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Preparing for Festivals and One-Offs

Fig. 1: David Morgan’s stage input list for James Taylor at the 2013 Greenwich Town Party event in Greenwich, CT. He provided the asterisked (*) mics.

Preparing for Festivals and One-Offs

I’m on a plane heading back east to work three one-off events with James Taylor. The first is a music festival in Greenwich, CT. James will be the headline act following a full day of entertainment on the main stage. Mr. Taylor will be performing with the full band and singers. The second event is a benefit concert in Newtown, CT. The musicians comprising this performance will be as follows: James on guitar, Larry Goldings on piano/keyboards, Owen Young on cello, Andrea Zonn on violin/vocals and vocalist Kate Markowitz. The third concert will be a multi-performer event at Boston’s TD Garden benefitting Boston Strong. In addition to appearing with the full band and singers, Mr. Taylor will share the stage with Carole King and Jimmy Buffet. Two members of Mr. Buffet’s entourage will also be sitting in during James’ segment of the performance.

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SSL Live console

Solid State Logic Goes “Live”

A well-kept secret  is like a well-told story: its impact lies as much in the surprise as in the narrative itself. Solid State Logic’s introduction of its Live console at the Musikmesse/Prolight + Sound show in Frankfurt in April puts the 44-year-old studio-oriented U.K. company into the live-sound arena in a big way. And the company managed to work on the project for three years without sparking the usual rumor mills.

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Tour Managing for Dummies, Part 1

A friend of mine equates the job of tour manager as “herding cats,” which is, at times, an accurate description. Why would anyone want to herd cats? It’s difficult, time consuming, and the cats don’t like it. In these days of shrinking budgets and smaller crews, we are often called upon to do more than one job on a tour. Engineer/tour manager is a popular combination. With luck, you’ll get paid more than you would if you were “only” mixing FOH or monitors while managing to keep your sanity. Hopefully, no cats will be harmed during the making of this movie. If the opportunity comes up for you to TM for the first time, here are some tips.

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Recording the Word

Ever since recording devices were invented, houses of worship have wanted to record some or all of their services. I began my journey of mixing and recording live worship services more than two decades ago. Way back then, recordable CDs were available and affordable, but most of my churches were still using cassettes (I know you remember what those are) to record. My main task, years ago, was to hit the record button and capture every word of the pastor’s sermon. The pastor would be talking into a podium microphone, lavalier or handheld mic, and I would use a record/aux out or mono out from the board to carry the signal to the recording device.

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Illustration by Andy Au

Get a Job!

Most of the people I know in the technical end of the music business got into the profession because of their love for music. A good portion of these people are competent musicians in their own right and have played and toured with well-known acts, recorded records and CDs and possibly even had a deal of their own. In all likelihood, they still play and record when they are not out making a living on the technical side of the microphone. Supporting oneself as a musician is a difficult task, and while there are many people attempting to make a living just playing music, I would venture to say that many musicians have a second job.

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NC State University

NC State’s Hunt Library Sound System Includes Sennheiser, K-array Gear

RALEIGH, NC –– NC State’s new $115 million, 220,000-square-foot James B. Hunt Jr. Library, which opened at the college’s main campus here in January, features an AV system specified by Pittsburgh-based Sextant Group, with an assist from “Powered By” partner Sennheiser and Tampa, FL-based installers AVI-SPL. The project included a variety of Sennheiser and K-array components.

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Waves Audio and Abbey Road Studios Unveil RS56 Plugin

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL — Waves Audio, a leading provider of audio DSP solutions for professional, broadcast and consumer electronics markets, and long-term collaborators, London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios>, are proud to introduce the new RS56 Passive EQ plugin, based on the original RS56 Universal Tone Control, utilized on a multitude of classic recordings.

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Sennheiser Anakonda Speaker

K-array Anakonda: A ‘Bendable Speaker’

Old Lyme, Conn. – Audio specialist Sennheiser announced the availability of the latest product from its distributed brand K-array. Anakonda is a bendable speaker that combines outstanding audio quality with an enormous range of configuration and installation possibilities. Anakonda is the perfect solution for a variety of indoor our outdoor applications such as theme parks, museums, broadcast studios and many others.

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Red Bull with Powersoft M Series

Three-Story Structure for Formula 1 Racing Team Equipped with Powersoft Gear

FIRENZE, Italy – Red Bulls’ Energy Station for the Formula 1 racing team sponsored by Red Bull and Renault is a three-story structure made up of six individually adjustable living spaces. Team members are using it during the racing season for meeting and socializing. The space has been equipped with an audio system that includes power and processing from 16 channels of Powersoft M28Q DSP+ETH amplifiers. They drive Martin Audio AQ5 and AQ6 speakers that have been customized to the needs of the Energy Station.

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