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IMG Hosts 2008 Telus World Skins Game VIP Gala with Martin Audio

IMG Hosts 2008 Telus World Skins Game VIP Gala with Martin Audio

KELOWNA, BC – Held at the luxurious Grand Okanagan Resort and Convention Center in Kelowna, British Columbia, the 2008 Telus World Skins Game VIP Gala dinner was hosted by sports agency powerhouse IMG for their sponsors, players, media and VIP clients of this golfing event. With a crew that included FOH Engineer Steve Williams and System Techs Jose Antunes and Matt Perry, Northwest Global provided a system consisting of Martin Audio W8LM and W8LMD Mini Line Arrays with WSX subs; Martin Audio MA 4.2S and MA2.8S power amplifiers with Martin Audio DX1 Speaker Processing. A Midas Venice 320 was also used as the console.

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ADLIB Gets Slammed at T in The Park

SCOTLAND – ADLIB Audio supplied sound for two stages at the successful T In the Park 2008 festival, staged at Kinross, Scotland; the King Tuts Wah Wah Stage and Slam Stage. Slam Stage’s massive V-shaped dance-orientated tent had a capacity of 20,000. Its shape and scale presented some interesting challenges for ADLIB Crew Chief Hassane Essiahi and his team who worked closely with Sound Engineer Dave Pringle to ensure that all the bands and DJs had the requisite levels of energy and volume to make it rock. 

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Intercoms

I was out on a local gig a few weeks ago and things were going south fast. You know the kind of gig — about 1,000 bands with little to zero changeover time and production managers showing up with stage plots and input lists that have no resemblance at all to the one you were sent when the show was advanced a month ago.

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A&S Makes Its Case

Made-to-order case company introduces “FlyWeight” cases.

The case brought back into A&S the other day was old — 22 years old. But it was hardly the historic artifact you might think.
The band that had been using it all that time had no interest in letting it go, rather, they just wanted some of the interior foam replaced. That’s not exceptional in the experience of A&S Case Company, but rather typical. “There are cases being actively used out there that were made when the company was first formed in 1976,” says Bill Waskey. “They may have had a caster replaced, and, of course, they look a bit worn but they are still very serviceable.”

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Optimization of High-Frequency Drivers

In previous columns, we discussed speaker processor operation and how to phase/time match mid-range drivers to high-frequency drivers. And we went through the various crossover filters for differing size high-frequency throats and diaphragms. But this time, I want to focus on frequency response adjustment of high-frequency drivers, as it is crucial to the quality of the sound system.

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Ears

I realize the title of this month’s piece is not all that witty. In fact, it simply states what I will be discussing. I don’t need to tell you the importance of our ears. Without them we can’t do our jobs as house-of-worship techs, or any sound mixing job for that matter. Nonetheless, the question that comes to mind to me, and hopefully to you, is where can we go to get good ear training? I have no idea. So, this month I will tell you my beliefs and experiences in training ears. 

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Heil PR 35 & Handi-Mics

Just when you think the pro-audio microphone market is well in hand by the big brands in the industry, up springs a viable contender with a lot going for it. Not only does Bob Heil’s Heil Sound enterprise offer some great professional microphones, but Bob does it with equal parts flair and engineering expertise. While the big brands have world-class product design facilities and worldwide manufacturing, Heil Sound does the same with a small staff located in the St. Louis metro area.

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Crown XLS 5000 Power Amplifier

If you need a brute of an amplifier for subwoofer duty, but you are limited on funds, consider the Crown XLS 5000 your salvation. Yeah, your salvation comes in three rack spaces and 62 pounds, but wimpy was not specified.

The Crown XLS amplifiers are bare basics, made-in-China power amplifiers, but good old Elkhart, Ind. engineering is what makes this series worth a look. The front panel is simple with two detented level controls with clip/signal/fault LED indicators for amplifier operational status. Then there is the pushbutton power on/off switch. And with three rack spaces, plenty of cooling air inlets are available.

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Tour Tech East: It’s All About Location

Sound meets service in the Great White North.

Real estate moguls are not the only ones who succeed by reciting the redundant maxim of location, location, location. Just ask Peter Hendrickson, who opened a production company on the far eastern shore of Canada in 1984. How far on the eastern shore? Well, far enough that there was a time when his company, Tour Tech East, was tapped to help with an Iron Maiden show because the band’s boat, which had set sail from Germany, couldn’t dock due to extreme Atlantic Ocean weather.

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A Fortuitous Spin

Audio puzzle solved for Wheel of Fortune

For 25 years now, Wheel of Fortune has spun its way into American homes, making itself a dinnertime ritual for millions of viewers. Taking to the road in this, its silver anniversary season, the No. 1 syndicated series setup shop at Chicago's Navy Pier to tape three weeks of shows.

Whether witnessed live in the cavernous confines of Navy Pier's Festival Hall with thousands of other fans, or on a small TV in your mom's kitchen, Wheel of Fortune is a medley of sound that oftentimes transcends its sights. The ratcheting rumble of the wheel itself rivets our attention, of course, while the dulcet tone of a correct consonant lends added inspiration to the lovely Vanna White's estimated 720 handclaps per episode. Announcer Charlie O'Donnell's voice is unmistakable, and the promising chant of “Big money! Big money!” could even lure a self-denying ascetic like the Dali Lama into a moment of prize-winning consciousness.

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InfoComm 2008: Is “One Show” Better than Two?

Let’s start by getting the obvious out of the way. With NSCA folding their trade show into InfoComm there is now really only one install show of real interest to the FOH crowd (CEDIA doesn’t count). And there were a number of marketing-type references to that fact including a big sign outside touting the “One Show.”

Now I have made it pretty clear for a long time now just how much I “enjoy” trade shows. So you would think I would be doing some version of the Happy Dance that there is one less show to go to this year. But it ain’t quite that simple. It is all about timing. First, the timing sucked because Summer NAMM moved back to Nashville and had to move to June to do so, which meant that it overlapped by a day with InfoComm. That meant almost zero presence for audio companies in Nashville and, say what you may about musician-oriented events, but musicians grow up to be sound guys, and it’s important to learn ‘em right while they are still learnable.

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A Painstakingly Painful Gig

I had helped a friend do a little work on his father’s home, and in the process, injured my hand. I didn’t think too much about it, and figured I simply jammed or possibly broke a finger. Weeks passed by and the finger didn’t hurt any longer, however, the tips of the ring and middle fingers didn’t work properly, not to mention a nice-size lump was growing on my palm.

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