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Not Getting Paid in the Worship Environment

Not Getting Paid in the Worship Environment

As we get into the new year, most of us are planning how we can make 2007 more financially profitable than 2006. Now don't get me wrong. I really, really enjoy making good sound, regardless of how much money I make. However, money does make life more satisfying (especially getting the bills paid on time). So, I want to make great sound and get paid buckets of money for it.

This leads me to the subject that I will be discussing during this installment. This is a subject that I am definitely uncomfortable with, but it needs to be discussed. The question is: What do you do when that house of worship that you worked so hard on, or that religious organization for whom you (and your crew) set up a sound system for their big revival or awards event, doesn't pay you? If this happens with a secular organization, individual or producer, I make the appropriate phone calls, have my attorney send a letter and ultimately go to court to get my cash. But when you add God to the mix, the dynamics change for me. I'll let you in on what may seem obvious. I work in the worship sound biz because I believe in a God and I believe that God wants me to do this work. In other words, I am very sympathetic to the mission that many of these religious groups have. So when I get stiffed for a worship gig, it puts a different spin on the whole job.

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Using Speaker Processors

In the past couple of years, digital speaker processors have gone from early adopter stuff for the rich and touring to too economical not to have. Not so long ago, good soundcos were racking and stacking analog crossovers, signal limiters and equalizers to create the secret sauce known as a drive rack. And in that chain of processing, everything had to be set just right or the show had no headroom and speaker drivers were in peril of death-by-amplifier.

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New Kids in Town

North America comprises an estimated 50% of the world's market for professional sound systems; it's even a bigger piece of the pie if you include installed sound, which increasingly blurs the borderline with the also-expanding high-end residential audio sector. No wonder everyone wants in.

Three European speaker and system manufacturing companies have secured beachheads in the U.S. in the last couple of years, and each has their own strengths. Outline Audio, based in Brescia, Italy, brings with it products for all of the major market sectors, including three line array systems for touring sound, architectural and cinema series and an array of DSP, mixers and amplifiers that make it look a bit like Harman with a light dusting of Parmesan on top: a comprehensive, selfsupporting solutions set for a wide variety of applications.

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PROEL Group Acquires Turbosound Assets

WEST SUSSEX, UK — Italian manufacturer PROEL spa has announced that it has acquired the assets of Turbosound Ltd in an effort to add depth to PROEL's position in the marketplace, allowing it to benefit from an international company that has specialized in the design and manufacture of sound reinforcement products.

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Prince Rains Down with Sennheiser

MIAMI, FL — Sennheiser provided Prince's chrome-plated wireless vocal microphone for the Super Bowl XLI halftime show, which took place under very wet conditions in an outdoor arena with no roofing or material to cover the stage.

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Peavey Ferret D Seeks Out Feedback

MERIDIAN, MS — The new Peavey Feedback Ferret D is a feedback suppressing device that includes Peavey's patented anti-feedback algorithm and feature set. This DSP uses 16 "smart" digital filters to find and fix compromised frequencies before they become problematic with four user presets, power-up recall, "panic" filters, XLR and 1/4-inch TRS balanced I/O and an internal power supply — plus a graphic interface to simplify setup and monitoring.

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Canyon Ridge Christian Church Two-Steps to Meyer Sound MICA

LAS VEGAS — Canyon Ridge Christian Church in Las Vegas is in the midst of a major facilities expansion program, with some help from Meyer sound. By the middle of 2007, for example, the main worship auditorium will be expanded to more than double its present size. Part of the plan calls for installation of a 40-cabinet self-powered Meyer Sound system, with MICA curvilinear array loudspeakers as the keystone element.

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Ozzfest Breaks Free

LOS ANGELES — Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne and tour producer Live Nation broke the news at the Concert Industry Consortium in Los Angeles that their 12th annual Ozzfest tour — a 25-date tour launching on July 7 in Los Angeles — is pulling the plug on ticket prices, calling this summer's Ozzfest "FreeFest."

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Soundcraft Vi6 Tours with Vamp

OSLO, NORWAY — Vamp recently completed a three-week tour of Norway with the Norwegian Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra that culminated at the Oslo Spektrum Arena, where Vamp delivered its blend of Norwegian folk, Celtic music and rock to a sell-out crowd of 8,000, and for the tour, the role of monitor engineer was filled by Espen Andersen, using one of Soundcraft's new Vi6 digital desks.

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