September Issue - Front of House

Transcription

General Cable Acquires Gepco International
PEOPLE. PRODUCTION. GEAR. GIGS.
SEPTEMBER 2009 Vol. 7 No.12
Debi Moen
Sound Support for Clapton & Winwood
Robert Collins is kind of known for avoiding interviews if he can. Of course, you can get away
with that when your #1 client is God, er, I mean Eric Clapton. We tried to get him when they came
through Vegas a couple of years ago, and the closest we got (despite pre-arrangements) was to
the loading dock, where we waited for three hours. This time, through, we could not get a call
back even with the head of the sound company getting involved. Luckily for all involved, David
Farinella was able to bust that curse when the Clapton/Winwood tour went through Oakland. It is
one of the best interviews we have had the pleasure of running. Check it out on page 18.
Hometown Heroes Named, Parnelli
Voting to be Underway Soon
LAS VEGAS — And the Hometown winners
are…(you’ll just have to imagine the sound of a
drum roll and the ripping noise of an envelope)
— Northwest: Morgan Sound. Southwest: Onstage Systems. Southeast: Allstar Audio. Midwest:
Signature Audio. Northeast: Scorpio Sound. Canada: Tour Tech East.
Congratulations to all the companies on
the Hometown Hero ballot, congratulations to
the regional winners, and best of luck, too — all
regional winners are also finalists for the annual
Parnelli Hometown Hero award competition.
The ballot for all Parnelli award categories
this year, including FOH Mixer, Monitor Mixer,
Sound Company of the Year, is now being finalized and voting will soon be underway. Profiles
of 2009’s regional Hometown Hero winners,
meanwhile, begins on page 26.
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, KY — General Cable Corporation acquired Gepco International, Inc. and Isotec, Inc., together known as Gepco, a manufacturer and provider of
cabling solutions for the professional broadcast and entertainment markets. Gepco
reported 2008 revenues of about $46 million.
“With the acquisition of Gepco International and Isotec’s specialty electronic cable
business, General Cable expects to significantly expand its share of this important
U.S. market as well as leverage General Cable’s global sales infrastructure with this
technically superior brand of multimedia cables in markets all over the world,” said Jay
Lahman, vice president and general manager, Carol, Gepco, and Isotec Brand products. “We expect the market for these products to grow at roughly two times GDP in
the U.S. and somewhat higher internationally due to ongoing global analog-to-digital
conversions,” Lahman added.
Greg Lampert, executive vice president, president and CEO of General Cable North
America said, “I am pleased that Gary Geppert, the company’s founder and a recognized innovator in the industry, has agreed to stay with the company. He has built
Gepco into a technology leader in the professional broadcast industry, nearly doubling revenues of broadcast products over the last five years, and will continue to lead
our efforts to develop new and innovative products.”
Gepco’s line includes professional broadcast, entertainment and audio/visual cable; cable assemblies in both standard and custom configurations; interconnect and
cable-related accessories; and a line of optical fiber solutions.
Peavey MediaMatrix
Products Include
Audinate Option
PORTLAND, OR — Audinate announced that Peavey has expanded its
networking options for the MediaMatrix product portfolio by including Audinate’s networking solution. The first
MediaMatrix products to have Audinate’s advanced networking technology
are the NION nX product family and the
CAB 4n audio bridge.
The NION system is a configurable
DSP core for the commercial, engineered
systems marketplace. The CAB 4n is a
break-out box designed specifically for
NION-based systems. In addition, support for legacy MediaMatrix makes the
CAB 4n an efficient option for a wide variety of systems.
Audinate describes its networking
solution, Dante, as a self-configuring,
plug-and-play digital audio network
that works on both 100Mbits and
1Gigabit Ethernet, and added that its
automatic device discovery and system
configuration capability mean that specialized skills are no longer needed to
set up and manage an audio and video
media network.
“Peavey’s MediaMatrix solution is
recognized as one of the market leaders
of large scale networked audio systems
in stadiums, airports, casinos, hotels,
theaters, education and government facilities,” said Lee Ellison, CEO of Audinate.
“We are thrilled that Peavey continues
to broaden the adoption of Audinate’s
solution across their product offering.”
Aerosmith Tour Cancelled
After Electrical Mishap
STURGIS, SD — The mainstream media was all abuzz with word that Aerosmith
frontman Steven Tyler, 61, fell off the stage
at the Buffalo Chip Campground Aug. 5
and was taken to the hospital to treat injuries to his head, neck and shoulders.
While news sources noted that Tyler
was dancing during a disruption in the
sound system, supplied by PRG, FOH has
been informed that an electrical disruption may have led to the lack of sound amplification shortly before Tyler’s fall.
For the full story, turn to page 8.
9
25
News
Fall Out Boy goes digital.
Road Test
Kaltman Creations’ IW1800 makes it
easier to find white spaces.
www.ProAudioSpace.com/join
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www.fohonline.com
SEPTEMBER
2009,
Vol. 7.12
Features
What’s Hot
Showtime
18 FOH Interview
Robert Collins may be on a digital desk these
days, but he uses no scenes or any of the other
bells and whistles. He treats it like an analog
board. And his boss appears to be okay with
that…
Feature
26 Regional Slants: Hometown Heroes
22 Buyers Guide
A digital snake lets you ditch about a ton of copper. What’s not to like?
You nominated, we listened. You voted and we
still listened, even though a few of you voted A
LOT. (For future reference, we keep track of IP
numbers so it was not hard to figure out who was
voting for themselves over and over and over…).
In the end, six companies were triumphant. Check
out the regional winners, and keep an eye out for
which one of them will take home the big prize at
the Parnellis on Nov. 20.
24 Road Tests
16
R&R Sound supported the series of 14 concerts at the
California Mid-State Fair, including Tim McGraw, performing here, plus KISS, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Black Eyed Peas, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Journey, Heart, Dave Koz and others
A look at the new QSC K Series — a family of
boxes all with the same amp built in, and something called Directivity Matched Transition. Plus,
if you are like me and your knowledge of wireless
consists of “turn it on and hope it works,” Kaltman Creations just made the job of finding white
spaces a lot easier.
Letters
FOH At Large
What’s Hot
Hey Baker,
I just wanted to say thanks for writing The “Art”
of Self-Promotion article (“FOH-at-Large,” July
2009). I just sat down with it and it made a lot
of sense and helped me feel better about the
way I talk to my friends in the business sometimes. I’ve always tried not to “name drop,” but
do like to talk with people in the business about
what I’ve been up to. So I won’t feel bad anymore for doing it!!! :-)
—Clayton Melocik, Audio Engineer/Backline Tech
36
How much is your integrity worth?
Remembering Les Paul…and to ask,
“What If?”
Just beautiful, of all the things that have been
said your article in FOH online was without a
doubt the one that summed up what Les left
for us. Just as Lennon dreamed and wished, so
did Les, or vice versa. Either way, it just goes to
show what can happen when we are not afraid
to ask, “What If.”
—Tom Stark, in response to Bill Evan’s ProAudioSpace.com posting on Aug. 13, the day Les Paul
died at age 94.
Columns
32 On the Digital Edge
Sometimes the real best use for a piece of gear
does not become obvious right away. Such is the
case with the Sensaphonics 3D Ambient System.
32 The Biz
Planning and pulling off a tribute show in 48
hours. With the whole world watching…
34 Theory and Practice
Making that affordable digital desk sound as
warm and fuzzy (ok, just warm) as the analog you
know and love.
Departments
4 Editor’s Note
5 News
10 International News
12 New Gear
14 On the Move
20 Obituary
30 Welcome To My Nightmare
30 In The Trenches
L
To Order
Mark’s
Book
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2
SEPTEMBER 2009
www.fohonline.com
IVE SOUND, Theory and Practice
offers practical advice on real
topics important to technicians
and engineers in the live sound business.
In these pages sound engineers of all
levels will find vital help on how to deal
with real-world problems such as timepressure, troubleshooting a rig, dealing
with non-technical individuals (venue
management, musicians, patrons, etc.)
and their competing demands, and the
limitations of their budget.
Collected and expanded from
Amundson’s monthly column in FRONT
of HOUSE magazine, LIVE SOUND, Theory
and Practice offers solid technical data
to help you understand the theory
behind the hows and whys of sound
reinforcement with sections that cover
speaker and amplifier configuration,
power distribution and signal processing,
as well as concrete practical advice
you can use when the gig gets hot. It’s
recommended reading for anyone out
on a gig who wants to get it right.
Editor’s Note
By BillEvans
Suck It Up...
W
hen was a teenager I lived just a
few blocks from the local elementary school and we used to go over
there on weekends, hop the fence and play
basketball. We went there for a few reasons. It
was close. It was a “real” court and much better than someone’s driveway and 8-foot hoops
made us feel like NBA stars even though we all
pretty much sucked.
So when we would play actual games of
3-on-3, the deal was, you had to call your own
fouls. If you smacked an opponent upside the
head as he went in for a layup you were expected to raise your hand and cop to the foul.
Speaking of sucking it up. Watching CNN
while working from home nursing a bum leg.
They had Colin Powell on (Lord I like that guy. Too
bad he has too much sense to run for office…)
and they were talking about the Henry Gates
thing, and he told a story about waiting for a very
long time in Reagan National Airport when he
was National Security Advisor and finally having
to ask someone at the gate if his guest had arrived only to find out the guest had been there
for some time and that the person at the airline
knew that there was someone waiting to meet
the National Security Advisor but did not put the
guy waiting together with the Powell because
Yes, your team got a penalty, maybe lost
the ball, or the other team got a couple of
free throws. But if you screw up you have
to man up and suck it up.
It was kind of the hoops version of the honor
system. And it worked well as long as everyone
had, well, honor. But once you had someone
laying on the ground bleeding and the person everyone knew had committed the hard
foul swearing he never touched the guy, it was
pretty much over. Yes, your team got a penalty,
maybe lost the ball, or the other team got a
couple of free throws. But if you screw up you
have to man up and suck it up.
That came to mind recently when I was
trying to dial in a mix for a band on a board
I had not used in a while and could not figure out why I couldn’t get a little grease in
the monitors. I had an output solo’d before
the Fx send, the room was really live so I was
not using any ‘verb in the house and was just
trying to placate the singer. Seeing as how
the house guy was looking over my shoulder
and knew I had screwed up, I had little choice,
but still I had to suck it up and say, “Oops, my
bad, how’s this?” I would like to think I would
have done so even without someone standing there who knew I had screwed up. Man
up. Suck it up.
he probably could not imagine that someone
holding that office was black. When asked how
he responded to something like that he said,
“Sometimes you just have to suck it up.”
It’s when people don’t take responsibility
and suck it up that things get out of control.
I live in Vegas, which is a pretty free place, or
always has been, but that is changing and not
for the better. Just the other day I saw a news
item about casino dealers complaining about
the effects of second-hand smoke. Are you kidding me? If you work in a casino, you are going
to be working around smokers. It is almost a
law of nature. What do you do about it? You
suck it up, or find a job that is not in a casino.
I remember when living in Cali they passed
this stupid no smoking law that banned
smoking in bars, for God’s sake. Booze and
tobacco go together like eggs and grits. All
of the anti-smoking people celebrated, and I
admit that I was kind of jazzed about not having to sing in smoky bars anymore. Except it
meant I didn’t sing in any bars. No smoking
meant fewer customers, and fewer customers
meant less dough for live music, which put a
huge dent in the work available for both musos and techs.
We make choices in life. I would have liked
to have been a rock star, but as a songwriter, I
am a really good magazine editor. I did not have
the innate talent to live my fantasy. Suck it up.
Instead, I have a great job in an industry I love
and I play music for the joy of it, not cuz I need
to pay the rent. You know someone who has tinnitus or some other condition that means they
can’t be around loud noises? Well, the live event
production industry is probably not a good job
fit for them, no matter how much they want it.
Suck it up.
And now for something completely different…
Talking with my publisher the other day, I got
the really good news that two audio companies,
Yamaha and Sennheiser, that have never been
involved in the Parnelli Awards before, had come
on as sponsors. For too long, too many people
have thought that the Parnellis were just a squint
show. Not sure why. We have honored folks like
Big Mick, John Cooper, Bob Heil, Bruce Jackson,
John Meyer, Pooch and Tom Young in the past
few years. And it is not just the “big boys.” We
honor one regional soundco every year, and
we profile those who have been nominated
and voted the best for five regions of the U.S.
and Canada on page 26 of this very issue. You
can vote for the one company to receive top
Hometown Hero honors at the Parnellis right
now at fohonline.com/hometown.
If you have never made it out to the show,
you really need to do so. It is a great chance
to give a tip of the baseball cap that hides our
bald spots to the people who make this business a great place to work. Audio people, staging people, even squints and vidiots. Orlando
in November. Not super convenient, but it is
your only chance to recognize the audio folks
doing really good work out there. Yeah, it runs
during a squint show. Suck it up and get your
butt out there and fly the sound crew colors. Or
just find me and we can pass the whole day of
the show telling LD jokes. It’ll be great.
Publisher
Terry Lowe
[email protected]
Editor
Bill Evans
bevans@ fohonline.com
Managing Editor
Frank Hammel
[email protected]
Technical Editor
Mark Amundson
[email protected]
Editorial Assistant
Victoria Laabs
[email protected]
Contributing Writers
Jerry Cobb, Dan Daley,
Daniel M. East, David John
Farinella, Steve LaCerra, Baker Lee,
Jamie Rio, Dave Stevens
Art Director
Garret Petrov
[email protected]
Production Manager/
Photographer
Linda Evans
levans@ fohonline.com
Web Master
Josh Harris
jharris@ fohonline.com
National Sales Manager
Jeff Donnenwerth
[email protected]
National Advertising Director
Gregory Gallardo
[email protected]
Advertising Manager
Matt Huber
[email protected]
General Manager
William Hamilton Vanyo
[email protected]
Email Bill Evans at [email protected].
Business, Editorial and
Advertising Office
6000 South Eastern Ave.
Suite 14J
Las Vegas, NV 89119
Ph: 702.932.5585
Fax: 702.554.5340
Circulation
Stark Services
P.O. Box 16147
North Hollywood, CA 91615
Front Of House (ISSN 1549-831X) Volume 7 Number 12 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.
