When people ask me what part of the live event audio world has changed the most in the past three to five years, they probably expect an answer like digital consoles or line arrays. Most would probably be surprised that my answer would be — hands down — personal monitors. They have come a long way since Marty Garcia used some Sony earbuds and denture cream for Todd Rundgren.
I don't like taking parties or bar gigs, but sometimes you have to pay the bills, right? So there I was loading gear into the back of my Toyota Prius. We were loading for a venue that did not provide parking, and a rooftop gig meant a very small amount of gear. Of course, I was reassured there was an elevator. Fortunately, years of experience told me to look at this venue the night before, which by the way was just about an hour after I got the call to do the gig. Yup, no elevator!
BUSINESS Who: Tony Marra, owner/founder of Thermal Relief Design, Inc.
Where: “Vegas, Baby!”
When: “I started the company with my wife, Lori, as TLM Electronics in 1987 in Pleasantville, N.Y. When we moved to Las Vegas in 1996 I changed the name to Thermal Relief Design.”
Zeroing out a console — the methodical process of bringing all the live audio mixing console knobs, faders and switches to a benign state of usage. This way the future engineer using the console will not have to be observant of every last detail before connecting the system to the console and fear immediate mayhem. But zeroing out a console is more than a courtesy after the gig; it should also be a practice before the gig.
Over the last two months, we have spent time exploring the variety of microphones and the importance of having your ears as sharp as possible. This month, I would like to talk about basic stage setups and EQ scenarios. I know a lot of you have a basic idea of how to make your pastor, choir or worship band sound good. However, some of you don't, and we can always use a little tune-up, especially me. So, here we go.
OK, so I have come into the digital age in a lot of ways. I own four digital consoles and I use Reason in my studio. While I am plenty comfortable with plug-ins, there are still times when I just want a piece of hardware — a box with knobs that responds exactly how I expect without having to think about it. Waves is best known for their plug-ins. It you are a Pro Tools guy or mixing on a Venue system, I’ll bet dollars to donuts that you have at least one of them in your arsenal. But what a lot of people don’t know is that they make some pretty nice hardware as well.
We first saw the Peavey Versarray system almost two years ago, and have been trying to work out a road test ever since. As we have done with larger pieces of gear (including other line arrays) in the past, instead of having Peavey send out a rig for us to use on a gig, we went to a gig that had the system already on it and worked the show. In this case, that meant hooking up with Dave Albro, who is doing FOH and associated duties for the VIP events surrounding the current Tim McGraw tour. Most of the stops on the tour feature “side” events including local and regional acts, plus a VIP-only acoustic show by McGraw prior to the actual arena show, which is a Clair deal.
Whether you are mixing in a club, at a house of worship or almost any venue for that matter — what is the age-old problem? The stage is too loud, right? You tell the drummer to play softer and he complains. You tell the bass player to turn down and he says he can’t feel it anymore. You tell the guitar player to turn down and he says that now he doesn’t have good tone. Being a guitar player turned sound guy, I can’t say that I disagree with him. If you can’t turn the amp up, it’s hard to make it sound the way you want to. But as an engineer, especially in a house of worship, I want to kick the speakers out of the amp and throw it away.
The votes have been tallied – the regional winners of the FOH Hometown Hero Awards are…
In the world of pro audio, regional soundcos are among the hardest working people in the biz. Often involved in a multitude of markets (concerts, corporates, HOW) and offering a variety of services, they work hard to stay competitive in a hyper-competitive market. Often overshadowed by their national touring big brothers, these unsung heroes of the audio world deserve recognition for their hard work and contribution to the industry. The 2008 FOH Hometown Hero Awards are picked from a selection of several regions around the United States and Canada. The regional soundcos are both nominated and voted on by their peers. Winners from each region become the nominees for the annual Hometown Hero/Regional Sound Company of the year at the 2008 Parnelli Awards ceremony in Las Vegas. FOH profiled each region’s winning soundco to uncover their secrets to success.
Eighth Day and Wigwam Provide the Punch for George Michael’s U.S. Swan Song.
