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The Cube

The Cube: Virginia Tech’s Immersive 3-D Audio Experience

Virginia Tech’s Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology (ICAT) has created an immersive 3-D audio environment. Christened “The Cube,” this unique four-story theater and high-tech laboratory features one of the highest-channel count 3-D audio systems in the world. The facility combines multi-screen video and 3-D sound from 145 loudspeakers to bring creative artists, educators and audiences together in a four-story, black box theater that’s one of the largest on the East Coast.

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Clair Brothers kiT+ Series Speakers

Clair Brothers was established 49 years ago when brothers Gene and Roy Clair had their first gig — supplying sound for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons at F&M College in Lancaster, PA — and over the years, the company has grown into a major force in touring, installations and technologies for live sound reinforcement. In fact it was just two years after that first defining gig that the company debuted its first large-scale system (powered by the then-new Crown DC300 amplifiers), doing sound for Cream in 1968 at the Philadelphia Spectrum for 18,000 fans.

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The JBL SRx835 with front grill removed, showing component layout on the front baffle.

JBL Professional SRX835P Speakers

The new SRX800 line of active loudspeakers from JBL Professional was unveiled during Winter NAMM 2015. The series consists of the 12-inch, two-way SRX812P; the 15-inch two-way SRX815P; the three-way 15-inch SRX835P and single (SRX818SP) and double-18 (SRX828SP) subwoofers.

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Setup for the show in New York's legendary Apollo Theater, with James Taylor doing a live Sirius/XM broadcast concert with an invited audience to support his 'Before This World' album release (c) David Morgan

Morning, Noon and Night: A Week of Nonstop Activity for James Taylor’s CD Release

Coinciding with the June 16 release of the Before This World CD, the James Taylor organization scheduled a series of television and radio performances to showcase many of the new songs. Before This World is the first collection of all new material written and performed by James Taylor since the release of October Road in 2002. The level of anticipation was very high and the pre-release reviews had all been extremely positive. We were prepared for a very busy and exciting week in New York that would include appearances on the Today Show, The Tonight Show, Live! With Kelly and Michael, Late Night with Seth Meyers and a live Sirius/XM concert broadcast from the Apollo Theater.

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Singer-songwritter Tori Kelly is among the artists who have participated in performances on the Capitol Records rooftop.

Revisiting the Rooftop Concert – A Capitol Idea

The last concert the Beatles ever played was on a rooftop. Now Capitol Records, the label that distributed the Fab Four’s records in the U.S., is bringing that moment full circle. In addition to a refresh of the recording studio at the iconic platter-shaped building that sits on Vine St., near its legendary intersection with Hollywood Blvd., the label is also hosting live music performances on the roof. It’s another indicator of how the narrative arc of the music business has changed, with live music now the dominant revenue generator.

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Guitar or bass players who use multiple instruments should have a transmitter for each one, especially for bassists switching between passive and active instruments

Clean Up Your Airwaves: Tips for a Successful Wireless Experience

Are you doing everything possible to maximize the performance of your wireless microphones, instrument and IEM systems? As the airwaves grow more crowded with activity from cellular signals, routers and terrestrial broadcasts (not to mention those pesky Martian game show broadcasts), our MI wireless systems face more competition — and are therefore more susceptible to interference than ever. Here are some tips on squeezing the most out of your RF gear.

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P.A. and Broadcast Mixes

Many of today’s churches are struggling with how to best utilize technology, and are wrestling with how to best deliver their message via broadcast or Internet streaming. My church is going through many of these technological growing pains right now. Sure, we have digital consoles, a line array and LED lighting, but we have yet to make the leap into multi-camera video streaming of full services. Most of our discussions about delivering content online have centered on the video production aspects, such as cameras, switchers, graphics and recording.

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(c) Andy Au

Production Never Sleeps

As we all know, everybody does production management. From stagehands to company accountants, it seems anyone who’s ever worked on a concert or an event — in any capacity — can then be qualified as a “production manager.” While there may be some truth to this (in certain instances), it might be best to understand the various nuances associated with the title “Production Manager,” as not all production managers are created equal nor are their jobs all the same.

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George Petersen FOH Magazine editor

Jobs, Jobs (and More) Jobs!

If you haven’t figured it out by now, the sound industry is just getting past school graduations, which mark the official start of the busy summer season. As anybody who works at a local soundco can testify, handling two weeks of back-to-back college and high school graduations can make for some crazy times. In a busy scholastic market, like the San Francisco Bay Area where I live, there are at least a dozen or more colleges and a multitude of high schools that all seem to schedule their commencement exercises the same week. Trying to juggle coverage and setups of all that can equate to a logistical nightmare.

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Dennis Sheehan accepted the Parnelli Award for Lifetime Achievement on Oct. 24, 2008.

In Memoriam: Dennis Sheehan, 1946-2015

Dennis Sheehan, longtime tour manager for U2 and 2008 Parnelli Lifetime Achievement award winner, died May 27. He was 68. Sheehan had been in Los Angeles with U2 for a series of shows in the early stages of their 2015 “Innocence + Experience” Tour. U2 had opened the first of five shows at the Forum the night before.

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