Download a PDF - FOH Online

PEOPLE. PRODUCTION. GEAR. GIGS. 

SEPTEMBER 2009 Vol. 7 No.12 

Sound Support for Clapton & Winwood 

Robert Collins is kind of known for avoiding interviews if he can. Of course, you can get away 

with that when your #1 client is God, er, I mean Eric Clapton. We tried to get him when they came 

through Vegas a couple of years ago, and the closest we got (despite pre-arrangements) was to 

the loading dock, where we waited for three hours. This time, through, we could not get a call 

back even with the head of the sound company getting involved. Luckily for all involved, David 

Farinella was able to bust that curse when the Clapton/Winwood tour went through Oakland. It is 

one of the best interviews we have had the pleasure of running. Check it out on page 18. 

Hometown Heroes Named, Parnelli 

Voting to be Underway Soon 

LAS VEGAS — And the Hometown winners 

are…(you’ll just have to imagine the sound of a 

drum roll and the ripping noise of an envelope) 

— Northwest: Morgan Sound. Southwest: Onstage 

Systems. Southeast: Allstar Audio. Midwest: 

Signature Audio. Northeast: Scorpio Sound. Canada: 

Tour Tech East. 

Congratulations to all the companies on 

the Hometown Hero ballot, congratulations to 

Ad info: http//www.fohhotims.com 

Debi Moen 

the regional winners, and best of luck, too — all 

regional winners are also finalists for the annual 

Parnelli Hometown Hero award competition. 

The ballot for all Parnelli award categories 

this year, including FOH Mixer, Monitor Mixer, 

Sound Company of the Year, is now being finalized 

and voting will soon be underway. Profiles 

of 2009’s regional Hometown Hero winners, 

meanwhile, begins on page 26. 

General Cable Acquires Gepco International 

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, KY — General Cable Corporation acquired Gepco International, 

Inc. and Isotec, Inc., together known as Gepco, a manufacturer and provider of 

cabling solutions for the professional broadcast and entertainment markets. Gepco 

reported 2008 revenues of about $46 million. 

“With the acquisition of Gepco International and Isotec’s specialty electronic cable 

business, General Cable expects to significantly expand its share of this important 

U.S. market as well as leverage General Cable’s global sales infrastructure with this 

technically superior brand of multimedia cables in markets all over the world,” said Jay 

Lahman, vice president and general manager, Carol, Gepco, and Isotec Brand products. 

“We expect the market for these products to grow at roughly two times GDP in 

the U.S. and somewhat higher internationally due to ongoing global analog-to-digital 

conversions,” Lahman added. 

Greg Lampert, executive vice president, president and CEO of General Cable North 

America said, “I am pleased that Gary Geppert, the company’s founder and a recognized 

innovator in the industry, has agreed to stay with the company. He has built 

Gepco into a technology leader in the professional broadcast industry, nearly doubling 

revenues of broadcast products over the last five years, and will continue to lead 

our efforts to develop new and innovative products.” 

Gepco’s line includes professional broadcast, entertainment and audio/visual cable; 

cable assemblies in both standard and custom configurations; interconnect and 

cable-related accessories; and a line of optical fiber solutions. 

Peavey MediaMatrix 

Products Include 

Audinate Option 

PORTLAND, OR — Audinate announced 

that Peavey has expanded its 

networking options for the MediaMatrix 

product portfolio by including Audinate’s 

networking solution. The first 

MediaMatrix products to have Audinate’s 

advanced networking technology 

are the NION nX product family and the 

CAB 4n audio bridge. 

The NION system is a configurable 

DSP core for the commercial, engineered 

systems marketplace. The CAB 4n is a 

break-out box designed specifically for 

NION-based systems. In addition, support 

for legacy MediaMatrix makes the 

CAB 4n an efficient option for a wide variety 

of systems. 

Audinate describes its networking 

solution, Dante, as a self-configuring, 

plug-and-play digital audio network 

that works on both 100Mbits and 

1Gigabit Ethernet, and added that its 

automatic device discovery and system 

configuration capability mean that specialized 

skills are no longer needed to 

set up and manage an audio and video 

media network. 

“Peavey’s MediaMatrix solution is 

recognized as one of the market leaders 

of large scale networked audio systems 

in stadiums, airports, casinos, hotels, 

theaters, education and government facilities,” 

said Lee Ellison, CEO of Audinate. 

“We are thrilled that Peavey continues 

to broaden the adoption of Audinate’s 

solution across their product offering.” 

9 

25 

Aerosmith Tour Cancelled 

After Electrical Mishap 

STURGIS, SD — The mainstream media 

was all abuzz with word that Aerosmith 

frontman Steven Tyler, 61, fell off the stage 

at the Buffalo Chip Campground Aug. 5 

and was taken to the hospital to treat injuries 

to his head, neck and shoulders. 

While news sources noted that Tyler 

was dancing during a disruption in the 

sound system, supplied by PRG, FOH has 

been informed that an electrical disruption 

may have led to the lack of sound amplification 

shortly before Tyler’s fall. 

For the full story, turn to page 8. 

News 

Fall Out Boy goes digital. 

Road Test 

Kaltman Creations’ IW1800 makes it 

easier to find white spaces. 

www.ProAudioSpace.com/join

Ad info: http://foh.hotims.com/


What’s hot 

What’s hot 

Ad info:http:// foh.hotims.com 

Showtime 

Feature 

R&R Sound supported the series of 14 concerts at the 

California Mid-State Fair, including Tim McGraw, performing 

here, plus KISS, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, 

Black Eyed Peas, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Journey, 

Heart, Dave Koz and others 

2 

FOH At Large 

How much is your integrity worth? 

SEPTEMBER 2009 

16 

36 

www.fohonline.com 

Features 

18 FOH Interview 

Robert Collins may be on a digital desk these 

days, but he uses no scenes or any of the other 

bells and whistles. He treats it like an analog 

board. And his boss appears to be okay with 

that… 

22 Buyers Guide 

A digital snake lets you ditch about a ton of copper. 

What’s not to like? 

24 Road Tests 

A look at the new QSC K Series — a family of 

boxes all with the same amp built in, and something 

called Directivity Matched Transition. Plus, 

if you are like me and your knowledge of wireless 

consists of “turn it on and hope it works,” Kaltman 

Creations just made the job of finding white 

spaces a lot easier. 


Letters 

Hey Baker, 

I just wanted to say thanks for writing The “Art” 

of Self-Promotion article (“FOH-at-Large,” July 

2009). I just sat down with it and it made a lot 

of sense and helped me feel better about the 

way I talk to my friends in the business sometimes. 

I’ve always tried not to “name drop,” but 

do like to talk with people in the business about 

what I’ve been up to. So I won’t feel bad anymore 

for doing it!!! :-) 

—Clayton Melocik, Audio Engineer/Backline Tech 

Remembering Les Paul…and to ask, 

“What If?” 

Just beautiful, of all the things that have been 

said your article in FOH online was without a 

doubt the one that summed up what Les left 

for us. Just as Lennon dreamed and wished, so 

did Les, or vice versa. Either way, it just goes to 

show what can happen when we are not afraid 

to ask, “What If.” 

—Tom Stark, in response to Bill Evan’s ProAudio- 

Space.com posting on Aug. 13, the day Les Paul 

died at age 94. 

To Order 

Mark’s 

Book 

Go To: 

www.plsnbookshelf.com 

SEPTEMBER 

2009, 

Vol. 7.12 

26 Regional Slants: Hometown Heroes 

You nominated, we listened. You voted and we 

still listened, even though a few of you voted A 

LOT. (For future reference, we keep track of IP 

numbers so it was not hard to figure out who was 

voting for themselves over and over and over…). 

In the end, six companies were triumphant. Check 

out the regional winners, and keep an eye out for 

which one of them will take home the big prize at 

the Parnellis on Nov. 20. 

Columns 

32 On the Digital Edge 

Sometimes the real best use for a piece of gear 

does not become obvious right away. Such is the 

case with the Sensaphonics 3D Ambient System. 

32 The Biz 

Planning and pulling off a tribute show in 48 

hours. With the whole world watching… 

34 Theory and Practice 

Making that affordable digital desk sound as 

warm and fuzzy (ok, just warm) as the analog you 

know and love. 

Departments 

4 Editor’s Note 

5 News 

10 International News 

12 New Gear 

14 On the Move 

20 Obituary 

30 Welcome To My Nightmare 

30 In The Trenches 

L 

IVE SOUND, Theory and Practice 

off ers practical advice on real 

topics important to technicians 

and engineers in the live sound business. 

In these pages sound engineers of all 

levels will fi nd vital help on how to deal 

with real-world problems such as timepressure, 

troubleshooting a rig, dealing 

with non-technical individuals (venue 

management, musicians, patrons, etc.) 

and their competing demands, and the 

limitations of their budget. 

Collected and expanded from 

Amundson’s monthly column in FRONT 

of HOUSE magazine, LIVE SOUND, Theory 

and Practice off ers solid technical data 

to help you understand the theory 

behind the hows and whys of sound 

reinforcement with sections that cover 

speaker and amplifi er confi guration, 

power distribution and signal processing, 

as well as concrete practical advice 

you can use when the gig gets hot. It’s 

recommended reading for anyone out 

on a gig who wants to get it right.



Editor’s Note 

Suck It Up... 

When was a teenager I lived just a 

few blocks from the local elementary 

school and we used to go over 

there on weekends, hop the fence and play 

basketball. We went there for a few reasons. It 

was close. It was a “real” court and much better 

than someone’s driveway and 8-foot hoops 

made us feel like NBA stars even though we all 

pretty much sucked. 

So when we would play actual games of 

3-on-3, the deal was, you had to call your own 

fouls. If you smacked an opponent upside the 

head as he went in for a layup you were expected 

to raise your hand and cop to the foul. 

It was kind of the hoops version of the honor 

system. And it worked well as long as everyone 

had, well, honor. But once you had someone 

laying on the ground bleeding and the person 

everyone knew had committed the hard 

foul swearing he never touched the guy, it was 

pretty much over. Yes, your team got a penalty, 

maybe lost the ball, or the other team got a 

couple of free throws. But if you screw up you 

have to man up and suck it up. 

That came to mind recently when I was 

trying to dial in a mix for a band on a board 

I had not used in a while and could not figure 

out why I couldn’t get a little grease in 

the monitors. I had an output solo’d before 

the Fx send, the room was really live so I was 

not using any ‘verb in the house and was just 

trying to placate the singer. Seeing as how 

the house guy was looking over my shoulder 

and knew I had screwed up, I had little choice, 

but still I had to suck it up and say, “Oops, my 

bad, how’s this?” I would like to think I would 

have done so even without someone standing 

there who knew I had screwed up. Man 

up. Suck it up. 

4 

Speaking of sucking it up. Watching CNN 

while working from home nursing a bum leg. 

They had Colin Powell on (Lord I like that guy. Too 

bad he has too much sense to run for office…) 

and they were talking about the Henry Gates 

thing, and he told a story about waiting for a very 

long time in Reagan National Airport when he 

was National Security Advisor and finally having 

to ask someone at the gate if his guest had arrived 

only to find out the guest had been there 

for some time and that the person at the airline 

knew that there was someone waiting to meet 

the National Security Advisor but did not put the 

guy waiting together with the Powell because 

Yes, your team got a penalty, maybe lost 

the ball, or the other team got a couple of 

free throws. But if you screw up you have 

to man up and suck it up. 

he probably could not imagine that someone 

holding that office was black. When asked how 

he responded to something like that he said, 

“Sometimes you just have to suck it up.” 

It’s when people don’t take responsibility 

and suck it up that things get out of control. 

I live in Vegas, which is a pretty free place, or 

always has been, but that is changing and not 

for the better. Just the other day I saw a news 

item about casino dealers complaining about 

the effects of second-hand smoke. Are you kidding 

me? If you work in a casino, you are going 

to be working around smokers. It is almost a 

law of nature. What do you do about it? You 

suck it up, or find a job that is not in a casino. 

I remember when living in Cali they passed 

this stupid no smoking law that banned 

smoking in bars, for God’s sake. Booze and 

tobacco go together like eggs and grits. All 

of the anti-smoking people celebrated, and I 

admit that I was kind of jazzed about not having 

to sing in smoky bars anymore. Except it 

meant I didn’t sing in any bars. No smoking 

meant fewer customers, and fewer customers 

meant less dough for live music, which put a 

SEPTEMBER 2009 www.fohonline.com 

By BillEvans 

huge dent in the work available for both musos 

and techs. 

We make choices in life. I would have liked 

to have been a rock star, but as a songwriter, I 

am a really good magazine editor. I did not have 

the innate talent to live my fantasy. Suck it up. 

Instead, I have a great job in an industry I love 

and I play music for the joy of it, not cuz I need 

to pay the rent. You know someone who has tinnitus 

or some other condition that means they 

can’t be around loud noises? Well, the live event 

production industry is probably not a good job 

fit for them, no matter how much they want it. 

Suck it up. 

And now for something completely different… 

Talking with my publisher the other day, I got 

the really good news that two audio companies, 

Yamaha and Sennheiser, that have never been 

involved in the Parnelli Awards before, had come 

on as sponsors. For too long, too many people 

have thought that the Parnellis were just a squint 

show. Not sure why. We have honored folks like 

Big Mick, John Cooper, Bob Heil, Bruce Jackson, 

John Meyer, Pooch and Tom Young in the past 

few years. And it is not just the “big boys.” We 

honor one regional soundco every year, and 

we profile those who have been nominated 

and voted the best for five regions of the U.S. 

and Canada on page 26 of this very issue. You 

can vote for the one company to receive top 

Hometown Hero honors at the Parnellis right 

now at fohonline.com/hometown. 

If you have never made it out to the show, 

you really need to do so. It is a great chance 

to give a tip of the baseball cap that hides our 

bald spots to the people who make this business 

a great place to work. Audio people, staging 

people, even squints and vidiots. Orlando 

in November. Not super convenient, but it is 

your only chance to recognize the audio folks 

doing really good work out there. Yeah, it runs 

during a squint show. Suck it up and get your 

butt out there and fly the sound crew colors. Or 

just find me and we can pass the whole day of 

the show telling LD jokes. It’ll be great. 

Email Bill Evans at bevans@fohonline.com. 

Publisher 

Terry Lowe 

tlowe@fohonline.com 

Editor 

Bill Evans 

bevans@ fohonline.com 

Managing Editor 

Frank Hammel 

fh@fohonline.com 

Technical Editor 

Mark Amundson 

mamundson@fohonline.com 

Editorial Assistant 

Victoria Laabs 

vl@fohonline.com 

Contributing Writers 

Jerry Cobb, Dan Daley, 

Daniel M. East, David John 

Farinella, Steve LaCerra, Baker Lee, 

Jamie Rio, Dave Stevens 

Art Director 

Garret Petrov 

gpetrov@fohonline.com 

Production Manager/ 

Photographer 

Linda Evans 

levans@ fohonline.com 

Web Master 

Josh Harris 

jharris@ fohonline.com 

National Sales Manager 

Jeff Donnenwerth 

jd@fohonline.com 

National Advertising Director 

Gregory Gallardo 

gregg@fohonline.com 

Advertising Manager 

Matt Huber 

mh@fohonline.com 

General Manager 

William Hamilton Vanyo 

wvanyo@fohonline.com 

Business, Editorial and 

Advertising Office 

6000 South Eastern Ave. 

Suite 14J 

Las Vegas, NV 89119 

Ph: 702.932.5585 

Fax: 702.554.5340 

Circulation 

Stark Services 

P.O. Box 16147 

North Hollywood, CA 91615 

Front Of House (ISSN 1549-831X) Volume 7 Number 

12 is published monthly by Timeless Communications 

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

NV, 89119. Periodicals Postage Paid at Las Vegas, NV and 

additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address 

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

Hollywood, CA 91615-6147. Front Of House is distributed 

free to qualified individuals in the live sound industry in the 

United States and Canada. Mailed in Canada under Publications 

Mail Agreement Number 40033037, 1415 Janette Ave., 

Windsor, ON N8X 1Z1. Overseas subscriptions are available 

and can be obtained by calling 702.932.5585. Editorial submissions 

are encouraged, but will not be returned. All Rights 

Reserved. Duplication, transmission by any method 

of this publication is strictly prohibited without the 

permission of Front Of House. 

