RTFM: The Manual You Ignored
RTFM: The Manual You Ignored

<p><b>The Manual You Ignored Podcast</b> is the no-fluff, slightly sarcastic show where we turn product user guides into audio you can actually use. Each episode breaks down the settings, workflows, and “gotchas” you normally discover five minutes before doors, so you can get the gear working faster, avoid the common mistakes, and spend less time guessing (or panic-Googling). AI helps do the heavy reading; a real human filters it into the parts that matter.</p>

Send us a textWelcome back to RTFM: The Manual You Ignored—the slightly sarcastic, zero-fluff series where we take official documentation and translate it into real-world understanding. In this episode, we’re using the Audinate Dante User Guide to explain how Dante actually works, why it behaves the way it does, and what “best practices” look like when you’re building a network that has to survive rehearsals, venues, festivals, and show-day pressure.If you’ve ever been handed a Dante system and told “it should just connect,” this episode is for you. The goal is simple: make audio networking feel less mysterious, reduce the guesswork, and help you approach Dante with confidence—without needing a computer science degree.
Send us a textAvid VENUE | S6L (The Manual You Ignored, Translated for Show Day)Welcome back to RTFM: The Manual You Ignored—the slightly sarcastic, zero-fluff series where we turn official documentation into something you can actually use. In this episode, we’re breaking down the Avid VENUE | S6Lmanuals and reference material into real-world workflow: how to get a show file built fast, patching and stage rack/I/O concepts that won’t trip you up, Snapshots and scope choices that won’t destroy your mix mid-set, and the common “why is nothing passing audio?” failures that usually come down to one setting you didn’t know existed.We’ll also hit practical stability habits—version/firmware considerations, plugin and system tradeoffs, redundancy mindset, and how to approach an S6L day when you’re walking up cold with limited time. If you want the S6L power without the S6L panic, this is the doc set—filtered for humans.
Send us a textDiGiCo SD Series (The Manual You Ignored, Translated for Show Day)Welcome back to RTFM: The Manual You Ignored—the slightly sarcastic, zero-fluff series where we turn official documentation into real-world workflow. In this episode, we’re breaking down the DiGiCo SD Series manuals/reference guides and translating them into the stuff that actually matters when you’re under pressure: how to build a session that won’t bite you later, patching and rack/I/O concepts that finally click, Snapshots vs. Sessions (and how to avoid accidental chaos), gain structure across analog and digital stages, macro/workflow shortcuts that save time, and the classic SD “why is this not passing audio?” traps. Whether you’re walking up to an SD console for the first time or you want to tighten up your touring workflow, this is the DiGiCo docs—filtered for humans.
Send us a textYamaha DM7 (The Manual You Ignored, Translated for Show Day)Welcome back to RTFM: The Manual You Ignored—the slightly sarcastic, zero-fluff series where we turn official documentation into real-world workflow. In this episode, we’re breaking down the Yamaha DM7 user guide/reference material with one goal: help you get from “fresh file” to “show-ready” without the classic pre-doors panic. We’ll cover the parts that actually matter under pressure—patching and I/O that makes sense, scene/snapshot habits that won’t wreck your mix later, gain structure and metering that tells the truth, and the common DM7 “gotchas” that cause silent inputs, weird routing, or unexpected behavior. If you’re new to DM7 or you just want a cleaner, faster workflow, this is the manual—filtered for humans.
Send us a textSMAART v8 (Measurement, Tuning, and the Parts People Usually Skip)Welcome back to RTFM: The Manual You Ignored the slightly sarcastic, zero-fluff show where we turn documentation into something you can actually use. In this episode, we’re diving into SMAART v8 and breaking down what matters in the real world: how to get up and running fast, how to set your interfaces and I/O so your data is trustworthy, the difference between “I’m seeing a line on a screen” and “I actually know what it means,” and the practical workflows for aligning a PA, verifying coverage, and troubleshooting problems without guessing.We’ll hit the core tools, RTA, transfer function, coherence, delay finder, and basic measurement strategy, plus the common mistakes that make people think SMAART is confusing (it’s usually not the software…it’s the setup). The goal is simple: help you use SMAART v8 as a decision-making tool, not a stress multiplier.
