
So well-attended it had to be repeated, the 2-day seminar was conducted by NEXO’s Nicolas Poitrenaud and YCA colleagues Preston Gray and Mark Rush, for more than 60 Full Sail students and their teachers, as well as other invited audio professionals.
Topics covered the fundamentals of acoustics and different source types, system design using NEXO’s proprietary NS-1 modelling software, an introduction to subbass set-up, speaker and system processing and remote control.
“Enthusiastic students, happy to learn,” reports Nicholas Poitrenaud, “together with teachers and invited professionals were all amazed by our teaching program, the skills and level of NEXO’s technology and the sound quality of our systems. This was a huge step forward in terms of NEXO’s image and reputation, thanks to a charismatic tutoring team.”
On the other side of the world, but once again, hand in hand with the Yamaha Japan team, the inaugural ETC2i specialist course was presented in the Yamaha building on Ginza, which has 16 floors dedicated to musical instruments, education, auditorium and rehearsal studios.
Led by NEXO’s ES Division Director François Deffarges, the seminar used the chronological timeline of an installation to guide its professional engineer students. The course began with the tendering process, using real-world examples, before moving into acoustic, mechanical and network/management design. Uniquely the ETC2i course syllabus covered sound system integration and installation, as well as a number of system and acoustic measurements, RT60, STI, Max SPL, and transfer functions. To complete the process, Deffarges and his team took the class through system check and tuning, the full acoustic and system measurement process, right the way up to reporting and invoicing!
“With a super-professional approach from the Yamaha team, everything was perfectly prepared,” reports François Deffarges, “and even though we were doing everything through translators, we brought the 2-day course in on time and on schedule.”
ETC training sessions take place on all four continents, and are completely free to students. Places can be booked through local NEXO distribution agents, or via the NEXO website.
https://nexo-sa.com/education/
