What room is so large that a 350- voice choir: is so far from the podium they can't hear the conductor; is 45 feet back and 12 feet above the orchestra; can't hear the orchestra (and vice versa); sings directly in front of a pipe organ whose ranks and pipes can overpower a room with seating for 21,000?
If you said the Conference Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints then you are correct!
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To be honest, when FOH called me needing someone to cover Ozzfest I was pretty stoked. I had always wanted to see Ozzfest, but in this biz doing a few shows a week of my own, I have generally no desire to be around another show. I also had never been asked to "cover a show". Typically FOH just wants me to "rant"–which I'm OK with.
This time, though, it was coverage, so my wife Lisa and I drove from Vegas to San Diego Saturday for a Sunday show. We had arrangements with Ken "Pooch" Van Druten, FOH engineer for System of a Down, to get working passes for the day. When we arrived around 2 p.m., Pooch met us at the gate and took us to his bus where we had a 30-minute discussion with him and Dave Coil, monitor mixer for System of a Down.
Read More »What you hold in your hand is something pretty unusual for FOH–a themed issue. Most of what you will find between the covers of this month's collection of live audio missives relate in some way to the world of house of worship sound. Before you non-churchy road warriors run away screaming, don't worry, there is plenty for you here, too. That includes coverage of a decidedly un-churchy Ozzfest.
Read More »Don't think of it as church. Instead, think of it as a media center with the ultimate, eternal, all-access laminate. Any sarcasm here is tempered by a very serious reality: houses of worship have become big business in the U.S. and increasingly around the world. The American Christian fundamentalist movement has been the prime force behind the trend, the epitome of which are mega-churches, such as the now-famous tabernacle of Joel Osteen and his evangelical and highly telegenic family, who broadcast weekly from what used to be the Houston Rockets arena in Houston, where they fill the seats more consistently than most NBA teams can. (See the FOH Interview with Lakewood audio chief Reed Hall)
Read More »As self-proclaimed audio experts, it is our duty to learn the ins and outs of how microphone elements work, and how best to use them. Even though we are not Diva or Mister Ego vocalists, we should know how to work the mics. This is especially the case in house of worship (HOW) situations where most of the speakers and singers are not professionals. So let's get on with teaching the teachers.
The Mic Fits The Task
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John Shivers is one of the busiest soundmen on Broadway, even though he's not frequently there. He was associate sound designer for Aida, The Producers, and Hairspray, the sound designer for 700 Sundays, In My Life, and the new Tarzan, and also productions of The Producers, Hairspray, and The Lion King around the country and across the globe. In fact, when he chatted with FOH recently about Tarzan, the newest Disney production to hit the Great White Way, he was getting ready to go to Shanghai to relocate the Australian production of The Lion King, then check on that same show in Hamburg and London, perform a preliminary survey for a Tarzan production in Holland, then fi nally do preliminary associate design work/research on Mary Poppins by visiting the running London production before opening it in New York later this year with sound designer Steve Kennedy.
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I am a small sound company owner and I also work as a volunteer on the sound crew at my church. My problem is that my church is planning an outdoor concert event and I have agreed to provide the production support for the show, with the understanding that I would be paid for my services. While attending a concert planning meeting, we were discussing all the different aspects of the event including some sponsorships that we plan to get from local businesses. At this point in the meeting, someone turns to me and says, "Hey, you could donate a thousand dollars as a sponsor and bring your equipment for free. You'll get your name on the back of the t-shirts we're having made." This put me in a very awkward position. While I generally do my part to support the church financially, I'm still trying to run a business and make a living here. I'd like to help, but I'm already thinking about my expenses on this show. What do you suggest in this situation?
Read More »Why in Heaven's name would anyone want to spend huge amounts of weekly tithing to install a State of the Art (SOTA) sound system into a house of worship? Better yet, why on earth would any house of worship deem it necessary to get into the sound reinforcement/concert business? Is it all just pomp and circumstance, a vanity stemmed from coveting a neighboring congregation's techno wizardry, or is there a higher purpose?
Read More »How many times has the following happened to you? You're in a room watching a band (or perhaps a public speaker), and you notice that the sound of an instrument or voice is coming from the P.A., not from the physical location of the source. Sometimes it's subtle, but sometimes you think: "Why am I seeing this guy directly in front of me but hearing his voice to my left?" It's such an unnatural phenomenon that it distracts from delivery of the musical content or message.
Read More »Cheikh Mbacke
President/CEO/Engineer
Bamba Productions Group, Inc.
Las Vegas, NV
Live sound, DJ services, Corporate A/V, Lighting
Clients:
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I was back in Gibson City for a really small rock concert–only about 250–300 people in the crowd. I had a small rig complete with an old Yamaha 1604 mixer for FOH and monitor mix all in one, and let me tell you that dinosaur can do some damage. I had two Peavey Impulse 1015 speakers and subs, with an ART EQ-355 and Alesis 3630 compressors. Well, the man I purchased my Impulse speakers and subs from said that they were all 8 ohms "speakers and subs". The venue was a little bigger than what I was told on the advance so, with my QSC RMX 1450 and a 2450, we decided to bridge both to get more power.
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LOVE, the latest production from Cirque du Soleil is a collaborative effort between the Cirque and Apple Corps. The show features original Beatles tracks from master tapes at Abbey Road studios prepared specifi – cally by Musical Directors Sir George Martin and his son Giles Martin. "We wanted to make sure there are enough good, solid hit songs in the show, but we don't want it to be a catalog of 'best of's'," said Sir George Martin. "We also wanted to put in some interesting and not well-known Beatles music and use fragments of songs. The show will be a unique and magical experience."
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