Raw Frame Subwoofer Transducers
Not everybody wants or needs to build their own subwoofer. But as Phil Graham notes in this month's Tech Feature , "building a cabinet, wiring… Read More »Raw Frame Subwoofer Transducers
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Slinging Sound for Spidey
There's no denying it: Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark is a monster musical on every level, from the massive lighting rig to the extensive projections to the booming, heavily layered sound design. Taking the gargantuan $75 million production from conception to execution has been quite a challenge for everyone involved, and it event underwent a last-minute reboot to transform it from an admirable but complex show into a more streamlined, tourist-friendly piece.
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An Overall Overhaul
AV Pro Inc. Upgrades Sound along with Lighting and Rigging at TSU/San Marcos' Mainstage Theatre
When Texas State University/San Marcos first opened the doors to its castle-like "Old Main" building in 1903, the 300 new students didn't have to spend much time located the structure on the university's campus. It was the only building on campus.
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Dowlen Sound: Providing Rocky Mountain Highs
At Red Rocks with Sarah McLachlan and the Colorado Symphony
Bret Dowlen has spent more than 30 years building sound systems, creating synergy between components and generally making the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
"It doesn't matter if you hire us to do one show, a tour, or an entire sound system installation, you will always receive the same level of engineering and attention to detail that I've built this company's reputation on," he notes.
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Iron Maiden: The 2011 Final Frontier World Tour
Photo by John McMurtrie, (c) Iron Maiden Holdings Ltd
ML Executives of Kent, England successfully completed Iron Maiden's 2011 world tour in support of last year's critically acclaimed, Grammy-winning album, The Final Frontier, providing the "universal" package, as well as a complete Eastern Acoustic Works KF760 line array system with the new flown SB1002 subs for the stadium and arena shows in Florida and Europe. Managing Director Gary Marks' production company has been servicing the British metal veterans for the last decade of their three-dozen years on the road.
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Superglue Saga, Part 3: Adding Injury to Insult
The third installment in this saga of simple pranks escalating into mayhem follows two other "Nightmare" installments: "The Game's Afoot" (Aug. 2011) and "Bottle Rockets and ‘Snow'" (Sept. 2011). The grand finale will be next month. (Hint: It has something to do with superglue.) -ed.
Read More »Working Both Sides of the Same Street
What's more rare than a legislative compromise in Washington, DC? Other than unicorns, it might be the audio engineer who occupies both live sound and recording studio roles for the same artist clients.
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Waves Plugins Part 6: Renaissance Compressor
When I first loaded Waves Live onto my Avid VENUE console, my primary goal was to discover a compressor that exerted subtle dynamic control while adding strength, body and drive to the three rawest and most elemental sounds in a rock performance – kick drum, bass guitar and electric guitar. To be sure, I had my favorites in the analog world, but I had not yet found a plugin that knocked my socks off for these particular applications.
Read More »Rule the (Sound) Waves
It has been about two years since I wrote on compressors. I am re-addressing this subject because, in the last two years, I have learned a lot about the use of this piece of outboard gear, and I would like to share that information with you all. I think of myself as a sound expert, but that doesn't mean I am not constantly striving to improve my audio techniques. Very much like faith, audio is not stagnant. We should all be learning more and honing our skills as long as we are in the biz.
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“I’ll Vaporize You With My Space Modulator”
Several times over the past few months we've briefly mentioned the idea of modulation as an effect parameter. Now it's time to take a closer look. Modulation is often applied to delay for creating a wide variety of time-based effects, such as flange and chorus. The word "modulate" means to change, and in this case, we are referring to a change in delay time.
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The Future is Now
One nice aspect of getting older is that one gains perspective through a personal history. The downside to this new outlook is that it is as humbling as it is enlightening, especially when it comes to technology. I remember a moment in time when we started to replace our black and white televisions with color. Having grown up with a black and white TV set, I took television itself for granted, but as archaic as it sounds now, color TV was a new and transformational technology that changed the average viewer's life.
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Harman Opens Moscow Office; Stages Seminars in Moscow, Kiev
Evgeny Konov at Harman seminar in Moscow
MOSCOW and KIEV – Harman Professional opened an office in Moscow and completed seminars in Moscow and Kiev that drew some 400 participants from Russia, Ukraine and surrounding areas. The October events were the first in a series of targeted, regional, international roadshows organized by Harman's recently-appointed director of knowledge resources, David Scheirman.
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