Signal To Noise Podcast

The hosts sync up again with Tal Kocen and Dave Friesema of Dark Matter Audio Labs in Episode 319 to see what they’ve been up to as they start off their second year as Dark Matter with a bang — albeit a safe and quiet one, thanks to their new hearing protection offerings. Hearing protection and safety is a subject we come back to semi-regularly on Signal to Noise because it’s so important, so we’re excited to see another great option, and hear about what makes these different.
The gang didn’t stop at earplugs, though–they also learned all about the “hows and whys” of Dark Matter’s new ambient IEM offerings (and what they have in common with earplugs), as well as an overview of what their different models sound like and who each one is best suited to, why to choose custom models over universal-fit (or why not to), and more.
Dave and Tal also let us in on some late breaking news, that they’re starting to offer universal-fit versions of their custom products. Finally, they shared a special bonus offer for Signal to Noise listeners of 15 percent off any purchases from Dark Matter with discount code “S2N15”.
NOTE: If you’re in the NYC area this weekend — March 7-8 — Dark Matter and sibling company Dekoni Audio are sharing a space at the CanJam headphone show, where they’ll have demo models of all their IEMs, and be taking impressions for custom models right on site! You might even catch Andy stopping by to visit on Saturday…
Episode Links:
CanJam NYC 2026
STN Episode 297: Healthy Ears, Limited Annoyance
STN Episode 285: Dark Matter Audio Labs
STN Episode 177: Hearing Health Matters
STN Episode 152: Dr. Heather Malyuk, Soundcheck Audiology – “All Ears Are Famous”
Episode 319 Transcript
Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast.
Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”
The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.
Want to be a part of the show? If you have a quick tip to share, or a question for the hosts, past or future guests, or listeners at home, we’d love to include it in a future episode. You can send it to us one of two ways:
1) If you want to send it in as text and have us read it, or record your own short audio file, send it to [email protected] with the subject “Tips” or “Questions”
2) If you want a quick easy way to do a short (90s or less) audio recording, go to https://www.speakpipe.com/S2N and leave us a voicemail there.

In Episode 318, audio engineering veterans Robert Scovill and Geoff McKinnon of EAW join the hosts to . discuss the evolution of adaptive sound systems, the unique aspects of EAW loudspeakers like Anya, and the real-world applications of adaptive technology in live sound. The conversation also touches on the challenges and misconceptions surrounding adaptive audio and the importance of technology training and education in the industry.
McKinnon is the senior director of engineering at EAW. With 10 patents spanning acoustics and system design, he has been a primary driver behind the company’s ADAPTive line and the new NTX and NT series. Leading the engineering team out of EAW’s new headquarters in Franklin, MA, he’s at the forefront of the use of DSP and physical design to solve some of the hardest problems in pro audio—basically making sure the signal is “perfect” before it leaves the box.
Scovill, who serves as senior live sound market specialist for EAW, is a 45-plus year veteran of professional concert sound and recording and has mixed over 4000 live events of every scale imaginable over the course of his storied career. His engineering and production talents have been enlisted by a “Who’s Who” of music Hall of Fame acts including Kenny Chesney, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Matchbox Twenty, Jackson Browne, Rush, Def Leppard, Foreigner, Prince and numerous others.
Scovill’s body of live sound and recording work has garnered numerous industry accolades, including six TEC Awards, three PLSN Parnelli Awards, and multiple nominations for the CMA touring award, winning his first in 2022. He’s also been a multi-year nominee for Mobile Production’s “Top Dog” Award along with being an inaugural nominee for the Pensado Award for live sound excellence. In 2018 Robert was awarded the Lindenman Award for excellence in audio presentations at the Norwegian Sound Symposium. Since 2019, he’s served as a first call FOH mixer for television events such as THON, The Latin Grammy’s POTY, The MTV Video Music Awards and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions, in which he received his first Emmy nomination in 2023.
Episode Links:
The ADAPTive Advantage: How It Works, Why It Wins Webinar
Robert Scovill Talks ADAPTive Driver Density
EAW Adaptive Series Systems
Episode 318 Transcript
NOTE: Mike Green, the artist who performs “Break Free” that opens every episode, has some new music hitting the market starting today, available on all streaming platforms as well as DSPs that support spatial audio. And, Mikegreenmusic.com will direct folks to pre-order the vinyl release, or allow them to purchase singles individually.
Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!
Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”
The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.

In Episode 317, Sean and Andy go back to the mailbox for more listener questions, picking up where they left off in Episode 309. This time, the focus is on the business side of freelancing — rates, non-competes/NDAs, W2 vs 1099 work, unions, taxes… Plus some thoughts on choosing which compromises to make when time is short on a load-in, and much more! This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.
Episode Links:
Episode 309 – Listener Q&A, Part 1
Episode 317 Transcript
NOTE: Mike Green, the artist who performs “Break Free” that opens every episode, has some new music hitting the market starting today, available on all streaming platforms as well as DSPs that support spatial audio. And, Mikegreenmusic.com will direct folks to pre-order the vinyl release, or allow them to purchase singles individually. 
Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!
Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”
The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.
Want to be a part of the show? If you have a quick tip to share, or a question for the hosts, past or future guests, or listeners at home, we’d love to include it in a future episode. You can send it to us one of two ways:
1) If you want to send it in as text and have us read it, or record your own short audio file, send it to [email protected] with the subject “Tips” or “Questions”
2) If you want a quick easy way to do a short (90s or less) audio recording, go to https://www.speakpipe.com/S2N and leave us a voicemail there

