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Who’s the Headliner?

Who’s the Headliner?

(One of my favorite funny/smart people is Dennis Miller, and I remember I used to watch his show no matter who was on just to hear “The Rant.” Well, Dennis is busy doing game shows and I haven’t heard a good rant in way too long. So, welcome to the FOH Rant Zone. Will this feature run all the time? Nope. But as often as we get really good rants, we’ll run ‘em as long as they won’t get us sued. To open this inaugural installment, we have one of my favorite hotheads. Take it away… —  ed.)

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Rascal Flatts Tour Still Feels Good

The chart-topping country sensation boasts the largest PA system on the road.

Rascal Flatts has been on fire for a couple of years and, according to Pollstar, the band’s 2007 tour ranked in the top 10 of the year. Rascal Flatts puts on a major show and to support it, Sound Image put together what they say is the largest PA system currently on the road in the U.S., featuring 90 JBL VerTec VT4889 full-size line array loudspeakers and 32 VT4880 arrayable subwoofers and two Studer Vista 5 SR digital consoles. Sound Image is also using dbx DriveRack 4800s for speaker management and Crown I-Tech 8000 amplifiers. For the first time on a major tour, all aspects of the system are controlled through a single interface  HiQnet System Architect.

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ProLight + Sound 2008

Here is our “virtual” show coverage of Europe’s major music trade show.
By Bill Evans

The ProLight and Sound show in Munich, Germany, is one of the biggest music trade shows in the world and there is plenty of audio there. So why don’t we at FOH attend? Well, truth is that if I am going to fly to Europe, I want it to be for more than another freaking trade show. Sue me. But we get lots of announcements of stuff that was intro’d at the show, so we have put together this bit of “virtual” show coverage. Just pretend we actually went…

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A Case of Audio Improv

This AV company calls me up for a hotel testimonial dinner… just baby-sit a small system with a couple of mics for speakers. I get there and it's an improv company with eight lavs and a couple of wireless 58s with a Mackie 16ch and no EQ whatsoever. There are two powered Mackies jammed up against the plaster walls, a tile floor and lots of glass in the walls and ceiling. I'm thinking of taking a hike, but I'm supposed to be good enough to make it work. 

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Ron Reaves and Mikael Stewart – Grammy’s Live One-Two Punch

The 50th Annual Grammy Awards shook up the Staples Center with a record number of performances — and challenges.

This year, the Grammy Awards hit the big 5-0. The show, at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, lived up to the Recording Academy’s assertion that it would be the biggest show yet in terms of number of musical performances: 35 songs in 19 segments. Those performances required more than 450 microphones, not including what was used on the outdoor stage for the Foo Fighters’ show.

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IPR Takes L.A. Live

“We need a world-class install. Oh, and you only have 18 months. Is that a problem?”

When the phone rings at IPR Services, the company’s Owner Bob Patrick expects to hear a challenge. After all, IPR has been at the helm for some of the most interesting install projects across the globe, including The Mirage in Las Vegas, Staples Center in Los Angeles and Makkah Mosque in Saudi Arabia. Still, he wasn’t quite prepared when he heard that he only had 18 months to get the design and install done for the brand new 7,100-seat Nokia Theatre L.A. Live in Los Angeles.

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Government? Audio? It’s All In the Mix

Politics, slander, innuendo! Who’s qualified to lead? Who is all talk and no action? Who’s tainted by scandal? Whose decisions and reasoning are questionable? Who drinks too much? Who does too many drugs? Who visits hookers? Who takes kickbacks, which one steals, who never has the correct information and then refuses to take responsibility and back-peddles when challenged? Who leads through coercion and intimidation? Who, what, when and where? With so little time and yet so many questions, it’s amazing that anything gets accomplished… and this is just office politics.

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Keep Memory Alive’s 12th Annual Power of Love Charity Gala

Sound crew delivered the powerful message loud and clear to raise money for charity.  

Since the time this story was written, Roddy Pahl, head of sound at MGM Grand, has passed away. Our condolences go out to his friends and family.

The MGM Grand Hotel and Casino’s newest venue, the Grand Pavilion, recently hosted a swanky affair in typical Vegas fashion. The venue, decked out in lavish decor, crystal chandeliers and expensive cars was transformed into Tinsel Town for the 12th Annual Keep Memory Alive Power of Love charity gala. The multi-million-dollar fundraiser brought together Hollywood celebrities, world-famous athletes and Vegas elite to raise money to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and other memory disorders. VIP guests included Muhammad Ali, John Cusack, David Copperfield, Siegfried and Roy, Terry Hatcher and Hilary Duff, among many others. And for $75,000 a table, everything from the world-class dinner prepared by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck to crooner Michael Buble’s performance, had to be flawless. Perhaps most important, Keep Memory Alive’s powerful message had to be delivered loud and clear to raise money for the Lou Rubo Brain Institute. Enter Roddy Pahl, head of sound at MGM Grand.

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Heads, Hearts and Hands

It’s really easy to tell when someone really cares about what they do. When I am out on gigs I see it all the time. The funny thing is that the bigger the gig, the more likely you are to find at least a few people who just don’t really give a rat’s ass about the gig. It is just a paycheck.

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Internal Power Struggles

If you’re a gear geek like I am — and since you’re reading FOH, I’ll bet that you are — you may have noticed that signal processing has been steadily migrating into power amplifiers. This is nothing terribly new: For years amplifier manufacturers have offered add-on processing. I can remember when I was a teenager (late 1700s) trying to lift a Peavey CS800 — the original CS800, many of which caused herniated disks and are still in service today — and seeing a weird circular socket on the rear panel. I was afraid to touch that socket, thinking I’d get electrocuted even when the amp was unplugged.

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