The Sound of Democracy

Lab.gruppen Acquires Dolby Lake Processor Technology and Lake Brand

By Bill Evans

PEOPLE. PRODUCTION. GEAR. GIGS. FEBRUARY 2009 Vol. 7 No.5

The Sound of Democracy

KUNGSBACKA, Sweden — Lab. gruppen has announced its acquisition of the Lake trademarks and the exclusive rights for use of Dolby Lake Processor (DLP) technology. Lake technology is used in several successful products including the original Lake products, Mesa Quad EQ and Contour; the Dolby Lake Processor from Dolby Laboratories and the PLM Series Powered Loudspeaker Management systems from Lab.gruppen. Specifically, this agreement allows Lab. gruppen to further develop the Lake Controller software and firmware and to utilize the Lake brand name and allied technologies in Lab.gruppenbranded and stand-alone products for use in the touring and permanent sound reinforcement markets as demands dictate. Lab.gruppen has secured exclusive access to the source code and algorithms for these markets that are at the heart of the DLP and PLM and this will allow the company to create further generations of the programs for use with existing Dolby Lake Processors and with the company’s PLM Series. continued on page 6

LVIC Pulpit Gets Roadie’s Ethic

If you wanted to make a case against investing in a church sound system based on price and volume alone, you could have found plenty of ammunition for your argument over the years at Las Vegas International Church (LVIC). As a member, James Elizondo has seen four different PAs go up, and all but the most recent were penny-wise and sound-foolish. The first install, Elizondo notes, used “the most gigantic looking contraption of a speaker you’ve ever seen” built by a car audio enthusiast. Elizondo helped set things straight with a system tailormade for the church’s 240-foot-wide, 80-foot-deep space, using DAS Aero 28as, Variant 25as and ST 215 subs. For more, turn to page 18.

LOUD Withdraws from NASDAQ, Signs New Manufacturing Partners For the 44th time, power was passed peacefully from one administration to another as Barack Obama was inaugurated as president of the United States. This historic occasion was surrounded by a slew of events from pre-inauguration concerts to post-inauguration balls. Obviously, there was a lot of audio work to be done. See page 14 for our coverage of the pomp and ceremony.

Waves Audio Announces New Live Division

By Thomas S. Freeman

ANAHEIM, CA — As sales of recorded music continue to tank, and touring and live shows become a bigger part of the music revenue equation, audio manufacturers who once were totally dedicated to the recording world continue to branch out from the studio to the stage. Digidesign went from a company that made software and hardware for recording to one of the fastest growing purveyors continued on page 6

By Bill Evans

WOODINVILLE, WA — LOUD Technologies Inc. said it would voluntarily delist its common stock from NASDAQ and end its registration as a public company. The company, which makes brands including Alvarez, Ampeg, Crate, EAW, Mackie, Martin Audio and TAPCO, said the cost of being on NASDAQ and remaining public outweighed the benefits. Incoming LOUD CEO Rodney Olson said that the company planned to “redirect a portion of the substantial savings into building our supply chain and the products our continued on page 6 customers want.”

Buyers Guide

24

We take a look at digital consoles under $80K.

Road Tests

26

28

Proel HPD3000 Power Amplifier, Helpinstill Piano Sensor.

Sound Sanctuary

Noise gates for houses of worship.

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FEBRUARY 2009, Vol. 7.5

What’s Hot

Na-na-na-na-NAMM

Feature

Features 8 House of Worship News

28 Sound Sanctuary

18 Installations

30 Theory & Practice

First Redeemer Church, First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest, Ill., Northeast Church near Nashville and Tucson’s Faith Tabernacle all upgrade their sound.

12 Yeah, it’s really a guitar show, but hidden among the sixstring slingers and wannabes was a smattering of cool live audio stuff. But you had to have picture ID to see it...

The International Church of Las Vegas has a new sound system designed for the dimensions of the 240-foot-by-80-foot sanctuary.

22 Production Profile

Eighth Day Systems and Wigwam Acoustics are cosupplying the U.S. leg of Coldplay’s current tour, and it’s not just a marriage of convenience. What makes it work is trust.

24 Buyers Guide

FOH Interview

We take a trip to the Gates of H, oh wait, this is the church column. Never mind. It’s about noise gates.

When the SPL police come knockin’, know how to keep the show rockin’.

31 The Biz

When live sound disasters strike, quick thinking can sometimes save the show.

36 FOH-at-Large

You’re not really old until you get a flash of self-recognition — in a museum.

A look at digital consoles priced under $80K.

26 Road Tests

What’s Hot

Columns

We check out the Proel HPD3000 Power Amplifier and the Helpinstill Piano Sensor.

32 Regional Slants

Proshow Systems, like a lot of business success stories, started in a garage.

34 Welcome To My Nightmare

16

Sometimes, fellow passengers can be scarier than flying itself.

Departments 4 Editor’s Note 5 News 10 International News 11 On the Move 12 New Gear 14 Showtime 32 In the Trenches

We interview Big Mick Hughes and Paul Owen on the eve of Paul’s retirement from touring with Metallica after 23 years. Oh and we talk about their big… bass speaker.

letters The Righteous Squeeze I really enjoyed your November article on the righteous squeeze (FOH, Nov. 2008, page 48.) Can you explain a bit further concerning threshold. How do I actually pick the high limit, i.e., with PFL going to +3, +6 etc. Once I’ve gotten that and set the ratio, attack and release, how do I again know how much gain to increase at the end. I’m missing something here. If I bring the make up gain back up, what have I achieved?? And how much gain to increase by. (PFL???) —Mark Forsyth, Vital Sound Productions, Canada

Jamie Rio responds: Sorry it has taken so long to get back to you (many, many emails). OK, first use the meters on your limiter to set the threshold. Just bring down the threshold level until you are affecting the peaks of your music or speech. If your gear does not have meters, use your ears. If you clamp down to much with your limiter you will hear it. The gain knob is there to add back decibels not reverse the limiting effect. I hope that helps a bit. —Jamie Rio


Editor’s Note By BillEvans

Out Of Isolation

Publisher Terry Lowe [email protected]

Editor Bill Evans

G

iven the choice of going to yet another NAMM show or having my teeth drilled for a whole day, I would seriously consider the latter. I would probably end up at the show cuz I am a total wuss about pain, but I would at least think about it. But this latest show was different. First, I took off for San Diego on Friday night with my Vegas partner in crime, Larry Hall of HAS Productions, where

your pass to a friend on a day you were not going to the show. No, you had to produce picture ID every time you moved into the hall from outside or even went up or down an escalator. That got old really fast, and you have to question the wisdom of limiting attendance in a down economy, but I have to admit it was a lot easier to get around without the throngs of musicians trying to score autographs and

Some of those kids in bands are going to wonder what that thing with all the faders and knobs is all about… we were dazzled by a first-class crew and system at a John Legend show. (Special shout out to Kenny, whose last name we never got, who talked us into the venue when we were totally lost and Larry’s TomTom GPS was telling us we had arrived but there was nothing that looked anything like an arena in sight. It was like that scene in Spinal Tap where they can’t find their way from the dressing room to the stage and keep running into a maintenance guy who tries to help them, except we were in a car, and we had Kenny on the phone, and he eventually guided our GPS-challenged butts to the show.) Second, NAMM cracked waaay down on passes. No giving

endorsements on Saturday. Actually, the big plus this year was less concrete. It was more about being reminded that amidst the very gloomy economic news we were hearing every day, lots of people are still working at making music and putting on shows. Especially for those of us who are largely office-bound, it is way too easy to watch the news and hear about layoffs and how horrible things are financially and, in our isolation, be led to think that is the entire story. But more than 85,000 people registered for the show this year. That’s down from years past but—especially considering how hard NAMM made it to get in—still pretty impressive.

And a good portion of those attendees were there to make deals and buy stuff. I know that there were sound company owners there who made significant deals for large amounts of gear. And plenty of music store owners were looking for the key to convert Guitar Hero-playing kids into bandforming guitar and bass and drum players. And over time, more kids playing means more bands and more tours and more work for us in the live audio biz. (And I am not just blowing smoke on this. A U.K. newspaper recently reported that some 2.5 million kids had taken up guitar or drums as a direct result of playing Guitar Hero and RockBand video games. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you with the next generation…) And some of those kids in bands are going to wonder what that thing with all the faders and knobs is all about and end up as the kid on the crew who we are telling war stories to in 10 years or so. And at least a couple of those kids are gonna think “I wonder what would happen if…” and become our next Les Paul, Bill Hanley or Bob Heil. Yeah, things suck hard right about now. Hell, I’m $100K upsidedown on a house as I type this. But getting out there and seeing the throngs of people who want to make music and the crowd at the show digging the music being made by John Legend and made loud by Sound Image was a reminder that this too shall pass.

bevans@ fohonline.com

Managing Editor Frank Hammel [email protected]

Technical Editor Mark Amundson [email protected]

Contributing Writers Jerry Cobb, Dan Daley, Thomas S. Freeman, Jamie Rio, Steve LaCerra, David John Farinella, Ted Leamy, Baker Lee, Bryan Reesman, Tony Mah Art Director Garret Petrov [email protected]

Production Manager/ Photographer Linda Evans levans@ fohonline.com

Web Master Josh Harris jharris@ fohonline.com

National Sales Manager Dan Hernandez [email protected]

National Advertising Director Gregory Gallardo [email protected]

General Manager William Hamilton Vanyo [email protected]

Business, Editorial and Advertising Office 6000 South Eastern Ave. Suite 14J Las Vegas, NV 89119 Ph: 702.932.5585 Fax: 702.932.5584 Toll Free: 800.252.2716 Circulation Stark Services P.O. Box 16147 North Hollywood, CA 91615 Front Of House (ISSN 1549-831X) Volume 7 Number 5 is published monthly by Timeless Communications Corp., 6000 South Eastern Ave., Suite 14J, Las Vegas, NV, 89119. Periodicals Postage Paid at Las Vegas, NV and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Front Of House, P.O. Box 16147, North Hollywood, CA 91615-6147. Front Of House is distributed free to qualified individuals in the live sound industry in the United States and Canada. Mailed in Canada under Publications Mail Agreement Number 40033037, 1415 Janette Ave., Windsor, ON N8X 1Z1. Overseas subscriptions are available and can be obtained by calling 702.932.5585. Editorial submissions are encouraged, but will not be returned. All Rights Reserved. Duplication, transmission by any method of this publication is strictly prohibited without the permission of Front Of House.

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News

Santos Party House Equipped With New Sound System

With help from a Soundcraft Vi6 console, the club goes back and forth between live bands and DJ performances.

NEW YORK — TimbreTech Audio Services designed and integrated Harman gear into the sound system at Santos Party House, supporting the club’s DJ and live performances. Jim Toth designed a live system around a Soundcraft Vi6 console at FOH that can be locked off and run remotely via a laptop in the DJ booth when DJs are performing in the house. The Vi6 gives the club the ability to turn from a live sound venue into a DJ club, and the console’s Vistonics user-interface is so easy visiting engineers can learn it in about five minutes, Toth said. “The Soundcraft Vi6 is a remarkable console because it systematically addresses the hierarchy of engineer needs: first and foremost, it sounds great; secondly, it’s extremely intuitive and sensibly designed; thirdly, it’s eminently configurable and lastly, it’s bulletproof,”Toth said.“I feel extremely comfortable putting this console at the core of my system.” Toth placed a Soundcraft Vi4 at the monitor position running 6 JBL SRX 712M 12-inch monitor wedges powered by Crown XTI 6000 Series amplifiers. The live system features JBL VerTec VT4887DP Series line array elements with JBL VerTec VT4880 subwoofers. The VerTec VT4887DP loudspeakers let Toth set the level and EQ of each cabinet individually. For the dance system, Toth built a 24-foot horizontal array of custom designed 5-way speakers that spans the length of the room and delivers even coverage. Each 5-way featuring 24-inch and 15-inch drivers in a line, spaced apart carefully to minimize interference and comb filtering. The same JBL VerTec VT4888 subwoofers supply the bass. Santos Party House has a smaller room downstairs where Toth designed a system using custom cabinets and VT4880 subwoofers with two monitor arrays hanging conventionally with eight cabinets on each side of the DJ booth. Toth said some visiting DJs matrix between the monitor and dance systems and mix straight from the line arrays. “If we’re being asked to put our name on an event or club system,” Toth added, “we need it to look and sound like one of our systems. The Harman components from Crown, JBL and Soundcraft are key elements.”

Indy Pro Audio Helps Rev Up Honda Event GREENSBURG, IN — Honda spent $550 million and most of 2007 and 2008 building its factory here, but stopped the assembly lines for only one hour to celebrate the first Honda Civic GX rolling off the line. Indianapolis-based Indy Pro Audio Production Service Inc. provided the audio system along with the set, rolling stage, video and lighting for the media event. The audio system included a Midas console with DBX Drive rack processing, four Shure SM87 wireless mics and four PAS (Professional Audio Systems) RS 2.2 speak-

ers. The crew flew all of the audio, lighting and video equipment in place prior to moving the stages and press risers into position for the start of the show. After the photo-op, the staging elements were whisked away and the factory’s production resumed. The factory floor became an impromptu stage for the photo-op.

Audio West Owner Offers Details on Stolen Gear


PLACENTIA, CA — Audio West owner Glenn Hatch, who reported that his white tour truck, a 26-foot Freightliner with a gray cab, was stolen from his parking lot Dec. 13, license plate number 6U91747, has provided additional details on what went missing. For the complete list with serial numbers, go to www.fohonline.com/stolen. Contact details for Audio West: Glenn Hatch Audio West Owner/Engineer 670 S. Jefferson Street, Unit G Placentia, CA 92870-6638 Phone: 714.528.2285

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News

Lab.gruppen Acquires Dolby Lake Processor Technology and Lake Brand continued from cover

“Lab.gruppen is extremely pleased to have acquired the very well respected Lake brand name,” said Tomas Lilja, managing director at Lab.gruppen. “We see this as very important to the future growth of Lab.gruppen. Although the Lake brand will be developed separately from Lab.gruppen, the technology will have its own life within our organization. Lake technology will form the backbone of all future iterations of our unique Powered Loudspeaker Management systems. We are also very aware of the demand for stand-alone processing and assessing

this market is high on our agenda. We are hoping that, through our support of the existing DLP user base — with software updates and new features — and via the increasing number of PLM customers, we can swiftly research new product development possibilities.” Lab wasted no time announcing a week after the acquisition the “accelerated development” of the LM 26 Loudspeaker Management processor, a stand-alone digital loudspeaker processor based on Lake Processing technology. Scheduled for launch later in 2009,

the LM 26 is a 2-in/6-out Lab.gruppen Lake Processor in a compact 1 U frame. It will be compatible with the PLM Series as well as with all Dolby Lake Processors and earlier versions of the technology, including Mesa Quad and Contour. “Over the last few years Lab.gruppen has been a trusted partner,” said John Carey, vice president, worldwide sales, products and services at Dolby Laboratories. “As we pass the live sound torch to Lab. gruppen we are confident that they will continue to innovate and evolve the technology and brand.”

From left, Lab.gruppen’s Carl Rohdell, Project Manager; Håkan Gustafsson, Product Engineering Manager; Tomas Lilja, CEO; Emil Tirén, Software Engineer; Klas Dalbjörn, Product Research Manager. All played a role in the Lake acquisition and technology transfer.

LOUD Withdraws from NASDAQ, Signs New Manufacturing Partners continued from cover


That report, along with an earlier statement regarding the production of some EAW and Mackie products, kicked the rumor mill into gear, and at the recent NAMM show, NAMM TV reported that the company would either be bought or go into bankruptcy. Olson labeled that report as unsubstantiated and told FOH, “The truth is LOUD has an envied senior management team, very supportive ownership in Sun Capital, and a solid plan for success. Like everyone in today’s uncertain economy, we have examined our organizational and cost structures recently and made reductions to position us well for the current downturn. “We also have our own unique challenges that we are aggressively tackling and correcting. As stated in our 8K [an official filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission] dated 12/17/08, we learned that one of our suppliers in China that produces certain Mackie and EAW products discontinued production in late 2008 due to difficulties that supplier was experiencing.

