NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — Wassmann Audio Video has installed of JBL Control Contractor loudspeakers and VRX line arrays in 10 Six Flags theme parks across the country. While each location poses its own acoustical challenges, JBL Control 29AV surface-mount loudspeakers and VRX932LA compact line array loudspeakers are prevalent in each park.
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ENGLAND — Dave Bracey was one of the first engineers to appreciate the benefits of DiGiCo consoles, having put the D5 through its paces on tour with Robbie Williams back in 2003 and continuing to use it with a variety of acts since, and is as well versed with DiGiCo’s D Series as just about anyone could be.
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BEIJING — Managing to connect a thin bat with a small round ball has been an athletic pursuit for a great many centuries, and it will take on new significance when women’s softball teams from around the world converge on Beijing to play in the Olympics Softball event. The large stadium complex, which consists of two ball fields and one training field, with a seating capacity of 13,000 will require sound commensurate with its scale.
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BEIJING — Few sports test an Olympic athlete the same way that cycling does. It requires maximum strength and endurance for the cyclist to perform at the highest level. At the Beijing 2008 Summer Games, cyclists are competing in the new Laoshan Velodrome, whose sound system is only matched in excellence by the Olympians themselves.
Read More »SAN FRANCISCO — At San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the first Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival will treat a record audience to more than 60 bands, including headliners Radiohead, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Jack Johnson. Outside Lands urges attendees to think and act on climate change by featuring the Eco Lands interactive conservation program, a solar-powered stage, an organic farmers’ market and plenty of educational opportunities. Meyer Sound has signed on as the festival’s official Audio Systems Partner, providing its award-winning sound reinforcement equipment in collaboration with its dealer, Hercules, Calif.-based Pro Media/UltraSound.
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BUENA PARK, Calif. — Kool & The Gang's story starts in the Jersey City, N.J. projects. They were teenagers, studying Miles Davis albums and James Brown singles while jamming in basements. In 1969, they made their first record. Still teenagers, and full of confidence, they named that first record after themselves. Their confidence and creativity produced a string of loose-but-tight records, culminating in the Pop Chart smash Jungle Boogie. Kool & The Gang found a special sound at the unique intersection of jazz, r&b, funk and pop. The group’s current monitor sound, and for the past seven years, can be attributed to Alfred ‘AL-Tee’ Williams who for the past four years has been using a Yamaha PM5D digital audio console.
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NHA TRANG, VIETNAM — Eighty contestants competed this year at the Diamond Bay Resort's Crown Convention Center in the 57th Miss Universe beauty pageant. Broadcast globally on NBC, the event was the first major U.S.-based television production originating in Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War. Bringing audio to the event proved to be a logistical challenge managed adroitly by Red Hook, N.Y.-based Firehouse Productions Inc., which assembled the components needed for an entire PA in the U.S. and then shipped them to Vietnam with the aid of Rock-it Cargo USA. Purchased outright for permanent installation by the convention center, the system included a microphone package delivered from Shure Incorporated’s world headquarters in Niles, Ill.
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When people ask me what part of the live event audio world has changed the most in the past three to five years, they probably expect an answer like digital consoles or line arrays. Most would probably be surprised that my answer would be — hands down — personal monitors. They have come a long way since Marty Garcia used some Sony earbuds and denture cream for Todd Rundgren.
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I don't like taking parties or bar gigs, but sometimes you have to pay the bills, right? So there I was loading gear into the back of my Toyota Prius. We were loading for a venue that did not provide parking, and a rooftop gig meant a very small amount of gear. Of course, I was reassured there was an elevator. Fortunately, years of experience told me to look at this venue the night before, which by the way was just about an hour after I got the call to do the gig. Yup, no elevator!
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BUSINESS
Who: Tony Marra, owner/founder of Thermal Relief Design, Inc.
Where: “Vegas, Baby!”
When: “I started the company with my wife, Lori, as TLM Electronics in 1987 in Pleasantville, N.Y. When we moved to Las Vegas in 1996 I changed the name to Thermal Relief Design.”
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Zeroing out a console — the methodical process of bringing all the live audio mixing console knobs, faders and switches to a benign state of usage. This way the future engineer using the console will not have to be observant of every last detail before connecting the system to the console and fear immediate mayhem. But zeroing out a console is more than a courtesy after the gig; it should also be a practice before the gig.
Read More »Over the last two months, we have spent time exploring the variety of microphones and the importance of having your ears as sharp as possible. This month, I would like to talk about basic stage setups and EQ scenarios. I know a lot of you have a basic idea of how to make your pastor, choir or worship band sound good. However, some of you don't, and we can always use a little tune-up, especially me. So, here we go.
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