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Installations Showcase: New Theater Projects

Suffolk Theatre, Riverhead, NY

Installations Showcase: New Theater Projects

Theaters can exist in an extraordinary variety of forms, ranging from (ancient — yet still used) amphitheaters to storefront conversions to specifically designed modern performing arts centers and repurposed movie palaces, and everything in between. So when it comes to deciding what sound system is best in any particular venue, the answers are as varied as the architecture, seating and decor. More than a few of these were never intended for either high-SPL music programs or even for the needs of traditional theatre, where vocal articulation and intelligibility is paramount.

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FRONT of HOUSE editor George Petersen

Studio Smart, Live Smarter

Way, way back a long time ago, the world was a whole lot different, when bands wore suits to studio sessions and recording engineers walked around in white lab coats. During this era — and for a couple decades thereafter — studio engineers were seen as the real smart guys, and live engineers were regarded as a step or two above roadie status. Of course, there was probably a certain element of truth to that notion, especially when a live “console” often consisted of a bunch of cascaded 5-input Altec 1567A’s that fed power amps wired to a couple stacks of Altec A-7 Voice of the Theatre cabinets. And if you had a rig like that, some paisley pants and a fringed leather jacket, you were ready to rock!

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The big cast and band kept Carin Ford busy. Bullets Over Broadway production photo by Paul Kolnik

Bullets Over Broadway Sound Mixer Carin Ford

Even though she knows it won’t last past summer, sound mixer Carin Ford loves manning the board of the Tony Award-nominated musical Bullets Over Broadway. “I really enjoy the music because I grew up listening to and playing jazz,” says Ford, who, like her father, has played saxophone. “I love the music. I can really relate to it and can get into the mix of it. I love working with this cast. We have a great band and a great cast. I haven’t been with a good ensemble like this in awhile. I really enjoy the show, and I think Susan Stroman did great work with it. That one tap number with the gangsters (“‘Tain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do”) is off the chain.”

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2014 Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Benny Collins

2014 Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Benny Collins

If you don’t want to know the truth about something, don’t ask Benny Collins. Because he will tell you. That trait — at odds with the stereotype of those who get close to the stars — has taken him far in the live event business, a career that started with him hauling a Hammond B-3 in a truck as a teen to circling the world running Michael Jackson’s most audacious tours.

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Hometown Hero Finalists, FOH Magazine, 2014

2014 Hometown Hero Finalist Profiles

What makes a hometown hero? What does it take to be the best, without being the biggest? FRONT of HOUSE readers have spoken and here are this year’s six Parnelli Regional Audio honorees. They all answer the two questions, and while each has whittled their own path to this year’s winner’s circle, like a snowflake, no two are exactly alike. They do, however, share commonalities: Gear, sure, but it’s the people; savvy business sense to survive and thrive and a business that is getting harder to navigate every year; and an insatiable desire to please the client. FOH readers can now visit www.parnelliawards.com and  vote on which of the six should be named the Hometown Hero Sound Company of the Year.

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Polaris Scala

Salzbrenner Launches Polaris Evolution Network Audio Mixing System

Salzbrenner has debuted the network-controlled Polaris Evolution cloud-based digital audio mixing system with the company’s Polaris Scala audio DSP unit, pictured here. Polaris Scala is the node where all aspects of the Evolution system’s simultaneous audio processing operations originate and come together. The Polaris Scala is where controllers are connected via Ethernet or Wi-Fi, resources are allocated for the tasks at hand, and where signal sources and output devices are connected.

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Saelig USB Mini Spectrum Analyzers

Saelig announces the availability of the TSA range of spectrum analyzers – economical, miniature RF tools. They cover a wide measurement range, accept signal levels into standard SMA input connectors and a remote feature allows them to be controlled remotely from anywhere via the Internet.

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Radial Engineering Re-Launches Hafler Audio Brand

VANCOUVER, BC – Radial Engineering, which purchased the Hafler brand from Rockford-Fosgate, is re-launching the brand this year. “Way back in the 1990’s, Radial was the Canadian distributor for Hafler, and ever since then, we have felt that given the opportunity, we could bring Hafler back to the world of audio,” said Radial president Peter Janis.

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Ed Sheeran Touring with Major Tom-supplied Meyer LYON System

LONDON – Major Tom Ltd. is providing a Meyer Sound LYON system to support Ed Sheeran’s one-man shows. The setup varies, with larger shows using front hangs of 12 LEO-M over four LYON linear line array loudspeakers each, with 14 additional LYON loudspeakers in each of the twin side hangs. Completing the system are 18 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements for low end and eight M’elodie line array loudspeakers for front fill. A Galileo Callisto loudspeaker management system with one Galileo Callisto 616 AES and four Galileo Callisto 616 array processors provide system drive and alignment. Chris Marsh is Sheeran’s production manager and FOH engineer.

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Stefano Amerio, Artesuono’s owner and principal sound engineer

Artesuono Studios Adds Merging Technologies’ Horus Networked Audio Interface

UDINE, Italy – Artesuono Studios’ recent addition of Merging Technologies’ Horus Networked Audio Interface has greatly improved the portability of the mobile rig whilst significantly improving the end results. Horus was chosen for the quality of the microphone preamplifiers, the converters and the ease in connecting to existing Avid Pro Tools HDX and HD3 Accel systems. Pictured here is Stefano Amerio, Artesuono’s owner and principal sound engineer.

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K-Array Delay System Deployed In Denmark

AARHUS, Denmark – A custom delay system comprised of K-array speakers was installed in the new offices for Krifa, a trade union, which relocated here recently from Randers, Denmark. The speakers are installed within a large meeting room in the new facility. Jan Juul Hansen, from MAVT DK distributor of K-array managed the audio setup for the space.

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