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AUGUST 2008 Vol. 6 No. 11 

Festival Madness 

It’s all about festivals in the September issue of FOH. We hit up some of the world’s largest 

music festivals including Rock in Rio, Chicago’s Ravinia and Milwaukee’s Summerfest. For the 

latter, we catch up with Brad Madix and Brent Carpenter on tour with Rush (pictured above). 

“It’s a Miracle!” 

Console Survives Lightning Strike 

BALTIMORE, Md. — In an incredible feat 

of resilience, 500,000 volts of electricity struck 

a Soundcraft FX16 audio console during a 

sideshow gone awry at the Baltimore Tattoo 

Convention in Baltimore City, Md., and the 

show was able to continue. Airport Circle 

Sound Reinforcement, LLC was faced with an 

unexpected bolt of lightning that discharged 

from a performer’s Tesla Coil into the Soundcraft 

mixer. 

After destroying the preamps of the mic 

channels that were attached and all the mi- 

crophones that were in use, Executive Engineer 

for Airport Circle Sound, Nik Salvo was 

able to use the remaining channels of the 

sound console and continue with two more 

days of performances. 

The first night took an unexpected turn 

as the machine discharged when someone 

mistakenly plugged it in back stage. Lighting 

bolts immediately shot from the coil to the 

sound and lighting systems, rendering most 

of the system inoperable, yet the sound console 

survived. 

Jim Pietryga 

FCC May Test White Spaces Devices at Major Events 

NILES, Ill. — Several large-scale events 

have offered their locations in response to 

the FCC’s office of Engineering and Technology’s 

(OET) announcement that it will 

conduct field tests of prototype White 

Spaces devices. 

In a letter dated July 8, Louis Libin, 

president of Broad-Comm, Inc. and 

chairman of POLCOMM2008, which 

coordinates the wireless microphone 

frequencies during the Democratic and 

Republican National Conventions, wrote, 

“We believe these conventions would 

provide a perfect opportunity to conduct 

further testing regarding the efficacy of 

these devices. It would provide a real experiment 

during an event that employs 

hundreds of wireless microphones and 

frequencies.” 

Daryl Friedman, vice president, Advocacy 

& Government Relations for the Recording 

Academy (NARAS), wrote a letter 

dated July 17, stating, “We firmly believe 

that the Commission should move with 

extreme caution before approving any 

2008 Parnelli 

Award Nominations 

Now Open 

LAS VEGAS — Nominations for the 

2008 Parnelli Awards are now being 

accepted at www.parnelliawards. 

com/nominate. Since 2001, the Parnelli 

award has recognized pioneering 

and influential individuals and 

their contributions to the live event 

industry, honoring both individuals 

and companies. Nominees are being 

accepted for all categories, including 

FOH Mixer, Monitor Mixer and Sound 

Company. 

Much more than just being about 

the person who gets the great gig and 

pulls it off flawlessly, a Parnelli award 

is also about moving our industry 

forward with the same qualities that 

defined the person after whom it is 

named. Named after Rick “Parnelli” 

O’Brien, an extraordinary production 

manager and human being, the award 

is given to those who, like O’Brien, exemplify 

the “four Hs”: humanity, humility, 

honesty and humor. continued on page 6 

new portable device operations in the TV 

Band. We would be happy to help coordinate 

an FCC visit to the Lollapalooza Festival 

in Chicago on Aug. 1.” 

continued on page 5 

22 

26 

38 

Hometown 

Heroes 2008 

LAS VEGAS — 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. 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. Turn to page 32. 

Production Profile 

Eighth Day and Wigwam provide 

the punch for George Michael’s U.S. 

swan song. 

Road Tests 

We check out the Peavey Versarray, 

JLH AxeTrak and Waves MaxxBCL 

Anklebiters 

The trials and tribulations of a true 

anklebiter.

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C o N t ENts 

What’s hot 

What’s hot 

Installations 

Feature 

David Lawler and Craig Doubet are audio 

installers for two houses of worship by day, 

FOH mixers by night. 


Eighth Day and Wigwam provide the punch for 

George Michael’s U.S. swan song. 

FEEDBACK 

20 

22 

Features 

18 FOH Interview 

FOH kicks it with Slamhammer Sound during 

Boston and Styx’s co-headlining summer tour. 

24 Buyers Guide 

Time to get personal with perhaps the most 

subjective piece of gear out there. Personal 

monitor earpieces, that is. 

26 Road Tests 

We take the Peavey Versarray, Waves MaxxBCL 

and JLH AxeTrak out for a test drive. 

28 Vital Stats 

Thermal Relief Design’s motto is to relentlessly 

chase perfection, and in the process, achieve 

excellence. 

30 Welcome To My Nightmare 

Anklebiter or stuntman? You decide. 

32 Hometown Heroes 2008 

You voted for ‘em… now learn the secrets to 

their success. We profile the regional winners 

of the FOH Hometown Hero Awards. 

Relieving The Strain 

I just read your article on distro taps in the April issue 

of FOH. (Yes, I’m WAY behind on my reading!) When 

you describe using the strain relief for the knock-out 

holes, I got to wondering: That makes sense for a surface-mounted 

panel, but what about a flush-mounted 

(inside the wall) sub panel? How do you pass your 

cables into the box? Do you leave the cover off of the 

sub panel? Replace the top screws loosely and leave 

enough of a gap at the bottom for the cables to pass 

through? How do you handle strain relief in such a case, 

or do you simply not use flush mounted panels? 

I also noted your comments about the bowling alley/nightclub. 

You mention having to squeeze your 

hand between the vending machine and the breaker 

box in order to flip the main breaker. Unless I’m sadly 

mistaken, that is illegal and I’m surprised the fire marshal 

hasn’t jumped on the venue for that. My understanding 

is that the area around any breaker box must 

be kept clear at all times. That vending machine should 

NOT be there! 

Bruce Purdy 

Technical Director 

The Smith Opera House 

Hello Bruce, 

On the few flush-mount panels I do have to do taps 

into, the common lockout/tagout procedures have to be 

abided by as much as I can, but within practical excep- 

www.fohonline.com 

AUGUST 

2008, Vol. 6.11 

Columns 

31 The Bleeding Edge 

Make some room for acoustic room correction 

technology. 

37 Sound Sanctuary 

Perfecting the sound of the pastor, choir or 

worship band. 

38 Anklebiters 

The trials and tribulations of a true anklebiter. 

40 Theory and Practice 

More than just a courtesy, zeroing out a console 

should be a routine practice every gig. 

40 The Biz 

The install and live sound markets are ready 

“to make beautiful music together.” 

44 FOH-at-Large 

With constant demands all day long, it’s time 

to ask yourself, “Hey, what about me?” 

Departments 

4 Editor’s Note 

5 News 

12 International News 

13 On the Move 

14 New Gear 

16 Showtime 

30 In the Trenches 

tions. Some form of temporary strain relief is what I attempt, 

even if is done using gaffer’s tape on a nearby 

mechanical feature. Also, I leave an extra coil or two of 

feeder just in case someone does trip into the feeders 

on the ground. The most important aspect is just keep a 

vigilent eye on the panel at all times. Thankfully, many of 

these flush-mount panels are near the performance stage 

and under constant scrutiny. 

On the bowling alley vending machine/breaker panel 

debacle, yes, it probably does not meet NFPA electrical 

codes because if I can not get my face near the panel it 

would be tough to read and shutdown circuits in an emergency. 

The question I have is how often do fire marshals 

visit these businesses, and is it even on their list of things 

to check on? Maybe the vending machines were missing 

or located further away during the last inspection. 

Mark Amundson


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Editor’s Note 

By BillEvans 

Here’s a Nod to the Unsung 

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. 

It was looking like a night at home 

until the phone rang. It was my good 

friend Dave Tenant from the Cannery 

in North Las Vegas asking me if I wanted 

to come out to see a show. They 

were doing a ”British Invasion” weekend 

and had the Zombies that night. 

I agreed to come out mostly because I 

wanted something to do and because 

the group included two original members, 

one of which was Rod Argent, 

who is one of the baddest organ players 

ever. 

As I watched the show — which 

was great BT W — I could not help but 

think that I never knew how influential 

this band had been on other better-known 

artists. And not just pop or 

rock. The Zombies, I figured out that 

night, were prog before that term was 

ever coined. They did their first record 

in ’64, and by the time you read 

this the Foo Fighters should have released 

a new single that the Zombies 

first did in ’68. I left wondering how I 

could have missed out on all but the 

big hits from a band like this and thinking 

about how little credit they get 

for all of the influence they have had 

over the years. 

I have yet to meet an FOH engineer who 

has not told me how important his system 

engineer is or how he could never do his 

job without the work and expertise of the 

person filling that seat. 

4 

As is typical, that led me down 

other paths, and I have been thinking 

a lot about the “unsung” — the folks 

who are crucial to a show, company or 

other endeavor and who never seem 

to get the credit for it. 

Some regional sound companies 

who fall into that generally unsung 

category get their props in this issue 

as we announce the winners of the annual 

Hometown Heroes awards. Seven 

companies from six areas of the U.S. 

and Canada (yes, we had an actual 

tie this year), some of which you may 

know and others you don’t who were 

nominated and voted on by a jury of 

their peers (that would be you and 

your fellow FOH readers). These folks 

will go on to be the nominees for the 

big Hometown Hero/Regional Soundco 

of the Year award at the Parnellis in 

October. 

They all share a few things in common: 

They do not fear or shrink away 

AUGUST 2008 www.fohonline.com 

from hard work and are all creative 

enough to make the gig happen no 

matter how difficult/demanding/insane 

the promoter/producer/venue 

manager is, and gauge their success by 

how happy the client is at the end of 

the day. I don’t know all of these companies 

well, but the ones I do know 

have little patience for anyone who is 

not willing to go the extra two or three 

miles to make the gig work. 

If you share their core values of 

hard work well done, and you know 

what you are doing, they are great to 

work for. If, however, you are whiny, 

lazy, in the way and unable to look at 

the gig through any lens other than 

the one defined by your own narrow 

field of expertise… Well, actually if 

you are all of those things we would 

call you a “squint.” But, if you are any of 

them you will have a hard time making 

it with any of our Hometown Heroes. 

As long as we are on the subject of 

unsung, nominations for the annual 

Parnelli Awards are open as we speak 

and we just made an important change. 

Last year, we added the category 

of Sound Designer, and it just does 

not feel right. There are not enough of 

them and the top three or four get all 

of the work anyway. But there is a guy 

on every gig I cover who does his job 

without fanfare, and I have yet to meet 

an FOH engineer who has not told me 

how important his system engineer 

is or how he could never do his job 

without the work and expertise of the 

person filling that seat. 

So, as of right now, the field for 

Sound Designer on the Parnelli nomination 

site has morphed into System Engineer. 

Another group of unsung heroes 

gets its due. It’s a good day… 

Publisher 

Terry Lowe 

tlowe@fohonline.com 

Editor 

Bill Evans 

bevans@fohonline.com 

Managing Editor 

Breanne George 

bg@fohonline.com 

Technical Editor 

Mark Amundson 

mamundson@fohonline.com 

Senior Writer 

Kevin M. Mitchell 

Contributing Writers 

Jerry Cobb, Dan Daley, 

Jamie Rio, Steve LaCerra, 

David John Farinella, Ted Leamy, 

Baker Lee, Bryan Reesman, 

Tony Mah, Ken Rengering 

Photographer 

Steve Jennings 

Art Director 

Garret Petrov 

gpetrov@fohonline.com 

Production Manager 

Linda Evans 

levans@fohonline.com 

Graphic Designers 

Crystal Franklin 

cfranklin@fohonline.com 

David Alan 

dalan@fohonline.com 

Web Master 

Josh Harris 

jharris@fohonline.com 

National Sales Manager 

Dan Hernandez 

dh@fohonline.com 

National Advertising Director 

Gregory Gallardo 

gregg@fohonline.com 

General Manager 

William Hamilton Vanyo 

wvanyo@fohonline.com 

Business and 

Advertising Office 

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Front Of House (ISSN 1549-831X) Volume 6 Number 

11 is published monthly by Timeless Communications 

Corp., 6000 South Eastern Ave., Suite 14J, Las Vegas, NV, 

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additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address 

changes to Front Of House, P.O. Box 16147, North 

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Overseas subscriptions are available and can be obtained 

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Publishers of...

FCC May Test White Spaces 

Devices at Major Events 

continued from cover 

Most recently, Don Lepore, producer 

of NBC’s hit television show Nashville 

Star, expressed his concern regarding 

new devices in the White Spaces and 

invited the OET to come to Nashville, 

writing, “To put it in its simplest form, 

the perception that there is significant 

fallow ‘white spaces’ in cities like Nashville 

is just wrong. Nashville Star wants to 

extend its expertise and facilities to the 

Commission as it sets forth to execute 

the Commission’s testing plans at an entertainment 

venue.” 

The FCC recently began field-testing, 

which is open to the public and will 

take place over a four-week period with 

specific dates, times and locations being 

updated regularly at www.fcc.gov/oet/ 

projects/tvbanddevice/Welcome.html. 

“We’re pleased to see this response 

from the Recording Academy, POLCOMM 

and the producers of Nashville Star, 

and we hope that the Commission 

will consider taking them up on their 

offers,” said Mark Brunner, Shure senior 

director of Public and Industry Relations. 

“There simply is no substitute for these 

types of ‘real world’ scenarios for the 

OET to conduct its field tests in order 

to determine what will be required to 

protect wireless microphones used in 

high-profile applications.” 

PRG Purchases 

Hi-Tech Rentals 

NEW WINDSOR, N.Y. — Production Resource 

Group, L.L.C. (PRG) Chairman and CEO 

Jere Harris has announced that the company 

has purchased Hi-Tech Rentals, Inc. 

Headquartered in Atlanta, with additional 

facilities in Orlando and Las Vegas, Hi-Tech 

supplies audio, video, lighting and related 

services for trade shows, corporate meetings 

and other events. “Hi-Tech has built an outstanding 

reputation, a solid inventory and a 

strong customer base in these growing market 

segments,” says Harris. “They will be an excellent 

fit with our other capabilities and markets, 

and we expect them to be an important 

part of our company going forward.” 

“PRG is the gold standard in the entertainment 

technology industry and we are excited 

about helping the company expand its 

presence throughout those markets where 

Hi-Tech is well-known and respected,” said Al 

Dyess, president, Hi-Tech. “Hi-Tech has built a 

solid reputation for outstanding service and 

innovative solutions for our customers over 

the last 20 years. The marriage of PRG and Hi- 

Tech will only serve to enhance that experience 

for our current customer base as well as 

those customers we hope to work with in the 

future,” he added. Dyess will continue to oversee 

the Hi-Tech operations. 

Hi-Tech will continue to operate out of its 

Atlanta office and warehouse, which will become 

a key depot for PRG’s products and services. 

“The Hi-Tech team is very excited about 

this transaction,” observed Dyess. “We are all 

very aware of PRG’s market-leading positions 

in a variety of entertainment categories and 

it’s clear to us that PRG values their people 

and understands that while the technology 

is a “must have,” the people ultimately make 

the difference.” 


News 

Training Opportunities Available 

MUSKEGON, Mich. — Training opportunities 

are taking place across the U.S. for sound 

designers, techs and mixers of all skill levels, 

including the Worship Arts Technology Summit 

and training seminars for L-ACOUSTICS’ DOSC 

systems. 

A first-of-its-kind training opportunity is 

open to all church technicians and musicians 

seeking in-depth technology training available 

in the areas of audio, musicianship, lighting, 

recording and media presentation. The Worship 

Arts Technology Summit will be held Sept.14 to 

18 in Muskegon, Mich. All skill levels are welcome, 

as the training will be presented in structured 

technology tracks allowing attendees to begin 

with the basics and build upon them with a 

series of increasingly advanced class offerings. 

Hosted by Shure, Yamaha Commercial 

Audio Systems, Inc., Yamaha Corporation of 

America and Martin Professional, the event will 

be held at the Maranatha Bible and Missionary 

Conference Center on the shores of Lake 

Michigan. On hand will be Summit sponsor 

pro audio experts along with leading worship 

musicians and sound and lighting professionals. 

In-depth three-day tracks will include Audio, 

Musician, Lighting and Media. 

Given the “total system approach” brought 

about by the debut of the LA4 and LA8, 

L-ACOUSTICS has revised its DOSC systems 

training seminars to incorporate the new 

amplified controller system architecture. 

Designed for L-ACOUSTICS systems owners 

as well as technicians, mixing engineers 

and sound designers using the products, 

two summer sessions will be presented at 

L-ACOUSTICS US in Oxnard, Calif. — one 

focusing on KUDO-based systems, held July 

23 and 24, and the other dealing with V-DOSC 

scheduled for Aug. 26 and 27. 

The new 2008 summer seminars offer 

a blend of theoretical knowledge and field 

procedures in order to operate and optimize 

WST-based systems in a safe and controlled 

environment. System seminars can be extended 

to a third day — July 25 and Aug. 28 — 

dedicated to the manufacturer’s SOUNDVISION 

3D acoustical modeling software. 

2008 AUGUST 

5 

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6 

News 

SIA Acoustics Expands with West Coast Office 

LOS ANGELES — SIA Acoustics LLC, an 

acoustical design firm based in New York 

City, now spans both coasts with the opening 

of a new office near Hollywood, Calif. 

“Our West Coast expansion is the next 

step to allow us to better serve our music, 

film and architectural clients on the 

West Coast,” states Sam Berkow, founder 

OXNARD, Calif. — Radiohead, a longtime 

L-ACOUSTICS user, has returned to the road 

this summer in support of its latest album, In 

Rainbows. Firehouse Productions of Red Hook, 

N.Y., is serving as the sound provider for the U.S. 

tour legs, with Wigwam Acoustics of Heywood 

(Manchester), UK handling the European dates. 

The tour’s FOH loudspeaker configuration, 

designed by freelance system engineer 

and L-ACOUSTICS-certified V-DOSC engineer 

Sherif el Barbari, features left and right arrays 

each comprised of 15 V-DOSC cabinets with 

three dV-DOSC hung below for front-fill. These 

loudspeakers are complemented by two additional 

arrays of 14 V-DOSC plus three dV-DOSC 

to address both the far left and right seating 

areas. For low-end punch, the system features 

32 SB28 subwoofer enclosures, all driven by L- 

ACOUSTICS LA8 amplified controllers. 

and partner of SIA Acoustics, who will be 

managing the Los Angeles office. Partner 

Steve Sockey will manage the New York 

City office. 

Recent projects include acoustical 

design and consulting for The Pearl at 

the Palms Hotel and Casino, The Clive 

Davis Department of Record Music at 

“With the exception of two shows at 

Bercy in Paris, all of the concerts are outdoor 

shows — stadiums, sheds, green fields 

or amphitheaters, which make the sound 

design very challenging,” notes el Barbari. 

“However, I am impressed by the power of 

the 32 L-ACOUSTICS SB28 subwoofers driven 

by LA8. We have also used the SB28 in cardioid 

configuration on several shows now 

and the results are impressive.” 

Jim Warren, Radiohead’s FOH engineer 

from day one, adds, “I still sometimes find 

myself going to switch off my nearfield 

monitors in an arena show, only to find that 

they are off already. The clarity and precision 

of the V-DOSC system continues to surprise 

me even after 10 years of using them 

in just about every live sound environment 

there is.” 


New York University, The Botnick Mixing 

Facility, and special events at Madison 

Square Park, Lincoln Center’s New 

York State Theatre and the Esplanade 

Theaters On The Bay in Singapore. Other 

notable clients have included Hollywood 

Bowl, the Grand Ole Opry, 

AirShow Mastering, Sound Stages at 

Paramount Studio, Faith Community 

Church and many others. 

Berkow and Sockey believe that the 

expansion of SIA Acoustics benefits both 

existing and new clients. “By having staff 

on both coasts, we will be able to respond 

even more quickly and reduce travel time 

to reach our clients,” states Sockey. 