“LOUD’s top priority is reallocating this lost production and fixing the long-standing product availability issues that have been limiting our growth as well as our customers’ growth. In fact, we just added two new contract manufacturers to our supply chain, and already have replacement production lines up and running for EAW KF and SB loudspeakers as well as Mackie HRmk2 and MR studio monitors. And we will add additional lines every few weeks until production is stabilized and product is flowing normally.” In a separate document filed with the SEC shortly before the show opened, the Commission was informed that attempts by Sun Mackie (the business entity that represents Sun Capital Partners which owns about 82 percent of Loud stock) to buy all outstanding share had been unsuccessful because, largely due to restrictions under Washington state law, Sun and the Loud board were unable to agree on terms.

Waves Audio Announces New Live Division continued from cover


of live audio systems ever. While some software folks have been slow to embrace this change, others have seen the future and it is live…. With that thought firmly in mind, Waves Audio recently announced the formation of the Waves Live Division, a dedicated branch focusing on the needs of FOH, monitor and live sound/ recording engineers. Along with a live division Web site (www.waveslive.com), the company is releasing its D-Show Enabler, making 50 Waves TDM plug-ins compatible for the live environment. Waves’ history in the live sound market includes MaxxBCL, a product designed to help deliver more bass out of line arrays and other PA systems. In 2006, the company released the Waves Live Bundle—a package of plug-ins for the Digi Venue system. It is a processor package that accompanies Digidesign’s Venue consoles used by a number of “alist” live engineers. 6

FEBRUARY 2009


With the Waves Live Division, Waves will continue to introduce new software for live sound. From equalizers, channel strips and reverbs to effects, compressors and limiters, mixers can take studio settings into a live performance environment. The big change is that more than 50 of Waves’ plug-ins are not only compatible with Digidesign’s D-Show platform, they are actually pre-installed, and using the Waves D-Show Enabler gives the user access to the plug-ins. For the traveling engineer who may be working on a rented console, this means that there is no issue with making sure his or her Waves plug-ins are installed. (At least that is our understanding of the situation after talking with the folks at Waves at the NAMM show…) Asher Bitansky, Waves director of business development, has been appointed to oversee the business side of the Live Division’s formation.

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House of Worship News

First Redeemer Church Shows Faith in RF CUMMING, GA — First Redeemer Church has recently completed several technical upgrades to the audio system initiated by its creative arts director, Christian music producer and vocalist Eulises Canada. Among other changes, the church has replaced its wireless microphone systems with Sennheiser EW 165 G2 handheld microphone and EW 112 G2 lavalier transmitter/receiver systems. First Redeemer’s campus has two main buildings. The first contains a 2,000seat sanctuary where an orchestra and a 200-voice choir deliver a blended service every weekend. Led by Pastor Dr. Richard Lee, that service is broadcast throughout the country via the “There’s Hope America” network. The second building has classrooms, student facilities, a family center and smaller

auditoriums for youth band performances and other church functions. Following Canada’s direction, the church now has 25 Sennheiser wireless channels split between the EW 112 G2 lavaliers and the ew 165 G2 handhelds. Most of the systems serve the main sanctuary, but others reside with the youth band and the classrooms. Canada coordinated their frequencies by first finding an open channel for one system and then using the “auto search” feature for the remaining systems. They’ve remained solid ever since, even amid the RF chaos of nearby Atlanta. Canada’s other large purchase was a Digidesign Venue console to wrestle 96 inputs from stage and interface them with a Pro Tools system capable of recording or playing 120 channels. By recording every channel, the Venue gives him the chance to do “vir-

tual sound check” between services. So far, services have gone smoothly for Canada and his team of volunteers. The next big challenge will be First Redeemer’s ambitious Christmas program. “It’s not your average Christmas production,” Canada said. The program will repeat three nights and will call to the stage every piece of The church’s 2,000-seat sanctuary is home to services broadcast on the gear owned by the There’s Hope America network. Eulises Canada led a recent initiative to church. upgrade to 25 wireless channels.

A Sound Upgrade for a 150-Year-Old Church LAKE FOREST, IL — As part of a threephase facility upgrade of the church’s audio system, First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest, Ill. recently completed the installation of a new wireless microphone system. Placed into service to coincide with the church’s 150th anniversary, the new equipment was installed by Sound Vision, Inc. of Elgin, Ill.

Currently guided by the Reverend Christine Chakoian, First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest was originally built in 1862. While it has undergone growth and change as the requirements and size of the congregation has evolved, it remains a stately architectural structure with a steep, sloped ceiling. Worship services are, for the most part, traditional in nature, with special emphasis on music at select holidays. The sanctuary itself is approximately 90 feet long by 60 feet wide and average congregation size is approximately 450 people. Seating is fixed—in the form of traditional pews. According to John Miles, systems sales manager at Sound Vision, a design/build firm that specializes in AV systems for the commercial and church markets, members of the church assumed a proactive role in the selection of the new wireless system. “The church has a group of members who are very savvy about audiovisual equipment,” said Miles. “While the system was formally designed by the Chicago office of Shen Milsom Wilke, members of the church actually selected Lectrosonics..” First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest’s new wireless system utilizes 10 channels housed in two Lectrosonics Venue Series modular receiver systems. The

Venue receivers are designed to accommodate up to six receiver units per rack space. All 10 channels of the system take up only two rack spaces and utilize Lectrosonics’ VRS receiver modules. For transmitters, the new system incorporates seven Lectrosonics LMa Digital Hybrid Wireless UHF Belt Pack Transmitters paired with Countryman EMW Omni Classic lavalier microphones and E6i earset microphones. The remaining three channels are made up of Lectrosonics UT Digital Hybrid Wireless Handheld Transmitters with the company’s VMC cardioid capsules. “The installation represents the first of a planned three-part renovation to the church’s sound system,” said Miles. “The Lectrosonics gear replaces an antiquated wireless system as well as some wired microphones that The church crew did a sweep and found RF to be busy in the area. Gear from Lectrosonics helped deal with that challenge. were previously deployed. Now, the pastors, guest speakers, and “Most services use three to four wireless others are all equipped with wireless mics. channels, so with their current system, “The sound quality has improved dra- they have adequate backup as well as the matically, and nobody is restrained by the ability to mic several additional people length of a microphone cable,” Miles said. for special services.”

CORRECTION In “Performance, EV Pump Up the Clarity at EnergySolutions Arena” (FOH, Jan. 2009, page 20), FOH incorrectly identified the Electro-Voice team member who helped win EV’s bid to upgrade the sound system. His name is Dave Larsen, not Dave Hansen. The writer has been fed to a pack of hungry wolves. Ad info:http:// foh.hotims.com


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House of Worship News

New Sound System Helps Set Nashville Church Apart HENDERSONVILLE, TN — Northeast Church offers churchgoers in Hendersonville, Tenn. more than just a routine listening experience. “We are not your normal church. Every Sunday is a concert with a message surrounded by technology,” says Brian Belcher, technical director. Located on the northern outskirts of Nashville, the church attracts a diverse group of visitors who like their church services to have some SPL mixed in with the message from above. And the emphasis on professional sound seems to be working. “We are growing like crazy,” Belcher notes. A 10- to-12-piece band playing contemporary music with a wide dynamic range augments services, and in addition to the regular services, a youth outreach program called “Gas Station” hosts concerts featuring both local talent as well as national touring acts. Christian

artists including Stellar Karts, War of Ages and Brad Stine have performed at the church. To keep the sound system on the cutting edge, the church recently installed a new FBT sound system for their main sanctuary. The main system is comprised of two Modus 40s, one per side, with Modus subs flown above. Four PSR 118S sub woofer cabinets lie on the deck for additional low frequency coverage. The rig is configured as a four-way system and uses QSC RMX 5050 power amplifiers and Biamp processing. The Modus 40 is a curved box that essentially groups separate line array components (8-by-8-inch drivers and 8-by-1.7inch compression drivers) into a single enclosure no bigger than one traditional two-way

horn enclosure to provide 90-degree horizontal and 40 degree vertical coverage. The decision to install FBT products came after several shootouts and product demonstrations from other speaker brands. CYM Productions oversaw the sale to the church. Belcher has handled installations at many churches throughout his career. Call it a pet peeve but, as Brian says, “I am a stickler for accuracy and truthfulness in a manufacturer’s literature and specifications. Embellishment and hype have no place in professional audio specifications. I have seen this become an obstacle for church sound and lighting systems where you have lay people making expensive decisions. The FBT products not only sound

Northeast Church prides itself on being a bit different, and the new FBT Modus sound system gives it another edge.

great, but performed as their specs stated they would and I really respect that.”

Tucson’s Faith Tabernacle Adds Clear Sound to View

The same window that offers a view posed a challenge to Sound Image that was compounded by the ceiling design.


TUCSON, AZ — The first thing that visitors notice when they enter Tucson’s Faith Tabernacle Church, where a Meyer Sound system was recently installed, is the view. Directly behind the pulpit, a wall of glass looks out onto Mount Lemmon and the Coronado National Forest. In terms of sound quality, however, the church struggled for years with reverberance, but Tempe, Ariz.-based Sound Image got things under control. “The room had a tremendous amount of upper-midrange reflectivity, and intelligibility was next to nil when the music got going,” said Sound Image’s Eric Johnson. With the installation of a Meyer Sound system, however, the sound is as welcoming as the view. “The ceiling is at least as challenging as the glass wall,” noted Johnson, of the 25-foot high wood ceiling with large beams and deep, reverberant pockets. “The room still needs some acoustic treatment, and they’re aware of that, but the Meyer Sound system has already made a tremendous difference.” Todd Stuve, Faith Tabernacle’s lead audio tech, said the church had tried more than once to address the room’s challenges. “Actually, this is our fifth system, and we got it right this time,” Stuve said. “The Meyer Sound system has a really tight focus, and that’s gone a long way toward eliminating the reflections on the walls and ceiling.” The 1,200-seat sanctuary has been equipped with three CQ-1 loudspeakers and three UPJ-1P VariO loudspeakers, all strategically hung for highly focused coverage. A pair of 700-HP subwoofers handles low frequencies and a Galileo loudspeaker management system provides system processing. “The room is a challenge, but the Meyer Sound system has given us a major leap in sound quality,” Stuve said. “The sonic clarity just blows me away. I’m very, very impressed.”

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International News

Soundking Group of China Buys Cadac Electronics NINGBO, China — Soundking Group Co. Ltd. announced that it had acquired the assets, trademark and intellectual property of Cadac Electronics plc, effective immediately. Bob Thomas has been appointed as general manager of the new operating company, Cadac Holdings Ltd. Soundking said all 25 current Cadac employees were being retained, with R&D and production continuing in the U.K. “I am personally delighted that I have been able to bring the world-famous Cadac brand and its outstanding products into the Soundking Group,” said Xianggui Wang, president and founder of Soundking. “I am also extremely happy that we have been able to retain all Cadac employees and to protect their jobs in this time of economic uncertainty. The Cadac R&D team will form the European core of Soundking Group’s global R&D effort, enabling us to draw on Cadac's high level of ex-

pertise in analogue and digital audio and translate this into new products across the Group.” Speaking of the change, Thomas noted that “the last few months have been a difficult time for all of us — for our employees, our customers and our suppliers. Now that we have got through this period, the future looks extremely bright, and we will be working quickly to re-establish Cadac in its core markets. “Soundking Group is investing $6 million in Cadac and in new product development, highlighting its commitment and belief in the market opportunity presented by our top quality global brand,”Thomas added. “For Cadac, the great news is that now we have the Soundking Group's financial backing, we will be able to accelerate that program and in particular, put the S-Digital console back on schedule. Our digital R&D team is 100 percent focused on starting production in the summer of

2009 - it's a great start to the year! “On a personal note,” Thomas continued, “I am delighted that we have been able to retain all our staff and that manufacturing of Cadac consoles will remain in the U.K. — an appropriate factor in this, Cadac's 40th year. With the Soundking Group’s financial strength, new access to the fast-growing pro-audio market in China and the support of our existing customers and distributors, we are looking forward to a period of major sales growth.” Cadac expected to sell more of its analog desks for use in Russia, Germany, Korea and China, and the company said it is also focusing on exhibiting at this year's Prolight + Sound show in Frankfurt in early April. The Soundking Group Company Ltd., based near Shanghai, has been operating for more than 20 years, and was a major supplier for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008.

Putting Mics to the Extreme Test on Take Us Alive Tour MILAN, Italy — To promote their first new album in 13 years, Saudades de Rock, Extreme launched their Take Us Alive tour. Guitarist and vocalist Nuno Bettencourt was singing the praises of the mics brought along on the tour, including two Sontronics STC-80 dynamic mics, two Sontronics Orpheus condenser mics and a Sontronics STC-1 condenser mic. “If someone told me that they have a live vocal mic that sounds as warm and clear as a vintage classic tube recording microphone, and that I can get it loud on stage over my band’s blistering stage volume, flat with nearly no EQ, I would laugh… and then tell them I’ve been touring the world for 20 years and I’ve yet to hear that microphone,” Bettencourt said. “Well, at a soundcheck in the U.K. on the Take Us Alive tour they showed me the Sontronics STC-80, I sang through it and I did laugh… with disbelief at how incredible it sounded. So much so, that we would not give them back. And used not only the vocal mics,

but also the insane, silky-sounding pair of Sontronics Orpheus for overheads. “It wasn’t just an exciting affair with a new product, because when we did the last leg of the tour in Indonesia and the Sontronics mics couldn’t come with us, we suffered… not only in sound, but in headroom on stage. “Yes we were spoiled. I have never endorsed any product unless it is essential to me. And it is very rare that a musical Extreme toured with Sontronics’ STC-80 dynamic mics and Orpheus/ product comes around that you can’t live STC-1 condenser mics. without. Someone finally got it right. In 20 years I’ve never endorsed a microphone treme’s front-of-house engineer, Joe Brown. company… until now.” The two Sontronics STC-80 dynamic mics “I could hear every detail of the drumkit. The were used for Bettencourt and bassist Pat pair of Orpheus overhead mics gave me so Badger’s backing vocals, while the two Son- much presence and clarity, but without any tronics Orpheus condenser mics were used harshness… and the STC-80s on Nuno’s and as overheads and the STC-1 for the hi-hat on Pat’s vocals were incredible… Nuno has never asked me to kill the EQ on any vocal mic beKevin Figueiredo’s drumkit. “The difference was amazing,” said Ex- fore.”



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2/4/09 3:03:11 PM

On the Move Audinate, an Australia-based company, has appointed U.S.-based Lee Ellison as CEO. Ellison’s appointment coincides with Audinate’s establishment of a U.S.based headquarters inLee Ellison cluding sales, marketing and customer support. Ellison has worked in a variety of technology sectors, most recently as CEO of SustainOne, a strategic consulting company. Prior to that, Ellison was sales and marketing officer of Dilithium Networks and general manager of Glenayre’s wireless business unit. David Myers, Audinate’s co-founder and inaugural CEO, is shifting roles and will now serve the company as COO. Audinate also announced that Mike Quigley has joined the company’s board of directors. Quigley is the former president and COO of Alcatel.

Midas and Klark Teknik named Jay Easley manager for the Americas. Part of the Pro Audio team at Bosch Communications Systems Lee Ellison (formerly Telex Communications) for nine years, Easley most recently served as director of live sound for the Bosch Communications Systems family of Pro Audio brands, including Dynacord, ElectroVoice, Klark Teknik, and Midas. Easley brings more than 20 years of FOH mixing and audio experience to his new position.

QSC’s Bob Lee, a 15-year veteran with the company, has been named by the Audio Engineering Society (AES) as secretary. Lee officially took charge of the post shortly after the 125th AES Convention held in San Francisco. QSC also announced that Perry Celia has been named the company’s director of U.S. sales, Western region. Celia had previously worked at JBL as director of Eastern sales; Sound Marketing West as vice president

and principal and Alesis Corporation as director of Eastern sales. He will be based at QSC’s southern California headquarters.

