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Speaker Positioning

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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?"

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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.

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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…

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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.

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Q&A with FOH Engineer Steve Taylor

For four years straight, FOH engineer Steve Taylor has been on the road. He started off in 2000 as FOH engineer for Jimmy Eat World, then, while the band took time out to go into the studio, Steve headed straight onto FOH for Mars Volta. Fueled by the fact that both bands have the same management, he has lived out of a suitcase for 1,460 days in a row! He answered some questions while on the current Jimmy Eat World show in Canada.

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High End, Mixed Use and Over 55

Everybody knows South Florida is a great place to retire–or at least a great place to spend the winter. But it may surprise those not in the know to learn that, besides warm weather, low taxes, early-bird dinners and great golf, there are some other pretty nice perks of "Gold Coast" retirement living. Such as regional theatre in some very cool venues. One of the classiest of those venues is the Palace Theatre for the Performing Arts, part of the Kings Point condominium complex in Tamarac, Fla. Situated between Miami and Palm Beach, Tamarac is a town of just more than 56,000 that's been voted one of the most livable cities in the country by the U.S. Council of Mayors. The Kings Point condominium complex, which opened in 1989, is a community of 8,000 over-55 residents. Designed for active adults, amenities include a lavish country club setting and greenbelt trails. It's a sweet setup, and, with the baby boomer retirement explosion on the way, it just might be the wave of the future.

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One Good Turn…

Performers sometimes expect FOH people to perform virtual miracles in the way of responding to the most vague requests–and I've rarely encountered a sound guy who isn't able, and willing, to do so. But it doesn't hurt to try and make the harried technician's job a little easier, especially when the working situation is

particularly stressful and muddled. Sometimes it can really pay off…

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