Radiohead Storms the Globe Three 6 Mafia Amplified at Miami Nightclub 

Radiohead in concert 

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — Clair Showco 

of Lititz, Pa., recently provided a Studer 

Vista 5 SR console for country music star 

Keith Urban’s U.S. tour. The multi-city tour 

featured Studer Vista 5 SR digital audio 

consoles in use for both FOH and monitor 

mixing applications. 

The Studer Vista 5 SR was chosen 

by Urban’s mixing engineers who went 

through a vigorous evaluation process 

prior to the selection of the console, but 

chose the Studer after it met all required 

criteria: sound quality, flexibility, ease-ofuse 

and reliability. 

FOH engineer Steve Law and monitor 

mixing engineer Jason Spence evaluated 

numerous brands of sound consoles before 

the tour. Spence noted he had never 

felt as comfortable with a new desk as he 

did during the week he was trying out the 

Studer Vista 5 SR. 

“When choosing a console, I have 

three criteria,” said Spence. “It has to 

sound good to the artist on stage. If it 

doesn’t, there’s not much point in continuing. 

Second, I have to be able to get 

around it quickly. With the ‘inline design’ 

of the input and output strips, the Vista 

5 SR feels very ‘analog.’ I’m able to have 

control and access 

to all the parameters 

at my fingertips. 

There are not 

multiple pages 

to plow through 

to gain control of 

any particular 

feature. Lastly, 

it needs to be 

reliable and not 

crash. It seems 

that with other 

brands, I could 

get one, maybe 

two of my criteria 

met; however 

with the Studer, I 

got all three.” 

MIAMI — Three 6 Mafia performed at the tin Audio’s LE1200 were perfect due to the 

Miami club Sobe Live to promote the group’s small stage size but high levels needed for 

new CD "Last 2 Walk." Production company, the concert. The was a rap show with an 

Drummer Boy Sound, which does sound for internationally known rap group, and the 

Sobe Live, was in charge of the sound with stage monitors were so important." 

Harold Cummings of Drummer Boy (FOH/ Cummings concludes, "Michael had 

monitors) and Michael Foster, Three 6's en- never heard the Martin Audio LE1200 monigineer 

handling the audio chores. 

tors before, but told me they sounded amaz- 

The club's in-house system includes ing. He went on to say that on the current 

Martin Audio amplification and an LE1200 tour we were the first production company 

stage monitor, along with a Dynacord Alpha to get the stage sound and mic levels right 

system, four flown top cabinets, four dual and so quickly. He was impressed by the 

18” subs and Crown Macro-tech 3600 and 

5000vz amps. Drummer 

Boy Sound supplied a APB- 

LE1200 and wants to use them again.” 

DynaSonics H1020 mixing 

console, Klark Teknik 

DN-370 EQ (house), Klark 

Teknik Square One EQ 

(monitors), and Shure UHF- 

R/Beta 58A wireless mics. 

According to Cummings, 

"The Artist Rider 

requested high-powered 

stage monitors and Mar- Sobe Live nightclub 

2008 Parnelli Award 

Nominations Now Open 

continued from cover 

Part of the prestige of the Parnellis lies on 

their foundation as a peer-recognized award. 

To win a Parnelli, a person or firm is first nominated 

by their peers. Their peers then vote on 

these nominees and a winner is declared at the 

Parnelli Awards ceremony. The ceremony will 

take place this year at the Rio All Suite Hotel & 

Casino in Las Vegas on Friday, Oct. 24. For more 

info, visit www.parnelliawards.com. 

Consoles Meet Tough Criteria for Keith Urban Tour 

Additionally, Crown Macro-Tech 3600 

amps and a Lexicon M480L Reverb Effects 

Processor were in use as part of Clair 

Showco’s custom JBL-loaded loudspeaker 

system for the Keith Urban tour. 

Keith Urban’s FOH engineer Steve Law and monitor engineer Jason Spence with the Studer 

Vista 5 console 

Emerging Artists 

Supported 

IRVINE, Calif. — Ultimate Ears has announced 

that it is reducing the price of the 

company’s dual-driver UE-5 Pro to better 

accommodate a larger user base within the 

emerging artist community. 

The custom-fit UE-5 Pro, now available for 

only $600 — a $100 price reduction — is the 

original dual-driver personal monitor with a 

two-speaker design and passive noise cancellation. 

The low- and high-frequency speakers 

in each ear deliver a clear sound experience 

for live stage performance, recording or personal 

listening. 

“We believe that this significant price 

reduction will allow budget conscience customers 

to gain access to a fully customized 

in-ear-monitor with a detachable cable,” said 

Mindy Harvey, president and co-founder of 

Ultimate Ears. “In the past, custom sleeves 

were an acceptable alternative to Ultimate 

Ears’ custom-fit products, but they are problematic 

and can significantly alter the audio 

signature of the product they are placed 

upon. Now we can offer a much better value 

for customers seeking a totally integrated 

custom-fit earpiece.” 

Each pair is handcrafted from ear impressions 

made by a professional audiologist 

or hearing aid center. The earphones 

are available in any color with a choice of 

detachable cables and can be customized 

with personal artwork or “tattoos” to show 

off individual style. 

The first Ultimate Ears earphones were 

born out of a special request from Alex Van 

Halen, founder of Van Halen. The company 

boasts major clients, including The Eagles, 

Metallica, Madonna and Gwen Stefani.




8 

News 

Queen Victoria Ocean Liner Sets Sail 

DALY CITY, Calif. — Two Digidesign VENUE live sound 

systems set sail recently on Cunard’s newest state-of-the-art 

international vessel, the Queen Victoria. The majestic ocean 

liner’s 12 decks offer some of the most luxurious and modern 

accoutrements on water including a grand, multilevel 

lobby, casino, restaurants and two theaters. 

Nautilus Entertainment Design Inc. of San Diego provided 

the audio and video designs for the ship’s 30 individual 

entertainment venues, which range from intimate lounges, 

fitness centers and recreational areas to the palatial Royal 

Court Theatre and Queens Room ballroom. The theater and 

ballroom are each outfitted with high-tech sound systems 

that feature a Digidesign VENUE system. 

As Nautilus’ Principal Sound Designer Alan Edwards 

explains, dependability was a key factor in choosing the 

VENUE systems: “Reliability is a key component to any installation, 

but even more so for one that is in the middle of the 

ocean. In the unlikely event that something does go down 

at sea, you can’t just call the local technical shop for a repair. 

With the VENUE, it’s as simple as swapping out a component. 

VENUE gives us the confidence that the show will go 

on every night.” 

The Royal Court Theatre is outfitted with a 96-channel 

D-Show system comprised of a D-Show Main unit, 

two D-show Sidecars and a sliding script tray. In addition, 

the system features two 48 input stage racks, a FOH Rack 

with five DSP Mix Engine cards and additional option 

cards that provide FireWire interface to Pro Tools LE for 

recording and playback and Ethernet connection for remote 

control of the system. This large setup handles 72 

analog/24 digital inputs and 32 analog/64 digital outputs. 

The Queens Room features a smaller D-Show Profile system 

with similar options to manage 48 analog inputs and 

16 analog/16 digital output channels. 

“These rooms are used for multiple events, from production 

shows to lectures, and they’re always busy,” Edwards 

explains. “The engineers typically have less than 

an hour between shows to do a changeover, and that’s 

pretty much impossible with an analog desk. VENUE’s 

snapshot automation gives the engineer the freedom to 

concentrate on the quality of the mix, rather than worrying 

about what cue has to happen next. And it’s such an 

intuitive interface, which really streamlines the workflow. 

In a busy live situation, that’s invaluable.” 


MIDLAND, Texas — Built in 1929 and designated 

a Texas State Historical Landmark, 

the Yucca Theatre in Midland, Texas is home 

to the Midland Community Theatre and its 

“Summer Mummers,” a locally produced and 

written show that harks back to the golden 

age of Vaudeville. 

The Yucca’s new Electro-Voice XLCi 127DVX 

sound system ensures this unique production 

sounds better than ever for its 60th anniversary 

in 2008. The EV system was designed by FitzCo 

Sound, Inc. (Midland, Texas) and installed by 

Midland Community Theatre personnel (supervised 

by Technical Director/Sound & Lighting 

Designer Eddie Taylor). 

The show comprises a “Melodrama” interspersed 

with “Moviola” segments, with 

the second half of the evening featuring 

a rapid-fire set of skits known as the “Olio.” 

Boisterous crowds are the norm, with popcorn-throwing 

encouraged; for that reason, 

a relatively powerful sound system was necessary 

to ensure intelligibility — especially 

for the snappy dialog that drives the show 

— over the noise of the audience. 

It was also essential that the audio 

equipment be as unobtrusive as possible 

Digidesign VENUE on the high seas 

Theatre Relives the Golden Age 

of Vaudeville 

with regard to the theatre’s historic Assyrian-style 

interior. System Designer Milt 

Hathaway of FitzCo Sound described the 

Electro-Voice solution: 

“The system was designed for greatest 

gain-before-feedback while staying within 

the budget of a community theatre. It has 

a central array of seven XLCi 127DVX boxes, 

with a delay ring of seven ZX1i compact 

loudspeakers to cover the under-balcony 

area. Power is provided by six P3000RL remote 

control amplifiers running IRIS-Net 

control and supervision software (via a UCC1 

USB to CAN-bus interface). 

While the design may appear to be overkill 

for a house that only seats 550, the system 

had to be capable of reproducing intelligible 

speech at sound levels high enough to 

be heard over the typically raucous crowds 

that come to Summer Mummers performances 

every summer. The precise pattern 

control of the XLCi line array allowed us to 

achieve this while mic’ing the performers 

with nothing more than three floor mics and 

two overhead mics. And I can’t say enough 

about how easily the ZX1i cabinets installed 

and how great they sound.” 

Yucca Theatre in Midland, Texas



10 

News 

Shure Podcasts Cover Fundamentals of Wired and Wireless Mics 

NILES, Ill. — Shure Incorporated has 

posted several new educational podcasts, 

called Shurecasts, on the company’s 

Web site (www.shure.com/proaudio) 

and on iTunes that cover the basics 

of wired and wireless microphones. 

Topics include Transducers, Frequency 

Response and Directionality for wired 

microphones, and Choosing the Right 

Golf Sponsors 

System, Frequency Selection and Antennas 

for wireless microphones. 

“These are just a handful in a series of 

podcasts we’ve already created and are 

continuing to produce as part of our overall 

education program,” said Chris Lyons, manager 

of Technical and Educational Communications 

for Shure. “For years, we’ve had 

an extensive library of educational book- 


lets and articles available on our Web site, 

which have been very popular. The nice 

thing about our podcasts is their portability 

because they can be played on any digital 

music player or computer.” 

Other Shurecasts that are currently 

available cover a variety of audio topics 

including Sound Isolating Earphones, 

Stereo Miking Techniques, the SM57 and 

N 

SM58 microphones, and White Spaces. 

Each episode includes a brief introduction 

to a particular segment of audio technology, 

such as microphones, earphones and 

audible demonstrations. 

Additional Shurecasts will be released 

on a regular basis, approximately one per 

month, and some episodes will include interviews 

with artists and engineers. 

Steerable Line Arrays 

The Big Guns in sound reinforcement that fight 

against blurred speech are steerable arrays, loudspeakers 

whose output may be beamed at a specific 

area of an audience. Much like a line array is to music, 

there are several goals to a steerable loudspeaker array. (1) 

Make sure that the listener hears audio from only one cabinet at 

any time, (2) control the speaker’s dispersion so as to not increase 

reverberant reflections, and (3) ascertain that audio from 

two different arrays will not sum or cancel and create phase issues. 

Brought to you by Martin Professional 

— From Steve La Cerra’s “Bleeding Edge“ column in the 

March issue of FOH.


12 

International News 

Church Becomes Envy of Live Music Venues 

ENGLAND — In September 2006, Peterborough 

Community Church opened a new 

80,000-sq.-ft. building in the Cambridgeshire 

city it is named after. With a technical specification 

that would be the envy of many large 

theatres and live music venues, the inclusion 

of DiGiCo D5 and D1 consoles demonstrated 

that the church was committed to the future. 

Twenty months later, the building has a new 

name — KingsGate Community Church — 

and its technical team has had many months 

of using the DiGiCo consoles. 

“When specifying the system, our intention 

was to make it easy for people to understand 

the church’s message, for it to be simple 

for them to join in and to feel part of it. Great 

sound and great vision are all part of that,” says 

KingsGate Technical Director Pete Charlton. 

“The truth is that every time I finish an event, 

it’s been great. The technical side has been so 

smooth and the DiGiCo consoles play a huge 

part in that. I’m still continually impressed with 

the technical facilities we have.” 

The church has a team of eight sound 

operators. All are volunteers and none has 

any pro audio experience, but despite the ini- 

tial learning curve being steep, the intuitive 

DiGiCo user interface ensured that they were 

quickly up to speed. 

“It was a huge leap for them to go from a 

standard analog console, which we were using 

before, to a much more complex system,” 

says Charlton. “But the consoles helped them 

grasp the basic concepts very quickly, which 

make services and the other events we host 

run very smoothly. 

Music is a fundamental part of KingsGate 

services, with two bands performing on alternate 

weeks, so the console’s snapshots facility is 

becoming increasingly important. 

“Having set up basic mixes for each 

band, each week that particular band is playing, 

we build on the mix, tweaking it, getting 

better as time goes on. We’re using the consoles 

to build and improve the sound all the 

time,” says Pete. 

“We also have three or four big events 

each year, where we have guest worship leaders 

and musical performers,” he continues. “At 

those events there are four major services over 

a weekend and our aim is to repeat the production 

as close to the rehearsals as possible. 

NEXO GEO T Arrives In Israel 

ISRAEL — The first NEXO GEO T line 

array system has arrived in Israel, purchased 

by rental company Sincopa, one 

of the country’s largest PA providers for 

entertainment events. 

NEXO distributor A.B. Noam Electronics 

Ltd has delivered to Sincopa a 24-module 

GEO T array system with 12 CD18 subbass 

units, NX242-ES4 digital processors 

and a full complement of CAMCO Vortex 

6 amplifiers. It is a system intended to appeal 

to Israel’s biggest promoters and productions, 

especially in rock music circles. 

Although the company already keeps 

line array systems in inventory, as well as 

NEXO’s Alpha E and PS Series models, the 

acquisition of NEXO’s system promises 

more power and higher quality, especially 

in the festival environment. 

“Sincopa liked the crisp sound of 

GEO T and its optimization for rock music,” 

says Asaf Tzur from A.B. Noam Electronics. 

“Already there’s a huge buzz 

about the system and Sincopa is taking 

a lot of bookings. Artists, engineers — 

everyone wants to try it.” 

NEXO GEO T debuted at the Jerusalem Day celebration 

Bertrand Pelloquin from French PA 

company Melpomen and Asaf Tzur were 

on hand to help set up the full system 

for its debut show, a massive outdoor 

concert to mark Jerusalem Day celebrations. 

Staged in Jerusalem’s Independence 

Park (Gan Ha’atzmaut), the city’s 

celebration was combined with Hebrew 

University’s action-packed Student 

Day, and started with an all-nighter or 

“laila lavan.” Festivities included a huge 

concert featuring many of Israel’s A-list 

rock acts, such as Berry Sakharof, Hadag 

Nachash, Hacheverim Shel Natasha and 

Shlomi Shaban. 

Attended by more than 10,000 people, 

the show was a success for Sincopa 

and its new technology. Asaf Tzur took 

the opportunity to train Sincopa engineers 

in NEXO’s proprietary GeoSoft program, 

designing the show from scratch 

because very few concerts are staged in 

Independence Park. “Although they were 

100 meters away from the system, we 

could still hear the reflections from the 

nearest buildings,” reports Tzur. 

KingsGate Church 


“To achieve that we use AV Stumpfl Wings 

Platinum media control software. It runs 

SMPTE timecode and sends Midi Machine 

Control (MMC) messages to fire snapshots 

on the DiGiCo consoles, which ensure that all 

setting changes for the audio and visuals are 

perfectly in synchronization. 

UNITED KINGDOM — Australian pop diva 

Kylie Minogue has launched a three-month 

European tour, “KYLIEX2008,” bringing a killer 

new band, spectacular costumes by Jean 

Paul Gaultier, and state-of-the-art sound. 

UK-based Capital Sound has once again designed 

and supplied a powerful Meyer Sound 

rig for Minogue’s tour, based around left and 

right hangs of 14 MILO and two MILO 120 line 

array loudspeakers each. 

For some of the larger arenas, such as 

Manchester’s Evening News Arena and London’s 

O2, two additional side arrays of 12 

MICA line array loudspeakers augment the 

system. Low end is covered 

by a combination of six flown 

600-HP subwoofers per side, 

along with eight 700-HP 

subwoofers per side on the 

ground. “Chris Pyne (FOH 

engineer) wanted a powerful 

but present low end, 

with both power and attack. 

Therefore, we suggested the 

600-HP and 700-HP together 

as an ideal combination to 

achieve that,” explains Paul 

Timmins, Capital Sound’s 

project manager. 

“The DiGiCo consoles work just like 

I wanted them to. They get a lot of use, 

but they don’t glitch or fall over. They are 

able to do everything we want and more. 

And, in addition, we know that they are a 

sound long-term investment.” 

Kylie Has Europe On Its Feet 

KYLIEX2008 European tour 

Because the massive production utilizes 

the entire stage as a visual backdrop, a center 

hang of six M’elodie line array loudspeakers 

is used instead of frontfill loudspeakers. More 

M’elodies are placed on the ground to balance 

the imaging. 

“With the M’elodies’ great output and 

focus, we’ve been able to cover the front 

rows with only six cabinets,” says Timmins. 

“We’re able to do so without interfering with 

sightlines.” Three more M’elodies per side 

are used for outfills. A Galileo loudspeaker 

management system with three Galileo 616 

units handles system drive and DSP. 

2008 Olympic Games Kick Off in Beijing 

BEIJING — For the opening and closing ceremonies at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, 

Soundcraft Vi6 digital consoles are part of a large Harman-based system. A Soundcraft Vi6 

is at the heart of the system in the National Aquatics Centre. Two Soundcraft Vi4s are 

installed at the National Olympic Conference Centre, and numerous Soundcraft analog 

mixers ranging from CompAct 

mixers up to MH4s are installed 

in Olympic venues such as the 

Fengtai Softball Field, Chang 

Ping Indoor Stadium, Olympic 

Sports Centre Gymnasium, Beijing 

Foreign Language University 

Stadium, Ditan Park Indoor 

Stadium, Shanghai 80k Stadium, 

Hong Kong Equestrian Venues 

and the Honk Kong Olympic 

Soundcraft Vi6 digital console House Conference Room.

Audio-Technica 

Meyer Sound Germany has appointed ing into a landlord-tenant agreement with demonstrations and 

has appointed Dan 

Lothar Weimann as regional sales manager. In B&C Speakers, also based in Florence, Italy. being the technical 

Pelletier to the posi- 

this position, Weimann will be working with This new arrangement will alleviate lan- information source 

tion of audio solu- 

clients throughout the southern and eastern guage issues and create a culture that will for all Stanton Group 

tions specialist. As 

parts of Germany. 

both smooth the transition for Powersoft brands. 

part of A-T’s Audio 

Bringing more than 25 years of experi- and optimize its effectiveness in the North The hiring of 

Solutions Departence 

in professional audio, Weimann has held American market. 

Penney to the manment, 

Pelletier joins 

sales and marketing positions at Frankfurt- Heading up Powersoft in the U.S. is Tom agement team will 

the team in respondbased 

ProAudio Marketing GMBH for brands Bensen, vice president and director of U.S. help increase Staning 

to the informa- 

such as QSC. During the last three years, Wei- Operations, who has played a key role in the ton’s support to their 

tional needs of Au- Dan Pelletier mann served as the registered manager of brand’s acceptance by leading installation dealers, directly im- Chris Penney 

dio-Technica’s customers seeking technical the German branch of Spanish loudspeaker and live production companies in the U.S. pacting the effectiveness of Cerwin Vega! and 

or product advice and application assistance. manufacturer D.A.S. Audio. 