Publishers of...
4
SEPTEMBER 2009
www.fohonline.com
News
Parnelli Board Announces More Sponsors
By Kevin M. Mitchell
LAS VEGAS — “I’m absolutely thrilled
with the additional support for this year’s
Parnellis, which is sure to be our best yet,”
exclaims Patrick Stansfield of the Parnelli
Board of Advisors. “It’s great to see new
and previous companies join us for the
one night a year we put the spotlight on
those who toil behind it the other 364.”
Stansfield was referring to the Parnelli
Board’s announcement of more sponsors
to the 2009 Parnelli Awards, including
Harman Professional Group (AKG, Crown,
dbx, JBL, and Soundcraft) and Lab.gruppen.
The people of Harman are among the
many looking forward to honoring the
winner of this year’s Parnelli Audio Innovator award, Stan Miller.
“At Harman we are pleased to support the Parnelli Awards, especially as
this year we are recognizing Stan Miller,”
comments Michael MacDonald, EVP of
sales and marketing at the Harman Professional Group. “For me, as a former employee at Stan’s company, Stanal Sound,
it is especially nice to get the chance to
congratulate Stan for the four decades of
innovative sound reinforcement leader-
ship he has contributed to our industry.
Stan has been a key development partner
for products from brands like JBL, Crown,
AKG, dbx, Lexicon, Soundcraft and Studer, and we look forward to working with
Stan in the future.”
“Lab.gruppen is proud to support the
Parnellis again in 2009,” states Ken Blecher,
vice president of sales North America. “We
look forward to a celebration of another
year at this exclusive event with our friends
and industry associates in Orlando.”
Gold Sponsors now include: Barco
Lighting Systems, Inc./High End Systems,
Brown United, Dedicated Staging, EFM
Management, Harman Group, Precise
Corporate Staging, Rock-It Cargo, Sound
Image, Strictly FX and Sennheiser. Silver
sponsors include: All Access Staging & Production, Chauvet, Lab.gruppen, Tyler Truss
and Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems.
Production Partner Sponsors include:
Aerial Rigging (rigging); Paradise Sound &
Lighting (audio); PRG (projection); SGASI
Production Services (set design); Stage
Crew (labor); and Techni-Lux (lighting).
For more information, please visit
www.parnelliawards.com.
VANCOUVER, BC — Audio-Technica announced that over 3,000 of its microphones
will be used at the XXI Winter Olympic
Games slated for this Canadian city in Feb.
2010. The company’s gear has been used
for Olympics telecasts since the Summer
Games in Atlanta in 1996.
Olympic Broadcast Services Vancouver
(OBSV) is the host broadcaster for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, responsible
for producing and distributing audio and
video coverage of the Games. To generate
an international production, OBSV will deploy all cameras, develop graphics and capture audio at each sporting venue.
OBSV will transmit this international
production to all radio and television Rights
Holding Broadcasters, who will adapt the
signal for transmission on their networks.
The objective is for each nation to receive
unbiased coverage of the event, avoiding
national favoritism, commercial identification, advertising or interviews.
Olympic Broadcast Services Vancouver
will use the AT4050 Large Diaphragm Multipattern Microphone and BP4025 X/Y Stereo
Field Recording Microphone to create the
5.1 surround sound ambience at the Olympic events.
In Vancouver, there are several different audio environments, each of which will
present unique challenges for the broadcasters and audio engineers. For instance,
in ski jump alone, there are three distinct
surround-sound scenarios that will employ
a combination of AT4050s and BP4025s: the
start house, which is an enclosed environment; the preparation for and start of the
jump, when the skiers are ready to go down
the hill; and the jump in motion — when
viewers start to see the crowd, the mixers
try to blend in the surround sound of the
crowd base as well.
The sonic details will be added by using
a large number of Audio-Technica’s shotgun
microphones, including the 21.22-inch-long
BP4071L Line + Gradient Condenser for
outdoor and long-distance pickup in such
sports as downhill skiing, figure skating
and half-pipe sports; the AT898 Subminiature Lavalier Microphone with individual
body packs in curling, operating up to 48
channels of simultaneous wireless; custom
A-T boundary mics for
continued on page 9
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Audio-Technica
to Supply Mics
for XXI Winter
Olympics
News
NLFX Monitors Creekside Christian Fellowship’s System from 1,500 Miles Away
BEMIDJI, MN — NLFX Professional recently installed an Electro-Voice sound system at
Creekside Christian Fellowship in Needville,
Texas, outside of Houston. With the help
of Electro-Voice’s IRIS-Net remote-control
and supervision software, NLFX continues
to monitor the performance of Creekside’s
new system from its offices here, nearly 1,500
miles away.
NLFX’s Travis Scharn described the project:
“Creekside is really in the first of three
stages of completion. At this point the main,
450-seat worship space acts as a large, multipurpose room, and will remain in use while
they complete an adjacent, much larger permanent sanctuary.
“Anything and everything takes place in the
current space, in addition to housing their Sunday services. It doubles as their youth facility, a
venue for trade shows and concerts, and even
as a site for volleyball practices.
“We were referred to Creekside by a Houston-area building contractor, and began the
project with a few conference calls to determine
exactly what kind of sound system they needed
to address such a multi-purpose space.”
NLFX arrived at a system design including
FRi+ main loudspeakers in two clusters of three
boxes — two full-range boxes flanking two
FRi+181S low-range boxes.
“Basically a 60-degree planar array with a
biamp operation on the tops and mono subs,”
said Scharn, “powered by TG5 amplifiers with
onboard DSP/control modules.
“Creekside’s prior system consisted of powered speakers on sticks,” Scharn noted, “so the
prospect of a networked, professional-quality
EV audio system was enthusiastically received
by the church’s staff, some of whom had heard
FRi+ boxes at another local
church.”
Scharn added that the price
for the gear was “surprisingly
competitive price, in relation to
what it can do,” and that it “sounded great right out of the box —
we barely needed to make any
adjustments.”
NLFX used an input-to-output spec from across the Bosch
Communications Systems Division family of brands, including a
Midas Venice console at FOH, five
EV SxA250 powered stage moni- NLFX Professional uses EV’s IRIS-Net to keep tabs on Creektors, EV RE-2 systems for all wire- side Christian Fellowship.
modules and a UCC1 Can-bus converter allows
less mic applications, with RE410
handhelds and a beige RE97Tx headworn mic NLFX engineers to control the entire sound
for the pastor, an array of hardwired EV mics system via IRIS-Net from our headquarters in
including RE410s for vocals, Cardinals, and Ra- Minnesota,” Scharn said. “Creekside’s AV team
vens for instruments, along with Klark Teknik DI can fine-tune on-site in IRIS-Net as well, having access to certain layers to ensure that the
boxes.
“The use of TG amps loaded with RCM-26 system runs smoothly.
Southern Baptist Convention Puts Amplifiers to Good Use
ers from Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc.
Jeff Davidson of First Baptist Church of Dallas provided technical coordination.
Yamaha Commercial Audio has supported
the SBC for over 20 years, and this year provided
the mixing, digital signal processing and amplification gear, including DME64N, PM1D, PM5D-RH
and PM5D-EX digital consoles, DSP5D Expander,
SB-168ES stage box, all based around an EtherSound network. The SBC-owned audio inventory
can support crowds of up to about 15,000 in a
convention center/exhibit hall/theater configuration.
Chris Hinkle, FOH engineer, noted that “the
Yamaha TX6n amplifiers did indeed supply an
amazing amount of headroom. With the increased
overall headroom, the amplifiers produced less
distortion throughout the system. Even though
the room had a fairly high ambient noise level
(HVAC), we could get the program above the
noise to an intelligible level without the distortion
we had been accustomed to.”
Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center.
With a theme called
Love Loud: Actions Speak
Louder than Words, the
convention included
music features and concerts of praise over its
two-day run, attended
by over 8,800.
Audio assistance
was provided by Bill
Thrasher of Thrasher
Design Group; Chris
Hinkle of Prestonwood
“Loving Loud,” from left, Bill Thrasher, Steve Storie, Jeff Davidson, Kathy Allison, Phil
Baptist Church of Dallas;
Allison, Lon Brannies, Chris Hinkle, Blair McNair, Jim Carey and Nathan Rathel.
Blair McNair, an independent monitor mix
LOUISVILLE, KY — The Southern Baptist Conengineer; Phil Allison of
vention (SBC) purchased 24 new Yamaha TX6n Waveguide Consulting; Jim Carey of Liberty Bapamplifiers late last year from Capitol Design Group tist Church; Jack Pitts of Capitol Design Group; and
in preparation for this year’s event, held at the house of worship product and marketing manag-
Bartlett Web Site Features
Microphone Articles
6
SEPTEMBER 2009
www.fohonline.com
ELKHART, IN —Bartlett Microphones is
making available free tutorials on microphones and their application on the company Web site. Some topics covered are
boundary microphones, directional boundary microphones, preventing feedback and
mic techniques for theater.
“We’ll be presenting new information
each month in our newsletter, and also on
our Web site,” said company owner/engineer Bruce Bartlett.
“To free up time to write the articles,”
he added, “we’ve expanded the company’s
work force by adding skilled assemblers
from the Elkhart, Ind. community. We wanted our products to be made in the U.S.A. by
local people, using local parts and suppliers
whenever possible.”
As an audio journalist, Bartlett has written about 900 articles and eight books on
audio topics, especially about mics and
mic techniques. He has presented several
AES papers and workshops along the same
lines.
The company’s Web site also features
information on the TM-125 series of stagefloor microphones.
News
Aerosmith Tour Cancelled After Electrical Mishap
STURGIS, SD — The mainstream media was all abuzz with word that Aerosmith
frontman Steven Tyler, 61, fell off the stage
at the Buffalo Chip Campground Aug. 5 and
was taken to the hospital to treat injuries to
his head, neck and shoulders.
While news sources noted that Tyler was
dancing during a disruption in the sound
system, supplied by PRG, FOH has been in-
As this diagram indicates, the asterisked 200-Amp mains should have
been a 400-amp service, and the production should have been told about
the additional (red) tap off the mains.
formed that an electrical disruption may
have led to the lack of sound amplification
shortly before Tyler’s fall.
According to production personnel, the
sound system did not fail. One leg of power
tripped. This leg had been tested the day
before for Toby Keith and was drawing 80
amps. The circuit was rated for 200 amps.
The DiGiCo stage boxes that do the analogdigital conversion and send the audio to the
console were on that circuit.
Videos posted on the Internet also show
that despite the power problems for the audio, the walkway that Tyler fell from was still
fully illuminated.
8th Day Sound Adds New
Console to Touring Tool-Box
Stephen Curtain is using DiGiCo’s SD8 on tour
with Tool
CHICAGO — Stephen Curtain, staff engineer
for 8th Day Sound, has worked with Tool since the
band’s 10,000 Days tour in 2006, and while he’s
used DiGiCo desks previously, this is his first outing with a DiGiCo SD8 for the band’s summer tour,
which included headlining spots at the All Points
West and Lollapalooza festivals.
“The first time I saw an SD8 was at 8th Day
Sound,” he said. “We had one in for a demo with
a few of the guys from DiGiCo. The biggest thing
to me was how little EQ I actually needed to use
as compared to other mixing boards—digital or
analog.”
Back in 2006, when he took the Tool gig over
from another engineer, Curtain had been mixing
on another brand of console.
“I knew I wanted to make the switch to a DiGiCo, and now just happened to be that time. I have
been around just about every digital console out
there over the past few years, and I always seem to
gravitate towards the DiGiCos. In short, the SD8 fit
the tour’s budget and my requirements for what
my monitor desk needed to do.”
On this tour, there are approximately 40 inputs
for drums, bass, guitar, vocals and a few FX returns
from stage. Curtain’s also got two in-ear mixes for
vocalist Maynard James Keenan (the band is all on
wedges) and a tech mix. Plus, he’s using two internal reverbs and one external chorus for a total of
seven mono mixes and three stereo mixes.
“I typically stick to using the parametric EQ on
both inputs and outputs, but when I do need to
use the graphic EQ faders, it makes things go a bit
quicker having the detent. It also gives you peace
of mind knowing that you’re back at zero without
having to watch some little numbers.”
Overall, Curtain says the feature he’s most impressed with is the sound. “I’m actually using less
EQ on everything. The dynamics are clean and react the way they should. A few of the band members are really into the technology and get excited
about what I’m using. For the most part though,
they are just happy with a good, consistent sound
and I think we’ve achieved that for this band and
this tour.”
8
SEPTEMBER 2009
www.fohonline.com
News
FOH Engineer Takes Fall Out Boy Digital with Midas PRO6
CHICAGO — For the past five years, Fall
Out Boy FOH engineer Kyle Chirnside has
been manning the controls. For the band’s
current world tour, Chirnside is turning to the
Midas PRO6.
“I’ve always been a Midas guy,” Chirnside
said. “Whenever I had a choice, I would have
my XL4. But then I had the chance to test drive
the XL8.” That opportunity came with an invitation visit Metallica FOH engineer Big Mick
Hughes during preparations for Fall Out Boy’s
autumn 2008 tour of the U.K. and Europe.
“We were at his house, sitting around
mixing Metallica tunes on the XL8, which was
huge for me. I must have remixed that song
‘Battery’ a hundred times that day. I fell in love
with the console. So when I heard Midas was
developing a smaller, more affordable digital
desk, I was totally into it.” That console was
the PRO6, which Chirnside and Fall Out Boy
promptly took out on tour.
That first tour with the PRO6 led to a
change in how Chirnside did his job. “Since
I was a new user, I brought my trusty EL8s
along for vocal processing, but I never
touched them,” he said. “Instead, I ended up
using the console’s internal 3 band compressors, which sound amazing. They really made
all the vocals pop out and stay dominant in
the mix from a whisper to a scream. For Pete
Wentz’s bass, the PRO6’s corrective compressor is perfect on both the DI and SansAmp
channels.”
At the output stage, Chirnside relies on
the PRO6’s internal Klark Teknik EQ section,
which he describes as “quick and precise,” to
dial in the right sound for every act on the
bill.
Clair Global supplied a PRO6 for Fall Out
Boy’s spring U.S. tour, which featured four
supporting acts. “Even with five bands, we
only used one desk,” Chirnside noted. “It was
easier and more cost effective than alternating between two consoles.
