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The Road Less Taken?

The Road Less Taken?

Norwegian band Datarock play at the Triforium (Third) Stage at the L.A. Detour Festival.

Rat Sound Powers Up L.A.’s Detour Festival.

In this business, there is no doubting the importance of relationships. Whether it’s a chance meeting that grows into a lasting business relationship, or the way you handle and troubleshoot the inevitable issues that occur due to the nature of the live event industry, relationships are built daily.

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A Cold Day in Hell

The gig is a kickoff concert for orientation week at the local University. No problem, 700 to 800 kids with a four-piece band. Well, they don't have a large budget for the show, which will be outside under a tent, so we'll need a medium-sized PA with monitors and a light rig. Nobody wants to rent a generator, so we'll use the outlets that are used for plugging in cars.

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New Gear

Carvin Ultra-light DCM “L” Series Power Amps
Carvin introduces the Ultra-light DCM “L” Series power amps. The CLASS A/B linear topology features high current bipolar output devices that reduce distortion to.03% THD while delivering high slew rate performance. The DCM’s headroom reveals its dynamic power from the Switchmode power supply that operates at 100,000 Hz. The Switchmode supply is designed to save AC input power and reduce internal heat. The soft-start gently turns the DCM on to prevent tripping AC breakers and a heat transfer system offers advanced cooling. Features include recessed front controls with status indicators that won’t get bumped or easily moved. A “Ground Lift” switch eliminates ground loops. A “Parallel Input” switch eliminates “Y” adapters. The mono “Bridge” switch delivers the full power into one output. www.carvin.com

 

 

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Le Poisson Rouge: A Club That Puts Sound First

Digidesign Venue Profile at the FOH position

Long before Le Poisson Rouge opened its doors this past summer, the building located at 158 Bleecker Street in Manhattan was home to the legendary Village Gate. It was at this club where Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Ella Fitzgerald, Charles Mingus and Allen Ginsberg performed their magic until it closed down in the late ‘90s.

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What’s the Budget, Your Holiness?

Artwork by Andy Au

Every event has a budget. Whether it is a speech for 20 people or for 20,000 people, a children’s birthday party or a concert at an amphitheater, a one-off or a long tour, make no mistake about it there is always a bottom line. We in the FOH community spend many discerning hours reading, learning and debating about which company provides the best products, the technical aspects of said merchandise and the proper ways in which to use these commodities. It is our job to know impedance, phasing, frequencies, speaker placement, microphone placement and coverage as well as how to set up and use the equipment to achieve the best results for its intended purpose. When a client calls upon us to provide audio for their event we have to know which equipment to bring and how to design the system that best suits their needs.

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And Where Do We Go From Here?

There has been an old Jackson Browne song going through my head lately called “The Road and the Sky.” One of the verses goes like this:

Now can you see those storm clouds gathering up ahead?
They’re going to wash this planet clean like the Bible said
Now you can hold on steady and try to be ready but everybody’s gonna get wet
Don’t think it won’t happen just because it hasn’t happened yet

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Nuke Your Audio

FOH has written a lot of information over the past year regarding FCC reallocation of the UHF band and how it will affect pro audio wireless. We’re not going to rehash the problems facing the pro audio industry in our efforts to continue using the UHF spectrum for wireless operation. If you missed it, revisit “Bleeding Edge” in the February, June, July, November, December 2007 and October 2008 issues.

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Working Smarter

Does anyone else feel guilty about purchasing items that make the job a little easier? I love using powered speakers for smaller stuff—the usual reasons apply (fat, lazy, sweaty, etc.), but I admit to not dragging along an EQ rack when it is good policy. It may be psychological, but the channel strip EQ on the grade of a mixer I am taking to these smaller gigs is not that great, and even worse, sometimes it’s just some DJ mixer directly into the speakers. Yes, I am pretty much a delivery boy on those days.

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EAW JFL210 Compact Constant Curvature Line Array

EAW has introduced the new JFL210 Compact Constant Curvature Line Array, which features a range of line array technologies within a mobile, lightweight package designed for a multitude of small- and medium-sized applications. Incorporating constant curvature line-array design principles, JFL210 modules form easily configured arrays with predictable output and coherence and coverage that is both horizontally symmetric and consistent from short to long throws.

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Saddleback Church Upgrades Sanctuary with Digidesign

LAKE FOREST, Calif. — Saddleback Valley Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif., is touted as one of the nation’s largest congregations, with a weekly attendance of over 22,000 and more than 200 ministries serving the church and community. Saddleback’s Lake Forest sanctuary was recently treated to a major audio upgrade, with the help of Case Sound Solutions and the church’s former senior audio engineer, Wally Grant. Grant and Case Sound installed two 96-input VENUE Profile systems into the church — one at FOH and one at the monitor position — along with a Pro Tools|HD. system at FOH. 

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Yamaha Demonstrates NEXO Line Arrays at Cerritos Center

BUENA PARK, Calif. — Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. brought dealers, contractors and end users to the Cerritos Performing Arts Center for a two-day demonstrations of NEXO line arrays including GEO T, GEO D, GEO S8 and the new GEO S12 Series. The demonstrations were held at the performing arts venue located in Cerritos, Calif. Speakers were powered by the new Yamaha and NEXO NXAmp as well as Yamaha Tn amplifiers and also included a preview of the new Yamaha SB168-ES Stage Box.

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