Stanton DJ sales efforts. In addition to the 

In his new position, Pelletier will provide cre- 

The Stanton Group has announce the ad- new position, Stanton UK will increase their 

ative solutions and offer technical expertise Powersoft Advanced Technologies dition of Chris Penney as UK product special- presence by adding an additional warehouse 

for Audio-Technica’s staff, reps, dealers and LLC, has moved to new headquarters in ist for Stanton DJ and Cerwin Vega. Based in in Southampton. The facility will be used for 

end-users. 

Pompton Plains, N.J., as part of a com- Southampton, UK, Penney’s primary respon- storing training, demonstration and market- 

Pelletier is a recent college graduate with 

a degree in Recording Arts and Technology. 

He joined the A-T team as an intern in June of 

2007 and was appointed audio solutions specialist 

in November 2007. Before joining A-T, 

he served as a recording engineer intern at 

Cleveland’s Ante Up Audio recording studio 

and FOH and recording engineer for Broadview 

Heights, Ohio’s Sevenoseven young 

adult worship organization. Additionally, Pelletier 

is a drummer, guitarist and songwriter. 

pany expansion. Powersoft will be entersibilities will include product training, store ing materials and stock. 

AV Concepts has announced that Charlaine 

Caley has joined the company as an 

account executive at the SDCC. She will be 

teaming with Richard Hancock, who was recently 

promoted to director of Sales for Audio- 

Visual Services at the SDCC. Caley comes to 

AV Concepts with over 18 years of experience 

in the audio-visual and hospitality industries 

and has established a history in audio-visual 

sales and management. Caley’s experience in 

audio-visual production and strong industry 

reputation further strengthens the AV Concepts’ 

team at the SDCC. 

Delicate Productions 

has appointed 

Jason Alt as 

account executive, 

Touring and Event 

Services. Jason has 

an extensive touring 

background where 

his audio mixing 

skills has been put 

into use. He has also 

Jason Alt 

provided audio, lighting and video services 

to the touring, corporate and special event 

marketplace. 

Meyer Sound 

has appointed Kasi 

Miller to the position 

of public relations associate, 

supporting 

the efforts to create 

greater visibility of 

the company’s products 

and their applications 

worldwide. 

Previously serv- Kasi Miller 

ing as marketing coordinator 

at Meyer 

Sound’s Berkeley 

headquarters, Miller 

will use her knowledge 

of the company 

and the industry in 

her new position in 

the public relations 

department. Miller 

served in several Lothar Weimann 

marketing communications roles in the book 

publishing industry prior to joining Meyer 

Sound. 


On the Move 

2008 AUGUST 

13 


14 

New Gear 

AKG D7 Dynamic Vocal Microphone 

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 

Checkers Guard Dog 

Checkers introduces the Guard Dog Low Profile Heavy 

Duty Cable Protector. With a height of 1.25”, the Guard 

Dog is a low-profile, top-loading, multi-channel 

cable protector. This design features 

wide, gently sloping ADA Compliant 

ramps that allow effortless crossing 

and a hinged lid to organize valuable 

cables/wires into separate channels. 

Guard Dog Low Profile Cable Protectors fit multiple 

cable sizes and are compact for easy setup, takedown 

and storage. 

www.cableprotector.com. 

Community M12 

The Community M12 stage monitor has been 

redesigned in response to customer feedback. 

Community has improved the M12 with rubber 

pocket grip handles for portability and 

a larger, easier-to-access connector base. 

The ergonomically designed stage monitors 

feature recessed handles designed 

to simplify lifting and carrying by both 

handles or just one. The M12 is designed 

for any application where low visibility is a 

key requirement. The base of the M12 has been redesigned 

to provide easier access to the input connectors, 

streamlining setup and teardown times for live events and portable 

applications. The high-frequency driver is mounted to a molded one-piece asymmetrical 

horn with a 90-degree pattern at the top and 40 degree at the bottom, allowing full-range 

monitor output close up or at a distance. This pattern delivers even coverage while keeping 

energy away from stage walls. For installers seeking to mount the M12 to walls or ceilings, an 

optional built-to-order install version will also be available with four M10 hang points and a 

mounting bracket plate for permanent installation. 

www.communitypro.com. 

Electro-Voice DC-One 

The Electro-Voice DC-One digital 

loudspeaker system controller, 

based on a two-in-six-out topology, 

is designed primarily for users of 

small- to medium-sized sound systems 

in both mobile and installed 

applications. While the unit is a new 

development based on a SHARC 

processor, it is 100% compatible 

with all settings from other Electro- 

Voice signal processors, including 

the Dx38. Though free PC-Editor 

software is available, the DC-One can be operated via the front panel. Direct access buttons, 

six predefined configuration modes (one being free configuration), straightforward output delay 

settings and professional metering allow for safe operation. DC-One’s “front-panel-access- 

control” allows the user to select a personal library of accessible presets (out of 60 factory and 

20 user presets). In addition, the user can determine which individual parameters in each preset 

are locked (e.g. factory predefined output parameters) or editable (e.g. master EQ or delay 

settings). The DC-One has a 1U 19-inch chassis that is deep enough to match typical amplifier 

depths, a front panel USB connector for the PC-Editor, and accepts either analogue or digital 

(AES-EBU) input signals; a 6-dB input pad is available. The RS232 on the rear also provides eight 

contact closures for preset changes, or allows two units to be linked for larger systems. 

www.electrovoice.com 


Invisible Waves IW1800 

The Invisible Waves series of PC-based RF spectrum 

analyzers are touted as the world’s first, PC-based RF spectrum 

analyzers, which offer automatic charting of open 

white space (open RF frequency) for use with wireless microphones, 

in-ear monitors, remote control, etc. The Invisible 

Waves model IW1800 covers the frequency span of 100 

KHz to 1.8 GHz. Resolution bandwidth (RBW) is 1 KHz with a typical sensitivity of -120 dbm. The 

Invisible Waves (IW) analyzers feature an Automatic White Space Finder that identifies all open RF 

space within a user-defined range. The White Space Finder graphically depicts the ideal frequency 

positioning of transmitters within the given open space. The Priority Monitored Frequencies 

feature allows the user to select up to 10 different frequencies, monitored in a colored barograph 

display, for quick identification of priority channels, their signal presence and strength. The IW 

analyzers are designed to offer intuitive and easy-to-use sweep analysis, (including the ability to 

split-screen the display into simultaneous broad span sweeps and a zoomed-in view), spectral 

image printout capability and extended logging and playback capability. 

www.rfanalyzers.com 

L-ACOUSTICS SB28 Subwoofer 

Designed as the successor to the SB218 subwoofer, 

L-ACOUSTICS’ new SB28 enclosure brings more powerful 

low-frequency impact and improved bass articulation to 

tours, installations and corporate productions utilizing 

KUDO, V-DOSC, dV-DOSC and ARCS systems. The fourohm 

SB28 contains two front-loaded, 18-inch direct radiating 

transducers integrated into a bass-reflex tuned 

enclosure capable of operating down to 25 Hz. These 

specially designed LF transducers provide cone excursion capability combined with low thermal 

compression even at the highest operating levels. The enclosure’s bass-reflex vents feature a progressive 

profile allowing for laminar airflow. The combination of the SB28’s modern components 

with the new vents ultimately delivers a +5 dB SPL output compared to the previous standards. 

Control and amplification of the SB28 is managed by L-ACOUSTICS’ new LA8 amplified controller 

platform. The LA8’s DSP filtering encompasses crossover functions, system EQ and L-DRIVE thermal 

and over-excursion protection of the transducers. Made of Baltic birch plywood, the cabinet 

features industry-standard aeroquip rails for column rigging, a single 4-pin Neutrik Speakon connector 

on the rear panel, integral side handles for portability and a black epoxy perforated steel 

grille covered with an acoustically transparent “Airnet” cloth. 

www.l-acoustics.com 

NEXO NXAmps 

Two new high-powered amplifiers manufactured 

by NEXO and powered by Yamaha 

will make their debut at Yamaha Commercial 

Audio Systems, Inc. The NEXO NXAmp 4x4 

and 4x1 provide a cost-effective integration of 

command, control, protection and amplification of NEXO loudspeaker systems. Using Yamaha 

EEEngine technology, the amplifiers offer sonic purity of conventional class AB, but with a heat 

dissipation equaling class D technology. The UL-certified NXAmp models both feature four 

amplifier channels that can be configured in 2x2 bridge mode, providing up to 4x 4000W at 2 

ohms per channel or 2x8000W at 4 ohms per channel on the NX 4x4 and 4x1300W per channel 

at 2 ohms or 2x2600W per channel at 4 ohms on the NX 4x1. The NX 4x4 is 4U high, contained 

in a 19 in. rack and weighs 49 lbs., and the NX 4x1 is 3U high, in a 19 in. rack space weighing 

33 lbs. The NXAmp power supplies are full resonance-type with half bridge converters, and its 

design minimizes noise via ZCS (Zero Crossing Switch) technology. The NEXO NX 4x4 employs 

four times the structure of a mono amp to realize high power with a low-impedance load. Front 

panel features include three amp status LED indicators, LED display, encoder, user-control navigation 

buttons, volume and channel indicators, and mute and select buttons. NXAmp signal 

processing is identical on both models and derived from the NX242 TD controller features. 

www.yamahaca.com 

Worx Audio M80X2-P Line Array 

WorxAudio Technologies introduces the M80X2-P Line Array. A 

new addition to the company’s TrueLine Series, the M80X2-P is 

a two-way, high efficiency, ultra-compact line array loudspeaker 

system. It incorporates two modules, each with a medium format, 

1-inch exit compression driver coupled to a stabilized proprietary 

FlatWave Former (wave shaping device) that is designed 

to deliver clear, penetrating high frequencies over a predictable 

and controlled coverage area. These compression drivers are 

paired with dual 8-inch cone transducers coupled to the Acoustic 

Intergrading Module that minimizes cone filtering throughout the 

entire operating spectrum and provides a rich, fully balanced sound with a frequency range that 

spans from 45 Hz to 20 kHz (-10 dB). The M80X2-P loudspeaker system provides a total of two high 

frequency drivers and four bass drivers — all housed in a rugged enclosure. 

www.worxaudio.com


Soundco 

American 

Audio Visual 

ST 

Venue 

Yellowknife, NT 

CREW 

FOH Engineer: Dave Coe 

Broadcast Mixer: Chase Tower 

Monitor Engineer: Greg Clinton 

Pro Tools Engineer: John Hilderbrand 

System Engineer: Dave Coe 

System Techs: Mitch Rutherford 

Soundco 

Clearwing 

Productions 

- Phoenix 


16 

Showtime 

Venue 

Marriott Orlando World Center 

Orlando, Fla. 

CREW 

FOH Engineer: Robert Sanchez 

System Engineer: Robert Sanchez 

Production Manager: Tommy Hart 

System Techs: Dave Demron 

National Aboriginal Day 2008 

GEAR 

FOH 

Console: Yamaha PM5D 

Broadcast: Soundcraft MH4 - 48 

Speakers: 16 EV Xi1152, 8 EV MTL2B, 

2 EV ZX5 

Amps: QSC PL218 

Processing: Klark Teknik DN9824 

Power Distro: Spectrum, Motion Labs 

Breakout Assemblies: Ramtech 

Snake Assemblies: Ramtech 

Venue 

Campgrounds 

Oshkosh, WI 


Just Read Florida 

Country USA – Sugarland, Lonestar, 

Dierks Bently, Kenny Chesney, Brooks & Dunn 

CREW 

FOH Engineer: Tom Giatron and Al Mir 

Monitor Engineer: Andre St. Pierre 

System Engineer: John Tellis 

Production Manager: Tom Bothof / 

Gary Brunclik 

System Tech: Adam Burghout and John 

Bryant 

GEAR 


Consoles: Yamaha DM 1000 (Distribution), 

Yamaha PM 5000, Yamaha PM5D 

RH, Midas Venice (playback + RF) 

Speakers: 66 L-ACOUSTICS V-DOSC, 12 

MON 

Consoles: Soundcraft K3 - 40 

Speakers: EV Xw12, EV MTL2B 

Amps: QSC PL218, PL 1.8 

Processing: Xilica DL4080 

Mics: Shure, EV, AKG, Crown 

Power Distro: Spectrum 

GEAR 


Console: Soundcraft MH-2 

Speakers: 20 JBL 4888, 18 JBL VRX932LA 

4 JBL MS26, 12 Tannoy CPA 12.3B 

Amps: 6 Crown MA5000, 4 MA3600, 16 

XTi4000 

Processing: DBX4800, System Arquitech 

Mics: Audio technica Slim line, Shure Beta 

87, Shure UH-R wireless 

Power Distro: 200amp/100amp Motion 

Labs 

Rigging: 36 1/2 ton CM 

Snake Assemblies: Rapco 

dV-DOSC, 12 dV subs, 4 Meyer UPJ 

Amps: Lab.gruppen 6400, LA 48, Crown 

Macrotech 5002 

Processing: XTA DP 226 and DP 448 with 

Wireless Tablet Control 

Mics: Shure, Shure UHF-R, Sennheiser, 

Beyer 

Power Distro: 4 Motion Labs 200A 3 

Phase 

Rigging: CM 1 Ton, CM 1/2 Ton, CM 1/4 

TON, L-ACOUSTICS 

Breakout Assemblies: Clearwing Custom 

and L-ACOUSTICS DOM Series 

Snake Assemblies: 1 Radial ISO 3way 48 

x 16 and 2 Whirlwind Concert Series 56 

x 16. 

ST 

MON 

Console: Soundcraft MH-2 

Speakers: 4 JBL SRX 712 

Amps: 2 Crown XTi 4000 

Processing: Ashley 31 bands 

Mics: Audio Technica Slim line, 

Shure Beta 87, Shure UH-R wireless 

Power Distro: 200amp/100amp Motion 

Labs 

Rigging: 36 1/2-ton CM 

Soundco 

Sound Art Calgary 

ST 

MON 

Consoles: Yamaha PM5D RH and Yamaha 

M7CL(back-up) 

Speakers: Martin LE 700 Wedges, Martin 

Blackline Sub with 2 JBL VRX (drumfill), 

and 4 L-ACOUSTICS ARCS flown with 2 

SB 218 Subs per side (sidefills) 

Amps: Lab.gruppen 6400, Crown Macrotech 

3600, 2402 

Processing: XTA DP 226 and Crown PIP 

IQ2 DSP Cards 

Mics: Shure UHF-R, Sennheiser, Beyer 

Power Distro: 4 Motion Labs 200A 3 

Phase 

Rigging: CM 1 Ton, CM 1/2 Ton, CM 1/4 

Ton, L-ACOUSTICS

ST 

Venue 

Arena tour 

CREW 

FOH Engineer: Carter Hassebroek 

Monitor Engineer: Darren Hughes 

System Engineer: Kenny Sellars 

Production Manager: Chris Farnsworth 

Tour Manager: Denny Keitzman 

System Techs: Michael France, David Harrison 

Soundco 

Rat Sound Systems 

Soundco 

Music Lab 

Venue 

Frisco, Texas; Atlanta, Ga.; 

Fremont, Calif. 

CREW 

FOH Engineer: David Nordyke 

Monitor Engineer: Thomas Smith 

Production Manager: Scott Langston 

Tour Manager: John Honning 

Casting Crowns 

GEAR 


Console: Digidesign Profile with ProTools 

HD 

Speakers: 24 Meyer Milo, 4 Meyer Milo 

120, 10 Meyer 700hp, 12 Blackhawk Audio 

BAI 3 (sidehang), 4 Meyer UM1C (sidehang 

downfill), 4 Meyer Melodie (frontfill) 

Amps: QSC 

Processing: Meyer Galileo, Meyer M1A 

Mics: Shure UHF-R 

Power Distro: Motion Labs 

Rigging: CM Lodestar 

Venue 

On tour 

CREW 

FOH Engineer: Brett Eliason 

Monitor Engineer: George Squiers 

System Engineer: Matt Fox 

System Techs: Lee Vaught, Peter Baigent, Greg Mayler 

GEAR 


Console: Yamaha 2404DFX 

Speakers: QSC I-282, QSC HPR Subs 

Amps: QSC PL Series 

Processing: Rane, Furman 

Mics: Audio-Technica 4000 Series 

Wireless 

Power Distro: Tristar 

Snake Assemblies: Whirlwind 

MON 

Speakers: 2 Meyer MSL-4, 3 Meyer 

700hp, Sennheiser G2, Westone 


MON 

Speakers: T.C. Electronics Helicon 

Mics: Audio-Technica 

Power Distro: Tristar 

GEAR 


Console: Midas XL8 

Speakers: L-ACOUSTICS V-DOSC and dV-DOSC, Rat Dual 

18” Subwoofers 

Amps: LA 48A Amplifiers 

Processing: XTA DP428 

MON 

Speakers: EAW MicroWedge 12s 

Amps: LA 48A, Chevin Q6s 

Processing: TC 6000, Klark Teknik DN9696 

Advanced Micro Devices ST We 

Want You! 

FOH wants your gig 

shots, horror stories and 

resume highlights! Go to www. 

fohonline.com/submissions 

to send us your Showtime pics, 

Nightmare stories and In The 

Trenches stats. Or e-mail 

bg@fohonline.com 

for more info. We cover 

the industry 

— and that means 

you! 

2008 AUGUST 

Soundco 

Blackhawk Audio, Inc. 

R.E.M. ST 

17

18 

FOH Interview 

Hitting the Road with 

Boston, Styx and Slamhammer 

Photos and Text by MarkAmundson 

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. 

Both bands kicked off the summer tour 

together, using the Grand Casino amphitheater 

in central Minnesota as the first gig of the 

summer. They came in a day early to dust off 

the performance cobwebs. I got to check out 

good portions of both band’s sound checks, 

and that was much more informative from 

a production standpoint, as I could see the 

evolution of touring. Everything has become 

personal monitoring with instrument techs 

playing a key role in getting the signature 

sounds nailed. 

Styx really drove the point home with a 

wall of Ampeg SVT amps and Marshall amps 

on the backline, but they were all for show 

— “tech-row” is really where the sound was 

made with racks of effects and SVTs/Marshalls 

driving Palmer cabinet simulators with 

Bass amps on the stage. 

the mics headed for the consoles. Tom Scholz 

had three full-height racks (about 30U) of 

guitar and keyboard signal processing. The 

instrument tech not only tuned and polished 

guitars, but had to dial-in on cue all the tones 

needed for each song. 

Here are the interviews with the band engineers 

and racks and stacks provider Slamhammer 

Sound of St. Paul, Minn. 

Bill Ryan, FOH for Boston FOH 

FOH: What does Tom (Scholz) call you for a 

nickname? 

Bill Ryan: The “little guy” or the “hobbit.” 

(Onstage) they are all six foot or taller. 

Who do you have up on stage? 

BR: We have Tom Scholz, of course, and 

we have our new dueling front men Michael 

Sweet; and the guy we liberated from Home 

Depot, Tommy DeCarlo — he is thrilled to be 

here. We had him for three weeks of rehearsals 

and he’s getting it down. And we have 

Kimberly Dahme, who has played bass with 

the band for seven years. On the far stage left 

is Gary Pihl, who used to play with Sammy 

Hagar, came over a long time ago, since the 

early 1980s. Michael Sweet holds his own on 

guitar. All three of these guys are awesome 

guitar players. Jeff Neal on drums, a schoolteacher 

from Maine, also has a set of pipes 


on him; everybody in this band sings. A lot of 

harmonies are many voices. 

How many inputs do you have running into 

your console? 

BR: We have 48. We have a couple of 

spares, but we are using it all. 

Did Tom give you the choice of your console 

and outboard? 

BR: No, I pretty much picked everything. I 

had the choice, he gave me the liberty, which 

is unusual from what I hear. I have been his 

studio engineer for 13 years, and we just remastered 

the first two records. I have spent a 

lot of time in the studio with him, so he trusts 

me. If he can’t trust me than he can’t trust 

anybody, and he has had a problem in the 

past with that. 

What console do you use in the studio? 

BR: He (Tom) has an old Auditronics console. 

I have an old Amek 2500 in my room, too. 

