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Is It Live, or is it Memorex? (And Do We Need to Care?)

Once scandalous, now common: Push “play” and the DAW serves up multitrack pre-recorded stems – to enhance the “live” show.

Is It Live, or is it Memorex? (And Do We Need to Care?)

We never needed the word “analog” until digital came along. In the technologically antediluvian universe of pre-zeroes-and-ones, analog, like God, simply was, with no reason to have to somehow quantify it. Similarly, when Thomas Edison came along with his new-fangled recording machine, we then had to adapt our understanding of the word “live.” Before you could record it, music, of course, was always performed live. Edison’s invention led us to the irony of the “live” album, which had its heyday in the 1970s, as well as endless variations meant to fool not our frontal lobes but rather our limbic cores with phrases like “recorded before a live studio audience!” Is it live or is it Memorex? After a while, we seemed to stop really giving a damn.

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Your needs may not be as elaborate as the famed, once-a-decade Oberammergau Passion Play 2010 — with its 2,000-character cast, but you might still need a larger sound system for your special seasonal services and programs than for your regular weekly services. Photo by Brigitte Maria Mayer.

To Rent, or Not to Rent

A few years ago, I installed a really nice sound system in a church located in the South Bay area of Southern California. The church had been damaged by a fire 12 months earlier and they were having Wednesday and Sunday services in a large tent that had been set up in the church parking lot. A local audio company supplied the sound and lighting for the services. You may be wondering where I am going with this story, but read on. Anyway, the audio company was charging the church $2,000 a week to rent and operate the sound and lighting system.

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Illustration by Andy Au

Being There

It’s been a long winter, but spring is just about here and hopefully it signifies an end to the bad weather and the beginning of a beautiful summer touring season. All the road dogs who recently submitted resumes to me looking for off-season work are now mostly unavailable when I call. The bus has left the dock, and audio is on the move! Once again, the musical caravan is carving a path through the clubs, sheds, theaters and summer festivals on this continent and across the globe. Regional audio companies will be getting calls to fill venues with sound for concerts and corporate events, and local television stations will require assistance with band appearances as they promote the show du jour when the tour comes to town. For a month or so, high schools and colleges will be having their graduation ceremonies and — in association with their formals and proms — there should be a good amount of work for local audio companies and audio technicians.

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TED 2014 Heard via DPA Microphones

VANCOUVER – Catering to both live and online audiences, the annual TED Conference requires gear that matches its prestige. To meet those needs, the McCune Audio team once again turned to DPA Microphones’ classic 4088 Directional Headset Microphones and d:screet 4060 Omnidirectional Microphone.

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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat tour photo by Daniel A. Swalec

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Tours with Support from Masque Sound

CLEVELAND – As the musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, embarks on its latest tour, co-sound designers David Patridge and John Shivers teamed up with Masque Sound to develop a sound system that would not only fill a variety of venues with great sound, the system needed to be easily portable and capable of fitting into the truck. The L-Acoustics dV-DOSC system is driven by a Yamaha CL5 mixing console at FOH.

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Daniel Huard

Riedel’s Canadian Sales Manager, Daniel Huard, Takes on Northeast U.S.

WUPPERTAL, Germany — Riedel Communications, a leading provider of real-time video, audio, data, and communications networks, today announced that Daniel Huard, who previously served as the company’s sales manager for Canada, has taken on a larger role that includes oversight of the Northeast U.S. In this new capacity, Huard will work closely with key Riedel clients including broadcast networks in New York, as well as ESPN in Connecticut.

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Paul Morini Joins Cadac as Head of U.S. Operation

Paul Morini Joins Cadac as Head of U.S. Operation

LUTON, U.K. — Cadac named Paul Morini general manager of Cadac USA. Morini, who is based in New York, joins Cadac from Music Group, where he was customer service manager for Midas and Klark Teknik for the U.S. and Canada. He will help establish the company’s office and sales representative network for the U.S. and Canada, mirroring the recently announced initiative in the U.K. and Ireland.

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Mick Whelan

Mick Whelan Joins Adamson As Director of U.S. Operations

PORT PERRY, ONTARIO – Adamson Systems is pleased to announce that long time industry veteran Mick Whelan has joined the organization as Director of U.S. Operations. The announcement was made by Brock Adamson, CEO, Adamson Systems. “We are thrilled to have someone of Mick’s caliber join our team,” says Adamson. “His experience as both a live sound engineer and working with manufacturers and reps will be invaluable to our organization.”

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VUE Audiotechnik was among the exhibitors with new product at ProLight+Sound 2014

Show Report: Product Hits of Prolight+Sound 2014

FRANKFURT, Germany — If there’s any slowdown in the industry, it wasn’t evident at the recent 2014 Prolight+Sound expo, which drew 897 exhibitors from 42 countries. This year’s PL+S featured plenty of new sound reinforcement consoles; live speaker systems and subwoofers were also big news at the show, along with an assortment of production essentials for live sound applications. We’ll provide full details in the April issue of FRONT of HOUSE, but until then, here are our picks for the top hits of the show.

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