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The Universal Clip kit is offered in hardwired or wireless terminations.

Audio-Technica ATM350a Microphone Systems

Miniature mics are gaining in popularity, particularly in instrument miking applications, where despite their size, they are often capable of delivering big sound. The latest offering in this category is Audio-Technica’s ATM350a Cardioid Condenser Instrument Microphone, which is offered in complete turnkey packages (also sold separately) providing discreet, rock-solid mounting solutions for a host of instruments, including woodwinds, strings, brass, percussion, drums and piano.

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Ashly digiMIX24 Digital Console

Ashly digiMIX24 Digital Console

Digital technology has been a godsend for pro audio, bringing more flexible and powerful products to a wide array of users. However, with many devices, a massive feature list is often accompanied with a complex and involved learning curve. And there’s the rub, especially in certain environments, such as performance spaces, and the educational and house of worship markets, where audio gear may be used by a mix of experienced pros and volunteer or novice operators.

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Catalina Jazz Club - small stage, big sounds.

Downsizing in Hollywood

Mixing the Steve Gadd Band at the Catalina Jazz Club

It’s been a very long time since I worked a club gig. There have been many occasions when I have worked at club venues while on tour, but always using our tour audio FOH and monitor setups. So I am a bit out of practice. Still, I jumped at the chance to spend four nights at the Catalina Jazz Club (Hollywood, CA) mixing for my friends in the Steve Gadd Band. This fantastic jazz ensemble consists of Steve Gadd, drums; Walt Fowler, trumpet/flugelhorn; Jimmy Johnson, bass; Mike Landau, guitar; and Larry Goldings (now Kevin Hayes), keyboards. These men, of course, are each regulars in James Taylor’s All-Star Band and they are a significant part of my road family. I was extremely flattered when the guys had asked me to participate, and I was happy I could be there for them.

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Soundcheck is among those businesses that have expanded to meet a growing market need for pre-tour rehearsal facilities.

Practice, Practice, Practice: Rehearsal Facilities Amp Their Game

One of the byproducts of the vastly increased emphasis on live music in recent years is the need to rehearse it, and these days that takes a lot more than a suburban garage and acquiescent neighbors. As a result, the number of rehearsal facilities geared for high-end professional applications has proliferated in recent years, and the size of the rooms in them has also increased, to accommodate more sophisticated production capabilities — even duos in hotel lobbies might sport a fogger or moving lights.

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Fig. 1: DiGiCo SD10 EQ screen showing typical rock kick EQ. Note boost at 4k Hz to add beater definition.

Can You Hear What I’m Seeing?

Suggested EQ for Common Sources
One of the most important tools we use on a regular basis is EQ. Sometimes we use it to correct problems, and other times we use it creatively. It’s worth taking a look at some techniques for applying EQ to common input channels. The photos below were taken from the screen of a DiGiCo SD10 mixing console. Keep in mind that EQ is, of course, intimately tied to the quality of the source as well as microphone selection, so these are just starting points. YMMV.

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Fig. 1: This simple chart of wave sizes — measured at 20°C (68° F) — should illustrate why materials such as 2-inch acoustical foam are ineffective at treating low-frequency waves.

Controlling Excess LF Energy in Your Worship Space

Managing low frequency energy is a notoriously difficult proposition. The very nature of low frequencies is that they are large (see Fig. 1), difficult to control from a directional perspective and difficult to treat from an acoustical perspective. If you mix in rooms that have little or no acoustic treatment (as many of us do), trying to get your low-end under control can be a real challenge.

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Illustration by Andy Au

Health Care — or Lack of It

Trying to have a conversation about “Obamacare” opens the door to a maelstrom of hyperbole, rumors, partisan fear mongering and polarizing finger pointing. Having a similar conversation regarding “The Affordable Care Act” elicits a kinder and gentler response to the conversation even though — to quote William Shakespeare — “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

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George Petersen, Editor of FOH Magazine

NAMM-ification

If this is January, then the Winter NAMM show is just around the corner (Jan. 19-22, 2017), and the annual pilgrimage of some 100,000 music and audio industry pros to the (hopefully) sunny skies of Anaheim is underway. Assuming you can get your iced-over flights from the Midwest or Northeast to cooperate, NAMM presents an ideal environment to escape the bad weather blahs and get down to some business (and a little fun) in this campus-styled enclave, where most of the lodgings are a short walk from the action.

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Coldplay tour photo by Steve Jennings

Top 10 Tours of 2016: Gear and Crew

LAS VEGAS – The year-end numbers are in, and whatever else you may have been thinking about how things in 2016 went down, live concert ticket sales are up, according Pollstar. Total sales for the top 10 tours worldwide, featuring, in order, Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band, Beyoncé, Coldplay, Guns N’ Roses, Adele, Justin Bieber, Paul McCartney, Garth Brooks, the Rolling Stones and Celine Dion hit $1.67 billion — an 11.3 percent gain on the $1.5 billion pulled in by the top 10 tours in 2015.

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