So both of you are Mister Analog? 

BR: Mister Analog, yeah. I am also a studio 

tech, too, so that helps a lot, as well as a 

studio engineer. 

So what do you have running here as far as 

a console? 

BR: A Midas XL4 and also a couple of old 

Lexicon 300s (reverbs), a PCM42 mono delay 

and a TC D-Two for stereo tapped delays, and 

that’s pretty much it. 

Any special things you do on vocals? 

BR: Well, we worked a lot in preproduction 

on getting all the balances right. So, I 

have a lot of starting-off marks. The interesting 

thing about Tom is he listens to the frontof-house 

mix as his monitor. 

Am I going to see him on headphones all 

night? 

BR: He wears a pair of BOSE noise canceling 

headphones. He cut the wires off and 

just uses the noise canceling part, and then 

he has his in-ears. The cups cancel the ambient 

noise so he can run the in-ears at a much 

lower level. His hearing gets sensitive as he 

gets older, and he does not like a lot of level. 

That is why our stage volume is very low and 

the front-of-house level is comfortable. We 

are not trying to kill anybody here. 

View of the stage at Casino Amphitheater 

You keep an eye on the SPL meter? 

BR: I absolutely do. My ears are getting 

old, too. I definitely do. 

What do you aim for, 105 dB at FOH? 

BR: No more than 100 dB. I’m more comfortable 

between 96 and 100 dB at the house. 

I’m almost 200 feet back. 

Any tips or tricks you want to share? 

BR: The thing about Boston and the 

band’s sound is the guitar tones are extremely 

processed and everything is coming up to 

me at line level. Everything is pre-compressed 

and EQ’d and everything. 

So how wild do you get on compression for 

percussion and vocals? 

BR: I try not to overdo it. I’m running more 

of a mix bus compressor, like this old dbx 162 

on my house mix. I’m trying to make it sound 

period specific like the old records, and the 

only way to do that is to use some old stuff. 

Gary Loizzo – FOH for Styx FOH 

FOH: How long have you been doing frontof-house 

for Styx? 

GL: Only since 1996 . I recorded their Man 

of Miracles album, which was their fourth album, 

in 1974. And then bits and pieces up to 

their Cornerstone album in 1978, which was all 

done in my studio. From then on, I recorded 

everything as an engineer and became their 

co-producer in 1999. 

Who do you have onstage tonight? 

GL: James Young, Tommy Shaw and 

Ricky Philips on bass. Lawrence Gowan has 

been our staple since 1999 when Dennis 

(De Young) left the band. All these guys are 

gentlemen. Every artist has to have an ego to 

become who they are. But these guys really 

check their ego at the door, especially with 

the crew, who they treat like their family. Todd 

Sucherman rounds out the group on drums. 

What do have at FOH? Just that Yamaha 

PM5D? 

GL: About two years ago, we needed to 

share a console with Journey, and the only 

console we could agree on was the PM1D. 

This was the first digital unit that came out by 

Yamaha. We were forced to go on that, and I 

kind of got a sour taste in my mouth. Because 

I am an old analog dog, even though I went

System Tech Myles Kennedy Slamhammer System Engineer Brian Klingenberg and Styx FOH engineer Gary Loizzo Bill Ryan, Boston’s FOH engineer 

to Pro-Tools, but I have Apogee converters. 

When the PM5D came out, I heard from some 

of my friends who I respect from very highly 

that it sounded a lot better. So, I gave it another 

shot and used a Big Ben clock, and it 

has really come a long, long way. You can see 

how small a footprint this takes up and I lack 

nothing. 

And the effects? 

GL: Everything. They even got a program 

in here that I made sound like a H3000 harmonizer 

and it is very, very good. I have not 

had any service problems. 

Do you run pretty heavy effects? 

GL: Outdoors, I am allowed a little more 

leeway. When you’re indoors you get clouded 

be the room reverb. I am a little disappointed 

that I am so far away; it defeats the purpose 

in that I do not get the true perspective that 

the bulk of the audience gets. I don’t get the 

real direct sound back here, so I am guessing 

(on effects). 

Do you get a chance to walk during the 

show? 

GL: No, it is a very active show. In a live 

show, you must get rid of any live microphones 

that are not being used. As you will 

see, they are very active. So, as they leave a 

mic that mic fader goes down. I mix it like I 

would on an analog console. 

You use a lot of compression on the mix? 

GL: I do. Just use a pinch on the overall 

mix. Because I have a digital console, I have 

compression, gates, EQ, everything on every 

channel. I might touch things a little, but I do 

not abuse anything. I try not to go heavy unless 

I am going for an effect. 

How much compression on the vocals? 

GL: I am 4:1 on vocals — my favorite 

ratio. You’ve got to remember that with 

these guys, I am trying to capture that Styx 

block harmony. I order to capture that fullness 

at all times I have to go that thick. On 

my outputs, I go 2:1 for lightness. I like to 

round things off a bit. 

So how many channels do you have active? 

GL: Looks like 42. I got 48 so I could get 

into a few more inputs if I have to. 

So is everybody a vocalist? 

GL: No, Todd doesn’t sing. The solid, solid 

guys are Tommy, JY and Lawrence. Ricky occasionally 

steps up. Todd can actually sing 

very well, but it becomes a nightmare back 

there to get a mic clean. Plus, he is an active 

drummer. 

What do you use as overheads on Todd? 

GL: I have a new mic;, it’s an Audix condenser, 

SCX-25. They are very open, and boy 

does that make a difference because Todd 

plays a lot of top (cymbals). As aggressive as 

he is, he is a delicate guy, too. The mics give 

me a better overall kit sound. 

What do you use for vocal mics? 

GL: An Audix OM-5 for Tommy. Other Audix 

OMs for the other guys. 

Any other tips to share? 

GL: When I am in the studio, I think of 

the mix as a collage. But when I am a live 

guy, I think more like a caricature. You must 

force people to listen to what is important 

in a song in different places. Having 

a good lighting girl, like I have back here, 

also directs attention to different proximities; 

it helps my job. Highlight somebody 

with a light — you automatically in your 

mind hear them better. I accentuate that, 

too. People get the whole deal. 

Now a lot of rock bands are instruments 

first, vocals second. Do you give equal billing 

in the mix? 

GL: I love the drums so much that I’ll 

mix the drums as hot as the vocals. This is 

a vocal band. People know Styx because of 

their songs. But these guys are in their 50s 

and are in tremendous shape. Their energy 

level is really great. But if I can complement 

that with a younger guy (Todd), who 

has even more energy, it makes everything 

even more energetic. 

Brian Klingenberg SE, Myles Kennedy 

System Tech — Slamhammer Sound 


What kind of rig are you running for racks 

and stacks? 

BK: Martin W8LC, 12 boxes a side. Martin 

WSX subs, single 18” per box and 16 subs. 

I see you have a pair of BSS Minidrives at 

FOH — any other processing? 


BK: No, just splits at the amp racks. 

What kind of amps do you have running? 

BK: Crests; we got a 9001, 8001 and two 

7001s in each amp rack. Two amp racks per 

side. The 9001s have the subs, and the flown 

lows, mids and highs get the 8001s and 

7001s. 

And the W8LC boxes, what are they loaded 

with? 

BK: 12” on lows, two 6” on mids and three 

1” on horns. 

And this is your preferred rig? 

BK: This is what we own (laughing). As 

a touring guy, I like this; I’m so used to it 

now. When Pete (the owner) started buying 

boxes, he went with Martin; no one 

else had that around and he wanted to be 

different. Martin was really good helping 

him out, so when he wanted to advance 

with something a little better, like a line 

array, Martin was the way to go. 

Want kind of power consumption do you 

have running? 

BK: We have a three-phase 400-amp 

distro, but I do not know the draw. We use 

Motion Labs rack and have a 100-amp, three- 

Guitarworld 

phase hookup. Each amp rack gets a Hubbel 

L14-30 feed. 

How many crew do you have here today? 

BK: There are three of us from Slamhammer 

Audio and 24 stagehands from the promoter/production 

company (Grand Casino). 

How long does it take to the system up and 

running? 

BK: If you got five hours, it takes five 

hours. If you got two hours, it takes two 

hours. Myles and I can fly a side in a half 

hour if everything is ready. 

So Myles, do you agree it can be really a 

two-man job? 

MK: It’s definitely very easy with these 

boxes; they fly very fast with just two men. It 

goes up and together quite well. Once you 

got the computer program, and know the 

tuning, you just slap it together and go. 

So you know the rigging points really well 

here? 

MK: We have not been here in 10 months 

because of winter. But once you get the chain 

motors rigged, you just let ‘er rip. 

BK: It took him about 10 minutes per 

side to rig, if that. Very quick. 

2008 AUGUST 

19

Beth A. Pinney 

Craig Doubet 

Installations 

From the Stage to the Sanctuary 

By DavidJohnFarinella 

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. 

A live installation system is just as intimidating, 

considering the issues are similar — 

dealing with acoustics, fidelity demands, 

flexibility concerns — but an installer doesn’t 

have the ability to adjust on the fly like an engineer 

does on a day-by-day basis. 

It’s enough to make the average person 

quake in their Keds, yet David Lawler 

and Craig Doubet have enough experience 

in both markets to approach the challenge 

with confidence. The duo has an impressive 

set of FOH mixing credits including Diana 

Krall, Michael Bublé, k.d. lang, Luis Miguel 

and dozens of others. They’ve also handled 

design/install projects for the Maui Arts & 

Cultural Center, Kodak Theatre and Bass Performance 

Hall. Lawler and Doubet also count 

on Eric Laliberte, who they call a sound web 

guru and networking expert. 

“We’re the guys who have worked in 

a lot of theaters and tried a lot of things,” 

Doubet states. “We know how to answer the 

question: ‘Okay, I have this rig and I’m going 

into this room. How do I make it work?’ We 

can tell people that we’ve done it and we 

know what works.” 

Looking down the Nave from above the Chancel. 

20 

Life In the Balance FOH 

For the past couple of years, the team has 

balanced road gigs with installation assignments 

at two houses of worship in Southern 

California — Laguna Presbyterian Church in 

Laguna Beach and Templo Calvario, an Assembly 

of God church in Santa Ana. The two 

installs are as different as their style of worship, 

although both are projects that Lawler 

and Doubet were able to influence early on. 

Laguna Presbyterian Church is in the 

midst of a complete renovation and seismic 

retrofit that has taken the building all the way 

down to studs. Lawler was able to get into 

the sanctuary to analyze the acoustics of the 

room before it was demolished. 

“The reverberation time in the room 

was shorter than usual,” he reports. “We 

liked that, so we’re trying to emulate a similar 

time.” In addition to watching the design 

of the room and adding his opinion where 

possible, Lawler will be using a spray-on 

product to touch up the room’s acoustics to 

ensure the short reverberation time. That’s 

important, Lawler says, because church 

events rely so much on the spoken word 


David Lawler and Craig Doubet put 

their touring chops into HOW installs. 

where, in his opinion, a shorter reverberation 

time is crucial. 

One of the pluses of working on a project 

that is basically a new construction is the access 

to the walls for running conduit. Lawler 

and Doubet are maximizing that opportunity 

before installing a Meyer Sound Labs Constellation 

system to make sure they can get the 

speakers and microphones in the proper location 

to get adequate coverage. 

“We know how to answer the question: 

‘Okay, I have this rig and I’m going into this 

room. How do I make it work?’ We can tell 

people that we’ve done it and we know 

what works.” 


As for other gear going into the new church, 

the team is looking at smaller sized Meyer CQ 

and UPJ boxes. The two systems will be interfaced 

via the Constellation’s Matrix3 processors. 

“They have CobraNet as well as analog, 

so we will be interfacing the two together for 

certain areas where there’s coverage needed, 

but we don’t want to put double systems in,” 

he says. Examples of those areas include lobbies, 

crying rooms and under balconies. 

The FOH position will be located in the rear 

balcony, but a desk has not yet been selected 

because the team wanted to keep their options 

open. “They do have a praise band, so it 

has to be at least 32 channels,” Doubet reports. 

“They also have a need to be able to take some 


Interior of the Laguna Presbyterian Church Sanctuary before construction. 

In the midst of the renovation 

of the stuff outside and put it in a courtyard, so 

it has to be portable. We’ll probably give them 

UPJ monitors that can turn into speakers on 

stands and the console can roll out the door.” 

One of the other challenges at LPC was 

working with a large vintage pipe organ that 

was installed sometime in the late 1920s. The 

organ had to be removed during the demolition 

and the decision was made to add MIDI 

voices to it when it was reinstalled. “I did a 

giant research project on how pipe organs 

work these days,” Lawler states. “The keyboard 

is basically a high-class MIDI controller. 

Of course, mechanically that’s great because 

there is much less going on in the actual keyboard 

unit as far as maintenance and reliability 

goes.” The construction is ongoing with an 

anticipated reopening date of Easter 2009. 

Going Big FOH 

Templo Calvario is slated to open sometime 

this fall and the system that Lawler and 

Doubet are installing has to work in more of 

a commercial-style building that features a 

giant stage, flat ceiling and seating for about 

4,000 congregants. 

One of the challenges at the new space, 

Lawler reports, was ceiling height. “It’s always 

tricky trying to interface sound, lighting and 

everything else and get it high enough to not 

be in the sight lines and to have even distribution,” 

he says. 

To overcome that challenge the team selected 

Meyer M’elodie arrays. “We have lowmid 

cabinets in there as well as subwoofers so 

Beth A. Pinney

that the line array didn’t have to be so long 

to get low mid control,” Lawler explains. “We 

are actually doing it as a three-box system 

so you can high pass the line array higher 

and not have it go backwards on to the 

stage.” There will also be distributed sound, 

he adds, to cover the wide balcony. 

A console for FOH has yet to be selected, 

but Lawler points out that they are 

always thinking of ease of use when choosing 

gear. In fact, it’s rare that the two will 

spec in a piece of gear that they haven’t 

used before. “We don’t change our brands 

much, unless there is a compelling reason 

to do so,” he says. “We don’t change because 

there’s a sale on something. We are 

always open to new ideas, mind you, because 

things are changing, but I like working 

with stable companies, and equipment 

is there for a reason.” 

For the most part, he adds, their systems 

feature a short signal path that runs 

from Sennheiser and Neumann microphones 

to a console through either BSS 

Sound Web or Meyer Galileo via Rapco wiring 

to Meyer powered speakers. “There are 

not many devices in the signal path,” Lawler 

says. “That has been reliable and the results 

have been very predictable for us.” 

Doubet concurs and adds: “We try to 

make all of our installs rider-friendly, so 

we’re going to use the same stuff that people 

want to use on the road. The only difference 

is that instead of chain motors, perhaps 

there is a winch or a permanent hang. Even 

then, all of our installs are done so they can 

be taken out very easily and put back in.” 

The key to their success so far, both 

agree, is the combination of road experience 

and technical knowledge. “On tour, 

we get to use and (Meyer) SIM all brands 

of consoles, processors and speaker systems,” 

Lawler reports. “That helps us, too, 

to keep abreast of what everybody else’s 

progress is as well. We’re not just going to 

trade shows looking at it, but we’re using it. 

I think that helps us when we are advising 

people about why they should use something 

or not, because we’ve done it.” 


Laguna Presbyterian Church 

(L to R): Eric Laliberte and Dave Lawler in front of a Soundcraft Vi6 console. Architectural drawing of the new Laguna Presbyterian Church sanctuary layout. 

thirtieth Street ArchitectS PrinciPle John loomiS.


Eighth Day and Wigwam Provide the Punch for George Michael’s U.S. Swan Song. 

By BreanneGeorge 

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. 

Viva Las Vegas FOH 

The MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las 

Vegas was the third stop on Michael’s 

22-city tour, which kicked off in San Diego. 

Although not a sell-out show, loyal fans 

filled the venue, eagerly anticipating, for 

most of the 20-something crowd, their first 

George Michael concert experience. 

The set list included hits over the decades 

from Wham! (Wake Me Up Before 

You Go-Go) and solo efforts including 

dance numbers “Easier Affair and “Hard 

CREW 

FOH Engineer: Gary Bradshaw 

George Michael Monitor Engineer: Steve 

May 

Band Monitor Engineer: Simon Hall 

PA Crew Chief and FOH Technician: Don 

Parks 

Stage Technician: Guy Gillan 

Radio Technician: Bill Flugan 

PA Technician: Trevor Waite 

PA Technician: Chez Stock 

GEAR 

PA Speakers: 

Main Hang 

24 d&b J8 speakers 


Side Hang 



12 d&b Q1 speakers 

22 

Day” along with some new material. Michael’s 

stage setup was simple, yet visually 

striking, with three large curving video 

screen backdrops and three-tier balconies 

behind the stage for his band and backup 

singers. This setup allowed an unobtrusive 

view of Michael, ensuring attention never 

strayed from the star. 

FOH Engineer Gary Bradshaw first 

toured with Michael in the early ‘80s as 

monitor engineer for Wham! His resume 

as FOH engineer includes Annie Lennox, 

Depeche Mode, Simple Minds, Pink Floyd, 

Roger Waters and Bryan Ferry. For the U.S. 

tour, he is standing in for Andy “Baggy” 

Robinson, Michael’s audio consultant and 

FOH engineer. He admits that Michael 

is quite a perfectionist when it comes to 

sound. “All artists care about what they 

sound like, but George is very particular 

about his songs — he’s got amazing ears,” 

he reports. “He’s not difficult to work with, 

but he demands perfection.” 

And unlike many touring artists who 

want a raw and un-produced vibe to their 

music, Michael wants every song to sound 

identical to the studio version. 

“I’ve done those kinds of tours where a 

band won’t have a set list, will play whatever 

song they want, and you just keep up 

with them, but this tour is very specific,” he 

says. “George wants it to sound exactly like 

the CD, so we go through great lengths to 

make it sound studio-quality.” 

A DiGiCo D5 Live console at front-ofhouse 

allows Bradshaw to create a snap- 

Frontfills 


6 d&b q10 speakers 

Subwoofers 

12 d&b J series Cardioid Bass groundstacked 

6 per side, 3 cabinets high 

Monitors 

Speakers: 

2 speaker clusters flown onstage left & 

right each containing 


2 d&b J Series Cardioid Bass 

8 d&b M4 Monitor Wedges 

Amplification 

All amplifiers are d&b D12 amps 

FOH Control 

1 D5 Live DiGiCo console 

3 stage racks & 1 local rack 

3 XTA DP448 audio management 

1 Lexicon 224 

1 TC 6000 

2 Yamaha SPX990 

2 TC D2 


shot for every song, and as a result, he 

doesn’t have to remember specific cues 

for each song. When Michael starts playing 

“Careless Whisper,” for example, Bradshaw 

presses one button on the console that 

automatically resets all the reverbs, delays, 

EQs and levels. “A band member will 

be playing a particular guitar in one song 

and a different guitar in another song that 

requires unique level settings,” he says. 

“That’s all remembered in one particular 

snapshot.” 

Three Times the Charm FOH 

A total of three consoles are used on 

the tour: two DiGiCo D5 Live consoles for 

front-of-house and Michael’s monitors and 

a DiGiCo D5T to mix the band. Michael 

has his own monitor engineer, Steve May, 

who will communicate with him between 

songs and who is solely responsible for the 

singer’s mix. This allows monitor engineer 

Simon Hall to focus entirely on mixing the 

band. Because of the hidden location of 

monitorland backstage, both engineers 

rely on video cameras to see what’s happening 

on stage. 

A DiGiCo system was chosen because 

of its ability to handle the show’s large 

number of inputs — over 100 — and 15 

band members on stereo personal monitors. 