“It saved us a lot of money in renting another console and having a huge rack of outboard gear,” Chirnside said, adding that “it was
a great opportunity for all these young engineers to be in a big show and mix on a digital
desk. It was amazing to watch these rookie engineers just jump right in and get it.”
Audio connectivity from the DL431 to the
PRO6 control surface consists of a pair of thin
Cat5 cables, one of them redundant, eliminating the need to run a bulky copper snake. Similarly, redundant power supplies at the control
surface and in the I/O and DSP modules en-
sure continuous operation even in the
event of failure.
Expanding on his observation of
the rookie engineers taking to the
Midas console, Chirnside noted that
each band’s engineer could simply
load his show file between acts, do a
quick mic check and be ready to go.
“The PRO6 is laid out like an analog
desk, so you’re reaching in the same
direction you always have. And if you
can’t figure it out, there’s a screen right
there that tells you what you need to
know. These young engineers for our
opening acts, on their first major tour
— they had it nailed within a couple
days. It was great to watch.”
The PRO6 with Fall Out Boy: Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz,
Kyle Chirnside, Andy Hurley and Joe Trohman
Audio-Technica
to Supply Mics
for XXI Winter
Olympics
continued fromn page 5
hockey; and many more microphones.
“The sound of competitive sports is
crucial, and Audio-Technica is proud to
be a critical part of bringing the experience of the Games to viewers around
the world,” said Michael Edwards,
Audio-Technica director of product
management. “When Audio-Technica
began a successful relationship with
the Olympic broadcasters in Atlanta
in 1996, we made a dedication to the
capture of audio in broadcast sports.
Because of this, we have been given
the opportunity to help improve the
sound and reduce mic visibility in the
process. As a result of our experience
with Olympic broadcasts, Audio-Technica continues ongoing product development in order to meet the needs of
professional broadcasters in a variety
of settings around the world.”
The Vancouver 2010 Winter Games
will feature athletes from more than
80 countries competing in 86 events
in seven sports, with media representatives covering the event for a worldwide audience of billions.
www.fohonline.com
2009 SEPTEMBER
9
International News
Assortment of Mics Complement Acoustic Design of Vienna’s Golden Hall
VIENNA, Austria —Vienna’s Grosser
Musikvereinssaal, also known as the Goldene Saal (Golden Hall), uses an assortment
of AKG microphones for Vienna’s Philharmonic Orchestra, including AKG C 12 VRs,
K 702s and a WMS 400 wireless system. The
mics are also now used for the annual New
Year’s Day Concert, which has been telecast
each year since 1959, and for numerous
lectures and public readings.
To serve the variety of public events,
the sound system uses four channels of
the AKG WMS 400 wireless system. A mobile lectern has been equipped with a CK
33 capsule on a modified GN 50 gooseneck
that can also be connected to a bodypack
transmitter to minimize the need for microphone cables. All of the microphones are
controlled by an AKG AS 8 automatic mixer
and monitored by AKG headphones using
the K 207 reference.
“The Golden Hall is simply the finest and
most beautiful concert hall in the world,”
said Alfred Reinprecht, AKG’s vice president
of marketing and product management.
“The acoustics are impeccable, the sound
system is extraordinary, and the venue is
designed beautifully. I couldn’t imagine a
better musical experience.”
Much of the musical experience at the
Golden Hall can be attributed to the design
of the building itself. A hollow space under
the wooden floor creates a resonant background; the ceiling, which is made of wood,
is hung from the rafters and gives the sound
in the hall extra dimensions; and the ceilings, balconies, and caryatids provide ideal
propagation of sound waves. Since the first
concert was held on January 6, 1870, the
Golden Hall has represented the finest in
acoustics, garnering praise from architects,
musicians and concert-goers from around
the world.
“The acoustics of the building are already unbeatable,” Reinprecht noted. “But
when you add the sound system that is in
place, it provides an up-front sound that is
simply beyond words.”
AKG C 12 VRs, K 702s and a WMS 400 wireless system are
used for the New Year’s Day Concert and other events.
Brian Eno’s Apollo:
Atmospheres and
Soundtracks Live at
London’s Science
Museum
LONDON — Brian Eno celebrated the
40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with the first of two live performances of
his 1983 composition Apollo: Atmospheres
and Soundtracks in the IMAX Cinema at London’s Science Museum.
The Science Museum asked Headtec’s
Mark Hornsby to provide the sound, and
Icebreaker’s FOH sound engineer Alexander
Bossew used a Soundcraft Vi6 digital console
for the show.
“I specified this, because it is so easy to
produce a warm sound without having to EQ
like mad,” Bossew said. “Also the few compressors that I used were working very discreetly.”
Bossew admitted that with only time for a
quick run through ahead of the performance
rather than full rehearsal, there had been little
time to purpose-configure the desk, which
was plugged straight into the cinema PA.
However, this hardly concerned him as the
musicians were so experienced. “They were
all aware of their own dynamics and so there
was little for me to correct at the desk end.”
However, the composition, adapted by
Jun Lee, required the use of a lot of reverb.
“The IMAX is completely dry, and I had to use
six different internal Lexicon reverbs, which
sounded excellent,” Bossew said, noting that
task alone consumed most of the one-hour
desk programming time that was allocated.
Headtec FOH sound engineer Alexander
Bossew used a Soundcraft Vi6 console.
10
SEPTEMBER 2009
www.fohonline.com
New Gear
IRIS-Net V2.1.1
Bosch’s Communications Systems Division announced the release of IRIS-Net V2.1.1 software. IRISNet V2.1.1, with new features developed for both live
audio and installation markets.
Enhancements include the addition of two, three,
four and five-way FIR-Drive DSP blocks for NetMax
and the new Scene Manager, which provides a new
level of customization for control and recall of DSP
parameters within NetMax.
IRIS-Net V2.1.1 also includes User Controls and
DSP Object Template Dialogs to further enhance the
GUI applications for setting up and controlling audio
systems. Additionally, IRIS-Net V2.1.1 now provides
up to 64 Control Layers.
irisnet.electrovoice.com
d&b Ti-Series
Following the launch of the T-Series
loudspeaker range earlier this year, d&b audiotechnik now offers the new Ti-Series —
loudspeaker systems and hardware fittings
for fixed installation use.
The T-Series includes the Ti10L line array
loudspeaker, Ti10P for point source usage
and the Ti subwoofer. The rigging hardware has been designed to be unobtrusive,
whether ground supported or flown, and
d&b offers an option to color-coordinate
both the system and rigging.
Like the T-Series, the Ti-Series ranks as d&b’s smallest line array or standalone point source
system and can address a wide range of small to medium sized installation applications.
The Ti10 cabinet has the same dimensions for both loudspeaker versions
(18.5 x 7.8 x 11.8 mm/inches) and is a passive 2-way design that houses two 6.5-inch drivers
and a 1.4-inch exit HF compression driver. At
the core of the design is a rotatable horn and
an acoustic lens within the loudspeaker grill
assembly.
The Ti-SUB shares the same width and
integrated rigging hardware as the Ti10L
for deployment either flown at the top of a
Ti10L array or as a separate column. It can
also be ground-stacked for use with either
of the Ti10 loudspeaker versions. It is used
to increase the low frequency headroom
and extend the bandwidth of a Ti10 column
down to 47 Hz. The bass-reflex design utilizes a high excursion 15-inch driver with a
neodymium magnet assembly and employs
d&b SenseDrive technology when driven by
the D12 amplifier.
dbaudio.com
Sennheiser Wireless evolution e 965 Microphone
The evolution e 965, Sennheiser’s
large-diaphragm condenser microphone,
is now available as a wireless version.
The MMK 965-1 microphone capsule attaches to both Sennheiser’s 2000 Series
and evolution wireless G3 wireless series
SKM handheld transmitters, letting users
of both series benefit from the dual-dia-
phragm of Sennheiser’s e 965 microphone.
Sennheiser’s ew 500-965 G3 system, which
is part of the evolution wireless G3 series,
is based around the MMK 965-1 and ships
with the EM 500 G3 receiver, a GA 3 rackmount kit and the SKM 500 G3 transmitter
with the MMK 965-1 capsule. The capsule’s
dual-diaphragm technology means it can
be switched between cardioid and supercardioid pick-up patterns with the flip of
a switch.
The MMK 965-1 microphone head is
included with the evolution wireless ew
500-965 G3 vocal set. It also can be ordered separately for use with any SKM
2000 handheld or evolution wireless G3
handheld SKM transmitter. The microphone capsule is available in traditional
black, nickel, and the blue “gunmetal”
color of the Sennheiser’s evolution 900
Series. MSRP: $758.48
sennheiserusa.com
On the Move
Ashly Audio has named John Sexton national sales manager. Sexton, who will be based
in Oklahoma, started out in the professional
audio industry at Altec Lansing Corporation
and has since gained 25 years of experience
in various regional, national and international
sales and marketing positions. He joins Ashly
Audio following seven years as vice president
of sales & marketing for Altec Lansing Technologies, Inc., Milford, Penn. Prior to that, Sexton had
a four-year stint as regional sales manager with
The Jones Sales Group, Flower Mound, Texas,
through 2001, representing Bosch Communications Systems and other product lines in the
Gulf Coast region.
ter nearly seven years as CEO of TC Group Americas. His appointment follows the company’s acquisition last year by private equity firm Transom
Capital Group. Maier will be based in Blue Microphone’s Westlake Village, Calif. headquarters.
Masque Sound has added Matt Peskie
to its sales team. Peskie, who will focus on
installations and production, served as monitor engineer with Avril
Lavigne’s Under My
Skin tour, production
manager for Jars of
Clay, monitor engineer
for Guster and as tour
manager, FOH engineer and monitor tech
Matt Peskie
for many other artists.
Point Source Audio (PSA) named Yvonne
Ho vice president of marketing. Prior to joining
Point Source Audio in 2008, Ho served as marketing director for Phonic Ear (now Front Row).
Riedel Communications added Thorsten Schulze to the
company’s RockNet
team as product manager for multimedia
and entertainment.
Schulze, former product manager at Optocore, has 20 years of
pro audio experience.
Thorsten Schulzer
No Doubt Tours
with JBL VerTec
Line Arrays
LAS VEGAS — Sound Image supported
the 2009 summer tour for No Doubt, building on the support the Escondido, Calif.based rental firm had provided for lead
singer Gwen Stefani’s previous solo tours
using a JBL VerTec line array system.
The tour, which was produced by Live
Nation, began at the Meadowlands Sports
Complex in East Rutherford, N.J. and ended
in Honolulu’s Neal S. Blaisdel Arena.
Along with opening acts including
Paramore and either The Sounds, Janelle
Monae or Bedouin Soundclash, fans got a
chance to see and hear the band that had
achieved sales of more than 16 million copies of their best-selling 1995 album, Tragic
Kingdom
The Sound Image audio crew reconfigured the large PA system for different
environments, based upon architectural
considerations in each building.
For typical outdoor “shed” venue situations, the main PA system contained up to
15 VT4889 full-size line array elements in
each main L/R cluster, with an array of eight
flown VT4880 full-size arrayable subwoofers
and nine to 12 VT4889 elements per side in
an auxiliary cluster. Four VT4880 subs were
located in the center barricade.
In arena scenarios, the system featured
15 VT4889 elements for each main cluster,
along with eight flown VT4880 subwoofers, nine VT4889 elements in each auxiliary
cluster and six VT4889 elements in the sidefacing outfill arrays, with an additional four
VT4880 ground-stacked subs per side.
Veteran concert soundmixer John
Kerns handled FOH mixing duties for the
tour, while Sound Image system tech John
Tompkins was responsible for system setup
on a daily basis.
“JBL’s VerTec system performed very
well for us in all types of venues,” Tompkins
said. “It’s always easy to fly, a real pleasure to
work with.”
According to Tompkins, the tour’s hectic schedule offered a few challenges.
“With our schedule being 3 ½ months
straight without going home, and having
two different opening acts each night, we
really had to focus on maintenance and cable clean-up every time we had the chance,
so there was not much downtime,” Tompkins said. ”Having said that, it was a pleasure working with a band full of good, professional individual musicians who went to
great lengths to know not just your name,
but what you did for them on tour, as well.”
Linda Evans
Blue Microphones has named John Maier
chief executive officer. Maier makes the move af-
News
Sound Image
supported the tour
with JBL gear.
14
SEPTEMBER 2009
www.fohonline.com
Showtime
California Mid-State Fair — Tim McGraw
Paso Robles Fairgrounds
Paso Robles, Calif.
son, Carrie Underwood, Black Eyed Peas,
REO Speedwagon, Styx, Journey, Heart,
Dave Koz and more).
Rigging: 16 CM 1-ton motors
Breakout Assemblies: Ramtech
Snake Assemblies: Ramtech
CREW
gear
MON
Consoles: Yamaha, Midas
Speakers/PMs: 18 Clair 12 AM,
L-Acoustics 115, ARCS, dv-SUB,
SB-218, Sennheiser G2
Amps: Clair/QSC, Crown MA5002
Processing: BSS, XTA
Mics: Sennheiser, Shure
VENUE
FOH Engineer: Patrick Coughlin
Monitor Engineers: Patricio Codoceo,
Mike Sosa
System Engineers: Patrick Coughlin,
Patricio Codoceo
Production Manager: Buddy Sokolik
Tour Managers: Various (Other series
performers included KISS, Kelly Clark-
Soundco
R&R Sound
ST
FOH
Consoles: Midas Heritage 3000, Yamaha PM5D
Speakers: 40 L-Acoustics V-DOSC, 28
subs, 4 dv-DOSC, 12 ARCs
Amps: 60 Crown MA5002s
Processing: XTA, BSS, Lexicon
Power Distro: Skjonberg
Great Western Fan Festival
ST
VENUE
GEAR
Save Mart Center
Fresno, Calif.
