DIAGRAMS GUY.COM

Spend more of your low-latency music lessons on FULFILLING musicianship.
Spend less time STRESSing and troubleshooting.

HELLO, I'm Dr. David LIAO. I'm The Diagrams Guy! I show you how to set up low-latency calls in a REGIMENTED way.

YOU LOVE using low-latency technology to make music online. When it works well, it's pretty close to making music together in the same room.

BUT your STUDENTS feel overwhelmed. They keep forgetting steps.

BECAUSE your STUDENTS ARE OVERWHELMED. There are SO MANY STEPS to remember. And, your students only use the steps once a week.

(Internally) FREAKING OUT hunting down unplugged Ethernet cables creates stress. Reminding your students to turn on phantom power is getting … old.

It doesn't have to be QUITE this way.

When you teach your students to sing, YOU teach them to be detail-oriented technicians. You can do the same when you teach them to use low-latency technology.

Tedious. Didactic. Regimented.

Craftspersonship.

I'll show you how I teach people to use low-latency technology. I'll show you how I use my textbook-style ILLUSTRATIONS. I'll walk you through my instructions so you'll feel like you're using tax preparation software.

To get ready to work together,
we need to remember to be HONEST.

Before we work together, you need to know that …

Different low-latency applications have different strengths and limitations. No stable application offers all the features available for low-latency rehearsals. You really should learn to use more than one application.

You have to plan around stuff sometimes BREAKING. Your students need to know about this too.

Current technology is not ignorance-proof. Understanding how audio is conveyed through a signal chain is necessary for preventing emergencies later. Your students need to understand the signal chain too.

You need to let your students know how comfortable you genuinely are with the technology. Projecting unfounded confidence will soon cause major problems.

Before you hire me, you need to know that …

There are excellent publicly-available free resources for getting started with low-latency. I make some of these myself!

There are people available to consult at different price levels. We have different styles. People give free help (often publicly in social media discussion groups).

You don't need live interaction to learn to teach students to use low-latency technology. But, meeting a consultant online can make things easier. And, meeting online lets you practice teaching the technology that your students need to use.

Reduce the PAIN of teaching your students to use low-latency audio to sing online.

SIGN UP to work with me

Required elements are indicated by an asterisk (*). Including more information can make live interaction more efficient.

YOUR contact information

First name: * Last name: *

Preferred honorifics, if any (e.g. Mx, Dr, Professor):

Best email address for contacting you: *

Best video chat app for contacting you (e.g. FaceTime, give number/address if known):

YOUR musical practice

Instruments you teach:

List instrument(s) (e.g. classical voice, voice used for CCM, etc.)

Students you teach:

Tell me anything you like (e.g. "I work with my students on minutiae of tone" or "I have some students who don't read sheet music who are working with me just to learn notes and rhythms for pieces they sing in community choruses")

Do you know whether you NEED low-latency technology?

I know I need low-latency (e.g. want rhythmic interaction online).
I know that I don't need low-latency (e.g. don't need rhythmic interaction online).
I'm unsure whether I need low-latency.

YOUR experience with low-latency technology

In the past, SOMEONE HAS HELPED ME join a low-latency call using …

List application(s) and operating system(s)

In the past, I have, ON MY OWN, joined a low-latency call using …

List application(s) and operating system(s)

In the past, I HAVE HELPED someone get set up and make a low-latency call using …

List application(s) and operating system(s)

Anything else?

For a "default" first session, we will work on the following:

1. Walk through a simplified representation of the audio signal chain
2. Confirm we understand limitations on latency imposed by geographic distance
3. Identify suitable types of audio equipment to use
4. Identify digital audio equipment or Raspberry Pi computer, if any, you need to buy

If you'd like to add anything or suggest modifications to the agenda, please do so!

Any additions? Requests?

Background

• Webmaster, 15til.com, a free resource for getting started with low-latency technology
• Low-Latency Project Chief,† New Jersey Gay Men's Chorus
  • 2021 Richard Cahill Service Award (co-recipient)
    Issued by the New Jersey Gay Men's Chorus 2021 June - Sarah Michal (Artistic Director) and I supported use of technology for remote choral musicianship during the 2020-2021 pandemic season. We supported live, low-latency, online rehearsals using Soundjack and LiveLab.
• Private tutor (specializing in physics, calculus, and introductory quantitative financing)
• Postdoc, University of California, San Francisco
• PhD, Physics, Princeton University
• BS, Physics, Harvey Mudd College

† Euphemistic label for a non-official position which basically means if someone in the chorus needs help with low-latency audio, they should contact me.