Send us a textBehringer WING (The Manual You Ignored, Translated for Show Day)Welcome back to RTFM: The Manual You Ignored—the slightly sarcastic, zero-fluff series where we turn user guides into something you can actually use. In this episode, we’re breaking down the Behringer WING documentation into real-world workflow: how to get a show up quickly, how to think about patching and routing so you’re not chasing signal, the key settings that actually matter for stability, and the common “why is this doing that?” moments that always show up right before doors. We’ll cover practical scene/snapshot habits, gain structure that won’t bite you later, and the core features that make WING powerful, without turning it into a menu-diving endurance test.
Send us a textEpisode: L-Acoustics V-DOSC (The “Legendary Box” Logistics and Reality Check)Welcome back to RTFM: The Manual You Ignored—the slightly sarcastic, zero-fluff series where we turn real documentation into real-world understanding. In this episode, we’re working from the L-Acoustics V-DOSC documentation/user guide material to explain what it actually takes to deploy this iconic system correctly: the fundamentals of array behavior, coverage planning, rigging and safety considerations, amplification/processing requirements, and the practical decisions that separate “it’s loud” from “it’s consistent.” We’ll also talk through the classic V-DOSC-era pitfalls—bad angles, mismatched deployment assumptions, and chasing problems with EQ instead of geometry—plus how to think about V-DOSC in a modern workflow when you’re inheriting a rig or working on a legacy inventory. The goal is simple: understand the system’s intent, respect the physics, and make smarter choices before you’re trying to fix it at doors.
Send us a textEpisode 4: Yamaha DM7 (The Manual Breakdown You Actually Needed)Welcome back to RTFM: The Manual You Ignored—the slightly sarcastic, zero-fluff series where we turn user guides into something you can actually use. In this episode, we’re digging into the Yamaha DM7 documentation and translating it into real-world workflow: how to get a show up fast, how to think about patching and I/O so you’re not chasing ghosts, what to prioritize in setup and scene management, and the key features that actually matter when you’re mixing under pressure. We’ll also hit the classic “DM7 gotchas” that tend to appear right when doors are about to open—so you can spend less time menu-diving and more time mixing.
Send us a textEpisode 3: Allen & Heath dLive (The Manuals You Ignored — All the Stuff That Actually Matters)Welcome back to RTFM: The Manual You Ignored the slightly sarcastic, zero-fluff series where we turn user guides and manuals into something you can actually use. In this episode, we’re pulling from multiple Allen & Heath dLive user guides and reference manuals to give you the practical, real-world overview people wish they had before show day: core setup and workflow, routing and I/O fundamentals, scenes vs. shows (and how to not accidentally nuke your work), patching logic that finally makes sense, gain structure and meter truth, FX and bussing that won’t paint you into a corner, plus the “don’t learn this the hard way” pitfalls that always show up during changeover. Think of it as the dLive docs, translated, prioritized, and filtered for humans.
Send us a textEpisode 2: Shure IEM System Engineering Tradeoffs (ADPSM User Guide)Welcome back to RTFM: The Manual You Ignored, the slightly sarcastic, zero-fluff series where we turn user guides into something you can actually use. In this episode, we’re digging into the Shure Axient Digital PSM (ADPSM) user guide and translating it into the real-world system engineering decisions you actually have to make: coverage vs. frequency efficiency, channel count vs. coordination complexity, remote antennas vs. practical deployment, gain staging vs. noise floor, and “it works in the shop” vs. “it works in a festival RF swamp.” The goal isn’t to sell you a perfect answer—it’s to help you understand the tradeoffs so you can build an IEM rig that’s reliable, scalable, and survivable on show day.
Send us a textShure Axient Digital PSM ConfigurationWelcome to The Manual You Ignored Podcast by This Is DeLaCruz the no-fluff, slightly sarcastic series where we turn product user guides into audio you can actually use. In this first episode, we’re walking through Shure Axient Digital PSM configuration