This AV company calls me up for a hotel testimonial dinner… just baby-sit a small system with a couple of mics for speakers. I get there and it's an improv company with eight lavs and a couple of wireless 58s with a Mackie 16ch and no EQ whatsoever. There are two powered Mackies jammed up against the plaster walls, a tile floor and lots of glass in the walls and ceiling. I'm thinking of taking a hike, but I'm supposed to be good enough to make it work.
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The 50th Annual Grammy Awards shook up the Staples Center with a record number of performances — and challenges.
This year, the Grammy Awards hit the big 5-0. The show, at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, lived up to the Recording Academy’s assertion that it would be the biggest show yet in terms of number of musical performances: 35 songs in 19 segments. Those performances required more than 450 microphones, not including what was used on the outdoor stage for the Foo Fighters’ show.
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“We need a world-class install. Oh, and you only have 18 months. Is that a problem?”
When the phone rings at IPR Services, the company’s Owner Bob Patrick expects to hear a challenge. After all, IPR has been at the helm for some of the most interesting install projects across the globe, including The Mirage in Las Vegas, Staples Center in Los Angeles and Makkah Mosque in Saudi Arabia. Still, he wasn’t quite prepared when he heard that he only had 18 months to get the design and install done for the brand new 7,100-seat Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles.
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Freida Olds
FOH Mixer
Trinity Chapel
Powder Springs, Ga.
Trinity Chapel.org
678.333.5485
[email protected]
Services Provided: Front of house mixer
Clients: Family Force 5, Trinity Chapel Church (12K people)
Read More »Politics, slander, innuendo! Who’s qualified to lead? Who is all talk and no action? Who’s tainted by scandal? Whose decisions and reasoning are questionable? Who drinks too much? Who does too many drugs? Who visits hookers? Who takes kickbacks, which one steals, who never has the correct information and then refuses to take responsibility and back-peddles when challenged? Who leads through coercion and intimidation? Who, what, when and where? With so little time and yet so many questions, it’s amazing that anything gets accomplished… and this is just office politics.
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Sound crew delivered the powerful message loud and clear to raise money for charity.
Since the time this story was written, Roddy Pahl, head of sound at MGM Grand, has passed away. Our condolences go out to his friends and family.
The MGM Grand Hotel and Casino’s newest venue, the Grand Pavilion, recently hosted a swanky affair in typical Vegas fashion. The venue, decked out in lavish decor, crystal chandeliers and expensive cars was transformed into Tinsel Town for the 12th Annual Keep Memory Alive Power of Love charity gala. The multi-million-dollar fundraiser brought together Hollywood celebrities, world-famous athletes and Vegas elite to raise money to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and other memory disorders. VIP guests included Muhammad Ali, John Cusack, David Copperfield, Siegfried and Roy, Terry Hatcher and Hilary Duff, among many others. And for $75,000 a table, everything from the world-class dinner prepared by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck to crooner Michael Buble’s performance, had to be flawless. Perhaps most important, Keep Memory Alive’s powerful message had to be delivered loud and clear to raise money for the Lou Rubo Brain Institute. Enter Roddy Pahl, head of sound at MGM Grand.
It’s really easy to tell when someone really cares about what they do. When I am out on gigs I see it all the time. The funny thing is that the bigger the gig, the more likely you are to find at least a few people who just don’t really give a rat’s ass about the gig. It is just a paycheck.
Read More »If you’re a gear geek like I am — and since you’re reading FOH, I’ll bet that you are — you may have noticed that signal processing has been steadily migrating into power amplifiers. This is nothing terribly new: For years amplifier manufacturers have offered add-on processing. I can remember when I was a teenager (late 1700s) trying to lift a Peavey CS800 — the original CS800, many of which caused herniated disks and are still in service today — and seeing a weird circular socket on the rear panel. I was afraid to touch that socket, thinking I’d get electrocuted even when the amp was unplugged.
Read More »The old adage is that when the economy’s down, entertainment is up. Dave Shadoan, president of SR provider Sound Image, has been a firm believer in that throughout his career. But this year, even he wonders how well it will hold up.
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Ken
Oh my God, Brian, at yesterday’s gig I almost went in the drink! My client, the bandleader, did a site survey the day before, and reported back that it was all good — a very easy load-in except for off-loading the truck on the street. This was a corporate gig for 250 attendees, and I work for the band. The end client was a German car manufacturer that shall go unnamed. The venue was beautiful, bucolic, and the load-in was a pain in the ass. One of those 500-yard, switchback down the mountain on the cobblestone path kind of deals. Needless to say, I was soaking wet and exhausted just by the time the stuff was in the room. Because I couldn't make the site survey, I think my client didn't want to let me know the misery in advance. You have clients who "forget" to mention things to you?
LAS VEGAS – Back in 2001, Neumann unveiled its Solution-D generation digital microphones. These conformed to the new AES 42 data transmission protocol to allow its digital microphones to work in conjunction with digital workstations. Now, NAB 2008 sees the fruits of a collaborative effort with UK-based digital mixing console manufacturer DiGiCo to take this groundbreaking technology a stage further, allowing Neumann’s digital microphones to interface directly with DiGiCo’s desks.
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RIVERSIDE, CA – The Mission Worship Center in Riverside, Calif., experienced structural damage, which forced them into a position to move their services into their gymnatorium. Realizing that the gym was not going to handle the make-shift system from the main worship hall, Simon Productions worked with Pastor Justin Frailey of the church to get a new McCauley Sound iDESIGN installation, consisting of four iD112-4s, two iD208-26s, two iD108-26s, two AC288s and two SM72-2s. Once the sanctuary is rebuilt, Mission Worship Center has already decided to go with a McCauley Sound line array.
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