Publishers of...

LAS VEGAS — “I’m absolutely thrilled 

with the additional support for this year’s 

Parnellis, which is sure to be our best yet,” 

exclaims Patrick Stansfield of the Parnelli 

Board of Advisors. “It’s great to see new 

and previous companies join us for the 

one night a year we put the spotlight on 

those who toil behind it the other 364.” 

Stansfield was referring to the Parnelli 

Board’s announcement of more sponsors 

to the 2009 Parnelli Awards, including 

Harman Professional Group (AKG, Crown, 

dbx, JBL, and Soundcraft) and Lab.gruppen. 

Audio-Technica 

to Supply Mics 

for XXI Winter 

Olympics 

VANCOUVER, BC — Audio-Technica announced 

that over 3,000 of its microphones 

will be used at the XXI Winter Olympic 

Games slated for this Canadian city in Feb. 

2010. The company’s gear has been used 

for Olympics telecasts since the Summer 

Games in Atlanta in 1996. 

Olympic Broadcast Services Vancouver 

(OBSV) is the host broadcaster for the Vancouver 

2010 Olympic Games, responsible 

for producing and distributing audio and 

video coverage of the Games. To generate 

an international production, OBSV will deploy 

all cameras, develop graphics and capture 

audio at each sporting venue. 

OBSV will transmit this international 

production to all radio and television Rights 

Holding Broadcasters, who will adapt the 

signal for transmission on their networks. 

The objective is for each nation to receive 

unbiased coverage of the event, avoiding 

national favoritism, commercial identification, 

advertising or interviews. 

Olympic Broadcast Services Vancouver 

will use the AT4050 Large Diaphragm Multipattern 

Microphone and BP4025 X/Y Stereo 

Field Recording Microphone to create the 

5.1 surround sound ambience at the Olympic 

events. 

In Vancouver, there are several different 

audio environments, each of which will 

present unique challenges for the broadcasters 

and audio engineers. For instance, 

in ski jump alone, there are three distinct 

surround-sound scenarios that will employ 

a combination of AT4050s and BP4025s: the 

start house, which is an enclosed environment; 

the preparation for and start of the 

jump, when the skiers are ready to go down 

the hill; and the jump in motion — when 

viewers start to see the crowd, the mixers 

try to blend in the surround sound of the 

crowd base as well. 

The sonic details will be added by using 

a large number of Audio-Technica’s shotgun 

microphones, including the 21.22-inch-long 

BP4071L Line + Gradient Condenser for 

outdoor and long-distance pickup in such 

sports as downhill skiing, figure skating 

and half-pipe sports; the AT898 Subminiature 

Lavalier Microphone with individual 

body packs in curling, operating up to 48 

channels of simultaneous wireless; custom 

A-T boundary mics for 

continued on page 9 

The people of Harman are among the 

many looking forward to honoring the 

winner of this year’s Parnelli Audio Innovator 

award, Stan Miller. 

“At Harman we are pleased to support 

the Parnelli Awards, especially as 

this year we are recognizing Stan Miller,” 

comments Michael MacDonald, EVP of 

sales and marketing at the Harman Professional 

Group. “For me, as a former employee 

at Stan’s company, Stanal Sound, 

it is especially nice to get the chance to 

congratulate Stan for the four decades of 

innovative sound reinforcement leader- 

ship he has contributed to our industry. 

Stan has been a key development partner 

for products from brands like JBL, Crown, 

AKG, dbx, Lexicon, Soundcraft and Studer, 

and we look forward to working with 

Stan in the future.” 

“Lab.gruppen is proud to support the 

Parnellis again in 2009,” states Ken Blecher, 

vice president of sales North America. “We 

look forward to a celebration of another 

year at this exclusive event with our friends 

and industry associates in Orlando.” 

Gold Sponsors now include: Barco 

Lighting Systems, Inc./High End Systems, 

News 

Parnelli Board Announces More Sponsors 

By Kevin M. Mitchell 

Brown United, Dedicated Staging, EFM 

Management, Harman Group, Precise 

Corporate Staging, Rock-It Cargo, Sound 

Image, Strictly FX and Sennheiser. Silver 

sponsors include: All Access Staging & Production, 

Chauvet, Lab.gruppen, Tyler Truss 

and Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems. 

Production Partner Sponsors include: 

Aerial Rigging (rigging); Paradise Sound & 

Lighting (audio); PRG (projection); SGASI 

Production Services (set design); Stage 

Crew (labor); and Techni-Lux (lighting). 

For more information, please visit 

www.parnelliawards.com. 

Ad info:http:// 

Ad info:http:// 

foh.hotims.com 

foh.hotims.com


6 

News 

NLFX Monitors Creekside Christian Fellowship’s System from 1,500 Miles Away 

BEMIDJI, MN — NLFX Professional recently 

installed an Electro-Voice sound system at 

Creekside Christian Fellowship in Needville, 

Texas, outside of Houston. With the help 

of Electro-Voice’s IRIS-Net remote-control 

and supervision software, NLFX continues 

to monitor the performance of Creekside’s 

new system from its offices here, nearly 1,500 

miles away. 

NLFX’s Travis Scharn described the project: 

“Creekside is really in the first of three 

stages of completion. At this point the main, 

450-seat worship space acts as a large, multipurpose 

room, and will remain in use while 

they complete an adjacent, much larger permanent 

sanctuary. 

“Anything and everything takes place in the 

current space, in addition to housing their Sunday 

services. It doubles as their youth facility, a 

venue for trade shows and concerts, and even 

as a site for volleyball practices. 

“We were referred to Creekside by a Houston-area 

building contractor, and began the 

project with a few conference calls to determine 

exactly what kind of sound system they needed 

to address such a multi-purpose space.” 

NLFX arrived at a system design including 

FRi+ main loudspeakers in two clusters of three 

boxes — two full-range boxes flanking two 

FRi+181S low-range boxes. 

“Basically a 60-degree planar array with a 

biamp operation on the tops and mono subs,” 

said Scharn, “powered by TG5 amplifiers with 

onboard DSP/control modules. 

“Creekside’s prior system consisted of powered 

speakers on sticks,” Scharn noted, “so the 

prospect of a networked, professional-quality 

EV audio system was enthusiastically received 

by the church’s staff, some of whom had heard 


FRi+ boxes at another local 

church.” 

Scharn added that the price 

for the gear was “surprisingly 

competitive price, in relation to 

what it can do,” and that it “sounded 

great right out of the box — 

we barely needed to make any 

adjustments.” 

NLFX used an input-to-output 

spec from across the Bosch 

Communications Systems Division 

family of brands, including a 

Midas Venice console at FOH, five 

EV SxA250 powered stage monitors, 

EV RE-2 systems for all wireless 

mic applications, with RE410 

handhelds and a beige RE97Tx headworn mic 

for the pastor, an array of hardwired EV mics 

including RE410s for vocals, Cardinals, and Ravens 

for instruments, along with Klark Teknik DI 

boxes. 

“The use of TG amps loaded with RCM-26 

NLFX Professional uses EV’s IRIS-Net to keep tabs on Creekside 

Christian Fellowship. 


modules and a UCC1 Can-bus converter allows 

NLFX engineers to control the entire sound 

system via IRIS-Net from our headquarters in 

Minnesota,” Scharn said. “Creekside’s AV team 

can fine-tune on-site in IRIS-Net as well, having 

access to certain layers to ensure that the 

system runs smoothly. 

Southern Baptist Convention Puts Amplifiers to Good Use 

“Loving Loud,” from left, Bill Thrasher, Steve Storie, Jeff Davidson, Kathy Allison, Phil 

Allison, Lon Brannies, Chris Hinkle, Blair McNair, Jim Carey and Nathan Rathel. 

LOUISVILLE, KY — The Southern Baptist Convention 

(SBC) purchased 24 new Yamaha TX6n 

amplifiers late last year from Capitol Design Group 

in preparation for this year’s event, held at the 

Kentucky Fair and Exposition 

Center. 

With a theme called 

Love Loud: Actions Speak 

Louder than Words, the 

convention included 

music features and concerts 

of praise over its 

two-day run, attended 

by over 8,800. 

Audio assistance 

was provided by Bill 

Thrasher of Thrasher 

Design Group; Chris 

Hinkle of Prestonwood 

Baptist Church of Dallas; 

Blair McNair, an independent 

monitor mix 

engineer; Phil Allison of 

Waveguide Consulting; Jim Carey of Liberty Baptist 

Church; Jack Pitts of Capitol Design Group; and 

house of worship product and marketing manag- 

ers from Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. 

Jeff Davidson of First Baptist Church of Dallas provided 

technical coordination. 

Yamaha Commercial Audio has supported 

the SBC for over 20 years, and this year provided 

the mixing, digital signal processing and amplification 

gear, including DME64N, PM1D, PM5D-RH 

and PM5D-EX digital consoles, DSP5D Expander, 

SB-168ES stage box, all based around an Ether- 

Sound network. The SBC-owned audio inventory 

can support crowds of up to about 15,000 in a 

convention center/exhibit hall/theater configuration. 

Chris Hinkle, FOH engineer, noted that “the 

Yamaha TX6n amplifiers did indeed supply an 

amazing amount of headroom. With the increased 

overall headroom, the amplifiers produced less 

distortion throughout the system. Even though 

the room had a fairly high ambient noise level 

(HVAC), we could get the program above the 

noise to an intelligible level without the distortion 

we had been accustomed to.” 

Bartlett Web Site Features 

Microphone Articles 

ELKHART, IN —Bartlett Microphones is 

making available free tutorials on microphones 

and their application on the company 

Web site. Some topics covered are 

boundary microphones, directional boundary 

microphones, preventing feedback and 

mic techniques for theater. 

“We’ll be presenting new information 

each month in our newsletter, and also on 

our Web site,” said company owner/engineer 

Bruce Bartlett. 

“To free up time to write the articles,” 

he added, “we’ve expanded the company’s 

work force by adding skilled assemblers 

from the Elkhart, Ind. community. We wanted 

our products to be made in the U.S.A. by 

local people, using local parts and suppliers 

whenever possible.” 

As an audio journalist, Bartlett has written 

about 900 articles and eight books on 

audio topics, especially about mics and 

mic techniques. He has presented several 

AES papers and workshops along the same 

lines. 

The company’s Web site also features 

information on the TM-125 series of stagefloor 

microphones.



8 

News 

Aerosmith Tour Cancelled After Electrical Mishap 


STURGIS, SD — The mainstream media 

was all abuzz with word that Aerosmith 

frontman Steven Tyler, 61, fell off the stage 

at the Buffalo Chip Campground Aug. 5 and 

was taken to the hospital to treat injuries to 

his head, neck and shoulders. 

While news sources noted that Tyler was 

dancing during a disruption in the sound 

system, supplied by PRG, FOH has been in- 

As this diagram indicates, the asterisked 

200-Amp mains should have 

been a 400-amp service, and the production 

should have been told about 

the additional (red) tap off the mains. 

formed that an electrical disruption may 

have led to the lack of sound amplification 

shortly before Tyler’s fall. 

According to production personnel, the 

sound system did not fail. One leg of power 

tripped. This leg had been tested the day 

before for Toby Keith and was drawing 80 

amps. The circuit was rated for 200 amps. 

The DiGiCo stage boxes that do the analogdigital 

conversion and send the audio to the 

console were on that circuit. 

Videos posted on the Internet also show 

that despite the power problems for the audio, 

the walkway that Tyler fell from was still 

fully illuminated. 

8th Day Sound Adds New 

Console to Touring Tool-Box 

Stephen Curtain is using DiGiCo’s SD8 on tour 

with Tool 

CHICAGO — Stephen Curtain, staff engineer 

for 8th Day Sound, has worked with Tool since the 

band’s 10,000 Days tour in 2006, and while he’s 

used DiGiCo desks previously, this is his first outing 

with a DiGiCo SD8 for the band’s summer tour, 

which included headlining spots at the All Points 

West and Lollapalooza festivals. 

“The first time I saw an SD8 was at 8th Day 

Sound,” he said. “We had one in for a demo with 

a few of the guys from DiGiCo. The biggest thing 

to me was how little EQ I actually needed to use 

as compared to other mixing boards—digital or 

analog.” 

Back in 2006, when he took the Tool gig over 

from another engineer, Curtain had been mixing 

on another brand of console. 

“I knew I wanted to make the switch to a DiGi- 

Co, and now just happened to be that time. I have 

been around just about every digital console out 

there over the past few years, and I always seem to 

gravitate towards the DiGiCos. In short, the SD8 fit 

the tour’s budget and my requirements for what 

my monitor desk needed to do.” 

On this tour, there are approximately 40 inputs 

for drums, bass, guitar, vocals and a few FX returns 

from stage. Curtain’s also got two in-ear mixes for 

vocalist Maynard James Keenan (the band is all on 

wedges) and a tech mix. Plus, he’s using two internal 

reverbs and one external chorus for a total of 

seven mono mixes and three stereo mixes. 

“I typically stick to using the parametric EQ on 

both inputs and outputs, but when I do need to 

use the graphic EQ faders, it makes things go a bit 

quicker having the detent. It also gives you peace 

of mind knowing that you’re back at zero without 

having to watch some little numbers.” 

Overall, Curtain says the feature he’s most impressed 

with is the sound. “I’m actually using less 

EQ on everything. The dynamics are clean and react 

the way they should. A few of the band members 

are really into the technology and get excited 

about what I’m using. For the most part though, 

they are just happy with a good, consistent sound 

and I think we’ve achieved that for this band and 

this tour.”

CHICAGO — For the past five years, Fall 

Out Boy FOH engineer Kyle Chirnside has 

been manning the controls. For the band’s 

current world tour, Chirnside is turning to the 

Midas PRO6. 

“I’ve always been a Midas guy,” Chirnside 

said. “Whenever I had a choice, I would have 

my XL4. But then I had the chance to test drive 

the XL8.” That opportunity came with an invitation 

visit Metallica FOH engineer Big Mick 

Hughes during preparations for Fall Out Boy’s 

autumn 2008 tour of the U.K. and Europe. 

“We were at his house, sitting around 

mixing Metallica tunes on the XL8, which was 

huge for me. I must have remixed that song 

‘Battery’ a hundred times that day. I fell in love 

with the console. So when I heard Midas was 

developing a smaller, more affordable digital 

desk, I was totally into it.” That console was 

the PRO6, which Chirnside and Fall Out Boy 

promptly took out on tour. 

