What’s hot What’s hot <strong>FOH</strong> Interview Feature Mötley Crüe’s Andy Meyer brings a small degree of discipline to Crüefest. Installations Horseshoe Casino is rockin’ on the river with a new concert venue. LETTErs 20 30 Features 16 AES 2008 REPORT <strong>FOH</strong> takes you through the show halls and shows you all the new gear. 24 Parnelli Awards 2008 The 8th Annual Parnelli Awards pay tribute to the best and brightest in live audio. 28 Production Profile Audio goes green on Radiohead’s latest In Rainbows tour. 34 Road Tests We review the long-awaited EV DC-One speaker processor and the Yamaha IM8, a mixing console with all the bells and whistles. 38 Buyers Guide Digital Snakes take the spotlight in this month’s listing. 40 Regional Slants Midwest Sound combines a Midwestern work ethic with cutting-edge technology for an unbeatable combination. 44 Welcome To My Nightmare Well, to start out, the gig was in Philly... surround sound on Broadway I appreciate Dan Daley’s writings, his interest in surround sound and his references to numerous other pioneers in this medium in his “Surround Sound” article in the September issue. However, I wish to correct some inaccurate comments and to provide additional history and observations on this subject, drawn from my own experiences as a sound designer. Broadway surround sound did not start in 2002. No matter how you define it there were many surround-sound Broadway and off-Broadway shows well before the 2002 version of Into The Woods. Will Rogers Follies opened on May 1, 1991, 10 years earlier, with the recorded voice of Gregory Peck playing Flo Ziegfeld, yelling down at the actors from his perch high in the back of the house. Peter Fitzgerald designed this show. It not only ran more than a year (891 performances) in surround sound, but it also had many national tours that used the system, which was supplied by Sound Associates. A little show called Squonk was in complete surround sound, with music and sound effects moving all around throughout the whole performance. It opened Feb. 29, 2000 at the Helen Hayes Theater. Sound Associates also supplied this system. The Circle in the Square version of Sweeney Todd (opening Sept. 14, 1989) used entirely electronic instrumentation. The orchestra sat as far from the stage as possible in the audience. The music, sound effects and dialog were fed to a complete surround-sound system located above the heads of the audience and time-aligned to the actors. (Interestingly, Time magazine said the show was one of the year’s best, completely natural, with no body microphones, as if there was no amplification at all. In fact, it used 32 shotgun microphones and a completely electronic orchestra and sampled sound effects, all fed into a surround-sound system.) In 1999, an off-Broadway show in surround sound and with surround-sound effects was Quien Mato a Hector Lavoe? (Who Killed Hector Lavoe?). The sound effects were the original sounds from Hector Lavoe’s live concerts, recorded in multi-channel and played back effectively to reproduce the sense of being at those concerts. GSD Productions supplied this surround-sound system. This show led to the making of the feature film “El Cantante.” The West Bank Café, a New York theater/ club landmark for over 30 years, has had an ultra-high definition surround sound system since 1998. I am sure there are many others — I just happen to know, personally, of these few that I have mentioned. Surround Sound for theater, theme parks, clubs, concerts and www.fohonline.com NOVEMBER 2008, Vol. 7.2 Columns 42 On the Bleeding Edge Computer programming and live audio can make a potent career combo. 46 Theory and Practice When it comes to generators, size matters. 47 The Biz The latest line-array lowdown. 48 Sound Sanctuary Putting the squeeze on worship sound. 49 Anklebiter When bidding on a gig, know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. 52 <strong>FOH</strong>-at-Large The economy may be in a mess, but that doesn’t mean your business has to be. Departments 4 Editor’s Note 5 News 10 International News 14 On the Move 18 Showtime 44 In the Trenches recording is, and has been, an ongoing development with many people involved. No one person was responsible for its beginning. More people will become conscious of surround sound, as it is fun to do and exciting to experience. How shall we define surround sound? Is it a “surround-sound show” if the sound effects are in surround but not the music? Is it “surround sound” if we sit in Carnegie Hall with no amplification and are engulfed in a Beethoven Symphony? Are we talking about only amplified surround sound? Is it the aim of a surroundsound recording to reproduce a concert in a recording, and if so, why must we sit in the center to hear it in playback? Did everyone have to sit in the center to hear surround sound at the original concert? I could go on. — Bernard Fox
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