Features

Maybe it's the fact that, as the owner of a mid-level company, I never get the chance to slow down long enough to get complacent, and instead find myself looking at every aspect of the rig, crew and all the other details that can make or break a gig, examining them over and over again to make sure nothing is missed. Or maybe when you travel with the same act for a while you just naturally get used to a specific way of doing things. Or maybe it's both. Whatever. But I had a gig recently that made me think about what we think about.

Last month we talked about a lot of things in our rapidly changing world of digital audio, one of which was copy protection of audio software. Copy protection has long been a problem for companies that manufacture all sorts of software. Several years ago I had a conversation with a rep at an AES who told me that his company's program had approximately 1,000 registered purchases but an estimated 30 times as many users with illegitimate copies of their program. That's a lot of lost revenue due to cracked code, and it's totally unfair to folks who are trying to stay afloat developing software. If you really like using a program, and you'd like to see its continued support, ante up just as you would for a piece of hardware. Now I'll get off my software-soapbox and get on with it.

With the proliferation of outdoor amphitheatres in recent years, the onus increasingly falls on sound designers to integrate audio systems that are capable of performing in less-than-ideal conditions. In turn, it's up to manufacturers to provide these designers with state-of-theart technology through the development of powerful, controllable and versatile audio components. These advances in technology, combined with the creativity of designers, have led to dramatic improvements in lawn delay systems for amphitheatres, or "sheds."

With so many choices for gear on the market today, it's a wonder that anyone can make heads or tails of it. Cutting through the marketing hype to determine what is really needed for a good audio system can be challenging for professionals, as well as the staff and volunteers at smaller venues like churches or theatres that may not eat, sleep and breathe live sound on a daily basis. FOH sat down to talk with Steve Raslevich, president of Northern Sound & Light (NSL) to get some insight into the market. NSL often gets calls from customers who know what they want after browsing the information on the NSL web site, but still need help interpreting the marketing verbiage using the real world experience of the sales staff.

The drive behind expanding is varied, but sound companies across the States are looking towards a number of methods to accomplish the goal. This month FOH checks in with three companies who have seen an impressive factor of growth over the past five years, Thunder Audio, Maryland Sound International and Audio Analyst.

These three companies have a number of things in common, including a strong regional presence before jumping into the national spotlight, an approach toward expanding both touring and installation business and a careful and thought out plan before the first step was taken.

Jeffrey "Raz" Rasmussen has heard all the Doobie Brothers records a million times in the dozen years he's been FOH mixer for Michael McDonald, the band's leading crooner. But he doesn't need them to recreate the dense and exuberantly sophisticated sound of those records when McDonald plays in concert.

"If you miss even a little trick, people will come up and tell you about it," says Raz. "Those records are everywhere–on the radio, in elevators. The fans know exactly how they sound. And that's what you have to do on stage–get those sounds and those moves down."

The call came on a Monday–not the best time to get my attention. One of the PR folks for AKG was pitching a story on Jimmy Buffett. Jimmy has been a Sound Image client for 31 years, and I like the Sound Image guys, but what was really new about a Jimmy Buffett show?

"Well," said the voice on the other end of the line, "He has these lav mics sewn into his shirts."

All you need to know about Bill Hanley is this: as a kid he fondly recalls a local roller rink. But it's not the fun he had skating with his friends, or perhaps the scene of his first crush he most wants to talk about.

No, it's the speakers he speaks of with precision.

"I was skating every day and I fell in love with the music," he recalls. "There was this organ, and it was played loud with 12 Hammond B-40 tone cabinets and two 20-watt amplifiers with four 12-inch electro-dynamic loud speakers in a rink with excellent acoustics. I would go hear other, bad, sound systems and wonder why something couldn't sound as good as that roller rink."