That first tour with the PRO6 led to a 

change in how Chirnside did his job. “Since 

I was a new user, I brought my trusty EL8s 

along for vocal processing, but I never 

touched them,” he said. “Instead, I ended up 

using the console’s internal 3 band compressors, 

which sound amazing. They really made 

all the vocals pop out and stay dominant in 

the mix from a whisper to a scream. For Pete 

Wentz’s bass, the PRO6’s corrective compressor 

is perfect on both the DI and SansAmp 

channels.” 

At the output stage, Chirnside relies on 

the PRO6’s internal Klark Teknik EQ section, 

which he describes as “quick and precise,” to 

dial in the right sound for every act on the 

bill. 

Clair Global supplied a PRO6 for Fall Out 

Boy’s spring U.S. tour, which featured four 

supporting acts. “Even with five bands, we 

only used one desk,” Chirnside noted. “It was 

easier and more cost effective than alternating 

between two consoles. 

“It saved us a lot of money in renting another 

console and having a huge rack of outboard 

gear,” Chirnside said, adding that “it was 

a great opportunity for all these young engineers 

to be in a big show and mix on a digital 

desk. It was amazing to watch these rookie engineers 

just jump right in and get it.” 

Audio connectivity from the DL431 to the 

PRO6 control surface consists of a pair of thin 

Cat5 cables, one of them redundant, eliminating 

the need to run a bulky copper snake. Similarly, 

redundant power supplies at the control 

surface and in the I/O and DSP modules en- 


sure continuous operation even in the 

event of failure. 

Expanding on his observation of 

the rookie engineers taking to the 

Midas console, Chirnside noted that 

each band’s engineer could simply 

load his show file between acts, do a 

quick mic check and be ready to go. 

“The PRO6 is laid out like an analog 

desk, so you’re reaching in the same 

direction you always have. And if you 

can’t figure it out, there’s a screen right 

there that tells you what you need to 

know. These young engineers for our 

opening acts, on their first major tour 

— they had it nailed within a couple 

days. It was great to watch.” 

News 

FOH Engineer Takes Fall Out Boy Digital with Midas PRO6 

Audio-Technica 

to Supply Mics 

for XXI Winter 

Olympics 

continued fromn page 5 

hockey; and many more microphones. 

“The sound of competitive sports is 

crucial, and Audio-Technica is proud to 

be a critical part of bringing the experience 

of the Games to viewers around 

the world,” said Michael Edwards, 

Audio-Technica director of product 

management. “When Audio-Technica 

began a successful relationship with 

the Olympic broadcasters in Atlanta 

in 1996, we made a dedication to the 

capture of audio in broadcast sports. 

Because of this, we have been given 

the opportunity to help improve the 

sound and reduce mic visibility in the 

process. As a result of our experience 

with Olympic broadcasts, Audio-Technica 

continues ongoing product development 

in order to meet the needs of 

professional broadcasters in a variety 

of settings around the world.” 

The Vancouver 2010 Winter Games 

will feature athletes from more than 

80 countries competing in 86 events 

in seven sports, with media representatives 

covering the event for a worldwide 

audience of billions. 

The PRO6 with Fall Out Boy: Patrick Stump, Pete Wentz, 

Kyle Chirnside, Andy Hurley and Joe Trohman 

2009 SEPTEMBER 

9 

Ad info:http:// foh.hotims.com


VIENNA, Austria —Vienna’s Grosser 

Musikvereinssaal, also known as the Goldene 

Saal (Golden Hall), uses an assortment 

of AKG microphones for Vienna’s Philharmonic 

Orchestra, including AKG C 12 VRs, 

K 702s and a WMS 400 wireless system. The 

mics are also now used for the annual New 

Year’s Day Concert, which has been telecast 

each year since 1959, and for numerous 

lectures and public readings. 

To serve the variety of public events, 

the sound system uses four channels of 

the AKG WMS 400 wireless system. A mobile 

lectern has been equipped with a CK 

33 capsule on a modified GN 50 gooseneck 

that can also be connected to a bodypack 

10 

International News 

Assortment of Mics Complement Acoustic Design of Vienna’s Golden Hall 

SEPTEMBER 2009 

transmitter to minimize the need for microphone 

cables. All of the microphones are 

controlled by an AKG AS 8 automatic mixer 

and monitored by AKG headphones using 

the K 207 reference. 

“The Golden Hall is simply the finest and 

most beautiful concert hall in the world,” 

said Alfred Reinprecht, AKG’s vice president 

of marketing and product management. 

“The acoustics are impeccable, the sound 

system is extraordinary, and the venue is 

designed beautifully. I couldn’t imagine a 

better musical experience.” 

Much of the musical experience at the 

Golden Hall can be attributed to the design 

of the building itself. A hollow space under 


the wooden floor creates a resonant background; 

the ceiling, which is made of wood, 

is hung from the rafters and gives the sound 

in the hall extra dimensions; and the ceilings, 

balconies, and caryatids provide ideal 

propagation of sound waves. Since the first 

concert was held on January 6, 1870, the 

Golden Hall has represented the finest in 

acoustics, garnering praise from architects, 

musicians and concert-goers from around 

the world. 

“The acoustics of the building are already 

unbeatable,” Reinprecht noted. “But 

when you add the sound system that is in 

place, it provides an up-front sound that is 

simply beyond words.” 

AKG C 12 VRs, K 702s and a WMS 400 wireless system are 

used for the New Year’s Day Concert and other events. 

Brian Eno’s Apollo: 

Atmospheres and 

Soundtracks Live at 

London’s Science 

Museum 

LONDON — Brian Eno celebrated the 

40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing 

with the first of two live performances of 

his 1983 composition Apollo: Atmospheres 

and Soundtracks in the IMAX Cinema at London’s 

Science Museum. 

The Science Museum asked Headtec’s 

Mark Hornsby to provide the sound, and 

Icebreaker’s FOH sound engineer Alexander 

Bossew used a Soundcraft Vi6 digital console 

for the show. 

“I specified this, because it is so easy to 

produce a warm sound without having to EQ 

like mad,” Bossew said. “Also the few compressors 

that I used were working very discreetly.” 

Bossew admitted that with only time for a 

quick run through ahead of the performance 

rather than full rehearsal, there had been little 

time to purpose-configure the desk, which 

was plugged straight into the cinema PA. 

However, this hardly concerned him as the 

musicians were so experienced. “They were 

all aware of their own dynamics and so there 

was little for me to correct at the desk end.” 

However, the composition, adapted by 

Jun Lee, required the use of a lot of reverb. 

“The IMAX is completely dry, and I had to use 

six different internal Lexicon reverbs, which 

sounded excellent,” Bossew said, noting that 

task alone consumed most of the one-hour 

desk programming time that was allocated. 

Headtec FOH sound engineer Alexander 

Bossew used a Soundcraft Vi6 console.


New Gear 

IRIS-Net V2.1.1 

Bosch’s Communications Systems Division announced 

the release of IRIS-Net V2.1.1 software. IRIS- 

Net V2.1.1, with new features developed for both live 

audio and installation markets. 

Enhancements include the addition of two, three, 

four and five-way FIR-Drive DSP blocks for NetMax 

and the new Scene Manager, which provides a new 

level of customization for control and recall of DSP 

parameters within NetMax. 

IRIS-Net V2.1.1 also includes User Controls and 

DSP Object Template Dialogs to further enhance the 

GUI applications for setting up and controlling audio 

systems. Additionally, IRIS-Net V2.1.1 now provides 

up to 64 Control Layers. 

irisnet.electrovoice.com 

d&b Ti-Series 

Following the launch of the T-Series 

loudspeaker range earlier this year, d&b audiotechnik 

now offers the new Ti-Series — 

loudspeaker systems and hardware fittings 

for fixed installation use. 

The T-Series includes the Ti10L line array 

loudspeaker, Ti10P for point source usage 

and the Ti subwoofer. The rigging hardware 

has been designed to be unobtrusive, 

whether ground supported or flown, and 

d&b offers an option to color-coordinate 

both the system and rigging. 

Like the T-Series, the Ti-Series ranks as d&b’s smallest line array or standalone point source 

system and can address a wide range of small to medium sized installation applications. 

The Ti10 cabinet has the same dimensions for both loudspeaker versions 

(18.5 x 7.8 x 11.8 mm/inches) and is a passive 2-way design that houses two 6.5-inch drivers 

and a 1.4-inch exit HF compression driver. At 

the core of the design is a rotatable horn and 

an acoustic lens within the loudspeaker grill 

assembly. 

The Ti-SUB shares the same width and 

integrated rigging hardware as the Ti10L 

for deployment either flown at the top of a 

Ti10L array or as a separate column. It can 

also be ground-stacked for use with either 

of the Ti10 loudspeaker versions. It is used 

to increase the low frequency headroom 

and extend the bandwidth of a Ti10 column 

down to 47 Hz. The bass-reflex design utilizes 

a high excursion 15-inch driver with a 

neodymium magnet assembly and employs 

d&b SenseDrive technology when driven by 

the D12 amplifier. 

dbaudio.com 

Sennheiser Wireless 

evolution e 965 

Microphone 

The evolution e 965, Sennheiser’s 

large-diaphragm condenser microphone, 

is now available as a wireless version. 

The MMK 965-1 microphone capsule attaches 

to both Sennheiser’s 2000 Series 

and evolution wireless G3 wireless series 

SKM handheld transmitters, letting users 

of both series benefit from the dual-dia- 

phragm of Sennheiser’s e 965 microphone. 

Sennheiser’s ew 500-965 G3 system, which 

is part of the evolution wireless G3 series, 

is based around the MMK 965-1 and ships 

with the EM 500 G3 receiver, a GA 3 rackmount 

kit and the SKM 500 G3 transmitter 

with the MMK 965-1 capsule. The capsule’s 

dual-diaphragm technology means it can 

be switched between cardioid and supercardioid 

pick-up patterns with the flip of 

a switch. 

The MMK 965-1 microphone head is 

included with the evolution wireless ew 

500-965 G3 vocal set. It also can be ordered 

separately for use with any SKM 

2000 handheld or evolution wireless G3 

handheld SKM transmitter. The microphone 

capsule is available in traditional 

black, nickel, and the blue “gunmetal” 

color of the Sennheiser’s evolution 900 

Series. MSRP: $758.48 

sennheiserusa.com



Ashly Audio has named John Sexton national 

sales manager. Sexton, who will be based 

in Oklahoma, started out in the professional 

audio industry at Altec Lansing Corporation 

and has since gained 25 years of experience 

in various regional, national and international 

sales and marketing positions. He joins Ashly 

Audio following seven years as vice president 

of sales & marketing for Altec Lansing Technologies, 

Inc., Milford, Penn. Prior to that, Sexton had 

a four-year stint as regional sales manager with 

The Jones Sales Group, Flower Mound, Texas, 

through 2001, representing Bosch Communications 

Systems and other product lines in the 

Gulf Coast region. 

Blue Microphones has named John Maier 

chief executive officer. Maier makes the move af- 

14 

On the Move 

ter nearly seven years as CEO of TC Group Americas. 

His appointment follows the company’s acquisition 

last year by private equity firm Transom 

Capital Group. Maier will be based in Blue Microphone’s 

Westlake Village, Calif. headquarters. 

Masque Sound has added Matt Peskie 

to its sales team. Peskie, who will focus on 

installations and production, served as monitor 

engineer with Avril 

Lavigne’s Under My 

Skin tour, production 

manager for Jars of 

Clay, monitor engineer 

for Guster and as tour 

manager, FOH engineer 

and monitor tech 

Matt Peskie 

for many other artists. 

Point Source Audio (PSA) named Yvonne 

Ho vice president of marketing. Prior to joining 

Point Source Audio in 2008, Ho served as marketing 

director for Phonic Ear (now Front Row). 

Riedel Communications 

added Thorsten 

Schulze to the 

company’s RockNet 

team as product manager 

for multimedia 

and entertainment. 

Schulze, former product 

manager at Optocore, 

has 20 years of 

pro audio experience. 


Thorsten Schulzer 

News 

No Doubt Tours 

with JBL VerTec 

Line Arrays 

LAS VEGAS — Sound Image supported 

the 2009 summer tour for No Doubt, building 

on the support the Escondido, Calif.based 

rental firm had provided for lead 

singer Gwen Stefani’s previous solo tours 

using a JBL VerTec line array system. 

The tour, which was produced by Live 

Nation, began at the Meadowlands Sports 

Complex in East Rutherford, N.J. and ended 

in Honolulu’s Neal S. Blaisdel Arena. 

Along with opening acts including 

Paramore and either The Sounds, Janelle 

Monae or Bedouin Soundclash, fans got a 

chance to see and hear the band that had 

achieved sales of more than 16 million copies 

of their best-selling 1995 album, Tragic 

Kingdom 

The Sound Image audio crew reconfigured 

the large PA system for different 

environments, based upon architectural 

considerations in each building. 

For typical outdoor “shed” venue situations, 

the main PA system contained up to 

15 VT4889 full-size line array elements in 

each main L/R cluster, with an array of eight 

flown VT4880 full-size arrayable subwoofers 

and nine to 12 VT4889 elements per side in 

an auxiliary cluster. Four VT4880 subs were 

located in the center barricade. 

In arena scenarios, the system featured 

15 VT4889 elements for each main cluster, 

along with eight flown VT4880 subwoofers, 

nine VT4889 elements in each auxiliary 

cluster and six VT4889 elements in the sidefacing 

outfill arrays, with an additional four 

VT4880 ground-stacked subs per side. 

Veteran concert soundmixer John 

Kerns handled FOH mixing duties for the 

tour, while Sound Image system tech John 

Tompkins was responsible for system setup 

on a daily basis. 

“JBL’s VerTec system performed very 

well for us in all types of venues,” Tompkins 

said. “It’s always easy to fly, a real pleasure to 

work with.” 

According to Tompkins, the tour’s hectic 

schedule offered a few challenges. 

“With our schedule being 3 ½ months 

straight without going home, and having 

two different opening acts each night, we 

really had to focus on maintenance and cable 

clean-up every time we had the chance, 

so there was not much downtime,” Tompkins 

said. ”Having said that, it was a pleasure 

working with a band full of good, professional 

individual musicians who went to 

great lengths to know not just your name, 

but what you did for them on tour, as well.” 

Linda Evans 

Sound Image 

supported the tour 

with JBL gear.



Soundco 

R&R Sound 

ST 

VENUE 

Save Mart Center 

Fresno, Calif. 

16 

Showtime 

CREW 

FOH Engineer: Rob Snyder 

Monitor Engineer: Tim James 

Systems Engineer: Ryan Wissink 

Production Manager: Wayne 

Backward 

FOH System Techs: Mark Willhoite, 

Paul Alonzo 

VENUE 

Paso Robles Fairgrounds 

Paso Robles, Calif. 

