Last month, we introduced some of the principles behind the horn waveguides that are ubiquitous in professional audio. In this follow-up, we’ll discuss the directional nature of horns, building on the prior discussion about how horns operate and how sound waves travel through them.
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With much fanfare, Mackie launched its new DLM speaker line at a packed event in a Seattle club filled with press, dealers and audio pros. The DLM line isn’t slated to ship until late October, but here’s a quick preview.
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Power amps have come a long way since the days of the backbreaking 200-watt/50-pound behemoths of old. New Class-D technology, onboard DSP and multichannel capability results in lighter-weight amps with more power and functionality than ever before.
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Somebody had to do it. Who else but Charlie Hernandez?
A menacing rainstorm in Rio de Janeiro flooded the portion of the Formula 1 race track where the next insane episode of the Guns N’ Roses tour of South America was going down. A delay in getting Guns N’ Roses onstage was nothing new, yet this time the weather was not helping. Unfortunately, the local promoter let the crowd onto the field during load-in. Hernandez and associate Lori Tierney were surveying the mayhem from above, in the announcer tower. “Charlie and I were looking out on this seething crowd when [Dale] “Opie” [Skjerseth] comes in and announces that we still needed to run the snake from the stage to FOH,” Tierney recalls. “I looked down at that riot, and said, ‘Are you kidding me?’”
Then a wide-eyed grinning Hernandez chirped: “I’ll do it!”
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The readers have spoken — and what a diverse group they have chosen to honor as the best of the best of their region. We have some fresh faces and some “repeat offenders.” All of these are bestowed with a little something to hang on their wall with the Parnelli logo and all the honor, glory and bragging rights that go with it. Take a look at some companies you might not be that familiar with, and reacquaint yourself with others — before heading on over to parnelliawards.com to vote for the best of the best. The winning company will be honored with the Hometown Hero Sound Company of the Year award at the Parnelli Awards Oct. 20, 2012 at the Mirage in Las Vegas.
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One morning in late August, 2005, Randy Frierson woke up with a bad feeling he couldn’t shake. There was a storm coming, but something felt especially wrong about this one. In addition to Concert Systems Production Group, he also had an RV business. So they loaded up as many family members and employees as possible. They headed out just as the devastating hurricane known as Katrina hit, and got as far as Pensacola where the bridge was washed out. So was, it turned out, most everything in their hometown of Gulfport, MS.
Read More »The July 31 final show of this year’s James Taylor tour was a private event in Las Vegas that proved to be a harbinger of the days to come. I had agreed to work a series of one-off events in August with John Ondrasik and his band, Five For Fighting. John is an incredibly gifted writer and vocalist, and the band consisting of Jenn Oberle (bass), Steve Fekete (guitar), and Charlie Paxson (drums) perfectly complements John’s extraordinary songs. In addition, John is also an ardent Los Angeles Kings hockey fan, thus making the opportunity to work with him again that much more attractive.
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If you were a young person thinking about a career in live-event audio, you’d have a lot to consider. First, like many other career choices in music and technology, the apprenticeship model, while still somewhat more viable for live audio than, say, becoming a lawyer, is nonetheless giving way to a more specifically academic path.
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For most engineers and sound companies, microphones represent a substantial investment, and they are a crucial set of tools for getting the job done. Yet they get abused, left out in the rain, dropped, carelessly tossed into cases, stored under poor conditions and largely ignored until something malfunctions. There aren’t a lot of things you can do once a microphone capsule gives up, but there is plenty you can do to prevent damage and ensure it performs up to spec over the long haul.
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Before we get into this month’s topic, I should say that audio techs are a relatively new breed. Not long ago, your average church, synagogue or temple did not have a sound system. As a child I went to a Catholic church. The priest would enter the pulpit (a small tower on the left side of the church three or four feet above the platform/altar), climb half a dozen steps and deliver his sermon from this location.
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I just finished reading the book, Here, There and Everywhere, by famed Beatles recording engineer Geoff Emerick. Not only is this a great book for Beatles fans, but it also provides recording and live engineers a glimpse into the beginning of modern recording and production techniques. Emerick documents his career from his 1962 internship with the iconic EMI’s Abby Road Studios all the way through to the completion of the band’s 1969 Abby Road album and onward into his professional association and work with Paul McCartney, as well as a plethora of other well-known acts.
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“Innovative live sound solutions” and “World’s first smart mixing system,” they say. While a newcomer to the speaker/mixer market, Line 6 has a long history in technology, from its POD-enabled guitar processing to its respected family of XD digital wireless units. And with that in mind, I wanted to investigate these new speakers and mixer.
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