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Hey, Buddy, Can You Spare a Subwoofer?

Hey, Buddy, Can You Spare a Subwoofer?

Like many other sound guys who still play in bands, when I play out, I get to be both performer and soundman. It can get pretty interesting. In the late '90s my five-piece classic rock group was hired to play the Rodeo Club, a popular nightclub on Lake Martin in east Alabama. When we arrived at the club, I saw some large speakers by the stage and deduced that the club had its own sound system (No, I had not advanced the gig…). Though we carry our own system, using the house gear meant not having to unload and set ours up, which was fine with us. But after talking with the venue manager we found out that it only looked like there was a house system: though there had once been a house P.A., parts were missing and nothing was connected.

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Mudslide Relief

The most dreaded three words a production professional ever hears are, "It's a benefit." However, there are those moments when gear, time and money take a second seat to a community in need. As the world turned their eyes to the devastating tsunami disaster halfway around the world, a small community in Ventura County–La Conchita–found itself victim to a devastating mudslide, the result of a 10-day torrential downpour in Southern California. Ten people lost their lives and 15 homes were destroyed in this beautiful surfing community just south of Santa Barbara.

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Selenium D3500Ti-Nd, Mic-Mute Automatic Microphone Switch, Cerwin Vega VIS-153

Selenium D3500Ti-Nd High Frequency Driver

By Mark Amundson

With the quality going up and the cost going down on rare earth magnetic materials, more Low and High Frequency Drivers are employing Neodymium as the magnetic motor. The main advantages of Neodymium over conventional magnet materials like Ceramic (Ferrite) and Aluminum-Nickel-Cobalt (Alnico) are twice to five times the remnant magnetic flux, which is the force the voice coil repels against to move the air. By using Neodymium, speaker designers can proportionally shrink the size of the magnet pole faces and motor assembly. While the assembly size and some component costs also shrink, it is believed that the Neodymium material is more expensive; leading to an equivalent to slightly more expensive driver.

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What's the Difference?

One of the main purposes of this column has always been to instigate, implore, motivate and at least hint softly that Houses of Worship need to strive for their own levels of excellence and knowledge when it comes to their technical systems. We can't do it all for you… but we can help.

More often than not, there is a distinct lack of brand names mentioned here, for the simple reason that deciding on function is usually the primary problem and that brand names mean little if the technical task can not ultimately be accomplished. And there are more than a few parameters for every technical task, including things like operator proficiency and budget. On an item-to-item situation these things are usually handled fairly well, but when it comes to a system-wide equipment choice, where even a modest level of integration is involved, it's nearly impossible to click the Internet and make good choices. This is where many good consultants usually end up clashing with otherwise good and sensible church elders.

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Mixing Blunders

Making mistakes while mixing is the human component of live sound production, and we all are guilty. However, with a little more attention to details, these minor blunders can be averted. This installment of Theory and Practice will recap common mixing mistakes as a reminder to avoid them in the future.

Now, we are not talking about gain structure issues, but having good gain structure habits being taken for granted. This means that zero dBu is more than a good suggestion for average signal levels. Keep it in the green and out of the reds.

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John Dory: Containing Shockheaded Peter

While its location at the Little Shubert Theatre on West 42nd Street makes it an off-Broadway production, Shockheaded Peter is more original than most of what is going on at the Great White Way lately. Inspired by the dark children's stories of late 19th-century German author Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann, the show is hosted by a ghoulishly funny emcee (Julian Bleach) and musically accompanied by the gothic cabaret of The Tiger Lillies – accordionist/singer Martyn Jacques, bassist/backup singer Adrian Stout and drummer Adrian Huge. Told here through monologues, song, puppeteering and dramatic re-enactments, Hoffmann's stories tell of the grim fatalities that befall naughty children who suck their thumbs, fidget at the dinner table, torture animals and play with matches. And it has a killer rabbit that turns the tables on its hunter. Edward Gorey would have loved it.

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A LOUD Sound in the Market

Recently, LOUD Technologies–parent brand of Mackie, Tapco and EAW, among others–announced that it had acquired St. Louis Music in a deal valued at more than $30 million, according to an 8-K filing. The move reflects an inexorable truth in the pro audio business in general, and for live sound in particular: the large will get larger and the not-so-large had better start looking for partners. Because when the winds of Wall Street blow, it's like no SPL you've ever encountered.

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Getting Into Installations

Dear Anklebiters,

I was recently hired to install a sound system in a local school. I have done install work over the last few years but always as a hired sub. I would like to incorporate this kind of work into my sound company, but I really don't know how to go about it. Can you give me some suggestions?

Thanks,

Richard Hughes, Los Angeles, CA

Jamie: Well, Richard, I have a lot of suggestions for you. I also get solicited on occasion to do sound system installs. And if the money is good, I'll do it. However, I got my own first installation contract at a local club. The club had a system, but I was providing sound for an R&B band and they wanted better sound than the club could offer. (In fact, it was Rev. Bill and the Soul Believers, the same band that has hosted the Industry Jam at Pro Production for the past three years.)

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Breathing Room?

On one hand, I (and the entire FOH/PLSN staff) finally get a chance to take a deep breath, but I have to admit it has been a pretty exhilarating time, and I may actually miss the challenge and the adrenaline rush. I am talking about the past 10 weeks, which saw us dealing with two major holidays, a total of six issues of the mags, the fifth edition of the EPD (our annual directory to all things production oriented) and the now completed Pro Production 2005.

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Pro Production 2005

Maybe I've got our old friend Hunter Thompson on the brain, but that phrase kept popping into my head throughout the proceedings of Pro Production 2005. Between economics of scale, changing client demands, technology advances and the creeping corporatization of the live event production world, the going has indeed gotten weird. But while those outside of our world certainly see us all as a bit on the weird side, we have all gone pro and it showed.

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Thinking Ahead on Permanent Installs

For a person coming from the field of live performance, the change from daily one-offs to the world of permanently installed audio systems can be a true challenge. With a traveling system, one can always make allowances for last-minute changes and additions without necessarily ruining the master plan or design of the system, whereas with an installed system one must ensure that the design is correct and the plan carefully followed. Not to say that one should be cavalier in regard to the design and installation of a road-ready system, but in the event of any needed changes, it is always less expensive to bring in the flown speakers with a traveling rig than it is to open a wall and change a speaker or cable run.

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