NEW YORK — Kevin B. Hart, a veteran show production manager and owner of Epoch Creative, has been using his in-ear CM-iX Intercom Headset from Point Source Audio on some important gigs this year, including his seventh NY CityFest. More details from Point Source Audio (www.point-sourceaudio.com):
NY CityFest is a religious music event that wowed the sold out crowd flocking to the Great Lawn at Central Park this past July. Six additional mini-festivals took place in each of the boroughs that included Times Square and Radio City Music Hall in New York, and New Jersey.
NY CityFest is one of the outcomes of NY CityServe and Argentinian born evangelist Luis Palau, and his organization, the Luis Palau Association. This year’s NY CityFest was accomplished in partnership with more than 1,700 local churches and non-profits striving to bring “great music and good news” by showcasing some of the best artists in contemporary Christian and Gospel. “The CM-iX was exactly what I was looking for,” said Hart to help with his high pressure task of ensuring concert-goers non-stop entertainment with just eight minutes spaced between each band performance during the six hour music festival. Participating artists included Grammy Award winning artists TobyMac, Israel Houghton, Mandisa, Marcos Witt and Matt Redman.
“Standard issue muffs are complicated when trying to go between the audio feed and the environmental sounds” explained Hart. “I was able to integrate my 1964 EARS in-ear monitors with the CM-iX, and wore the headset for the first time, without ever taking them off, throughout the entire festival—from 3:00pm to 10:00 pm!” he enthused. Hart was able to quickly switch between left and right feeds while coordinating the communication flow with a team of more than 50 that included FOH, lighting and video techs, assistant stage managers, union stage hands, broadcast trucks, and even the artists who brought along their own production teams. “Everyone thought I sounded very clear,” he reports. The events were live-streamed to a global audience including Latin America and Spain.
“The modular in-ear design of the CM-iX and the CM-i3 headsets is satisfying an unmet need for many stage managers, camera operators and lighting directors,” underscores Yvonne Ho, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Point Source Audio. “The focus for our patent-pending 2oz. design is to offer a lightweight and comfortable solution with a high level of usability to switch between three listening modes.”
Another bonus Hart discovered was that the CM-iX could be used with iPhones or an iPad: “During the pre-show, when the stage is being built, I use CM-iX with my iPhone and then at show time, I switch to intercom for Telex or Clear-com using the adapters.” The integrated CM-iX design eliminated the cumbersome tangle of wires that previously plagued Hart when he tried to use his custom in-ear monitors with an existing comms system.
Clair Broadcast (part of Clair Global http://clairglobal.com/) provided the RF wireless coordination for the festival at Central Park.
The CM-i3/CM-iX Intercom Headsets are designed for concert venues, front of house operations, multimedia production, as well as camera operators. The in-ear headset eliminates fatigue; weighs only 2 oz., and offers 12dB off-axis noise rejection, replaceable earphones, and kink-free cable design. Both of the intercom headset models will be on demonstration at the Worship Facilities Conference in Nashville, TN November 18-19 at Point Source Audio Booth 911.
