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Lynyrd Skynyrd

The main dual stage

BamaJam 2012: Allstar Audio Tackles Massive Project

For three wild days and nights June 14 to 16, BamaJam 2012 fired up the area just north of Enterprise, AL, with lights, video displays, music and sound… plenty of sound. Located on the 1,600-acre grounds of BamaJam Farms, 35,000-plus music enthusiasts from all over the Southeastern U.S. converged and revelled to the sounds of Tim McGraw, Eric Church, the Zac Brown Band, Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock and a long list of additional artists. With three stages spread across the area — one of which was a double stage that alternated acts on each half — along with a wealth of lighting and video displays, the logistical and technical aspects of bringing BamaJam 2012 to life were nothing short of massive.

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X Games 2012 in Los Angeles

X Games 2012: It’s Live, It’s TV, It’s Loud

X Games — the World Cup of extreme sports — may not have as much music as Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, Coachella, Outside Lands or any of the other seemingly endless seasonal music festivals that line up every summer like inbound traffic over LAX. But it does share with many of them a lengthy pedigree — this year’s Summer X Games that took place at downtown Los Angeles’ 27-acre LA Live campus from June 29 to July 1 was the 18th consecutive event — and, like several of them, it’s a fast-growing franchise.

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Fig. 1: The 3-to-1 rule states that the distance between the two microphones is approximately three times the distance of the mics to the source. Graphic courtesy of Audio-Technica

Miking Groups: Basics, Theory and a Bit of Reality

One mic to hear them all… if only that were possible. Area miking is an art, but also a curse in sound reinforcement circles. A choir, an orchestra and the occasional bluegrass group who saw it on O Brother, Where Art Thou? Not a good idea. But moving to the topic at hand, here are some things to think about when miking a group.

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After the invention of the first compression driver (the Western Electric 555-W), the company developed the 12-A horn, an exponentially tapered design that was 67 inches tall, with a 45x45-inch throat and an 11-foot overall pathway.

Understanding Horns

When FRONT of HOUSE’s intrepid editor George Petersen suggested I write on the topic of loudspeaker horns, I was immediately interested, and a little overwhelmed. Improving horn behavior is a topic of personal interest. Discussing the operation of horns is a huge subject, and the underlying math that describes how horns operate is complex and poorly understood — even by horn designers. Despite these challenges, horns are too interesting a topic to ignore.

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The Interstake Auditorium is equipped with RoomMatch and PowerMatch gear from Bose.

House of Worship Installations

LDS Temple Complex

Oakland, CA

Completed nearly 50 years ago, the 1,800-seat Interstake Auditorium at the LDS (Mormon) Temple complex in Oakland, CA, was overdue for a new sound system. To address challenges including strong, focused echoes, somewhat heightened ambient noise levels and a relatively low ceiling, Ken Dickensheets, CTO/principal consultant, Dickensheets Design Associates, Austin, TX, specified a new RoomMatch array module system from Bose Professional Systems. Marshall Industries of Salt Lake City handled the installation.

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A system with two myMix stations, an IEX16L expander and an Ethernet switch.

Network Control for myMix Personal Mixers

It’s been some two and a half years since Movek’s myMix burst upon the scene, introducing thousands of satisfied users to this personal cue mixing system. And now with the new myMix CONTROL remote control/configuration software, the systems just keeps getting better and more flexible. Created via Linux, myMix CONTROL is a non-platform-specific, browser-based tool for mix engineers working with performers, and integrators who want to quickly create customized setups for myMix systems in commercial or complex installations.

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KV2 Audio JK Series Direct Boxes - JK 1

KV2 Audio JK Series Direct Boxes

For the past decade, KV2 Audio has built a reputation for creating rugged, great-sounding pro audio gear. Founder George “Jiri” Krampera always made products with novel, innovative approaches. So when KV2 announced its JK series direct boxes, I was anxious to check these out.

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Illustration by Tony Gleeson

Cheating? Really?

Note: This was written in response to Baker Lee’s “FOH At Large” column (June 2012 FOH) regarding the occasional dangers of technology and whether depending on various devices represented a form of “cheating.” We thought Kip presented some good points and we wanted to share them with you. —ed.

As I sit typing this on my MacBook, I start to wonder if I am “cheating” by not picking up a pen and paper, purchasing a stamp and driving a letter to the post office. All things that, in this economy, I would prefer not to do.

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Fig. 1: The prototype mic used on Steve Gadds kick drum

Microphone Innovations: The Problem, the Process and the Prototype

Since I made the choice to migrate from analog consoles to a digital platform, something that’s become increasingly clear to me is the requirement to be even more selective and judicious in my microphone choices. I believe it’s reasonable to conclude that the process of digital conversion after the mic preamp is maximized when the processor engine is provided with the highest possible degree of useful detail from the transducer. In the last six years, I have been adding more and more precision high-end condenser, ribbon and dynamic microphones to the James Taylor show’s input list.

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