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It Takes a Team to Build A Venue. . .

It Takes a Team to Build A Venue. . .

In the months before this venue opened, I posted a blog on ProAudioSpace about “iconic” venues that are all too often all rep and no substance. In other words, they may be famous but they sound like crap. And I must admit that part of what had driven it was a show I had just seen at the old Joint at the Hard Rock. In fact, it was one of two closing performances with a big rock band that made their name in the 1980s.

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Welcome to the Hat Store

Once again, the call came via ProAudioSpace.com. Would I be interested in coming out to cover the Robin Thicke/Jennifer Hudson tour and The Pearl, the high-end concert venue at the Palms Hotel that was covered in FOH back when they were building it? I really liked the idea of the venue, but the one show I had seen there left me underwhelmed because the room was under subbed, and with an act as great as the Black Crowes, that is well nigh unto a sin.

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Agua Caliente: A Desert Pearl

Long before Billy Joel hit the first notes on his piano during the inaugural date at The Show, a new venue at the Agua Caliente Casino, Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage, Calif., Kevin Rummel was walking into a meeting to fine tune the room’s audio, lighting and projection systems.

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Pre-Packaged Drum Mic Kits

For a PDF of the June 2009 Buyers Guide, CLICK HERE .

When the first packaged kits containing a complement of microphones for miking a drum kit first appeared, they were really seen as either a way for mic makers to make a few extra bucks by selling several mics at once or a way for the inexperienced to get a package of mics that would all work together properly.

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: Crown XTi6000 Power Amplifer

For all those sound persons feeling guilty about not stimulating the Elkhart Indiana economy, consider buying a Crown XTi6000 power amplifier. I got the blunt reminder after looking at the rear panel and seeing the decal with the U.S. flag and the words “designed and manufactured in the USA.”

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Sennheiser e965 Handheld Condenser Vocal Microphone

Sennheiser e965

Many engineers may have a box full of high-quality mics, but finding the one that’s “just right” is often difficult. Of course, many factors come into play when choosing a mic. Sometimes it is relative to the register or timbre of the singer, sometimes the venue size plays a role, or it may just be what’s available at the time.

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Ticketing: The Next Canary in the Coal Mine

We knew that the revenue mode for the music industry was shifting to live performances more than a few years ago, back in 2002, when Princeton economics professor Alan Krueger established that 31 of the 35 top-grossing music artists that year made more money from concerts than from record sales, a trend that has continued through most of the decade.

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Software is the New Hardware

I vaguely recall that sometime in the late 1990s I received an evaluation copy of a piece of software from Digidesign called DINR (Dynamic Intelligent Noise Reduction).  At the time it was one of the earliest (if not the first) software plug-ins I ever encountered, and, to be honest, I didn’t get it.

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Two Ohm Loading

One of my rules I have held fast on is the “no 2-ohm” loading of power amplifier outputs. But back when I was buying my first real power amplifiers, the thought of 2-ohm loading capability was a godsend. This was because I had limited funds for power amplifiers, and the two Peavey M-3000 power amplifiers I bought for around $300 each was carefully thought through.

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Um, Hi, Mom….

This didn’t happen to me but to someone that I know well. One of the band members had brought a groupie back to the bus, and after they had finished, she used the loo not knowing about the rules. Driver told her there was a $200 fine as he had to empty the tank. Since all she had were the (very skimpy) clothes she was wearing, she suggested they come to some other arrangement, and vanished with the driver into the lounge at the back.

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