FOH
Console: DiGiCo D5
Speakers: 22 Meyer Sound MILO, 2
MILO 120, 6 MSL-4, 6 DF-4, 8 UPM-1P
Processing: Galileo
Mics: 8 Shure UHF-R with Shure Beta
87C, 10 Shure Beta 58, 2 Shure SM81, 2
Shure 56, 1 AKG D 112, 4 AKG C 480, 5
AKG C 419, 4 AKG C 418
Rigging: CM Lodestar
CREW
FOH Engineer: Rob Snyder
Monitor Engineer: Tim James
Systems Engineer: Ryan Wissink
Production Manager: Wayne
Backward
FOH System Techs: Mark Willhoite,
Paul Alonzo
MON
Console: Crest X Monitor
Speakers/PMs: 10 Meyer Sound PSM-2,
4 UPM-1P, 8 Shure PSM 700
Soundco
Live Light
Entertainment
Miramichi Culture Fest 2009
VENUE
GEAR
Miramichi Agricultural Exhibition
Miramichi City, NB Canada
FOH
Console: Yamaha PM5D
Speakers: Dynacord Cobra 4-System:
6 Cobra-4-Far, 12 Cobra-4-Top,
24 Cobra PHW Sub
Amps: 14 Dynacord L2400
Processing: 6 Dynacord DSP 2400,
Klark-Teknik SQ1G
Mics: Shure, Sennheiser, AKG
Power Distro: SSI custom
Rigging: 2 Dynacord bumpers,
CM 1-ton motors
Breakout Assemblies: custom
CREW
FOH Engineer: Evan Cormier
Monitor Engineer: Nick Ross
Production Manager: Lee Forster
Soundco
SSI Audio
16
SEPTEMBER 2009
www.fohonline.com
ST
Snake Assemblies: SPL
custom 300’ snake
MON
Console: Yamaha PM5D
Speakers/PMs: 10 Electro-Voice
PX1121M, 4 EV QRx 115, 4 EV QRx 218,
3 Shure PSM-600
Amps: 4 Electro-Voice CP4000S
Processing: 7 Klark-Teknik SQ1G
Mics: Shure, Sennheiser, AKG
Power Distro: SSI custom
ST
Duke Ellington Jazz Festival
VENUE
GEAR
National Sylvan Theater
Washington Monument
Washington D.C.
FOH
Console: Midas Heritage 1000
Speakers: 16 Meyer Sound MILO,
8 Meyer 650-P, 4 Meyer UPJ,
2 Meyer CQ-1
Processing: Galileo 616,
TC Electronic M2000/M-One,
Lexicon LXP-15/PCM 42, Yamaha
SPX90
Mics: Earthworks
Rigging: Sapsis Rigging
Breakout Assemblies: Whirlwind
Snake Assemblies: Whirlwind
CREW
FOH Engineers: Bill Wynn, David
Brotman
Monitor Engineer: Chris Prinzivalli
Systems Engineer: Michael
Shoulson
Production Manager: Jeff Anthony
FOH System Tech: Mark Costa
MON
Speakers: 8 Meyer Sound USM100P, 4 Meyer UM-1P, 2 Meyer
UPA-1P
Processing: XTA GQ800
Mics: Shure, AKG, Beyerdynamic
Power Distro: LEX
Soundco
DBS Audio
Systems Inc.
Promise Keepers 20th Anniversary
VENUE
GEAR
Folsom Field
Boulder, Colo.
FOH
Console: Digidesign Venue
Speakers: 18 L-Acoustics VDOSC,
24 ARCS
Amps: Lab.gruppen
Processing: XTA
Mics: Shure
CREW
FOH Engineer: Jeff Preiss
Monitor/System Engineer: Bill Hart
Production Manager: Dave Hash
FOH System Tech: Casey McDaniel
ST
MON
Speakers: EAW SM200 18
Amps: Crown
Mics: Shure
Soundco
The Initial
Production
Group
Big Country Bash
VENUE
GEAR
Water Works Park
Des Moines, Iowa
FOH
Console: Yamaha M7CL-48
Speakers: Martin Audio W8LC Line
Array
Amps: QSC
Processing: Ashly
Power Distro: Motion Labs
CREW
Light This
Productions,
LLC
FOH Engineer: Karl Knudson
Monitor Engineer: Randy Harmon
Systems Engineer: Brian Ingwell
(Go Audio)
Production Manager: Chris
Timmons
FOH System Techs: Eric Williamson,
Josh Kaiser, Justin Schuck
MON
Speakers: Martin Audio LE400,
Meyer Sound 700-HP
Amps: QSC
Processing: Ashly
We
Want You!
FOH
wants
your
gig
shots, horror stories and
resume
highlights!
Go
to
www.fohonline.com/submissions
to send us your Showtime pics,
Nightmare stories and In The
Trenches stats. Or e-mail
[email protected]
for more info. We cover the
industry
— and that means
you!
Soundco
ST
www.fohonline.com
2009 SEPTEMBER
17
Robert Collins
I
t could be argued that FOH mixer Robert
Collins has seen some of the greatest live
rock ‘n’ roll shows ever. Actually, that would
be a short debate, since Collins has stood in
front of a laundry list of legends over the
past number of decades, including this past
summer’s run of 14 shows in the States with
Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood.
Collins spent a few minutes between
sound check and curtain on his tour bus to
talk about the tour, gear from around the
world and hiding his nicotine habit from his
mother. The last bit there is off the record,
just so you know.
is drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr., bassist Willie
Weeks, Chris Stainton on keyboards and
background vocalists Michelle John and
Sharon White. I feel that I mix a new show
every night.
Too bad, because you could just program the show and go home.
I can’t program. (Laughs) I can’t even
program my bloody laptop. Everybody
laughs. I use a digital desk just like an
analog desk. No cues, nothing. If it doesn’t
come on it’s because I haven’t switched it
on. I take full responsibility.
“I’m a live engineer, and I do it for the
audience and the show.”
FOH: This tour is such a short run. Does
that put more pressure on you?
Robert Collins: Yes, in a way. A lot of
big tours take a few shows to settle down,
band included. We haven’t got that many,
so we’ve got to hit it off the bat. But, no
more pressure than normal. I take every
show the same. Every one has got to be
as good as you can get it, otherwise you
just get frustrated anyway. Of course, they
don’t sound check. So, the lights go on, we
make the sign of the cross and see what
happens.
You’ve been out with Eric for so long. Do
you know what to expect?
Well, it changes with different bands,
so some songs are the same and some
songs are not the same. That’s the beauty with Eric. It’s always different, which is
great. If it was the same, it would be (he
gives a thumbs-down gesture). This band
How did having Steve on board change
the show?
Well, we’re doing both Steve’s songs
and Eric’s songs. Steve’s singing and that’s
a big change only from Eric’s standpoint.
I’ve really enjoyed it. I love these two together.
So, what do you have to get your head
around when you hear “14-show run?”
It’s totally different, but the thing is
that we didn’t have time to think about
this anyway. Starting off at the beginning
of the year we went off to Japan, Australia
and New Zealand with a different band.
Then we came into London and changed
some members of the band and we did
12 shows in the Albert Hall. The morning
after our last show at the Albert we were
on a plane to come straight to New York
to set up for this band and do a week’s
Debi Moen
FOH Interview
By DavidJohnFarinella
rehearsing.
Are you carrying or renting?
We carry our front of house and monitor desks. Everything else we’re renting.
got on a show that you have to have with
you wherever you go now?
That would never happen. I don’t think
like that.
What are you asking for?
A professional PA. (Laughs) Wheels
to the back, chicken wire to the front.
We’ve used anything from V-DOSC to
VerTec to Meyer to d&b. In Australia we
used VerTec, in New Zealand it was an EV
system. We’ve been mostly using VerTec
on this bit of shows.
You’re an old-school analog cat. Was it
hard to make the jump to digital?
It wasn’t hard to make the jump. It’s
hard to know what to do with it. It’s hard
to make it work. No, it wasn’t hard, because
I just take it as sound. That’s the way that I
look at it. I try not to complicate it. I try not
to confuse it. I try to keep the same thing
in my head as 30 years ago when I walked
into a place and went, ‘My, God, it’s got to
be better than this.’ I’m a fan of all things,
anything that makes it better or more interesting. So, analog I love. And there is a lot of
the little digital domain that I love. There’s
lots of it that I don’t love, as well, but I tend
not to dwell on it, otherwise it eats you up a
little. You make your choice, you go with it.
How does that change your mix?
Well, it shouldn’t change my mix, but it
certainly does. It’s just the way that different systems deliver. Some systems deliver
really well and there’s plenty of space. It’s a
bit like depth of field. On some PAs it’s very
difficult to layer the instruments. Then there
are other PAs, where you can set things
back and still hear them clearly. There are
a lot of systems where they just give it full
on, so you’re forever playing to get them to
sit right.
Do you have a preference?
Not really. Some are easier than others. Some of them have their own type of
sound and then others have no sound at
all, they just give you everything at volume
and you try to create a sound with it. That’s
a great thing, or a bad thing, depending on
whether you can get it together or not. I
don’t know how to answer that. I’ve always
had favorites of things, but then you go to
different continents or different countries
and where your favorite was the best in the
last continent that you were on, it’s totally
different now.
Has there been a piece of gear that you’ve
What’s the trust level like between you
and Eric? I imagine it’s off the charts.
I hope so. As we first said, ‘As soon as
that day comes that you think I don’t know
what’s going on, then I’m no good for you
and you’re no good for me.’ We have our
moments where we work together on
things. It’s great working with Eric and I
love working with Eric. Fortunately, I’ve
been very very lucky, because everyone I’ve
worked with I’ve tried to have a relationship
with. It’s pointless otherwise.
Did having Steve along change your decisions on gear?
Steve never said anything, really. I came
along with the microphones that I like to
use, including the AT (4055) mics that I use
for Eric’s vocals for his vocals.
continued on page 20
18
SEPTEMBER 2009
www.fohonline.com
Debi Moen
FOH Interview
FOH Interview
Headline
continued from page 18
Why those mics?
Because the spill sounds so much better in them and both Eric and Steve sing
off the mic quite a bit. Especially blues
things with Eric. He’s into playing guitar.
Although he’s a great singer, sometimes
he’s maybe two feet from the mic. He likes
that. It’s art to him. So, we’ve always liked
these mics. The spill quality is great and often Eric’s vocal mic is my overhead as well.
Deck
That must be fun to mix…
Oh, yeah, it’s stunning. Abe’s drum kit
has big cymbals. I remember years ago
when the singer wasn’t singing you used
to mute the microphone and when he
sang you’d open it up. You can’t do that
with this, the whole sound changes. Everything is a blend.
Are you using anything special to monitor the mix?
No, I’m only listening through the PA.
I’m only there for the audience. That’s the
way I look at it. I’m in the middle of the
hall to try and get it so the audience can
hear everything that they want to hear,
that they can pick things up, that it’s not
a big mess. That’s what I’m there for. I’m
not there to do live tapes or anything else.
I’m not interested. I’m a live engineer and
I do it for the audience and the show and
hopefully everybody walks out singing
the songs.
Robert Collins
Atsunori Abe, Former
Audio-Technica Executive
Atsunori Abe
Atsunori Abe, former general manager of
Audio-Technica Corporation’s International Department (Japan), died on July 10, 2009. Abe
passed away in his native Japan and is survived
by two brothers, a sister, his wife and their three
daughters.
Atsunori Abe (pronounced AH-bay) joined
A-T in 1978, and in addition to holding the position of the general manager of Audio-Technica
Corp. International Department, he also served
on the company’s board of directors. He retired
in 2005.
During his tenure at the Audio-Technica,
Abe helped the company grow internationally and was instrumental in launching such
products as the AT4033 Cardioid Condenser
Microphone, part of A-T’s 40 Series line of microphone and headphone products. Abe also was
involved in the introduction of A-T’s 30 Series,
Artist Elite Series, including the 5000 Series UHF
Wireless System, and Audio-Technica’s line of
professional and consumer headphones.
Abe helped Audio-Technica develop a relationship with the Olympics, beginning with
the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992. Abe also
helped open the Technica House/AstroStudio,
located in Tokyo. Abe traveled to almost all
trade shows where Audio-Technica exhibited.
“Abe-san led the growth of global sales for
Audio-Technica Corporation with a truly international perspective, combined with traditional
Japanese values and culture,” said Phil Cajka,
Audio-Technica U.S. president/CEO. Cajka continued, “He was a multi-faceted, well-rounded
individual. Abe-san was a trusted business associate, teacher of Japanese culture and business practices, had a good sense of adventure
and humor, and he was someone who truly enjoyed American country music, a fine red wine
and a good cigar. His legacy and contributions
will long be remembered. We extend our deepest sympathies to his family, friends and all who
knew him.”
OBITUARY
20
SEPTEMBER 2009
www.fohonline.com
Buyers Guide
Digital Snakes
By BillEvans
RSS by Roland digital snakes – the S-0815, left, and S-1608, right.
T
he days of hauling tons of copper around to get the audio signal from the stage to the
console are rapidly fading. This short chart will give you an idea of what is out there
that will let you carry a good reel of Cat5 cable instead of a giant multi-core snake.
One important note: Some of these are stand-alone products and some are part of console
systems. Mackie, Midas, DiGiCo and A&H are all part of their digital console systems. Also,
at least one big one was left out because they make a technology, not a product. Audinate’s
Dante system is something that manufacturers can (and have) incorporated into their gear
— a list that includes Yamaha with Dante cards for several of their mixers and Lab.gruppen,
which has the Dante technology built into several of its power amps. Confused yet?
Aviom Pro64 series gear, including,
from top, the RCI remote control interface, the 6416m mic input module
and the MCS mic control surface.
