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NAMM Gets More Live Sound

Winter NAMM 2012

NAMM Gets More Live Sound

The Winter NAMM Show is all about guitars, drums and Spandex, right? At its core it is a musical instrument trade show — MI, in the parlance of that trade — but over the last few years its pro audio aspect has grown considerably. That component was up 4.4 percent over last year, NAMM’s Scott Robertson estimated, in a conversation in the show’s crowded press room, halfway through the show. And this year, much of that can be attributed to a considerably larger footprint for live sound.

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Triad Music Festival, Greensboro NC

Festival Strategies

Springtime is almost here, and that means festival season is close. Mixing for tens of thousands of people can be as stressful and frustrating as it is exhilarating, given the typically tight time schedule that’s the nature of this beast. A bit of planning can take some of the sting out the process, as can the understanding that (more often than not) such shows are a compromise by nature.

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Easter Extras

There is no doubt that Christmas and Easter are the two biggest and most celebrated holidays in the Christian/Catholic faith. And my church, like many others, always puts on a big production and celebration that reflects the importance of these special holidays. So, here you are with Easter just around the corner, and you suddenly realize that it will take a lot more gear to put on the event that you have planned for your house of worship. So, what are you going to do?

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Illustration by Andy Au

Audio Turn-Ons

An engineer with whom I shared mixing responsibilities had an interesting way of seeing and expressing the technical world in which we audio people exist. To him everything was “sexy” or had “sex appeal” and, depending upon his own personal interpretation, a good mix, or great sounding reverb, was either of the two. While I never quite understood the difference — or if there were one — I would like to believe that he was speaking metaphorically and not literally about objects and things that are sexually neutral. Regrettably, in this ever-expanding world of strange that we call home, I am hard pressed to assume anything about my fellow man despite my unflagging optimism. Regardless, his “sexy” descriptions of sound equipment and their associated sounds confused me at first because as much as I enjoy and like certain audio gear, my lustful urges are oriented elsewhere.

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Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Portland, OR

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Equipped with Tannoy QFlex

PORTLAND, OR — Trinity Episcopal Cathedral’s new automated sound system includes Tannoy’s QFlex array. The system for the 1,000-capacity sanctuary was chosen for coverage, intelligibility and ease of use, with head sexton, Kimberly Sherwood calling it “a very self-sufficient system” and going so far as to dub it “Priest-proof.”

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