Skip to content

From the Boardroom to the Bathroom

From the Boardroom to the Bathroom

I was working in Austin, Texas for a company called Media Event Concepts doing mostly corporate AV support. It was the one job in my life that I can comfortably say I hated; however, at the time I merely had the wrong attitude. I now know that God put me there to ultimately learn a few things about life (mostly humility), but he also put me there to learn a thing or two about AV. Almost 10 years later, I'm employing much of the stuff I picked up way back when. Thank you, Gordon.

Read More »

Crest XRM X-Rack, Powersoft DIGAM Q4004, Soundcraft GB4

Crest Audio XRM X-Rack Mixer

By Jamie Rio

A lot of small to mid-sized sound companies avoid the jump to a monitor board because they fear the perceived cost and complexity of a second board and splitter snake. Of course, there is some investment required to take such a step, but Crest Audio has made setting up your own monitor world less expensive and easier than ever.

Read More »

Sometimes You Gotta Let 'Em Fail

Please don't touch the dial; there is nothing wrong. At the time of this writing, Richard Rutherford is immersed in the House of Worship portion of Pro Production 2005, so yours truly is sitting in. Yes, some magazine editors/sound guys actually go to church and therefore get tapped with the inevitable requests for donated gear and services. This is my latest take on that sticky subject.

Read More »

Speaker Positioning

Poor positioning of loudspeakers has been a pet peeve of mine for quite awhile. For outdoor situations and large, wide rooms, I can go with the flow of whatever install or system is provided. But there are many occasions, especially in narrow or "tight" rooms, where I come away shaking my head about speaker positioning.

Flat Front vs. Cocked

When the performance area is a narrow room, or a partially segregated performance area where the loudness is to be confined, the typical speaker stacks on the side of the stage should be slightly tilted or "cocked" inward. Of course, this may be a bit fruitless if you have been provided music store-grade top boxes with 90- by 40-degree horns. In that case, just cock them 15 degrees and prepare for wall splatter reverberation.

Read More »

John Shivers on 700 Sundays

While musicals and revivals continue to dominate Broadway, a number of high-profile personalities have bravely decided to stage intimate one-man shows. Leading the pack is Billy Crystal, whose autobiographical 700 Sundays has proven to be a sold-out sensation on the Great White Way. Deceptively simple in terms of sound and lighting design, Crystal's show is an emotional, moving piece about coming to terms with the death of his father during his teen years and his subsequent rise to fame.

Read More »

Insuring Your Future

Apropos of nothing in particular, it's time to discuss insurance. I put it that way because, like death and taxes, insurance is neither seasonal nor optional. Like the mythical Miller Time, insurance is timeless.

That's trying to put a handle on a topic that is, to most people, about as tedious as watching paint dry. Unfortunately, it's also a lot more complex (except down at the molecular level, but only for chemists). FOH mixers present a challenge to the insurance industry. First, what you do is seemingly obvious but has a lot of nuance: many mixers will toggle between subcontractor and independent status, with stints of out-and-out employment along the way, collecting both W-2 and 1099 forms in a single year. In insurance, as in life, when in doubt, always base decisions on the broadest indicators. For FOH mixers, that means carrying your own equipment and liability policies.

Read More »

Dave Kuhn and Melissa Britton; Marc Waithe

Dave Kuhn and Melissa Britton

Independent FOH and Monitor Engineers

Cincinnati, OH and Denver, CO

[email protected]

Dave Kuhn and Melissa Britton are an independent FOH and Monitor team who share many of their clients, including Dave Koz, Earl Klugh and Chris Botti. Dave is a 25-year touring veteran who currently mixes FOH and tour manages for jazz trumpeter Chris Botti. He has also toured with Natalie Cole, George Benson, Lee Ritenour, Was (Not Was), the Pointer Sisters and Barbara Mandrell, among others. Melissa Britton is an experienced audio engineer from Colorado, where she works for Dowlen Sound when not touring.

Read More »

Rider-Friendly Inventory

Hello Anklebiters,

I have been running my own sound business and mixing for other outfits for more than five years now and I have finally gotten to a place where I am mixing good shows and making good money, but my most recent obstacle has been riders. It seems like every new gig comes along with a rider full of stuff I don't own. I end up either renting gear or subbing out a show I can't handle. I just watch the money go somewhere else instead of to me. Can you help?

Read More »

It's All About Passion

Late in the afternoon, two days before Christmas, I got a voice mail on my cell phone from Howard Sherman, an NYC PR guy who does a lot of work in the pro audio market. "Bill," he said, "I know this is last-minute, but I have an opportunity to get someone in to cover the Kevin Spacey Beyond the Sea tour on its last stops in Vegas. The shows are the 26th and 27th. Can you do it?"

Read More »

Winter NAMM 2005

Back in another lifetime, when I was editing a magazine for working musicians, NAMM was the biggest, baddest show of the year and I spent all four days literally running from appointment to appointment trying to cover everything, along with a handful of trusted freelancers. But since leaving the music mag world for FOH, I have often found myself wondering why we bother. This time around the answer is (apologies to David Byrne) the same as it ever was. While NAMM may be a big loud guitar show, there are always some real live event audio gems buried in the rubble–this time around we didn't even have to dig too deep. Even those companies with little to show at NAMM promised big news at NSCA in March.

Read More »

Going Once, Going Twice…

Recently I had the honor of being asked to participate as a seminar panelist at Pro Production 2005. The invitation arrived via an e-mail from Kevin Mitchell, who is a seminar coordinator, and it began:

Dear Baker,

On behalf of Pro Production 2005, I'd like to invite you to be a panelist on one of the 90-minute seminars "Bidding Strategies: How to Get the Gig," at this year's event in February. It's an incredibly important topic…

Read More »

Beyond the Sea with Rico, Jimmy and Bubbles

What started as simply a promotional gimmick for a new movie turned into something much more, to the obvious joy of everyone involved, from the performers to the sound guys and the soundco, which may just end up with a new long-term client. We are talking about the 10-city tour mounted to promote Beyond the Sea, the new Bobby Darin biopic written by, directed by and starring Kevin Spacey. Traveling with FOH and MON engineers and a production manager with an audio background, the tour carried no production besides mics, personal monitors and a small rack of processing gear. Even many of the musicians were picked up in each town, with just the core rhythm section and two backup singers along for the entire ride.

Read More »