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Danny Leake

This is This

I caress the smooth spool of solder as I wait in anticipation for the soldering gun to heat up. I strip the rubber from my cable just enough to give myself a workable amount of copper, and with heated iron in hand, I touch the tip to the end of the solder melting just enough to coat the end of the cable. I repeat the process over my solder point and leave a perfect shining spot where I then touch the end of my cable and hold for a moment before I release the iron. A thin line of smoke wafts up and tickles my nostrils with its delicate fragrance. Ah, I love the smell of solder in the morning.

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Hitting the Road with Boston, Styx and Slamhammer

Take two big rock bands from the 1970s, make them co-headliners, let them loose on the summer shed circuit and pray for ticket sales and no rain. Boston is your typical “make it sound like the records” kind of show, with the studio engineer bribed into going out on tour to preserve the essence of leader Tom Scholz and bandmates. Then take road veterans like Styx, who do yearly tours with 150 to 200 gigs per year for the last 10 years and has done the co-headline thing with everyone from Journey to Peter Frampton, but also tours with their studio guy at FOH.

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Here’s a Nod to the Unsung

So, it’s a Friday late afternoon and I am trying like hell to get access to the Journey/Heart/Cheap Trick show in town. I figured we already had interviews with the crews for Boston and Styx in the can and we could do a real classic rock extravaganza. But, of course, me being me, I was trying to do this at about 4:30 p.m. on show day. A couple of friends in the biz with ties to a couple of the acts tried mightily (a big tip of the hat to Dave Shadoan and Greg DeTogne), but it was just too late to make it happen.

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Correct Yourself

Since studios have been moving into less acoustic-friendly spaces (e.g. spare bedrooms that quite frankly have no business hosting a music production system), the need for some means of compensating for poor acoustics has materialized. Studio monitor manufacturers have responded by developing various types of room correction technology. At the most basic level, room correction analyzes the frequency response of a room/loudspeaker combination and produces compensatory equalization.

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Come Together

Have you noticed the music in your elevator getting better lately? Installed sound, in general, has taken leaps forward in terms of quality and management in the last few years. At the InfoComm show in June, the purveyors of installed sound systems gave plenty of praise to the live sound sector for raising the sonic bar across the board. They cited how the enhanced emphasis on touring in the music business has raised expectations of consumers for better audio in all aspects of their lives.

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Trials and Tribulations

Oh, into the summer I go, alone, as apparently my writing partner is MIA. Join me as I relate the exciting trials and tribulations of a true anklebiter. And let me know some of your experiences so I can pass them on to other catfish in the sound engineering pond.
 

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Google Ups the Ante in White Space Debate

WASHINGTON — Google has upped the ante in the white space debate with the launch of a new public campaign and Web site, “Free the Airwaves,” advocating for the deregulation of white space between broadcast TV channels. The FCC continues its field tests; however, the technological problems continue to go unresolved — All tests up to this point have failed. Click here to read about a recent test.

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Dual Allen & Heath iLive-80s Brings Clarity to Central Baptist Church

ST. LOUIS — Central Baptist Church, located in St. Louis, has installed two iLive-80 digital consoles to handle FOH/monitors and Broadcast positions. A 750-seat facility, Central Baptist Church (CBC) is a dynamic musical church led by the charismatic and compelling Dr. Robert C. Scott. In addition to the various weekly services, CBC hosts a number of events including theatrical, musical and dance performances, community events, guest speakers, workshops and educational sessions. Installation was governed by Drainer Albright & Associates with system integration by Modern Communications and Output Unlimited.

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Sensaphonics dB Check In-Ear Sound Level Analyzer

Sensaphonics Hearing Conservation, Inc. is introducing the dB Check in-ear sound level analyzer, the first device capable of accurately measuring sound pressure levels with the earphones inserted. Designed to work with Sensaphonics custom earphones, the dB Check is a handheld unit that measures and displays the actual A-weighted SPL and, more importantly, the recommended safe exposure time for that level on both the NIOSH and OSHA scales.

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George Michael 25 Live Tour Has Faith in Sennheiser

LONDON — George Michael kicked off the six-week-long final leg of his "25 Live" tour in San Diego in mid-June, marking his first live performance in North America in 17 years. The concerts are the third and final leg of an almost two-year tour, celebrating Michael's 25 years in show business. The tour has seen the former Wham! singer play to 1.3 million fans at 80 shows in 12 European countries, and included two nights at New York's Madison Square Garden. The entire tour, which began in 2006, featured a stage full of Sennheiser and Neumann microphones, including the singer's wireless handheld of choice, a Sennheiser SKM 5200 fitted with a Neumann KK 104 S capsule.

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