Once upon a time and long ago, most of us were enticed into becoming sound reinforcement professionals. Of course, at the time, few of us realized that this meant taking a lifelong oath of poverty (we’re never paid what we’re truly worth) and abuse — when it’s right no one notices; when something’s wrong, it’s always our fault. But we love what we do and stick to it in spite of any such minor trivialities.

HONOLULU — It’s not often a sound company is asked to specify a full PA system and backline for a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, let alone to look after it on its cruise from Hawaii to San Diego, but that’s exactly what Southern California-based audio providers Mambo Sound and Broadcast Support were tasked with last month, and they chose dB Technologies for the job.

Soundco
Team Force Audio

Venue
Grand Central Park
Miami, FL

Soundco
Clearwing Productions

Venue
Indianapolis Convention Center
Indianapolis, IN

Soundco
Morris Light and Sound

Venue
Curb Event Center
Belmont University
Nashville, TN

Soundco
Dark Star Lighting & Production

Venue
Patrick Gym
University of Vermont
Burlington, VT

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On-Stage Sound & Lighting

Venue
US Bank Arena
Cincinnati, OH

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Tequila Sunrise Music

Venue
The Roanoke Rapids Theatre
Roanoke Rapids, NC

A Conversation with FOH Mixer John Cooper and Solotech’s Mario Leccese

A Bruce Springsteen tour isn’t just an event; it is a movement celebrated by fans in packed venues around the world. And in an era when groups are scaling down with smaller ensembles, acoustic shows and looking at “more intimate” venues, Springsteen brings his own version of intimacy to stadiums and arenas, staying just as much in touch with audience members in the front row as the people in row YY on the second deck.

A World-Class Performing Arts Venue in Las Vegas

The mere mention of the words “Las Vegas show” usually conjures up a few images. Yet what probably doesn’t come to mind is a stand-alone, performing arts center serving as a home to the Las Vegas Philharmonic and the Nevada Ballet Theatre, a Broadway touring house, classical music venue, jazz speakeasy and rock or country roadhouse. The new Smith Center for the Performing Arts aims to change all that, and to place Las Vegas alongside Vienna, Paris and New York as a city with a world-class performing arts center built for the ages.

It’s no secret — for the past 10 years or so, line arrays have been the hottest ticket in live sound systems. And one of the fastest growing segments in the industry has been compact line arrays, which we covered in our Nov. 2011 issue. Yet for the largest venues — and really big jobs — you need a little more horsepower, so this time we’re examining the largest, top of the line systems (having LF drivers larger than 10 inches) from more than two dozen manufacturers. So, listed alphabetically, let’s look at these bad boys.

To download a PDF of the May 2012 FRONT of HOUSE Buyers Guide, CLICK HERE.

It’s always best to have a separate monitor mix system and a dedicated monitor engineer. But let’s face it — what you want and what you get are often two completely different things, and in many smaller venue/smaller budget gigs, those two jobs will be handled by the same person… namely you.

Neodymium (Nd) is one of the chemical elements employed for the high-strength, permanent magnets in high-output/low-weight loudspeakers. Over the past several years, the small, tight-knit pro audio industry has seen volatile neodymium price changes on the global commodities market. And with Nd becoming an important component of modern, high-performance loudspeakers (particularly in flying systems), this price volatility has created uncertainty in end-user pricing of loudspeaker systems.

Innovation — and being first to break new technologies — isn’t always easy. History is filled with examples of pioneers who dared to try something “different” and out of the ordinary, when, years later, their principles were eventually accepted as the industry norm. And such is the case with L-Acoustics founder Dr. Christian Heil, who presented his research on Wavefront Sculpture Technology™ (WST) at the 1992 AES convention in Vienna and followed that up with the debut of the revolutionary V-DOSC line array two years later.

Radial Engineering has earned an enviable reputation for the performance of its high quality direct boxes, Now from Radial comes the JDX Reactor™, a guitar amplifier direct box that takes a new slant to capturing guitar tones onstage.

For the last two decades, I’ve been mixing at churches and installing house of worship sound systems (among other audio adventures). During this time, I’ve seen — and heard — a continuous evolution in the microphones that ministers prefer and use. For years, I would typically be asked to set up a stationary wired mic at a podium or — if the pastor/preacher went wireless — they might use a lavalier model.

