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Christopher Cronin

Christopher Cronin

One of the most intriguing plays to hit Broadway recently is the compelling drama Democracy, inspired by a real-life political scandal within the German government. Set at the start of the '70s during the Cold War, this imported British play explores the complex relationship between West German Chancellor Willy Brandt (played by James Naughton, whom you've seen in Nexium commercials) and his assistant, confidante and secret East German spy Günter Guillaume (Richard Thomas of Waltons fame). While the show tosses the audience into an overwhelming vortex of political and historical references during its first act, its more personal second act offers a rewarding emotional payoff.

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Getting to Carnegie Hall (Or Anywhere Else)

The rehearsal facility has been the quiet link in the touring chain for decades, though like the late Rodney Dangerfield, they rarely get the respect they deserve. And like most other components in the industry, larger forces are reshaping their business terrain. From the top-tier through the middle of the market, rates are feeling downward pressures. However, a greater diversity of services is the counterstrategy that seems to be working well in many cases.

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Is Everybody Happy?

Dear Anklebiters,

First, I would like to say that you guys are great. I have learned from and enjoyed your work over the last few months. Anyway, I do not own my own sound company, though I plan to one day soon. I am mainly a Front of House guy, but I can cover any position: stage manger, monitor world, doorman, bouncer, whatever. The only positions I have trouble with are ass kisser and babysitter. This brings me to my question: How do you make everyone happy, when the producer wants one thing, the club owner wants another and the band and their girlfriends want another?

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Let's Be Careful Out There

When I first heard about the shooting in an Ohio club that took the lives of four people, including the band's guitarist and two crew members, I was horrified–but I must admit I didn't know who DamagePlan was. I figured it was a local club deal where something got terribly out of hand. It's strange how when I found out the next morning that the guitarist was Dimebag Darrell from Pantera, it hit home. I was never a big metal guy or Pantera fan, but I know people who worked for them, and that made it much more personal.

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Future Sonics

Everyone knows necessity is the mother of invention, so it's not a surprise that Marty Garcia saw an opportunity in 1982 to ease the vocal strain of Todd Rundgren with a change in monitoring techniques. What's not so clear is how he went from setting up monitor wedges one day to putting denture gel and ear buds into Rundgren's ears the next. "That's good," Garcia laughs. "The thing of it is that in my mind, I've always been trying to perfect what I thought was a good audio system."

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When Just Good Becomes Great

A live audio mix is very much like the music that is being played, in as much as it is subjectively assessed by whomever is listening. Music that delightfully entices one listener may just be a snorer for others, and music that rocks one soul is an abomination to another. There is no accounting for taste and those who love Maroon 5 are no more passionate about their music than the lovers of Hilary Duff, Walter "Wolfman" Washington or GWAR.

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Dirk Durham and Earl Neal

What do live sound and the rodeo have in common? Dirk Durham, Toby Keith's FOH engineer since 2000. "I've had two jobs–running sound and riding bareback horses," says Durham. "A good friend of mine is Ben Johnson, who's a pretty prolific singer/songwriter, and we traveled together–he wrote and I rode bareback horses. After the shows, he'd go in to the local VFWs and Moose Lodges, and they would rent to him and he'd play for the door. And I'd be there to drink beer and chase women, and he'd go, 'If you're going to hang out so much, then start rolling cords,' and I rolled cords, then moved to the monitor desk, and then to Front of House. And I thought, 'This is kind of like rodeoing: I'm traveling a bunch, and really not working more than an hour, and I think I might like doing this!'"

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KA

Debuting in the completely rebuilt 1,951-seat theatre of Las Vegas' MGM Grand Hotel is KÀ, Cirque du Soleil's fifth Las Vegas extravaganza. Created and directed by acclaimed Québécois theatre and film director Robert Lepage, KÀ is one of the largest technical productions ever put together, combining acrobatics, martial arts, puppetry, multimedia, pyrotechnics, an original score and an elaborate sound design by Jonathan Deans. KÀ departs from previous Cirque productions by featuring a strongly defined story with clearly identified characters. Described by Cirque founder and CEO Guy Laliberte as "the most theatrical show we've ever done," KÀ is based on the ancient Egyptian belief in the ka, an invisible spiritual duplicate of the body that accompanies each person through this life and into the next. The tale is told as the saga of separated twins–a boy and a girl–who embark on a journey to fulfill their

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One Dropped Neutral

When on tour with a major rock 'n' roll band promoting a new record, you are sometimes called upon to pull off extraordinary feats of technical wizardry while keeping your own composure, under physically stressful conditions that might make a weaker being weep like a little girl. This is one of those stories. The names have not been changed as to give the parties involved due credit and kudos.

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Carlson and Rat Sound Hit the Road with R.E.M.

How do you do audio justice to a rock legend whose career spans more than 25 years? Well, one of the first and most crucial steps is to surround yourself with people, companies and gear that have proven themselves time and time again. When it came to planning the U.S. leg of R.E.M.'s recently launched 2004/2005 World Tour supporting their latest CD, Around the Sun, this meant handing the ball to FOH engineer Brett Eliason, who in turn joined forces with Seattle-based Carlson Audio Systems to design the

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Crate PSM12P, A-T Pro Series, Furman Series II PL PLUS, Allen & Heath Mix Wizard3, Yorkville M1610

Crate PSM12P Powered Speakers

By Bill Evans

I know they are widely derided by many pros as "speakers on a stick," but I sometimes do the kind of gigs where I use plastic molded and powered enclosures–and unless you are doing exclusively big tours, you probably have as well. I have seen them used everywhere from corporates to small outdoor gigs. A couple years ago, I was at the Playboy Mansion for a press conference about the Playboy Jazz Festival, and the band was being run through a Mackie mixer and a couple of Mackie powered enclosures. I also see a ton of them used as stage monitors. But as we all know, not all powered boxes are cut from the same cloth, so to speak, and sound quality and features can vary radically.

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20/20 Hindsight

Last year is now history. It is clear that the lessons we learn today give us the information we need tomorrow. One great lesson to learn may be that micro-management of your technical ministries is a vision-killing, energy-sucking, exhausting waste of energy.

That is exactly my thought as I look at the piles of technical literature, product reviews and magazines that are neatly stacked in alphabetized unread order in my office. How the heck can we absorb all this knowledge and put it to good use (or discard it)? I truly empathize with the worship leaders, executive pastors and AV technicians who are overwhelmed by the vastness of products and information being tossed their way.

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