Bob Lee

Perry Celia

SurgeX has merged its North American operations with Electronic Systems Protection, Inc. (ESP). SurgeX management will Michael McCook & Steve Cole join the ESP team and all product manufacturing will be consolidated into ESP’s facility in Zebulon, N.C. Michael McCook, SurgeX senior principal, and Steve Cole, ESP president, made the announcement.

Crown Audio named Guillermo Sanchez business developer for Central and South America. Sanchez previously was chief sound designer and engineer for Corporacion Dynaco, and he is also the Guillermo Sanchez former owner and chief sound designer and engineer for Dynacoustic. He will report to Brian Divine, director of marketing for installed sound. Group One Ltd. named Matt Larson national sales manager for Pro Audio Products. In his new position, Larson will oversee the U.S. sales efforts of Group One’s roster of audio products, which include DiGiCo, MC2, and XTA. Larson’s previous experience includes roles as business and sales manager for the Midas and Klark Teknik lines. Harman Music Group named Jay Woolley marketing director for portable sound. He will oversee all marketing, promotional, and new product launch efforts for Jay Woolley dbx and BSS products sold in the portable sound channel, and will report to Reed Grothe, executive vice president of sales and marketing. LMG Systems Integration named Jeff Cameron as a sales engineer in the firm’s Orlando headquarters. Cameron, a 30 year veteran in the AV industry, will develop new business and provide ongoing support for existing clients.

Jeff Cameron

Ad info: www.plsn.com/rsc

Meyer Sound named Freddy Meyer to its European technical support team. Recently with Munichbased technical event supplier, Gerhofer GmbH, Meyer brings Freddy Meyer to the company experience in rigging, lighting, pyrotechnic and laser techniques and an understanding of Meyer Sound products, IT and digital networks. Meyer will be based at the company’s European technical services center in Montabaur, Germany.

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2/3/09 7:51:07 PM

New Gear

Winter NAMM 2009: “Your Papers, Please…” By BillEvans & MarkAmundson

Y

ou know those old WWII movies where the hero is trying to make an escape from behind enemy lines, and some SS-type guys would always get on the train and walk down the aisle asking every one, “Your papers, please?” And then everyone would start digging for their official documents to prove they were not enemies of the state while our brave hero tried to figure a way out of the mess? I couldn’t help but think about that every time I went in a door or up or down a staircase or escalator at the Anaheim Convention Center and was not able to pass without showing a photo ID… I mean, come on, what is this, the freakin’ airport? I have been in bars and brothels with less stringent security. But we made it in, and, like our intrepid hero, got the goods. While NAMM is undeniably a “guitar show,” there were a number of significant pro audio anThe Phonic PAA6 handheld measurement device nouncements. As is our wont, we will organize this in signal chain order. As always, remember that this is a teaser. Just a few tidbits of info and then we’ll start road testing this stuff as soon as we can get our grimy little paws on it. Mics OK, it’s official — pretty much everyone now makes a USB mic which is never gonna be used on this end of the biz, so we won’t talk about it. The big stuff was packaging and a few wireless things On the affordable entry level, Line 6 showed their new wireless digital mic that, like the guitar stuff, operates in the 900mHz area, and I can personally testify to the lack of interference there. (I played a gig just before the show and we used 14 channels of wireless. All the mics and monitors were in the pro 500+ MHz while the guitars used the Line 6 stuff. We took constant RF hits all night on the mics and IEMs and not a single bit of even static on the guitars.) Still only five channels, but they tell me that is changing fast. At the other end of the digital tip AKG intro’d the DMS digital wireless which is tunable across a 155 MHz band and has things like infrared setup links between the transmitter and receiver, the ability to run up to 100 channels at once, built-in dbx compression and a three-band EQ. It costs about four times The Drum FullKit from Earthworks includes the company’s High Definition Microphones for the entire drum set. what the Line 6 runs. The other news of note was about drum mic kits. On the “I don’t care what it costs” end is the full kit from Earthworks, which I’m sure sounds stunning, and actually costs less than I expected: $12K MSRP, $9,595 MAP. They also had a very cool choir mic on a stick that could adjust height and angle easily to use for anything from acoustic guitar to bassoon. Meanwhile, Bob Heil, who one person described as a human ping-pong ball in orange high-tops, had a drum mic kit and he actually—get this—consulted with drummers as he designed it. Some very ingenious mount stuff, it’s affordable and it’s red. Really looking forward to playing with these. Also, it is unconfirmed but there is a rumor that EV will be releasing a low-cost version of the RE-20. Stay tuned. Speaking of colorful…Beyer announced a slew of custom options for its M88 vocal mic. Can I get one in titanium, please? Consoles Presonus is shipping its StudioLive digital mixer. Small on inputs but big on features, this one is expressly designed to be equally at home in a small studio or on a small stage. And you can cascade two of them together for 32 inputs at a price that makes such an idea more than just wishful thinking. Allen & Heath added two new members to the iLive T-series. These two new models, the T80 and T112, provide 32 and 48 mic input sections, respectively. The smallest iLive T80 system retails for about $15,000 and has plenty of assignable goodies on the desk like equalizers, effects, and dynamic processing assignable to input channels as auxes, groups and masters. A beautiful digital interface for the analog-friendly/digital-shy console operator, and you can hide Allen & Heath added the T80 and T112 to the iLive T-series. These two new models provide 32 and 48 mic input secthe manual and still come up to tions, respectively. Shown here, the T112. speed on these consoles quickly. Processing Outside of drive processing, which is increasingly becoming just a part of the power amp, the biggest, coolest piece of hardware was the TC Electronic VoiceLive 2. Remember when you could actually mold the sound of the vocal from FOH with the judicious use of EQ, compression and effects? Well, vocalists have decided that they want to be like guitar players and make those decisions their own bad selves. If they have to do it, thank whatever you hold as holy that it is a TC unit. That means 12

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it’s quiet, sounds good and the effects are lush and beautiful. So even if some bonehead singer kicks in a totally inappropriate vocal effect that you can’t control, at least the sound quality will be really really good. Still in processing but no longer hardware, the whole world of plug-ins continues to increase in importance in the live audio world. Seeing this trend, Waves has gone beyond just putting together a package of plug-ins for live use and has actually created an entire division devoted just to live music. And they are working closely enough with Digidesign that if you rent a VENUE system and have the Waves plug-ins, you won’t have to worry about whether they are installed on the rental console. Using iLok and a Waves enabler will turn on the plug-ins you have bought and come pre-installed in the VENUE. Sweet. Amps It is all about more power and less weight. At Peavey, the IPR amplifiers come in four power The Peavey IPR 6000 DSP weighs only six pounds. output ranges, and a choice of DSP preamps or not. These amplifiers are awesome in that the basic IPR 1600 weighs only 6 pounds in two rackspaces, and the rest of the models weigh not much more. This pays huge dividends, as the chassis is all aluminum, and the insides looks like a box of aluminum heatsink fins atop a circuit board. The switcher power supply a la the Pro200 series is married to a pair of Class D amplifier sections. And the same great Crest/Peavey design engineer, J.D. Bennet is the mastermind behind these amplifiers, which reassure any doubters. Starting at the top, the IPR 6000 puts out 2000 watts per channel at 4 ohms and 3000 watts at 2 ohms, all with a MSRP of $799.99. If that does not motivate you, the IPR DSP 6000 costs $1,099.99 and includes full speaker processor sections like delay, parametric eq, crossovers, and security lockouts. The three other basic models are the IPR 4500 (1500w/ch @4-ohms), IPR 3000 (1000w/ch @4-ohms) and IPR 1600 (530w/ch @4-ohms). The basic IPR 1600 has a non DSP MSRP of $499.99 for bargain hunters. These amps will ship in volume in a couple months. EV intro’d the Q series which match up nicely with their Tour X speakers. Class-H in a 2U design, the amp family features additional switchable LowPass Notch (LPN) filters, providing extra fundament and The Electro-Voice Q Series, including kick as well as protective low-cut when driving comthe Q44, Q66, Q99 and Q1212. pact 12” or 15” full-range speaker cabinets without subwoofers. Four models ranging from 450 watts a side up to 1200. Over in Harman-land, Crown Audio brought forth the XTi-6000 power amplifier with a nice 2100 watts per channel at 4-ohms. This should provide nice sub-woofer drive for those anklebiter/ local soundcos with cost sensitivity (MAP $1,999). For the big soundcos, the I-Tech line gets a serious makeover called the I-Tech HD with the BSS Omni-Drive digital signal processing becoming the new preamp firmware. The I-Tech HD line has three models, with the I-T5000 HD supplying 2500 watts per channel at 4 ohms. The I-T9000 HD supplies 3500 watts per channel at 4-ohms, and the I-T12000 HD knocks out 4500 watts per channel at 4 ohms. Speakers I thought the entire world had switched over to personal monitors, but judging by the number of new wedges, I must be wrong. QSC had a new concert-level beast and EAW intro’d the 15-inch version of its version of the Rat wedge. (Side note: we took an old Radian micro wedge on of the new EAW versions and the Radian replacement and put them side by side with the same processing and One of QSC’s amps. Interesting. Details to follow soon.) CSM Series Speaking of speakers, it’s not gonna be monitors part of your PA, but we have to acknowledge the coolness of the cabinets for the new TC Rebel 450 Bass amp. Loaded with either one normal and one co-axial Eminence driver in 10” and 12’ flavors the cabinets look exactly the same from the front and can mix and match and stack in any combination. The only difference between the two is that the cabinet for the 12’ is deeper. Very nice, well-thought-out design. We like that. Once the signal is out of the box, you gotta be able to measure it. Phonic has made handheld measurement devices for a while now but the PAA6 ups the ante with every function you can imagine all accessed via a very cool LCD touch screen. Kind of like an iPod Touch just for audio guys. Sweet. Back to wedge world for a moment, who else but Radial could come up with the H-Amp box that taps into full-range wedge cabling (+/-1 contacts on NL4 interconnects) and provides a single headphone/personal monitor mix with level and tone controls for high-frequency smoothing? Wedges and PMs on the same stage? No problem. Before we leave the land of speakers, Yorkville unexpectedly introduced a whole new brand of sound reinforcement gear called the VTC series. Not only are there nice line arrays, but a whole complement of coaxial stage monitors, compact power amplifiers, DSP speaker processors, subwoofers and rigging and aiming software. The high points are the Tom Danley designed EL210 line array cabinets with a pair of 10-inch low/mid drivers with another pair of compression drivers to round out the bandpass.

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2/4/09 3:19:00 PM


The Inauguration of President Barack Obama

By KevinM.Mitchell

and the security concerns. The weather had MSI dealing with a string of days in single digit temperatures, but they came prepared for that. “This year we did introduce a number of new signal transmission technologies to the main ceremony, as well as some of the other larger outdoor events,” he says. “This was not as much a concern as it was another design and integration challenge, but that really just makes it more interesting. Our confidence in our work and our equipment was always high.” On a personal level he adds: “Aside from the obvious and dramatic historic significance of this Inauguration, the sheer size of the audience both in person and live around the world is something that will set this event apart, and may not be replicated in our lifetimes. It is a privilege to be so closely associated with something like that, and to have done so as well as we did.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF HARMAN INTERNATIONAL

Talks with MSI on handling the swearing in ceremony were ongoing throughout the year, but the contract wasn’t finalized until the end of November, says Robert Goldstein, president of Maryland Sound International (MSI). The physical install started Jan. 2. “After the election it became clear that this was going to be an event of historic proportions,” Goldstein says. “We developed a series of plans to cover various venues and areas of the city where we were fairly sure there would be a need for audio support. There were at least a dozen site visits.” They worked closely with sound designer Pat Baltzel and the Capitol staff, both who are veterans of such events. “This gave us the opportunity to make evolutionary improvements to the system, rather than having to re-invent the wheel.” The biggest challenges were more logistical than technical, especially considering the number of people attending

PHOTO COURTESY OF SENN HEISER

Showtime

PHOTO COURTESY OF HARMAN INTERNATIONAL

Swearing In Ceremony

Venue

Capitol Steps, Washington, D.C.

Crew

FOH: Art Isaacs System Engineer: Brian Bednar Show Crew: Billy Martin, Chris Leonard, Eric Freidlander, Travis White, Suzy Mucciarone, Ben Hoffman, and Andrew Morton.

Gear

FOH Console: 2 Yamaha PM5D-RH Processing: DLP Speakers: JBL 4889 Vertec, JBL VP7315DP Amps: Crown I-Tech Podium Mics: Schoeps CMC6-MK40 Intercom: Production Intercom AD-Cat5

Soundco MSI


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2/4/09 3:26:46 PM

Lincoln Memorial Concert Clair was responsible for 2.2 miles of sound reinforcement, from the Lincoln Memorial down to the end of the reflecting pools. “The clusters were designed to cover the first 100 feet, just short of the first delay tower,” Clair’s Mike Wolf says. “Southside of the reflecting pool, there’s a skinny strip where we had four towers equally spaced.”

Venue

Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C.

Crew

Supervisor / Sales Exec: Ralph Mastrangelo Crew Chief: Robert “Koz” Kosloskie All Systems Engineer: Brad Ervin FOH Mixer: Andrew “Fletch” Fletcher Sound Designer: Patrick Baltzell SE / Lead: Brad Ervin SE: Rob Rankin Monitor Mixers: Mike Pirich, Robert Bull Monitor Techs: Shawn Bivens, Jason Bennett RF systems engineer: Kevin Kapler

Gear

Mains: 16 Clair i3 enclosures Secondary Mains: 28 Clair i5 enclosures

The first load in was eight days before the event. “There were different events, but this was the largest one. And the weather was so cold we left the gear on overnight to stay warm. I never saw that many people before, and it was a very memorable event. You work hard, have long hours, and it’s a great feeling when it goes well. It’s just great.”

Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool delays: 8 towers, each with 8 Clair i5 enclosures Washington Monument/WWII Memorial delays: 6 towers, each with 8 Clair i3 enclosures National Mall delays: 12 towers, each with 4 Clair i5 enclosures All powered by Crown amp racks and Clair stack racks w/Lab. gruppen amps Clair Digital iO drive and wireless tablet control MON 1 1 24 10 4 16 6 16

Yamaha PM-1D, Digidesign Profile Clair SRM enclosures (wedges) Clair R-4 enclosures (sidefills) Clair ML-18 enclosures ( drum subs) channels Sennheiser G-2 RF PM systems Shure PSM-600 Hardwire PM systems Shure UR-4D RF mic systems with various transmitters (SM-9 and SM-58 capsules)

Soundco Clair Global

JEFF PETERSON

Neighborhood Ball

Venue

Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C.

Crew

Gear JBL Vertec 4888s JBL Vertec 4889s JBL Vertec 4880As subwoofers 3 Yamaha PM1- Ds (FOH and both Monitor Stations) 16 Shure UHFs Shure PSM 700 PM systems Sennheiser g2 PM systems

Soundco ATK Audiotek


FOH Mixer: Mikael Stewart Stage One Monitor Engineer: Tom Pesa Stage One Monitor Tech: Paul Wittman Stage Two Monitor Engineer: Andres Arango Stage Two Monitor Tech: Billy McKarge

JEFF PETERSON

For the “People’s Ball,” a.k.a. the Neighborhood Ball, ATK Audiotek provided the sound. The only ball open to the public, it had unique challenges, says ATK’s GM Brett Valasek. “We didn’t have much time because we had to send trucks before we even knew what bands would be there,” he explains. “But we did a good job at guessing at what we would need.” Inside the convention, two stage systems were set up, one south facing and another east facing, with the FOH area set up where those lines intersect. Each stage had it’s own monitor engineers. “With all the events going on, frequency coordination was important. There was an overall frequencies coordinator and everything had to go through. And we had a lot of speakers for front fill as we were dealing with a podium where speeches were made plus the music.” Valasek says it all went well and were especially appreciative of the work Kish Rigging did, as “nothing would happen without the riggers.”

