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The Oklahoma Twister Relief Concert

Sammy Hagar photo at Oklahoma Twister Relief Concert by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman, copyright 2013

The Oklahoma Twister Relief Concert

On May 20, 2013, a massive and powerful tornado stuck the town of Moore, OK, a suburb located about halfway between Norman and Oklahoma City. The twister was given the maximum EF-5 strength rating by the National Weather Service. Tragically, the aftermath of its two-mile-wide swath of fury left hundreds of injuries, some two dozen deaths (including seven children killed when a school collapsed) and entire neighborhoods flattened, with more than an estimated billion dollars in damage to homes and businesses.

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FOH 2013 August Buyers Guide - Channel Strips

Channel Strips

Originally designed for studios, channel strips — in this case, single-channel units offering a mic preamp, EQ, dynamics (and sometime more) — have become popular with sound reinforcement users. Besides adding a different flavor to your mix, these are an ideal solution for putting a little “frosting on the cake” for that featured performer’s “money channel” or a bit of analog warmth, punch or sizzle to your console. The trend is on the rise and we found plenty to choose from, for any budget. Check ‘em out!

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Fig. 1: Schematic diagram showing the components of a GFCI. GFCI’s are designed to look for any “leakage” current that flows external to a closed circuit, independent of the undesired alternative current path. If the external current exceeds a value, the GFCI opens the circuit.

Generators and Portable Power, Part 3

In the July 2013 issue of FRONT of HOUSE, our second article on portable power distribution discussed grounding and bonding specifics of portable generators, including small generators that are “floating neutral” configured. This third article should not be viewed as independent of the other two, and readers are encouraged to read the articles in the June and July issues. In this third article we’ll focus on proposed changes to the 2013 National Electric Code that, if enacted, will have ramifications for generators 15 kW and below.

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Peter Keppler

Peter Keppler Using Waves Plugins on Current and Upcoming Tours

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL — Waves Audio is seeing leading cutting-edge live engineers turn to WavesLive tools, including Peter Keppler, an in-demand front-of-house, broadcast and post-production mixing engineer (David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, Rufus Wainwright, David Byrne/St. Vincent, Katy Perry). On David Byrne and St. Vincent’s 2012 tour, Keppler used a WavesLive SoundGrid system with a DiGiCo SD10 console, and he plans on using a similar rig on their 2013 tour. On tour with Katy Perry in 2014, he will use a SoundGrid system with DiGiCo SD7.

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My Day with the SSL Live Console, Part 1

Lsst week, I had the unique privilege of spending the day with Fernando Guzman, Solid State Logic product specialist and point man for the Live console project here in the USA. Jay Easley, SSL’s new vice president of live consoles in the Americas, joined us in our listening tests. The SSL Live (solidstatelogic.com/live) is still in its Beta version, and a few hardware and software functions are still “under construction.” However, the desk has evolved enough from its Alpha stage to allow for an honest listening test.

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Live sound is slated to be part of the mix when Blackbird Academy takes wing in Jan. 2014.

A Recording Studio Tackles Live-Sound Education

It’s a tough economic time for music, but if you have to be in that business, live music is where you want to be. While the overall U.S. music industry can expect to see annual growth of just over 1 percent through 2017, according to a recently released PricewaterhouseCoopers industry analysis, the report projects that the concert business will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 3 percent through the same period. In other words, live-performance music revenues are projected to be triple those of the music industry as a whole going forward.

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Joy Brown/Shutterstock.com (FOH composite image)

Tetris, Anyone? The Art and Mystery of Truck Packing

Did you ever play the video game Tetris? Tetris was released in the mid-1980s and is reportedly the first video game ever to be exported from what was then the Soviet Union to the United States. It’s one of the most popular video games of all time (even I’ve played it), and has been ported to game consoles ranging from the Commodore 64 computer to Game Boy to the iPhone.

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This installation at Cross Pointe Ministries in Tupelo, MS, added some punch with WorxAudio TL218SS-P double-18 subwoofers (hidden from view) on both sides of the stage.

Subwoofers: The Down Low of Worship

When I first began working in the world of worship, audio subwoofers were not very common in a typical church sound system. However, that was two decades ago. and a lot has changed in worship music. For that matter, a lot has changed in how we all listen to live music in general. The bottom line is that we have more bass frequencies in our music than ever before. Or, perhaps, we just have speakers that will reproduce bass more efficiently and pleasantly.

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Illustration by Andy Au

Above – and Beyond – The Call

As working technicians who do shows night after night, we often become inured to the varied performances that take place on a given stage and, though we can still distinguish the difference between a good and bad concert presentation, our perception of a quality event relies less upon the actual show itself and more upon the excellence — or lack of — the production technicalities.

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Grand_Theatre_CA_2013_(02)

The Grand Théâtre De Québec Installs d&b J-Series, T-Series Gear

QUEBEC, Canada — The Grand Théâtre de Québec’s head of sound, Robert Charbonneau, with an assist by Robert Caux, worked with d&b regional manager Francois Corbin over a two-year period on an upgrade for the arts complex’s main venue, the 1,875-seat Salle Louis Fréchette. They opted for d&b audiotechnik’s J-Series for the main PA and T-Series elements for fills.

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Opera-In-The-Park

Full Compass Systems Sponsors 12th Annual Opera In The Park

MADISON, WI – Madison Opera recently staged the 12th annual “Opera in the Park” for the city of Madison. This free annual event is a grand musical celebration that presents highlights from the upcoming Madison Opera season, opera classics and Broadway show tunes. Full Compass has been a major sponsor and donated equipment rentals and many hours of audio expertise for “Opera in the Park.”

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