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FOH at Large

Shows Need Labor, Too

I enjoy the Holiday season as much as the next guy, but quite frankly, the high cost of present-giving has left my bankbook crawling through January, and it's doubtful if it will be off crutches until March or April. Everything is just so damn expensive that, even if I do all my shopping at Target or Best Buy, my bankbook still gets its knees broken. Well, that's life, but fortunately for all of us, the big oil companies got into the Christmas spirit and, in the name of charity, raised the price of oil by only about 25 cents a gallon for the season. Tell you what. When I go visit the relatives during the holidays, it sure gets me in the spirit to top off the tank at "Bah Humbug Oil" before I leave on my journey. I guarantee that the ghosts who visited Ebenezer Scrooge will be making the rounds next year, but that's another story, and in the words of Tiny Tim Crachit, "God bless us. Every one!"

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We Are Controlling Transmission

We live in a media saturated environment, where we are constantly receiving and processing excessive amounts of information, which we then file and store away in the recesses of our overworked and over-stimulated brains. Often we disseminate this information as verified knowledge, with, more often than not, only a partial understanding of whatever the subject might be. All of us lead busy lives, and there are only so many hours in the day that can be devoted to following up on all the information we receive in that given time. Between work, family and whatever civic duties one might have it becomes increasingly difficult to find the time for more than the headline news, and even if we find the time to actually read a paper we, more often than not, skim the headlines and give a quick read to the article before moving on to the next headline. With all the information that we are required to process, it's not surprising that we take what we need from any given article or sound bite and then spew it back out with the authority of an expert. It is also not uncommon for us to be a bit cynical about some of this information we receive due to the fact that it is often wrong.

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Don't Get All 60 Hz Now

Throughout my many years sojourn within the world of live audio and production I have noticed, and become very aware of, an underlying hum that seems to permeate this specialized universe we all inhabit. Sometimes it's very quiet and other times it becomes overbearing in its volume, but it is almost always present. I have noticed it at large gigs, and I have heard it rear its ugly little head on small, seemingly simple shows. Often it is hard to pinpoint as it isn't centralized in one location, and frequently it stems from different sources. Many times this hum doesn't stop even after the gig is finished and many times I even hear it going on back at the shop. It's a hum that seems to be prevalent in our business and no, it's not a floating 60-cycle ground hum that I am speaking about, although a certain amount of "grounding" might be just the solution to alleviate this incessant hum that often clutters our best endeavors. What I am referring to is the grumbling and undercurrent of discontent that insidiously seeps into our work space regardless of one's position or capabilities. In the same way that I identify and attach the 2.5k frequency to a person prone to hysteria I also associate the 60Hz frequency with the grumblers and not so forthright complainers.

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Party On, Wayne. Party On, Garth.

In the world of live sound I have often heard the term "sexy" used to describe certain inanimate objects such as consoles, speakers and effect processors, either singularly or in combination with each other. For example, an engineer said to me that he had seen a Brittany Spears show and that "The rig was great, a very sexy set up indeed." He said nothing at all about the show or the very sexy star herself, but he did give me the whole run down regarding the audio system and the "luscious" sound that was produced by this very sexy system. My engineer friend is inspired by technology and has a passion for audio and all its related components and my assumption is that he uses the term "sexy" and "luscious" metaphorically to describe a desirable system which produces a full sound.

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Bach Behind the Board

Why in Heaven's name would anyone want to spend huge amounts of weekly tithing to install a State of the Art (SOTA) sound system into a house of worship? Better yet, why on earth would any house of worship deem it necessary to get into the sound reinforcement/concert business? Is it all just pomp and circumstance, a vanity stemmed from coveting a neighboring congregation's techno wizardry, or is there a higher purpose?

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Call Me Ishmael

I was contracted to bring audio on board the "Freedom of The Seas" promotional voyage around the New York harbor and down the eastern coastline to somewhere off the coast of Virginia. We were to cruise with a boatload of travel agents and marketing people who were all there to take advantage of the free food, booze and entertainment offered by the Royal Caribbean company as the world's largest cruise ship was introduced to the world via a live, onboard broadcast of "The Today Show" with Katie Courac and Matt Lauer. It was a gala event that included a bottle of champagne broken across the hull of the ship as well as performances by Barry Manilow, Jon Secada and Lauren Harris.

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Gear Lust

You have to be insane to own a studio or an audio rental house, or, if not crazy to begin with, the insanity will slowly overtake the unsuspecting entrepreneur as they realize the money pit they've fallen into. For audiophiles and providers everywhere the lure of the next piece of equipment is not merely a vanity, but a necessity when trying to compete with and stay ahead of all the latest breakthroughs in audio technology. Digital technology has made access to great sounding gear much easier than it was even five years ago and any engineer will attest to the fact that with all the available options, one's dream studio or sound system is only limited by one's budget.

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The Sound of a Higher Power

I was already seething and it was only two hours into the second day of a video shoot. The artist had chosen to play live with her band and record a full set of tunes to Pro Tools for a concert-style video. She had hired a well-known recording engineer who is much noted for his live productions and a video company that boasted a roster full of film and lighting luminaries. I had worked with the artist for quite a few years and was called upon to provide and mix the live audio portion of the video and recording. I was told that the artist was paying for the project out of pocket and was asked to keep the budget as low as possible. Wanting to be of assistance, I quoted a fairly low rate for the shoot, which included the equipment as well as my day rate for the three 12- to 14-hour days the production would require.

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In Search of "Entertainment"

OK, so now I am officially a pimp. Oh, what a long, twisted path I have traveled to get to this place in my career, but I have finally arrived. Much like any other kid with a guitar and a dream, my ambition was to make beautiful music and be heard the world over. Alas, it is not meant to be, and destiny has placed my shining star behind an audio console, relegating me to life of servitude as I feverishly dial, fade, cut and boost my way to glory while utilizing the auditory magic of other shining stars. Always willing to rise to a challenge, I found myself tour managing, road managing, production managing and even promoting these shining stars of stage and screen. Often, by default, I would find myself doing these other jobs in addition to my engineering responsibilities. Be that as it may, it all seemed like a natural progression from one job to the other, and though I may have been a bit of a "gig whore," pimping was never part of my job description.

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What's in a Name?

I remember the first time I mixed sound at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland. I was the engineer for a Brazilian jazz artist and The Hague in Holland was the first stop of a three-week European tour. Also, I might add, this was my maiden voyage into the world of being a touring engineer. I was enthralled to say the least, by everything and everyone around me. The atmosphere was electric, and I could think of being nowhere else as I was sure that I had arrived at my own personal nirvana. I was feeling alive and energized to be a part of an international, artistically vibrant music scene that touted a who's who in the world of jazz and blues, and I was particularly elated to be rubbing shoulders with some of the most famous and talented musicians on the planet.

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Do the Right Thing

While sitting at a bar, a man noticed a good-looking woman and tried to engage her in a conversation. "Excuse me," he said, "would you sleep with me for a million dollars?"

Not knowing what to make of this, she looked him over, and after a moment or so, answered, "For a million dollars, I would sleep with you."

He thought a moment, and then asked, "Would you sleep with me for $1?"

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You Want Structure?

A colleague of mine has recently discovered the joys of mixing Front of House without the compulsory addition of a 31-band graphic equalizer across his main left and right output, and is now espousing his newfound technique as though it were a revolutionary breakthrough in live sound reinforcement. While (in theory) it is true that the sound is better without this extra piece of outboard gear, the idea is neither revolutionary nor new, and for all of those who find this approach intriguing, may I suggest that you not unscrew the equalizer from your rack just yet?

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