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February 2018

Old-school record stores are a rare sight, yet recorded music and the concert industry are still interrelated.

Both Sides Now

Live music rules, but we still need recorded music to be healthy.

Readers of this column know that live music has become the engine of revenue for the music business. Of all the somersaults the industry has gone through in the last two decades, including seeing physical music formats all but disappear (vinyl’s cool but it’s still just a tiny hipster niche), the biggest one of all is how the status of recorded music changed places so completely with live music: the concert ticket that was once viewed as a promotional proposition to sell the LP that the tour was designed to promote has now become the object of desire that the recorded tracks are used to tout.

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The Earthworks SV33

Bringing a Studio Mic to the Stage

About 10 years ago, I started exploring Earthworks’ complete microphone product line in greater detail. The live sound industry has long relied on the company’s excellent precision measurement mics, but I was only marginally acquainted with its widely acclaimed series of small diaphragm omnidirectional studio mics. And I was completely uninformed about Earthworks’ products designed the live sound market. At that time, there was an increasing word-of-mouth buzz within the live sound community regarding a new family of Earthworks products suited for live sound applications. I was especially interested in the new drum mics that received great user reviews. This marked the beginning of a relationship with Earthworks that has remained beneficial and strong for the past decade.

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The SIP crew, from left - Dan Devisser, Sammy Skalbeck, Matt Dominguez, Shannon Stewart, Christian Chambers and Austin Lanning

Stewart Independent Production

Shannon Stewart and Dan DeVisser joined forces at an early age. Both loved concerts, especially with favorite bands. But more than that, great sound spoke to them. And the source of that sound? Gear.
Now, their company, Stewart Independent Production (SIP) is celebrating more than 25 years as an independent production company. They’ve created experienced, pro concert touring team that designs, builds, manages and supports concerts in Saugatuck, MI, but mostly in areas beyond.

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The exterior. Photo by Louise Leblanc

Grand Théâtre de Québec

The Grand Théâtre de Québec is a world-class performing arts complex that is the crowning jewel of downtown Quebec City. Designed by Polish-Canadian architect Victor Prus, the facility was originally proposed to commemorate the Canadian Centennial of 1967, although due to various delays, the venue did not open until January 16, 1971.

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FRONT of HOUSE Feb 2018 Installation Showcase - Churches

Houses of Worship

There is no doubt that transforming a “typical” house of worship setting into high performance venue is no easy task. Part of this stems from the fact that in reality, there are no “typical” spaces used for such purposes. These can range from storefront conversions to elaborate architectural designs, and acoustical characteristics are rarely part of the original plan.

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Katy Perry tour photo by Steve Jennings

Katy Perry – ‘Witness’ the Tour

In early February 2018, Katy Perry was finishing up the North America segment of her Witness: The Tour trek, which kicked off Sept. 19, 2017 at Montreal’s Bell Centre. This marked the completion of the first portion of this nearly year-long, seven-leg world tour, which is slated to wrap up in New Zealand on August 21, 2018. We caught up with the audio team to talk about the tour before they headed off for another 47 dates, which include Brazil, Japan, Germany, the UK and more, ending with six dates in Oceania. Mixing the tour at FOH is Toby Francis; Paul Jump is the FOH systems tech; and Dave Rupsch is handling monitors. Clair Global is the sound company supporting the production.

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EAW Resolution 2.5

EAW Resolution 2.5

EAW announced the an update to its Resolution proprietary simulation software, Resolution 2.5, that allows the user to import external graphical images.

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