For many years, I provided audio gear and services for a charity event in the L.A. area. When I started doing it, I had crap gear and only a very basic idea of what I was doing. I was the quintessential guy in the band who owned the PA and charged them as such. As the years went on and I provided more and better gear and service, my price went up. Because it was a charity, I cut my normal price by about 25 percent.

There is more to the Winter Olympics than miking the sound of skis and skates and Bryan Adams lip-synching. For an indoor/outdoor series of concerts and live video feeds of Olympics events - one of several staged in the Vancouver area during the winter games - Briere Production Group provided a full complement of gear.

Allen & Heath has announced the sale of the 1,000th and 1,001st iLive mixing consoles to Sound Image. To mark the occasion, Allen & Heath presented a commemorative award to Sound Image at the recent NAMM Show. American Music & Sound (AM&S), the U.S. distributor for the consoles, made the presentation during a press conference.

In just four years, Elevation Church in Charlotte, N.C. has grown from a congregation of 121 attending a portable service in the atrium at Providence High School (PHS) to a congregation of over 5,000 attending services at a former Ashley Furniture Warehouse, the McGlohon Theatre, and the original PHS location's 800-seat auditorium.

The MSC Poesia shipped out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. recently for ShipRocked, a five-day cruise and rock festival pairing Queensrÿche, Tesla, Ratt, Skid Row and half a dozen other bands with nearly 1,500 fans. Gear from L-Acoustics, supplied by Cincinnati-based Loud & Clear, went along for the ride.

Communication Electronic Systems (CES) replaced the decade-old loudspeakers clamped to the rafters of the gymnasium at El Dorado High School with a new system featuring Danley SH-100 full-range loudspeakers and a TH-115 subwoofer, providing intelligibility, fidelity and thump without breaking the school's limited budget.

TIRANA, Albania - Prosound Shpk, EAW's Albanian distributor, designed and installed the sound system for a 600-capacity nightclub that reopened recently. Catering to the needs of DJs and live bands, the club, Mumja, has been equipped with eight EAW JFL210 Compact Line Array Modules and four EAW LA400 Subwoofers.

Depeche Mode's Tour of the Universe is now back in Europe, having traveled the globe since last April with a dual Midas XL8 live performance system for front of house and monitors, playing to audiences of up to 85,000.

Hard to believe that it was just a year ago when FOH was running news stories about problems at LOUD Technologies just about every issue-delisting from the NASDAQ, manufacturing partners in Asia shutting down and disrupting supply chains for both Mackie and EAW products and finally rumors of impending bankruptcy.

Soundco
Rat Sound Systems

Venue
Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Irvine, Calif.

Soundco
Spider Ranch Productions

Venue
Monterey County Fairgrounds
Monterey, Calif.

Soundco
Visionary Sound Productions LLC

Venue
LHS Fieldhouse
White Lake, Mich.

Soundco
Bright Star Productions

Venue
Texas Southern University
Houston, Texas

Soundco
Productions Comspec

Venue
Quebec City
Canada

Soundco
Mid-Coast LLC
Nashville, Tenn.

Venue
Iroquois Amphitheater
Louisville, Ky.

When you live and work in the live entertainment capitol of the world, it is easy to forget just how many world-class audio guys make their homes here. When I sat down with Mark Dennis in his office at the KÀ Theatre at the MGM Grand, we started ticking off a list of the amazing audio people who have moved to Vegas for a steady gig that did not mean touring. World-class guys are working in just about every show up and down the Strip. And Mark is one of those guys and has been since '94.

Paradiso first opened its doors on March 30, 1968. The 1,500-capacity venue is a converted church building located on Weteringschans in the heart of Amsterdam and dates back to 1879.

At the historic Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, Calif., Duncan Sheik's musical, Whisper House recently completed its successful premiere run. Sheik's follow-up to Spring Awakening ran from January 13 to February 21 and received critical acclaim for its haunting score, unconventional structure and Dan Moses Schreier's sound design.

Built in 1844, St. Malachy's is the third oldest Roman Catholic church in Belfast, Northern Ireland. When the uniquely detailed church reopened after 15-month, $6 million restoration to its interior and exterior, parishioners marveled at the restored brickwork, plasterwork, marble altar, mosaic floor and "wedding cake" fan-vaulted ceiling.

To download a PDF of the March 2010 FOH Buyers Guide, CLICK HERE.

I happen to be a fan of the powered speaker concept, but I know a lot of guys who want nothing to do with them. And most of those guys tend to be driving flown systems and they're logic is hard to argue with - if an amp goes on the ground, it can be fixed or replaced mid show, but you can't do that when they are in the air. But most of us groundstack subs (gotta get that coupling...) so the point is moot. Here is a category we can all get behind.

Midas PRO6, what can I say about you? You are one classy dame. You have all the right pieces in all the right places. The first time I laid eyes on you I had that feeling you get as a freshman when you see the hot senior walk past you in the hall. I was scared.

Most know Blue to be a manufacturer of high quality studio microphones. Their creative, intuitive and distinctive designs have caught attention from many engineers over the years. I remember a couple of years ago thinking to myself "I wish they would come out with a live microphone, I bet it would be awesome." So needless to say, when I found out I was going to be reviewing two of these mics, I was a happy guy!

It's kind of funny that this review is running in the same issue as the Midas PRO6 because, while they could not seem more different on the surface, they share a common thread. Both are very apt demonstrations of the relentless march towards digital in our little live event audio world.