GEAR 

FOH 

Console: DiGiCo D5 

Speakers: 22 Meyer Sound MILO, 2 

MILO 120, 6 MSL-4, 6 DF-4, 8 UPM-1P 

Processing: Galileo 

Mics: 8 Shure UHF-R with Shure Beta 

87C, 10 Shure Beta 58, 2 Shure SM81, 2 

Shure 56, 1 AKG D 112, 4 AKG C 480, 5 

AKG C 419, 4 AKG C 418 

Rigging: CM Lodestar 

Soundco 

SSI Audio 

CREW 

FOH Engineer: Patrick Coughlin 

Monitor Engineers: Patricio Codoceo, 

Mike Sosa 

System Engineers: Patrick Coughlin, 

Patricio Codoceo 

Production Manager: Buddy Sokolik 

Tour Managers: Various (Other series 

performers included KISS, Kelly Clark- 


California Mid-State Fair — Tim McGraw 

Great Western Fan Festival 

VENUE 

Miramichi Agricultural Exhibition 

Miramichi City, NB Canada 

CREW 

FOH Engineer: Evan Cormier 

Monitor Engineer: Nick Ross 

Production Manager: Lee Forster 

MON 

Console: Crest X Monitor 

Speakers/PMs: 10 Meyer Sound PSM-2, 

4 UPM-1P, 8 Shure PSM 700 

son, Carrie Underwood, Black Eyed Peas, 

REO Speedwagon, Styx, Journey, Heart, 

Dave Koz and more). 

gear 


Consoles: Midas Heritage 3000, Yamaha 

PM5D 

Speakers: 40 L-Acoustics V-DOSC, 28 

subs, 4 dv-DOSC, 12 ARCs 

Amps: 60 Crown MA5002s 

Processing: XTA, BSS, Lexicon 

Mics: Sennheiser, Shure 

Power Distro: Skjonberg 

Miramichi Culture Fest 2009 

GEAR 


Console: Yamaha PM5D 

Speakers: Dynacord Cobra 4-System: 

6 Cobra-4-Far, 12 Cobra-4-Top, 

24 Cobra PHW Sub 

Amps: 14 Dynacord L2400 

Processing: 6 Dynacord DSP 2400, 

Klark-Teknik SQ1G 

Mics: Shure, Sennheiser, AKG 

Power Distro: SSI custom 

Rigging: 2 Dynacord bumpers, 

CM 1-ton motors 

Breakout Assemblies: custom 

ST 

Rigging: 16 CM 1-ton motors 

Breakout Assemblies: Ramtech 

Snake Assemblies: Ramtech 

MON 

Consoles: Yamaha, Midas 

Speakers/PMs: 18 Clair 12 AM, 

L-Acoustics 115, ARCS, dv-SUB, 

SB-218, Sennheiser G2 

Amps: Clair/QSC, Crown MA5002 

Processing: BSS, XTA 


Snake Assemblies: SPL 

custom 300’ snake 

Soundco 

Live Light 

Entertainment 

ST 

MON 

Console: Yamaha PM5D 

Speakers/PMs: 10 Electro-Voice 

PX1121M, 4 EV QRx 115, 4 EV QRx 218, 

3 Shure PSM-600 

Amps: 4 Electro-Voice CP4000S 

Processing: 7 Klark-Teknik SQ1G 

Mics: Shure, Sennheiser, AKG 

Power Distro: SSI custom

ST 

VENUE 

National Sylvan Theater 

Washington Monument 

Washington D.C. 

CREW 

FOH Engineers: Bill Wynn, David 

Brotman 

Monitor Engineer: Chris Prinzivalli 

Systems Engineer: Michael 

Shoulson 

Production Manager: Jeff Anthony 

FOH System Tech: Mark Costa 

Soundco 

The Initial 

Production 

Group 

Soundco 

Light This 

Productions, 

LLC 

Duke Ellington Jazz Festival 

GEAR 


Console: Midas Heritage 1000 

Speakers: 16 Meyer Sound MILO, 

8 Meyer 650-P, 4 Meyer UPJ, 

2 Meyer CQ-1 

Processing: Galileo 616, 

TC Electronic M2000/M-One, 

Lexicon LXP-15/PCM 42, Yamaha 

SPX90 

Mics: Earthworks 

Rigging: Sapsis Rigging 

Breakout Assemblies: Whirlwind 

Snake Assemblies: Whirlwind 

VENUE 

Water Works Park 

Des Moines, Iowa 

MON 

Speakers: 8 Meyer Sound USM- 

100P, 4 Meyer UM-1P, 2 Meyer 

UPA-1P 

Processing: XTA GQ800 

Mics: Shure, AKG, Beyerdynamic 

Power Distro: LEX 

VENUE 

Folsom Field 

Boulder, Colo. 

CREW 

FOH Engineer: Jeff Preiss 

Monitor/System Engineer: Bill Hart 

Production Manager: Dave Hash 

FOH System Tech: Casey McDaniel 

CREW 

FOH Engineer: Karl Knudson 

Monitor Engineer: Randy Harmon 

Systems Engineer: Brian Ingwell 

(Go Audio) 

Production Manager: Chris 

Timmons 

FOH System Techs: Eric Williamson, 

Josh Kaiser, Justin Schuck 

Promise Keepers 20 th Anniversary 

Big Country Bash 


GEAR 


Console: Digidesign Venue 

Speakers: 18 L-Acoustics VDOSC, 

24 ARCS 

Amps: Lab.gruppen 

Processing: XTA 

Mics: Shure 

GEAR 


Console: Yamaha M7CL-48 

Speakers: Martin Audio W8LC Line 

Array 

Amps: QSC 

Processing: Ashly 


Power Distro: Motion Labs 

MON 

Speakers: Martin Audio LE400, 

Meyer Sound 700-HP 

Amps: QSC 

Processing: Ashly 


ST 

MON 

Speakers: EAW SM200 18 

Amps: Crown 

Mics: Shure 

We 

Want You! 


Soundco 

DBS Audio 

Systems Inc. 

ST 

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 

pr@fohonline.com 

for more info. We cover the 

industry 

— and that means 

you! 

17 

Ad info:http:// foh.hotims.com

It could be argued that FOH mixer Robert 

Collins has seen some of the greatest live 

rock ‘n’ roll shows ever. Actually, that would 

be a short debate, since Collins has stood in 

front of a laundry list of legends over the 

past number of decades, including this past 

summer’s run of 14 shows in the States with 

Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood. 

Collins spent a few minutes between 

sound check and curtain on his tour bus to 

talk about the tour, gear from around the 

world and hiding his nicotine habit from his 

mother. The last bit there is off the record, 

just so you know. 

FOH: This tour is such a short run. Does 

that put more pressure on you? 

Robert Collins: Yes, in a way. A lot of 

big tours take a few shows to settle down, 

band included. We haven’t got that many, 

so we’ve got to hit it off the bat. But, no 

more pressure than normal. I take every 

show the same. Every one has got to be 

as good as you can get it, otherwise you 

just get frustrated anyway. Of course, they 

don’t sound check. So, the lights go on, we 

make the sign of the cross and see what 

happens. 

You’ve been out with Eric for so long. Do 

you know what to expect? 

Well, it changes with different bands, 

so some songs are the same and some 

songs are not the same. That’s the beauty 

with Eric. It’s always different, which is 

great. If it was the same, it would be (he 

gives a thumbs-down gesture). This band 

18 

FOH Interview 

Robert Collins By 

is drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr., bassist Willie 

Weeks, Chris Stainton on keyboards and 

background vocalists Michelle John and 

Sharon White. I feel that I mix a new show 

every night. 

Too bad, because you could just program 

the show and go home. 

I can’t program. (Laughs) I can’t even 

program my bloody laptop. Everybody 

laughs. I use a digital desk just like an 

analog desk. No cues, nothing. If it doesn’t 

come on it’s because I haven’t switched it 

on. I take full responsibility. 

“I’m a live engineer, and I do it for the 

audience and the show.” 

How did having Steve on board change 

the show? 

Well, we’re doing both Steve’s songs 

and Eric’s songs. Steve’s singing and that’s 

a big change only from Eric’s standpoint. 

I’ve really enjoyed it. I love these two together. 

So, what do you have to get your head 

around when you hear “14-show run?” 

It’s totally different, but the thing is 

that we didn’t have time to think about 

this anyway. Starting off at the beginning 

of the year we went off to Japan, Australia 

and New Zealand with a different band. 

Then we came into London and changed 

some members of the band and we did 

12 shows in the Albert Hall. The morning 

after our last show at the Albert we were 

on a plane to come straight to New York 

to set up for this band and do a week’s 


rehearsing. 

Are you carrying or renting? 

We carry our front of house and monitor 

desks. Everything else we’re renting. 

What are you asking for? 

A professional PA. (Laughs) Wheels 

to the back, chicken wire to the front. 

We’ve used anything from V-DOSC to 

VerTec to Meyer to d&b. In Australia we 

used VerTec, in New Zealand it was an EV 

system. We’ve been mostly using VerTec 

on this bit of shows. 

How does that change your mix? 

Well, it shouldn’t change my mix, but it 

certainly does. It’s just the way that different 

systems deliver. Some systems deliver 

really well and there’s plenty of space. It’s a 

bit like depth of field. On some PAs it’s very 

difficult to layer the instruments. Then there 

are other PAs, where you can set things 

back and still hear them clearly. There are 

a lot of systems where they just give it full 

on, so you’re forever playing to get them to 

sit right. 

Do you have a preference? 

Not really. Some are easier than others. 

Some of them have their own type of 

sound and then others have no sound at 

all, they just give you everything at volume 

and you try to create a sound with it. That’s 

a great thing, or a bad thing, depending on 

whether you can get it together or not. I 

don’t know how to answer that. I’ve always 

had favorites of things, but then you go to 

different continents or different countries 

and where your favorite was the best in the 

last continent that you were on, it’s totally 

different now. 

Has there been a piece of gear that you’ve 

DavidJohnFarinella 

got on a show that you have to have with 

you wherever you go now? 

That would never happen. I don’t think 

like that. 

You’re an old-school analog cat. Was it 

hard to make the jump to digital? 

It wasn’t hard to make the jump. It’s 

hard to know what to do with it. It’s hard 

to make it work. No, it wasn’t hard, because 

I just take it as sound. That’s the way that I 

look at it. I try not to complicate it. I try not 

to confuse it. I try to keep the same thing 

in my head as 30 years ago when I walked 

into a place and went, ‘My, God, it’s got to 

be better than this.’ I’m a fan of all things, 

anything that makes it better or more interesting. 

So, analog I love. And there is a lot of 

the little digital domain that I love. There’s 

lots of it that I don’t love, as well, but I tend 

not to dwell on it, otherwise it eats you up a 

little. You make your choice, you go with it. 

What’s the trust level like between you 

and Eric? I imagine it’s off the charts. 

I hope so. As we first said, ‘As soon as 

that day comes that you think I don’t know 

what’s going on, then I’m no good for you 

and you’re no good for me.’ We have our 

moments where we work together on 

things. It’s great working with Eric and I 

love working with Eric. Fortunately, I’ve 

been very very lucky, because everyone I’ve 

worked with I’ve tried to have a relationship 

with. It’s pointless otherwise. 

Did having Steve along change your decisions 

on gear? 

Steve never said anything, really. I came 

along with the microphones that I like to 

use, including the AT (4055) mics that I use 

for Eric’s vocals for his vocals. 

continued on page 20 

Debi Moen



20 



Headline 

Why those mics? 

continued from page 18 

Because the spill sounds so much better 

in them and both Eric and Steve sing 

off the mic quite a bit. Especially blues 

things with Eric. He’s into playing guitar. 

Although he’s a great singer, sometimes 

he’s maybe two feet from the mic. He likes 

that. It’s art to him. So, we’ve always liked 

these mics. The spill quality is great and often 

Eric’s vocal mic is my overhead as well. 

Deck 

That must be fun to mix… 

Oh, yeah, it’s stunning. Abe’s drum kit 

has big cymbals. I remember years ago 

when the singer wasn’t singing you used 

to mute the microphone and when he 

sang you’d open it up. You can’t do that 

with this, the whole sound changes. Everything 

is a blend. 

Are you using anything special to monitor 

the mix? 

No, I’m only listening through the PA. 

I’m only there for the audience. That’s the 

way I look at it. I’m in the middle of the 

hall to try and get it so the audience can 

hear everything that they want to hear, 

that they can pick things up, that it’s not 

a big mess. That’s what I’m there for. I’m 

not there to do live tapes or anything else. 

I’m not interested. I’m a live engineer and 

I do it for the audience and the show and 

hopefully everybody walks out singing 

the songs. 

Robert Collins 


Atsunori Abe, Former 

Audio-Technica Executive 

Atsunori Abe 

Atsunori Abe, former general manager of 

Audio-Technica Corporation’s International Department 

(Japan), died on July 10, 2009. Abe 

passed away in his native Japan and is survived 

by two brothers, a sister, his wife and their three 

daughters. 

Atsunori Abe (pronounced AH-bay) joined 

A-T in 1978, and in addition to holding the position 

of the general manager of Audio-Technica 

Corp. International Department, he also served 

on the company’s board of directors. He retired 

in 2005. 

During his tenure at the Audio-Technica, 

Abe helped the company grow internationally 

and was instrumental in launching such 

products as the AT4033 Cardioid Condenser 

Microphone, part of A-T’s 40 Series line of microphone 

and headphone products. Abe also was 

involved in the introduction of A-T’s 30 Series, 

Artist Elite Series, including the 5000 Series UHF 

Wireless System, and Audio-Technica’s line of 

professional and consumer headphones. 

Abe helped Audio-Technica develop a relationship 

with the Olympics, beginning with 

the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992. Abe also 

helped open the Technica House/AstroStudio, 

located in Tokyo. Abe traveled to almost all 

trade shows where Audio-Technica exhibited. 

“Abe-san led the growth of global sales for 

Audio-Technica Corporation with a truly international 

perspective, combined with traditional 

Japanese values and culture,” said Phil Cajka, 

Audio-Technica U.S. president/CEO. Cajka continued, 

“He was a multi-faceted, well-rounded 

individual. Abe-san was a trusted business associate, 

teacher of Japanese culture and business 

practices, had a good sense of adventure 

and humor, and he was someone who truly enjoyed 

American country music, a fine red wine 

and a good cigar. His legacy and contributions 

will long be remembered. We extend our deepest 

sympathies to his family, friends and all who 

knew him.” 

OBITUARY 

Debi Moen


22 

Buyers Guide 

Digital Snakes 

By BillEvans 

The days of hauling tons of copper around to get the audio signal from the stage to the 

console are rapidly fading. This short chart will give you an idea of what is out there 

that will let you carry a good reel of Cat5 cable instead of a giant multi-core snake. 

One important note: Some of these are stand-alone products and some are part of console 

systems. Mackie, Midas, DiGiCo and A&H are all part of their digital console systems. Also, 

at least one big one was left out because they make a technology, not a product. Audinate’s 

Dante system is something that manufacturers can (and have) incorporated into their gear 

— a list that includes Yamaha with Dante cards for several of their mixers and Lab.gruppen, 

which has the Dante technology built into several of its power amps. Confused yet? 

