![]() To realize this vision, Rat took a detour while on the road with the Chili Peppers in Germany, bringing his design ideas to a cable manufacturer that Rat Sound had worked with in the past. The goal was to bring the durability and coilability of audio cables to high-quality category cables, improving not only their ruggedness but also the audio delivery capabilities with improved isolation within the cable itself. Seeing far too many data cables destroyed after one-time use in the festival environment, Rat sought out to build a category cable that could be buried and pulled up for future shows. ![]() It was roadworthiness that also inspired Rat’s development of the Sound Tools SuperCAT and SuperCAT Lite specialized category cables. Nearly 20 years ago, seeing the potential to help other sound practitioners in their battles with the laws of physics, Rat debuted the XLR Sniffer/Sender Cable Tester, the first of his specialized, practical devices to be released into the wilds of audio applications everywhere. Others have found their way into the hands of audio practitioners through the Sound Tools division of Rat Sound. Some of these have been released as professional audio products, such as the EAW MicroWedge that arrived on the market in 2009. This daily problem-solving and a constant search for efficiencies that prevent trouble in the first place has led Rat to develop a countless array of original technical innovations over the years. Ever the scientist, Rat requested bottles of water and salt from catering, and after mixing them asked that the salt water be poured underneath the stage covering to form a conductive liquid layer that eliminated the charge. Straight from the factory, it was electrostatically charged and nothing could tame it in the short period of time they had before launch. Analyzing every potential source for the stray electrical charge, Rat isolated the problem to the brand new rubberized layer of stage covering material that had been rolled out for the tour. With tactical skills and an incisive curiosity that decades ago originally sent him to his first job testing missile components at Hughes Aircraft, Rat’s strategy encompasses not just a knowledge of physics and sound, but also an inherent understanding of materials and environmental factors that defy the rules of science from time to time.Ĭase in point: on his final Chili Peppers tour before he hung up his headphones earlier this year, Rat may have referred to his surfing knowledge in finding a solution for a vocal mic that was shocking the lips of anyone who got close to testing it. Multiply that by the need to spontaneously troubleshoot from a fixed position during line check, and you produce a special-ops version of technical insight that eradicates problems from the inside out.ĭave Rat If the front of house engineer in this equation happens to be Dave Rat, who spent 27 years mixing for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and other major acts while building Rat Sound into the go-to company for major tours and festivals, then problems tend to be solved empirically and totally. Everything that gets squawked through the talkbox presents an equation of time versus sound quality. As the nexus of problem solving for a venue and event, front of house engineers tend to develop special skills.
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