In Episode 316, it’s time for a post-NAMM recap of all the cool people, places, and things Sean and Andy got to catch up with and check out at the 2026 NAMM Show at the Anaheim Convention Center. Loudspeakers big and small, useful gadgets, new mixers, earplugs, new IEM models… there was something for everybody this year, and we’re here to tell you all about it! This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.
Episode Links:
TT+ AUDIO GTX 7C
Dark Matter Audio Labs DMA7 BA 7
Violet Audio dMix 128
Yamaha RIVAGE PM V7
Adamson USB Milan Bridge
Neumann Virtual Immersive Studio (VIS)
d&b audiotechnik U Series
De-Feedback
Yamaha MGX Series
Meyer Sound TIGRA & LFC-1800
Adamson MS 8.2
D’Addario IR Mic Mute
Dark Matter Audio Labs Hearing Projection
Episode 316 Transcript
NOTE: Mike Green, the artist who performs “Break Free” that opens every episode, has some new music hitting the market starting today, available on all streaming platforms as well as DSPs that support spatial audio. And, Mikegreenmusic.com will direct folks to pre-order the vinyl release, or allow them to purchase singles individually.
Connect with the community on the Signal To Noise Facebook Group and Discord Server. Both are spaces for listeners to create to generate conversations around the people and topics covered in the podcast — we want your questions and comments!
Also please check out and support The Roadie Clinic, Their mission is simple. “We exist to empower & heal roadies and their families by providing resources & services tailored to the struggles of the touring lifestyle.”
The Signal To Noise Podcast on ProSoundWeb is co-hosted by pro audio veterans Andy Leviss and Sean Walker.
Want to be a part of the show? If you have a quick tip to share, or a question for the hosts, past or future guests, or listeners at home, we’d love to include it in a future episode. You can send it to us one of two ways:
1) If you want to send it in as text and have us read it, or record your own short audio file, send it to [email protected] with the subject “Tips” or “Questions”
2) If you want a quick easy way to do a short (90s or less) audio recording, go to https://www.speakpipe.com/S2N and leave us a

In Episode 315, Sean and Andy get the lowdown on a relatively new live audio tool that took both NAMM and the online live audio community by storm over the last year as they talk with Devin Sheets, founder and owner of Alpha Labs, to learn all about De-Feedback. This episode is sponsored by Allen & Heath and RCF.
A much-talked-about plugin in live audio of 2025, there are lots of myths and misunderstandings, rave reviews and reticence about this new tool for fighting feedback, handling overly reverberant rooms, and dealing with noise in live reinforcement and broadcast environments, so we get it all straight from Devin, including a live demo of exactly what De-Feedback is capable of.
Devin Sheets, founder and owner of Alpha Labs, grew up in Salem, Oregon. His father Duane founded and owns Alpha Sound, a regional live audio production company, so Devin grew up in the busy environment of one of the largest PA rental and installation companies in the Pacific Northwest during the 1990s and 2000s.
After graduating from Azusa Pacific University with a degree in music, he and Duane turned the focus of the family business toward high-end corporate and house of worship work. Devin had his industry standard bag of tricks for fighting feedback in these environments, but felt that “the answer” had not yet arrived. After years of unfruitful communication with many leading audio manufacturers about the issue, he decided to try his hand at a custom approach involving AI software. After paying large amounts of his personal money to various coders around the world in an attempt to make something work, the team finally struck gold in mid 2024 with a novel AI model of their own making, using training data largely produced by Devin himself, on a computer they built in-house. He used the beta version throughout the year for his own shows and events, and installed it in several churches in the area.
By late 2024 there was pressure to begin selling the algorithm to the public, and so Alpha Labs was formed as a software partner company to Alpha Sound, a website launched, and sales of De-Feedback V1 began November 11 of that year. Within days, the plugin was being used on some of the biggest tours and events of the Christmas season. The software continues to be adopted by many of the world’s top engineers and venues, while Devin and his team concentrate most of their time and energy developing newer, better versions.
We've also uploaded a clip of Devin's demo of De-Feedback without our usual dynamics chain, for folks who want to listen to it as raw as possible, which you can download here: https://bit.ly/s2n-de-feedback (as a bonus, that clip is g-rated in terms of language, as well)
SPECIAL OFFER: As a limited time bonus for Signal to Noise listeners, Alpha Labs is offering 10% off purchases with coupon code “SIGNALTONOISE”, valid through Feb 10, 2026! Just enter the code at license checkout, and the discount will be applied to all products in your order!
Episode Links:
Alpha Labs De-Feedback
De-Feedback Official User Group
Thinking Out Loud w/Friends of SoundBroker, Devin Sheets
Alpha Sound
Episode 315 Transcript
NOTE: Mike Green, the artist who performs “Break Free” that opens every episode, has some new music hitting the market starting today, available on all streaming platforms as well as DSPs that support spatial audio. And, Mikegreenm