It’s almost become a rule that you’ll find a “system EQ” patched between the main L/R outputs of a mixing console and the subsequent stage of a PA system. Even in cases where digital mixers already incorporate onboard “patchable” software EQ, many system designers provide an outboard hardware EQ to facilitate quick and easy adjustments, especially in festival situations where not all engineers may be familiar with a particular desk.

Today is Friday the 13th, so I guess it’s only fitting I’m writing Part 13 of these Waves plug-in reviews. I’m also guilty of distracted writing, because the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs have begun and I am hopelessly addicted to both playing and watching hockey. My Los Angeles Kings are definitely a long shot, but they won their first game on the road against the mighty Vancouver Canucks and are playing up there again tonight.

Last month, I wrote about the uses of small format consoles in houses of worship. So it would only make sense for me to focus on large format consoles this month. Actually, I will be writing about large and mid-sized consoles. For the purposes of this article, I’ll assume that you are looking for — or at least dreaming about — a bigger board for your sanctuary, and preferably a console with more channels, more aux sends, more features and generally more bells and whistles.

Branson, Missouri has been a musician’s punch line long enough. Long considered music’s equivalent of an elephant’s graveyard (and the actual home of The Beverly Hillbillies’ Clampett clan), this Ozark town is actually an entertainment destination that many in the live concert and event business would envy. The town is hardly huge — it’s barely 21 square miles with a population of 10,500, yet it welcomes more than 8 million visitors a year — some 80 percent of whom come for the shows at Branson’s 50 theaters with 64,000-plus seats — more than you’d find on Broadway. The city was formally incorporated in 1912, so it’s fitting that for Branson’s 100th anniversary, we take a look at what makes this town such a draw for live sound.

A stellar history filled with steady growth, a recent move into a 225,000-foot facility, and several awards — including a 2008 Parnelli for Best Regional Sound Company in North America — keep the people at Tour Tech East busy. Owner Peter Hendrickson knows he’s not gotten where he is by accident, and this affable Canadian keeps his sense of humor on at all times and his ego in check.

Ahhhhhh, spring, when a boy’s thoughts turn to... events!

In the last four weeks, I’ve seen successes and debacles across a variety of events and venues, and this rant may be a way to get it out of my head, while giving you some food for thought.

An engineer friend of mine (now retired from the business) started his audio career in the early 1970s and spent the most part of the ensuing 30 years traveling throughout the world, mixing front of house and monitors. As well as being an excellent engineer, he is endowed with a charismatic charm, wit and a talent for networking. He was in with the Rock ‘n’ Roll elite and always had work with top-name acts in the business. In the latter part of the last century, he navigated a glamorous course that took him on an odyssey via the world of towering platform boots, big hair and colossal snare drum sounds to the north country of plaid shirts and ripped jeans. After a final bit of touring — which took him across an ocean of lip-synching divas to the lucrative strip-mined fields of boy-bands — he finally hung up his shoes and decided to settle down.

Technomad’s updates for its range of PowerChiton amplifier modules include a weatherproof breakout box and Apple AirPort Express audio streaming compatibility. The company is also offering a  new stainless steel mounting solution for its outdoor loudspeaker models.

Symetrix recently released its SymNet Composer DSP configuration software. When performing basic Edge hardware configuration, Composer automatically identifies the type of audio I/O module installed in each of the Edge frames' four I/O card slots (up to 16 channels of local audio). When connecting multiple Edge frames via Dante gigabit network audio (up to 128 channels total), quick and easy network management is accomplished entirely within the SymNet Composer programming environment.

Clear-Com’s CC-300 single-ear headset and CC-400 double-ear headset, which are compatible with Clear-Com’s wide range of wired and wireless intercoms, promise better performance, more flexibility and extra comfort, particularly for extended use.

Proel has recently re-introduced its direct boxes to the U.S. market. The affordably-priced line includes the DB1P (passive, $89 MSRP) and DB1A (active, $108 MSRP) models. All feature large, high quality transformers with mu-metal used in both the external shielding as well as the inner cores.