98.1 KVET Free Texas Music Series
Bob Seger Comes Home to Detroit
Bob Seger doesn't tour or record often. The "other" Motor City Madman has released all of three LPs in the last 20 years, and the current Silver Bullet Band tour that commenced in March is his first in five years, and only the second in 16 years. However, when you can sell 20 million of those three records in that time (as Rolling Stone points out, Bruce Springsteen has sold only 8 million in the same time frame) and consistently sell out your tour dates every time around, you don't really have to do anything in volume – except turn it up.
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Companies Band Together to Form Rental & Staging Network
Unique Association Marks Impressive Growth during Challenging Times
All the members of the Rental & Staging Network would agree that, as a whole, their organization is greater than the sum of its parts. As it barrels toward its fourth year propelled by a serious growth spurt, the organization continues to strive to be a network of top rental and staging companies joined by a common set of principles, high ethical standards and superior performance.
Read More »DSP Amplifiers
To download a PDF of the FOH July 2011 Buyers Guide, CLICK HERE .
The introduction of digital speaker processors two decades ago allowed users to program complete presets for their speaker systems for the first time, including delay and parametric EQ to optimize multi-way systems beyond simply choosing the best crossover slopes and adjusting individual crossover outputs and then the graphic EQ by ear.
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PreSonus StudioLive Software Components
Capture, Studio One and Virtual StudioLive
Each of the three mixers in the current StudioLive family – the original 16.4.2, the flagship 24.4.2 and the new compact 16.0.2 – share the ability to be a full FireWire-enabled digital audio recording interface. All three come with Virtual StudioLive control software, Capture for basic digital recording and Studio One for the more advanced work. The included software makes StudioLive consoles veritable Swiss Army knives. This review covers some highlights of each and how they can be implemented in a live setting.
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Logic Systems Sound and Lighting
This multi-million dollar corporation, whose client roster spans all the way up to the President of the U.S., is a bit of an anonymous anomaly – and that's just the way owner Chip Self likes it. "We fly under the radar, as almost everything we do is as a subcontractor," Self says. "We're the people in the background. The way I look at it is that, if anybody notices us, we didn't do it right. Our whole job is to be invisible."
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Waves Plugins (Part 3): H-Comp, Hybrid Compressor
To quote Adrian Monk, one of my favorite TV characters, "Here's the thing." Horns are cool. They add excitement, movement, color and personality to arrangements. But horns can be loud. Horns can take over mixes in seconds. Horns need to be respected, but horns need to be respectfully controlled. It's necessary to compress horns, but dynamic control has to be implemented without repressing their timbre, vitality and energy.
Read More »The Big Picture
From the FOH position, you can pretty accurately gauge the impact the show is having on the house, but what if you want to gauge the effect your industry is having on the economy? That's something that your U.K. counterparts have a better handle on now, thanks to a survey from UK Music, an umbrella organization representing the collective interests of a broad range of sectors of the U.K.'s commercial music industry. The report found that large-scale live music events, such as festivals, are contributing over £1.4 billion a year – that's $2.3 billion – to the U.K. economy from all sources, including ticket sales and travel to the event locations.
Read More »Your Heavenly Tool Box
Before we get into this month's writings, I want to make a few shout-outs to some of the readers. It always amazes me how intelligent and thoughtful "Sound Sanctuary" readers are. I know we all want to do a good job at our individual houses of worship, but maybe we all work a little harder because of Who we are really working for.
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Parallel Compression, a.k.a. NYCT
Last month, we looked at the differences between serial and parallel processing and applications for each. We examined the idea that, generally, serial processing is applied in situations where you want 100 percent of a signal to be processed, while parallel processing is applied in situations where you want to add an effect into the mix along with the original signal. We also examined why we typically use serial processing for dynamic effects but use parallel processing for time-based effects such as reverb and delay. Now let's take a closer look at compression in particular, and twist some of the rules.
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A Profession and a Lifestyle
In a few months I will be 60 years of age and, as in the past, I usually spend the year before these milestone birthdays acclimating myself to my new surroundings by reminiscing about the past and trying to map out the future. Recollecting the history of my triumphs and failures is the easy part of the equation; disseminating all the previous information and trying to create a cohesive plan for the imminent change becomes the challenge. Nevertheless, by the time of my birthday, I have already accepted and settled into my new decade armed with the wisdom of the past and a blueprint for the upcoming years. Ha ha ha! As John Lennon once said "Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."
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Voting for 2011 Hometown Hero Sound Companies Begins
LAS VEGAS – The nominations from FRONT of HOUSE readers are in, the regional finalists for the 2011 Hometown Hero Sound Company of the Year awards competition have been chosen, and now it's time for you, the readers of FOH, to once again vote on the top regional sound company in five regions of the U.S. and Canada.
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