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Owsley “Bear” Stanley’s Long, Strange Trip

Owsley “Bear” Stanley’s Long, Strange Trip

Owsley "Bear" Stanley, who died on March 15 in Australia in a car accident, will be remembered by most as a hub of the psychedelic counterculture of the 1960s, the enabler of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters' acid tests chronicled by Tom Wolfe. Readers of FOH will also recall him as a seminal figure in live sound, who designed, financed and operated the Grateful Dead's massive sound system and mixed live sound for Hot Tuna, Starship and other bands, both before and after he was arrested and imprisoned for possession and intent to sell 350,000 doses of his trademark psychedelic, LSD, in 1967.

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Digitally Steerable Arrays

The Digitally Steerable Array ("DSA") is a type of loudspeaker that is in its relative infancy compared with other sound reinforcement technology. This unique audio animal is primarily intended for small-to-medium size commercial and house-of-worship applications where priorities include intelligibility, controlled dispersion and aesthetics. DSAs present an external appearance much like traditional column-type loudspeakers, but there is way more going on internally than meets the eye. Let's take a look at the concepts behind the DSA and the technology that makes it possible.

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Reaching Out

{mosimage}There is no doubt that spring is in the air (at least it is here in Southern California). I know that some of you are still getting rain, snow and cold weather, but those long warm, days are just ahead of us. And what does that mean for many of us in the worship sound biz? It means that the "Outreach" season is upon us.

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Just Say No

All too often, we get a call for the infamous "Microphone for 500 people" and then patiently explain to the prospective client what that entails in the real world of audio. As tedious as these calls can be, taking the time to discern exactly what the client is attempting to achieve and building a system around their needs and desires is what we do.

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Quebec City’s Salle Albert Rousseau Upgrades with d&b Gear

QUEBEC – Alexandre Forgues, with the audio consulting firm 20k, was very familiar with Quebec's Salle Albert Rousseau, which has evolved from being primarily a venue for classical music to more of a contemporary multi-purpose performance space. When Forgues got the opportunity to totally replace the house sound system, he opted for d&b audiotechnik gear.

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Jamiroquai Tours Planet Earth with Midas XL8

From left, Pav Zakrzewski (Britannia Row system tech); Warren Grimsley (FOH engineer) with Midas XL8

SANTIAGO, Chile – FOH engineer Rick Pope is out on the Jamiroquai tour with a Midas XL8 live performance system at FOH, supplied by Britannia Row and operated by Britannia Row's Warren Grimsley, who is out for the first time with the system. Originally on the tour as PA tech, Grimsley was promoted to his position with little training on the XL8, but picked it up in no time.

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Clear-Com Helps USITT Honor Student with Stage Management Award

Siobhan Ruane, left, with Clear-Com Regional Sales Manager, Southeastern USA and Caribbean, Patrick Hamp

ALAMEDA, CA – Clear-Com once again supported USITT's 2011 Young Designers & Technicians (YD&T) awards program. The awards recognize students and others relatively new to such areas as stage management, technical production, makeup design, lighting design and more. This year, University of Delaware senior Siobhan Ruane garnered top honors in the Clear-Com sponsored Stage Management category.

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