This allows May to concentrate on 

Michael’s needs without interfering with 

band mixes. “In order to accommodate the 

large number of inputs for this production,” 

adds Bradshaw, “I have had to disable the 

1 XTA SIDD 

1 TC Fireworks 

1 KT 6000 Analyser 

1 Tascam CD player 

1 HHB CDR 

1 Marantz PMD570 

1 112-channel ADL MADI recording 

system 

IEMs 

12 IEM radio systems 

9 IEM hardwire systems 

Personal Monitor Earpieces 

George Michael: Westone UM2 earpieces 

Band: Mix of Sensaphonics and Ultimate Ears 

Monitor Control 

1 DB Live DiGiCo console 

1 D5T DiGiCo console 

4 local racks and 2 stage racks 

3 Midas XL4 channel strips 

2 Midas XL 88 

2 Custom VCA faders 

1 TC EQ station 

2 Lexicon 224XL 

2 Lexicon 960 

George Michael in concert at the MGM Grand Garden 

Arena in Las Vegas 

D5 onboard effects. However, I am using no 

external dynamic processing or additional 

EQ. All the compression and equalization 

for every input is done in the desk. This has 

resulted in a very small FOH footprint that 

keeps production happy.” 

Eighth Day Sound of Highland Heights, 

Ohio, supplied d&b gear while U.K. contractor 

Wigwam Audio supplied the DiGi- 

Co consoles, control equipment and Sennheiser 

mics. The d&b gear includes two 

main speaker clusters flown left and right 

containing 12 J8 and four J12 speakers. 

Two side hang speaker clusters flown offstage 

left and right contain 10 J8 and two 

J12 speakers, while two 270-degree clusters 

flown on the extreme left and right 

contain six Q1 speakers. The stage has four 

Q7 and six Q10 speakers as front fills and 

12 J series cardioid bass ground stacked 

six per side, three cabinets high. 

The load-in started at 8 a.m. and crew 

had to be out the door by 3 a.m. to travel 

to the next gig in Phoenix, Ariz. Sound and 

lighting were setup before the stage was 

complete, a common occurrence in large 

venues. “Many times, at these large shows, 

the stage gets built down here,” Bradshaw 

says pointing to the middle of the arena, 

“and later gets pushed into place.” Bradshaw 

adds that about 50 crewmembers 

pushed the stage to the front of the arena 

where it must align precisely with the video 

screen backdrop. Once the stage is in 

place, everything gets powered and crew 

can then begin sound check. 

1 TC Fireworks 

1 Eventide Eclipse 

1 HHB CDR 

1 Marantz PMD570 

1 Samson headphone amp 

8 TC EQ stationS 

1 TC EQ station fader controller 

1 Yamaha SPX2000 

1 HHB CDR 

2 Thumper Amps 

2 Thumper Units 

1 Aviom base station 

8 Aviom outstations 

2 Rozandal World Clock Gen 

Breanne GeorGe 

Microphones 

8 Sennheiser SKM/KK104 vocals 

4 Neumann U87 drum & percussionoverhears 

1 TLA 170 Sax 

4 KM 184 Hihat, ride and congas 

2 SM 57 Snare 

4 E904 Toms 

1 E901 Kick 

1 E914 Acoustic Guitar 

24 Avalon DIs

(L to R): Simon Hall, monitor mixer for the band, and Steve 

May, monitor mixer for George Michael 

Bradshaw reports that Michael was 

late to sound check. “It didn’t look like 

George was going to show up for it,” he 

says. “We just went ahead and did a few 

songs with the band.” Michael eventually 

showed up for sound check and warmed 

up to his typical routine of songs. Because 

certain songs were more popular in America 

than Europe, Bradshaw says the set list 

for the show varies greatly from the European 

tour. “There is a huge list of songs 

— we have about 60 songs programmed 

into the D5.” 

From Wham! to Father Figure FOH 

The concert started 45 minutes after its 

scheduled 8 p.m show time, although this 

did not come as a surprise to crew. Bradshaw 

reports that Michael is notoriously 

late for almost every show — perhaps to 

make an entrance, or build anticipation, 

or allow additional time to fill seats. With 

Michael’s CD-sounding vocals and energetic 

performances throughout the twohour, 

23-song concert, there were few 

complaints from fans. The highlight of the 

tour is, without a doubt, Michael’s voice. 

At 45 years old, the range and quality of 

his voice has matured, sounding even 

stronger than it did in his younger years. 

“When we did the first couple of rehearsals, 

I was blown away,” Bradshaw says. “I 

just pushed that fader up and his voice 

was amazing — I never heard anything 

like that before. The best I’ve worked with 

in the history of my career.” 

“All artists care about what they sound like, but George is very particular 

about his songs — he’s got amazing ears. He’s not difficult to work 

with, but he demands perfection.” — FOH Engineer Gary Bradshaw 

TIM shaxson 


FOH Engineer Gary Bradshaw beside a DiGiCo D5 Live console 



2008 AUGUST 

23 


TIM shaxson

24 

Personal Monitor Earpieces Buyers Guide 

Personal Monitor Earpieces 

By Bill Evans 

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. 

Today, there are at least a half dozen companies making full-on pro custom fit personal 

monitors, and while they may look the same, the differences are huge and almost 

totally subjective. Just like some of us prefer the sound of a specific FOH speaker over 

another that may be of equal or even greater quality, the best personal monitor for 

you depends on, well, you. But there are a few things to look for. Extended frequency 

response. Removable cables, so that if a cable goes bad you can replace just the cable. 

Comfort and fit are huge and very subjective. 

While all of the big companies will work with you to make your PMs fit as well as 

Custom Fit 


possible, some brands extend farther into the ear canal than others, and some people 

prefer the material used by one company over another. It is totally subjective. The PMs 

I really like, you may hate, and vice versa. Sometimes your best bet as a MON engineer 

is to go with whatever your “star” is using so you hear the same thing he or she does 

in the mix. 

But the coolest trend of the past few years has little to do with the pro market. 

The folks who make these products are not stupid and they know they can sell a hell 

of a lot more to iPod users than they can sticking just to the pros. And some of these 

“pro-sumer” models are pretty damn good. It is a lot easier to have three or four sets of 

universal fit PMs in your briefcase than it is to pop for multiple custom jobs at $500 per 

and up, plus the cost of impressions shot by an audiologist. 

The following list is more than the tip of the iceberg, but it is still only a chunk. 

More lies below the surface, but it gives you a place to start. 

Company Make/Model Price Frequency Response 

Future Sonics 

www.futuresonics.com 

Livewires 

livewiresforyou.com 

Sensaphonics 

www.sensaphonics.com 

Shure Incorporated 

www.shure.com 

Ultimate Ears 

www.ultimateears.com 

Westone 

www.westone.com 

Universal Fit 

Input Sensitivity 

(dB @ 30 Hz/1 mW) 

Ear Monitors brand $898.00 20 Hz - 20,000 Hz 112 dB @ 30 Hz/1 mW 

Livewires $249.00 20 Hz-16,500 Hz 119 dB/mW 

2MAX $850.00 20 Hz-16 kHz 105 dB-SPL @ 0.1 V 

3D-1 Active Ambient $2,000.00 20 Hz-20 kHz 124 dB max SPL (500 Hz) 

SCL5 Sound Isolating Earphones $479.00 20Hz-18.5kHz 122 dB SPL/mW (@ 1 kHz) 

SCL3 Sound Isolating Earphones $179.00 25 Hz-18.5 kHz 115 dB SPL/mW (@ 1 kHz) 

Custom UE 11 Pro $1,150.00 10 Hz-16,500 Hz 119 dB @ 1mW 

ES2 Custom Fit In-Ear Musicians’ 

Monitors 

$650.00 20 Hz-18 kHz 119 dB/mW 

Company Make/Model Price Frequency Response 

Audio-Technica U.S., Inc. 

www.audio-technica.com 

Carvin Corp 

www.carvin.com 

Etymotic Research, Inc. 

www.etymotic.com 

Future Sonics 

www.futuresonics.com 

M-Audio 

www.m-audio.com 

Sennheiser 

www.sennheiserusa.com 

Ultimate Ears 

www.ultimateears.com 

Westone 

www.westone.com 

Input Sensitivity 

(dB @ 30 Hz/1 mW) 

EP3 In-Ear Headphones $139.00 18-18,000 Hz 100 dB 

EM902 $39.99 20-20 kHz 114 dB/mW 

ER-4P $299.00 20 Hz-16 kHz 104 dB SPL 

Atrio professional earphones 

(rev. 2) 

$199.00 18 Hz - 20,000 Hz 112 dB @ 30 Hz/1 mW 

IE-30 $299.95 20 Hz-16 kHz 119 dB/mW 

IE-40 $499.95 20 Hz-16 kHz 117 dB/mW 

Sennheiser $89.95 18-21,000 Hz 112 dB @ 1 kHZ, 1V rms 

Super.fi 5 $169.99 15 Hz-15 kHz 115 dB SPL/mW at 1 kHz 

UM2 True-Fit Dual Driver 

Earphones 

$299.00 20 Hz-18 kHz 119 dB/mW

Westone UM2 


Westone ES2 Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 EB 

Isolation Cable Length, Connector Type Type and Number of Drivers 

21 dB +/- 

50” (64” optional); 1/8” gold stereo 

mini-connector 

MG4plus FS proprietary single dynamic 

Up to 25 dB 50” cable Dual-balanced armature 

Up to 37 dB 50” stereo mini-plug 2, balanced armature 

Up to 37 dB 

Gray Soft Flex: 30 dB (90% of ambient 

noises) 37 dB (93% of ambient noise) 

Gray Soft Flex: 30 dB (90% of ambient 

noise), Foam Sleeves: 37dB (93% of 

ambient noise) 

52” propietary dual-stereo miniplug 

(Memory-Fit Cable) 61”, 1/8” connector 

SCL3-K: 56”, SCL3-GR: 62”, SCL3-W: 

62”, 1/8”connector 

1, custom balanced armature 

Dual Low Mass High Energy Drivers (dedicated high-definition tweeter and woofer drivers 

couple with an inline crossover) 

WideBand microdriver (Single Low Mass High Energy Driver) 

26 dB 46” or 64”, 1/8”, gold-plated 4 proprietary balanced armatures with an integrated three way crossover 

25 dB 

50” removable cable, 3.5 mm stereo 

jack 

2 balanced armature drivers 

Isolation Cable Length, Connector Type Type and Number of Drivers 

N/A 1.1 m (3.6 ft) locking TRS 3.5 mm Dynamic (1) 

23 dB 58” Single 

36 dB triple-flange; 42 dB foam eartips. 5’ cable; 3.5 mm w/ 1/4” adapter incl. Single driver; balanced-armature 

26 dB +/- depending on fit option 

26 dB 

26 dB 

Shure Incorporated SCL5 Sound Isolating Earphones 

1.3 m QuietCable II; 1/8” gold stereo miniconnector 

46” cable, gold plated 1/8” input connector 

with 1/4” adapter 

46” cable, gold plated 1/8” input connector 

with 1/4” adapter 

MG5pro FS proprietary single dynamic 

Dual-armature driver 

Triple-armature driver 

N/A 20” (right) 7” left to center/2.8’ to plug Dynamic, closed, single driver 

26 dB 46”, 1/8”, gold-plated Single driver: proprietary balanced top fire armature 

20-25 dB 50”, 3.5 mm stereo jack 2 balanced armature drivers 

2008 AUGUST 

Carvin EM902 

25

26 

Road Test 

Waves MaxxBCL 

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. 

The Gear rt 

The Maxx BCL is a serious piece of hardware. 

Two rack spaces and it’s hefty — some 

of my power amps weigh less. The short version 

is that the BCL combines the MaxxBass 

system with a compressor and limiter. The idea 

is more low end and total signal level without 

increasing distortion. Bottom line is a louder 

mix with at least the perception of more bass. 

According to Waves, the guys mixing acts including 

Gwen Stefani and Metallica are using 

them as part of their system. 

A quick note: The BCL is every bit as useful 

in the studio as it is onstage, which I will get 

into later. The reason I bring it up now is that 

the first controls you will see on the front panel 

are for choosing sample and bit rates, which 

comes up in recording more often than live. 

Next are four preset buttons for saving and re- 

calling a few scenes for different purposes and 

the compressor, which has all of the controls 

you would expect, plus the addition of both 

opto and electro modes. Your choice. 

The next section is the MaxxBass, which 

is what I mostly used this for live. The idea — 

apparently it has been around for years and 

organ makers used something similar — is 

to increase perceived bass without actually 

increasing low-frequency energy. In other 

words, more thump without the risk of blowing 

your drivers. Finally, we have a limiter that 

allows you to goose overall program volume. 

A nice touch is that all of the meters are backlit 

so you can see them under a wider range of 

lighting conditions. 

The back panel has all of your inputs 

and outputs, both digital and analog. Digital 

formats cover the gamut — S/PDIF, AES and 

optical in both lightpipe and coaxial flavors. 

Input on the analog side is a pair of Neutrik 

combo jacks and outputs are XLR and balanced 

1/4” TRS. 

The BCL combines the MaxxBass 

system with a compressor and limiter. 

The idea is more low end and total signal 

level without increasing distortion. 

Bottom line is a louder mix with at least 

the perception of more bass. 

The Gig rt 

My first use was in my studio where I noticed 

an immediate difference — a huge difference. 

Mixes using the BCL sounded richer 

throughout the entire range — not just in 

the low end, which is what I expected. I actually 

had to be reminded several times that we 

needed to take this out on a couple of gigs because 

I really did not want to take it out of the 

studio rack. 

JLH AxeTrak 

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 Gear rt 

I’ve been searching near and far to 

find a solution that works for me at frontof-house 

and keeps my musicians happy 

at the same time. In comes the AxeTrak. 

At first glance, this little guy looks rather 

unassuming. It’s a box that’s about onesquare-foot 

with a quarter-inch speaker 

jack and an XLR on the side of it. Inside is 

a custom-designed speaker and microphone 

diaphragm. 

It’s as easy to use as it sounds. You 

connect the speaker output of any amp, 

whether a combo or just a head, to the 

speaker jack on the AxeTrak. Next, you 

take the mic cable for your guitar mic 

and plug it in. Turn on the amp and play. 

It’s as simple as that. Said and done, it 

only makes about 65 dB of ambient 

noise. Away goes my stage volume, but 

we don’t have to sacrifice the tone because 

it’s still a speaker with a mic. 

The Gig rt 

Our church is fairly large. A sanctuary 

that can seat up to 3,000, but on any 

given Sunday we’ll have between 1,500 

and 2,000 in attendance. The room is a 

Waves MaxxBCL 


When I finally pulled it out it was for a large 

outdoor gig. I have a city client that does several 

festivals throughout the year, and this one 

had 25,000 people in attendance for a very 

good classic rock cover band onstage. 

While we were setting up the system, we 

inserted the BCL and put on a Madonna track 

known for huge low end. Now, my systems are 

never under-boxed when it comes to subs. I 

own a bunch of Quake cabinets and the truth 

is that I have more of an issue with my namebrand 

top boxes keeping up with the subs than 

the other way around. So, I may not be the best 

candidate for this system, but I can tell you that 

with the sub level dialed in at less than half of 

what it normally is, we had all of the bass we 

needed. But more tellingly, the amps were not 

working as hard as they usually do and the drivers 

were nowhere near over-excursion. 

It comes down to this. For me, the Maxx 

BCL is better in my studio where I love it and 

don’t want to take it out of. But then I am, if 

anything, over-boxed on subs on nearly every 

rig that goes out the door. But I can see a real 

use for this if you are under-boxed or under- 

gigantic concrete box with an openbeam 

ceiling. I liken it to mixing in a 

huge fish bowl — reflection everywhere. 

Our pastor has asked that we mix frontof-house 

at around 95 dB; however, our 

stage volume is typically 97+ dB. I told 

my guys we needed to fix this and they 

were willing to work with me. 

I called up Jeff at JLH Products. It’s so 

cool when you call to order something 

and you actually talk to the guy that made 

it. I said, "I saw your product on the Internet 

and I want try it out. How soon can 

I get it?" He said, "You're with a church? 

I’ll ship it tomorrow." We went over the 

particulars: You can order the device in 

whatever ohm load matches your current 

setup so that there's as little change 

to your tone as possible. I decided on 8 

ohms because that’s what both of my guitar 

players use. Jeff shipped them and I 

had them in two days. No joke, two days. I 

actually got service and the guy was cool 

By LarryHall 

powered when it comes to the low end. I can 

also see it as a way to protect your system on 

bass-heavy hip-hop and dance gigs. If the 

perceived amount of bass is where the client 

and crowd want it, and your boxes and amps 

are not on the edge of meltdown, it is a good 

thing. The Maxx BCL is not cheap. But if you 

factor in the cost of replacing amps and drivers 

when someone pushes the system past 

its limits it does not look quite so pricey. 

Waves MaxxBCL 

What It Is: Bass enhancement, compressor 

and limiter. 

Who It’s For: Rental companies that 

could use a few more subs and pretty 

much any serious studio. 

Pros: Sounds great and very easy to 

use. Could save your drivers in the 

right situation. Made every mix I used 

it on sound better. 

Cons: Pricey. 

How Much: $2,499. 

By JamesElizando 

over the phone. He even gave me a shirt 

and hat just for ordering his product. 

I unpack these cute little guys and 

I’m already thinking of some clever story 

to tell my guys about how they are going 

to sound. Quite frankly, they don’t look 

like they are going to have the fat sound 

that a guitar player is used to. I walk into 

the rehearsal with what looks like my 

lunch in my hand and say, “Here we go 

guys, this is an AxeTrak.” The look could 

burn a hole in lead. 

I plug it in, fingers crossed, and head 

up to front-of-house. We used it on a Vox 

AC30 with a Telecaster. He starts playing 

and I wonder if it works because I 

can’t hear anything at FOH. I look at the 

channel and I see a strong signal. I say a 

prayer, un-mute it, and slowly push up 

the fader. What to all of our wondering 

ears should appear but the sound of 

Mike’s guitar just as it’s sounded for the 

last two years. We unplug the AxeTrak,

Peavey Versarray 112 

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. 

The Gear rt 

Each cabinet in the array weighs in at 53 lbs. 

Construction is 13-ply Baltic birch. Drivers are 

a 12” neo Black Widow with a dual-4” voice 

coil and two ribbons to handle the highs. The 

specs say the box will go down to 100 Hz and 

you can put as many as 18 in a single array — 

although the system is really meant for small 

to medium venues, and you are more likely 

to see between four and eight boxes on most 

gigs. 

The rigging allows for full articulation from 

0 to 15 degrees between each box in 2.5-degree 

increments, which allows for a multitude 

of array-shape options. And a Versarrayspecific 

version of EASE is downloadable from 

Peavey, as are project presets for Versarray 

systems for the Peavey VSX 26 loudspeaker 

manager, which was used on this gig. All input 

connectors are four-pin Neutrik Speakons. 

For the larger of the two stages, Dave used 

a flybar and hung six boxes per side over three 

Peavey 218 subs. All amps were Crest (5200 series 

on the highs and 8200 series on the subs). 

For the smaller stage in the VIP tent, it was 

three-over-two with the top boxes “groundstacked” 

on top of the subs. 

One of the nice things about this system 

is that you have plenty of options for flying 

or stacking, and Peavey provides the gear 

to make it happen. If you need to fly a small 

listen to the amp and plug it back in 

again. PERFECT! Right out of the box it 

sounds just like his AC30. My sigh of relief 

could be heard around the world. 

The boys at JLH have also added two 

other features to help you if you need it. 

There’s a port on the side of the box. Removing 

the cover helps create more lowend 

if desired. Also, there’s a high-end 

roll off switch on the box. I didn’t need 

to use either of them — I just plugged 

it in and it worked great. It was a solved 

problem right out of the box. 

Without the guitar volume on stage, 

I was able to turn everything else down 

and now my stage volume is 88 dB at 

FOH. I can mix the service at our pastors 

desired level without having to sacrifice 

the quality of our sound. For a relatively 

small price tag, it’s the best solution I’ve 

run across for this problem. 

If you mix in a large church like I do or 

you have a small church, I would recom- 

system, you can get six boxes up to 13 feet in 

the air without worrying about Genie Lifts or 

chain motors. A crankable Vermette lift, available 

from Peavey, will do the job and fold flat 

to fit in the truck. 

The Gig rt 

I was invited to go hear the Peavey Versarray 

112 when the McGraw tour came to USA- 

NA amphitheater in Salt Lake City. I spent the 

day working with Albro on the Frito StyleSonic 

StageLine SL100 stage and the VIP Tent stage. 