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2/4/09 3:27:55 PM

FOH Interview

Twenty-Five Years In the Trenches Together

Big Mick Hughes and Paul Owen have been working together for so long that they practically finish each other’s sentences. But that’s all about to change…

W

hen I walked into the arena in Ontario, Calif. to hook up with the team of Big Mick Hughes and Paul Owen (both of whom have been working with Metallica longer than some of the younger crew members have even been alive). The first thing I did was let loose a stream of profanities. The new configuration of the sub-bass array that I had come out to see was not hung. More on that later. This would prove to be probably the last time I would have the pleasure of sitting with Big Mick and Paul at the same time as—after more than two decades with the band—Paul had decided to “get off the road.” The process was more difficult than anyone had figured and he ended up out for almost two months more than he had planned. At the time of this interview in late November no replacement had been named, although a couple had given it a shot and told Paul that he was basically nuts and that he was doing a two-person job by himself. Evidently they were right, as just prior to presstime, the team of Bruce Cowan (Springsteen, Megadeth, etc.) and Jonathon Winkler, who has been Paul’s assistant for several years took over monitor duties. We’ll give them some time to settle in before we bug ‘em. One final aside. I walked in during sound check and Big Mick and Paul sounded like two very proper British aristocrats discussing an engineering project. (Paul: “Big Mick?” Big Mick: “Yes? Paul: “I would say that we are just a bit over on the low end with that guitar. Big Mick: “I concur.”). But when we went to the bus to sit and talk, it was a little, well, looser. By the time I took out all of the instances of a certain word for which we get in trouble with some readers when we print, the word count on this story went down substantially. By the time you read this, we may have an audio file of the actual interview available online. We’ll keep you posted. The TM Array

FOH

Paul: Didn’t you have a stream of questions you said you wanted to fire at us? FOH: Well, there’s a few things I wanna do. First off, I want to talk to you a little bit about ... ending your time on the road. Paul: Ha ha. Right. If that’s ever gonna happen. [laughing] Big Mick: He’s tryin,’really hard. But before we do that, I need to talk to you guys about the whole TM array. I mean, I’ve been out twice, I haven’t been able to hear it, which sucks. Big Mick: And again you won’t. Paul: Because we have to have this sort 16

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of grid above it that actually pulls it up off of our mother grid. I mean, normally we trim the bottom of a NT array at, y’know, like 42 feet. Between 39 and 42 feet. Then you’ve got the mother grid on top of that, and then you’ve the distance of the motors and the spans set, and then you’ve got the chain to the roof. I mean, we need to have at least 65 to 75 feet clearance to the low steel before we even have a fighting chance. And you walk into one of these buildings and right underneath the scoreboard you’re sittin’ at 50 feet, and what are we gonna do? If it works the way you guys are telling me it works it’s a game changer. Paul: Well, exactly. Big Mick: Oh, absolutely. Paul: And that’s why Mick and myself have, without flying our own flag, have challenged this concept of in the round for over 18 years, now. Big Mick: And we’ve tried everything. We’ve had everything. Paul: And, I mean, I’ve literally tried everything to make it right, y’know, and it’s never really been right. So, this was the first time we actually got it right, but the problem you’ve got is the venues are dictating how we do it. That’s the only thing. But y’know ...you can get away with 60 percent of the gigs and having them spectacular ... Big Mick: And bearing in mind that this array was kind of, at the start, was really frowned upon because of all the problems that it did bring with the weight, and the positioning, and the buildings, and the... Well, I remember we talked about it at the very beginning, you didn’t think you were gonna use it over here. Big Mick: Well, I didn’t think we could. We did it in London and, uh, Berlin ...and we didn’t know if it was gonna roar. We didn’t really have a plan B [laughter] but ... Paul: I hope this works. ‘Cause if it don’t work, we ain’t got no other plan. [laughter] Know what I mean? Everything’s up there. It’s all sitting above the drummer’s head. Big Mick: I didn’t think we were gonna do it in America. I’d already written it off. We just proved the physics of it all in London and Berlin. That was more what I wanted to do, we’d proved that this could work. We’d talked about it so much and it made perfect sense physics-wise, let’s do it, y’know? Okay, well explain it to me. Big Mick: Well, to start off with, the columns are turned inwards to put the

drivers as close together as possible, so as you don’t get any interference. Paul: Got a pen on you Bill? F***in’ writer, you’ve got to have a pen. [laughter] [Paul starts drawing on a napkin] Paul: If you look at the stage like this, Bill, right, and we’re putting the subs in the outside corners, right? So when you look, you see this effect, okay? (Pointing out various null and lobe areas) So you’ll see all these nulls, right. When you bring all these into the center, here, like that, and they’re all in a square, it’s actually a perfect distribution. It just goes out ... it just looks like a target. Big Mick: It’s one color on the MAPP. Paul: So when you see the column in the vertical then, it’s just the straight beam coming straight out Big Mick: Straight parallel beam ... Paul: ... so then what we do by delaying these sections, we steer that beam down to where we want it to be. Big Mick: Because otherwise it crushes round the center of the arena in a parallel beam, but anybody on the floor, where I am, has no low end. Paul: But changin’ how most people are doin’ it in the round, even how Celine Dion’s doin’ it right now, the low end is all stacked ‘round the stage here, so it’s like building a bonfire in the middle of the stage, everybody gets burnt close to it, and they’re all huddled together up the top, y’know what I mean? This gives you complete distribution. Big Mick: Like a big aerial. But the problem is, like all aerials it’ll propagate perfectly straight ... and the longer the array the more controlled that becomes. And 10 deep is a perfectly parallel beam, which is why we have to delay the lower portions to steer it down. Paul: So the way we’re going to do stadiums, if we do this, to keep this concept to a certain degree we’re just gonna do one complete column down the side. No other subs. Big Mick: One big column. Whose idea was this? Big Mick: It’s not an idea, it’s physics. But the TM array is Thormas Mundorf. Thomas Mundorf is the guy, works for Meyer on the European technical support. We talked about it for ages that we wanted better sub bass in the round. We toyed with putting them all under the stage, but of course that’s just stupid, because when you actually do the numbers on all these subs together, it’s like a 150-160 dB and you want me to ... Paul: And you can’t get a sub that’s gonna go and turn up 90 degrees and go up there, it’s not gonna happen. Not without killin’ everybody on the floor.

By BillEvans Big Mick: And not only that, people standing on the barricade would be crushed, Paul would never get the vocals above the rumble, and the stage would be moving. So, I went, where else can we go than? Oh, above the band. Thomas Mundorf went, well why don’t we go directly over the drummer and we’ll do this, and then Thomas came up with the four columns and did the MAPP projections on it, and we went, fine. And it’s pretty amazing when you think that we don’t have any subs anywhere else As soon as you start introducing different path lengths to subs, you’re closer to one than the other, you’re in a variable lobe then, it’s either canceling or it’s adding. Depending where the waveforms are, at whatever frequency, and where you are. If you’ve got one speaker, then I’ll say ... Yeah, but, there’s not a speaker that big. Big Mick: But this is the next best thing to having one big f**k-off bass speaker. And it projects in a circle. It’s perfectly omnidirectional. “Replacing” Paul

FOH

(Note: I wouldn’t try to do Paul’s job on a bet. While the entire band is on personal monitors, there is also a pile of wedges onstage so the band can “feel” as well as hear. With three singers and eight vocal mics with any person on any mic at any given time plus the need to “follow” three very active players around the stage with their mix… It’s pretty much impossible…—ed.) Okay, so now this brings up a whole ‘nother thing. How do you do your job? Paul: What? Do what? Big Mick: I’ll sit back. Paul: Well, after doing these guys for 23 years now, and building and building cues, and formatting a board to where eight vocals are everybody’s vocal, and each mix changes when they go to it in an instant. One of the first concepts I’ve always done is, can I do Metallica on a digital console? And everyone goes, well, it’d be so easy, well, it’s not, because by the time I’ve actually found the scene, it’s over with. And they can be standing in between two vocals and just go master, and I can just grab it, when it’s lying in front of me. When I’ve got to look for it, I’ve gotta do an extra thing. By the time I’ve looked for it, I’ve already been flipped off, y’know? So, I have to follow the three of them around on eight vocals plus drop all the cues in. And I’ve been building all these cues of 60, 70odd songs that they throw in every night and change the set list to where it’s second sight for me now. I just don’t even look at the console. Me fingers on the fader, I just lift and pull it out. I know it’s coming.

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I play the songs with the band. And it’s only been apparent to me, trying to get somebody to come and do it over the last coupla months of how much I actually do. Right, because you just do it every day. Paul: I brought somebody else in to do, y’know, they were like a deer in the headlights. They were just totally, totally lost after watching it for years and years and years and thinking on the outside it looks very simple, ‘cause I make it look simple, but when you’re actually sitting there operating, they’re completely, utterly lost. So, one person’s already quit. I’m not sayin’ any names. Um, so what I’ve done now, I’ve realized that it’s far too much for one person to absorb in one sitting. You’ve got to do it in stages. So what I’ve done now, I’ve broken the vocals up to where my assistant sits there and just does the backing vocals.

The TM Array: Four columns of 10 Meyer NT subs.

“It’s like one big f***off bass speaker.” —Big Mick Hughes

Okay, so in other words, now you can bring somebody in and teach him to do what you do while Jonathon handles the backing vocals. Paul: Yes. He’s not doing all of it. Cause they can’t think of doing it all. They can’t follow the bass ‘round, they can’t follow Lars, follow the vocal and do the backing vocals. They’re screwed. And the band notice it straight away: what’s goin’ on? It’s actually the the point as well to where there’s drop-ins, we actually give ‘em the time to start things where there’s ::ts ts ts:: This is where it starts, this is where I come in, because they’ve always got their backs to the drummer, as it is, in any configuration, they go off that, and they just want the high hat say for two beats ::ts ts:: but if you’re late coming in on that and you open up the high hat late and he gives the first beat, it’s gonna start on the second one that ain’t comin,’it’s already gone. Big Mick: So you could actually create a problem—timing problems for the band. You could never do it on digital. Paul: Hey, there’s probably some wiz kid out there who thinks I’m just some 50-year-old fool who shouldn’t be on the road mixing monitors on an analog console. But he’s quite willing to step up and do it. Maybe crash and burn, but he could probably work out a way of doin’ it eventually. Not saying it can’t be done. Big Mick: The only way, the only way you could do it,right, would be an automatic matrixer where you would have something that realized what person was standing on what position on the stage and followed them around automatically with their own mix. Which means they’d have to wear a like a GPS thing or something. And then you’d have to output the console in person, and then it’d have to be matrixed, that mix would have to go wherever they’re standing. That ain’t gonna happen. Big Mick: You could do it. But what I’m saying is, Paul does all that. Paul: And you’ve got drop-in of guitars for solos and different things that happen sporadically. You couldn’t do that with any sensors, that’s something you’ve gotta do. You have to know the catalog of songs. Big Mick: Well that’s the other thing. Kids These Days…

FOH Ad info:http:// foh.hotims.com

And at the risk of sounding like an old fart... Big Mick: Kids. [laughter] Well, you’ve got these kids coming out of school who think they know everything. Big Mick: Oh, they, they come here, they go it’s a four piece heavy-metal band. continued on page 28

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Installations

photography by kevin hill

Las Vegas International Church Brings a Roadie’s Ethic To the Pulpit

The LVIC’s main room has a somewhat awkward aspect ratio, measuring 80 feet deep and 240 feet wide.

By DavidJohnFarinella

J

ames Elizondo has been a member and staffer at the Las Vegas International Church for eight years now. Over the years, he has seen four different PAs go up, including the recently completed move from D.A.S. Aero 48s to a hang that includes D.A.S. Aero 28as, Variant 25as and ST 215 subs. The latest system is quite an upgrade from the first PA he found when originally attending services. “It was homemade from a guy in Reno,” Elizondo starts. “He specialized in car audio and he made something like I’ve never seen before, it was the most gigantic looking contraption of a speaker you’ve ever seen.” The cabinets had four 15s (two at the top, two at the bottom) with a trapezoidal

at the LVIC, came in 2003 when an EAW KF850 rig was flown and then a couple of years later the Aero 48s went up. Each of those PAs, Elizondo reports, was selected purely for cost considerations. “We never sat down and said, ‘Okay, this is the box that this room needs. Let’s use a speaker protocol to tell us how and where to hang it, so we can get right coverage and consistent SPL from front to back.’” That changed in 2008 when the walls around the church’s sanctuary were brought in 28 feet and the Aero 48 line array would not work in the space. “The 48s were way too big and they weren’t quite agile enough to cover the space,” he explains. “We were really looking for something that would cover from the edge of the stage through

“It was literally a car stereo. He built something that didn’t sound good by any means, but it made enough noise across the whole church where everybody could hear.” —James Elizondo, LVIC staffer design in the middle that included nine 7-inch speakers and six bullet tweeters. Each box was wired to a passive crossover and came out of one ¼-inch jack in the back of the speaker. To carry the bottom end, the guy built eight 8-foot boxes with four 15-inch subwoofers. The entire PA was powered off a pair of two Crown Macrotech 5000 amps. “Literally a car stereo”

FOH

“It was literally a car stereo,” he adds with a laugh. “He built something that didn’t sound good by any means, but it made enough noise across the whole church where everybody could hear.” The next stop, on the PA side of things 18

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FEBRUARY 2009

the seating and it needed to stay seamless. Also, because of sight lines and aesthetics, I couldn’t have any speakers on the ground.” The Aero 28s were selected for a number of reasons, including maneuverability and 120-degree dispersion. “Our room is 80 feet deep, but 240 feet wide, so the aspect ratio of the room is awkward,” Elizondo explains. “It’s a shallow but wide room and that dispersion helps us pick up the width that we needed in the room.” The previous installation of Aero 48s was a LCR hang, but this time the team went with five different hangs. On the extreme outside, four D.A.S. ST215 subs were hung per side. Just inside of those hangs are two hangs of eight Aero 28a cabinets and then a

James Elizondo, member and staffer at the Las Vegas International Church, chose gear to fit the space of the church’s main room.

center hang of six Variant 25a boxes. D.A.S. Aero-ware protocol was used while hanging the speakers and then Elizondo turned to Smaart Live to set the delay times and do whatever EQ correction was necessary for the room. A Shift to Powered Speakers

FOH

One of the advantages of hanging so many PAs over the years was the fact that the troughs for the cable run were already installed. That said, all of the NL4 and NL8 cable was replaced with XLR and AC power because the 28s are powered speakers. In addition to the new boxes, Elizondo upgraded the speaker controllers to XTA LMSD6s. “I didn’t use the XTA controllers for any crossover; it being a powered PA, the amp module in the boxes have all the crossover built into them. But I used the processor for the sake of delay times, EQ correction and limiting.” Other upgrades included the addition of Shure UHF-R series with KSM9 capsules to replace the Shure UA and ULX inventory, the change to Crown XTI amps to power new Radian Microwedges for pulpit monitors, an installation of the JLH AxeTrack for all electric guitars and the move from wedges for band monitoring to personal monitors. Elizondo selected the XTI amps for the DSP to control the crossover, limiter and EQ in the monitors, and he can check the amps from

An EAW KF850 rig, flown in 2003 and augmented a few years later with Aero 48s, were chosen on the basis of price alone. The 2008 installation took the dimensions of the room into consideration.

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Installations front of house on his laptop via Harmon’s HiQnet. The AxeTrack was added to reduce stage volume, as were the personal monitors. “Not here for a concert”

FOH

While Elizondo considers the personal monitors “an upgrade,” he admits that others might consider it “a downgrade,” laughing. “But we had a lot of problems with stage volume, which is always a huge battle in a church. We don’t want to run super high SPL to try to stay over the stage — people aren’t coming here for a concert. So, everyone on stage, except the pastor, is on personal monitors. To me that was a big plus. Some of the musicians may disagree with me, but it cut my stage volume by a significant enough amount to where I don’t worry about it anymore.”

The new system has pleased the entire team of church staffers, from the team that handles the facility’s aesthetics — because the Aero 28 is less obtrusive than the previous line array — to the folks who work in the bookstore. “I felt so bad for the people who work in the bookstore,” Elizondo says. “Somehow they became known as the complaint department and before we did the install they would hear whenever people felt it was to loud or they couldn’t hear the pastor. They wouldn’t know what to say, but now we’ve got great intelligibility and good coverage.” So, what are bookstore staffers doing now? Elizondo laughs. “Hopefully selling more books.”

