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Government? Audio? It’s All In the Mix

Politics, slander, innuendo! Who’s qualified to lead? Who is all talk and no action? Who’s tainted by scandal? Whose decisions and reasoning are questionable? Who drinks too much? Who does too many drugs? Who visits hookers? Who takes kickbacks, which one steals, who never has the correct information and then refuses to take responsibility and back-peddles when challenged? Who leads through coercion and intimidation? Who, what, when and where? With so little time and yet so many questions, it’s amazing that anything gets accomplished… and this is just office politics.

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Keep Memory Alive’s 12th Annual Power of Love Charity Gala

Sound crew delivered the powerful message loud and clear to raise money for charity.  

Since the time this story was written, Roddy Pahl, head of sound at MGM Grand, has passed away. Our condolences go out to his friends and family.

The MGM Grand Hotel and Casino’s newest venue, the Grand Pavilion, recently hosted a swanky affair in typical Vegas fashion. The venue, decked out in lavish decor, crystal chandeliers and expensive cars was transformed into Tinsel Town for the 12th Annual Keep Memory Alive Power of Love charity gala. The multi-million-dollar fundraiser brought together Hollywood celebrities, world-famous athletes and Vegas elite to raise money to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and other memory disorders. VIP guests included Muhammad Ali, John Cusack, David Copperfield, Siegfried and Roy, Terry Hatcher and Hilary Duff, among many others. And for $75,000 a table, everything from the world-class dinner prepared by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck to crooner Michael Buble’s performance, had to be flawless. Perhaps most important, Keep Memory Alive’s powerful message had to be delivered loud and clear to raise money for the Lou Rubo Brain Institute. Enter Roddy Pahl, head of sound at MGM Grand.

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Heads, Hearts and Hands

It’s really easy to tell when someone really cares about what they do. When I am out on gigs I see it all the time. The funny thing is that the bigger the gig, the more likely you are to find at least a few people who just don’t really give a rat’s ass about the gig. It is just a paycheck.

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Internal Power Struggles

If you’re a gear geek like I am — and since you’re reading FOH, I’ll bet that you are — you may have noticed that signal processing has been steadily migrating into power amplifiers. This is nothing terribly new: For years amplifier manufacturers have offered add-on processing. I can remember when I was a teenager (late 1700s) trying to lift a Peavey CS800 — the original CS800, many of which caused herniated disks and are still in service today — and seeing a weird circular socket on the rear panel. I was afraid to touch that socket, thinking I’d get electrocuted even when the amp was unplugged.

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“Them That’s Got Shall Get…”

Ken
Oh my God, Brian, at yesterday’s gig I almost went in the drink! My client, the bandleader, did a site survey the day before, and reported back that it was all good — a very easy load-in except for off-loading the truck on the street. This was a corporate gig for 250 attendees, and I work for the band. The end client was a German car manufacturer that shall go unnamed. The venue was beautiful, bucolic, and the load-in was a pain in the ass. One of those 500-yard, switchback down the mountain on the cobblestone path kind of deals. Needless to say, I was soaking wet and exhausted just by the time the stuff was in the room. Because I couldn't make the site survey, I think my client didn't want to let me know the misery in advance. You have clients who "forget" to mention things to you?

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What a Wise Guy!

I was contacted by a regional electronic music festival to handle their main stage — they needed someone who could mix esoteric/eclectic "bands" with bizarre instrumentation based around DJs. We've done lighting for the gig and I was looking forward to the experience… until the festival called and told me that they had booked racks 'n' stacks already and just needed me to bring "the rest.”

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Digidesign’s Robert Scovill

BUSINESS
Who: Robert Scovill, market manager for Digidesign’s Live Sound Products.

What: Manufacturer of Pro Tools software and hardware; ICON control surfaces; and the VENUE Live Sound Environment.

Where: Daly City, Calif.

When: Founded in 1984.

Current clients include: Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Radiohead ¬— “too many to list!” — are all users of VENUE technology.

Recent company highlight: The release of the new I/O product called Mix Rack.

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Soldering 102

In Soldering 101 last fall, I went through the basics of tools, tips and technique on getting good soldering skills. In this soldering 102 session, I still want to keep it basic, but show more examples and commonly encountered soldering tasks.

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From a Whisper to a Roar

Hello my friends. As I go through my daily work with houses of worship, I am always looking for something meaningful and helpful to write about. My recent experiences with a couple of churches may appear to be unique individually, but I think the theme has much wider implications. Let’s talk about “discovering” the sound level that is acceptable to a particular house of worship. 

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Community SONUS-1296 Loudspeaker

Community Loudspeakers is an under-sung hero of the live sound world compared to other brands. Even though Community’s Bruce Howze and staff have lent many innovative features to install and portable speakers, too, many people forget about the advances they have brought us over the years. It’s nice to root for an industry “underdog” when they bring forth a new series of speakers.

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LiveWires Personal Monitors

The Gear

Built in Mount Juliet, Tenn., LiveWires personal monitors feature dual-balanced armatures (tweeter/woofer), a published frequency response range of 20 Hz to 18 kHz and a sensitivity of ~126 dB/mw at 1 kHz. Depending on the accuracy of the impressions, the isolation range is between 25 and 28 dB with distortion less than 0.3%. They also feature a gold-plated swivel connection on each ear bud and a 1/8th connector for the belt pack. This is all packaged into a sturdy carrying case with a cleaning tool included.

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