(Side note: While this Road Test is specifically 

on the Versarray 112, Peavey and Crest Audio 

manufactured nearly all of the gear on these 

stages. This is a real turnkey rig.) 

I arrived just in time to help setup the 

SL100 and then fly the six boxes per side over 

three groundstacked 218 subs. I could easily 

lift a box and — unlike some more expensive 

systems — it was a piece of cake to array and 

to fly. Pins slid right in with a minimum of “adjustment” 

(isn’t that what you call the all to 

common act of shaking the array back and 

forth until the pin you are trying to insert lines 

up with the proper hole?). 

The band on the SL100 was a veteran 

country act with both male and female vocalists. 

The band was made up of a drummer, 

pedal steel guitar, bass and electric/acoustic 

guitar in addition to the vocalists. The audience 

ranged from about 500 to 2,000 people 

gathered around the stage where the performance 

took place two hours prior to the main 

show. 

The stage was near a beer garden, so the 

audience size varied quite a bit, and the system 

proved more than adequate for the coverage 

area. In fact, Albro had to keep the top two 

boxes and one of the subs per side turned off 

during the show. If he had not done this than 

the sound would have carried too far into the 

other areas of the amphitheater. The sound 

pressure level at 50 feet was exceeding 100 dB, 

so this system can keep up with loud bands. 

OK, the big question we all want answered… 

How does it sound? It sounds really 

good. Plenty of clarity on the top and tons of 

mend the AxeTrak to anyone. It flat-out 

rocks. They also offer the AxeTrak in a version 

for bass as well as a 3x12, 1x12 and 

bass cab with 3 6s and a 15. Jeff and his 

team did their homework on the AxeTrak 

and it really shows. 

JLH AxeTrak 

What It Is: Sort of a direct box for 

guitar amps. Sort of. 

Who It’s For: Anyone who needs to 

control stage volume without sacrificing 

tone. 

Pros: Small and easy to hide, Easy to 

use. Great tone right out of the box. 

Cons: You can’t create controlled feedback. 

They don’t make one for every 

instrument on the stage. 

Price: $399 (Factory Direct). 


punch on the bottom coverage and sound 

was consistent on both systems. 

I was very impressed with how the Versarray 

system worked and sounded. These musicians 

expected tour-grade equipment and a 

professional sound and they got it. Especially 

with the small size and myriad mounting options, 

I can see this system in schools, churches 

and other smaller venues both as a rental and 

installed. As the owner of an anklebiter company, 

I would heartily recommend this system 

to anyone that needs a solid, road-worthy system 

that is affordable and can be purchased 

from one vendor. 


What It Is: Compact line array. 

Who It’s For: Smaller sound companies 

trying to get into the line array 

game and smaller HOW-type installs. 

Pros: Solid construction, lightweight, 

easy to rig, sounds good. 

Cons: None. 

How Much: $1,599 per box MSRP; 

$1,749.99 for the Versarray 218 sub. 


JLH AxeTrak 

Road Test 

By PaulOverson 

2008 AUGUST 

27

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.” 

Oh, so you’re heating and cooling… 

“I should get this out of the way: When 

I started Thermal Relief Design in Vegas, 

I was doing a lot of PCB design 

for manufacturers. A ‘thermal relief ’ is 

a PCB term for a pad that is ‘relieved’ 

from a large copper area to aid PCB 

soldering. And since we’re in one of 

the hottest cities in the country (it’s 

just dry heat, though...), I thought the 

name fit us. To this day, you won't believe 

how many people call us to ask if 

we repair air conditioners.” 

Services provided: Thermal Relief 

services most pro audio equipment 

manufactured today, all the way from 

large format digital consoles to Switch 

Mode Pulse Width Modulation Amplifiers. 

In Las Vegas, they are known as 

the “Guitar Amplifier Specialists” as 

all the music stores send their broken 

amps to them. Even the local techs 

look them up when they are stumped. 

Full-time employees: Four who occupy 

tech benches and do double 

duty with reception, shipping/receiving, 

office management and Web site 

design. 

Current clients served include: Big: 

Clair Brothers, Delicate Productions 

and Solotech. Local and regional: New 

World Audio, HAS Productions and 

Soundsmith; and everything in between. 

28 

Vital Stats 

Tony Marra 

of Thermal Relief Design 

By Kevin M.Mitchell 

First gig of note: “The 1977 Rod Stewart 

Tour. One day I went straight from 

installing discotheques in Buffalo to 

setting up the PA for 20,000-seat auditoriums 

for Rod’s 1977 National Tour.” 

Recent company highlight: Making 

payroll again this month. 

Badge of honor: “I survived with my 

hearing intact after serving three years 

on the road as house engineer for Ted 

Nugent (1977-1980).” 

Why the hoopla? “We are deeply concerned 

about customer satisfaction. 

Our motto from Vince Lombardi is posted 

in everyone’s workspace: ‘We are 

going to relentlessly chase perfection, 

knowing full well we will not catch it, 

because nothing is perfect. But we are 

going to relentlessly chase it, because 

in the process, we will catch excellence. 

I am not remotely interested in just being 

good.’” 

PERSONAL 

Home front: Wife and “volunteer” bookkeeper, 

Lori; son, Joseph; and Sisco, the Bassett 

Hound. 

People might be surprised to know: “I still 

cry every time I see Mrs. Jumbo taken away 

from Dumbo the flying elephant.” 

“If I could tell my younger self one thing, 

it would be... Quit being curious about 

how stuff works and be more conscious of 

how much you can sell it for. There’s more 

money in sales than service.” 

“Best part about my job is... I’m the boss, 

and I can come in whenever I like, leave whenever 

I like and take days off whenever I like.” 

Rick Hahn 


TRD staff (L to R): Roy Page, Erika Earl, Tony Marra and Rick Hahn 

“Biggest drag about my job is... I’m the 

boss, so I gotta be here first in the morning, 

be the last to leave at night and work seven 

days a week, 52 weeks a year.” 

“If and when I get on vacation, you’ll find 

me... in a lonely mountain stream fly fishing 

for brook trout.” 

“My pet peeve about live concerts is… 

tickets have gotten too expensive. It’s hard 

for the young kids to be exposed to real live 

music as opposed to CDs and MP3s when 

concert tickets are so expensive.” 

“The best concert I probably ever saw 

was... in 1980, Pink Floyd performing The 

Tony Marra, owner/founder of Thermal Relief Design, Inc. 

Erika Earl 

Wall in Los Angeles, Calif.” 

“What CD is in my car right now… nothing 

because my CD player is broken. But if 

it was working, I’d be listening to Jimi Hendrix, 

Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robin Trower and 

Kenny Wayne Shepherd.” 

“In the kitchen, I make a mean... pasta 

sauce. Load it on some of my homemade 

manicottis and meatballs and you’d think 

you died and went to heaven.” 

Words to live by: “Do what has to be 

done, when it has to be done, as well as 

it can be done, and do it that way every 

time.”

30 

Welcome To My Nightmare 

Anklebiter or Stuntman? 

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 

task at hand... rain. Fortunately, plastic 

trash bags make wonderful speaker covers, 

and as the mist passed, the band be- 

the back of my Toyota Prius. We were loadgan 

to show. After attempting to reassure 

ing for a venue that did not provide park- 

the band, apparently "the hottest band in 

ing, and a rooftop gig meant a very small 

town,” about the power concerns, they be- 

amount of gear. Of course, I was reassured 

gan their pre-show ritual of whiskey and 

there was an elevator. Fortunately, years of 

beer and said, "just make it f***in’ loud 

experience told me to look at this venue 

man!" And loud we made it. This was one 

the night before, which by the way was just 

of those rare moments when I told the gui- 

about an hour after I got the call to do the 

tarist to turn it to 11 and stay there, and 

gig. Yup, no elevator! 

the bass let it all out because my little PA 

Friday night, I arrived at the location 

is for the vocal and a bit of drums! 

and began to carry my orange Home Depot 

After reaching a 110 dB on an open 

buckets of cables and connectors up four 

air rooftop and finding out the music was 

flights of steps, only to find another artist 

heard during a pro basketball game three 

playing in my setup time. After a brief yet 

blocks away, I felt complete in my journey. 

intense discussion with the owner, I was 

Alas, the party for the little spoiled rich girl 

reassured that the artist would be finished 

ended, cables were packed back up in our 

only an hour after I was supposed to be 

orange buckets, four flights of stairs were 

setup. Then I began to address the issues 

descended many times with all the gear, 

of a one-power outlet on the roof for a 

attempting not to run down the drunks 

four-piece rock band. He just shrugged his 

in the way, and the Toyota Prius was re- 

shoulders and said it's not his problem and 

covered from a parking garage six blocks 

don't run any extension cords on the floor 

away. In the end, the promoter was happy, 

or down the stairs. 

power for my board and two small amps, orange bucket and pulled out yet another the owner could have cared less, the music 

After looking fervently for options, I no- but the one plug on stage would never be length of manna from heaven and tied the was loud, and no anklebiters were harmed 

ticed a frozen margarita machine behind a enough for the guitar and bass amps that 10-gauge cord around the young warrior’s performing stunts in search of power. But 

makeshift bar. Lo and behold, I saw a plug would soon be arriving. 

waist and said “JUMP – it'll hold you if you as we left the venue, I couldn't help but 

sitting behind it amongst the bags of trash I looked over the horizon to the roof of fall!” And so he jumped, and yes, the young- wonder how long it would be until they 

and whatnot. I pull out my trusty 10-gauge the building next to me and saw the founster made it safely to the building holding figured out why the margarita machine 

extension cord and ever so covertly find my tain of AC attached to the neighbor’s HVAC the treasure we sought. 

wasn't working! 

way to the source of glorious power. After unit. Oh, glorious day! I did what any good- After disguising our power among 

disguising my cord in the rafters and over natured and resourceful tech would do… I the remnants of an old satellite dish, the Paul Kocel 

doorframes, I diverted my attention to the grabbed the young grunt helping me and youngster made his way down one fire es- Soul Fuel Music 

next dilemma... more power! I now had pointed out his destiny. I reached into my cape and up another to return to the next Denver, CO 

In The Trenches 

Danny Leake 

FOH Engineer 

Urban Guerrilla Engineers 

Chicago, IL 

312-310-0475 

www.urban-guerrilla-engineers.com 

DRLUrbanG@aol.com 

Services Provided: FOH/live recording. 

Clients: Dennis DeYoung (Styx), currently 

FOH for the Stevie Wonder’s 2008 “A Wonder 

Summer's Night” U.S. tour, upcoming FOH 

for Stevie's European and Australian tours. 

Quote: "Painting pictures with sound." 

Personal Info: Forty years in the business, 

20 in recording studios, expert at integrating 

orchestras with high volume rhythm 

sections (Rock and R&B). 

Hobbies: History, science fiction, aviation, books. 

Equipment: Midas Heritage 3000 (two of them on the Stevie Wonder tour). 

Don’t leave home without: “My Massenburg GML 8200 Parametric EQ, SPL Transient Designer 

and Cranesong STC8 Compressor.” 


WHERE WHERE IS THE 

*@%#ING *@%#ING INPUT? INPUT? 

We can’t print ‘em if you don’t send ‘em! 

We want to hear from ALL our DIE-HARD 

readers out there! Don’t be shy... 

Send your complaints, 

ideas and plans for 

world domination to: 

bevans@fohonline.com

By SteveLaCerra 

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. 

How It Works TBE 

A test signal is played through the 

loudspeakers and captured using a 

measurement microphone, preferably 

placed at the mix position. The room 

correction system analyzes the loudspeaker/room 

response, compares it to 

the known response of the speakers and 

the measurement microphone, and then 

applies equalization to correct for the 

deficiencies of the acoustic space. This 

is not far off from the concept of shooting 

a room with pink noise, analyzing 

the results with a real-time spectrum 

analyzer (RTA) and applying inverse EQ, 

with say, a 31-band graphic. 

Of course, the possibility that the average 

Joe owns (and understands how 

to use) an RTA are slim, so loudspeaker 

manufacturers such as Dynaudio Acoustics, 

Genelec and JBL started building 

studio monitors incorporating active 

electronics and on-board DSP with the 

ability to play a test signal (either noise 

or a series of blips and bleeps) and automate 

this process so that user error can 

be avoided. In some cases, the results 

can be a startling improvement over the 

uncorrected response of the speaker. 

At least two audio manufacturers 

are marketing real-time room correction 

systems designed to work with any 

loudspeaker system. ARC from IK Multimedia 

runs real-time software in the 

form of a DAW plug-in to correct room 

response. ARC gets “plugged in” on the 

master L/R bus of say, a Pro Tools session, 

working in real time to correct 

changes in the room response. If you are 

mixing a song and an entire band steps 

into the control room and squeezes into 

the mix position, ARC recognizes the 

fact that the high-frequency response 

in the listening area has changed and 

compensates. 

What Is CONEQ? TBE 

CONEQ (CONvolution Equalization) 

from Real Sound Lab is a correction 

technology that can be employed in 

sound reinforcement systems to apply 

real-time room correction based upon 

the acoustic power frequency response 

of an audio system. Traditional acoustic 

measurement systems analyze sound 

pressure level (SPL) of sound waves at 

specific frequencies. So, if the system 

Correct Yourself 

recognizes a 4.5 dB peak in the response 

at 3.15 kHz, a complementary cut is applied 

at the same frequency. The issue 

here is that an SPL measurement is 

made at a single point in space. CONEQ 

analyzes the sound field produced by 

the loudspeaker rather than the response 

at a specific point. In a process 

that takes only several minutes, CONEQ 

measures hundreds of points in a listening 

area, integrates these measurement 

points into a composite response plot 

using a proprietary algorithm, creates 

a high-resolution, inverse-response correction 

curve, and applies that curve to 

the speaker or speaker array to flatten 

its response. 

The CONEQ measurement process 

is facilitated using CONEQ WORKSHOP 

software, run on any PC. The software 

provides a rapidly repeating sweptsine 

wave for the test signal. This signal 

is generated from your computer’s 

sound card and sent to the audio system. 

While it is being played, the microphone 

is slowly moved through the 

coverage pattern of the speaker and the 

software acquires measurement data at 

several hundred physical points. Real 

Sound Lab has a list of recommended 


sound cards and microphones so that 

measurements may be taken accurately, 

and sample rates may be user-defined 

to comply with the capabilities of the 

sound card. 

Measurable Results TBE 

After the measurement process has 

been completed, CONEQ WORKSHOP 

software interprets the data and creates 

a 4,096-point correction filter as well as a 

graph depicting the acoustic power frequency 

response of the loudspeaker. Res- 

olution of the correction curve may be 

increased or decreased to fit user needs, 

and multiple measurement sequences 

can be combined to balance the spectral 

response of left, right, center, surround 

and even delay fill loudspeakers. 

Though a PC is always required to run 

CONEQ WORKSHOP for the measurement 

process and to generate the correction 

curve, this mega-filter set can be 

applied to the audio system in two ways 

depending upon the application. In the 

case of a PC-based recording/playback 

system, an engineer would use the 

software-based CONEQ P1 Equalizer or A1 

Equalizer. When used with a traditional 

PA system that may not incorporate a PC, 

The Bleeding Edge 

the data gathered in the measurement 

process is uploaded to non-volatile 

memory onboard the CONEQ APEQ- 

2PRO, a two-channel hardware box that 

hosts the CONEQ correction process 

and allows it to be applied to any sound 

reinforcement system. 

Some of the benefits claimed by Real 

Sound Lab when using CONEQ include 

increased sonic realism and improved 

intelligibility, with a reduction in feedback 

— and indeed their demonstrations 

support these claims. In addition 

CONEQ (CONvolution Equalization) from Real Sound Lab 

is a correction technology that can be employed in sound 

reinforcement systems. 

to CONEQ’s basic algorithm (intended to 

create flat response), the system may be 

used to target specific curves. For example, 

CONEQ could flatten the response 

of a computer’s sound card to improve 

measurement accuracy, compensate 

for deviations in the measurement microphone 

itself, or apply a preferred 

“house” EQ curve. It could possibly be 

used to make one type of loudspeaker 

sound nearly indistinguishable from another. 

Hmmm… 

Steve “Woody” La Cerra is once again out 

on tour this summer mixing front-of-house 

for Blue Öyster Cult. He can be reached via 

email at Woody@fohonline.com. 

2008 AUGUST 

31 


32 

Regional Slants 

(L to R): Tom Kneisel, Tony Baldwin, Scotty Matzinger, President Bill Robison, Vice President Todd 

Mitchell, Cliff Fuller, Jessica Lerum, Ken Mille, Joe Gilreath and Jeremiah Majo 

Bill Robison got into the sound business while working with some of the hardest working 

musicians in the Midwest. It was the mid-1980s and the bar band business was booming 

with bands calling for relatively sophisticated PA and lighting rigs. 

As his reputation grew he added a couple more bands, tossed in a DJ or two, bought 

some more gear and then started answering the phone using the name Great Lakes Sound. 

In the 20 years since, Robison has been at the helm as Great Lakes Sound has evolved 

from a local music sound company to a supplier of corporate events at the Edward Jones 

Dome in St. Louis to a provider of services when political candidates roll through town. 

Expanding that base has been crucial to the success and longevity of the company, 

Atlanta Sound & Lighting crew (L to R): Sean Henry, Scott Waterbury, Bill Abner, Kate Halsey, 

Mike Ertle, Brian Hatten, Steve Stapleton. Not pictured: Jesse Launder, Chris Motta, Tom 

Smith II, Rich Henry and Jon Waterbury. 

Scott Waterbury had big plans that included nights standing on a stage entertaining legions 

of fans while playing bass in a band. So, what happened? “A friend of mine asked 

me to do sound for this new band in the late ‘70s,” he recalls. “Ever hear of Return to Forever? 

I got my first view of Stanley Clarke and I realized I wasn’t going to be the best bass player in 

the world, so I’d have to move on to something else.” 

Then Waterbury laughs, because his second choice was starting Atlanta Sound and 

Lighting, and that hasn’t turned out to shabby. “No,” he admits. “I’m the luckiest guy on the 

planet.” ASL started off supplying backline to bands in the area; Waterbury got into audio 

AUGUST 2008 


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. 

By DavidJohnFarinella 

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. 

Great Lakes Sound 

Robison says. “If you had asked me 15 years ago where our customer base was, it would 

have been centered around a much smaller number of clients,” he says. “Today, I would like 

to say that maybe our largest client is somewhere around 10 percent of our business, which 

is, I think, pretty comfortable. I value all of my clients, but I certainly don’t want to feel that if 

I lose one client, I am going to go out of business.” 

Robison has also guided the company through a series of equipment purchases, including 

a recent move into digital scenery and media server technology as well as creating 

smaller equipment packages. “We figure that every five years of so you almost have to restart 

your game plan,” Robison explains of the shift into a new service. “Technology evolves 

so fast and what the customer is looking for changes. If we don’t make changes we’re going 

to stagnate.” 

The move was also made with an eye toward today’s economy, reports Vice President 

Todd Mitchell. “Obviously, the economy is not doing as it once was, and if we can offer customers 

smaller packages, like smaller sound systems, LED lighting and digital scenery, then 

great,” he says. “The big concert and festival market sucks right now, and on top of that there 

are people that are willing to go out and do things for pennies on the dollar. So, for us it was 

reinventing a new way of doing things. Obviously, we’ve still got a lot of horsepower back 

there in terms of audio systems, and we do use them, but we’re just trying to be more intelligent 

with our approaches to things.” 

Robison and Mitchell also continue to focus on the needs of companies in the northwest 

region of Ohio. “It’s good to look at the big regional touring market and what they 

are doing, but frankly we’re on a much smaller regional level. So, for us it’s a little different,” 

Mitchell says. “We like to spend our dollars wisely, and the past couple of years it’s been 

about educating the staff and trying to take a foundation of the business and make it stronger 

and more stable.” 