The new gear is a step up from the original sound system, built by a guy who specialized in car audio.

In addition to the new boxes, Elizondo upgraded the speaker controllers to XTA LMS-D6s.


Low Rider Wedges: The Radian wedges were a little tall so Elizondo had them inset into the floor.

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FEBRUARY 2009

www.fohonline.com


Production Profile

The crew checks the levels before the show at Salt Lake City’s EnergySolutions Arena.

FOH engineer Daniel Green, left, with Wigwam system designer Tony Smith.

Cold Town, Coldplay, Burnin’ Sound Eighth Day and Wigwam team up to bring the Brit art-rockers to the States

A

hhhh. Salt Lake in late November. Just cold enough to be miserable but without all that crisp white snow to create a beautiful scene to distract you from the fact that you are freezing your ass off. I’m not a Coldplay fan (are there any young bands out there who actually write HOOKS anymore?) but there was something going one here that made it worth the eight-hour drive—besides the fact they are my daughter’s favorite band and it was her birthday. Teaming Up

FOH

We all know that big changes are afoot in the live audio biz and the industry we see a year from now may look very different than the one we have become accustomed to over the past few years. There are only a few companies that can really support a big tour, but at the same time more and more acts are touring with minimal production and renting things like racks and stacks at each tour stop. Good news for local and regional companies but it does mean adjusting our thinking. Ohio-based Eighth Day Systems and U.K. up-and-comer Wigwam Acoustics made just such an adjustment and turned it into a very successful “co-venture” that sold out at nearly every stop on the tour.

On the surface, it may seem a marriage of convenience, as Wigwam has been the band’s choice in Europe for the last two tours (where Tour Tec was the North American supplier) and Eighth Day is one of the few big companies in the U.S, that can supply a big rig of their system of choice, the d&b J Series. But Eighth Day’s Owen Orzac says it goes a lot deeper than just a great-sounding PA box. “We worked with Wigwam before we even had d&b kit, they turned us onto it in fact. Chris Hill and his team there share a very similar philosophy to ours when it comes to customer service, and that is far more important than any piece of gear,” he said. That statement speaks volumes. Companies working together to do a gig bigger than either one can do solo is nothing new. But it presents its own set of challenges. Wigwam crew chief/system designer Tony Smith takes the pragmatic approach, saying “we are all there for the same reason and that’s Coldplay and their fans, to make the best sound possible, for our satisfaction and for the punter. I think the crew we have, has risen to that.” But there are basic issues of trust, both in the technical prowess of your partner and their business ethics—in other words, that they are not going to try to go in and take the entire gig as their own and freeze you out.

By BillEvans

Says Orzac, “Well, trust is the right word. That, plus good communication and attention to detail by both parties. It’s difficult to express, but the Wigwam guys just ‘get it.’” “It all filters down from the band, and they have surrounded themselves over the years with good people,” Smith adds. Changing with the Times

FOH

While many soundcos in the States are adjusting to changing realities that create new opportunities for some while leaving other wondering how to keep all those hundreds of boxes earning money, for Euro and U.K. based acts and companies touring in the U.S., it’s pretty much business as usual. “In Europe it’s cost effective to tour racks and stacks,” Smith notes. “I’ve done one stadium tour with V-DOSC when we carried no PA. We picked up in each city and it worked well. I have never carried PA across the pond. With d&b or L-acoustic, the speakers and amps are all the same, the difference comes with the system tech/designer, that’s where you get the continuity and the difference between a good and a great system. And you get a great wealth of experience working with other techs from other countries.” Ask just about any sound guy out there and they will tell you that the d&b rig is one of the best out there. But not a lot of compa-

Coldplay 2008 North American Tour CREW

Eighth Day Systems System techs: Steve Curtin, Carlos Sallaberry, Jim Allen, Bill Collyer. Wigwam Acoustics: RF Tech: Stephanie Thomson Monitor/Stage Tech: “Mystic” Nick Davis Crew Chief/FOH Tech/System Design: Tony Smith Band Engineers: Daniel Green (FOH), Chris Woods (MON)

GEAR

EIGHTH DAY SYSTEMS Speakers Primary Cluster Two speaker clusters, flown left and right, each containing: 12 d&b J8 speakers 4 d&b J12 speakers 1 d&b J-Frame w/ Delta Plate, laser and inclinometer 22

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Cardiod Bass Cluster Two speaker clusters, flown left and right, each containing: 6 d&b J-Series cardiod bass units 1 d&b J-Series fly frame Offstage Cluster #1 Two speaker clusters, flown left and right, each containing: 16 d&b J8 speakers 1 d&b J-Frame w/ delta plate, laser and inclinometer Offstage Cluster #2 Two speaker clusters, flown left and right, each containing: 16 d&b J8 speakers 1 d&b J-Frame w/ delta plate, laser and inclinometer Delay Cluster Two speaker clusters, flown left and right, each containing: 6 d&b J8 Speakers 1 d&b J-Frame w/ delta plate, laser and inclinometer

Frontfill/Infill 6 d&b Q10 speakers 2 d&b Q7 speakers Stacked Subwoofers 8 d&b B2 subwoofers FOH Drive: 4 Dolby Lake LP4D12 processors 1 Lake PC tablet 1 Lake/Cisco wireless router w/ hi-gain antennae package 1 Shure RF receiver w/ SM58 hand held transmitter

nies carry it in sufficient quantity for a show of this size. “The products that d&b audiotechnik make, along with the people and support, are top notch,” says Orzac. “I can’t really speak to the reasoning of other touring vendors—some people like vanilla ice cream, some chocolate... both are delicious.” Smith notes that Wigwam and Eighth Day saw something in the d&b rig early on. “I guess Wigwam & EDS heard a good system in the making in 2006 and invested heavily into it, and it’s paid off for them. It’s being spec’ed more and more, and I believe its the best system out at the moment.” So why don’t we see it more often? “Wigwam and EDS keep buying more,” says Smith. “So I guess its hard for other companies to be able to get anything off the d&b production line,” he joked. As good as the d&b rig sounds Orzac notes that it is only a part of the successful formula. “Point of fact, we offer V-Dosc as well, and that rig does really well for us, too. In the end, it is more about the service and meeting your clients’ needs rather than a particular type of kit. They are really just tools in a toolbox.” Orzac notes that flexibility in gear and approach is key. “To a small degree we do see that trend,” he said referring to the “no racks and stacks” model. “We’re fortunate at EDS in that we can scale well into different ‘levels’ of touring; from bus/trailer up to international stadiums. That flexibility isn’t by accident, either. We don’t make the rules in the touring industry, but we have to respond to them if we want to stay ahead of others in what is an extremely competitive market.”

Wedges 8 d&b M2 monitors 6 channels d&b M2 Amplification Drum Sub 1 d&b C7 sub w/ P1200 amplification

Analytic Tools 1 rack-mounted computer w/ Smaart and calibrated mic package, with keyboard, mouse, flat screen and d&b rope software

WIGWAM ACOUSTICS FOH Digidesign Venue with Digidesign AAA and Waves Live Plugins Pro Tool Rig with Glyph HD, 96 Channels Lexicon 960 Eventide H8000 TC2290

Support ACT System 1 Yamaha M7CL-48 digital FOH console 1 Yamaha M7CL-48 digital MON console

Monitors Digidesign Venue with Digidesign AAA Plugins 96 channels of Radial Passive spits with Jensen transformers

www.fohonline.com

2/4/09 3:52:52 PM


Buyers Guide

Mid-Market Digital Consoles By BillEvans

M

id-line live production digital audio consoles. Remember just a few years ago when such a thing just didn’t exist? You either had $100K+ to spend or you could get toy from an MI mfg and pretend. (Hey, I actually did GIGS with one of those. OK I did ONE gig. One.) As prices fell and consoles got smaller and more powerful, about a year ago we did one of our Buyers Guides and put in a price limit of, I think, $60K and set off a firestorm of protest from the folks who didn’t make anything for less than $60K. So this time around we have raised the limit a bit to be a bit more inclusive. Besides, the median price was going down until a few really pricey

desks hit the market and drove that midpoint up. No doubt you can a get digital console that will do everything but the dishes for a lot less than 80 large, but if you want to play with the big boys and have something that makes it onto touring riders you are probably looking at that $60$80K range. So consider this a compromise. If you have FU money you can get the $300K unit that is lusted after by many. If you are a smaller fish, you can likely get everything you really need in the $30K range. If you want to meet those riders? Check out the choices below. Yamaha M7CL on monitor duty

Company Allen & Heath www.ilive-digital.com

Model

MSRP

Size

Weight

iLive-144S/6432

$56,727

47.5” x 13.9” x 27.7”

106 lbs

iLive-T80/32

$16,998

30.2” x 11” x 25”

64lbs

Allen & Heath www.ilive-digital.com

Mic Inputs

Output Mixes

64

32 independent: analog line outputs = 8x per module. Digital outputs = 8x channel 4x stereo pairs

32 mic inputs each with dedicated fader and full DSP processor

32 with large stage rack, idr-32 system includes 16 output mixes

24 stereo buses + 2 solo bus + stereo master bus + 12x12 matrix = 66 bus outputs

Inpu chan

Inpu Out

iLive-T112/48

$21,999

42.6” x 11” x 25”

TBA

SD8

$49,995

53”W x 32”D 9.91”H

158 Ib

Up to 112 Mic inputs with virtual fader, 60 Mono or Stereo channels, 36 100mm touch faders

$74,995

D-Show Main & Sidecar 13.7” x 78.3” x 35.5”, FOH Rack 17.5” x 17” x 15.1” (10U) , Stage Rack 17.5” x 17” x 12.2” (10U)

D-Show Main and Sidecar 194 lbs, FOH Rack 74 lbs, Stage Rack 86 lbs

Up to 96 mic pres on stage, 30 additional inputs on local rack at mix position, patchable to 128 processing channels, with up to 56 physical input faders on the surface

$59,985

Profile 7.3” x 45.3” x 31.1”, FOH Rack 17.5” x 17” x 15.1” (10U), Stage Rack 17.5” x 17” x 12.2” (10U)

Profile 90 lbs, FOH Rack 74 lbs, Stage Rack 86 lbs

Up to 96 mic pres on stage, 30 additional inputs on local rack at mix position, patchable to 128 processing channels, with 24 physical input faders on the surface

D-Show Profile Mix Rack System

$39,995

Profile 7.3” x 45.3” x 31.1”, Mix Rack 19.25” x 19” x 18” (11U)

Profile 90 lbs, Mix Rack 116 lbs

48 mic pres plus 14 additional inputs all at local mixing position, patchable to 48 input processing channels and 16 stereo FX returns, controlled by 24 physical input faders on the surface.

27 buses plus 8 mono and 8 stereo matrixes, routable to 32 physical XLR outputs or 8 TRS line level outputs.

InnovSON www.innovason.com

Eclipse

$75k

46”x30”x9”

99lb

48 Faders + 12x4 Encoders

48 Mix buses

Mackie www.mackie.com

TT System 32

$12,999.99

47” L x 31” W x 16” H

75 lbs.

24 (32 Mic inputs total)

31 (3 Main Outputs (L/R and C/Mono), 8 Groups, 8 Matrix, 12 Aux)

Midas www.midasconsoles.com

Pro 6

$99,500

Control Centre 53.7” x 36.4”

Weight - 95Kg / 209.4lbs

56

32

PreSonus www.presonus.com

StudioLive 16.4.2

$1,999

22.35” (L) x 17.2” (W) x 6.9” (H)

23 lbs

16

11 (stereo main, 4 sub, 6 aux)

4-b bus; h

Roland Systems Group www.rssamerica.com

M-400

$8,995

29-1/2”Wx24-11/16”Dx9-1/16”H

43 lbs 11 oz

48

31

4-ban Sele

Soundcraft Si3

$39,950

66” wide, 32” deep

170lbs

32

35

Soundcraft Vi4

$69,950

57” wide x 28” deep

118lbs

24 (72 inputs)

35

Soundcraft Vi6

$79,950

69” wide x 28” deep

140lbs

32 (96 inputs total)

35

”PM5D, PM5DRH: 56 inputs, DSP5D

PM5D: $49,800, PM5D-RH $67,000; DSP5D $27,000

61.1” x 37.4” x 11.1”

PM5D: 216 lbs. PM5D-RH 214 lbs.

56 and 56 additional remote or with DSP5D expander

24 Mix, 8 Matrix, Stereo A, Stereo B Outputs

M7CL-48, M7CL32

$19K and $24,999 respectively

M7CL-32: 41.7” x 27.6” x 11.3”; M7CL-48: 50.2” x 27.6” x 11.3”

93 and 110 lbs. respectively

32, 48

16 mix buses, LCR bus, 8 matrix channels, and 8 DCAs assignable to 16 omni outputs

LS9-16: up to 32 inputs, LS9-32: up to 64 inputs

$5,999, $10,999 respectively

LS9-16: 18.9” x 19.7” x 8.7”; LS932: 34.8” x 19.7” x 8.7

26.5 and 43 lbs. respectively

LS9-16: ”16 onboard, 16 optionally remote; LS932: 32 onboard and 32 optionally remote

16 Mix, 8 Matrix, Stereo + Mono Outputs

DiGiCo www.digico.org

D-Show System

Digidesign www.digidesign.com

Soundcraft www.soundcraft.com

Soundcraft www.soundcraftdigital. com

Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. www.yamahaca.com

24

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D-Show Profile System

FEBRUARY 2009

27 buses plus 8 mono and 8 stereo matrixes, routable to 96 physical outputs on stage; additional 28 outputs on local rack at mix position

4 ba p

4 digita sepa In add are av

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4-Ba

4b

4b

4 ban

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4-ba 8-b

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Allan & Heath iLive 144S Soundcraft Vi6

John Cooper mixes the Boss on a VENUE D-SHOW EQ

Dynamics

Effects

Digital Control

Special

Input channel parametric eq. output channel parametric EQ and 1/3 octave graphic EQ

Input channel gate, compressor, limiter side chain, output compressor, limiter

8 simultaneous effects onboard, reverb, delay, chorus, flange and modulation effects

Midi control, PL remote integration for personal monitor mixing, 8 assignable soft keys, 8 mix modes

Ethersound Equipped, full digital snake with remote stage box, 64x32 system, digital split capable

Input channels 4 band parametric EQ Output channels 4 band parametric and 1/3 octave graphic

Input channels Gate, Compressor and Limiter/De-Esser. Output channels Compressor/Limiter/De-Esser

8 simultaneous effects onboard

Midi control, PL remote integration for personal monitor mixing, 8 assignable soft keys, 8 mix modes

All audio ACE buss CAT5, full digital snake w/ remote stage box, 64x32 system, digital split capable

4 band parametric plus low and high pass avialable on all channels

Compressor and Gate on every channel

: 6 Stereo FX processors+ 12 31 Band insertable graphic equalizers. Matrix, group, aux and master bus have the same processing as the channel

The user can define their I/O requirement with Mic/Line, Line output, AES I/O, Ether Sound, Aviom and MADI all catered for.. Digital snake supplied as standard

Copy to MADI function allowing instant record and playback of pre amp level of up to 56 tracks. Overview VGA output showing all I/O levels. All channels and busses can be mono or stereo.

4 band fully parametric EQ with digital or analog emulation modes plus separate HPF for every input channel. In addition a huge range of EQ plug-ins are avilable for use in up to 4 inserts on every channel.

Compressor / limiter and expander / gate, plus a range of dynamics plug-ins are avilable for use in up to 4 inserts per channel.

All effects types, hundreds of plug-ins are available designed by industry leaders. Rack slots provided for the use of up to 100 plug-ins simultaneously.

Digital I/O is configurable with up to 96 AES / ADAT inputs and outputs on stage, plus 10 local AES I/O at the FOH Rack.

Integrated TDM plug-in architecture. Direct connection to industry standard Pro Tools HD or LE for Virtual Soundcheck and archiving.

Fully digital system. All I/O is local. AD/DA ocnversion takes place at the Mix Rack. Digital I/O is configurable with up to 18 AES outputs.

o out-

All mic/line inputs include 4b P/EQ and all line outputs included 8b P/EQ as well as 31b G/EQ (all adjustable on faders)

All inputs and outputs include Comp/Gate/Limiter

11 onboard VB-Audio effects on each 8in x 8out / insert module. Up to 4 effects per I/O or insert for 32 engines.

