Historically, the annual AES Show was always considered the “studio show” — a procession of high-end, high-priced gear primarily intended for use in top-end recording studios. That conceit began unraveling with the arrival of the project studio back in the late 1980s, which coincided with the transformation of digital audio technology from an expensive hardware-based proposition (remember the Sony 3324?) to a very affordable software basis. Fast-forward to the 2009 expo in New York, which took place under the additional anchors of a lousy economy and still-spiraling CD sales, but at a time when the live music business has continued to emerge as the new revenue backbone of the music business. Not surprising, then, that the four-year-old live-sound events and education track at the show was more extensive than it’s ever been.
A total of 14 live sound tutorials, panels and seminars were scheduled, with topics including the history of live sound, bass management and measurement, wireless (in the same year that white space issues competed with Saw VI for nightmares), live automixing and networked digital audio — in fact, the whole notion of audio-over-IP in a live-sound context got a big boost from the new standards for Audio Video Bridging (AVB) protocol. Even the Sierra Club would have been proud of AES’ live track this year: “The Greening of the Band: Green Touring Solutions for the Live Engineer” looked at ways to reduce a tour’s carbon footprint.
The broader emphasis on live sound infused a lot of things this year. AES saw Lexicon’s introduction of its new PCM92 processor, the press materials for which stress the fact that it’s intended for both studio and FOH applications. Now you really can get a Large Hall in a large hall.
The New Icon
But live concert sound is quickly displacing the optical disc and rivaling the Fender Stratocaster headstock as the icon of both the music business and the lifestyle that people associate with music — like the British Airways television commercial currently running that shows folks jetting off to a U.K. music festival, musicians rocking away on stage in the background. From television to magazines to billboards, the live concert is being used as a symbol of something far beyond a mere concert. It represents where music now fits into people’s lives. Music files on an iPod or MP3 player have become so devalued as to be disposable, but the live concert experience has only increased in perceived value, even if ticket prices haven’t lately.
That’s why companies and individuals who work in the live sound milieu would do well to leverage this association with the larger culture and economy. It’s important to have the right mixers and musicians endorse live sound products in trade publications like FOH. But it’s equally important to present the brand to the world on a larger stage, as SLS did in 2005 when their speakers and logo were prominently displayed throughout the broadcast of Rockstar. At the time, the move drew a combination of envy and admiration within the pro audio industry, but very little in the way of emulation. But that was then, when the CD still had a little luster left, and consumer companies were falling over themselves trying to put guitar headstock images on their products. Today, with the live concert experience entrenched as a lifestyle icon, the value could be considerably greater. Companies that have stakes in both professional and consumer spaces, such as Harman International and Bosch, are best situated to take advantage of this convergence. JBL has made this kind of linkage part of their marketing strategy with the tag line “Pro Sound Comes Home,” striving to create a perceptual link in consumers’ minds between their pro products and their consumer goods. They’ve also done more than supply VerTec arrays for concerts — they’ve also sponsored them, like the Cream reunion show in 2005. Again, the value of these kinds of associations can only be greater now than ever as live music supplants prerecorded as the coin of the cultural realm.
Live sound was big at AES this year. But it would be wise to consider how to play it big on a larger stage.