Atlanta Sound & Lighting 

because he was consistently coming home disappointed after hearing a band live. “I’d say, 

‘Oh, man, that ruined it for me.’ So, we based our company on what’s best for the audience, 

then the artist and then the promoter,” he explains. “The audience wants to hear good 

sound, so we’re always going to push in that direction.” 

The company works in a number of markets these days, including entertainment, event, 

some corporate and a little bit of touring. In fact, some ASL staffers recently returned from a 

short five-city jaunt supporting an act that producer Dallas Austin is creating. 

One of the ways that Waterbury is giving back to the Atlanta community, and building 

some good word of mouth, is by donating lighting and a not-so-seasoned engineer to a 

local band who is appearing on a local television show. “It works out because the engineer 

gets experience and the band gets stuff they normally couldn’t afford,” he says. “We have 

a solid program for helping up-and-coming artists.” 

Over the years, the company has grown to include sound and lighting, but Waterbury 

only made the move into illumination grudgingly. “The guy we were getting lights 

from was renting them to our customers for less than he would rent them to me,” he 

reports. “I said to him, ‘Treat me fair or I’ll have to get into lighting, too.” He didn’t, so I got 

into lighting. It was a really good move for us, though.” 

To date, Waterbury has resisted getting into video. “Of course, that means I’ve avoided 

some good pay checks,” he jokes, “but there are only so many things you can excel at, don’t 

you think? I just haven’t met the video guy that’s like us.” 

To Waterbury, the term “like us” is crucial and it’s one of the main factors why he 

believes he’s been in business for 30 years now. “I mentioned I’m the luckiest guy in 

the world and that’s because I attract some of the nicest people on the planet,” he 

says. “I really get some of the nicest people working for me. They want to do a good 

job and they understand customer service.”

LD Systems crew Mike Graham and Carlos Olivares on the Hinder tour. 

There are a lot of things to do in high school, some of them legal and some of 

them make a kid a bit of dough. It’s rare, though, that 30 years later a kid is doing 

the same thing he did during those post wonder years. 

Andy DiRaddo is one of those rarities, since he started a little audio company 

with friend John Larson while the two were in high school that’s become LD Systems 

in Houston. Even after Larson left to join the armed services, and Rob McKinley 

came on as the new partner in 1975, the company retained the name. DiRaddo 

and McKinley kicked into full gear after the two graduated from Rice University. 

“Early on we did sound for bands,” DiRaddo recalls. “We used to do a thing 

called Country Sunday where a bunch of country arts played. We did a little bit 

of everything. I remember we pulled out some speakers for a company that was 

demoing crop duster planes.” 

While LD Systems hasn’t provided sound services for a crop duster plane company 

since, the company’s Production Services team have worked at all kinds of 

tours, corporate and entertainment events. The company also boasts an install division 

that has put systems in places like Minute Maid Park and Reliant Stadium. 

“I feel like we’ve been fortunate to do a lot of the major events in the city,” 

TIE 

HAS Production Crew (L to R): Cory Poulin, Larry Hall, Bob “Bobo” Gibson, Margo Fletcher, Danny Lane 

It is said that Las Vegas is a town that runs on something called “juice.” And most 

people misunderstand juice as “who you know.” Actually juice is not about who 

you know, it is about who knows you. And these days there are very few venues 

and promoters in Las Vegas that do not know HAS Productions. The HAS story 

seems typical on the surface, but dig a little deeper and it gets more interesting. 

Yes, owner Larry Hall started as a musician and at some point figured out 

he was making more money renting his small P.A. system to other bands than 

he was playing gigs. But that is where the typical part pretty much ends. 

First, while Hall was making his musical mark back in South Carolina, he 

was also getting in his licks as a ranked Golden Gloves boxer and his “day gig” 

was as a firefighter outside of Charleston. (Yes, THAT Charleston. A year ago, he 

took a week out of the height of the summer season to go back home and bury 

nine of his firefighting brethren after a furniture store fire that made national 

headlines.) And, unlike most of us, he actually had a big degree of success as 


LD Systems 

DiRaddo says. “We’ve been doing the International Festival now for 25 years and 

the Houston Livestock and Rodeo for 19 years. We also are out on tour with 3 

Doors Down and a couple of other bands. We toured with ZZ Top for five years doing 

sound and lighting. Lately, we’ve had an upswing in the touring market.” 

The company has also worked with a number of major corporations, including 

an event at Minute Maid Park for a Microsoft convention, Shell Oil’s annual events 

in Houston and the Jiffy Lube corporate conventions in Orlando and Colorado 

Springs. 

The secret to the company’s success, DiRaddo states, is simple. “We’ve always 

treated it like a business,” he explains. “Some people view it more as a hobby, but I 

think part of our strength has been the diversity of things we do, from churches to 

straight-ahead rock shows to special events. We do every aspect of the business. 

We have a pretty brisk pace of business through the year and that keeps us going. 

Obviously, Houston has never been a big entertainment or corporate capital, so 

we’ve had to do all different things to grow to the size we are today.” 

Monitor engineer Mark Thompson at the 3 Doors Down sound check 

HAS Productions 

a musician with a record deal and the whole shot. But we know 

how such things often go, and a management shakeup at the label 

meant no more deal. Looking for steadier musical work brought 

Larry and his family to Las Vegas where there were more dues to be 

paid. “I cleaned carpets for 13 months before I got a gig,” he recalls. 

It wasn’t long before he got himself a truck and some more gear 

and started up Hall Audio Services. 

Today, the issue is keeping up with the gigs. From humble beginnings 

doing club and small casino gigs that the big companies 

considered “beneath” them, Hall and his crew have turned a reputation 

for getting the job done right and within budget into gigs 

that the bigger companies in town now wonder why they are not 

getting anymore. He added lighting and staging plus extensive 

backline and changed the company name to HAS Productions. 

Today, HAS is the “house” provider for properties that include a 

6,000-seat arena, outdoor amphitheatres and large showrooms in 

addition to regular gigs at venues including the Fremont Street 

Experience (with crowds that can exceed 10,000), Nellis Air Force 

Base and city- and county-sponsored festivals with single show attendance 

exceeding 20,000. They were even asked to provide house sound at the Democratic 

Party presidential debate in Vegas late last year. 

While HAS has kept current on gear with line arrays from JBL and DAS plus 

Yamaha and Soundcraft digital consoles, this is a company that “gets” it. They 

understand that the best car is useless without a great driver. “Our full-time staff 

is not huge,” says Hall. “But we know every good FOH and MON guy in the Valley, 

and most of them work for us regularly. And Danny Lane, my operations guy, has 

been doing this for big companies including ATK for a long time. We know what 

it takes to get the job done and we will not rest until the client is happy.” 

The payoff of that work ethic and philosophy is that HAS is virtually always 

asked back when working with a new customer even in the overtly political 

environment that is Las Vegas and, against the odds, continues to expand. It’s 

all about juice and HAS has it. 

www.fohonline.com www.fohonline 

fohonline 

fohonline.com 

2008 AUGUST 

33

Regional Slants 

MHA Audio provided sound for the Virgin Mobile Music Festival in 

Baltimore, Md. 

While Mike Scarfe was traveling around 

the States with the B-52s for the last 10 

years providing entertainment for corporate 

events, he got a first hand look at the workings 

of regional sound companies. It was a 

priceless education for a man who was looking 

to get into the regional business in the 

Mid-Atlantic area. “I used a new company 

every week,” he recalls. “It helped me understand 

what I would need to do to be successful 

in the regional market.” 

Scarfe turned his attention to regional 

work in 1993, after a touring career that began 

in 1973. Utilizing his experience in the music 

business, Scarfe looked to increase his business 

by selling to corporate and political clients and 

local promoters. The strategy paid off, as MHA 

now blends music, political and corporate clients. 

“I think it is one of the reasons that we are 

successful because we can bring national quality 

to a regional event,” he says. 

On the music side of things, MHA works 

at a number of regional theaters, amphitheaters 

and performing arts venues between 

Baltimore and Washington D.C., as well as 

multi-day festivals, such as Capital Jazz Festival, 

Virgin Music Festival in Baltimore, African 

34 

AUGUST 2008 

MHA Audio 

American Heritage Festival and 

Artscape Festival, the largest 

free arts festival in the U.S. 

MHA’s political work runs 

the gamut from touring with 

presidential candidates to inaugural 

balls. The company also 

provided sound services for the 

Pope’s recent visit to Nationals 

Stadium in Washington, and 

the dedication of the Air Force 

Memorial in Arlington, Va. 

Finding and keeping that 

variety of work has been one 

of the key ingredients to success 

for MHA, Scarfe believes. 

“I was never tempted, when a lot of others 

were, to concentrate on only corporate 

work,” he reports. “A lot of those companies 

that concentrated on corporate work have 

experienced serious downturns in their business, 

particularly during summer months. 

We don’t have that because we have strong 

ties to the music market, and we enjoy doing 

concerts. So, we tend to keep very busy 

throughout all 12 months because of the 

range of events. “I always felt that having a 

variety would serve us well.” 

At the same time, MHA has steadfastly remained 

an audio house. “I’m not particularly 

interested in lighting or video,” he says. “I’d 

much rather provide an excellent job at the 

one thing that we know how to do well, sound 

reinforcement. People know to come to us for 

quality audio and knowledgeable personnel.” 

More than that, Scarfe believes that clients 

call on MHA because of the quality of 

the people working there. Indeed, he is sure 

that the company earned the Hometown Heroes 

accolade because of the team of sound 

techs. “The quality of our people stands out,” 

he says. “I believe they have won this award 

and not just the company.” 

Back Row: Charlie Morgan, Brett Rudy, Adam Kozie. Front Row: TJ Loehman, Rose Andrews, Aaron 

Fisher, Adam Holloway, Steve Boyce, Tim Harding. Not pictured: Paul Hudson, Alex Bruce 

It’s as if the folks at Morgan Sound in Lynwood, Wash. play a little game called “PA Chicken” 

where they pick an event or venue and then see if they can put a package together that will 

work. Talking heads? Speakers on sticks. Easy peasy. A 70,000-seat festival? Roll out the VerTecs. 

Nothing to it. College commencements? Events at Safeco Field? Corporate something or others? 

Not a problem. 

Turns out that 35-plus years of experience counts for something, especially when it contributes 

to the confidence necessary to service a wide variety of gigs in dozens of venues in the 

Pacific Northwest. Beyond live sound services, Morgan Sound has expanded to include retail 


Tour Tech East 

Tour Tech East President Peter 

Hendrickson has been busy 

this morning trying to find that 

delicate balance between servicing 

local clientele and opportunities 

for a national tour. What’s 

complicating things for him these 

days is the simple fact that three 

gigs — providing sound services 

for the civic events during his 

hometown’s annual celebration, a 

show with The Eagles and an Avril 

Lavigne Canadian tour — all happen 

within a week of each other. 

Making the decision how best 

to service each opportunity comes 

down to looking at the big picture, Hendrickson 

says. “We could just stay and please 

the local clients, but if we want to grow the 

company we’re going to have to look at going 

outside our normal type of business,” he 

says. 

That might mean bringing in some subs, 

he adds, especially because appearances 

(and delivery, obviously) are important. “You 

don’t want to go into situations appearing 

that you’re busting at the seams,” Hendrickson 

reports, “you want to go in with the customer 

feeling like they are being professionally 

looked after and they want it to be as 

seamless as possible. That’s been one of the 

challenges today for us — just making sure 

that all the clients are satisfied and that they 

feel comfortable with what they are being 

given or told.” 

Of course, this isn’t anything new for 

Hendrickson and the Tour Tech Team who 

have been working out of Dartmouth, Nova 

Scotia since 1984. At first, the company only 

offered lighting services, but over the years 

Tour Tech East has added sound, staging, 

power distribution and trucking to its base 

of business. “Everything that we ended up 

Nickelback performing at the Festival of Lights 

doing was complimentary to what we were 

doing right from the very beginning,” he 

says. “It was just a natural progression.” 

While the company has been adding services, 

Hendrickson has kept an eye on riders 

to determine what products he should buy. 

“In the early days, I used to buy what I really 

liked and what I thought was great. Unfortunately, 

what I think is great doesn’t always 

translate to cash, and I can’t grow the business 

if I only buy what I like. I am in business 

to stay in business and I can be either right 

or I can be dead right. I have given up on the 

dead right.” 

With that, Hendrickson has to get back 

to planning where the company’s gear and 

engineers will be heading. He knows one 

thing for sure, which seems to be the key to 

becoming one of this year’s Hometown Heroes. 

“No matter how big the gig is, it has to 

be dealt with professionally,” he says. “What 

separates the professionals from the nonprofessionals 

is that the customer walks 

away feeling that even though he may not 

be the Rolling Stones or The Eagles or Toby 

Keith, that he got treated as well as if he was. 

That’s what is really important.” 

Morgan Sound 

sales, electronic and speaker repair and installation. “Live sound has always been the heart and 

soul of the business, but it’s very diverse,” reports Sound Reinforcement Director Steve Boyce. 

While the company has history on its side, Boyce is quick to point out that history is only as 

good as people remember. “We feel like we have to constantly prove ourselves each time we 

go out,” Boyce says. “That’s one of our big motivators because there are all sorts of people that 

would like to take our business from us.” 

So, Morgan Sound has dedicated itself as a company that takes great care with each job, 

paying attention to details and making sure there is constant communication with each client. 

“If there is an issue that comes up, we are not afraid to bring it up,” Boyce says. “I’ve found that 

over the years people certainly prefer an honest and open communication more than feeling 

like someone is trying to pull something over on them.” 

As for the next 12 months, Boyce points out that the company will be looking to 

continue to build its corporate book of business as well as investigating opportunities 

in music. “I really enjoy the corporate market,” he says. “We’ve found that in the 

corporate market we can service them very well and they are very pleased that we’re a 

specialized audio company. Not to be disparaging, but some A/V companies do a little 

of everything and we’re able to specialize and service them very well. And, for us, it’s 

certainly less stressful and more economically lucrative for us. 

“We all love to do rock shows, we love to do music,” he continues. “But there are so 

many companies out there that promoters have a wider variety of companies to choose 

from, and they will play everyone off one another on the quotes and drive the price 

downward. In this day and age, with trucking and fuel costing as much as it does and 

capital expenses, I’d rather see the price go the other way. I mean, we’ll continue to do 

both. It’s just what we do. If the phone rings and we’re available and we can negotiate 

it, we’re there.” 

Rob Vanier

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By JamieRio Heavenly 

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. 

Listen To What the Man Says ss 

I think we can all agree that the words 

that pour out of the mouths of our pastors, 

priests, rabbis or whoever our worship orator 

happens to be is ultimately the most important 

part of the service. We will call the person 

talking about God the preacher to simplify 

our discussion. Your preacher either stands 

behind a podium or pulpit or travels freely 

about the stage delivering the word. Whether 

the preacher prefers a wired or wireless mic 

makes no difference. We are only interested 

in how clear and natural he or she sounds. 

If you have time before a service, it's a very 

good idea to test the microphone that your 

preacher will be using — even better if you 

have an assistant on stage so you can remain 

at the mixing board. Start with your EQ flat 

and have your assistant talk boldly into the 

preacher's mic. Bring up the gain until your 

meters (LEDs) are in the yellow zone. If your 

board only has LEDs that show "signal present" 

and "too hot,” push the gain until you 

are too hot then back it off a ¼-turn. If your 

preacher has dynamic vocals, it would be nice 

if you had a compressor or limiter to handle 

the potential peaks. If you don't, just back the 

gain off a bit and plan on riding your channel 

fader during the message part of the service. 

Sound Sanctuary 

Mixing 

Now there is no reason for you to put the 

preachers' voice in the stage monitors unless 

it is specifically requested. You have good 

signal strength from the microphone, so just 

listen as your assistant talks and talks. Do you 

hear any boominess? If you do, engage your 

high-pass button or cut your low-EQ knob. 

Subtle adjustments always seem to work better 

than cranking the knobs up or down. Is 

the voice sounding natural? 315 Hz to 600 Hz 

is important for a smooth, natural voice. Cut 

or boost in this area; if your board does not 

have a sweepable mid EQ, try slightly increasing 

or decreasing the mid-frequency knob. 

Listen again to your assistant's voice. If the 

voice sounds harsh than the problem may reside 

in the 2 kHz to 4 kHz range. 

Whether the preacher prefers a wired 

or wireless mic makes no difference. 

We are only interested in how clear and 

natural he or she sounds. 

N 

These frequencies also cause ear fatigue 

so you don't want your preacher slamming 

the congregation with them. On the other 

hand, intelligibility also lives in these frequencies. 

Therefore, it is a bit of a balancing act. So, 

once again, listen closely. The spoken word 

can produce harmonics up to 8 kHz. Boosting 

those up can add some sparkle as long as you 

don't create a brittle sound with your EQ. By 

the way, if you don't have an assistant, plug 

your preacher's mic into your board and test 

it yourself. 

Preaching to the Choir ss 

Your choir’s voices follow the same audio 

rules as your preacher. The only difference is 

that there are more people and they are all 

singing. Let's say you have a dozen members 

in your choir: If your house has installed choir 

mics (generally hanging from the ceiling), I 

like to position the choir so the mics are two 

feet in front of the singers and about two feet 

above their heads. Same distances if you use 

Optimization of 

High-Frequency 

Drivers 

As an owner/operator of a sound company, you 

need to be given the knowledge to shop-tweak 

the rigs you own to optimum flatness before your 

customer/guest engineers mess with the equalizer. 

And nothing repels a guest engineer from the FOH 

equalizer more than a great sounding rig at the 

FOH position. But the crucial system setup aspect 

is getting the 1 kHz and up, high-frequency filtering 

perfect before hand. 

— Mark Amundson from his “Theory and Practice” 

column in the July 2008 issue. 


mics and stands for your singers. Two good 

condenser microphones will work well, or use 

four if you want to mic the individual vocal 

groups (bass, tenor, altos and sopranos). 

If you have condenser mics, that's good. 

Mainly because this type of mic is ideal for 

hearing a sound sources from a distance and 

is more sensitive than a dynamic mic. Did I 

mention that your microphones hear? It's 

good to think of them in this manner. Knowing 

how a mic hears can help you with proper 

positioning and, of course, using the right 

mic. The reality, however, it that you will be 

using whatever mics and configuration that 

your house has. Now, set up your microphones 

and bring up the gain. It's the same 

drill friends — flat EQ and signal strength 

in the yellow. Before you reach for the EQ 

knobs, listen to the singers. Sometimes just 

moving your microphones around can help 

with the overall blend and smoothness of 

the voices. 

Tenors, Altos and Sopranos, Oh My! SS 

With your mics set in the optimum positions, 

you can begin adjusting EQ as needed. 

Bass and tenor frequency fundamentals lie 

in the 160 Hz to 250 Hz range and altos and 

sopranos in 315 Hz to 500 Hz. As I mentioned 

before, 600 Hz to 1K is important for the natural 

sound of your vocalist. 630 Hz is represented 

by a slider on all 1 /3-octave graphic EQs. So, 

if your house of worship is heavy on singing, 

this is a frequency that can be very important 

in the overall tuning of your worship space. 

Your choir will probably have some sort 

of stage monitors. Be careful of feedback in 

the 1 K to 4 K area. Keep in mind that these 

same frequencies greatly affect intelligibility 

and also are responsible for ear fatigue. Actually 

there is a lot going on in this range. I suggest 

you listen carefully and adjust sparingly 

throughout this frequency band. Occasionally, 

I will boost a bit the 10 K to 12 K range. 

This can add "air" to the choir, but it also can 

add noise. As always, use your ears (twice). 

I realize that I haven't gotten to the miking 

and EQing of the worship band and all the 

instruments that can entail. But worry not, 

next month I will be tackling that sometimes 

difficult subject. I will get into topics from 

drums to flutes and everything in between — 

not to mention the politics and etiquette of 

your average worship band. 

Contact Jamie at jrio@fohonline.com. 

2008 AUGUST 

37 




38 

Anklebiters 

Trials 

and Tribulations 

By KenRengering 

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. 

Size Isn’t Everything FOH 

Let’s start with system size. I am comfortable 

enough with my sexuality to admit 

my system is not overly large with a 4-top 

and 4-bottom mains rig — two stacks per 

side — and six matched powered monitors. 