Remote stage rack interface via the original MUXI pair digital snake and/ or Ethersound. 3rd party compatibility through MADI and Ethersound

64Trk on board recorder. 96 fader/encoder controls are function, qty and location assignable as I/P AUX, MATRIX, GRP, VCA, etc according to needs.

4-Band EQ on input channels. 6-Band and 31-Band Graphic EQ on output channels.

Compressor and gate on input channels. Compressor/limiter on output channels.

4 Mackie Effects Processors with switchable algorithms and tap tempo.

3 ADAT I/O, Word Clock I/O, and MIDI I/O

Mackie’s TT24, 32x32 DS3232 digital snake with remote mic pres, CAT-5 cable and U100 Network Card.

Treble EQ, 4 types.

4 compression styles available.

KT DN780

12 AES50 ports. 528 possible connections, which are configured as 264 inputs and 264 outputs

Using VCA assignment recall and POP groups ”brings the mix to the engineer”

4-band semiparametric EQ per ch & bus; hi/lo Q on mids; shelf/bandpass on hi and lo. HP filter.

Full-featured compressor, limiter, & gate on each ch and bus (including effects).

2 stereo FX processors on dedicated buses, variety of reverbs and delays.

S/PDIF stereo output.

ASIO FireWire interface (pre/post EQ & dynamics). Capture audio sftwr. Cascade 2+ mixers. Scenes.

4-band parametric. Lo-Mid & Hi-Mid Q. Selectable, adjustable Filter and large preset library.

Up to 24 Compressors and Gates. Fully adjustable with large preset library.

4 stereo FX ports, up to 12 GEQ, 8 Ext FX buses, 48 effects + 6 insert FX in library.

REAC control of RSS Stage Units, up to 90 inputs total. 0.1dB Gain + 48V + Pad.

100% digital system: Stage units, REAC snake, digital mixing. 40ch REAC SONAR recording.

4 band parametric with sweepable high pass and low pass filters

Gate and Compressor on every channel

4 Lexicon effects engines, assignable, with dedicated returns

Rotary encode and OLED screen at every channel, with Soundcraft FaderGlow

All connections and PSU in chassis for drop-in replacement of analogue desk

4 band parametric with sweepable high and low pass filters

Compressor and Gate on every channel

8 stereo Lexicon Effects engines, assignable. 30 band graphic EQ on every output

Vistonics II user interface with touchscreen and rotary controls embedded in TFT surface

Soundcraft FaderGlow, sophisticated snapshot filtering

4 band parametric EQ with sweepable high and low pass filters

Gate and Compressor on every channel

8 assignable stereo Lexicon effects with 30 band Graphic EQ on every output

Vistonics II user interface with touch screen and rotary controls embedded in TFT screens

Soundcraft FaderGlow, sophisticated snapshot filters and cue lists

tputs

4-band EQ, stereo and mix outs have 8-band EQ, matrix outs have 4-band EQ, 20 31-band GEQs

PM5D: +10 to -62dB PM5D-RH: +10 to -62dB

REV-X reverb,Compressor276, Compressor260 and EQ601, SPX2000

48 channel inputs, four stereo inputs, five 2 TR IN\’s plus four Mini-YGDAI slots

4 slots on PM5D and 2 on DSP5D digital networking via CobraNet and EtherSound.

nels, puts

Virtual effects, EQ rack: 4 effects and 4 graphic, up to 8 simultaneous 31-band graph.

+10 to -62dB

GEQ, Graph. effects, REV X, 8 signal proc., ambience, echo,modulation and distortion.

Centralogic: touch-panel display, with Yamaha Ch. SEL, no layers, one-function physical controls

Built in power supply, and optional external PW800W power supply

puts

4-band ea. ch., 31-graph.

+10 to -62dB

SPX range, ambiance, echo, modulation, distortion

Channel on/off, independent LEDs, Ch. Select interface

Features built-in USB Memory Recorder/Player that works with USB memory sticks plugged into USB port

o),

www.fohonline.com

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2/3/09 9:18:12 PM

Road Test

Proel HPD3000 Power Amplifier

By MarkAmundson

P

roel is on of those nice Italian pro-audio companies that creates nice electronics and speakers, but gets very little notice in North America. So when I received a HPD3000 power amplifier for review, I had to hold my skeptic hat in my hands until I could see this quad channel power amplifier in action. The Gear

RT

Coming in at two rackspaces, 24.3 pounds of weight and 16.2 inches of rack depth, the bar is set pretty high for me. The reason is, is that most legacy quad channel power amplifiers are traditionally very wimpy, and mostly used for install ceiling speakers and not for live sound gigging. Even with class D amplifiers and two switching power supplies. The Proel HPD3000 has power ratings for stereo 4 and 8-ohm loadings plus a bridged 8-ohm loading, for per channel operation. At 4-ohms, each channel of the HPD3000 offers 750 watts, with 370 watts at 8-ohm loading. When two channels are bridged, the 8-ohm rating is the obvious 1500 watts. Now 350 to 370 watts per 8-ohm speaker is not going to get the nod on concert wedge biamp duty, but it would be very nice in club rig monitor racks on four passive crossover wedges, or at least on biamp horn drive duty in the big system world. Certainly something I would have bought a few years ago, when all I could get in quad channel amps was a QSC CX400 with 400 watt/ch amps for 4-ohm loads. So the HPD3000 fits right in the middle of the current crop of quad channel amplifiers, and if only half the channels are required, there is a HPD1500 in a dual channel configuration in a lighter

The front panel has LEDs above the level controls to indicate signal present, limit and protect status for each amplifier channel.

The center of rear panel has the mains cordset and four pairs of XLR connectors for the amplifier channel inputs.

chassis available. Looking at the front panel, we have two cooling air inlets with a basic control panel in the middle in a metal gray over black finish. Besides the obvious power on/off switch, four level controls with detents and reasonable attenuation markings are provide per channel. Above each level control, three LEDs indicate signal present, limit, and protect status for each amplifier channel. Four more LEDs are used near the on/ off switch for the switcher supplies and bridged amplifier configuration status. On the rear panel, the white legends over black paint, looks sharp. Each side

of the rear panel has warm air exhaust vents with a trio of Neutrik NL4 Speakon jacks for the speaker connections per channel or bridged jacking. No binding posts are provided on the HPD3000, but that’s not much of a liability these days. The center of the rear panel has the mains cordset (120VAC, NEMA 5-15P), along with four pair of XLR connectors for the amplifier channel inputs. Each channel has combo (TRS/XLR-F) jack plus a through XLR-M jack for daisy chain input wiring. Eight switches adorn the center of the rear panel, with slider switches for Biamp/Flat selection where a 100Hz frequency split is provided for easy professional biamp tasking. Two more slider switches are for channel paired stereo/bridge/parallel modes of operation. Each pair of channels also gets a common ground lift push button switch and a 37dB/32dB gain selection push button switch for system matching. The Proel HPD3000 provides the above mentioned power ratings at a conservative 1kHz and less than 1 percent THD set of ratings. The (0/-1dB) frequency response is the normal 20Hz to 20 kHz rating, and normally provides less than 0.5 percent THD plus noise when not on the verge of clipping. Maximum power consumption is a big 4000 volt-amps (like 4000 watts), but in realworld 1/8 th power at 4-ohms per channel, it sips about 1020 volt-amps. So two HPD3000 amplifiers could easily share a 20 amp, 120VAC circuit with a bit of margin to spare. The Gigs

RT


In shop tests, the Proel HPD3000 was flawless in operation and nice and quiet from an audio standpoint. Gathering up a quad of passive wedges and hitting the gigging venues is nice, in that standard Speakon cabling could be used without problems, and a quad of

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XLR patches for monitor mixing is easy patch in on the amplifier. I noted the HPD3000 has extended side panel tabs which can make rear rack rail fastening an easy chore. I put the Proel HPD3000 through two gigging venues, one with a quad of passive wedges, and the other gig I used tour-grade biamp wedges (EV Xw12/Xw15) with the HPD3000 handling the horn-side of the biamp mixes. (For information, the biamp low frequency wedge mixes had a Lab-Gruppen FP6000Q) In both road tests, the HPD3000 worked very well; even under grueling club stage/rock band demands with passive wedges. I even paralleled up a fifth passive wedge on one channel and the amplifier took on the extra duty without showing any issues in clipping or headroom. In summary, the Proel HPD3000 is a wonderful quad channel amplifier for mid-power applications. The size, weight, and power ratings all combined for excellent compactness. Looking for niggles, there was nothing to report given the design aspects for this amplifier. Yeah, I could bitch about not having more power for touring biamp wedge mixes, but this is not the market for this model and plenty of stereo amplifiers are available for the task.

Proel HPD3000 Power Amplifier What It Is: Four-channel power amp. Who Its For: Anyone who needs a lot of power in a little space. How much: $1,800 MSRP. Pros: Good Cosmetics, Clean Sound, Versatile, Lightweight. Cons: None. Web site: www.proel.com

www.fohonline.com

2/4/09 4:48:26 PM

Road Test

Helpinstill Piano Sensor

The Gigs

RT

Once again, the gig is in a church. Now to paint the proper picture, my church is on the larger side. We average around 1,800 in attendance at every service. The sanctuary is a huge concrete box with an open beam ceiling, a corrugated metal roof, and 1/3 of the sanctuary double as a gym during the week for the private school at the church. To say the acoustics are less than desirable would be an understatement. I use all 48 of the inputs on my trusty MH3, one of those inputs being devoted to the piano. No, that’s not a misprint, ONE. When you see that my input list includes a full complement of drums, a pair of electric guitars, acoustic and bass guitars, percussion, two sets of keyboards, a horn section, a six-person vocal ensemble, and a choir, you may ask, how do you even hear a piano only using one input? My friends, let me tell you, it is by using a heaven-sent creation called a Helpinstill Piano Sensor. I am going to keep you on the edge of your seats and refrain from telling you more about what it is just yet. First I must preface with a small story. Several years back, we had an eight-foot Yamaha grand donated to

the church. Our pastor was so excited because he wanted one for years. At this point I was given the awesome (insert a little more sarcasm here) job of miking the thing. Let me tell you, we tried nearly everything, being budgetconscious of course. In the end we went for a pair of A-T 414’s with the piano lid closed to try to cut out as much noise as possible. The problem that we ran into was the piano sounded thin because it needed to be high passed so much to avoid “elephants.” And the other problem was that I couldn’t get that thing loud enough in the wedge for the piano player. I’d already tried C tape and a Barcus Berry sensor, so I wasn’t sure what to do. So I Googled (is that a word?) how to mic a piano. I read lame article after lame article, and on the third or fourth Google page I saw this Web site offering up a Helpinstill Piano Sensor. This warranted investigation. I read on and found that it is a truly simple magnetic pickup just like the one found on a guitar. They offer it in a standard model or a humbucker if you require the extra noise reduction. They only cost $550 or $850 respectively. The best part of the whole deal is that they actually tell you to buy the cheaper one first and try it. If it doesn’t meet your standards, send it back and they’ll exchange it for the humbucker for nothing more than the difference in price. And to top it all off, if you just don’t like the thing you can send it back within 90 days and they’ll give you your hard earned dough back. How rad is that? When you unwrap your new present you’ll find three pickups — one for the high register, one for the mid register, and one for the low register on the piano. Each has an 1/8-inch cable that connects to a proprietary passive DI with an attenuator for each pickup built in, so you can blend the three pickups together to balance the overall sound of the piano. The DI has a XLR output as well as a hi-Z output to connect to an amp if desired. You’ll also find three adjustable pedestals that the pickups mount on. This gives you the ability to raise and lower the pickups to further tweak the pickup to your individual need. Right out of the box it will take you less than 15 minutes to install and mere seconds to fall in love with. The unit really does perform well. Because it’s magnetic, the sensor only produces signal when a string moves, and it doesn’t pick up any ambient noise. You can have the lid of the piano open or closed and it makes no differ-

The Helpinstill Piano Sensor (yellow), includes three pickups, one for the high register, mid-register and low register. Photos by Kevin Hill

I

don’t know what it is with me and my knack for finding the coolest and most obscure devices that actually work. Yes, I am flattering myself a little too much, seeing that this device has been around since the 1970s. The old timers (I’m not saying this as a jab but out of sincere respect for the wealth of knowledge that can only come with being old) are probably saying, “Silly youngster, I’ve been using one of those for years.” But I am also sure that some of the younger generation like myself is completely oblivious to the existence of the Helpinstill Piano Sensor. It’s a shame that some of us have never heard of one, considering that it has been used by the likes of Sir Elton John, Ronnie Milsap, Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, and a host of other touring piano acts. Don’t believe me; just take a gander at the user list on their Web site, www. helpinstill.com. It’s vast! Okay, before I dig myself into a deeper hole with the older crowd, let’s get into it. Let me start by asking this question. Has anyone else had an awesome (insert sarcasm here) time attempting to mic a live piano in a band? I have had the aforementioned awesome time more times than I’d care to admit.

By JamesElizondo

The pickup pedestals can be tweaked to reduce the almost painful amount of attack generated by hard-playing performers.

ence. I can send the piano through the subs to make it sound nice and beefy, and I have no feedback problems at all. I’ve actually had a Helpinstill for about two years and have been nothing but happy with it overall. The only point of contention that I’ve had with it personally is that if you have a player that

plays really hard, you will notice that it has an almost painful amount of attack. But a few simple corrections on the lone EQ strip fix that problem. On a completely irrelevant note, our piano tuner always gripes that it’s in his way when he tunes. But who really cares about that?

Helpinstill Piano Sensor

www.fohonline.com


What It Is: Magnetic pickup for acoustic piano Who It’s For: Anyone who needs to amplify an acoustic piano Pros: The purchasing process is great, the product is easy to use, there’s no feedback, it only takes up one channel, and it’s very cost-effective. Cons: It can be a little harsh with a heavy-handed player if you don’t adjust it for that performer, and it’s inconvenient if you’re a piano tuner. How Much: $550 to $850.

2009 FEBRUARY

27

Sound Sanctuary By jamieRio

Open, Close, Open I

n previous issues of FOH, we’ve looked at compressors. Now it’s time to consider some of the other outboard gear you have, or should be using, in your house of worship. For this month’s column, let’s take a look at “noise gates.” Noise gates do what they sound like they should do — they open and close. But instead of letting people in and out, they let noise in and out. The reason I am following up with a previous column on compressors with this one on gates (the common short term) is that many manufacturers incorporate them in their compressor/limiter units. Noise gate processors all incorporate "threshold, attack and release" components similar to those found in a compressor. Threshold, Attack, Release

SS

To review, the threshold is defined as the point were gating begins. This point is usually adjustable and determined by decibel level. In the case of a noise gate, when the decibel level drops below the preset threshold, the gate kicks in. Generally, turning your threshold to the right will raise the threshold level, processing more audio signal, and to the left will lower it, processing less audio signal. A compressor processes audio signal that rises above the threshold level and gates process signal that falls below the threshold. In other words, compressor and gate thresholds operate in opposite fields. The next control, attack, determines

how fast your device captures and processes the audio signal. This control operates in milliseconds. An example of a very fast attack would be 25 to 50 milliseconds. Personally, I like my gates to be set for a fast attack time. Once the signal drops below the threshold, I want it captured. Once you get a feel for this setting I am sure you will develop your own opinion on where the attack time should be set. Now that we have captured the signal we must release it. And that is accomplished with the release setting. Release time is also calibrated in milliseconds. A quick release time (25 to 50 milliseconds) will allow the noise gate to more closely follow the audio characteristics of the instrument being gated. I am a fan of releasing the signal quickly. Again, after a little bit of trial and error, you will determine the best release time for the instrument you are gating. Now that we have refreshed our minds with regards to threshold, attack and release functions, let's separate the noise gate from the compressor. Whether you have a standalone noise gate or one incorporated in your compressor, all noise gates do the same thing. Cutting Unwanted Noise

SS

A noise gate is a dynamic processor that will cut or dramatically attenuate the audio signal passing through it when the signal drops below a preset thresh-

old. A properly set gate will allow the audio signal from a specific instrument to pass through the gate to the mixing console unaltered. The gate will stop low-level hiss, noise and any other audio from nearby instruments from passing though the specific instruments' microphone to the mixing console. Typically there are two types of gates on the market. On that will simply shut off the signal flow when the audio drops below the threshold. This type of gate is like opening and closing a door. It can effectively cut unwanted noise or audio but its operation can be heard. A lower threshold setting can make this type of gate sound more natural. The next and more common type of noise gate is one that will reduce the audio signal gain by a finite amount once it falls below the threshold level. As mentioned earlier noise gate can also have attach and release controls. These knobs work the way they do in a compressor. A quick attack and slower release can make your gate operation sound more natural. But use your ears and experiment with your attack and release setting and you will find the sweet spot for each instrument you gate. Some gates will have their attack and release times preset by the manufacturer. Rocking the House

SS

If your house of worship rocks, you may be a candidate for some noise gates.

