Mention “social networking,” and the first thing that comes to mind is staring at your computer or smartphone screen for hours on end, sharing cat pictures or a video of some guy riding a bicycle into a swimming pool. And as cool as this may be to the hipster set, it’s no replacement for an actual (not virtual) experience with actual humans, or as the late, great Marvin Gaye once put it: “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing, Baby.”
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Soundco
On Stage Gear, LLC
Venue
Anderson Center, University of Mary Washington
Fredericksburg, VA
The AC/DC Rock or Bust tour, now through most of its slated 55 dates, has already played to millions across 21 countries. Following a four-week break after their last Los Angeles show, the boys boarded a plane and headed for where it all started for them: Australia. The band’s makeup is different this outing: Drummer Phil Rudd is currently battling legal problems in New Zealand, so Chris Slade is on the drummer throne; and original guitarist Malcolm Young has been forced into retirement and is currently fighting dementia. But keeping it in the family, his nephew Stevie Young is slinging his guitar parts.
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In discussions about music, style labels and genres seem to be all-encompassing. However, when someone is asked how to describe a band that is different or somehow breaks out of the mold, a difficulty ensues from those who want every act to fit inside a “box,” whether it’s rock, jazz-pop or whatever. And so it is with Straight No Chaser (SNC). Simply dismissing this act as a “male a capella group” might bring up images of the Yale Whiffenpoofs glee club or perhaps a barbershop quartet, but SNC are far from either of those vocal performance stereotypes.
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As with other categories of pro audio gear, wireless systems have embraced digital technologies. And in today’s ever-crowded RF landscape, this move is ideally suited for packing more frequencies into smaller bandwidths, adding flexible control, applying security encryption or simply transmitting an unaltered digital stream. We looked at some recent offerings and found systems for nearly any application or budget. Speaking of pricing, these are omitted here as systems can vary widely depending on selections in transmitter/receiver options, mic/capsule choices and accessories. Company URLs are provided if you need more information.
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Sound is fundamentally about change. Changes in pressure on the eardrum lead to bone movement in the inner ear that triggers changes in neurons that cause the brain to perceive sound. And for pro audio, the initial change in air pressure results from a loudspeaker whose physical movement caused the change in pressure.
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Halloween is just behind us, but there may be plenty of goblins ahead. I’ve written before, here and elsewhere, about that moment of frisson when, at the 2012 Coachella festival, the audience was stunned by the reunion of deceased rapper Tupac Shakur with a very alive Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg during a performance on stage.
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