Skip to content

How Do You Get to the Garden?

How Do You Get to the Garden?

The idiomatic phrase “This is not Madison Square Garden,” when directed at an audio company, sends a universal meaning that is not bound by either state lines or time zones. While I am certain that the names of other major event institutions have been employed in the same allegorical fashion as Madison Square Garden, it appears that evoking the image of this iconic venue epitomizes all that is grand and glamorous in the concert world. Though I am New York-based and have often worked at “The Garden,” I have also done shows in almost every state and have traveled ex-tensively around the globe. Regardless of where I go, the aforementioned axiom keeps popping up.

Read More »

A Trickle of Technology

What’s on the Bleeding Edge Today Could Be in Your Rack Next Year

If you’ve ever had the chance to watch the original Star Trek series (by original, I mean the show ca. 1966 with Shatner, Nimoy et al.), it’s aston-ishing to observe how many technological prophecies were written into those scripts. Handheld communicators, miniature cartridges containing computer data, keyboards and touch screens for computer interfaces, talking computers that display photos and even a cloaking device are all Star Trek fantasies that have manifested in our world as common devices like cell phones, floppy disks (later, thumb drives) and everyday computers. Now, if I could only figure out teletransportation…. Keep in mind that these devices were dreamt up during a time when a CPU with around 64 ki-lobytes of memory employed vacuum tubes and took up more space than your living room.

Read More »

A Strike Out

In early November, a few days after Local One of the technical and stagehand union IATSE had gone out on strike against Broadway shows, I was standing at the FOH position in the Hilton Theatre on West 43rd Street, a half block from Times Square. The Hilton is home to the musical version of Mel Brook’s film, Young Frankenstein, and was one of the few shows still running, as the Hilton Theatre’s union contract had been established separately from most of the others.

Read More »

Where Is Your Bread Buttered?

Brian: It seems like only yesterday we were ringing in 2007, and here it is 2008 already.  And the New Year brings a couple of cold, slow months in the event business.  All the holiday shows have come and gone, and yes, they all paid in cash, but I still have to keep the heat on until business picks up when the snow melts.  Maybe you’ve got it easy out there in Vegas, but what can I do to keep the money flowing?

Read More »

QSC Venue Manager V3.0

Providing system-wide design, control and monitoring functions within a feature set built for the QSControl.net platform, QSC’s Venue Manager V3.0 will be make its first official industry appearance at this year’s InfoComm.

Read More »

Oklahoma Centennial Spectacular Celebrates with JBL

OKLAHOMA CITY – In a high-profile event that reinforces the reliable performance and easy setup of JBL Professional VERTEC line arrays, staging production company Alford Media Services recently provided the audio and video systems for the Oklahoma Centennial Spectacular at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. Commemorating the 100th anniversary of Oklahoma’s statehood, the event featured performances by many legendary Oklahomans including Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire, Toby Keith, Vince Gill and the Flaming Lips.

Read More »

Times Square Rings in 2008 with Maryland Sound

NEW YORK – When it comes to daunting audio gigs, few can match the challenges presented by the annual New Year's Eve Show in New York City's Times Square. With a live audience in the hundreds of thousands and a TV audience in the 10’s of millions, this is one of those gigs where the whole world really is watching. Long-time audio provider Maryland Sound International (MSI) pulls off the seemingly impossible every year, but the most recent show was made better and easier with the addition of Studer and Soundcraft digital mixing technology.

Read More »

Aerosmith Rocks India with Meyer Sound

BANGALORE, INDIA – It’s been more than three decades since Aerosmith released their self-titled debut in 1973, and the “Bad Boys from Boston” continue to deliver exciting new material, most recently on a new blues album due out in this month. On their world tour, the band delivered a high-energy show in India for the first time ever, performing at the open-air grounds of the historic Bangalore Palace. To ensure every dB of power reached fans with ample clarity and presence, Bangalore-based Reynolds Sound and Lighting Services supplied a massive system based on Meyer Sound MILO-family high-power curvilinear array loudspeakers.

Read More »

Landmark Church of Christ Upgrades Decade-Old System with Danley Sound Labs

MONTGOMERY, AL – Like many churches around the country, Landmark Church of Christ in Montgomery, Ala., is undergoing a slow shift from services that are completely a cappella with no supplemental media, to services that are driven by instrumental music with support by CDs and other media. When church members began noticing that their decade-old sound system wasn’t as ready for the change as they were, the church contacted commercial sound designer Chad Edwardson at All Pro Sound in Pensacola, Fla., to explore ways that they could bring their sound system up to speed with their ambitions.

Read More »