Albany, N.Y. — For nearly six decades, the city of Albany has marked the arrival of spring with the annual Tulip Festival, a three-day gala in historic Washington Park. Aside from more than 200,000 namesake flowers in myriad colors and varieties, the annual event features multiple stages with live entertainment on the first two days.
Read More »BUDAPEST, HUNGARY — An Allen & Heath iLive system was recently used to manage FOH and monitor sound for the Jekyll & Hyde musical, staged for two nights in Budapest's 3,000-capacity open-air theatre, the Margitsziget.
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GAINESVILLE, GA — Danley Sound Labs is happy to announce the creation of a national sales manager position and the recruitment of pro audio veteran Joel Moak to fill it. Moak will take on many of the national sales duties that had previously been distributed among Danley's existing staff. In addition, Moak will travel extensively to demo the Danley line.
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Who: Neutrik USA, Inc.
What: Neutrik is a provider of professional entertainment connector systems. The products includes XLR connectors, plugs, jacks, speaker-connectors, data-connectors, patch-panels, power-connectors, BNC connectors and special connectors for industrial applications. From rock bands to lighting design, industrial equipment to broadcast studios, Neutrik provides connectivity solutions for almost any industry.
Where: Lakewood, New Jersey (USA HQ).
When: Founded in 1987.
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What to do before you reach for the EQ
As usual, I enjoyed reading Mark Amundson’s May 2007 FOH “Theory and Practice” article about the EQ strip. The article was well written and informative.
However, the subject matter really cried out for a prequel article. An EQ is, in a cosmic way, a distortion device. It distorts the harmonic order of a sig-nal. Also, on analog EQs, the circuits use phase shifting in their designs — coloring sound by smearing, so to speak. Many engineers hear something they don’t like and immediately reach for the EQ knob as a cure-all — sometimes with good results, sometimes they get frustrated. There are other solutions…
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New union regs and electrical shock make strange bedfellows.
If you have been in this industry for a while, you know that credentials for doing safe power distribution tie-ins have been given the wink-wink, nudge-nudge by most production staff. While you should be holding an electrician’s license or better, a free pass has been implicitly given to those individuals who look like they know what they are doing. But I bet if you surveyed a large sample of local and regional sound companies, hardly anyone on staff is a licensed electrician; however, about half the crew has done unlicensed power distro tie-ins.
Read More »Trade show trends point the way to audio convergence.
Usually, right around the middle of day three of most trade shows, someone will bring up the idea of making such shows into virtual enter-prises, with products and services up on the Internet for all to see after attendees validate their online registrations. Day three often finds plenty of minds and feet receptive to the idea of going virtual — even the inevitable post-show soirées could be handled by creating a virtual Michael Todd Room at one of the MySpace-like social networking sites. The huge amounts of money saved on airfares, hotel rooms and booths could be put into R&D and salary increases.
Read More »Making good on all those promises
Since I began writing Sound Sanctuary, I often claim that I will get back to you on the results or the effect of a particular plan or project. Well, my friends, this is the month that I will make good on all my promises and catch you up on all the things I have written about. There is one small thing, in order for you to get the most out of this article, you will have to be familiar with the subjects I have been covering over these last months here at FOH. If you are not, you can check out the archive of issues at fohonline.com.
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Back when I reviewed the TC Electronic M300 Dual Effects Processor, I made it clear that the M300 spelled the end of Yamaha SPX90’s reign as the utility effects processor for instrument effects. Now, TC Electronic has upped the ante with the M350. The latest processor includes 15 new re-verb algorithms and multi-effects. An AU/VST compatible software editor to fully automate parameters and presets for Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) use seals the deal. Having fallen in love with the simplicity and sound quality of the M300 — from my perspective — the M350 has unexpectedly promised and delivered on its goodness.
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If you asked me what I thought was the most important piece of outboard gear in a soundman’s arsenal, I would say, without hesitation, a good graphic EQ. Whether you agree with me or not, you can’t deny the importance of this type of gear. Well, Mackie has pulled out all the stops with its new digital Graphic QuadEQ. I don’t know the backstory on the research and development of the EQ, but this new device can do just about everything that you would want a graphic to do and more.
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What’s the biggest problem doing live sound for a monster truck rally or a motorcycle supercross event? Well, lemme ask you this: What’s the best day of the week for a monster truck or supercross show? If you didn’t say “SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!” in your loudest and deepest TV an-nouncer voice — well, you just haven’t been watching enough late-night TV. When the commercial for your event delivers teeth-rattling SPL, your rig better be able to bring it. And when Yamaha recently gave us a call to check out the Supercross finals at Sam Boyd stadium, we got a chance to see if NEXO could do just that.
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Concentrating on people and product over price brings success in Nashville.
In a town where you can find a sound company on just about every other corner, the team at Hugh Bennett Productions has made its mark in Nashville as one of the region’s top companies. Michael Allen, who was serving as the company’s supervisor before purchasing it in May, attributes the company’s lon-gevity to concentrating on people and product over price.
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