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North Carolina Church Upgrades with WorxAudio Gear

Buck Roberts, president of Selah Media Productions, Boone, NC, at First Baptist Church of Lenoir, NC, which recently upgraded with a WorxAudio system

North Carolina Church Upgrades with WorxAudio Gear

LENOIR, NC — For the First Baptist Church of Lenoir, which includes plaster ceilings and other architectural features dating back to 1925, the need for an AV upgrade was balanced with concerns about preserving the church’s aesthetic appeal. Buck Roberts, president of Selah Media Productions, Boone, NC, provides a solution with a six-element WorxAudio X1i-Passive line array system augmented with a V5M-P line array element, two WaveSeries 8M stage monitors and a pair of I/O-4 surface mount loudspeakers.

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Tale of Two Tradeshows

This month, the audio tradeshow season finally wraps up, with the LDI Show in Las Vegas (Oct. 15 to 21) and the AES Convention in San Francisco (Oct 26 to 29). Maybe “season” is the wrong word for a period that kicks off in January at Winter NAMM, (followed by Musikmesse/PL+S, NAB, InfoComm, PALM, Summer NAMM, PALA, PLASA, LDI and AES) and extends well into October. That 10-month period actually eclipses the length of the NBA season (quite a feat), and if you add in regional/specialized events — such as Sweetwater GearFest or PreSonuSphere — you’re never really very far away (in time or distance) from some kind of event or tradeshow having to do with pro audio.

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Plasa 2012

Product Highlights of PLASA 2012

In its 21st year, PLASA 2012 (Sept. 9 to 12) marked the final staging of the annual exhibition at Earls Court & Olympia expo centers before the show moves to ExCeL London for 2013. Along with an expanded and varied program of sessions, seminars and events for lighting and sound reinforcement pros, this year’s event also included programs focusing on the industry’s involvement the Diamond Jubilee and London 2012 Olympics. Hundreds of exhibitors showed the latest in sound, lighting, installation and entertainment production technology, and there were plenty of new professional audio products on display.

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Solotech used Meyer Sound's new LEO line array in a dual stage setup for two large festivals (Osheaga and Heavy MTL) scheduled almost back to back near downtown Montreal

Osheaga and Heavy MTL Festivals in Montreal

Imagine two large festivals, booked almost back-to-back in the same locale, with each having two companion stages 60 feet apart and running at all times to spread the sound and excitement. Definitely a tough assignment, both in terms of pressure on the crew as well as demands on the sound system itself, which had to perform equally well with levels that were varied at the idle (band-changing) stage to adjust relative imaging, about -6dB for smaller crowds and full-on when packed for headliners.

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Sennheiser Digital 9000 System

Sennheiser Digital 9000 Wireless System

The transition to digital wireless is inevitable. Advances in high-quality digital converters in smaller packages with reduced power consumption brings the move to an all-digital wireless environment, especially given the increasingly dense spectral landscape of today’s RF environment. So last month, Sennheiser’s unveiling of its new Digital 9000 wireless system wasn’t entirely unexpected.

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Fig. 1: Boundary Element Method (BEM) “mesh” of a loudspeaker horn

Understanding Horns, Part 3

In the last two issues of FRONT of HOUSE, we covered some of the principles underlying loudspeaker horns, and discussed the development of the constant directivity horn. Horn loudspeakers in professional audio have a challenging task, namely providing consistent directional control over a range of multiple octaves. Throw in the desire to use the smallest practical horn and produce maximum output, and the challenges facing the horn designer are appreciable.

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One-Inch Exit Compression Drivers

One-Inch Exit Compression Drivers

With all the emphasis on larger 1.5- and 2-inch exit compression drivers, it seems that the long-time, industry-standard 1-inch exit drivers have less importance today. Yet, actually the opposite is true, and with the rise of small-format line array designs and compact top boxes for speaker-on-a-stick systems, our old friend the 1-inch exit HF driver is back in style, big time.

To download a PDF of the Sept. 2012 FRONT of HOUSE Buyers Guide, CLICK HERE.

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Brad Paisley photo by Steve Jennings

Brad Paisley’s Virtual Reality Tour

The 2012 Virtual Reality Tour for CMA Entertainer of the Year Brad Paisley finds the country superstar on a whirlwind multi-city jaunt that kicked off in mid-Januaruy at Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI and wraps up on the 20th of this month at the Hollywood Bowl. The tour is supporting the singer/songwriter/guitar virtuoso’s ninth studio album, titled This Is Country Music. However, Paisley isn’t one known to take too much time away from his fans, and a month before wrapping up the USA leg of the tour, he was debuting “Southern Comfort Zone,” a single from his next studio CD, due out in April of next year. And after just a couple weeks of R&R, Paisley and crew will take off to tour Northern Europe, starting Nov. 8.

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Dave Shadoan and Ross Ritto

Dave Shadoan and Ross Ritto

Parnelli Audio Innovator Award Honors
Sound Image Co-Founders

Sound Image has been at the forefront of the pro audio industry. The company holds 10 patents and has created or contributed to advances in console designs, the Phase-Loc System, L Track rigging, fiber optic amplifier networking systems and the use of composite carbon fiber in loudspeaker enclosures. For this and so much more, the Parnelli Board of Advisors is honoring the company’s founders Dave Shadoan and the late Ross Ritto with the 2012 Parnelli Audio Innovator Award.

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Yamaha CL5 Digital Console Road Test by David Morgan

Yamaha CL5 Digital Console

When I saw Yamaha’s newest digital console, the CL5, after it had been delivered to Delicate Productions’ Southern California warehouse, my initial reaction was similar to what someone might say upon receiving an unfamiliar product from an online dealer. “Wow! It sure looked bigger in the picture.” When compared to many other products on the market, the CL5 control surface is a very compact 41.5 x 26.3 x 11.8-inches and weighs 79.4 pounds.

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Before the gig, I had a chance to look over the (decidedly analog) Midas Venice I would be mixing on.

The Chronicles of the Weekend Warrior, Part 2

At the end of last month’s column, Five For Fighting’s John Ondrasik and I had been saved from a stranding in Minneapolis by a quick thinking, fast-talking travel agent who somehow resurrected our accidentally-canceled reservations from the digital trash can at Delta Airlines. A routine, uneventful flight home to LAX on the following day was exactly what we needed after the stresses caused by the previous day’s travel panic.

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