Generally gates will not improve acoustic or worship music being performed at a low decibel level. Live microphones in a loud instrument setting can definitely benefit from noise gates. A gated kick drum mic can sound more natural and precise because the gate will not allow audio signal from other drums such as a snare or toms from entering the kick drum microphone. This would also be true with a gated snare drum mic. Eliminating other audio from entering the microphone will make the snare sound better. A noisy electric guitar amplifier can benefit from a noise gate. When the guitar player is not playing his noisy amp, a properly adjusted gate will remove all excess noise and buzzing. Worship vocal mics are rarely gated, but if your worship band situation is allowing too much additional audio signal into your vocal microphones, a noise gate can remedy this. It is possible to gate an entire mix but I have never seen this in the worship biz. You may have a compressor/limiter with an onboard noise gate in you house rack. If this is the case, you can compress, limit and gate your entire mix by connecting the let and right outputs of your console into the left and right inputs of your outboard compression device. However, it is much more common to use the insert jack on your channel strip as you will be gating one microphone and one instrument at a time.

continued from page 17

And how hard can it be? Big Mick: Yeah. Paul: You gotta put the gear in the truck first before you even get a chance to plug it in. “Oh, I dunno how you load a truck.” And we watched someone put the cam locks and put live in first! “What? You don’t how to plug a cam lock?” “Well no, I’ve never done it before.” I’ve had kids come to me goin,”well you know, I know all about the digital console more than the older guys, so you should pay me more.” I said, “fair enough, eh? Alright, you’ve got a show tomorrow, you’re going to be running it.” It’s a local gig, and he comes back a couple of times, I’m like “what’d you come for,”“uhhhh, I forgot the antennas and the panels,” “uhhh, forgot the cam lock—uh, the tails for the cam.” I call him in and I’m like, “hey, you can’t even do the fundamentals of putting the gig together!” Big Mick: But you want more money. Paul: And you want more money because you can work a digital console? You’ve got to get power to it! [laughter] So, y’know, there’s a certain concept they’ve gotta start teaching ‘em in this industry which is how we learned from loading trucks and being a grunt and 28

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doing whatever we did, the technical part of it came afterwards. Y’know? It was something you learned along the way. ‘cause you could drive the trucks, stack it up, and stay up all night and stack the PA, and then hopefully get it working the next day, you were a good worker. It’s the other way around now. Ford vs. Ferrari

FOH

Big Mick: For many years we worked with certain constants, rule of thumb stuff, y’know what I mean. You just sort of got the vibe. Now there’s so many things you can change, it’s scary what you can do. It’s scary sh*t. Paul: It’s not just messin’ about with the treble and bass any more. Now it’s like we have surround sound where it’s the center vocal comes out of the middle and the sub comes out of the sub. Okay, rear sound, what do we have there? And the kids know it now, y’know. So it’s gonna be very hard to come into a gig and settle with a 20-old throw-out that sounds like ass. Big Mick: Sounds like ass. [laughter] Stop yourself. You’ll be in the doghouse with me and him in a minute. We’re already in the doghouse.

Paul: But you know what I’m sayin’. If you’ve got a choice, you can either drive a Ferrari or you can drive a Ford, they sell a lot of Fords, but I tell you what, the guy who’s driven a Ferrari ain’t gonna go back ... Big Mick: But there’s a lot more controls in the Ferrari that you better get used to and know how to use. But you get behind the wheel do you know what the hell you’re doin? I mean, I’ve, I’ve said for years that a line array is a weapon in the wrong hands. Big Mick: Oh, absolutely. What’s incredible about all these new line arrays, is when you’re actually cueing something on them, in the old days you know, if you had a graphic on the system, you might go, “ugh there’s a bit of too much 125, the classic frequency” and you go, “I’ll take like six dB off,” and that’d be just enough to sort you out, y’know what I mean. But it’s like, you do six dB out of these new systems, and it’s gone. You better only be moving a coupla dB. You gotta be really fine. You can’t be hamfisted like we used to be with the old sh*t, because this stuff will respond.

So how are you liking the XL8 now? Big Mick: It’s great. It’s took a bit of getting it—to grips with it. Because you can actually crawl up your own a**hole because it’s, it’s the same as the PA, it’s stuff everywhere if you want it. I mean, I went into this trying to use it like an XL4, and, it was a shame to restrict it to that. Things like, y’know, I have four mics make up James’ rhythm set. I have four mike make up Kirk’s set. With the XL4 you had to EQ each mic, put ‘em all together, listen to ‘em all, and go, they’ve all summed together to do this, then you’ve gotta go in and weed out that frequency through the four microphones. But of course with the XL8 you’ve got a thirty-one band graphic on all the sub groups. But that’s what I did before. I was doing it all on graphics, and I ended up taking too much out. So it’s like now okay I had to rethink it, but at least you can rethink it and it’s all just there. Just go to the patch page, and go “I’ll have a graphic on there, and I’ll have a parametric as well,” and it’s just done. And it’s just there. Big Mick: It’s just done. That’s so nice.

www.fohonline.com

2/4/09 4:03:12 PM


Theory and Practice

So, Just How Loud IS it?

W

e at FRONT of HOUSE Magazine have not harped about the usage of Sound Pressure Level (SPL) meters for a while. But that doesn’t mean the SPL police have stopped lurking around at your gigs. All they may do is give you a polite reminder to turn it down. But in a worst-case scenario you could be facing litigation and fines by violating the rules against excessive noise. What I want to do here is offer a refresher on SPL meter basics. That way, you won’t get put in a defensive position by a person armed with an SPL meter giving you the heat and being technically dangerous. And by “technically dangerous,” I mean that SPL meters have plenty of settings that may not be appropriate for the measurements being done. Back to the Chart

tP

I believe we all have seen the classic Fletcher-Munson chart (on this page) and have heard about various SPL levels for various reference levels. A classic example is that normal voice conversation between two persons one meter apart is about 70 dB SPL, with each 10dB above or below representing a doubling or halving of perceived loudness. My favorite loudness reference is the 90 to 120dB SPL range that represents a loud concert performance into the audience seating areas. Another important SPL reference level is the type of measurement that law enforcement may make for neighborhood noise ordinances. It is fairly common for a 50dB SPL restriction taken at 100 to 500 feet away from a building as a nighttime noise ordinance. However, this is not the same kind of SPL measurement as a rock concert seating measurement.

Weightings

tP

Most SPL meters come with two or three “weighting” filters that are provided for different kinds of SPL measurements. The most common weightings are the A-weighting and C-weighting filters. The C-weighting filter is pretty much a non-filter over a 20Hz to 7kHz audio passband, optimized for loud sound measurements, 85dB SPL or louder. The A-weighting filter is used for quiet or neighborhood noise ordinance measurements 55dB SPL or less, and has a pronounced rolloff of sensitivity at lower audio frequencies. This rolloff begins at about 400Hz and is -20dB down by 100Hz. The reason for this rolloff comes from the FletcherMunson curves that show humans cannot hear low frequencies very well at low sound pressure levels. The B-weighting filter, if provided on your SPL meter, handles the 55dB to 85dB in-between region and is used mostly for occupational sound level measurements in offices. This filter is mostly flat as shown in Figure 1, but begins to rolloff in the 100Hz area given the human hearing rolloff in the figure at medium loudness. What this means is that if the SPL Police come knocking about noise ordinances, make sure they are making A-weighted and not C-weighted measurements. On the flip side, if you wanted to, you could easily “cheat” the venue loudness rules by using A-weighting instead of C-weighting, and let those subwoofers bark a little louder than they should. But eventually you will get caught on this technicality. Measuring Sources

By MarkAmundson

tP

When measuring SPL, the location of the measurement is as important as the sound pressure level. For example, we rate loud-

speakers at a SPL at one-meter standoff distance with one watt audio signal input. Most manufacturers of speakers do not measure SPL at one meter, but at several meters away and compute the effective SPL if located at one meter. This is done because the high and low frequency drivers are typically not colocated in the same position in the speaker cabinet, and the SPL would change depending where the meter was in close proximity to the cabinet components. Similarly, a measurement of SPL at the Front Of House position may not be the right place to “score” the venue’s

loudness. Not only does the FOH position change on various events, but different speaker hangs will change SPL coverage around the venue. Usually checking SPL at near-stage and back of venue to get a range of SPLs is the goal. When measuring conventional speaker sources with spherical coverage, not line-arrays, the SPL is expected to drop 6dB with each doubling of distance away from the source (1 meter, 2 meters, 4 meters, 8 meters, etc.). That is why distance away from the sources is such an important factor if you are expected to keep the loudness beneath a certain level.

In The Trenches

Fred Pollice

Brandon “Tuna” Lamons Sound Engineer/ Tour Manager Sounguy LLC Atlanta, Ga. 770.385.9016 [email protected]

Sound Engineer Sound Odyssey Entertainment Brooklyn, N.Y. www.nynjsoundguy.com 917.418.3096 [email protected]

Services: Audio, lighting engineering

Services: Live Sound, DJ

Clients: Two years as FOH/ TM for City Sleeps, six years as chief engineer for Jammin Java, seven years as assistant media director/head audio engineer for Immanuel Bible Church.

Clients: Harold Melvin's Bluenotes, King Norris, Soft Parade (Doors Tribute), Loser’s Lounge, Vin Scelsa, Reservoir Doggs, Screaming Broccoli, Yesterday and Today (Beatles Tribute), Peggy Oneill’s Coney Island (Siren Festival)

Quote: “I am the first one there and the last one to leave. This is my dream job!” Personal Info: I have been a sound engineer for 14 years. I started when I was 14, helping at my church. Since then I was hired full-time by my church and spent seven amazing years working every service and the annual Christmas and Easter concerts with a cast of more than 300.

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Hobbies: Working on my truck, playing with my dog, going to concerts and spending time with my girlfriend. Equipment: I have worked on PM5D, PM1D, M7CL, Midas XL, Heritage, Crest, Soundcraft and Allen & Heath, plus Shure and Sennheiser mics. Speakers: JBL, d&b, EV, Meyer, QSC, Nexo and whatever they put me in front of. Don’t leave home without: Surefire flashlight, laptop, iPod, plenty of Sharpies, console tape, gaff tape.

Quote: “Carry light, sound big!” Personal Info: I started doing sound about 15 years ago. I was the only guy who knew how to hook up the gear in my old band. I stopped playing in bands and took on doing just sound. I work all over the New York/New Jersey area. The service I provide is for bands working in smaller and medium size venues. I like to make them sound pretty big because

you never know who’s listening. Why cut corners and not mic a snare drum? In other words, if there are five or 500 people there, always do your best. Hobbies: Hanging with my wife and two boys, listening to live music, summer vacations down at the Jersey Shore, playing bass with the Dirty Stayouts. Equipment: Yamaha and Carvin boards, JBL and Mackie speakers, Shure and Audix mics, QSC amps. Don’t leave home without: Sharpie, Sirius Radio (for long trips), MP3 player, extra shirt.

www.fohonline.com

2/4/09 4:06:08 PM

z The iB eBiz hT By DanDaley

When Disaster Strikes

The Show Must Go On

biz

There have been plenty of similar near-disasters that sound systems crews have been put on the spot to take care of, each of which might also have had enormous financial repercussions for the tour, the artist and everyone else. Here are a few of them. In 1974, Bob Heil was providing sound for The Who’s Quadrophenia tour in the U.S. He was working with one of the four legendary Mavis consoles ever built by Bill Hough and I.E.S. in the U.K. The Mavis was huge — over 300 pounds each — and as the first true modular circuitry design desk with an external

power supply that could be switched between 110-volt and 220-volt mains, relatively complex for its time. Perhaps that’s why one of the house electricians fed 220 volts into it despite the fact that

turned into a 1-kHz oscillator blasting at 120 dB through 120 15-inch cabinets flown LCR above the stage. Audience members covered their ears in pain. FOH mixer Ron Lorman looked back at

”Isn’t that the real job of a sound engineer? To keep things calm and cool during the show?” —Bob Heil the power supply was set for 110. “An hour from soundcheck and the power supplies were wiped out,” Heil recalls. “What do you do? Cancel the show? Who’s going to tell Townsend?” But Heil’s ham radio instinct suggested a dodgy though possibly viable fix: hook a pair of car batteries back to back to the Mavis’ 18-volt DC power input. A car battery can generally crank between 13 and 14 volts, just enough to get through the performance. “We didn't even tell the Who until after-

the rack but knew there was little he would discover there, as all markings were in Japanese. He quickly flipped off every channel, group and bus on the Yamaha PM 2000 console while the Yamaha-supplied crew (Yamaha was a sponsor on the show) ripped at patch cords. “Normally I’d solo every channel, looking to isolate the problem, but this problem was so massive that we just had to try to turn everything off at all costs as fast as possible,” he says. It took 20 more minutes before

The important thing isn’t fixing blame — it’s fixing the system as fast as you can.” —Ron Lorman wards; didn't want them to worry,” says Heil. “Isn't that the real job of a sound engineer? To keep things calm and cool during the show?” A Painful Lesson in Japan

biz

Miles Davis’ return-to-Japan show at Shinjuku in 1987 drew a full house, and 20 minutes into the show it looked like it would be one for the books. And it was, though for a different kind of book. Without any warning, the sound system

someone pulled the right cable and the tone stopped. Several drivers were damaged but Lorman found he had enough of a system left to limp through the rest of the show. (The band never heard the problem through their monitors and had kept on playing throughout the emergency.) It was later discovered that one of the EQs in the speaker processing system had shorted, driving the amps to full power. “I have no idea how it got past the crossovers,” says Lorman.

“There’s no way we could have tracked that down during the show.” The crew then spent that night repairing damage caused by the short, and later, typhoon-level wind and rain. Then, in true samurai style, they offered to resign right then and there. Lorman instead complimented them on their dedication to repairing the system for the next night’s show. “I told them that gear can always fail and there’s no one to blame,” he says. “The important thing isn’t fixing blame – it’s fixing the system as fast as you can.” A Mid-show Mishap

biz

Lady Antebellum FOH mixer Brett “Scoop” Blandon watched in horror as the entire left side of the PA went completely dark three songs into a festival show in Salisbury, Md. Before the end of the song the crew had traced the failure to the driveline from FOH to the amp rack. “The PA company was using old passive crossovers even though there was DSP out front,” he says. They quickly put an XLR jumper from house right to house left. “We were back by the next song.” That was a faster recovery than he had at a Ty Herndon show in Longview, Tex. The PA company assured him his rider would be fulfilled, including the 16mix monitor console he asked for. The next morning, however, the box truck brought what he calls the equivalent of a clearance sale from a local music store, including boxes with bad connectors and a 16-input rackmount Spirit mixer. “We found two Radio Shacks 45 minutes in either direction and we cleaned them out of XLR connectors,” he says, creating a new PA split and starting the show only 12 minutes late. Everyone loves happy endings. Especially the accountants.