Model Form Factor Sends Returns I/o Cable 

Aphex Systems 828M Anaconda 

aphex.com 

Allen & Heath iLive T snake 

ilive-digital.com 

Aviom Pro64 

aviom.com 

DiGiCo 

digico.biz 

LightViper Series 32 - 1832 

lightviper.com 





Link DGlink 

linkusa-inc.com 

Mackie DS3232 

mackie.com 

RSS by Roland 

S-4000 32x8 System 

rolandsystemsgroup.com 

RSS by Roland 

S-1608 System 

rolandsystemsgroup.com 

Soundcraft Vi Series 

soundcraft.com 

Whirlwind E Snake/E Snake 2 

whirlwindusa.com 

Whirlwind C series 

whirlwindusa.com 

Yamaha SB168-ES 

yamahaca.com 

Rack mount 64 x 64 ADAT, Ethernet, Coax (MADI) Multi-mode or single mode fiber 

Built into console 63 x 32 XLR 1/4 Cat5 

Standalone, plug-in card, rack mount, 

built into console, stage box 

Console system with remote racks 


Modular, in groups of 16 Mic, line AES 3, Yamaha Cat5, Cat6, Fiber 

Up to 512 inputs and outputs at 

96KHz 

Analog, AES, Ethersound, Aviom, 

Optocore, MADI 

MADI BNC and Optocore 

Stage box/rack mount/MY card 32 x 8 per block Analog in / analog & digital out Fiber 

Rack mount/MY cards 32 x 8 AES3 digital in / analog & digital out Fiber 

Rack mount 8 x 8 

AES3 digital or line level analog in / 

AES3 AND analog line level out 

Standalone, rack mount, stage box 64 x 64 XLR and/or multipin Cat6 

Rack Mount 32 x 32 XLR Cat5 

Rack mount, modular plug-in cards 

for configurability 

RSS by Roland digital snakes – the S-0815, left, and S-1608, right. 

Aviom Pro64 series gear, including, 

from top, the RCI remote control interface, 

the 6416m mic input module 

and the MCS mic control surface. 

fiber 

32 x 8 Analog (XLR) or Digital (AES/EBU) Cat5 

Rack mount 16 x 8 Analog (XLR) Cat5 

Stage box 64 x 32 Analog XLR, AES-3, Aviom, Cobranet Cat5 Standard, Fiber Option 

Rack mount/plug in cards 8 to whatever you need Phoenix connectors Cat5e 

Rack mount 8 channels per unit XLR Cat5e 

Stage box 16 x 8 EtherSound 24 bit 100 BASE-TX Cat5e

Latency Max run Data format 


Audio, data and other control on 

same line? 

I 

have a great deal of respect for the 

QSC name. They have been building 

rock-solid amplifiers and gear for decades, 

and the high quality of their products 

has made them one of the icons of 

the sound biz. That said, whenever I review 

equipment from the big boys I tend 

to put that gear under a microscope. 

24 

Road Test 

QSC K Series 

The Gear RT 

The K series consist of four boxes. 

The K8 is a 2-way enclosure with one 

8-inch speaker and one 1.75-inch compression 

driver. The K10 is also a 2-way 

sporting one 10-inch speaker and a 

1.75-inch compression driver. The K12 

(you guessed it) is a 2-way box with a 

12-inch speaker and a 1.75 compression 

driver. That leaves us with the KSub. The 

name speaks for itself; it is a subwoofer 

loaded with two 12-inch speakers. 

You may be asking yourself how 

many watts each of these enclosures 

produce. Herein lies the genius of the “K” 

series. All four configurations sport the 

same 1,000-watt power amp. In terms 

of research and development and manufacturing, 

building one power platform 

to fit all the enclosures is brilliantly economical. 

Typically, manufacturers design 

one or more power amps for their enclosures. 

This practice is more expensive 

with regards to development and tooling 

for production. But one amp beautifully 

streamlines the process. 

QSC has also made certain that each 

box has more than enough power (1,000 

watts) to properly handle a variety of 

sound reinforcement situations. Also, all 

three of the 2-way enclosures sport the 

same 1.75-inch compression driver — 

another economical move. The 2-ways 

are made of a high impact black ABS 

plastic and the sub is built from birch 

plywood painted with black textured 

paint. Each box is packed with features. 

Rather than list all of these features, I 

will cover the ones that I think are pertinent 

for sound companies or bands that 

would be purchasing these boxes. 

The K8 weighs in at a mere 27 lbs.; 

it produces 127dBs of SPL and has a 

height of 17.7 inches, a width of 11 

inches and a depth of 10.6 inches. The 

K10 tips the scale at 32 lbs., produces 

129dBs of sound and is 20.4 inches high 

by 12.6 inches wide by 11.8 inches deep. 

The K12 lifts at 41 lbs., pushes 131dBs of 

sound and is 23.7 inches by 14 inches by 

14 inches. The KSub carries a little more 

weight at 74lbs; it pumps out 130dBs 

of bass but is only 26 inches high by 14 

inches wide by 28.1 inches deep. 

K Series amps all have thermal limiting 

and overheating muting. The transducers 

(speakers) also have thermal 

limiting and excursion limiting. Other 

features I really like on the boxes are 

the high frequency flat or vocal boost 

switch and the low frequency ext sub, 

normal or deep switch. These switches 

make a fairly dramatic change to the 

sound. All right, that is the short version 

of the features that the K Series incorporate. 

As I said, there are many more, but 

I don’t want to take up this entire review 

on just the features. 

So, on to the gigs. 

The Gigs RT 

For my field tests I received a pair of 

All four configurations sport the same 

1000-watt power amp… Also, all three 

of the 2-way enclosures sport the same 

1.75-inch compression driver. 

K8s and a pair of K12s plus a KSub. My 

first outing was with the 8s and 12s. I set 

up sound at the Concours d’Elegance car 

show in Pasadena, Calif. and I needed to 

spread a dozen speaker boxes throughout 

the show. 

The first advantage I had with the 

QSC speakers was with a feature called 

Tilt-Direct. This would allow me to either 

set the boxes straight on a tri-pod or tilt 

them down at a 7.5 degree angle. The tilt 

was perfect to direct my enclosures toward 

my audience. The QSCs were used 

for announcements and canned music. I 

engaged the vocal boost and the deep 

bass switch on the boxes. The quality of 

sound emanating from the K speakers 

was excellent. 

I was especially impressed with the 

K8s. These little 8-inch enclosures had 

so much power and created such high 

quality of sound, I had to investigate 

them in more depth. What I found out is 

that all the K-Series two-way enclosures 

All the K-Series two-way enclosures 

incorporate Directivity Matched 

Transition (DMT). 

incorporate Directivity Matched Transition 

(DMT). This means that the highfrequency 

coverage angle is matched to 

the natural coverage angle of the woofer 

at the crossover frequency. As a result, 

the frequency response remains very 

uniform across the service area of the 

box. This technology not only sounds 

really nice and smooth, but it certainly 

raises the bar for this type of enclosure. 

The K Speakers performed beauti- 

By JamieRio 


The QSC K Series, from left: the K12, the 

K10, the K8 and the KSub. 

fully at my car show, so I next 

tried the K12s as monitors 

during a blues performance I 

was mixing. I set the horn to 

vocal boost and the woofer 

to normal (using the switches 

on the back of the boxes). 

Add 1,000 watts to the frequency 

contours, and I had a 

pair of very tough monitors. 

There was plenty of SPL and 

headroom to make my performers 

happy. And I think 

that we can agree that if the 

musicians are happy with the 

stage mix, then we will ultimately 

have a good show. I 

used the K12s as monitors 

for a variety of other shows, 

and each time I had equal 

success. 

After that, I took out the 

K8s, the K12s and the KSub. 

I was operating sound for a 

jazz trio made up of a keyboard 

player, guitarist and 

a singer. The keyboard was 

covering the bass part with 

his left hand and had no 

amplification other than the 

QSC K system. I used the K8s 

as my mains and the K12s 

as the monitors. For a small 

system, I was able to accurately 

reproduce the proper 

bass tone plus capture all the 

nuances of the jazz guitarist 

and singer. 

To summarize my experience 

with the QSC K-Series, 

I was very impressed and 

pleased with the sound quality 

and power of these boxes. 

If I have one criticism it is 

that the plastic boxes scratch 

pretty easily. If I had some of 

these boxes, I would be certain 

to get the optional tote 

bags for them. 

QSC K Series 

A closer look at the speakers’ Tilt-Direct feature. 

The back of the K8. 

Pros: Great sounding, high SPL, light weight, handsome. 

Cons: ABS plastic mars easily. 

How Much: MSRP: K8 $649; K10 $699; K12 $799; K Sub $1,049.

By DaveStevens 

Unless you’ve been living in a cave somewhere 

for the last year or so, chances 

are you’ve at least heard about and 

probably have been impacted in some way by 

the changing regulatory landscape for wireless 

mics and monitoring systems. 

That Was Then… RT 

Back in the days of yore, using wireless 

was less complex than it is now. There wasn’t 

the variety of over-the-air TV offerings. Venues 

were smaller and not housed together in complexes, 

or used in the density that many urban 

areas endure in the present day. Chances are 

wherever you worshipped had only a minimal 

sound system and not a production that 

would rival most commercial broadcasts. The 

theater folks have dealt with multiple radio 

units for several years, but only over the last 

decade or so have concert sound reinforcement 

types managed an increasingly crowded 

spectrum. 

Back in the day, we’d wire up a couple of 

radio mics, perhaps a guitar rig or two, and call 

it a done deal. These days it seems nearly everything 

that is practical to have wireless, we 

make wireless — and even some things that 

aren’t so practical. In the theatrical, broadcast 

and production show worlds, the use of radio 

equipment is off the hook. 

Gone are the days when you can just poke 

around and hope to find a slice of clear air in 

which to park your mics or in-ear packs. These 

days, you need basic knowledge of how the 

gear works and how best to integrate it into a 

crowded spectrum. 

This is Now RT 

At our show (Cirque du Soliel’s KA at the 

MGM Grand in Las Vegas) we coordinate not 

only the 181 UHF carriers (frequencies) that 

are used on our show, but also an additional 

100 plus that are used in other venues on the 

property. We also coordinate with outside artists 

coming into our arena. 

The person for whom this responsibility 

lies is the lead RF tech, CJ Hermann. CJ employs 

the latest in tools and technology to maintain 

the show, from high end spectrum analyzers to 

comprehensive software that plots frequency 

coordination. CJ not only deals with the usual 

wireless mics and musician ear packs, but also 

a variety of other devices including an extensive 

radio communications system and an IFB 

and “listen only” radio comm systems. 

While we have the budget to operate an 

elaborate monitoring environment, most people 

don’t. One of the greatest tools for determining 

where best to locate your radio gear in 

terms of frequencies, particularly in this everchanging 

environment, is a radio frequency 

spectrum analyzer (SA). 

A high-end SA comes at a significant cost 

and involves a steep learning curve. Most people 

need something less expensive and easier 

to use. That’s where a new crop of low-cost, 

use-right-out-of-the-box devices come into 

play. 

Recently, CJ and I have been supplementing 

our current tools with the Kaltman Creations 

Invisible Waves IW1800 PC-based radio 

spectrum analyzer. We’ve found it to be a good 

tool to supplement our test environment. I 

think it’s a good value for the average user of 

wireless audio gear: The Invisible Waves works 

in the same way a traditional audio analyzer 

works for sound, except this displays radio frequencies. 


Road Test 

Kaltman Creations IW1800 

Easy to Set Up and Use RT 

The hardware is packaged well, easy to 

set up and configure, and it’s portable. It can 

be operated on an included battery if required. 

The hardware is a modified Winrado 

G305 series receiver, but it’s not the hardware 

that makes this package useful for the typical 

sound person. In this case, it’s all about the 

software. 

Kaltman Creations has taken an existing 

hardware design and engineered software 

geared toward sound reinforcement users. 

The included Invisible Waves software and 

documentation allow even a novice user to 

get up to speed quickly and start making informed 

decisions about frequency coordination. 

We installed the software and drivers on a 

nearly five-year-old Pentium III laptop running 

Windows XP Pro SP3. The system found the 

hardware, we started the program, entered 

the serial number and we were ready to start 

measuring. 

Don’t Toss the Manual RT 

When the software first starts, there 

aren’t many options available in the menu. 

As the program relies on right mouse clicks, 

one would be wise to read the manual prior 

to installing the drivers and software. 

While the software is for the most part 

intuitive to use, unless you know how to access 

some of the features not found in the 

menu, you won’t be able to get the most out 

of the software. Reading the manual is particularly 

necessary if you’ve never used an 

RF spectrum analyzer before. 

There is enough information to guide you 

to making your first measurements. In the 

control panel, you define your sweep range 

and activate the sweep, and you’ve made 

your first measurement. That measurement 

is going to show you the congestion in that 

area, but won’t necessarily get you closer to 

plotting frequencies for your devices. There 

is a zoom function called “ROI” or Regions of 

Interest that allows you to look closer at a 

particular part of the sweep. 

Profiles and Preferences RT 

While you can use the Invisible Waves 

analyzer in a basic form to see problem areas 

in portions of the spectrum, the value of this 

tool increases when configured for a specific 

event or group of radio devices. There are profiles 

and preferences that allow you to configure 

the tool, specific to your environment, as 

well as recommending frequencies based on 

the current state of the spectrum, using parameters 

you define, specific to the gear you 

are using. You are able to easily store these 

parameters for later recall or to define base 

settings for shows or groups of devices. This 

allows you to rapidly repeat measurements 

of the same equipment in various locations. 

For example, on a tour where you have the 

same gear everyday, but are also in different 

venues every day, you can use the profiles to 

speed up frequency plotting. 

One such example is a display window 

called “Monitored Frequencies.” The user can 

configure the software to monitor 10 frequencies 

in a bar graph form. These frequencies 

can be titled with meaningful names instead 

of frequency numbers, which makes it 

easier to keep an eye on specific channels. 

Green vs. Red RT 

Instead of seeing the 

meter as 473.350MHz, 

for example, you can 

define it however you 

wish. You could call it 

“Lead Vocal.” The color 

of the bar is set by an 

alert threshold that is 

adjustable in the preferences. 

The bar is green 

in color when above the 

threshold, red when below. 

It could also be used 

in a crowded environment 

to alert you to 

problematic frequencies. 

For example, if 

there was a meeting in 

the next ballroom that 

had some frequencies 

that might interfere 

with you, you could set 

the alert to those freqs 

and know when the signal 

was getting strong 

enough to impact your 

event. (Although I don’t 

know if Kaltman had 

this in mind when designing 

the program, it 

was something we discovered 

while using the 

tool.) 

The data in the 

Monitored Frequencies 

window (as well as the 

data in the other main 

data windows) can be 

exported to the system 

clipboard, file, or printer 

as a BMP, JPG, PNG, 

Metadata or text/data. 

Finding White Spaces RT 

Another feature that could be specific 

to your application or event is what 

the program calls the “White Spaces and 

Optimal Transmitter Locations.” I think it 

should have been called “Hey, where can I 

put my stuff?” 

You’ll need three pieces of info to use 

this feature. You’ll need to determine what 

the threshold is — for example, your noise 

floor, or a signal level you find acceptable to 

use, as the basis for the calculations. You’ll 

also need the bandwidth that your device 

uses, plus the minimum required spacing 

for your devices. 

Based on your parameters and current 

conditions in the spectrum at your location, 

the software will plot recommended 

frequencies for your devices. The software 

is capable of plotting 24 frequencies, as 

long as there is available spectrum. 

The downside to this approach is that 

not all devices have the same bandwidth 

or band guard, so using different devices 

could require multiple passes. Additionally, 

not all devices are able to operate over various 

bands, so in some applications a traditional 

intermodulation calculation might 

be a more appropriate approach. 

For many users, though, particularly 

those with either one brand of gear operating 

in the same block or users in less con- 

Kaltman Creations IW1800 is a PC-based RF spectrum analyzer — in other words, 

a “white space finder.” 

