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20/20 Hindsight

I take pride in my engineering skills, and after many years of honing my craft, I think that I have become adequately competent at my trade. I feel very confident in my mastery of the basics of live audio engineering and that I have an artistic and musical approach to the job. I know my strengths and my weaknesses and try to use this knowledge to my advantage when mixing a concert or event. I feel that I put a lot of thought and effort into what I do as an engineer, and I approach each band or event in a way that is most suitable to the situation. While the mechanics of sound (i.e. speaker placement, gain structure, power requirements, etc.) are fairly consistent, it is the unknown variables that truly test our mettle when we find ourselves on the battlefield of live sound.

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Please Re-Lease Me

Something I have said often is that many churches are willing to pay for a new sound and lighting system, but few are willing to actually own it. At the time, I was discussing the lack of willingness to train staff and really get involved in overall technical learning. But there may be different reasons why not owning is a good thing.

Depending on the financial organization of a church, especially if it's reasonably healthy, there are options available other than paying cash for technical systems. Using the credit card may lessen the burden on cash flow–and garner enough travel points to help a sponsor a long-desired mission trip or church retreat–or you may consider leasing (and making the payments with the credit card).

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Church and State

Sometimes I do very stupid things, even when I know in advance that they're stupid. Call it a thick head or a stubborn streak, but I just don't learn.

I am about to do one of those stupid things right now. I may live to regret it, but I need to say something about this business and the role of the trade press. It will upset some people, but I hope that–if you are not one of the offended–you at least find it somewhat entertaining, albeit in the same way we are drawn to look at a particularly bad car accident when we drive past.

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Epic Sound for an Epic Production

T he Crystal Cathedral in Anaheim, Calif., is an icon in Southern California. Designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson, it's a towering 12-story structure of glass. Constructed of 12,000 glass panes enclosed within a white, web-like steel truss frame, its transparent walls and ceilings allow the sky–and weather–to become a part of the interior environment.

Also iconic are the cathedral's seasonal pageants. The Glory of Christmas and The Glory of Easter are famous as elaborate technical productions that bring the Bible to life with actors, special effects and flying angels. This year, the trilogy is complete with The Glory of Creation, a multisensory production extravaganza. Written, produced and directed by Carol Schuller Milner, it showcases some very Hollywood-like, cutting-edge technology. It also pushes the envelope of the cathedral's new hybrid sound system, which must equally accommodate the ministry's worldwide broadcasts, special events and the full slate of Glories.

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Are Those Ribs Burning, or is it the Club?

Circa 1995, I had a booked a show at a local watering hole in Scottsdale, Ariz., called The Rockin' Horse, a cool, mostly wood place that was probably constructed in the early to mid-'70s. Smaller, more eclectic national acts played there all the time, as well as some good local talent. There were house stacks and racks, and we just brought in a four-mix monitor system and Front of House. This particular night, we brought in our Soundcraft SR200. (Sidenote: Did you ever have one of those pieces of equipment that was above itself in sound quality and just plain fun to use? Yes, we all have, and this console was mine.)

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Live is More Alive Than Ever

Someone once said, there are three kinds of lies: "lies, damned lies, and statistics". Looking at the stats of the music business in the last couple of years can be dismaying: despite a bit of a bounce last year, CD sales remain relatively stagnant and down more than 20% over the last five years; last year, of course, was a fairly dismal one for pop music concerts, and since neither all the king's horses nor all the king's men can put Ashlee Simpson together again (although CAA will try), it's possible the public's mistrust of when it's live and when it's Memorex could become a hardened attitude.

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Fine and Funky Filters

These days, when confronted by a digital speaker processor or digital crossover, you have multiple choices in the high pass, low pass and crossover filter selections. For those not up on filter lingo, words like Butterworth, Chebychev, Bessel, Elliptical and Linkwitz-Riley sound more like European law firms than filter types. So for those of not possessing an electrical engineering degree with a minor in control systems, this article is to introduce basic "pass" filters and help you make some choices in setting up a drive processor.

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David Gotwald on The Producers

The latest trend in Broadway is to take a famous movie, either narrative or musical, and transform it into a lavish stage production. The most successful example of this is The Producers, adapted by comedic filmmaker Mel Brooks from his 1968 movie, in which washed-up Broadway producer Max Bialystock and his frustrated accountant Leo Bloom conjure a scheme to become rich by raising a lot of money, producing a flop, then running off to Rio with the remaining cash. Of course, the film and musical provide their own social commentary, as the duo's abominable play, Springtime For Hitler, satirizes the Third Reich. The insanity translates well to the stage, encompassing everything from dancing and singing stormtroopers to swaying city pigeons that give the Aryan salute.

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Demetrius Blanton and Brennan Houser

Sound reinforcement for a rap artist like Nelly requires some of the same gear as for a rock show, plus some extra gear and some unique mixing talent to get the job done. FOH caught up with Nelly's four-man sound crew at the Northrup Auditorium in Minneapolis, which seats 4,800 and is the smallest venue on the tour of arenas and theaters this spring. The crew is headed by Demetrius Blanton at the FOH console, who has toured with Nelly for the last three years. In taking out a Stanco Audio Systems rig this tour, Stanco veterans Brennan Houser (system engineer), Chris Lightcap (monitor engineer) and Glen Medlin (audio tech) round out the crew, making it happen night after night.

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Letting Your Crew Stand on Their Own

Hi Guys,

First, I want to say that I read Anklebiters every month and have gotten tons of insight from your experiences. So thanks. Now here is my dilemma: I have more work than I can personally handle. I have enough gear to do multiple shows on a given day, and I have a crew, but I am afraid to send out my guys on their own. I know this is the next step in my businesses evolution. However, the fear of my techs blowing it at a show is stopping my forward movement. Got any suggestions?

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That Depends on What You Mean by Only

You've all heard these phrases: "I only need a small basic sound system." "The band is only playing three songs." "It's only an acoustic act." "It's only a small club." "It's a very important show, but it's only for 100 people." The word "only" when used by a client inquiring about a sound system is usually a code word to let you know that they "only" have limited funds to spend on audio. They mistakenly think that by downplaying the importance of the audio portion of their event, we, the vendor, will give them an inexpensive system. This is a trap that every vendor should learn to avoid. Treat the client the same way that a real estate agent treats his or her clients. Talk to the client and determine exactly what they might need and start by showing them your smaller systems while explaining the system's limitations in regard to the event they are planning. Then proceed to show the client how, for only a few dollars more, they can take the next step up into a true state-of-the-art system.

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Get to the Source

Remember in the last article we said, "First, the person can only mix what he gets, and second, he can only mix what he gets!" After much discussion, we decided to add a little more to the subject. Once again, it was off to Ron Ross' home studio to see what we could simplify into a few hundred words–yeah, right.

Keyboards are the subject we seem to get asked about most besides drums. How do we mic them, and how do we mix them? It is immediately important to distinguish between electric pianos, electronic keyboards and acoustic pianos. They may look the same on the stage plot, but getting them hooked up to the FOH console can be very different.

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