Model
Form Factor
Sends Returns
I/o
Cable
Aphex Systems 828M Anaconda
aphex.com
Rack mount
64 x 64
ADAT, Ethernet, Coax (MADI)
Multi-mode or single mode fiber
Allen & Heath iLive T snake
ilive-digital.com
Built into console
63 x 32
XLR 1/4
Cat5
Aviom Pro64
aviom.com
Standalone, plug-in card, rack mount,
built into console, stage box
Modular, in groups of 16
Mic, line AES 3, Yamaha
Cat5, Cat6, Fiber
DiGiCo
digico.biz
Console system with remote racks
Up to 512 inputs and outputs at
96KHz
Analog, AES, Ethersound, Aviom,
Optocore, MADI
MADI BNC and Optocore
LightViper Series 32 - 1832
lightviper.com
Stage box/rack mount/MY card
32 x 8 per block
Analog in / analog & digital out
Fiber
lightviper.com
Rack mount/MY cards
32 x 8
AES3 digital in / analog & digital out
Fiber
lightviper.com
Rack mount
8x8
AES3 digital or line level analog in /
AES3 AND analog line level out
fiber
Link DGlink
linkusa-inc.com
Standalone, rack mount, stage box
64 x 64
XLR and/or multipin
Cat6
Mackie DS3232
mackie.com
Rack Mount
32 x 32
XLR
Cat5
RSS by Roland
S-4000 32x8 System
rolandsystemsgroup.com
Rack mount, modular plug-in cards
for configurability
32 x 8
Analog (XLR) or Digital (AES/EBU)
Cat5
RSS by Roland
S-1608 System
rolandsystemsgroup.com
Rack mount
16 x 8
Analog (XLR)
Cat5
Soundcraft Vi Series
soundcraft.com
Stage box
64 x 32
Analog XLR, AES-3, Aviom, Cobranet
Cat5 Standard, Fiber Option
Whirlwind E Snake/E Snake 2
whirlwindusa.com
Rack mount/plug in cards
8 to whatever you need
Phoenix connectors
Cat5e
Whirlwind C series
whirlwindusa.com
Rack mount
8 channels per unit
XLR
Cat5e
Yamaha SB168-ES
yamahaca.com
Stage box
16 x 8
EtherSound 24 bit 100 BASE-TX
Cat5e
22
SEPTEMBER 2009
www.fohonline.com
Yamaha SB168-ES
Aphex Systems 828M Anaconda, front and back view
Whirlwind E Snake 2
LightViper Series 32
Latency
Max run
Data format
Audio, data and other control on
same line?
MSRP
<50 msec
1.25 miles
Proprietary
Yes
$5,100 for 32 x 8 AES i/o
MixRack analog input to surface
analog output is 1.1 msec
400 feet
Proprietary ( ACE )
No
From $16,998 including console
surface and stage rack
<0.8 msec
400 feet
A-NET, proproetary
Yes
$22,500
N/A
N/A
MADI and/or Optocore
Yes
$7,000
In to out one way - 630 msec
2km multi mode, 20km single mose
TDM (time division multiplexing)
Yes
$5,900
20 msec
2km multi-mode, 20km single mode
TDM (time division multiplexing)
Yes
$5,700
Analog in to analog out - 630 msec.
Digital in to digital out - 20 msec.
2km multi-mode; 20km single mode
TDM (Time Division Multiplexing)
Yes
$4,500 w/ install fiber; $7,700 w/
TAC4 fiber
EtherSound 125μs plus 1.4μs per additional network node
100 meters
EtherSound, AES, Dante
Yes
$12,603 (32 x 16 config)
0.5 ms additional @ 96kHz
300 feet
U-Net
Yes
$5,599
0.375 msec (<1.2 msec round trip
including A/D and D/A)
100 meters (2km using RSS S-OPT
optical converter)
Proprietary (Roland Ethernet Audio
Communication)
Yes
$7,995
0.375 msec (<1.2 msec round trip
including A/D and D/A)
100 meters (2km using RSS S-OPT
optical converter)
Proprietary (Roland Ethernet Audio
Communication)
Yes
$3,595
1.8 msec at 48K
300 feet Cat5, 2K Multi-Mode fiber,
15k single mode fiber
MADI
No
$74,000 for Vi4 Console System
Protocol dependent
328 ft
CobraNet, EtherSound, Dante
Yes
$4,000 to $15,000
Variable
328ft
CobraNet
Yes
$12,000
N/A
100 meters depending on cable used
EtherSound
Yes
$4,499 (3U-size stage box 16x8)
www.fohonline.com
2009 SEPTEMBER
23
Road Test
QSC K Series
I
have a great deal of respect for the
QSC name. They have been building
rock-solid amplifiers and gear for decades, and the high quality of their products has made them one of the icons of
the sound biz. That said, whenever I review equipment from the big boys I tend
to put that gear under a microscope.
The Gear
RT
The K series consist of four boxes.
The K8 is a 2-way enclosure with one
8-inch speaker and one 1.75-inch compression driver. The K10 is also a 2-way
sporting one 10-inch speaker and a
1.75-inch compression driver. The K12
(you guessed it) is a 2-way box with a
12-inch speaker and a 1.75 compression
driver. That leaves us with the KSub. The
name speaks for itself; it is a subwoofer
loaded with two 12-inch speakers.
You may be asking yourself how
many watts each of these enclosures
By JamieRio
sound and is 23.7 inches by 14 inches by
14 inches. The KSub carries a little more
weight at 74lbs; it pumps out 130dBs
of bass but is only 26 inches high by 14
inches wide by 28.1 inches deep.
K Series amps all have thermal limiting and overheating muting. The transducers (speakers) also have thermal
limiting and excursion limiting. Other
features I really like on the boxes are
the high frequency flat or vocal boost
switch and the low frequency ext sub,
normal or deep switch. These switches
make a fairly dramatic change to the
sound. All right, that is the short version
of the features that the K Series incorporate. As I said, there are many more, but
I don’t want to take up this entire review
on just the features.
So, on to the gigs.
The Gigs
RT
For my field tests I received a pair of
All four configurations sport the same
1000-watt power amp… Also, all three
of the 2-way enclosures sport the same
1.75-inch compression driver.
produce. Herein lies the genius of the “K”
series. All four configurations sport the
same 1,000-watt power amp. In terms
of research and development and manufacturing, building one power platform
to fit all the enclosures is brilliantly economical. Typically, manufacturers design
one or more power amps for their enclosures. This practice is more expensive
with regards to development and tooling for production. But one amp beautifully streamlines the process.
QSC has also made certain that each
box has more than enough power (1,000
watts) to properly handle a variety of
sound reinforcement situations. Also, all
three of the 2-way enclosures sport the
same 1.75-inch compression driver —
another economical move. The 2-ways
are made of a high impact black ABS
plastic and the sub is built from birch
plywood painted with black textured
paint. Each box is packed with features.
Rather than list all of these features, I
K8s and a pair of K12s plus a KSub. My
first outing was with the 8s and 12s. I set
up sound at the Concours d’Elegance car
show in Pasadena, Calif. and I needed to
spread a dozen speaker boxes throughout the show.
The first advantage I had with the
QSC speakers was with a feature called
Tilt-Direct. This would allow me to either
set the boxes straight on a tri-pod or tilt
them down at a 7.5 degree angle. The tilt
was perfect to direct my enclosures toward my audience. The QSCs were used
for announcements and canned music. I
engaged the vocal boost and the deep
bass switch on the boxes. The quality of
sound emanating from the K speakers
was excellent.
I was especially impressed with the
K8s. These little 8-inch enclosures had
so much power and created such high
quality of sound, I had to investigate
them in more depth. What I found out is
that all the K-Series two-way enclosures
All the K-Series two-way enclosures
incorporate Directivity Matched
Transition (DMT).
will cover the ones that I think are pertinent for sound companies or bands that
would be purchasing these boxes.
The K8 weighs in at a mere 27 lbs.;
it produces 127dBs of SPL and has a
height of 17.7 inches, a width of 11
inches and a depth of 10.6 inches. The
K10 tips the scale at 32 lbs., produces
129dBs of sound and is 20.4 inches high
by 12.6 inches wide by 11.8 inches deep.
The K12 lifts at 41 lbs., pushes 131dBs of
24
SEPTEMBER 2009
incorporate Directivity Matched Transition (DMT). This means that the highfrequency coverage angle is matched to
the natural coverage angle of the woofer
at the crossover frequency. As a result,
the frequency response remains very
uniform across the service area of the
box. This technology not only sounds
really nice and smooth, but it certainly
raises the bar for this type of enclosure.
The K Speakers performed beauti-
The QSC K Series, from left: the K12, the
K10, the K8 and the KSub.
fully at my car show, so I next
tried the K12s as monitors
during a blues performance I
was mixing. I set the horn to
vocal boost and the woofer
to normal (using the switches on the back of the boxes).
Add 1,000 watts to the frequency contours, and I had a
pair of very tough monitors.
There was plenty of SPL and
headroom to make my performers happy. And I think
that we can agree that if the
musicians are happy with the
stage mix, then we will ultimately have a good show. I
used the K12s as monitors
for a variety of other shows,
and each time I had equal
success.
After that, I took out the
K8s, the K12s and the KSub.
I was operating sound for a
jazz trio made up of a keyboard player, guitarist and
a singer. The keyboard was
covering the bass part with
his left hand and had no
amplification other than the
QSC K system. I used the K8s
as my mains and the K12s
as the monitors. For a small
system, I was able to accurately reproduce the proper
bass tone plus capture all the
nuances of the jazz guitarist
and singer.
To summarize my experience with the QSC K-Series,
I was very impressed and
pleased with the sound quality and power of these boxes.
If I have one criticism it is
that the plastic boxes scratch
pretty easily. If I had some of
these boxes, I would be certain to get the optional tote
bags for them.
www.fohonline.com
A closer look at the speakers’ Tilt-Direct feature.
The back of the K8.
QSC K Series
Pros: Great sounding, high SPL, light weight, handsome.
Cons: ABS plastic mars easily.
How Much: MSRP: K8 $649; K10 $699; K12 $799; K Sub $1,049.
Road Test
By DaveStevens
U
nless you’ve been living in a cave somewhere for the last year or so, chances
are you’ve at least heard about and
probably have been impacted in some way by
the changing regulatory landscape for wireless mics and monitoring systems.
That Was Then…
RT
Back in the days of yore, using wireless
was less complex than it is now. There wasn’t
the variety of over-the-air TV offerings. Venues
were smaller and not housed together in complexes, or used in the density that many urban
areas endure in the present day. Chances are
wherever you worshipped had only a minimal sound system and not a production that
would rival most commercial broadcasts. The
theater folks have dealt with multiple radio
units for several years, but only over the last
decade or so have concert sound reinforcement types managed an increasingly crowded
spectrum.
Back in the day, we’d wire up a couple of
radio mics, perhaps a guitar rig or two, and call
it a done deal. These days it seems nearly everything that is practical to have wireless, we
make wireless — and even some things that
aren’t so practical. In the theatrical, broadcast
and production show worlds, the use of radio
equipment is off the hook.
Gone are the days when you can just poke
around and hope to find a slice of clear air in
which to park your mics or in-ear packs. These
days, you need basic knowledge of how the
gear works and how best to integrate it into a
crowded spectrum.
This is Now
RT
At our show (Cirque du Soliel’s KA at the
MGM Grand in Las Vegas) we coordinate not
only the 181 UHF carriers (frequencies) that
are used on our show, but also an additional
100 plus that are used in other venues on the
property. We also coordinate with outside artists coming into our arena.
The person for whom this responsibility
lies is the lead RF tech, CJ Hermann. CJ employs
the latest in tools and technology to maintain
the show, from high end spectrum analyzers to
comprehensive software that plots frequency
coordination. CJ not only deals with the usual
wireless mics and musician ear packs, but also
a variety of other devices including an extensive radio communications system and an IFB
and “listen only” radio comm systems.
While we have the budget to operate an
elaborate monitoring environment, most people don’t. One of the greatest tools for determining where best to locate your radio gear in
terms of frequencies, particularly in this everchanging environment, is a radio frequency
spectrum analyzer (SA).
A high-end SA comes at a significant cost
and involves a steep learning curve. Most people need something less expensive and easier
to use. That’s where a new crop of low-cost,
use-right-out-of-the-box devices come into
play.
Recently, CJ and I have been supplementing our current tools with the Kaltman Creations Invisible Waves IW1800 PC-based radio
spectrum analyzer. We’ve found it to be a good
tool to supplement our test environment. I
think it’s a good value for the average user of
wireless audio gear: The Invisible Waves works
in the same way a traditional audio analyzer
works for sound, except this displays radio frequencies.
Kaltman Creations IW1800
Easy to Set Up and Use
RT
The hardware is packaged well, easy to
set up and configure, and it’s portable. It can
be operated on an included battery if required. The hardware is a modified Winrado
G305 series receiver, but it’s not the hardware
that makes this package useful for the typical
sound person. In this case, it’s all about the
software.
Kaltman Creations has taken an existing
hardware design and engineered software
geared toward sound reinforcement users.
The included Invisible Waves software and
documentation allow even a novice user to
get up to speed quickly and start making informed decisions about frequency coordination.
We installed the software and drivers on a
nearly five-year-old Pentium III laptop running
Windows XP Pro SP3. The system found the
hardware, we started the program, entered
the serial number and we were ready to start
measuring.
Don’t Toss the Manual
RT
When the software first starts, there
aren’t many options available in the menu.
As the program relies on right mouse clicks,
one would be wise to read the manual prior
to installing the drivers and software.
While the software is for the most part
intuitive to use, unless you know how to access some of the features not found in the
menu, you won’t be able to get the most out
of the software. Reading the manual is particularly necessary if you’ve never used an
RF spectrum analyzer before.
There is enough information to guide you
to making your first measurements. In the
control panel, you define your sweep range
and activate the sweep, and you’ve made
your first measurement. That measurement
is going to show you the congestion in that
area, but won’t necessarily get you closer to
plotting frequencies for your devices. There
is a zoom function called “ROI” or Regions of
Interest that allows you to look closer at a
particular part of the sweep.
Profiles and Preferences
RT
While you can use the Invisible Waves
analyzer in a basic form to see problem areas
in portions of the spectrum, the value of this
tool increases when configured for a specific
event or group of radio devices. There are profiles and preferences that allow you to configure the tool, specific to your environment, as
well as recommending frequencies based on
the current state of the spectrum, using parameters you define, specific to the gear you
are using. You are able to easily store these
parameters for later recall or to define base
settings for shows or groups of devices. This
allows you to rapidly repeat measurements
of the same equipment in various locations.
For example, on a tour where you have the
same gear everyday, but are also in different
venues every day, you can use the profiles to
speed up frequency plotting.
One such example is a display window
called “Monitored Frequencies.” The user can
configure the software to monitor 10 frequencies in a bar graph form. These frequencies can be titled with meaningful names instead of frequency numbers, which makes it
easier to keep an eye on specific channels.