A zoom function called Regions of Interest lets users look closer at a particular part of 

the sweep. 

gested areas, this feature will easily assist 

them in coordinating radio frequencies. 

All in all, Kaltman Creations Invisible 

Waves package will reduce the effort required 

by users to deploy wireless solutions 

in an ever-changing environment. While it 

won’t replace the need for top line radio 

spectrum analyzers for power users, those 

users could benefit from adding the device 

to the quiver of tools used by today’s radio 

engineers. 

IW1800 RF Spectrum Analyzer 

Made By: Kaltman Creations LLC 

(www.rfanalyzers.com) 

What It Is: A radio frequency spectrum 

analyzer, or “white space finder” 

Who It’s For: RF techs and others who 

need to monitor radio frequencies for 

available white space for gear relying 

on wireless signals. 

Pros: It will reduce the effort required 

by users to deploy wireless solutions in 

challenging RF environments. 

Cons: It won’t replace the need for topline 

radio spectrum analyzers for power 

users. 

How Much: MSRP: $1,495. 


25

The votes were tallied, and some were close, some not so much … but the readers of 

FOH have chosen the best regional pro audio companies in North America. There are 

new faces and repeat “offenders.” One has been at it a little more then three years, another 

is celebrating a 30th anniversary. All have a passion for audio, an inimitable story, and 

a dedication to their clients so powerful that their peers — including competitors 

26 

SOUTHWEST REGION 

Hyacinth and Chris Belcher, back row. Standing, L-R: Colin 

Russell, Jason Chamlee, Tyler Johnston, Jacob Chamley, Russ 

Purdue and Barry Pharr. 

Onstage Systems 

Dallas, Texas 

Onstage Systems is in its second generation, 

with brother-and-sister-partners 

Hyacinth and Chris Belcher literally 

growing up backstage as their parents, Charles 

NORTHWEST REGION 

The Morgan Sound support staff, from left, first row: Rose 

Andrews, Susan Morgan, Bruce Girard, Pete Munson, Charlie 

Morgan. Standing, from left, Shaun Olsen, Adam Kosie, Steve 

Gregory, Matt Smith and Stephen Weeks. 

Morgan Sound 

Lynnwood, Wash. 

Steve Boyce is proud to tell you he’s a 

“Seattle guy, fifth generation,” and 

that fact has helped him survive and 

thrive in the finicky Northwest. His compa- 

And the Winners Are . . . 

and Vicki Belcher, ran sound for area acts. “They 

founded the company in 1978, and they were 

very much ‘the show must go on’ people, 

so from age five, we grew up with that 

mentality,” Hyacinth explains. “If we 

were sick, then we were sick backstage. 

The event came first.” 

Hyacinth studied lighting in college, 

and Chris got additional experience 

in the staging department of their 

high school. In 2006, they took over the 

family business, with Hyacinth as president 

and Chris as vice president. The full service 

technical productions company provides systems 

and equipment for audio, lighting, backline, 

video and staging. But it’s their work in audio 

that puts them in the spotlight. 

Hyacinth admits that while the company 

was established and doing well, it took about a 

year for everyone to adjust to new leadership. 

Helping smooth the transition was the team 

that was already in place. “Most managers have 

been here over 10 years. We have a good group 

of people who are really passionate about what 

we do here.” 

ny has once again been voted to be the 

Northwest Hometown Hero winner 

and regional finalist for the Parnelli 

Hometown Hero award. But his 

path getting there has certainly 

had some curves. 

He was a musician, starting 

on accordion, and then 

switching to guitar before moving 

to bass. Naturally, a love of 

audio developed. By age 12, he 

was building speaker cabinets in 

his dad’s shop. That was the year he 

formed his first band, and whenever he 

played with other groups, their superior 

system was used. Boyce would then work 

the board. 

When he was older, he realized that he 

“needed to earn real money,” and he started 

working with friend and fellow band mate 

Charlie Morgan, who had founded Morgan 

Sound in the 1973. Boyce did that for a 

while, went off and founded his own sound 

company and kept busy. Then here’s the 

twist: Microsoft called. They were putting 

sound to their first CD ROM (a dictionary) 

and called Boyce in for the project. At first 


By KevinM.Mitchell 

— were compelled to take time to nominate them and vote for them as best in their region. 

Only one soundco, however, will leave the stage on Nov. 20 with the annual Parnelli 

Hometown Hero award. The full Parnelli awards ballot is now being prepared and will be 

online at www.parnelliawards.com soon. Here are the winners of the six regional Hometown 

Hero titles for 2009. 

While she witnessed how hard her parents 

worked, she gained new appreciation for all 

that is involved in running a company like Onstage. 

“As we have taken over, we have so much 

more respect for them. There are daily struggles, 

but I’ve grown to love the business even more. 

We jumped in full force, and we live, eat and 

breathe the business.” 

The year 1982 was the beginning of many 

good things for the company: That’s the year 

they got a George Strait tour and signed up the 

Dallas Symphony Orchestra — two clients that 

are still with them today. For years, they’ve been 

doing the Dallas Cowboy Thanksgiving show in 

addition to other events at that stadium. Other 

events of note include the Oklahoma University 

Graduation Ceremony and the Texas State Fair 

Laser Light Show. Last year they did Ozzfest. 

“That was a lot of planning, a lot of fun and a lot 

of speakers.” Rounding out their project list are 

corporate events as far away as Seattle. 

Today they have 24 full-time employees, 

plus freelancers and do around 300 shows a 

year. “Diversification equals success, and having 

a crew that can do rock ‘n’ roll, corporate, 

he worked as a vendor, then as an employee, 

and his stint there lasted seven years. 

In 2001, he ran into Morgan Sound partners 

Charlie and Susan Morgan at a NAMM 

show. The Morgans had grown their company 

successfully, though their attention 

was focused on the sales and installation 

part of the business. Conversation ensued, 

and Boyce rejoined the company. He was 

to handle the live sound division as their 

sound reinforcement director. 

“We do quite a mix in live sound,” he 

says. “We do a fair amount of corporate 

work, which I’ve really grown to love a lot 

— it’s straight ahead, clean, and everybody 

knows what to expect. And it pays more!” 

Recent corporate highlights include a Costco 

sponsored fundraiser where Jay Leno 

was headlining. They’ve also just finished 

tweaking knobs for 3 Doors Down. “I’m glad 

to get every gig we get. I also like that we’ve 

built a group of people who feel likewise. 

The crew takes great pride in what they do, 

and aren’t just on the clock.” 

He credits the Morgans for building a 

solid base. “In the early days, Morgan sound 

was it. They did all the major concerts.” As 

churches and the symphony projects works for 

us. It also keeps us on our toes!” 

When it’s noted there are few women in 

this business, she laughs. “My parents used to 

tell me that there’s no way a woman could a run 

a company like this in such a male-dominated 

industry, but that just made me want to do 

it more — I mean, I grew up playing in drum 

corps!” 

Belcher cites two reasons for the company’s 

success: The first is customer service. “We’re surrounded 

by people who care. Each person at 

the company puts their own name on a project 

in addition to the company’s name, and that’s 

how we keep clients long-term.” Secondly, and 

of equal importance, is their equipment, including 

gear from Clair Bros., Yamaha, Digidesign 

and more. “We always want the best, the highest 

end. We literally work on it on a daily business. 

This has been a good business model for 

us.” 

As to the honor of being named best in the 

Southwest region: “I think it’s a pretty cool thing! 

It’s good to see hard work pays off … though it 

makes me want to work harder.” 

time went by, competition came, and to put 

it delicately, some clients slipped away. “But 

today we have a lot of new clients. Some 

we’ve lost we’ve not yet won back, but the 

business is growing overall.” 

Today Boyce oversees about 16 full-time 

employees with a stable of eight freelancers. 

“My attitude is, I’m always on the right 

track,” he says, smiling. “I don’t mean that to 

sound arrogant, I just have a positive outlook. 

And what I have learned from Charlie 

in the 1970s is that if you go out and do a 

great job every time, not only will you get 

that gig again, but [the client] will tell others 

about you and you’ll get more phone 

calls. 

“We go out and do a great job every 

time because that’s what we do.” 

Boyce says they are “absolutely thrilled” 

about this honor. “We’ve been readers of 

FOH since the beginning and had the honor 

of being named best regional sound company 

in 2004, and then we took home the 

Parnelli that year. We were nominated last 

year, too, and that was a great honor. It’s 

great to just have people go, ‘hey, you guys 

are worthy.’”


Allstar Audio Systems, Inc. 

Nashville, Tenn. 

28 

CANADA 

Peter Hendrickson, owner, Tour Tech East 

Tour Tech East 

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia 

SOUTHEAST REGION 

Mike Borne, president, Allstar Audio Systems 

MIDWEST REGION 

Sam Walton, horizontal, gets some support from his team at 

Signature Audio. 

Signature Audio 

Wixom, Mich. 

Tour Tech joins the regional circle for a second 

year in a row, having taken home the 

Parnelli for Best Sound Company in 2008. 

And owner Peter Hendrickson feels pretty good 

about that. 

Tour Tech was founded in Dartmouth, Nova 

Scotia in 1984 by Hendrickson. Prior to that, he 

had been a freelance lighting designer since 

1975. 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. While the company 

has been adding services, Hendrickson has 

always kept an eye on his inventory, something 

he attributes to the organization’s success. “In the 

early days, I used to buy what I really liked and 

what I thought was great,” he told FOH last year. 

“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 

After 25 years and sill banging away at it, I 

still get goose bumps when I listen to my 

sound systems,” says Mike Borne, founder 

of Nashville-based Allstar Audio Systems Inc., a 

first-time Hometown Hero regional winner. 

Borne has worked in pro audio since 1981, 

founding Allstar Audio in 1984. Today they are a 

full service shop offering sound, lighting, video 

and staging design. He grew up in the Northern 

Kentucky in the 1960s, and like so many others, 

was dazzled by the Beatles. “I had to get a band 

to replicate what was on the radio,” he says. He 

played music during his high school years, while 

also studying electronics at a vocational school. 

Upon graduating, he was asked to run sound 

for a three month tour and he’s been at it every 

since. 

But by 1984 he was ready for a change. Seeing 

a need for a quality production company in 

Nashville, he founded Allstar Audio. In the beginning, 

there were the expected struggles. The 

Sam Walton, senior manager, has the distinction 

of being the youngest company 

leaders to be recognized with a regional 

Hometown Hero title — he’s a mere 28 years 

old. But this born-and-raised Detroit boy has 

already been at the business of live sound for 

a full decade. A love of sound and an interest 

in electronics put him behind the board of local 

acts. In 2003, he was fresh out of college, but 

decided against getting one of those “pesky 

real job” things you read about in the paper. Instead. 

he founded Signature Audio, and hasn’t 

looked back. 

Today Signature offers installations, custom 

designs and build services, room acoustics 

analysis, live sound reinforcement and consulting 

and education. “In 2007 we did our largest 

installation to date,” he says. Muncie, Ind.-based 

Ball State University called on the young company 

to do a million dollar sound install featur- 


stay in business and I can be either right or I can 

be dead right. I have given up on the dead right.” 

Hendrickson has said that they could have 

stayed local, but they wanted to grow the business. 

He does cite the period in the 1990s as a 

highlight, as that’s when many big tours stopped 

carrying production and started using local 

support for their tours. Seeing the opportunity, 

Tour Tech bulked up in terms of equipment and 

personnel. Rod Stewart, Def Leppard and Iron 

Maiden all came knocking. “That’s when we went 

from being a bar-type supplier to a regional supplier,” 

he says. 

It was a touchy situation that required a 

delicate balancing act. “You don’t want to go 

into situations appearing that you’re busting at 

the seams,” he says. “You want to go in with the 

customer feeling like they are looked after well. 

That’s been one of the challenges today for us — 

just making sure that all the clients are satisfied 

company was focused on smaller festivals, fairs, 

small tours, etc. “We did some less than glamorous 

gigs.” 

With every gig, however, money went back 

into more, and better, gear. He tells that about 

20 years ago, EAW released their KF850, and he 

spent many sleepless nights over deciding on 

jumping into a new cabinet, as he had just made 

a substantial investment in another model. But 

jump he did, and was one of the first companies 

to take on the soon-to-be popular speaker. This 

accelerated Allstar into the mainstream. 

Borne not-so-jokes that the best part of the 

1990s was surviving it. “Having a family including 

a beautiful wife and children, along with patience 

and dedication to our business” got him 

through. “Nothing happens overnight, unless it’s 

something bad,” he adds. “We worked on growing 

in the directions that our customers’ needs 

were and expanded accordingly.” They gained 

the confidence of such acts as Lee Greenwood, 

ing all top end gear in their Emens Auditorium. 

“That was a big breakthrough. That put us on 

the map.” 

Signature also handles many of the largest 

municipal shows in Detroit-area towns like 

Plymouth and Northville, which continue to 

expand their concert series schedules with Signature 

growing right along side them. Signature 

also handles the biggest local bands and 

regional touring acts. For Walton, the emphasis 

is local. “We enjoy working with our community 

and being part of it, as opposed to a faceless 

sound company just turning mics on and off.” 

Recently Signature has been doing more 

large-scale installations and has handled work 

from the area’s big private schools. The summer 

concert venues have turned repeatedly to 

Signature. “We get involved with programming 

and don’t just handle sound, but really operate 

as turnkey producers..” 

and that they feel comfortable with what we are 

doing for them.” 

Today they are one of the largest live event 

companies in Canada with 50 full time employees 

and a inventory that boasts an enviable 

warehouse of equipment including gear from 

L-Acoustics, Meyer Sound, Electro-Voice, DiGiCo, 

Yamaha, Digidesign and Midas. “That has helped 

our profile over the years.” Tour Tech is also 

spreading their talents south, having opened an 

office in Bangor, Maine in 2001. 

Last year he also told FOH: “At the end of the 

day, as long as you provide good service to a 

customer who has faith in you, they will remain 

a good customer,” he says. “If they buy on price 

alone, they aren’t really your customer. They are 

just someone you are servicing along the way. 

Price is a factor, because we all have to answer to 

the money god, but if they are a real customer 

then they will believe in what you are doing.” 

Ronnie Milsap, Restless Heart and Diamond Rio 

and kept busy. 

“In the mid 1990s some of the larger national 

size sound companies discovered what 

I had already known: That country artists tour 

year round and offered a slightly less, but more 

consistent, income. As soon as they started after 

the country bands, then smaller companies like 

Allstar had difficulty in doing the down and dirty 

bidding that seems to take place. 

In the midst of this, he also discovered that 

the big rock ‘n’ roll companies didn’t always play 

well with the corporate types and expanded into 

that area. “They like clean cut techs, minus the 

long hair, and without the cussing and smelling 

like they just got off the tour bus. But most of all, 

we have the right attitude.” 

Today Allstar is “small but mighty” with seven 

full time staffers and another 20 professionals 

they call on during the busy seasons, all of whom 

share the company’s can-do attitude. 

Today the company works with four fulltime 

professionals and then picks up another 

six or eight freelancers when the work rains in. 

Signature Audio uses only Harman Pro Group 

products, which Walton calls “a testament to the 

fact that aural perfection is the primary goal. 

Simply, Signature Audio’ designs, installations 

and live systems sound better.” 