It's been a while since I've heard someone go on a rant about "how much better analog sounds than digital." But recently at a gig, this great pastime was re-visited and made me think about writing why, and possibly how, to keep the "sonic" quality up in the digital world.

The whiskey-swilling, pony-tailed image of the rock ‘n' roll road manager was never all that accurate, though it became a widely familiar trope thanks to films like This Is Spinal Tap and Roadie. But try to imagine Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the role instead of Meatloaf. That's one more outcome of the confluence of live music having become the core earnings engine for music and the ever-increasing use of Internet-based services, social and otherwise, to get out and stay out on tour.

Mark Bowman has been kicking around the Phoenix performing arts scene for over 20 years now, beginning when he was working with the City of Phoenix as a recreation leader.

The article "Delivering a President's Message to the World," about the 2009 inaugural sound system, brought back memories of a system I designed for the same purpose, but 40 years earlier, in 1969 for Richard Nixon's first inauguration. We estimated the crowd at about 50,000 people.

Other than a slight headache, Rick was feeling pretty good, considering he drank 10 beers and two shots before leaving the bar at 3 a.m. He should have realized that the only reason the waitress was flirting with him was to sell him more beer and to generate a larger tip. "You would think I'd know better after 34 years on this planet," he said to himself as he walked into his small bathroom.

AKG's Perception Live series includes the P2, P4, and P3S - all dynamic instrument microphones that come with a cardioid polar pattern and carrying case.

Allen & Heath has added two new models to the iLive digital mixing series, the iDR-16 3U MixRack and iLive-R72 rack-mountable Control Surface, which together provide a space saving, lightweight digital live mixing system, bringing the same power, sonic performance and flexibility of the larger touring iLive systems to a significantly lower price point.

The MCB4 simplifies a PM configuration by combining signals of up to four of A-T's M3 Wireless PM stereo transmitters onto a single antenna, reducing rack clutter.

Behringer introduced some 50 new products at the NAMM show, including some new "double duty" mixers appropriate for smaller gigs and installs. Building on the feature set of the X1622USB, the X1832USB comes with two additional mic strips (including channel inserts), for a total of six Xenyx mic preamps.

Opus 600 systems are designed for stage performances and small installations and feature AutoScan technology, allowing the user to choose from 16 pre-programmed UHF frequencies.

The en•CORE 300 is built upon Blue's heritage of crafting studio microphones, which begins with a custom-tuned condenser capsule. This capsule is mounted on a rubber suspension system and coupled with a matched, phantom powered preamp circuit.

Crest Audio E-Lite Series amps are available in both DSP and non-DSP versions and are built on a class D design with a switch-mode power supply that reduces weight while increasing reliability, thermal efficiency and output power.

The new XLS Series amplifiers are housed in a newly designed chassis with a cast front panel for durability. They also feature integrated rack handles, weigh under 11 lbs. and use a PureBand Crossover with selectable crossover points from 50 Hz to 3 kHz.

Offering an extended high frequency response, fast impulse response, short diaphragm settling time and high rejection of sounds from the rear of the microphone the new SR40 can be used for drum overheads to miking a guitar cabinet or as a solo microphone.

Electro-Voice adds to the ZX loudspeaker family with the ZXA1 - the self-powered version of the ZX1 compact two-way loudspeaker. The ZXA1 is powered by an 800 watt amplifier module derived from EV's Tour Grade series and a lightweight, molded enclosure that houses an 8" woofer and 1" titanium compression driver.

The HiQnet-compatible DPDA input module, remotely controlled with Harman's System Architect software, can be used to enhance the performance of any DrivePack-equipped speaker system.

The HD1501, pictured here, and HD1801 include Class-D Fast-Recovery amplifier technology, delivering up to 1600W of peak power. With custom transducer design and system tuning by EAW, HD subs are available with 15-inch and 18-inch woofers.

Understanding Sound Reinforcement: The Learner's Guide is a self-paced course that covers the fundamentals of audio, acoustics and sound reinforcement, including Sound & Hearing, Signal Path & Gain Structure, Mixing Consoles, Equalization, Acoustics, Microphones, Signal Processors, Power Amplifiers, Loudspeakers, Cables, Connectors & Impedance, plus quizzes an a Spanish language option.

Radian's Apex NEO 1200s include 12-inch coaxial speakers with a 2-inch compression drivers, while the Apex NEO 1500 houses a 15-inch version.

The Radial J+4 is a high performance line driver designed to take -10dB consumer devices and amplify them so that they can easily integrate with professional level +4dB devices. It is fully equipped with 100 percent discreet electronics which deliver greater than +17dB of gain while transformer isolation eliminates buzz and hum caused by ground loops.

The RockNet MADI interface RN.334.MD provides both electrical and optical MADI inputs and outputs. The interface allows a convenient connection to any digital mixing console, recording system and audio routing environment.

Sennheiser's WSM Version 3.2 brings two new major features to WSM. First, the software is now available for Intel-based Macintosh computers running OS 10.4 and above. Second, the software now allows multi-computer network control with assignable permissions to facilitate control in complex situations.

Shure's PSM 900 system includes an all-metal, ultra-thin wireless bodypack receiver (P9R) and a half-rack single wireless transmitter (P9T). The PSM 900 also will be available with Shure's new SE425 Sound Isolating Earphones.

SoundGrid gives users the ability to run large numbers of Waves' audio processors using standard PCs via Ethernet. SoundGrid offers low latency performance, which means users can take advantage of more CPU-intensive processors than ever before.