Midwest Sound and Lighting started with regional acts before opening its doors to the political arena.
John Rogers, marketing specialist for Midwest Sound and Lighting, knows that one of the reasons Midwest Sound and Lighting has been around since 1979 is because of the company’s dedication to simply getting the job done.
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It’s not only the squints who are going green. Audio is getting onboard as well.
How does sound go green? The best it can do is by being efficient. It’s still a fundamental truth that you have to move air to make sound, and moving air takes power. A lot of it. Recently, Radiohead took a new approach to touring that they hope will inspire others in the industry. Throughout their 2008 In Rainbows tour, Radiohead has been keeping an account of the carbon footprint they are creating and comparing it to past tours. This means that even in the realm of sound gear every choice is weighed against the ecological impact that each piece would have. The equipment chosen not only had to sound good — but it also had to be “green.”
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I have never considered anything that has gone wrong, or changed, to be a nightmare. It has always been a learning experience, and then I keep it in the back of my head for the future. However, I just got back from a nightmare.
Read More »When forced with the option to use portable generators for live production, there are aspects that most sound engineers do not understand. While install power connections are reasonably lightly loaded for the audio watts provided, the nature of the current demands will vary with the music intensity of the performance and needs to be considered with portable power.
Read More »I have spent the last few months going over the basics of HOW sound systems. All of you have varied levels of proficiency with regard to your sound technician skills; however, going over basic principles is a good thing. Do you ever ask why your priest, pastor, rabbi, etc., has gone over some of the basic tenants of your particular religion more than once? Their purpose is to build a strong foundation for your faith. Well, it’s the same in worship sound. Obviously, not as lofty, but we can agree that a solid foundation to our work (volunteer or not) is a good thing.
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Andy Meyer on juggling five bands, huge stage volume and a guitar rig that goes down to 30 Hz.
With bands like Mötley Crüe — whose members appear morally opposed to personal monitors and seem determined to prove their continuing viability by being louder than ever — paired with loud upstarts including Buck Cherry and Nikki Sixx’s solo side project on the same bill, one might assume that the biggest challenge of the recent Crüefest tour would have been dealing with sheer volume. Au contraire says Crüe FOH mixer Andy Meyer. While dealing with huge SPL can be an issue with five bands onstage every night, the biggest challenge is often just having enough time to get everything up and going.
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The Horseshoe Casino is more than just a riverboat with a $70-million theater install, bringing top echelon acts to The Venue.
The Horseshoe Casino has been rocking for years, since it’s been one of the most popular resort and casino destinations in the Chicago area. Yet, it’s only since The Venue opened earlier this year that the Horseshoe has been rocking, rolling, shaking and shimmying.
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Parnelli Awards Pay Tribute to the Stars of Live Audio
The 8th Annual Parnelli Awards brought together the legends and up-and-coming talent of the live event industry to honor the companies and people nominated for their outstanding work this year. Held at the Rio Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, the show featured state-of-the-art audio, lighting and video, master of ceremonies Alice Cooper, and in keeping with the Vegas theme, showgirls decked out in flashy costumes to greet the attendees. The attendees paid tribute to audio innovators Roy and Gene Clair, founders of the Clair Bros. (now known as CLAIR) of Lititz, Pa., one of the largest and most successful sound companies in the world; and Dennis Sheehan, longtime tour manager for U2.
Read More »“It’s the economy stupid,” and despite it all we still carry on with our business albeit on shaky ground. Fortunately, the bulk of the summer touring season ended just before the disastrous reports from Wall Street became headline news — thus leading us to wild speculation regarding what the future might hold in store for the upcoming winter and spring season.
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Recent conversations that play into the current economic climate affecting our industry
First, a conversation with a soundco owner in the Midwest who said he was busy but broke. “Not a box or an amp in the shop — everything is rented. But cash flow is down significantly.” As we talked we figured out that clients are not paying as quickly as he would like and that “some checks are better than others.”
Read More »The editors of FOH recently received an interesting e-mail from a gentleman who informed us that he was a university student studying computer programming and networking, and that he also did live sound on a part-time basis. He wanted to know if we had any ideas about how he might be able to apply his knowledge in the computer field to audio, enabling him to combine his two interests as a career. If this question was raised barely 10 or 12 years ago, the answer to that question would be an emphatic “no.” However, we’ve seen a long-term trend that goes something like this: Computer hardware and software developers create technology for moving data from place to place, and then the audio industry adapts that technology for use in moving audio from place to place.
Read More »Scientific protocol calls for lots of testing before a product is finally assembled. However, in the highly subjective and opinionated realm of loudspeakers, testing has become not so much an afterthought as an after-the-fact proposition in some instances. The transducer and cabinet assembly of each component in a line array are subjected to plenty of testing as each element is developed and connected, but the dynamic and incrementally minute nature of the line array itself tends to get its final checks in situ, flying above the crowd.
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