QSC started out only making amps. Very good amps. Eventually, the company branched out into speakers, and I was impressed with how their speakers sounded. Now QSC got a digital mixing board, and I’m beginning to think they’re on a winning streak here. In the case of the recent TouchMix digital mixer line, QSC chose wisely again, this time collaborating with legendary mixing console designers Greg Mackie and Peter Watts.
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Some time ago (FRONT of HOUSE, June 2013) we checked out the Cymatic Audio LR-16, a 16-channel recording solution for capturing 16-tracks of live audio from analog boards. At $499, it was priced right, but besides having a 16-rack limit, it also was built in a non-rack configuration — issues when considering gear used in a live environment.
Read More »Mixing FOH sound at large-scale, multi-performer events is a specialized task that I usually choose to avoid. I know myself well enough to understand that I possess neither the organizational skills nor the temperament necessary to successfully navigate through the rapid-fire changes of bands, musical styles and production formats. Over my 40 years of mixing, I have most definitely evolved into an “evening with” kind of a guy. I do my best work when my concentration is unbroken and when I have heard enough repetitions of songs to really get inside the arrangements. A distraction as slight as having a surprise support band can easily sidetrack my show day preparation process.
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You’re all aware of the oil glut. Great if you have gas tanks to fill, not so much if you have retirement accounts loaded with petroleum stocks. Overcapacity is all around us — we’ve had gluts of airline seats and houses in the past. Today, we have surfeits of airliners, copper and PhD’s in the news. As with all shortages and surpluses, there are winners and losers, new opportunities and missed chances for every miscalculation of supply and demand.
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Suggestions for Getting a Great Sound at Lower SPL’s
How loud is your P.A. at the mix position? 100 dB? 105 dB? 115 dB? Do you even know? When was the last time you had a reality check and measured the average SPL for your show? Do you really need to mix that loud?
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Hello FRONT of HOUSE readers! I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Vince Lepore, and starting with this issue, I’ll be writing the “Sound Sanctuary” column. I live in Orlando, FL with my beautiful wife Carrie and our two pugs Louie and Miles. Carrie and I both work at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, where I’m the technical director and Carrie is the graphic designer. I also teach live production full time at Full Sail University, a position that I’ve held for almost a decade. So, let’s get started…
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I enjoy engaging people in conversation and hearing different points of view regarding a wide variety of topics. I take pleasure in hearing about a person’s life, their problems and their issues as well as talking about baseball, music, girls, audio, cars, guitars, home ownership, politics, books, movies and the world at large — though not necessarily in that order.
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