Editor’s Note

Just in time for the New Year’s upcoming presidential elections, the latest economic report has the annual rate of growth for the U.S. during the last quarter at 2.8%, in part due to new car sales and inventory replenishing, and though we’re still on a long slow climb out of 2008’s recession, modest sustained growth is not only possible, it’s likely. To quote Kevin Costner in the film adaptation of David Brin’s post-apocalyptic The Postman, “Stuff’s getting better. Stuff’s getting better every day.”

Once considered just a “music store” show, NAMM has evolved into a premier showcase for pro products for live sound, touring, and even the installed sound market. We make the annual pilgrimage to Anaheim for the Winter NAMM show after our holiday cheer has worn off and before the Super Bowl and Grammys get us all wound up again.

Wth the New Year approaching, we make lists and promises for the next trip around the sun.

I recently visited the shop of a major sound company where an entire room of top-shelf rider-friendly analog outboard equipment was collecting dust because most mixing now occurs “inside the box” of digital consoles on tours, in venues and at festivals, eliminating outboard gates, compressors, and, to a lesser degree, EQ and effects.

There are many "pro-sumers" still using old 700 MHz wireless microphones even though it's been illegal for 18 months. Their attitude is: "If my mics still work, who's going to come along and stop me?" Like using Propofol for a sleep aid, it's fine until someone gets hurt. New 700 MHz services haven't activated many places, and when they are, they won't immediately affect every TV channel. But when they hit, 700 MHz mics will be "squashed like a bug," as Shure's Tim Vear says. And fined like a rock star.

This issue marks the 10-year anniversary of FRONT of HOUSE. On the occasion of this "Decade Milestone," I'd like to thank a few people, starting with you, the readers.

Years ago, I was system engineer and audio crew chief for an outdoor Dan Fogelberg solo show at a winery. It was a beautiful show, but there was lightning across the valley that I could see and hear several seconds later from my mix position perch at the top of the hillside venue. With each flash, I could count: "One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, etc." to gauge the distance, and it was clearly approaching. As we all know, sound travels about 1/5 of a mile per second.

Tony Bennett's 85th Birthday was this month. Happy Birthday, Tony.

I had the distinct honor of mixing Tony Bennett during his MTV Unplugged success. He was happy to have young people discover his music, while their parents were rediscovering it. Prior to joining him, tour manager Vance Anderson would do it all – hotels and travel, advance and backline, run sound and call lights and followspots. When I got his call, out of the blue, Anderson said that Tony wanted to go to a two-man crew, and he remembered me from a one-off the year before.

I'll never forget my first Heritage 3000; actually it was the first in the US. My friend George Relles saw it introduced at the 1999 Los Angeles NAMM show, pulled out his checkbook and told Bob Doyle he would buy one if they'd take off the handles and end-caps so it would turn it in a 90-inch wide bob-tail truck. It first appeared at a festival where I was mixing monitors for four bands, with no warning, no manual and no time to study it. Each band fit onto a 24×8 section of the console, which I simply routed through the matrix, with side-fills on L/R, so I didn't have to chart a thing. It was love at first sight.

Hi Everyone,

I'd like to introduce myself, though most of you already know me. Like many I started out playing in a band. We occasionally lost a musician and had to break a new one in. During one of these "personnel transitions," a previous guitarist called to rent my equipment and hire me to haul it and run it. In the 1970s, PA wasn't much bigger or more complicated than my drum kit. And I didn't have a gig that weekend.