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Get to the Source

Get to the Source

So many times we have discussed the evil trinity of church sound: incorrect speaker placement, stage wedges and live drum kits. These always seem to be a dark and persistently integral part of the learning curve when it comes to getting great sound to the congregation. There are many reasons why this is the case, but there are only two general reasons why this destroys the faith of the FOH volunteer and his ability to do a great job. First, the person can only mix what he gets, and second… he can only mix what he gets!

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I Need More Power, Captain!

As we head into the outdoor gig season, there's always a lot of concern about the subject of scrounging for power for the show. Now, the big shows can demand genny trailers and venue/city electricians for hookups, but many of the smaller performances are left to people who think any electrical access is enough to get the job done. In the past, I have written about power distribution and load balancing; but let's think about not having enough power and what to do about it.

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Keeping Those Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Sounding Squeaky Clean

Set on the French Riviera and inspired by the movie with Michael Caine and Steve Martin, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels tells the tale of a professional trickster, his cohort in crime (a chief of police) and the young charlatan who wants to learn more about the art of the con, particularly as it applies to rich single women. Co-starring John Lithgow and Norbert Leo Butz as the con man and his protégé, both of whom compete to swindle a young heiress out of $50,000, this Broadway musical is wittier and more fun than you might think, and it features some catchy musical numbers to boot.

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Mini Me, Mini You

I remember once being invited to a manufacturer's demonstration of a digital microphone in Nashville. I had been truly looking forward to it–the notion that one of the last two pieces of the pro audio puzzle that had evaded digitization was about to be brought into the fold was exciting.

When I arrived, the microphone was set up on a stand for the throngs to marvel at. But cynic that I am, I began to sense that the Emperor's New Clothes might be hanging on this rack as well. Chatting up the sales rep, I kept asking how the "digital microphone" worked, and kept getting elusive answers. However, each question brought us closer to the core of the matter, which was that this was a perfectly normal powered transducer that, like all microphones, turned the energy of moving air into a variable pulse palpated by the diaphragm and turned that into (very analog) electrical impulses. The digital part had to do with an A/D converter that was mounted in the rear of the microphone casing. This was a digital microphone in the same way I'm a pilot because I sit in the first row behind the cockpit on an MD-80.

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John Murchison and Tricia M Ellsworth

John Murchison

Owner/Engineer

JRM Audio

Redondo Beach, CA

[email protected]

www.electricblue.net/JRMAudio

Quote: When life looks like Easy Street, there is danger at your door.

John Murchison started his live audio career in 1978 mixing FOH on a Tapco board for a country-rock cover band. "We played at Mrs. Jay's Beer Garden in Asbury Park, N.J., next to Bruce Springsteen's famous Stone Pony Bar," he notes. Since then, John has relocated to sunny Southern California, where he started JRM Audio. He currently provides sound for local bands, clubs and outdoor concerts and festivals, including the Ojai Jam Band Festival Benefit, Cubensis, Grampas Grass, Electric Blue and Sticky Fingers.

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Taking Business Into Your Own Hands

Hi Guys,

I've got a question and a complaint. So maybe you can help. I run a small sound company, but about half of my work comes from working for larger sound companies. The problem is that I am getting almost no work from the mid-sized companies I usually get gigs from. This has been going on for some time now. Are things just slow, or am I a bigger loser than I thought? What's your assessment on the state of live sound?

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Surviving the Squeeze

The following is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the semi-innocent.

Much as the conventional wisdom holds that being the middle child sucks, those in the middle of the live event audio world may be feeling that the world is lined up against them right about now.

A few months ago, we ran the news that San-Diego and Nashville-based Sound Image had aquired Chicago's db Sound, instantly rocketing them to at least the number two spot when it comes to pure size among national sound companies. At the same time, larger regionals are moving up to be considered by many as national companies. (Thunder Audio out of Detroit is a good example. Although they were nominated for a "Hometown Hero" award this year, with clients including Metallica and Garbage, many readers feel Thunder no longer qualifies as a regional company.)

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The 2005 Grammys

Those who attended the very first concert at Los Angeles' Staples Center in 1999–Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band–can attest to the fact that the sound was abominable. In the vast arena full of hard surfaces–including those all-important revenue-generating glass skyboxes–sound ricocheted wildly with nasty, ear-damaging midrange the predominant sonic coloration. It was impossible to imagine that Staples would ever be a viable music venue.

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Rekindling the Passion

I'm not sure when or how it comes about, but every few years I will inevitably start to question what I am doing with my life. Most of the time I am saved from pondering why I am doing the work that I am doing because I can usually rationalize away the question by reminding myself that it's just a job and I need the livelihood. There are times, though, that the rationalization fails me and I am left with the depressing thought that I have just wasted years of my precious, short existence without accomplishing a damn thing. Believe me when I say that there isn't a more desolate feeling than waking up all alone in your tour bus bunk and feeling sorry for yourself while speeding through some unknown state in the middle of the night. It can happen any time at all and sometimes without us knowing it happened until it's already happened. After all, one moment your life is wonderful and serene in a world of perfect order and harmony, and in the next instant you find yourself trapped inside a cubist nightmare in which all angles are askew and perspective is challenged.

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Victor Fernandez Adds Latin Flavor to the Mix

Unless you are a fan of Latino music that mixes traditional

mariachi elements with more modern pop sounds, you may not know of Pepe Aguilar. But the Mexican artist regularly sells out 10,000-plus-seat venues in the U.S. and tours through Latin America constantly, playing to enthusiastic crowds wherever he goes. Manning the FOH console for the past six years has been Victor Fernandez, a 26-year veteran of the Mexican music scene. FOH caught up with him as he was getting ready for Aguilar's participation in a tribute concert for the late Latin sensation Selena at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

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ICP Lives Long and Prospers

There are many people–okay, most–who will say that nothing good came out of the disco era. Jay Rabbitt just might beg to differ, since he spun a late-'70s DJ gig into ownership of a sound company in Doylestown, Pa. "We stopped doing the DJ stuff about 15 years ago, but that's how it all started," Rabbitt explains. "In 1980 I moved to Atlanta, and we've been here for 25 years."

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Hey, Buddy, Can You Spare a Subwoofer?

Like many other sound guys who still play in bands, when I play out, I get to be both performer and soundman. It can get pretty interesting. In the late '90s my five-piece classic rock group was hired to play the Rodeo Club, a popular nightclub on Lake Martin in east Alabama. When we arrived at the club, I saw some large speakers by the stage and deduced that the club had its own sound system (No, I had not advanced the gig…). Though we carry our own system, using the house gear meant not having to unload and set ours up, which was fine with us. But after talking with the venue manager we found out that it only looked like there was a house system: though there had once been a house P.A., parts were missing and nothing was connected.

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