Green vs. Red
RT
Instead of seeing the
meter as 473.350MHz,
for example, you can
define it however you
wish. You could call it
“Lead Vocal.” The color
of the bar is set by an
alert threshold that is
adjustable in the preferences. The bar is green
in color when above the
threshold, red when below.
It could also be used
in a crowded environment to alert you to
problematic
frequencies.
For example, if
there was a meeting in
the next ballroom that
had some frequencies
that might interfere
with you, you could set
the alert to those freqs
and know when the signal was getting strong
enough to impact your
event. (Although I don’t
know if Kaltman had
this in mind when designing the program, it
was something we discovered while using the
tool.)
The data in the
Monitored Frequencies
window (as well as the
data in the other main
data windows) can be
exported to the system
clipboard, file, or printer as a BMP, JPG, PNG,
Metadata or text/data.
Finding White Spaces
Kaltman Creations IW1800 is a PC-based RF spectrum analyzer — in other words,
a “white space finder.”
A zoom function called Regions of Interest lets users look closer at a particular part of
the sweep.
RT
Another feature that could be specific to your application or event is what
the program calls the “White Spaces and
Optimal Transmitter Locations.” I think it
should have been called “Hey, where can I
put my stuff?”
You’ll need three pieces of info to use
this feature. You’ll need to determine what
the threshold is — for example, your noise
floor, or a signal level you find acceptable to
use, as the basis for the calculations. You’ll
also need the bandwidth that your device
uses, plus the minimum required spacing
for your devices.
Based on your parameters and current
conditions in the spectrum at your location, the software will plot recommended
frequencies for your devices. The software
is capable of plotting 24 frequencies, as
long as there is available spectrum.
The downside to this approach is that
not all devices have the same bandwidth
or band guard, so using different devices
could require multiple passes. Additionally,
not all devices are able to operate over various bands, so in some applications a traditional intermodulation calculation might
be a more appropriate approach.
For many users, though, particularly
those with either one brand of gear operating in the same block or users in less con-
www.fohonline.com
gested areas, this feature will easily assist
them in coordinating radio frequencies.
All in all, Kaltman Creations Invisible
Waves package will reduce the effort required by users to deploy wireless solutions
in an ever-changing environment. While it
won’t replace the need for top line radio
spectrum analyzers for power users, those
users could benefit from adding the device
to the quiver of tools used by today’s radio
engineers.
IW1800 RF Spectrum Analyzer
Made By: Kaltman Creations LLC
(www.rfanalyzers.com)
What It Is: A radio frequency spectrum
analyzer, or “white space finder”
Who It’s For: RF techs and others who
need to monitor radio frequencies for
available white space for gear relying
on wireless signals.
Pros: It will reduce the effort required
by users to deploy wireless solutions in
challenging RF environments.
Cons: It won’t replace the need for topline radio spectrum analyzers for power
users.
How Much: MSRP: $1,495.
2009 SEPTEMBER
25
And the Winners Are . . .
T
he votes were tallied, and some were close, some not so much … but the readers of
FOH have chosen the best regional pro audio companies in North America. There are
new faces and repeat “offenders.” One has been at it a little more then three years, another is celebrating a 30th anniversary. All have a passion for audio, an inimitable story, and
a dedication to
their clients so powerful that their peers — including competitors
UT
SO
HW ES T REGI O N
Hyacinth and Chris Belcher, back row. Standing, L-R: Colin
Russell, Jason Chamlee, Tyler Johnston, Jacob Chamley, Russ
Purdue and Barry Pharr.
Onstage Systems
Dallas, Texas
nstage Systems is in its second generation, with brother-and-sister-partners
Hyacinth and Chris Belcher literally
growing up backstage as their parents, Charles
O
RT
NO
HWEST REGI ON
The Morgan Sound support staff, from left, first row: Rose
Andrews, Susan Morgan, Bruce Girard, Pete Munson, Charlie
Morgan. Standing, from left, Shaun Olsen, Adam Kosie, Steve
Gregory, Matt Smith and Stephen Weeks.
Morgan Sound
S
Lynnwood, Wash.
teve Boyce is proud to tell you he’s a
“Seattle guy, fifth generation,” and
that fact has helped him survive and
thrive in the finicky Northwest. His compa26
SEPTEMBER 2009
By KevinM.Mitchell
— were compelled to take time to nominate them and vote for them as best in their region.
Only one soundco, however, will leave the stage on Nov. 20 with the annual Parnelli
Hometown Hero award. The full Parnelli awards ballot is now being prepared and will be
online at www.parnelliawards.com soon. Here are the winners of the six regional Hometown
Hero titles for 2009.
and Vicki Belcher, ran sound for area acts. “They
founded the company in 1978, and they were
very much ‘the show must go on’ people,
so from age five, we grew up with that
mentality,” Hyacinth explains. “If we
were sick, then we were sick backstage.
The event came first.”
Hyacinth studied lighting in college, and Chris got additional experience in the staging department of their
high school. In 2006, they took over the
family business, with Hyacinth as president
and Chris as vice president. The full service
technical productions company provides systems and equipment for audio, lighting, backline, video and staging. But it’s their work in audio that puts them in the spotlight.
Hyacinth admits that while the company
was established and doing well, it took about a
year for everyone to adjust to new leadership.
Helping smooth the transition was the team
that was already in place. “Most managers have
been here over 10 years. We have a good group
of people who are really passionate about what
we do here.”
While she witnessed how hard her parents
worked, she gained new appreciation for all
that is involved in running a company like Onstage. “As we have taken over, we have so much
more respect for them. There are daily struggles,
but I’ve grown to love the business even more.
We jumped in full force, and we live, eat and
breathe the business.”
The year 1982 was the beginning of many
good things for the company: That’s the year
they got a George Strait tour and signed up the
Dallas Symphony Orchestra — two clients that
are still with them today. For years, they’ve been
doing the Dallas Cowboy Thanksgiving show in
addition to other events at that stadium. Other
events of note include the Oklahoma University
Graduation Ceremony and the Texas State Fair
Laser Light Show. Last year they did Ozzfest.
“That was a lot of planning, a lot of fun and a lot
of speakers.” Rounding out their project list are
corporate events as far away as Seattle.
Today they have 24 full-time employees,
plus freelancers and do around 300 shows a
year. “Diversification equals success, and having a crew that can do rock ‘n’ roll, corporate,
churches and the symphony projects works for
us. It also keeps us on our toes!”
When it’s noted there are few women in
this business, she laughs. “My parents used to
tell me that there’s no way a woman could a run
a company like this in such a male-dominated
industry, but that just made me want to do
it more — I mean, I grew up playing in drum
corps!”
Belcher cites two reasons for the company’s
success: The first is customer service. “We’re surrounded by people who care. Each person at
the company puts their own name on a project
in addition to the company’s name, and that’s
how we keep clients long-term.” Secondly, and
of equal importance, is their equipment, including gear from Clair Bros., Yamaha, Digidesign
and more. “We always want the best, the highest end. We literally work on it on a daily business. This has been a good business model for
us.”
As to the honor of being named best in the
Southwest region: “I think it’s a pretty cool thing!
It’s good to see hard work pays off … though it
makes me want to work harder.”
ny has once again been voted to be the
Northwest Hometown Hero winner
and regional finalist for the Parnelli Hometown Hero award. But his
path getting there has certainly
had some curves.
He was a musician, starting on accordion, and then
switching to guitar before moving to bass. Naturally, a love of
audio developed. By age 12, he
was building speaker cabinets in
his dad’s shop. That was the year he
formed his first band, and whenever he
played with other groups, their superior
system was used. Boyce would then work
the board.
When he was older, he realized that he
“needed to earn real money,” and he started
working with friend and fellow band mate
Charlie Morgan, who had founded Morgan
Sound in the 1973. Boyce did that for a
while, went off and founded his own sound
company and kept busy. Then here’s the
twist: Microsoft called. They were putting
sound to their first CD ROM (a dictionary)
and called Boyce in for the project. At first
he worked as a vendor, then as an employee, and his stint there lasted seven years.
In 2001, he ran into Morgan Sound partners Charlie and Susan Morgan at a NAMM
show. The Morgans had grown their company successfully, though their attention
was focused on the sales and installation
part of the business. Conversation ensued,
and Boyce rejoined the company. He was
to handle the live sound division as their
sound reinforcement director.
“We do quite a mix in live sound,” he
says. “We do a fair amount of corporate
work, which I’ve really grown to love a lot
— it’s straight ahead, clean, and everybody
knows what to expect. And it pays more!”
Recent corporate highlights include a Costco sponsored fundraiser where Jay Leno
was headlining. They’ve also just finished
tweaking knobs for 3 Doors Down. “I’m glad
to get every gig we get. I also like that we’ve
built a group of people who feel likewise.
The crew takes great pride in what they do,
and aren’t just on the clock.”
He credits the Morgans for building a
solid base. “In the early days, Morgan sound
was it. They did all the major concerts.” As
time went by, competition came, and to put
it delicately, some clients slipped away. “But
today we have a lot of new clients. Some
we’ve lost we’ve not yet won back, but the
business is growing overall.”
Today Boyce oversees about 16 full-time
employees with a stable of eight freelancers.
“My attitude is, I’m always on the right
track,” he says, smiling. “I don’t mean that to
sound arrogant, I just have a positive outlook. And what I have learned from Charlie
in the 1970s is that if you go out and do a
great job every time, not only will you get
that gig again, but [the client] will tell others about you and you’ll get more phone
calls.
“We go out and do a great job every
time because that’s what we do.”
Boyce says they are “absolutely thrilled”
about this honor. “We’ve been readers of
FOH since the beginning and had the honor
of being named best regional sound company in 2004, and then we took home the
Parnelli that year. We were nominated last
year, too, and that was a great honor. It’s
great to just have people go, ‘hey, you guys
are worthy.’”
www.fohonline.com
T
CANADA
Peter Hendrickson, owner, Tour Tech East
Tour Tech East
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
EAST RE G
IO
N
S
TH
OU
Mike Borne, president, Allstar Audio Systems
Allstar Audio Systems, Inc.
Nashville, Tenn.
ES T RE G
IO
N
DW
I
M
Sam Walton, horizontal, gets some support from his team at
Signature Audio.
Signature Audio
Wixom, Mich.
28
SEPTEMBER 2009
our Tech joins the regional circle for a second year in a row, having taken home the
Parnelli for Best Sound Company in 2008.
And owner Peter Hendrickson feels pretty good
about that.
Tour Tech was founded in Dartmouth, Nova
Scotia in 1984 by Hendrickson. Prior to that, he
had been a freelance lighting designer since
1975. At first, the company only offered lighting
services, but over the years, Tour Tech East has
added sound, staging, power distribution and
trucking to its base of business. While the company has been adding services, Hendrickson has
always kept an eye on his inventory, something
he attributes to the organization’s success. “In the
early days, I used to buy what I really liked and
what I thought was great,” he told FOH last year.
“Unfortunately, what I think is great doesn’t always translate to cash, and I can’t grow the business if I only buy what I like. I am in business to
A
fter 25 years and sill banging away at it, I
still get goose bumps when I listen to my
sound systems,” says Mike Borne, founder
of Nashville-based Allstar Audio Systems Inc., a
first-time Hometown Hero regional winner.
Borne has worked in pro audio since 1981,
founding Allstar Audio in 1984. Today they are a
full service shop offering sound, lighting, video
and staging design. He grew up in the Northern
Kentucky in the 1960s, and like so many others,
was dazzled by the Beatles. “I had to get a band
to replicate what was on the radio,” he says. He
played music during his high school years, while
also studying electronics at a vocational school.
Upon graduating, he was asked to run sound
for a three month tour and he’s been at it every
since.
But by 1984 he was ready for a change. Seeing a need for a quality production company in
Nashville, he founded Allstar Audio. In the beginning, there were the expected struggles. The
S
am Walton, senior manager, has the distinction of being the youngest company
leaders to be recognized with a regional
Hometown Hero title — he’s a mere 28 years
old. But this born-and-raised Detroit boy has
already been at the business of live sound for
a full decade. A love of sound and an interest
in electronics put him behind the board of local acts. In 2003, he was fresh out of college, but
decided against getting one of those “pesky
real job” things you read about in the paper. Instead. he founded Signature Audio, and hasn’t
looked back.
Today Signature offers installations, custom designs and build services, room acoustics
analysis, live sound reinforcement and consulting and education. “In 2007 we did our largest
installation to date,” he says. Muncie, Ind.-based
Ball State University called on the young company to do a million dollar sound install featur-
stay in business and I can be either right or I can
be dead right. I have given up on the dead right.”
Hendrickson has said that they could have
stayed local, but they wanted to grow the business. He does cite the period in the 1990s as a
highlight, as that’s when many big tours stopped
carrying production and started using local
support for their tours. Seeing the opportunity,
Tour Tech bulked up in terms of equipment and
personnel. Rod Stewart, Def Leppard and Iron
Maiden all came knocking. “That’s when we went
from being a bar-type supplier to a regional supplier,” he says.
It was a touchy situation that required a
delicate balancing act. “You don’t want to go
into situations appearing that you’re busting at
the seams,” he says. “You want to go in with the
customer feeling like they are looked after well.
That’s been one of the challenges today for us —
just making sure that all the clients are satisfied
and that they feel comfortable with what we are
doing for them.”
Today they are one of the largest live event
companies in Canada with 50 full time employees and a inventory that boasts an enviable
warehouse of equipment including gear from
L-Acoustics, Meyer Sound, Electro-Voice, DiGiCo,
Yamaha, Digidesign and Midas. “That has helped
our profile over the years.” Tour Tech is also
spreading their talents south, having opened an
office in Bangor, Maine in 2001.
Last year he also told FOH: “At the end of the
day, as long as you provide good service to a
customer who has faith in you, they will remain
a good customer,” he says. “If they buy on price
alone, they aren’t really your customer. They are
just someone you are servicing along the way.
Price is a factor, because we all have to answer to
the money god, but if they are a real customer
then they will believe in what you are doing.”
company was focused on smaller festivals, fairs,
small tours, etc. “We did some less than glamorous gigs.”