It’s been nearly two decades since British pop superstar George Michael — known as much for his bad boy reputation as his chart-topping hits — toured U.S. arenas. From his start in the 1980s pop group Wham! to his illustrious solo career, hits like “Careless Whisper,” “Faith” and “Father Figure” catapulted him into a certified pop culture icon and sex symbol. After a five-year absence from the music scene, Michael returned to the stage in 2006 with an 80-show European tour. He stepped it up the following year with the “25 Live Stadium Tour 2007,” which featured less tour dates but larger venues including Wembley Stadium in London. To coincide with his retrospective greatest hits album, Twenty Five, released this year, Michael announced the North American segment of his “25 Live” tour — his first U.S. tour in 17 years — which he also claims to be his last. For all these reasons, Michael’s fans were pumped with high expectations for a flawless-sounding show.
AKG Acoustics introduces the D7 vocal microphone for live sound applications. AKG`s newest dynamic microphone features a humbucking coil that reduces electrical interference and stage feedback. The D7 also features an integrated high-pass filter that cuts out low frequencies, eliminates handling noise and provides audio clarity. The D7 delivers high-end sonic performance with its new Laminated Varimotion diaphragm. This design allows the diaphragm to be fine-tuned without extra tuning resonators. The D7 response evokes the subtle, open sound of a condenser microphone, while maintaining the rugged reliability of a dynamic microphone. The D7 comes complete with a carrying case, mounting clamp and replacement windscreen. Two additional models are also available: the D7-S, which features an on/off switch; and the D7-WL1 microphone capsule for use with AKG wireless systems. www.akg.com
David Lawler and Craig Doubet put their touring chops into HOW installs.
Putting a system together for a tour is one thing. All the equipment has to be flexible enough to consistently work in acoustically challenging rooms; it has to go up and down easily and deliver quality audio. This challenge, for some, is daunting, especially with the pressure of thousands of expectant fans who surround the FOH position nightly.
I caress the smooth spool of solder as I wait in anticipation for the soldering gun to heat up. I strip the rubber from my cable just enough to give myself a workable amount of copper, and with heated iron in hand, I touch the tip to the end of the solder melting just enough to coat the end of the cable. I repeat the process over my solder point and leave a perfect shining spot where I then touch the end of my cable and hold for a moment before I release the iron. A thin line of smoke wafts up and tickles my nostrils with its delicate fragrance. Ah, I love the smell of solder in the morning.
Take two big rock bands from the 1970s, make them co-headliners, let them loose on the summer shed circuit and pray for ticket sales and no rain. Boston is your typical “make it sound like the records” kind of show, with the studio engineer bribed into going out on tour to preserve the essence of leader Tom Scholz and bandmates. Then take road veterans like Styx, who do yearly tours with 150 to 200 gigs per year for the last 10 years and has done the co-headline thing with everyone from Journey to Peter Frampton, but also tours with their studio guy at FOH.
So, it’s a Friday late afternoon and I am trying like hell to get access to the Journey/Heart/Cheap Trick show in town. I figured we already had interviews with the crews for Boston and Styx in the can and we could do a real classic rock extravaganza. But, of course, me being me, I was trying to do this at about 4:30 p.m. on show day. A couple of friends in the biz with ties to a couple of the acts tried mightily (a big tip of the hat to Dave Shadoan and Greg DeTogne), but it was just too late to make it happen.
Since studios have been moving into less acoustic-friendly spaces (e.g. spare bedrooms that quite frankly have no business hosting a music production system), the need for some means of compensating for poor acoustics has materialized. Studio monitor manufacturers have responded by developing various types of room correction technology. At the most basic level, room correction analyzes the frequency response of a room/loudspeaker combination and produces compensatory equalization.
Have you noticed the music in your elevator getting better lately? Installed sound, in general, has taken leaps forward in terms of quality and management in the last few years. At the InfoComm show in June, the purveyors of installed sound systems gave plenty of praise to the live sound sector for raising the sonic bar across the board. They cited how the enhanced emphasis on touring in the music business has raised expectations of consumers for better audio in all aspects of their lives.
Oh, into the summer I go, alone, as apparently my writing partner is MIA. Join me as I relate the exciting trials and tribulations of a true anklebiter. And let me know some of your experiences so I can pass them on to other catfish in the sound engineering pond.
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