A

major tour is like a living organism. And like any organism, it will occasionally have accidents. So what happens when the tour stubs its toe, or worse, breaks an arm, just before showtime? When multimillion-dollar tours walk into a door or trip on the stairs the day before a show, it’s as much an economic disaster as it might be a physical one. That’s what happened on Nov. 5 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles as Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet roadshow was setting up her elaborate staging. An equipment malfunction caused damage to the top of the stage and some of the lighting. With the tour averaging $6 million gross per city, a lot was at stake. Enough of the staging was in place for the show to take place the following night. Said Madonna through a press release, "Even though my stage roof was damaged and some lights and effects aren't working, I want to do the show anyway because I don't want to disappoint my fans." Love her or not, Madge doesn’t miss a show.

www.fohonline.com

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2/3/09 8:28:28 PM

Regional Slants

IT ALL STARTED a in

e g a Gar

By DavidJohnFarinella

Back Row (L to R): Ryan Hodge, Lighting Designer; Cory Likens, Audio Engineer; Michael Faber, Sales and Purchasing; Jody Bear, Co-Owner; Andy Mayhall, Co-Owner; Brendan Hines, Senior Audio Engineer and Operation Manager; Jackie Likens, Administrative; Adam Edmonds, Audio Enginneer and Shop Supervisor. Front Row (L to R): Dan Houston, Lead Installer; Jeff Impey, Install Project Manager and Lead Designer; Chris Wade, Business Operations; Jason Baker, Audio Engineer and Crew Steward.

T

here will come a day when business students will learn about 20th century entrepreneurs and the odds are high that every case study they read will start with the phrase, “It all started in a garage.” The story of Proshow Systems begins 20 years ago in Memphis, Tenn. — in a garage, of course. The duo of Jody Bear and Andy Mayhall had purchased a PA starter’s kit and were booking gigs with bands that were playing in bars across Memphis. As their reputation grew, Bear and Mayhall began collecting new gear as well as some personnel that have been with them for years. And, yes, they eventually moved out of the garage. Success Follows Hard Work

FOH

While still servicing the local music scene, Bear and Mayhall started to make their pitch to provide sound services for corporate shows as well as local music festivals. Success followed hard work and the company continued to build its name in the local area, eventually adding lighting and crewing services to the capabilities list. In 2006, Proshow Systems purchased Affordable Sound and Lighting in Birmingham, Ala. to expand its services as well as service area. These days the company offers sound, lighting, backline and crewing services from Tennessee down to Florida, across to Alabama. Much of their work comes from the vast festival circuit in the south, including The Blues Ball in Memphis, City Stages in Birmingham, Bayfest in Mobile and SpringFest in Pensacola. Proshow also supplies gear 32

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“My attitude is, ‘Come on, let’s go. We’re still doing what we do. We’ll make it.’” —Michael Faber, director of purchasing and sales manager, Proshow Systems, on the troubled economy.

whenever soul singer Frankie Beverly is touring through the region and has just got back a pair of Midas XL3s that were on tour with country singer Chris Cagle. After stocking a variety of boxes from Clair Brothers (R4s) and Apogee (3X3), Proshow invested in a host of JBL VerTec boxes, including 32 VT4888 boxes and 16 VT4880A subs. While that rig satisfies their current needs, according to the director of purchasing and sales manager Michael Faber, there is thought of purchasing a 4889 rig this year. “We have more demand for line arrays now than we did before,” he says. “Now that we have one, we can use two.” The company also boasts consoles including a pair of Midas h3000s, five Yamaha PM 4000s, two PM5Ds, a Yamaha M7CL as well as some smaller Venice and Mix Wizards that are used for smaller corporate gigs and the XL3s that were just returned. Proshow stocks a standard list of outboard gear, including Dolby Lake and dbx 4800s for DSP and drive for control, dbx 160s, Summit tube compressors and effects from TC and Lexicon. Beyond audio, Proshow has recently made additional investments in lighting and video. It is a way to provide another service,

Faber allows, as well as add to the bottom line. “Lighting is a profit center now,” he says. “It’s not as good as video, so we just bought a video rig to get more corporate work.” Refusing to Participate

FOH

Faber reports the company is looking to add more rental inventory, but he is keeping an eye on the economy. “I am concerned, of course, but no so concerned that I don’t understand that typically over the last 50 years entertainment has still been okay even in a down economy,” he reports. “We’re also refusing to participate. My attitude is, ‘Come on, let’s go. We’re still doing what we do. We’ll make it.’ I’m trying to goad everyone else into it.” One of the ways that Proshow has been able to ease the bottom line during the slow season as well as boost optimism for the future is to concentrate on its install business. In fact, Faber reports the company has completed a handful of jobs in local casinos where they have installed background music systems and PAs in showrooms. The move into installs started after the company received a call from the folks over at the Horseshoe in Tunica, Miss. “They had to do the Bluesville showroom, which was

a huge job,” Faber reports. “It’s the premier showroom in that area, so we started getting a lot of calls.” Of course, just because a company gets the call does not mean it will be successful, but Proshow’s history proves their reputation is warranted. “I think the key is absolute supreme service,” Faber says. “You have to be willing to bend over backwards. When my casino client calls he knows exactly what he’s going to get, who he’s going to get every time, because it’s consistent. He also knows that if he says, ‘Hey, I need a little bit extra this time,’ that we’re going to do it. We have very loyal clients who are comfortable with the way that we do business and know that if we have any kind of complaint at all, we’re there.” The install business has been such a boom for the Memphis office that Faber is planning to expand that approach into Birmingham. “Our install division hasn’t gotten there yet,” he says. “I have a couple of major installs that are going to take me into August, but after that I’m going to start paying attention to Birmingham.” He will be bringing Proshow’s track record of success, as well as the company’s service–first philosophy. “I want people to know that there are still companies that operate with the ultimate integrity who understand that service is of prime importance in this business,” he says. “We have a couple hundred years of experience here between all the guys. We’re all career guys here. This is what we picked for our life job. We’re not going anywhere.”

www.fohonline.com

2/3/09 8:29:46 PM


Welcome To My Nightmare

Panic on the Tarmac I was traveling home from Europe after six months on a cruise ship, just getting settled on my third flight of the day in Chicago bound for Toronto. There was a line-up to takeoff so we had been sitting on the tarmac for about 20 minutes when I started to fall asleep. Finally our time came and the pilot hit the brakes during our final turn onto the runway. When he applied the brakes there was a very loud squeal that in my exhausted state fooled me into thinking I was hearing loud feedback. Instinctively, I flung my hands forward to grab the offending channel on my “upright table tray mixer” and double punched the seat in front of me, startling the man in that seat, as well as the people on either side of me. The looks on the faces of my neighbors and the angry man in front of me were really embarrassing to say the least. There was nothing I could say to stop them from giving me the occasional “I’m watching you, Crazy Man!” stares for the rest of the flight. Next time I’m asking for a direct flight.

“Instinctively, I flung my hands forward to grab the offending channel on my ‘upright table tray mixer’ ”…

Lighting/Sound Design Intern

Director for A Doll House

The Kalamazoo Civic Theatre seeks Lighting/Sound Intern for 2009-2010 season.

Seeking a director for a low budget Manhattan production of Ibsen’s A Doll House.

The Audio Visual Sales Representative will sell integrated audio, video, and lighting systems.

34

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Lighting/Sound Designer The Kalamazoo Civic Theatre Lighting/Sound Designer.

W ! NO ING R HI

Find these and other jobs by going to

Cirque du Soleil will be hosting a Red Curtain Recruitment Event in Las Vegas for Technical Positions & Stage Management positions on Monday, February 23, 2009.

W ! NO ING R HI

Cirque du Soleil

W ! NO ING R HI

Audio Visual Sales Representative

W ! NO ING R HI

HIRNOW ING !

Attention FOH readers: was this your nightmare? A glitch prevented us from seeing who submitted this to www.fohonline.com, our Web site, and we’d like to give you credit. Let us know who you are and when you sent it, and we’ll credit your submission in our next issue. Please reply to [email protected] — and keep the submissions coming! —ed.

www.fohonline.com

2/4/09 4:15:29 PM

To Advertise in Marketplace, Contact: Greg • 702.454.8550 • [email protected]




Company

Page

Phone

Web

A&S Case Company

14

818.509.5920

http://foh.hotims.com/23516-210

Allen Products / ATM Flyware

8

562.424.1100


Aphex

33

818.767.2929


Audio-Technica

21

330.686.2600


Bosch/ElectroVoice

C1, 23

248.876.1000


Checkers Industrial Products

31

800.438.9336


DiGiCo

7

516.249.1399


Ebtech

27

800.284.5172


Full Compass

11

49 (0) 9421/706-0


Innovason

10

888.BIG-DESK


Kaltman Creations

3

678.714.2000


KS Audio

9

727.447.9656


NAB

16

North American Pro Audio/ Allen & Heath

C2

870.755.6263


North American Pro Audio/ Wharfedale

29

870.755.6263


OVO/ Mega Systems

31

210.684.2600


Production Intercom

20

847.381.5350


Proel SpA

10

39 (0861) 81241


QSC Audio Products

C4

800.854.4079


Radial Engineering

19

604.942.1001


Renkus-Heinz

5

949.588.9997


Sensaphonics

6

877.848.1714


Shure Incorporated

13

800.257.4873


Spectrum Sound

8

615.391.3700


Telefunken

6

860.882.5919


TMB

15

818.899.8818


Westone Music Products

4

719.540.9333


Worx Audio

26

336.275.7474


Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems

1, C3

714.522.9011


AudioEast

35

866.274.4590


Hi-Tech Audio Systems

35

650.742.9166


New York Case/ Hybrid Cases

35

800.645.1707


Sound Productions

35

800.203.5611


Under Cover

35

508.997.7600



MARKET PLACE


STAGING • LIGHTING • SOUND Order online TODAY at www.plsnbookshelf.com Ad info: http://foh.hotims.com/

2009 FEBRUARY

35

FOH-at-Large By BakerLee

Museum-Ready? N

ow that my son is a high school varsity wrestler, I have the great opportunity to spend most of my weekends inside various gymnasiums, and it was on one of these wrestling outings that I found myself in Hamburg, Pennsylvania screaming and yelling just like one of the wrestling dads I vowed to never become. In between matches one of the other fathers suggested we take a quick ride to the area’s largest attraction, the world famous sporting store Cabela’s. Not only is Cabela’s a huge store, but they are also a museum of sorts, with a huge selection of stuffed animals ranging from mountain goats and lions to elephants and rhinos all set in dioramas of their natural habitat. Other than the American Museum of Natural History, I have not seen such a fine display of taxidermy skills anywhere—a very impressive exhibit indeed if you should like stuffed animals. Speaking of Museums….

FOH

I willingly accepted an assignment to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex in Manhattan to review the Sennheiser audio system for this magazine. Usually I hesitate to take these types of assignments, because I am emotionally unstable and have the tendency to go off on a tangent and write a novella instead of an advertising blurb, but the new Sennheiser product aroused my curiosity, as did the Annex itself. Before setting us loose to roam the Annex with the PX-200 headset and a wireless guidePORT receiver, the rep from Sennheiser gave us a little intro to the product that they were showcasing and told us that the unique system was developed specifically to bring the life and vitality of rock ‘n’ roll to the exhibit without the confusion of overlapping sound from conflicting audio sources. Apparently the multiple audio signals are sent to numerous RF transmitters with separate frequencies via an under-floor network. As one comes into the zone of each exhibit,

COMING NEXT MONTH... FOH Interview If you’re doing the Grammys, you must be on the “A” team... Production Profile Sound Image, Adamson and Gordon Mack do John Legend Buyers Guide Active Subwoofers 36

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Smack dab in the middle of the museum display is the old CBGB mixing console and two decrepit speakers…It dawned on me that I had mixed on that console and played through those speakers. the music pertaining to that particular display plays through the headset of the user without any interference from other displays or patrons. As it is, I use the Sennheiser G2 in-ear monitors for live work with great success, so it came as no surprise that Sennheiser should produce a system for the museum that sounds great and responds well in such a diverse wireless situation. Other than a slight fade in and out while moving between exhibits, the transition from one track to another was fairly seamless, and there was no restriction in regard to the direction one could go as I randomly moved back and forth between displays. A volume control on the receiver allows the listeners to adjust the level of playback to their own taste and all in all Sennheiser accomplished what it set out to do. Unfortunately, despite the great presentation on the part of Sennheiser and the museum, I still have a problem (I warned you earlier) with putting rock ‘n’ roll under glass in a museum. After all, in my mind, museums are for very old and/ or dead things, not things such as rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, blues or hip hop, which is still very much alive. The things that I think belong in a museum are stuffed animals as well as Roman, Egyptian and Greek architecture from thousands of years ago. Paintings belong in museums, but only from dead artists, otherwise they should go in a gallery.

Museum Ready

FOH

Though rock ‘n’ roll history is very much last century, I am still not at the point of categorizing the genre as a museum piece. In my feverish little mind I classify “museum-ready” as at least 100 years old and not just last century. It dawned on me though as I walked through the Annex following the progression from “Blues” to “Soul” to “Rock and Roll” that if the first blues song was recorded in 1895 by George W. Johnson (according to African American historian Jessica McElrath), then the “Blues” is definitely museum ready. If a member of the band, such as Joe Strummer from the Clash, has died, then I suppose he might be museum ready, and if the band is defunct, I unfortunately have to concede that they are then museum-ready. I strolled through the Annex using the latest technology to listen to archaic music such as The Clash, Hendrix, The Beatles and Elvis Presley while looking at the historic posters, clothing, guitars and film footage of each. Certain living stars such as Madonna, David Byrne, Prince and Bruce might be historically important, but are they museum ready? After all, their music is still viable and they are still around to perform and deliver it to their adoring fans. I suppose that Eddie Cochran’s jacket is museum ready as is any of Elvis’s clothing and guitars. John

Lennon’s glasses fit the bill, as does David Byrne’s iconic broad shoulder suit. I guess I can accept a Hendrix live concert video as museum-ready, or even concert footage of James Brown, but I do have a problem (there it is again) because I have worked with and have done sound for many of these artists (not Elvis or Eddie Cochran), and that means, I have to face the fact—I am old. OK, so I’m old, it happens to everybody and it’s nothing to be ashamed about. I can still make use of modern technology, and despite my growing despair, I figure that as bleak as I was feeling, I still did not have one foot in the grave. That’s when I saw it—the sign for The Bottom Line Cabaret—a Manhattan nightclub that rose to prominence in the 1970s and closed in 2003. In its day it was the place to play and thus, everybody played there. Even nobodies such as myself played there, but then again nobodies like me also did sound at The Bottom Line…and there it is—the first foot in the grave! Damn! Now, not only am I old, but I’m also a leg away from being buried. Yet, there I was, still standing, and not quite done in, until I saw the CBGB diorama that is made up to look like the inside of the now defunct legendary club. A couple of round tables with Budweiser bottles are placed in the exhibit so as to give the impression of one sitting and watching a show at the famous Bowery Mecca of rock. Though the display is nicely done it does remind me of seeing the stuffed animals at Cabela’s or the Museum of Natural History—a quaint keepsake of a moment that once existed, but has now receded into the annals of history. A Familiar Mixing Console

FOH

The display is accompanied by a nice soundtrack, delivered by the latest technology, but the kicker is that smack dab in the middle of the display is the old CBGB mixing console and two decrepit speakers. A quaint reminiscent of the past to some, but upon closer inspection it dawned on me that I had mixed on that console and played through those speakers. I felt my other foot slip into the grave! “Now I’m not just old,” I thought, “I’m a f#*king museum piece!” Might as well just stuff me and put me on display behind a Soundcraft 800B console with a couple of Rane ME30B equalizers, a PCM42, an SPX90 and a couple of DBX 160 compressors. Just make sure that my hands are on the board, the curve on my EQ is not a “happy face” and the gain structure on the console is correct. Also, for authenticity sake, please make sure that the cables in the back of the console are neatly run and patched correctly. Please do not forget that there should be a beer, a shot and pile of blow next to the mixing desk. If possible have the taxidermist make me look like I’m having a great time and I’m enjoying what I’m doing. If the exhibit is done to these specifications it should capture that moment in time perfectly. Title it, “Audio Engineer Mixing a Show, circa 1980.”

www.fohonline.com

2/4/09 12:56:41 PM