With every gig, however, money went back
into more, and better, gear. He tells that about
20 years ago, EAW released their KF850, and he
spent many sleepless nights over deciding on
jumping into a new cabinet, as he had just made
a substantial investment in another model. But
jump he did, and was one of the first companies
to take on the soon-to-be popular speaker. This
accelerated Allstar into the mainstream.
Borne not-so-jokes that the best part of the
1990s was surviving it. “Having a family including a beautiful wife and children, along with patience and dedication to our business” got him
through. “Nothing happens overnight, unless it’s
something bad,” he adds. “We worked on growing in the directions that our customers’ needs
were and expanded accordingly.” They gained
the confidence of such acts as Lee Greenwood,
Ronnie Milsap, Restless Heart and Diamond Rio
and kept busy.
“In the mid 1990s some of the larger national size sound companies discovered what
I had already known: That country artists tour
year round and offered a slightly less, but more
consistent, income. As soon as they started after
the country bands, then smaller companies like
Allstar had difficulty in doing the down and dirty
bidding that seems to take place.
In the midst of this, he also discovered that
the big rock ‘n’ roll companies didn’t always play
well with the corporate types and expanded into
that area. “They like clean cut techs, minus the
long hair, and without the cussing and smelling
like they just got off the tour bus. But most of all,
we have the right attitude.”
Today Allstar is “small but mighty” with seven
full time staffers and another 20 professionals
they call on during the busy seasons, all of whom
share the company’s can-do attitude.
ing all top end gear in their Emens Auditorium.
“That was a big breakthrough. That put us on
the map.”
Signature also handles many of the largest municipal shows in Detroit-area towns like
Plymouth and Northville, which continue to
expand their concert series schedules with Signature growing right along side them. Signature also handles the biggest local bands and
regional touring acts. For Walton, the emphasis
is local. “We enjoy working with our community
and being part of it, as opposed to a faceless
sound company just turning mics on and off.”
Recently Signature has been doing more
large-scale installations and has handled work
from the area’s big private schools. The summer concert venues have turned repeatedly to
Signature. “We get involved with programming
and don’t just handle sound, but really operate
as turnkey producers..”
Today the company works with four fulltime professionals and then picks up another
six or eight freelancers when the work rains in.
Signature Audio uses only Harman Pro Group
products, which Walton calls “a testament to the
fact that aural perfection is the primary goal.
Simply, Signature Audio’ designs, installations
and live systems sound better.”
Walton seems to have figured out the key
to the business already.
“Number one, I have the greatest staff, and
we’re all absolutely passionate — diehard passionate — about what we do. We’re hard workers, and we do the job right. We’re very detailed
oriented and a lot of our success is attributed to
that.”
He’s pretty pleased to get this Hometown
Hero nod as well: “I’m absolutely honored to be
recognized by my pears. It’s great to be recognized for all the hard work we’ve done.”
www.fohonline.com
STAN
MILLER
AUDIO INNOVATOR AWARD
JAKE
BERRY
November 20, 2009 – 7pm
The Peabody Hotel
Orlando, Florida
Parnelli LIFETIME ACHIEVeMENT
New
this year
Go To:
parnelliawards.com/nominate
The Parnelli Awards are made possible from the generous contributions of our Sponsors.
GOLD SPONSORS
SILVER SPONSORS
production
SPONSORS
AERIAL
RIGGING
Welcome To My Nightmare
Five Countries in South America, All in
Three Weeks…How Hard Could That Be?
The entire tour was a non- stop nightmare of bad power, collapsing roofs and all-night
runs to the airport to palletize air cargo after load-out at the venues.
I
’m a 20+ year employee of Clair Global
working for a popular Cuban born Miami resident and her 15-piece band as
A2. (I’ll leave out her name to avoid litigation, but you can probably guess). We
brought some gear with us (board groups,
etc.), and got some locally (stacks and
racks). We also carried a 45kVa transformer to interface with local 220 volt power
(mostly generators).
The entire tour was a non-stop nightmare of bad power, collapsing roofs and
all-night runs to the airport to palletize air
cargo after load-out at the venues. They always save the best for last, and that takes
us to Guayaquil, Ecuador. It was another
dirty old soccer stadium with dirty old
generators. The show had not sold well,
and the owner of the local sound and light
company was threatening to pull the plug
if he wasn’t paid by noon, and he intended
to hold our gear hostage.
Eventually, he agreed to play ball and
we carried on with load-in. As expected, it
took a while to get power up, and at first
it looked good. Meanwhile, it started getting cloudy. It was getting real dark as the
band arrived for sound check. Also around
this time, my friend Craig (the band’s monitor mixer) noticed the U.P.S. on his control
surface (PM1D) was acting up, so we bypassed it. The console power supply is still
acting up, so I take a look at the meters on
my AC panel and see one of my hot legs
dropping 25 volts (as low as 95), and then
going back and forth rather sporadically.
I inform the band we have to stop sound
check and sort this out.
As they leave for catering, it starts raining. In less than two minutes, it’s pouring,
and there’s lightning all around. Because
of the generator problem, everything was
off, and we soon had everything covered
or put away. After over two hours of rain,
we begin to think about power again. I’m
told we are on a spare generator. When I
meter the 220 volt side, it’s 10 volts higher
than before, and I ask if they can knock it
down some. That’s when I find out we are
still on the first generator and they turned
up the overall voltage thinking that would
solve the problem.
It turns out the air filter on the spare
generator got soaked in the rain. We insisted that we must use the spare generator or the show would be canceled. By the
way, doors were opened by now, so canceling meant a probable riot. An air filter
appears seemingly from nowhere, and the
spare generator fires up. We turn on all
our gear and play some music through the
PA. It works. We are only two hours behind
schedule, which is a miracle. Load out is
done by 5; on a plane home by 10.
Chris Fulton
Clair
Franklin, N.C.
[email protected]
In The Trenches
Chris Martin
Jason Lapasinskas
Owner/President
M&M Audio/Video/Staging/
Lighting Labs
Coeur d’Alene, ID
509.951.6151
[email protected]
A/V Technician
Woodlands Church
The Woodlands, TX
832.298.8874
[email protected]
Services: Audio tech and FOH for Woodlands
Church
Services: Audio, video, stage light
support
Quote: “What did you say?”
Clients: Creation Festival Northwest,
others
Quote: “Get it outta the truck, it’s
time to play.”
Personal Info: Long-time production
guy starting with “great big Buck Rogers knobs” in the 1970s, all the way
to these new freaky techno “mouse”
boards of today.
Hobbies: Golfing, fishing, camping
with big fires, remote-control helicopters.
30
SEPTEMBER 2009
Equipment: Electro-Voice and EAW
line arrays, Yamaha, Soundcraft and
Midas mixing consoles
Don’t leave home without: Laser
measure, MacBook Pro
Personal Info: I am an audio video tech
and have been working in the field for
20 years. I love to mix FOH but also mix
monitors and IEMs. I have worked with
everything from local bands to national
acts throughout my career. I love what I
do and love to talk to other techs in the
field about anything and everything
there is to do with it. I also love to ask
questions and experiment. You will never
know it all, it is a continuing learning process.
Hobbies: Not very hobby-oriented; I
www.fohonline.com
tend to drift toward the audio thing even
in my spare time.
Equipment: Yamaha PM5D RH-V2, M7CL,
LS9. Shure, Sennheiser, Audio Technica, Audix,
Schoeps microphones, EAW SIA-Smaart,
Tascam CD player/recorders, Aviom.
Don’t leave home without: My HP tablet
PC, flashlight, Whirlwind PCDI, iPod, Westone
ES2s, wirecutters and, of course, a Sharpie.
The Digital Edge
Turn It Down
By SteveLaCerra
An Alternate Look at the Sensaphonics 3D Active Ambient PM System
I
n the December 2007 issue of FOH magazine, Bill Evans presented a review of the
Sensaphonics 3D Active Ambient Personal
Monitor System (www.sensaphonics.com). For
the complete nuts and bolts of the system you
can refer to that review, but this month we’re
going to revisit Sensaphonics’ technology
from a slightly different perspective.
The Concept
de
The feature that sets this Sensaphonics
system apart from other personal monitor systems is the implementation of the Active Ambient concept. In addition to the drivers used to
produce sound, 3DAA ear molds feature builtin miniature condenser microphones. There
are two basic modes when using the 3DAA
system: Perform and Full Ambient. In Perform
mode, audio from these microphones is mixed
in with the feed from the monitor desk, freeing
the performer from the feeling of isolation one
can get while using PMs.
This is a significant development in ear
monitor mixing, because monitor engineers
battle to avoid that feeling of isolation. Some
monitor engineers use a pair of mics placed
on the stage to capture ambient sound, while
others use audience microphones to do the
same. If those ambient mics are panned in the
performer’s monitor mix (which they should
be, to provide a pan perspective of the stage),
when the performer turns their back on the
audience, the panning becomes reversed relative to the stationary microphones.
Having the microphones in one’s earpieces solves this issue. In Full Ambient mode,
input from the monitor desk is attenuated,
and sound from the “earmics” is brought up to
unity gain — i.e. to a level such that one would
experience if one were not wearing any ear
molds at all. This makes it easy for performers
to communicate in between songs.
The Belt Pack
de
The belt pack for the 3DAA system is different from the typical PM pack. Inside, there’s a
9-volt battery compartment, two switches and
a rotary trimmer pot. One switch calibrates the
pack for single-or dual-driver earpieces. (My review system employed single-driver earpieces.
The dual-driver earpieces can output a few dB
higher.) The other switch enables a hearing-protection limiter that kicks in at 105 dB. The rotary
pot adjusts level from the embedded mics, ranging from “off” to “full” (ambience at unity gain) in
4 dB steps. On the exterior of the pack are an
on/off switch, the mode switch (Full Ambient or
Perform), LED indicators for power, and monitor
and ambient signal levels, plus a level knob for
monitor input. There are also connectors for the
ear molds — these are non-standard dual 1/8inch TRRS because they carry the microphone
signal— and my unit has a LEMO connector for
the audio input (more on this later). One minor
gripe about the 3DAA system is that turning the
system on and off produces an audible click in
the earpieces, so turn it on before you put in the
molds.
The ambient signal is always available at the
earpieces. In Perform mode, the ambient feed
is attenuated and the user dials in as much (or
as little) ambient sound as they like. When one
is wearing a properly fitted set of ear molds and
the system is off, the outside world is attenuated somewhere in the vicinity of 30 dB (Editor’s
note: Sensaphonics graciously coordinated my
visit to Dr. Craig Kaspar, an excellent New Yorkbased audiologist who totally gets the concept
behind personal monitors, and skillfully fitted me
for the molds).
An Epiphany
de
My first experiences with the 3DAA system
were an epiphany: I wore them while tracking
drums in the studio. I could hear the cue mix
and the natural ambient sound of the drums at
a volume level significantly reduced from what
I would hear without ear molds. Having consistently played drums with hearing protection
for the past 30 years, I rarely hear the fidelity of
my cymbals and hi hat, so it was wonderful to
be able to do so. In fact it’s wonderful to simply
play drums with the volume turned down and
no loss of high frequency content.
That experience led me down an unconventional path with the 3DAA system: I use
them the turn down the volume level of my live
sound world. It works like this: the ear molds
provide approximately 30 dB of attenuation,
so I use them to “plug” my ears. Then I switch
the system to Perform, and use the attenuation
control inside the 3DAA belt pack to dial in the
amount of ambient sound that I wish to hear.
Usually one or two clicks from “off” are enough
— which I believe translates to around 24 dB
down from unity. In case you’re not clear on this:
I am mixing my shows while wearing the 3DAA
system. I hear my PA system through the mics
embedded in the ear molds, which means that
my ears are experiencing an SPL reduced from
what is actually happening in the room. So if my
PA is producing a SPL in the vicinity of 105 dB,
I’m hearing the PA at a SPL more like the low 80s
— a very manageable level for safe listening.
The Same, but Quieter
de
When I was experimenting with this, I’d
place one earpiece in and mix for 10 or 15 minutes, and then remove that earpiece and put the
other in, trying to rest my ears while also ensuring that the mix was OK. After a while I trusted
the system enough to put in both earpieces and
mix. Lo and behold, when I pulled out the two
earpieces, my mix sounded pretty much the
same — just louder. Using the 3DAA System is
not exactly the same as not wearing plugs, but
it’s close enough to mix with confidence that
what you are hearing through the earpieces
is consistent with what your audience is hearing, except not as loud. Of course you have to
remain aware of the fact that the audience is experiencing audio at a level louder than you are,
so don’t get fooled into thinking the PA is lower
than it really is.
About that LEMO input connector: That’s intended for a feed from the monitor desk, but no
one says you can’t connect your FOH console’s
headphone output to it. That allows you to use
the solo function through the 3DAA system as if
you were wearing cans, with the rotary knob on
the belt pack controlling the level of the solo’d
channel(s) relative to the ambient sound.
Mixing in Peace
de
I’ve been mixing live sound for many years
and throughout that time, I’ve played all sorts
of games in an effort to conserve my hearing:
mix a song or two with “open” ears, mix a few
songs with a plug in one ear, and then switch
ears for a few songs, then back. I’ve used custom molds fitted with attenuators, but when
I’d remove them to check my mix, it always
sounded different. The Sensaphonics 3D Active Ambient In Ear Monitor System removes
these issues, allowing me to mix in peace. In
the conclusion of Bill Evans’ FOH “Road Test,” he
noted that PMs are self-defense against loud
stage volumes. Well, the Sensaphonics 3DAA
System is self-defense for front-of-house engineers. I’m able to mix at reduced levels without
second-guessing the mix. I don’t have ear fatigue at the end of the day, and I’m convinced
that I’m sleeping better on show nights. This
is an excellent product that can change the
way you mix, and help conserve your hearing.
Highly recommended.
Steve “Woody” La Cerra is the tour manager and
Front of House engineer for Blue Öyster Cult. He
can be reached via email at woody@fohonline.
com
The Biz
This Is It’s Live Sound Coda
By DanDaley
Not a dry eye in the house, but no one missed a beat
W
hen Bill Sheppell flew home to Ohio
in mid-June, he was looking for a
little R&R before undertaking what
was to have been the gig of the year, if not the
decade, as FOH mixer for Michael Jackson’s
50-night This Is It stand at London’s O2 arena,
likely to be followed up by a world tour with
the same massive stage and troupe. Sheppell,
who had come to the attention of the Jackson
show producers as a result of his FOH work
on Prince’s 21-night run at the O2, had been
rehearsing for seven weeks at several Los Angeles venues, culminating in full production
rehearsals at L.A.’s Staples Center.