Walton seems to have figured out the key 

to the business already. 

“Number one, I have the greatest staff, and 

we’re all absolutely passionate — diehard passionate 

— about what we do. We’re hard workers, 

and we do the job right. We’re very detailed 

oriented and a lot of our success is attributed to 

that.” 

He’s pretty pleased to get this Hometown 

Hero nod as well: “I’m absolutely honored to be 

recognized by my pears. It’s great to be recognized 

for all the hard work we’ve done.”

STAN 

MILLER 

AUDIO INNOVATOR AWARD 

JAKE 

BERRY 

Parnelli LIFETIME ACHIEVeMENT 

New 

this year 

November 20, 2009 – 7pm 

The Peabody Hotel 

Orlando, Florida 

Go To: 

parnelliawards.com/nominate 

The Parnelli Awards are made possible from the generous contributions of our Sponsors. 

GOLD SPONSORS SILVER SPONSORS production SPONSORS 

AERIAL 

RIGGING

30 

Welcome To My Nightmare 

Five Countries in South America, All in 

Three Weeks…How Hard Could That Be? 

The entire tour was a non- stop nightmare of bad power, collapsing roofs and all-night 

runs to the airport to palletize air cargo after load-out at the venues. 

I’m a 20+ year employee of Clair Global 

working for a popular Cuban born Miami 

resident and her 15-piece band as 

A2. (I’ll leave out her name to avoid litigation, 

but you can probably guess). We 

brought some gear with us (board groups, 

etc.), and got some locally (stacks and 

racks). We also carried a 45kVa transformer 

to interface with local 220 volt power 

(mostly generators). 

The entire tour was a non-stop nightmare 

of bad power, collapsing roofs and 

all-night runs to the airport to palletize air 

cargo after load-out at the venues. They always 

save the best for last, and that takes 

us to Guayaquil, Ecuador. It was another 

dirty old soccer stadium with dirty old 

generators. The show had not sold well, 

and the owner of the local sound and light 

company was threatening to pull the plug 

if he wasn’t paid by noon, and he intended 

to hold our gear hostage. 

Eventually, he agreed to play ball and 

we carried on with load-in. As expected, it 

took a while to get power up, and at first 

it looked good. Meanwhile, it started getting 

cloudy. It was getting real dark as the 

band arrived for sound check. Also around 

this time, my friend Craig (the band’s monitor 

mixer) noticed the U.P.S. on his control 

surface (PM1D) was acting up, so we bypassed 

it. The console power supply is still 

acting up, so I take a look at the meters on 

my AC panel and see one of my hot legs 

In The Trenches 

Owner/President 

M&M Audio/Video/Staging/ 

Lighting Labs 

Coeur d’Alene, ID 

509.951.6151 

cmartincc@hotmail.com 

Services: Audio, video, stage light 

support 

Clients: Creation Festival Northwest, 

others 

Quote: “Get it outta the truck, it’s 

time to play.” 

Personal Info: Long-time production 

guy starting with “great big Buck Rogers 

knobs” in the 1970s, all the way 

to these new freaky techno “mouse” 

boards of today. 

Hobbies: Golfing, fishing, camping 

with big fires, remote-control helicopters. 

dropping 25 volts (as low as 95), and then 

going back and forth rather sporadically. 

I inform the band we have to stop sound 

check and sort this out. 

As they leave for catering, it starts raining. 

In less than two minutes, it’s pouring, 

and there’s lightning all around. Because 

of the generator problem, everything was 

off, and we soon had everything covered 

or put away. After over two hours of rain, 

we begin to think about power again. I’m 

told we are on a spare generator. When I 

meter the 220 volt side, it’s 10 volts higher 

than before, and I ask if they can knock it 

down some. That’s when I find out we are 

still on the first generator and they turned 

up the overall voltage thinking that would 

solve the problem. 

It turns out the air filter on the spare 

generator got soaked in the rain. We insisted 

that we must use the spare generator 

or the show would be canceled. By the 

way, doors were opened by now, so canceling 

meant a probable riot. An air filter 

appears seemingly from nowhere, and the 

spare generator fires up. We turn on all 

our gear and play some music through the 

PA. It works. We are only two hours behind 

schedule, which is a miracle. Load out is 

done by 5; on a plane home by 10. 

Chris Fulton 

Clair 

Franklin, N.C. 

chrisfulton@earthlink.net 

Chris Martin Jason Lapasinskas 

Equipment: Electro-Voice and EAW 

line arrays, Yamaha, Soundcraft and 

Midas mixing consoles 

Don’t leave home without: Laser 

measure, MacBook Pro 


A/V Technician 

Woodlands Church 

The Woodlands, TX 

832.298.8874 

bigdaddysound@comcast.net 

Services: Audio tech and FOH for Woodlands 

Church 

Quote: “What did you say?” 

Personal Info: I am an audio video tech 

and have been working in the field for 

20 years. I love to mix FOH but also mix 

monitors and IEMs. I have worked with 

everything from local bands to national 

acts throughout my career. I love what I 

do and love to talk to other techs in the 

field about anything and everything 

there is to do with it. I also love to ask 

questions and experiment. You will never 

know it all, it is a continuing learning process. 

Hobbies: Not very hobby-oriented; I 

tend to drift toward the audio thing even 

in my spare time. 

Equipment: Yamaha PM5D RH-V2, M7CL, 

LS9. Shure, Sennheiser, Audio Technica, Audix, 

Schoeps microphones, EAW SIA-Smaart, 

Tascam CD player/recorders, Aviom. 

Don’t leave home without: My HP tablet 

PC, flashlight, Whirlwind PCDI, iPod, Westone 

ES2s, wirecutters and, of course, a Sharpie.


32 

The Digital Edge 

Turn It Down 

An Alternate Look at the Sensaphonics 3D Active Ambient PM System 

In the December 2007 issue of FOH magazine, 

Bill Evans presented a review of the 

Sensaphonics 3D Active Ambient Personal 

Monitor System (www.sensaphonics.com). For 

the complete nuts and bolts of the system you 

can refer to that review, but this month we’re 

going to revisit Sensaphonics’ technology 

from a slightly different perspective. 

The Concept de 

The feature that sets this Sensaphonics 

system apart from other personal monitor systems 

is the implementation of the Active Ambient 

concept. In addition to the drivers used to 

produce sound, 3DAA ear molds feature builtin 

miniature condenser microphones. There 

are two basic modes when using the 3DAA 

system: Perform and Full Ambient. In Perform 

mode, audio from these microphones is mixed 

in with the feed from the monitor desk, freeing 

the performer from the feeling of isolation one 

can get while using PMs. 

This is a significant development in ear 

monitor mixing, because monitor engineers 

battle to avoid that feeling of isolation. Some 

monitor engineers use a pair of mics placed 

on the stage to capture ambient sound, while 

others use audience microphones to do the 

same. If those ambient mics are panned in the 

performer’s monitor mix (which they should 

be, to provide a pan perspective of the stage), 

when the performer turns their back on the 

audience, the panning becomes reversed relative 

to the stationary microphones. 

Having the microphones in one’s earpieces 

solves this issue. In Full Ambient mode, 

input from the monitor desk is attenuated, 

and sound from the “earmics” is brought up to 

unity gain — i.e. to a level such that one would 

experience if one were not wearing any ear 

molds at all. This makes it easy for performers 

to communicate in between songs. 

The Biz 

This Is It’s Live Sound Coda 

Not a dry eye in the house, but no one missed a beat 

When Bill Sheppell flew home to Ohio 

in mid-June, he was looking for a 

little R&R before undertaking what 

was to have been the gig of the year, if not the 

decade, as FOH mixer for Michael Jackson’s 

50-night This Is It stand at London’s O2 arena, 

likely to be followed up by a world tour with 

the same massive stage and troupe. Sheppell, 

who had come to the attention of the Jackson 

show producers as a result of his FOH work 

on Prince’s 21-night run at the O2, had been 

rehearsing for seven weeks at several Los Angeles 

venues, culminating in full production 

rehearsals at L.A.’s Staples Center. 

Then everything changed. Less than 

three weeks before the start of the London 

dates, Jackson died. What had been carefully 

planned rehearsals suddenly would become 

harried preparation for the biggest televised 

memorial service since the one for Princess 

Diana over a decade earlier. 

The Meyer MILO system that had been 

slated for the O2 shows was to be provided by 

The Belt Pack de 

The belt pack for the 3DAA system is different 

from the typical PM pack. Inside, there’s a 

9-volt battery compartment, two switches and 

a rotary trimmer pot. One switch calibrates the 

pack for single-or dual-driver earpieces. (My review 

system employed single-driver earpieces. 

The dual-driver earpieces can output a few dB 

higher.) The other switch enables a hearing-protection 

limiter that kicks in at 105 dB. The rotary 

pot adjusts level from the embedded mics, ranging 

from “off” to “full” (ambience at unity gain) in 

4 dB steps. On the exterior of the pack are an 

on/off switch, the mode switch (Full Ambient or 

Perform), LED indicators for power, and monitor 

and ambient signal levels, plus a level knob for 

monitor input. There are also connectors for the 

ear molds — these are non-standard dual 1/8inch 

TRRS because they carry the microphone 

signal— and my unit has a LEMO connector for 

the audio input (more on this later). One minor 

gripe about the 3DAA system is that turning the 

system on and off produces an audible click in 

the earpieces, so turn it on before you put in the 

molds. 

The ambient signal is always available at the 

earpieces. In Perform mode, the ambient feed 

is attenuated and the user dials in as much (or 

as little) ambient sound as they like. When one 

is wearing a properly fitted set of ear molds and 

the system is off, the outside world is attenuated 

somewhere in the vicinity of 30 dB (Editor’s 

note: Sensaphonics graciously coordinated my 

visit to Dr. Craig Kaspar, an excellent New Yorkbased 

audiologist who totally gets the concept 

behind personal monitors, and skillfully fitted me 

for the molds). 

An Epiphany de 

My first experiences with the 3DAA system 

were an epiphany: I wore them while tracking 

drums in the studio. I could hear the cue mix 

Major Tom Ltd. and comprised four hangs per 

side: mains, side, subs and upstage, totaling 

64 four-way MILO cabinets, four MSL4 longthrow 

speakers and 18 Meyer 700-HP subs, 

as well as another 18 700-HP subs under the 

stage in a cardioid block. The console was a 

112-input DiGiCo SD7. Meyer’s Galileo zoned 

and controlled the system, which was tuned 

with a Dolby Lake Contour processor. Michael 

Jackson had been using a Shure Beta 54 

headset and Beta 58 handheld microphone 

through a Shure U4 wireless system. 

For the Staples rehearsals, a scaled-down 

version had four MILO enclosures stacked per 

side on risers and a mono sub block was on 

the ground in the center, and when they were 

finished the set and system had been struck. 

“We had a blank arena and we couldn’t even 

get to it until Monday, the day before the memorial,” 

Sheppell recalls. And all of this was 

surrounded by television crews that were setting 

up to broadcast one of TV’s greatest reality 

shows to date. 


and the natural ambient sound of the drums at 

a volume level significantly reduced from what 

I would hear without ear molds. Having consistently 

played drums with hearing protection 

for the past 30 years, I rarely hear the fidelity of 

my cymbals and hi hat, so it was wonderful to 

be able to do so. In fact it’s wonderful to simply 

play drums with the volume turned down and 

no loss of high frequency content. 

That experience led me down an unconventional 

path with the 3DAA system: I use 

them the turn down the volume level of my live 

sound world. It works like this: the ear molds 

provide approximately 30 dB of attenuation, 

so I use them to “plug” my ears. Then I switch 

the system to Perform, and use the attenuation 

control inside the 3DAA belt pack to dial in the 

amount of ambient sound that I wish to hear. 

Usually one or two clicks from “off” are enough 

— which I believe translates to around 24 dB 

down from unity. In case you’re not clear on this: 

I am mixing my shows while wearing the 3DAA 

system. I hear my PA system through the mics 

embedded in the ear molds, which means that 

my ears are experiencing an SPL reduced from 

what is actually happening in the room. So if my 

PA is producing a SPL in the vicinity of 105 dB, 

I’m hearing the PA at a SPL more like the low 80s 

— a very manageable level for safe listening. 

The Same, but Quieter de 

When I was experimenting with this, I’d 

place one earpiece in and mix for 10 or 15 minutes, 

and then remove that earpiece and put the 

other in, trying to rest my ears while also ensuring 

that the mix was OK. After a while I trusted 

the system enough to put in both earpieces and 

mix. Lo and behold, when I pulled out the two 

earpieces, my mix sounded pretty much the 

same — just louder. Using the 3DAA System is 

not exactly the same as not wearing plugs, but 

it’s close enough to mix with confidence that 

what you are hearing through the earpieces 

Starting Monday at 7 a.m., Sound Image 

got a JBL VerTec system in place in the same 

four-hang configuration as they had used 

with the Meyer system as new lights, video 

and staging were also erected. Sheppell remembers 

the load-in of all the gear as simultaneously 

“intense and slow-going,” as PA 

flight cases were blocked by trusses waiting 

to be winched up. 

Rehearsals went to 11 p.m., but Sheppell 

and Major Tom’s Chris Marsh stayed well after 

midnight to help the Sound Image system 

engineer tune the main hangs and assist 

the ATK Audiotek engineer in time aligning 

the delay hangs. “We had started rehearsing 

without a line check or a PA properly tuned or 

time-aligned,” says Sheppell. “That didn’t happen 

until well after midnight.” 

The next morning, 24 hours after they 

first started on Monday, many crewmembers, 

including Sheppell, were trying to convince 

an army of LAPD officers that they were who 

they said they were. 

By SteveLaCerra 

is consistent with what your audience is hearing, 

except not as loud. Of course you have to 

remain aware of the fact that the audience is experiencing 

audio at a level louder than you are, 

so don’t get fooled into thinking the PA is lower 

than it really is. 

About that LEMO input connector: That’s intended 

for a feed from the monitor desk, but no 

one says you can’t connect your FOH console’s 

headphone output to it. That allows you to use 

the solo function through the 3DAA system as if 

you were wearing cans, with the rotary knob on 

the belt pack controlling the level of the solo’d 

channel(s) relative to the ambient sound. 

Mixing in Peace de 

I’ve been mixing live sound for many years 

and throughout that time, I’ve played all sorts 

of games in an effort to conserve my hearing: 

mix a song or two with “open” ears, mix a few 

songs with a plug in one ear, and then switch 

ears for a few songs, then back. I’ve used custom 

molds fitted with attenuators, but when 

I’d remove them to check my mix, it always 

sounded different. The Sensaphonics 3D Active 

Ambient In Ear Monitor System removes 

these issues, allowing me to mix in peace. In 

the conclusion of Bill Evans’ FOH “Road Test,” he 

noted that PMs are self-defense against loud 

stage volumes. Well, the Sensaphonics 3DAA 

System is self-defense for front-of-house engineers. 

I’m able to mix at reduced levels without 

second-guessing the mix. I don’t have ear fatigue 

at the end of the day, and I’m convinced 

that I’m sleeping better on show nights. This 

is an excellent product that can change the 

way you mix, and help conserve your hearing. 

Highly recommended. 

Steve “Woody” La Cerra is the tour manager and 

Front of House engineer for Blue Öyster Cult. He 

can be reached via email at woody@fohonline. 

com 

By DanDaley 

“No one outside the arena knew what a 

valid credential was supposed to look like,” he 

says. After several frantic calls to the production 

office, they were vouched for by video 

crewmembers already in the Staples center. 

