Meet Sam – intern at Sorama
Sam is a Masters student studying Mechanical engineering at Eindhoven university of technology. He started at Sorama with his graduation internship in September of 2020. In this blog below you will dive deeper into what it’s like interning at Sorama and why, along side the different fields and projects that can be worked and researched on to your hearts content. You will not only gain an insight into the technicalities and the complicated diagrams, but also into how problems can occur and be solved.
What have you been doing?
“I am a masters student studying mechanical engineering at TU/e (Eindhoven University of Technology). I started with my master internship about 1 ½ / 2 years back now. I Started with the internship and then combined it with my graduation project. I work on algorithms that can be useful within Sorama. The main objective of the project and my work is to develop an improved SPL (sound pressure level) measurement method for the live sound industry that will help creating a safer listening environment.“
“In short, trying to predict sound pressure levels during live music events. I also chose this, because I have my own company in sound and light equipment rental. Using the technology and devices from Sorama (such as the L642) , I can improve the measurement methods during live music events. Mainly because right now, you only have one measurement microphone and can only measure the sound pressure level from that specific location.”
“My ideal goal would be to have one device (L642) and place it one location, and predict SPL throughout the whole audience instead of just the front, or back for example.”
What are your most memorable moments?
“I would say finding out the uniqueness of the devices and the technology Sorama has to offer, as there isn’t really a company so far ahead in the field and as the company isn’t so large, its really impressive that the company has achieved so much and grown a lot. The ability to work on my own design and project has really given me the flexibility and creativeness that makes Sorama a great place to work for and with.”
Why Sorama?
“I followed a course with sound and vibrations at university from a professor who is now also my mentor and became a mechanical engineer, but I also have interest in sound and acoustics. During the first year of my masters I noticed that sound is closely related to mechanical engineering. There was an assignment that had a use case that was set up by Sorama and then from that i got to know the company. When I was looking for an internship my professor pointed out Sorama immediately and Rick (CEO) did this promotion with my mentor. It went all very naturally and the nice thing was that there was quite some overlap and shared interest with mechanical engineering.”
What challenges have you faced?
“One of my current challenges is finishing my masters thesis, I’m having a hard time with that and the biggest difficulty was realizing what i’m actually doing. Which is signal processing, and as a mechanical engineer you do not have a lot of knowledge in this field or have the ability to follow courses like this.”
What did you do to overcome them?
“I read about these topics and started to understand the basics of them. I spent a lot of time realizing what my goal was. From the beginning it was clear, I wanted to predict sound pressure levels in a room, but a lot of times I realized that it’s done by signal process. So in short, reading about the subject, and informing my self helped very much.”
What advice would you give to future interns?
“My advice would be getting understanding and making sure that your assignment is clear, and try to know what you have to do in order to reach your goal as soon as possible. In my case, I designed my whole assignment myself which was nice because I could do exactly what I want. But the downsides to this is that you have to figure everything out yourself.”
“If you design your own assignment, try to understand exactly what your problem is and how you plan on solving it, make it clear for yourself as this cost me most of my time, but now I know what I’m doing which is great but would have liked a bit more time.”
A little bit about Sam
Sorama in a nutshell
“There isn’t really a company so far ahead in the field and as the company isn’t so large, its really impressive that the company has achieved so much and grown a lot.”
“The ability to work on my own design and project has really given me the flexibility and creativeness that makes Sorama a great place to work for and with.”