Then everything changed. Less than
three weeks before the start of the London
dates, Jackson died. What had been carefully
planned rehearsals suddenly would become
harried preparation for the biggest televised
memorial service since the one for Princess
Diana over a decade earlier.
The Meyer MILO system that had been
slated for the O2 shows was to be provided by
32
SEPTEMBER 2009
Major Tom Ltd. and comprised four hangs per
side: mains, side, subs and upstage, totaling
64 four-way MILO cabinets, four MSL4 longthrow speakers and 18 Meyer 700-HP subs,
as well as another 18 700-HP subs under the
stage in a cardioid block. The console was a
112-input DiGiCo SD7. Meyer’s Galileo zoned
and controlled the system, which was tuned
with a Dolby Lake Contour processor. Michael Jackson had been using a Shure Beta 54
headset and Beta 58 handheld microphone
through a Shure U4 wireless system.
For the Staples rehearsals, a scaled-down
version had four MILO enclosures stacked per
side on risers and a mono sub block was on
the ground in the center, and when they were
finished the set and system had been struck.
“We had a blank arena and we couldn’t even
get to it until Monday, the day before the memorial,” Sheppell recalls. And all of this was
surrounded by television crews that were setting up to broadcast one of TV’s greatest reality shows to date.
Starting Monday at 7 a.m., Sound Image
got a JBL VerTec system in place in the same
four-hang configuration as they had used
with the Meyer system as new lights, video
and staging were also erected. Sheppell remembers the load-in of all the gear as simultaneously “intense and slow-going,” as PA
flight cases were blocked by trusses waiting
to be winched up.
Rehearsals went to 11 p.m., but Sheppell
and Major Tom’s Chris Marsh stayed well after midnight to help the Sound Image system engineer tune the main hangs and assist
the ATK Audiotek engineer in time aligning
the delay hangs. “We had started rehearsing
without a line check or a PA properly tuned or
time-aligned,” says Sheppell. “That didn’t happen until well after midnight.”
The next morning, 24 hours after they
first started on Monday, many crewmembers,
including Sheppell, were trying to convince
an army of LAPD officers that they were who
they said they were.
www.fohonline.com
“No one outside the arena knew what a
valid credential was supposed to look like,” he
says. After several frantic calls to the production office, they were vouched for by video
crewmembers already in the Staples center.
Several Sound Image crewmembers were detained until the doors opened for the crowds
at 8 a.m., as Sheppell was still reviewing his automation snapshots from the night before. The
PA was fired up and the lights fine-tuned even
as the venue filled up.
Once the event started, Sheppell was
pleased with the professionalism that characterized all the performances, including his
own. “It was a very difficult show to do,” he
says. “Not just because it was put together
at the last minute but also because of why
we were all there. Michael was a sweetheart,
and it’s hard not to have an emotional attachment. It was shell shock.”
Dan Daley can be reached at ddaley@
fohonline.com
Theory and Practice
Console Fidelity
A
lot of commentary I have heard is that
many modern consoles do not have
the warmth or fidelity that classic analog circuitry consoles do have. Yeah, many of
these consoles are digital and the flexibility in
the digital realm is hard to argue for the money
invested. But are there tricks and techniques
that we can employ to warm up these cold
sounding consoles?
One popular console today is the Yamaha
LS9-32, and it earns its popularity via its size
and retail price. For about $6,000 you get a
complete digital console with 32 channel faders that double as graphic equalizer faders
besides the usual one per channel input fader.
Given the price and the feature set, there is a
lot going for this console for the money. Each
channel is truly digital, but with an analog preamp at the console before being digitized for
further signal processing.
Warming Up
tp
You could add fancy pre-amplifiers, and
all kinds of outboard processing; but consider just judiciously backing down the pass
bands on instrument channels. You do not
have to have 20Hz to 20kHz of bandwidth
everywhere. Selectively narrowing up various bandwidths will warm up the whole mix
and let the vocals enjoy the wide bandwidth
that they need. Most hard rock electric guitars barely require more than 5 kHz. So when
Why Noise Up
By MarkAmundson
tp
Yeah, having all that bandwidth is beauteous, but at some point you will need to filter
back some of that noise floor for listenability’s
Selectively narrowing up various
bandwidths will warm up the whole
mix. You do not have to have 20Hz to
20kHz of bandwidth everywhere.
dialing in a mix, you can start wide open but
narrow up on things that do not require the
bandwidth.
Preservation of tone is more than opening up bandwidth on every digital input.
Sometimes carving out a bandwidth for certain instrument sources is more than leaving things wide open. The noise bandwidth
above 5 kHz is unnecessary for many instruments, and in modern rock a waste of bandwidth. Yeah, you can start narrow and widen
things out as well. Try both versions and find
out what works best.
sake. Granted, 5 kHz is a pretty severe bandwidth limitation for many sources, but why not
try a 10 kHz bandwidth on guitars and vocals,
and let the cymbals and other specialty percussion play with the 10 kHz and above bandwidth.
Look at all your input sources and determine which ones really need full digital bandwidth and which ones can be dialed back a
bit. Even a full fidelity bass guitar can get by
with an 8 kHz bandwidth. And it is even more
important to narrow up on bandwidth in live
sound than when recording. Starting wide
and narrowing up is as good as going the other way at narrow and widening out. Just make
sure you do both, and test the choices before
making a selection. Test each channel to see
what you are missing before missing it.
Elegant Defense
tp
You can always amplify everything, but
whether it is digital or analog, choose the
noise floor battles as soon as possible before
committing to amplifying a bunch of high frequency noise floors. This goes as well on the
low end, as cymbal mics do not need an 80 Hz
low end bandwidth. Choose your battles and
fight them at sound check before the show.
Unfortunately, digital consoles give you everything, and you can get in trouble, like a big
brain and small stomach at a buffet. Start small
or big, but always test both strategies before
committing to one solution.
Check you bandwidths, and select the correct bandwidth for the application. Everything
is on the table, and leaving some things on the
other side of the filter is not a bad choice.
Mark Amundson can be reached at marka@
fohonline.com
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818.894.8850
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678.714.2000
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SEPTEMBER 2009
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2009 SEPTEMBER
35
FOH-at-Large
By BakerLee
There Are No Guarantees In Life
D
espite all of our expertise and experience, we live in a world where entropy
appears to be the norm and there is no
real assurance that our endeavors will lead to
success. Without bloviating or waxing poetic
regarding our collective attempts to manipulate and control chaos, Murphy’s Law simply
states, “Anything that can go wrong will go
wrong.” Murphy’s Law, while widely attributed to an Edward Murphy who developed
measurement devices for the Air Force in the
1940s and 1950s, has most likely been lurking
in the human subconscious since the beginning of time without name or definition. This
simple adage has no doubt been the cause of
uncertainty and fear throughout the ages.
Some variations on the theme include Finagle’s Law, which states, “If anything can go
even worse, it will go even worse.” Or, refining
this aphorism just a little more pessimistically,
“Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and
at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way.” Taking it to another level of depressing is Flanagan’s Precept, which comments
on Murphy’s Law and states that, “Nothing
is that predictable.” Flanagan’s cynical interpretation of Murphy’s Law is superseded only
by the paradoxical, “If Murphy’s Law can go
wrong, it will.” Or, “If a series of events can go
wrong, they will do so in the worst possible
sequence.”
The Fear of Disaster
FOH
This fear of disaster is why we are so easily
lured by insurance agents to spend excessive
amounts of money on policies that we may
never need, or on warranties that expire on
the very day we need them. Anything and everything can be and has been insured for the
right price. Keith Richards insures his hands;
Bruce Springsteen and Rod Stewart insure
their gravelly voices; Rianna, along with Mariah Carey and Tina Turner, insure their legs;
Dolly Parton insures her boobs and Tom
Jones even insures his chest hair. For the right
amount of money an insurance company will
issue a policy for anything, but rest assured
that the insurance companies are not in business to protect the elite or the masses from
entropy.
The insurance companies are in it for the
money, and this is the reason why each poli-
COMING NEXT
MONTH...
FOH Interview
Before Steven Tyler’s
mishap, FOH got together with Jim Ebdon, Brad
Johnson and Tony Luna
about the tour, and we
have video to prove it.
Buyers Guide
Little, tiny line arrays
Other Stuff
C-ya at AES
36
Sitting Docs
FOH
Doctors, especially those in high risk professions such as obstetrics and gynecology or
cardiology, are sitting ducks for the lawyers
and a supposed jury of peers. The insurance
companies prefer to settle large claims rather
than fight them and lose more money. Not
that one can quantify another person’s pain
and suffering, but many lawsuits are frivolous,
and somewhere along the line, tort reform is
needed.
Often, juries are medically uninformed,
but have the power to award millions of dollars based upon an emotional predilection
rather than an educated understanding. This
then leads to the insurance company raising
the doctor’s malpractice insurance.
Since most doctors are employed by a hospital, it then requires the hospital to pay more
to employ the doctor. This doesn’t bode well
for the patients since most hospitals are run
“for profit” by a corporation and, as it has been
proven, this leads to cuts in service and care.
Fearing a lawsuit creates an atmosphere where
the physician has to practice defensive medicine, which leads to more testing and more
expense, which is exactly what the HMOs try
to cut. As one can see, entropy is neatly built
into the system.
cy is issued with a deductible and a long list
of reasons why — in case of a claim — they
would not have to pay the insured. This long
list is otherwise known as “small print” and
comes in very handy for the insurance company when a claim is made. Typically, if one
should file a claim that is paid by the insurance company, then the cost of that person’s
monthly premium would most likely go up.
The surge in that person’s rate would stay on
that premium for about three years, or until
the insurance company is reimbursed at a
profit.
Insurance is a gamble against the odds,
and it is most likely that if one should live
in the Mojave dessert and wants to insure
their home against flood the cost would
be considerably less than if they wanted to
insure against drought. Conversely, if one
lives in New Orleans it would be assumed
that a high premium would be required to
have a company insure against flooding.
That being the case, about two thirds of the
homeowners in New Orleans went without flood insurance because they relied on
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management
Agency) to cover them in case of disaster. It
is interesting to note that FEMA, after 911,
was brought under the umbrella of The
Homeland Security Agency, another agency created to provide insurance against
disaster. Ironically, FEMA’s attention to terrorism may have led to its lack of resources
for disaster response when faced with a catastrophe such as Katrina.
Rants and Scare Tactics
FOH
Be that as it may, my point here is in regard to insurance and, most notably of late,
the topic in the news has been health insurance, or lack thereof. Most likely you’ve
seen the proposal for President Obama’s
universal health plan, but, more likely, there
is a better chance that you have seen and
heard sound bites on the news with angry
people shouting about America and freedom. Maybe it’s Sarah Palin decrying that
Obama’s plan is evil and that it supports
euthanasia. Possibly you’ve seen an advertisement by a group called Clubforgrowth.
org that states — and I quote — “$22,750.
In England, government health officials decided that’s how much six months of life is
worth. Under their socialized system, if a
medical treatment costs more, you’re out of
luck. Now President Obama and Congressional Democratic leaders want to bring
socialized health care to America. That’s
wrong for America.”
Let me point out that I am not a fan of
the proposed plan, but not because it will
socialize America’s health or because of any
other rhetoric that certain political party
members or leaders profess. The mudslingers who try to make the Obama health plan
look like the revamping of Mao Zedong’s
People’s Republic are dealing in scare tactics. Socialism in itself is not a political system any more than capitalism is a political
system. Instead, they are both economic
systems which, strangely enough, function
side by side.
Our police departments and fire departments, which are funded by taxpayer
money, are, in essence, socialistic entities,
as are, in theory, FEMA, HUD, Health and
Human Services, Homeland Security and
a slew of other taxpayer-supported agencies. Of course, it is only in a perfect world
that I could make these outrageous claims,
because we all know that we the people
do not manage any of these agencies any
more than we the people have control of
our healthcare program. Therefore, these
agencies are not socialist, but rather taxpayer supported and managed by the government —not unlike the Obama plan. The
conversation regarding smaller or larger
government is for another time, but let it be
said that we already have a control group
of non-medical personnel dictating medical treatment and pricing — they are called
HMOs. That’s right, insurance companies
are telling doctors what procedures are
necessary based upon nothing more than
turning a profit.
www.fohonline.com
Premiums and Co-Pays
FOH
Sixteen percent of Americans are without
a health insurance plan. As a freelance engineer or tech in the entertainment business,
there is a good possibility that you are not
provided with health insurance, but if you do
have a plan — even if it’s through a union or
steady employer — you are probably still paying a hefty fee to be insured. Not only do you
pay a large chunk of cash on a yearly basis to
be insured, but you also pay a co-pay for every
visit to the doctor.
If you are not wealthy enough to pay a
huge fee for a private doctor of your choice,
then you are relegated to seeing only the
doctors on your plan. I have a fairly good idea
regarding what most of us in the audio profession earn, and I can say that if we get sick or
need long term care, we may find ourselves in
dire straits.
“isms” Aren’t the Answer
FOH
I haven’t even touched upon the pharmaceutical companies and the high cost of
medication, but let me say that my objection
to the president’s plan is not based upon fear
of one “ism” or another, but instead founded in
the fact that I do not think the plan goes deep
enough or far enough in the correct direction.
I do think that everyone should have healthcare, but raising the taxes of a few to help the
less fortunate get insurance is not what I call
change. Maybe the answer is a flat tax for everyone, which then goes into a not-for-profit
health fund accompanied by tort reform…
or not, but this is an issue which concerns us
all and should not be confused or tainted by
political mudslinging. Groups such as Clubforgrowth.org should know that we already have
a faction of people dictating treatments and
cost, they are called insurance companies. With
chaos a mere blink away, let’s cut the rhetoric
and move forward so that we can at least have
an intelligent conversation regarding the issues before we enact Murphy’s Law.
Baker Lee can be reached at blee@fohonline.
com

September Issue - Front of House

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