Several Sound Image crewmembers were detained 

until the doors opened for the crowds 

at 8 a.m., as Sheppell was still reviewing his automation 

snapshots from the night before. The 

PA was fired up and the lights fine-tuned even 

as the venue filled up. 

Once the event started, Sheppell was 

pleased with the professionalism that characterized 

all the performances, including his 

own. “It was a very difficult show to do,” he 

says. “Not just because it was put together 

at the last minute but also because of why 

we were all there. Michael was a sweetheart, 

and it’s hard not to have an emotional attachment. 

It was shell shock.” 

Dan Daley can be reached at ddaley@ 

fohonline.com



Console Fidelity 

34 

Theory and Practice 

A 

lot of commentary I have heard is that 

many modern consoles do not have 

the warmth or fidelity that classic analog 

circuitry consoles do have. Yeah, many of 

these consoles are digital and the flexibility in 

the digital realm is hard to argue for the money 

invested. But are there tricks and techniques 

that we can employ to warm up these cold 

sounding consoles? 

One popular console today is the Yamaha 

LS9-32, and it earns its popularity via its size 

and retail price. For about $6,000 you get a 

complete digital console with 32 channel faders 

that double as graphic equalizer faders 

besides the usual one per channel input fader. 

Given the price and the feature set, there is a 

lot going for this console for the money. Each 

channel is truly digital, but with an analog preamp 

at the console before being digitized for 

further signal processing. 

Warming Up tp 

You could add fancy pre-amplifiers, and 

all kinds of outboard processing; but consider 

just judiciously backing down the pass 

bands on instrument channels. You do not 

have to have 20Hz to 20kHz of bandwidth 

everywhere. Selectively narrowing up various 

bandwidths will warm up the whole mix 

and let the vocals enjoy the wide bandwidth 

that they need. Most hard rock electric guitars 

barely require more than 5 kHz. So when 

dialing in a mix, you can start wide open but 

narrow up on things that do not require the 

bandwidth. 

Preservation of tone is more than opening 

up bandwidth on every digital input. 

Sometimes carving out a bandwidth for certain 

instrument sources is more than leaving 

things wide open. The noise bandwidth 

above 5 kHz is unnecessary for many instruments, 

and in modern rock a waste of bandwidth. 

Yeah, you can start narrow and widen 

things out as well. Try both versions and find 

out what works best. 


Why Noise Up tp 

Yeah, having all that bandwidth is beauteous, 

but at some point you will need to filter 

back some of that noise floor for listenability’s 

Selectively narrowing up various 

bandwidths will warm up the whole 

mix. You do not have to have 20Hz to 

20kHz of bandwidth everywhere. 

sake. Granted, 5 kHz is a pretty severe bandwidth 

limitation for many sources, but why not 

try a 10 kHz bandwidth on guitars and vocals, 

and let the cymbals and other specialty percussion 

play with the 10 kHz and above bandwidth. 

Look at all your input sources and determine 

which ones really need full digital bandwidth 

and which ones can be dialed back a 

bit. Even a full fidelity bass guitar can get by 

with an 8 kHz bandwidth. And it is even more 

important to narrow up on bandwidth in live 

sound than when recording. Starting wide 

By MarkAmundson 

and narrowing up is as good as going the other 

way at narrow and widening out. Just make 

sure you do both, and test the choices before 

making a selection. Test each channel to see 

what you are missing before missing it. 

Elegant Defense tp 

You can always amplify everything, but 

whether it is digital or analog, choose the 

noise floor battles as soon as possible before 

committing to amplifying a bunch of high frequency 

noise floors. This goes as well on the 

low end, as cymbal mics do not need an 80 Hz 

low end bandwidth. Choose your battles and 

fight them at sound check before the show. 

Unfortunately, digital consoles give you everything, 

and you can get in trouble, like a big 

brain and small stomach at a buffet. Start small 

or big, but always test both strategies before 

committing to one solution. 

Check you bandwidths, and select the correct 

bandwidth for the application. Everything 

is on the table, and leaving some things on the 

other side of the filter is not a bad choice. 

Mark Amundson can be reached at marka@ 

fohonline.com 

Company Page Phone Web 

AES 10 212.661.8528 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-157 

Allen & Heath 31 818.597.7711 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-223 

Applied Electronics 17 800.883.0008 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-253 

Bosch/Electro-Voice C1 248.876.1000 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-161 

Checkers Industrial Products 2 800.438.9336 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-215 

D.A.S. Audio 20 888.237.4872 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-162 

DiGiCo 13 516.249.1399 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-105 

Digidesign 7 650.731.6287 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-169 

Eminence Speakers 5 502.845.5622 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-240 

Full Compass 12 49 (0) 9421/1706-0 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-175 

Hosa Products 34 800.255.7527 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-245 

JBL Professional 11 818.894.8850 

Kaltman Creations 3 678.714.2000 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-216 

Mackie 19 800.258.6883 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-197 

Midas Consoles North America C2 818.597.7711 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-223 

QSC Audio Products C4 800.854.4079 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-115 

Radial Engineering 27 604.942.1001 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-179 

RSS by Roland 14 800.380.2580 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-165 

Sennheiser Electronic Corp. 8 860.434.9190 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-209 

Sound Bridge 16, 21 800.628.9084 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-314 

Soundcraft 9 888.251.8352 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-135 

Sweetwater Sound 33 260.432.8176 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-247 

Waves Audio 6 011.972.36084113 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-195 

Westone Music Products 4 719.540.9333 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-121 

Worx Audio 6 336.275.7474 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-122 

Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems 1, C3 714.522.9011 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-123 

Yamaha Corporation of America 15 714.522.9011 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-159 

MARKET PLACE 

Hi-Tech Audio Systems 35 650.742.9166 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-127 

New York Case/ Hybrid Cases 35 800.645.1707 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-168 

Sound Bridge 35 800.628.9084 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-314 

Sound Productions 35 800.203.5611 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-129 

Under Cover 35 508.997.7600 http://foh.hotims.com/23512-234

To Advertise in Marketplace, Contact: Jeff • 818.435.2285 • jd@fohonline.com 

STAGING • LIGHTING • SOUND 

Order online TODAY at www.plsnbookshelf.com 

Check out what’s on our shelves! 

Employment 

NOW HIRING 

IMS AV has a need for a Director of Audio. The right candidate will 

have a minimum of 10 years of audio experience with working 

knowledge of analog/digital consoles, line array systems, audio 

recording, and system design. Candidate will be our A1 in the field 

and set forth all procedures in the warehouse and conduct training 

seminars. Knowledge of lighting, video, IT, and computers is a plus. 

For more on this and other Job Listings Go To 

Ad info: http://foh.hotims.com/ 




If you thInk classIfIeds don’t work...why are you readIng thIs? call Jeff at 818.435.2285 


35 


There Are No Guarantees In Life 

36 

FOH-at-Large 

Despite all of our expertise and experience, 

we live in a world where entropy 

appears to be the norm and there is no 

real assurance that our endeavors will lead to 

success. Without bloviating or waxing poetic 

regarding our collective attempts to manipulate 

and control chaos, Murphy’s Law simply 

states, “Anything that can go wrong will go 

wrong.” Murphy’s Law, while widely attributed 

to an Edward Murphy who developed 

measurement devices for the Air Force in the 

1940s and 1950s, has most likely been lurking 

in the human subconscious since the beginning 

of time without name or definition. This 

simple adage has no doubt been the cause of 

uncertainty and fear throughout the ages. 

Some variations on the theme include Finagle’s 

Law, which states, “If anything can go 

even worse, it will go even worse.” Or, refining 

this aphorism just a little more pessimistically, 

“Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and 

at the worst possible time, in the worst possible 

way.” Taking it to another level of depressing 

is Flanagan’s Precept, which comments 

on Murphy’s Law and states that, “Nothing 

is that predictable.” Flanagan’s cynical interpretation 

of Murphy’s Law is superseded only 

by the paradoxical, “If Murphy’s Law can go 

wrong, it will.” Or, “If a series of events can go 

wrong, they will do so in the worst possible 

sequence.” 

The Fear of Disaster FOH 

This fear of disaster is why we are so easily 

lured by insurance agents to spend excessive 

amounts of money on policies that we may 

never need, or on warranties that expire on 

the very day we need them. Anything and everything 

can be and has been insured for the 

right price. Keith Richards insures his hands; 

Bruce Springsteen and Rod Stewart insure 

their gravelly voices; Rianna, along with Mariah 

Carey and Tina Turner, insure their legs; 

Dolly Parton insures her boobs and Tom 

Jones even insures his chest hair. For the right 

amount of money an insurance company will 

issue a policy for anything, but rest assured 

that the insurance companies are not in business 

to protect the elite or the masses from 

entropy. 

The insurance companies are in it for the 

money, and this is the reason why each poli- 

COMING NEXT 

MONTH... 


Before Steven Tyler’s 

mishap, FOH got together 

with Jim Ebdon, Brad 

Johnson and Tony Luna 

about the tour, and we 

have video to prove it. 

Buyers Guide 

Little, tiny line arrays 

Other Stuff 

C-ya at AES 

cy is issued with a deductible and a long list 

of reasons why — in case of a claim — they 

would not have to pay the insured. This long 

list is otherwise known as “small print” and 

comes in very handy for the insurance company 

when a claim is made. Typically, if one 

should file a claim that is paid by the insurance 

company, then the cost of that person’s 

monthly premium would most likely go up. 

The surge in that person’s rate would stay on 

that premium for about three years, or until 

the insurance company is reimbursed at a 

profit. 

Insurance is a gamble against the odds, 

and it is most likely that if one should live 

in the Mojave dessert and wants to insure 

their home against flood the cost would 

be considerably less than if they wanted to 

insure against drought. Conversely, if one 

lives in New Orleans it would be assumed 

that a high premium would be required to 

have a company insure against flooding. 

That being the case, about two thirds of the 

homeowners in New Orleans went without 

flood insurance because they relied on 

FEMA (Federal Emergency Management 

Agency) to cover them in case of disaster. It 

is interesting to note that FEMA, after 911, 

was brought under the umbrella of The 

Homeland Security Agency, another agency 

created to provide insurance against 

disaster. Ironically, FEMA’s attention to terrorism 

may have led to its lack of resources 

for disaster response when faced with a catastrophe 

such as Katrina. 

Rants and Scare Tactics FOH 

Be that as it may, my point here is in regard 

to insurance and, most notably of late, 

the topic in the news has been health insurance, 

or lack thereof. Most likely you’ve 

seen the proposal for President Obama’s 

universal health plan, but, more likely, there 

is a better chance that you have seen and 

heard sound bites on the news with angry 

people shouting about America and freedom. 

Maybe it’s Sarah Palin decrying that 

Obama’s plan is evil and that it supports 


euthanasia. Possibly you’ve seen an advertisement 

by a group called Clubforgrowth. 

org that states — and I quote — “$22,750. 

In England, government health officials decided 

that’s how much six months of life is 

worth. Under their socialized system, if a 

medical treatment costs more, you’re out of 

luck. Now President Obama and Congressional 

Democratic leaders want to bring 

socialized health care to America. That’s 

wrong for America.” 

Let me point out that I am not a fan of 

the proposed plan, but not because it will 

socialize America’s health or because of any 

other rhetoric that certain political party 

members or leaders profess. The mudslingers 

who try to make the Obama health plan 

look like the revamping of Mao Zedong’s 

People’s Republic are dealing in scare tactics. 

Socialism in itself is not a political system 

any more than capitalism is a political 

system. Instead, they are both economic 

systems which, strangely enough, function 

side by side. 

Our police departments and fire departments, 

which are funded by taxpayer 

money, are, in essence, socialistic entities, 

as are, in theory, FEMA, HUD, Health and 

Human Services, Homeland Security and 

a slew of other taxpayer-supported agencies. 

Of course, it is only in a perfect world 

that I could make these outrageous claims, 

because we all know that we the people 

do not manage any of these agencies any 

more than we the people have control of 

our healthcare program. Therefore, these 

agencies are not socialist, but rather taxpayer 

supported and managed by the government 

—not unlike the Obama plan. The 

conversation regarding smaller or larger 

government is for another time, but let it be 

said that we already have a control group 

of non-medical personnel dictating medical 

treatment and pricing — they are called 

HMOs. That’s right, insurance companies 

are telling doctors what procedures are 

necessary based upon nothing more than 

turning a profit. 

By BakerLee 

Sitting Docs FOH 

Doctors, especially those in high risk professions 

such as obstetrics and gynecology or 

cardiology, are sitting ducks for the lawyers 

and a supposed jury of peers. The insurance 

companies prefer to settle large claims rather 

than fight them and lose more money. Not 

that one can quantify another person’s pain 

and suffering, but many lawsuits are frivolous, 

and somewhere along the line, tort reform is 

needed. 

Often, juries are medically uninformed, 

but have the power to award millions of dollars 

based upon an emotional predilection 

rather than an educated understanding. This 

then leads to the insurance company raising 

the doctor’s malpractice insurance. 

Since most doctors are employed by a hospital, 

it then requires the hospital to pay more 

to employ the doctor. This doesn’t bode well 

for the patients since most hospitals are run 

“for profit” by a corporation and, as it has been 

proven, this leads to cuts in service and care. 

Fearing a lawsuit creates an atmosphere where 

the physician has to practice defensive medicine, 

which leads to more testing and more 

expense, which is exactly what the HMOs try 

to cut. As one can see, entropy is neatly built 

into the system. 

Premiums and Co-Pays FOH 

Sixteen percent of Americans are without 

a health insurance plan. As a freelance engineer 

or tech in the entertainment business, 

there is a good possibility that you are not 

provided with health insurance, but if you do 

have a plan — even if it’s through a union or 

steady employer — you are probably still paying 

a hefty fee to be insured. Not only do you 

pay a large chunk of cash on a yearly basis to 

be insured, but you also pay a co-pay for every 

visit to the doctor. 

If you are not wealthy enough to pay a 

huge fee for a private doctor of your choice, 

then you are relegated to seeing only the 

doctors on your plan. I have a fairly good idea 

regarding what most of us in the audio profession 

earn, and I can say that if we get sick or 

need long term care, we may find ourselves in 

dire straits. 

“isms” Aren’t the Answer FOH 

I haven’t even touched upon the pharmaceutical 

companies and the high cost of 

medication, but let me say that my objection 

to the president’s plan is not based upon fear 

of one “ism” or another, but instead founded in 

the fact that I do not think the plan goes deep 

enough or far enough in the correct direction. 

I do think that everyone should have healthcare, 

but raising the taxes of a few to help the 

less fortunate get insurance is not what I call 

change. Maybe the answer is a flat tax for everyone, 

which then goes into a not-for-profit 

health fund accompanied by tort reform… 

or not, but this is an issue which concerns us 

all and should not be confused or tainted by 

political mudslinging. Groups such as Clubforgrowth.org 

should know that we already have 

a faction of people dictating treatments and 

cost, they are called insurance companies. With 

chaos a mere blink away, let’s cut the rhetoric 

and move forward so that we can at least have 

an intelligent conversation regarding the issues 

before we enact Murphy’s Law. 

Baker Lee can be reached at blee@fohonline. 

com

Download a PDF - FOH Online

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?