Not enormous, but I have some pretty big 

amps pushing it and almost everything is at 

4 ohms. Being an anklebiter means every day 

is a lesson in how things work correctly and 

efficiently. I am always looking to work smart, 

not hard. I often refer to a 2-top, 2-bottom, 

4-monitor on a 4-mix system as a “lounge 

starter system.” It includes a 16-channel desk 

with built-in effects, amp rack, EQ rack, 100foot 

snake, mics, DIs, stands, cables and AC. 

Yes, I know it’s not even a proper sidefill sys- 

tem for you big rig mofos! Maybe a drum 

fill… 

This system packs incredibly well into a 

1998 Chevy Silverado with an eight-foot bed. 

My supposed friends, also sound engineers 

with the big line arrays and digital consoles 


(the previously 

referred to mofos), 

like to sing the 

“Sanford and Son” 

theme song when I pull 

up with my loud and proud 

I try to learn something each gig. I find it’s 

usually before or after the gig where you 

learn the hardest lessons. And I guess the 

hardest earned are the best learned. 

rig. Not only is it unoriginal, but I really don’t 

find it all that humorous. 

Working Hard for Cheap FOH 

The reason I am telling you all this is because 

I used to load and unload this myself. 

I was young and stupid and unwilling to pay 

someone else to help me do something I 

thought I not only could do, but I should do 

myself. It was exhausting and dangerous, and 

I was literally risking the family jewels for a 

few more shekels. At that time, the shekels 

were coming in less frequently and my clients 

were unwilling to part with them at an appropriate 

level. I was working too cheap! I bet 

none of you have ever done that. 

Oh, yes, there were promises of cash 

and labor help for the in /out. The load-in 

would wind up to be a clusterf*#& with 

my inexperienced “help” making things 

take twice as long. And on the outs, the 

“help” would disappear into the night, 

along with the client, to head to some after- 

party while I tried to talk a bartender or 

bouncer into helping me load the truck. 

Due to circumstances beyond my control, 

I was recently put in that position again, and 

being an anklebiter, I can’t really afford to 

turn down many gigs. But this time I made 

sure to keep the client with me at the end of 

the night, as he was my help. This gig was outdoors 

in Las Vegas. About half an hour into 

down-stacking speakers, wrapping cables 

and so forth, he said he finally understood 

why I needed and contractually obligated 

him for the labor. His friends had left him to 

do the work after all the usual empty promises. 

And the best part, he tells me that in the 

future he would prefer to pay me to have my 

ONE MAN 

SHOW 

guys, who are more efficient and sometimes 

almost professional, do this crap! I believe 

that’s Ken: 1 Clients: 0 (for this gig). 

A Learning Curve FOH 

There is a learning curve, albeit sometimes 

a long, slow one, for all of us involved — the 

clients, the labor and me. But in this instance, 

I felt like the proud papa who sees the light 

bulb turn on for his child as he connects the 

thoughts and comes up with the right answer 

for the first time. It did take the willpower of 

G. Gordon Liddy to bite my tongue and not 

tell/scream at him, “I told you so!” 

I try to learn something each gig. I find it’s 

usually before or after the gig where you learn 

the hardest lessons. And I guess the hardest 

earned are the best learned. But sometimes 

it is someone else who learns the lesson and 

you just wind up grinning like an idiot on the 

drive back to the shop. 

Dynamic Versus Condenser Mics 

Dynamic mics are the most common type of microphones used in live sound applications. 

First and foremost, they are very durable. Church mics can receive some very harsh physical 

treatment. A good dynamic mic can endure a fall, an orator’s spit and even double as a hammer 

on some occasions. You can find designs for almost any applications and they can sound very 

good. Condenser microphones for the most part are the second choice 

for sound engineers. To my ears, a good condenser is better sounding 

than a good dynamic mic. They are also more able to pick up sound from 

a distance. You will find that all top quality choir and podium mics are 

condenser. They are typically smooth and natural sounding. 

— From Jamie Rio’s “Sound Sanctuary” column in the June 2008 issue. 

N

Come Together 

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. 

Install Prime Time biz 

And if imitation is flattery, their live sound 

counterparts are returning the favor in the form 

of adapting gear to meet the requirements of 

the installed sound universe. David Scheirman, 

vice president of tour sound for JBL Professional, 

says the inherent robustness of live sound 

technology makes it ready for install prime 

time. “Product characteristics like integral, loadrated 

suspension fixtures and comprehensive, 

standardized software for remote control and 

monitoring all make tour sound products readily 

adaptable to the needs of the fixed installation 

sound system market,” he says. 

Paul Freudenberg, vice president of sales 

and marketing with L-ACOUSTICS, pointed 

to the more stylishly rounded and nuanced 

rigging connector on the company’s 112 

XGH cabinet. “In the old days, you’d have to 

fasten the dolly boards, and it didn’t matter 

much how it looked as long as it worked,” 

he says. “But if the cabinet is going to be installed 

and becomes part of the interior design, 

it needs to look like it was esthetically 

designed.” 

40 

The Biz 

Theory and Practice 

Apples and Oranges biz 

This was only L-ACOUSTICS second InfoComm 

appearance, an arrivisté status 

they shared with several other live sound 

companies at the show. As recently as just 

five years ago, manufacturers regarded live 

and installed audio as apples and oranges. 

But that all changed with phenomenon like 

churches morphing into performance spaces 

and traditionally static spaces like retail 

stores and museums looking to create im- 

mersive lifestyle environments with sound 

as a critical element. With the inclusion of 

the NSCA expo merged with this show, Info- 

Comm, this year, underscored the extensive 

convergence that’s taking place between 

live and installed audio. 

Jeff Rocha, sales director at EAW, says the 

convergence has been taking place at the 

highest levels. “When CEOs hear touring acts 

sound great at their corporate events, it naturally 

follows that they won’t want less when it 

comes to sound in other parts of their businesses,” 

he says. EAW is also restyling some of 

its gear to give a better esthetic in installed 

applications. He adds that mid-sized and 

small line arrays have literally had a new niche 

created for them in installed scenarios. 

“It’s not that touring equipment hadn’t 

been used in installed sound situations like 

theaters and even churches,” he explains. 

“It’s that more spaces are becoming performing 

spaces” — retail, airport concourses, 

theme parks — “and the industry is learning 

to adapt touring sound technology into 

applications that used to be serviced by 

installed sound gear that wasn’t necessarily 

appropriate for music.” Dan Montecalvo, 

marketing manager for Audio-Technica, puts 

it succinctly: “More people are coming from 

More people are coming from the live-sound 

side of the business over to installed sound, and 

they’re bringing the stuff they like with them.” 

— Dan Montecalvo, Audio-Technica. 

Less Than Zero 

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. 

The Process tp 

Zeroing out most analog consoles typically 

starts with the faders. Unless the console 

is partially active providing recorded music 

before the gig, you want to turn down all the 

faders, including the main left-center-right, 

auxiliary, subgroup and channel strip faders. 

Yeah, having mute groups on helps, but until 

you have programmed them or understand 

why other channel faders have to be up, send 

all the faders to the bottom and hunt down 

the channel strip equalizers and flatten them 

all at unity gain first. 

I recommend centering the swept frequency 

controls on the parametric equalizers 

and choosing wide frequencies for high- or 

low-pass filters. Nothing aggravates the next 

console driver more than high-pass filters 

stuck at 200 Hz when gig time pressure is 

on. Choose a more wide-open value like 80 

Hz or lower to let the next person narrow up 

the response bands. Leave the channel strip 

equalizer strips “inserted” and not bypassed 

— another hair-pulling aggravation in stressful 

gigs with no zero-out time. 

For channel strip gains and assorted other 

preamp controls, bring the gains back down 

to around the 10 o’clock position with the XLR 

jack as the chosen input. Also, you can remove 

the pads, polarity flips and phantom power 

settings as you regain the channels. If there 

are high-pass switches or controls, leave the 

switches engaged or back off the controls to 

a low frequency so that channels needing extra 

bottom-end will have action taken by the 

next user. Nothing like chasing hum on channels 

not needing subwoofer support. For auxiliary 

sends, send them all packing back to full 

attenuation until you have effects and other 

mixes to support. Pay extreme attention to 

the pre/post and stereo/dual mono switches. 

A safe bet is leaving things in post-fader mode 

and each aux control in mono send mode. 


the live sound side of the business over to installed 

sound, and they’re bringing the stuff 

they like with them.” 

Converging Markets biz 

Seeing veteran live sound mixer Robert 

Scovill, now marketing manager at Digidesign, 

at an installed sound exhibition viscerally 

clinches the sense of convergence between 

the two sectors. 

“From the manufacturers’ perspectives, 

the line has gotten pretty blurry,” he agrees. 

It’s also affecting Digi’s product and marketing 

strategy to an extent. “We’re not so 

much adapting the technology for the market 

as building scale for installed sound,” he 

explains. “We want to continue to work from 

a single-software platform, but we’re also 

Tackling the master section is mostly 

common sense. Once all the faders are down, 

check the signal routings and un-flip any fader 

flip switches so that groups and aux send 

masters are obvious. Also, check for global 

pre/post settings on aux masters on lower 

cost consoles. Then back down on the headphone 

monitoring levels and choose the L-R 

mix as the default monitor when a PFL or AFL 

switch is not activated. And, of course, leave 

the mute group in a safe condition with all 

channels muted by the groups or with individual 

channels muted if not in a mute group. 

If you have marked up board tape on the 

console, it is at your discretion to remove it. 

There is no reason to leave it on the console if 

a good zeroing out is performed. The exceptions 

would be if the next act is keeping the 

same mic patching or if there are bad channels 

that need identification. 

The Courtesy tp 

At the end of a gig, it is a nice courtesy 

if you zero out the console to leave it for the 

next user. Of course, if it is very likely you will 

be the next user, you may gamble on leaving 

things half-zeroed so that EQ settings and 

By DanDaley 

going to continue to move downmarket to 

build products that are smaller and that can 

address more markets.” Digi is also reconfiguring 

its existing products, such as creating a 

single-rack solution for its Icon console that 

eliminates the need for a snake, making it a 

better fit for fixed installations. 

In fact, Scovill confides, in the four years 

that Digidesign has exhibited at InfoComm, 

it took a while to realize that it wasn’t a matter 

of selling the odd console into the fixedsound 

market, but rather branding their way 

into it. “We realized we needed to position the 

brand, not just the technology and products,” 

he says. “It’s the difference between seeing 

a market where we can sell some stuff and 

a market where we can create demand that 

wasn’t there before.” 

Kevin Hill, managing director at Spanish 

speaker maker D.A.S., says the branding 

aspect is being helped by the fact that live 

sound companies are increasing the amount 

of installed sound work they do to balance 

revenues during off-touring seasons. “Historically, 

those customers have not been as 

brand-conscious as the touring clients are,” 

he says. “But that’s changing as the big touring 

sound providers are doing more installed 

work. They’re bringing brand awareness with 

them into this marketplace.” 

The increased emphasis on live touring 

sound as the music industry’s core revenue 

stream has been a boon to live sound systems 

manufacturers, but it’s also brought 

more competition to the field — it sometimes 

feels as if there is an individual microphone 

for every independent artist on the road. 

continued on page 43 

By MarkAmundson 

preamp gains are left for the next performance. 

An efficient console operator should 

be able to dial in EQ and rough gains very 

quickly from a zeroed-out console. 

Zeroing before the gig also helps familiarize 

yourself with the console if you have not 

been on that brand/model for a while. Feeling 

all those controls and faders may provide 

a clue on how well-maintained the console is 

before mixing. Loose controls and sticky faders 

may provide a scenario of how to defensively 

drive the console to avoid crackles and 

pops before the show goes on. 

The Ego tp 

I once had an ego enough to not zero 

out the console because I wanted the next 

user to see the mixing prowess I had as a 

teaching aid. Today, I am much more likely 

to play nice and zero out for fear that someone 

else will see my bad mixing habits instead. 

But there is another reason to zero out 

each night, especially when you really are a 

good console operator, to the point where 

your pay is very well up in the compensation 

ranks.We know of a few FOH engineers 

continued on page 43


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Yamaha Corporation of America 11 714.522.9011 http://foh.hotims.com/18515-159 

MARKET PLACE 

Gabriel Sound 42 973.831.7500 http://foh.hotims.com/18515-149 

Gear Box Pro 42 877-789-5774 http://foh.hotims.com/18515-211 

Hi-Tech Audio Systems 42 650.742.9166 http://foh.hotims.com/18515-127 

New York Case/ Hybrid Cases 42 800.645.1707 http://foh.hotims.com/18515-168 

Sound Productions 42 800.203.5611 http://foh.hotims.com/18515-129 

Transamerica Audio Group 42 702-365-5155 http://foh.hotims.com/18515-213 

Come Together 

continued from page 40 

Understanding this, live sound manufacturers 

see the installed sound sector as the 

natural market to migrate to: It’s more affluent 

than the majority of touring tiers, the 

market keeps expanding, and it is for the 

most part just a matter of relatively minimal 

modifications to make products more 

appropriate for installed applications. “If 

you can sell [the same products] into both 

markets you increase revenues and split 

the cost of product development,” says 

Joe Rimstidt, speaker product manager at 

Yamaha, which now offers two rigging options 

for many of its speaker cabinets, one 

for touring and one for installed use. 

What’s To Come biz 

As the rewards of addressing the fixed 

installation sound market become more 

apparent, expect to see the technologies 

target the market more specifically. Renkus-Heinz’s 

Iconix modular solution that 

places a highly directional/intelleligible 

digitally steerable speaker stalk atop one or 

two subs in an easily scaled and managed 

package is a taste of things to come. “It’s a 

new product and we’re aiming it at the AV 

market,” says Jim Mobley, Renkus-Heinz’s 

senior applications engineer. This is also a 

new market for the proprietary networks 

that sound systems developers have been 

marketing in recent years, like Harman 

Pro’s HiQNet and EAW’s U-Net. In short, as 

Humphrey Bogart says to Paul Henreid at 

the end of Casablanca, these two parts of 

the sound business spectrum are ready to 

“make beautiful music together.” 

Dan Daley can be reached at ddaley@ 

fohonline.com. 

Less Than Zero 

continued from page 40 

who had plenty of experience with top acts and used a few novel mixing tricks to 

nail each artist’s signature sound. The engineers never zeroed out each night because 

they were always at the console for the next show. 

But management changed its mind and let the expert FOH guy go very quickly 

— even without letting the guy mix his last show and zero out. A competent and 

much lower paid FOH engineer took note of the expert’s settings and continued 

to almost flawlessly preserve the sound of the show for the artist. The moral of the 

story is that your “mix” is your intellectual property, and not keeping it under wraps 

is letting others have free usage, possibly without the learning curve you went 

through. If you are on a digital console, zeroing out means resetting the board to 

factory defaults. Your settings are saved on your card for next time. 

Contact Mark at marka@fohonline.com. 

2008 AUGUST 

43

FOH-at-Large 

This is This 

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. 

My screw gun sings its 

high-wailing song as I put together 

my racks. I go over my 

stage plot and program my 

input list and monitor mixes 

into the digital console. I 

clean my amplifiers and pack 

my cable trunks. I double 

check my microphones and 

count out my stands. I ensure 

that I have the proper steel 

package and that my motors 

are packed and ready to go. 

My power distro energetically 

lines itself up behind the 

feeder cable trunk and my 

line array looks ready to fly. 

Equipment gives back what 

one puts into it; if it is cared 

for and given enough energy 

it will not fail. “Stanley, 

see this? This is this. This ain’t 

somethin’ else. This is this.” 

COMING NEXT 

MONTH... 

INSTALL 

The MGM Grand and 

Foxwoods Casino join 

forces to build a new 

entertainment venue. 

RUSH 

We talk to Brad Madix 

and Brent Carpenter to 

find out what’s up with 

the chickens. 

PARNELLI PREVIEW 

A look at the lives and 

times of the Clair Bros. 

of Lititz, Pa. 

“I need you guys to set up with the speakers behind 

the band. I need you to take up less space. 

I need, I need, I need… yada, yada, yada.” Hey, 

forget you and your needs. What about me Ms. 

or Mr. Producer, eh, what about me? 

In Demand FOH 

Then the phone rings and I shift to 

another part of my brain, “This is Baker 

speaking. May I help you?” It could be 

one of many voices on the other end 

of the line, a male, a female, a knowledgeable 

person or a complete novice 

in the field of audio. They might be on 

tour planning a stopover at one of the 

many television shows or arranging a 

showcase in some room that was chosen 

for décor and not for sound. The 

voice on the other end of the line might 

be supercilious and ignite my ire. Either 

that or the obsequious tone may inspire 

a sugar-coated nausea to rise up inside 

and gag me, but regardless of tone or 

timbre, these voices share in common a 

cry for help and a demand for a solution. 

“I need a sound system. I need in-ears. 

I need a microphone for 500 people. I 

need a lot, but only have a little. I need 

to fill a rider for a famous act I booked, 

but I’m a nonprofit organization. I need 

help! Help me please! 


The veins in my forehead are bulging 

and a red hue begins to filter my vision. I 

unclench my teeth and puffing up to my 

intimidating and green post Bruce Banner 

size, I scream into the mouthpiece of the 

technology that has brought me more 

than my share of irritation, “WHO CARES 

WHAT YOU WANT, WHAT ABOUT ME?” 

Sure, you have needs, but I have needs, 

too. How are you going to help me? Don’t 

just think you can throw money at me 

and I’ll jump at your every command or 

fill your every whim. I have my pride, you 

know, and I have grown weary of hearing 

that phrase “I need, I need, I need.” When 

do I get my share of the pie? When do I 

get to demand? WHAT ABOUT ME? 

What About Me? FOH 

I push my gear to the loading dock and 

load the truck. I look forward to the magic 

and joy of putting all the pieces together 

and making them fit like some giant 3D 

jigsaw puzzle. There is a technical skill to 

packing a truck utilizing mathematical and 

By BakerLee 

Andy Au 

spatial relationships. The only 

stipulations are those that can 

be clearly defined by the physical 

boundaries of the box into 

which the smaller boxes are 

being loaded. There is no grey 

area and no room for misinterpretation, 

and while the puzzle 

might be put together in a variety 

of different ways, it either 

fits or not. It’s simple. “Stanley, 

see this? This is this. This ain’t 


Setting up the gear is 

pretty much the same as 

packing the truck; everything 

has its proper place. A certain 

amount of power is needed to 

drive the system and all the 

pieces fit like an Escher tessellation. 

All is going as planned 

until some event planner or 

hot shot producer comes up 

and demands that they need 

to move all the gear from one 

end of the room to the other. 

“I need you guys to set up with 

the speakers behind the band. 

I need you to take up less 

space. I need, I need, I need… 

yada, yada, yada.” Hey, forget 

you and your needs. What 

about me Ms. or Mr. Producer, 

eh, what about me? 

Never Ending FOH 

Unfortunately, it never 

ends. Once the gear is all 

set (again) some visiting engineer 

invariably demands, 

“I need to change the input 

list. I need more effects. I 

need more subs. I need a 

different console. I need, I 

need, I need.” But, of course, 

it’s not over yet, as the band 

who has been waiting — not so patiently 

— has finally taken the stage so 

that they too can express their needs. 

“Yo, Mr. Soundman, I need more vocal. 

I need more kick drum. Hey yo, we all 

need more kick drum. Hey, Mr. Soundman, 

more snare in the drum wedge.” 

Now the “I needs” are multiplied by five 

or six. When will all these desires be satisfied 

and what about me? I have needs 

too. I go home and my wife needs me, 

my kids need me, my dog needs me, my 

three cats all need me. Believe it or not, 

my two fish and turtle need me, and 

what do I get in return? I get stress, agitation, 

a twitch under my eye and a really 

bad rash. Do I actually need to haul 

my ass in to work just for a bad rash I 

can easily get at home? Who needs all 

these people and their needs? From 

now on, it’s just the equipment and me. 

“Stanley, see this? This is this. This ain’t 


“I love the smell of solder in the 

morning.”

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