Soundvision / Project Setup & Group Structure

Soundvision: Project Setup & Group Structure Guide 1 of 8

Reference: SV-SETUP-01. Every project starts the same way: model the room from a real measurement, give the software enough space to actually calculate, then set up a group structure before placing a single box. Doing groups first pays off later when the session lands in LA Network Manager already organized.

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Model the Room

Use the balcony/floor tool rather than drawing point by point — it's faster for a straightforward rectangular room and still fine-tunable afterward. Work from a real laser measurement, not a guess. Start at zero (height zero), then enter the actual length and width you measured. Watch the surface color. A purple floor means the visualizer hasn't enabled audio preferences on it — some calculations won't run. Give the floor a small width if the room is otherwise too thin a sliver for the software to compute against.

Add the Stage

Add the stage as its own surface — typical stage deck height is around 0.8–1.7m depending on the venue/production, enter the actual height and footprint you have. Enable the stage as a surface so it participates in the reflection/coverage calculations, the same as any wall. Enable the audience area once the stage and floor are in — this is what actually turns on the SPL coverage calculation across the room.

Set Up Groups Before Placing Any Speaker

Create the group tree first: All at the top, then Tops, Subs, Fills (front fill, outfill), and Delays (under-balcony, upper balcony, or straight delay rings) as siblings under it. Keep the naming consistent project to project — this structure is what carries over into LA Network Manager once you load the session there, and starting organized there saves real time later. Save this group structure as a startup template file once you're happy with it, so you're not rebuilding the same tree on every new project.

Source: adapted from a purchased L-Acoustics Soundvision video tutorial series. Rewritten and condensed into a quick-reference workflow in Ryan's own words from the source material.