Editor’s Note

Wth the New Year approaching, we make lists and promises for the next trip around the sun.

I recently visited the shop of a major sound company where an entire room of top-shelf rider-friendly analog outboard equipment was collecting dust because most mixing now occurs “inside the box” of digital consoles on tours, in venues and at festivals, eliminating outboard gates, compressors, and, to a lesser degree, EQ and effects.

There are many "pro-sumers" still using old 700 MHz wireless microphones even though it's been illegal for 18 months. Their attitude is: "If my mics still work, who's going to come along and stop me?" Like using Propofol for a sleep aid, it's fine until someone gets hurt. New 700 MHz services haven't activated many places, and when they are, they won't immediately affect every TV channel. But when they hit, 700 MHz mics will be "squashed like a bug," as Shure's Tim Vear says. And fined like a rock star.

This issue marks the 10-year anniversary of FRONT of HOUSE. On the occasion of this "Decade Milestone," I'd like to thank a few people, starting with you, the readers.

Years ago, I was system engineer and audio crew chief for an outdoor Dan Fogelberg solo show at a winery. It was a beautiful show, but there was lightning across the valley that I could see and hear several seconds later from my mix position perch at the top of the hillside venue. With each flash, I could count: "One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, etc." to gauge the distance, and it was clearly approaching. As we all know, sound travels about 1/5 of a mile per second.

Tony Bennett's 85th Birthday was this month. Happy Birthday, Tony.

I had the distinct honor of mixing Tony Bennett during his MTV Unplugged success. He was happy to have young people discover his music, while their parents were rediscovering it. Prior to joining him, tour manager Vance Anderson would do it all – hotels and travel, advance and backline, run sound and call lights and followspots. When I got his call, out of the blue, Anderson said that Tony wanted to go to a two-man crew, and he remembered me from a one-off the year before.

I'll never forget my first Heritage 3000; actually it was the first in the US. My friend George Relles saw it introduced at the 1999 Los Angeles NAMM show, pulled out his checkbook and told Bob Doyle he would buy one if they'd take off the handles and end-caps so it would turn it in a 90-inch wide bob-tail truck. It first appeared at a festival where I was mixing monitors for four bands, with no warning, no manual and no time to study it. Each band fit onto a 24×8 section of the console, which I simply routed through the matrix, with side-fills on L/R, so I didn't have to chart a thing. It was love at first sight.

Hi Everyone,

I'd like to introduce myself, though most of you already know me. Like many I started out playing in a band. We occasionally lost a musician and had to break a new one in. During one of these "personnel transitions," a previous guitarist called to rent my equipment and hire me to haul it and run it. In the 1970s, PA wasn't much bigger or more complicated than my drum kit. And I didn't have a gig that weekend.

It is highly likely that you are an audio geek who gets some sort of an emotional high from being involved in sound reinforcement. If you are getting paid to do this, you are entitled to be called a "pro." I know for sure that a large percentage of "pros" in this trade are struggling to reach a reasonable living standard. Sorry to say, but your skill set as an avid, hardworking audio geek might have very little to do with financial success. The question many ask is: How does one create an opportunity to move into a higher financial level, whether as an engineer or sound service company?

I first met Karl Winkler on a trip to Spain to check out the facilities for speaker maker D.A.S. Karl worked for Sennheiser US, which had recently started distributing D.A.S. product in the States, and Karl was in charge of marketing that brand. On that trip, we spent four days being wined and dined (back in the days when I still wined…), watching nightly fireworks displays and touring the huge temporary statues around Valencia in a celebration known as Fallas.

Okay, before we get started, a warning: this one is scattered. I mean more scattered than usual. With a little luck, it may end up coming around to some kind of point by the time we finish.

I got an interesting e-mail last month. Took me a while to answer. Came from a kid in a to-remain-unnamed European country working to make a rep for himself as a live audio engineer and service provider. Nice kid. We have corresponded a few times over several years. (All via ProAudioSpace, BTW. If you are still not on it, you are very much missing out on some good stuff.)

That hedline (yes, that's spelled right. It's an antiquated newsroom thing. We also call the first paragraph of a story a "lede") is a little misleading. It's the end of the year. Of course we are going to look back. It's one of those human nature issues.