When F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote that there are no second acts in American lives, Garth Brooks wasn’t around to refute that assertion. After officially “retiring” from recording and performing in 2001 — with periodic, strategic breaks to drop a few new singles and one-off shows — he came part of the way back in 2009 with a five-year performance-in-residence at the Encore Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Now, with a new deal with Sony Music Nashville and the release of his catalog in digital — something he resisted doing for years — Brooks embarked on a three-year-long world tour in September.
Global rock heavyweights Five Finger Death Punch (5FDP) quickly rose to fame after the release of their first Album The Way of the Fist in 2007. Since then, 5FDP has sold more than 2.6 million albums in the U.S. and a new single, “Wrong Side Of Heaven” (on the plight of veterans suffering PTSD) has racked up more than 10 million plays on YouTube since Aug. 11.
Perhaps you are the owner of a regional production company, the sound guy for your band, or the production manager for a venue. Over the years you have purchased better microphones, switched from an analog console to a digital console, added a DSP to your system and maybe even moved to self-powered loudspeakers. Every once in a while, you’ve had a band mixer or system tech show up with SMAART, or Systune, or SpectraFoo to “tune your system.” Sometimes the results have been impressive, other times, not so much. Either way you see that said sound person has well over $1,000 invested in software, computers, microphones and interfaces to enable them to do whatever they’re doing, and you decided it is not worth the money for your business, band or venue.
Traveling around the world and performing in a different city each day, it’s somewhat difficult to establish a lasting sense of continuity within one’s daily professional experience. We consecutively encounter venues that vary in age, size and architectural design — with each structure presenting its own unique set of physical and acoustical challenges. One of the few constants on a world tour with a major artist is the presence of those few pieces of essential gear that we carry everywhere with us. For example, I have been mixing on the same DiGiCo SD5 console since this tour began last May. It is both the cornerstone and the centerpiece of my mobile office.
You may (or may not) have noticed that the recent AES Show, which took place in Los Angeles in October, threw one hell of a big bone to the live sound community, in the form of its first-ever Live Sound Expo, a mini-event within the larger one. I say “may or may not” because — prior to this year’s edition — the show tended to elicit a big “meh” from many live-sound pros. That’s in light of the fact that the organization itself says that, historically, as much as a quarter — or more — of the shows’ attendees identify themselves as working in live sound.
Last month, we discussed the concepts of power requirements, and ensuring that the in-house service is up to the task of powering your P.A. system. This time we’ll look at some specific power distro products that can help make life on stage a bit easier.
No, I won’t be presenting any clever parodies of Clement Clarke Moore’s famous poem, “A Visit From St. Nicholas.” But I don’t have to tell you that we will soon be celebrating Jesus’ birthday. Whether you live, work and play in the worship world or the secular world, Dec. 25 is the biggest day of the year for most of us and a busy time for sound crews. This season always causes me to reflect a little more on my life and the world than at any other time of year. Do you ever wonder what was going on at Joseph and Mary’s house during those first birthdays? Historically we know that they traveled to Egypt, but did they have a birthday party at year one, two, three and on? Was everyone invited? I am sure if there was cake there was certainly enough to go around. I am just throwing out a few different things to think about in between working events during this holiday season.
Starting at an early age, we all recognize the importance of the company we keep. Maybe these alliances we make stem from a primal xenophobic survival tactic or quite possibly it’s just human nature to affiliate ourselves with like-minded individuals. However, by junior high school, it seems we have already chosen sides and — though it often seems our choices are hormonally and psychologically predisposed — perhaps it’s merely circumstance that creates these bonds. Athletes hang with other athletes, the smart kids finding comfort with their own get labeled “geeks,” and the “in” crowd looks down on the social misfit crew.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA — Grundorf Corporation, a manufacturer of equipment cases and accessories for musicians and audio professionals and parent company of Grund Audio Design, is celebrating its 30th anniversary. From humble beginnings in the family garage, Grundorf Corporation has evolved into an international organization whose products have become an integral part of the livelihoods of musicians, audio professionals and technology managers everywhere.
LAS VEGAS – It was Vegas, after all, so the bet was on. “We were all voting when Benny [Collins] would start crying, and I said he wouldn’t make it through the introduction, and I won,” laughs production professional and friend Steve Thomas. Thomas, with Michael Ahern, presented the Parnelli Lifetime Achievement Award to Collins, the live event industry’s highest honor. Collins took the stage choked up and shed some tears in giving his appreciation to all he’s worked with and made friends with over the years. It was a fitting end to an evening filled with emotions, laughs and tears.
To download a PDF of the FOH Dec. 2014 Parnelli Awards report, CLICK HERE.
LONDON — Focusrite, the global music and audio products group supplying hardware and software products used in studios, sound reinforcement and music production / performance, went public with an IPO on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market on Dec. 11. Pictured here, from left, are company executive chairman Phil Dudderidge and Focusrite USA president Phil Wagner.
SHANGHAI — Earlier this year, K-Array (k-array.com) announced the first entries in its Firenze series — its new KH8 top and KS8 subwoofer touring loudspeakers. Referred to as “Slim Array Technology,” the KH8’s fit the name — each is built into a 46.4 x 19.7-inch (W x H) frame that’s that’s less than eight inches deep, yet contains eight 8-inch neodymium woofers, eight 4-inch cone MF drivers and four 1.4-inch exit HF compression drivers, offering 120° horizontal and DSP-controllable vertical dispersion.
