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dbx DriveRack PA2

dbx DriveRack PA2

It has to be at least 15 years since dbx introduced the first DriveRack, and there is no doubt that since then, the DriveRack family has improved sound systems across the globe. That may sound like a huge, sweeping statement, but it’s probably true. A few years ago, I got a dbx DriveRack PA+ to go with my self-powered speaker rig. In a very short time, the DriveRack became my favorite piece of outboard gear. Mainly because dbx has skillfully crammed so many useful functions into a single rackspace package. Well, now there is the DriveRack PA2. After my experience with the PA+, I decided I had to get my hands on a PA2. However, it occurred to me that some of you may not know exactly what a DriveRack PA2 is, or what kind of magic it can do. So, here we go…

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FCC Seal

FCC Reallocation Update: Is There a Frequency in Your Future?

If there was ever an area of constant activity and interest within the live audio community, the Federal Communication Commission’s proposed reallocation and plans for an upcoming auction of the 600 MHz UHF spectrum would surely head the list. Currently, the auction is scheduled for mid-2015. Meanwhile, well-heeled companies in the telecom industry — including AT&T, Verizon and Sprint — are anxious to pony up as much as an estimated $20 billion for that chunk of prime cyber real estate. And it’s a big-stakes game, with the winners set to take a commanding position in the burgeoning mobile device market.

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The FOH view at sound check — minutes before the house opens

Console Change, Part 4: Making the Leap

In the days immediately prior to this year’s James Taylor tour, I cajoled my nephew Gabe Morgan into helping me move the DiGiCo SD5 console out of my living room and out to the garage for pickup. I then I traveled to New York City where James and his band were performing at a private event that took place in the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square. For this show, I would be using the familiar Avid D-Show desk for the final time this year. The band configuration was the same as it was for our final 2013 show in Honolulu, and I could quickly recall that complete setup from USB drives. Under the time constraints one encounters working this type of event, that strategy was definitely the best available option. The show went very well, but I was eager to move forward with the process of changing console platforms.

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Hundreds of framed copies of the company’s patents adorn the walls of the subterranean passageway that connects Bose’s headquarters to its R&D center

Bose Knows a Bit About Pro

I recently attended an all-day technology demonstration at the Bose lair outside of Boston. On the way, there were lots of Bose active noise-canceling headphones visible onboard the flight. And in the room at The Charles Hotel in Cambridge, there was a Bose Wave radio, as iconic as a Herman Miller Aeron chair or a Le Corbusier chaise lounge, sitting on the nightstand. All this foreshadowing might have seemed like a PR person’s dream, as though somehow Ford had managed to make every car on the road taken to one of their dealerships a Mustang or an Escape. The reality is that it’s a fact of life: Bose has built a tremendous brand in the consumer electronics business.

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Basic layout of house speakers and mix position relative to stage and audience

Avoiding Feedback

Feedback occurs when the output of a device is fed to its own input. An example that most of us have heard is guitar feedback. Let’s say an electric guitar player turns his amp up loud and faces his guitar toward the amplifier. Sound from the speakers excites the strings, causing them to vibrate. The pickups change the string motion into an electrical signal, and send the signal back to the guitar amp. The guitar amp magnifies this sound and sends it to the speakers — so the process repeats.

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As part of the installation at St. Mary’s Church (Homington, U.K.), integrators Newtech Southern selected Trantec wireless mics for the pulpit to reduce cabling in the historic 14th century building.

Podium Microphones

When I was a kid, I was fascinated by politics. Especially the all-encompassing presidential elections that seemed to dominate the TV of the day. When I think back to president Jimmy Carter’s inaugural address, I remember he spoke at a podium into two microphones. I really wasn’t a Carter fan, but that really doesn’t matter for this article. What does matter is that president Carter was speaking into two microphones. It seemed like a rather obvious move now. One mic goes down, and you still have another one on-line. However the big question in my mind was what manufacturer supplied those two microphones for the inauguration? I didn’t get the answer to that question until much later in my life. In the meantime, Ronald Reagan was elected president and was inaugurated. At his big speech he used three microphones. I figured this guy had to be more cautious than Carter, or he just wanted to make certain that every word he spoke was heard.

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Illustration by Andy Au

Sex, Drugs and Tales from the Road

Just recently, I completed reading Keith Richards’ 2010 memoir, Life, which I found to be a great read. I was fascinated because I grew up listening to the Rolling Stones. And in the book, Keith gives a personal touch to all the 50 years of rumors, innuendos and tales that have floated around the business regarding himself, the band and the colorful associated cast of characters who managed to find their way into the ongoing narrative.

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InfoComm Show Floor

InfoComm 2014’s HOT Product Hits

LAS VEGAS — Some 37,048 professional audiovisual buyers and sellers worldwide from more than 114 countries made the annual pilgrimage to the InfoComm (infocomm.org) conference and exhibition. Established in 1939, the organizers marked the event’s 75th anniversary this year. Held at the cavernous Las Vegas Convention Center from June 14-20, this year’s event represented a 5.5 percent increase in attendance over InfoComm 2013.

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Yamaha QL5 Digital Console

Yamaha QL5 Digital Console

Two years ago, Yamaha unveiled its popular CL series mixers to much fanfare. Here was a solid digital console with a great feature set, including Dante interfacing, onboard preamps, Dan Dugan automixing, Rupert Neve-designed signal processing and the fast GUI of Centralogic control. The CL Series was an immediate hit.

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