LAS VEGAS – We’re all aware that digital consoles feature automation functions such as storing and recalling scenes or snapshots, which can make life a lot easier by enabling you to instantly recall different settings for specific shows, bands or songs. However, as FOH columnist Steve La Cerra has recently pointed out, taking advantage of console automation, requires being realistic about what automation can or can’t do for you.
Read More »
The Foo Fighters’ monitor and RF crew share their secret techniques for optimizing wireless IEMs.
Read More »
During the pandemic, nightclubs, performing arts centers and entertainers are turning to live streamed events to connect with their audiences and keep the music alive.… Read More »Stepping Up the Stream
Read More »
Dugan Automixing Helps Maintain Clarity at National Spelling Bee As a freelance FOH engineer working in the Washington, DC area, I frequently handle microphone mixing… Read More »“I-N-T-E-L-L-I-G-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y. Intelligibility.”
Read More »
Rockers HammerFall find a portable monitoring solution
Heavy metal fans need no introduction to HammerFall. Founded in 1993 in Gothenburg, Sweden — the country’s second-largest city — this powerhouse has been delivering melodic metal ever since. Now, 10 albums later, the band shows no sign of slowing down.
Read More »
A Chat with Remote Recording Pioneer Guy Charbonneau
If you happen to know something about recording great music live, then one step through the doors of the legendary remote recording studio, Le Mobile, is all it will take for you to be transported into a completely different realm. A formidable electronics heaven that was built slowly over time, Le Mobile is the place where the best of the old has been combined with the best of the new in ways that can best be described as über progressive.
Read More »
German rocker Udo Lindenberg recently started his Keine Panik! (Don’t Panic!) German tour. More than half a million people have attended his concerts in the past three years, and he’s packing stadiums and arenas again in 2016. Satis&fy, an international provider of event, media technology and scenic design solutions based in Karben, Germany (near Frankfurt), is responsible for the tour sound. The company’s 500+ people, its large fleet of vehicles and up-to-date gear make it one of Germany’s largest live event firms.
Read More »
You’ve heard it before. Under the right (or wrong) circumstances, some types of cellular phones are capable of interacting with audio equipment and causing audible interference. Since the first GSM-type mobile networks went up, the alien clicks and buzzes (sometimes known as “Blackberry buzz”) have terrorized audio professionals everywhere. I’m sure you know the characteristic blip-blip-blip bzzzzzzz all too well.
Read More »
Live audio pros can be a resourceful lot. They’re also willing to share the cool ideas they come across so that their fellow sound reinforcement pros can benefit from solutions that can make the next gig easier, knowing that they, in turn, will be able to benefit from the ideas shared by others. We came across a number of interesting solutions recently. The first is from FOH engineer Terry “TJ” Jackson, who credits Mo-Fi powered headphones from Blue Microphones for giving him a reference point he can rely on in a variety of large venues. Separately, we listened in on the discussions Pro Audio Space (proaudiospace.com) members were having about practical solutions to the seasonal challenges posed by wintry weather conditions. Enjoy!
Read More »
Onstage strings — meaning a real string section — are nothing new to rock shows, although this addition to the current Rush outing is a definite change. Another change for the continuing Clockwork Angels tour (the second leg of which kicked off on April 23, 2013, with Rush delighting a sold-out house of more than 16,000 fans in Austin’s Frank Erwin Center) was the band’s return to a number of markets not visited during the tour’s first leg, which began last September.
Read More »
For years, a growing number of studio engineers have turned to using outboard summing boxes that combine the individual outputs of subgroup pairs (stems) from a digital console or digital audio workstation into a single analog stereo output. This same process could easily be done within the DAW or console itself, but the many engineers who heard A/B comparisons between the two methods would often report hearing improved sound quality, with increased levels of spatial detail, channel separation, clarity, punch and definition when these multiple sources were combined using a outboard analog summing mixer.
Read More »
Since the invention of the first “earset” in the late 1990s by Carl Countryman, this new class of microphone has rapidly grown to be one of the most popular tools for miking presenters, singers and performers. Unlike a headset, which wraps around the head and grabs both ears, an earset fits over only one ear of the performer and positions the microphone element right next to the mouth. This results in a perfect marriage of comfort and unobtrusiveness for the performer and extreme isolation from ambient noise and feedback for the engineer.
Read More »