News

BERKELY, Calif. – “The audience pays to hear Dolly and it’s my job to make sure they can,” says Michael Fechner, Dolly Parton’s longtime house engineer and production manager, who recently joined hands with Taylor, Mich.-based Thunder Audio to power Parton’s “Backwoods Barbie” world tour with a Meyer Sound system.
 

LAS VEGAS – It’s time again to recognize the foot soldiers of the live audio industry. FOH Magazine is now taking nominations for the 2008 FOH Hometown Hero Awards. If you know or work with a local or regional soundco that consistently goes above and beyond to get the gig right, then let us know.  Go here and fill out the name of the company, city and state, contact info, region, and one or two sentences on why they should get the nomination.

WHITINSVILLE, Mass. – The upcoming U.S. concert tour by legendary rock band Foreigner will feature veteran engineer Don “Dodger” Dodge using an EAW UMX.96 digital console, revisiting the successful formula employed during the band’s 2007-08 world concert tour.

SAN DIEGO — Showcasing the newest additions in JBL’s VerTec line array series, local rental company Meeting Services Inc. provided sound reinforcement for the La Fiesta Del Pueblo Cinco de Mayo music festival at the Del Mar Fairgrounds’ outdoor grandstand in San Diego with a powered, full-size system. Featured entertainers for the multi-act festival included popular Latin artists La Arrolladora Banda El Limon, Vilma Diaz y La Sonora, and Los Moonlights, among many others.
 

LEEDS, England – Adlib Audio supplied a JBL VerTec sound system, three Yamaha PM5Ds and a Soundcraft Vi6 console along with all sound production equipment and crew for the Kaiser Chiefs rocking homecoming gig at Elland Road stadium in Leeds.

LONDON – The musical Never Forget opened at The Savoy Theatre last week to an enthusiastic reception from Take That fans, and features sound design by Richard Brooker centered around an all-Cadac input chain.  The sound system incorporates a 94-input Cadac J-Type Live Production Console, Cadac D16 Digital Mix Matrices and M16 Remote Controlled Microphone Amplifiers, plus a large-scale Opus Audio loudspeaker rig.  The show made its move to the West End after a successful two-part UK tour, with sound equipment supplied by Blitz, and production engineering by Loh Humm Audio's Mark Cornwell. 

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Columbus Crew Stadium was the setting for the second year of this quickly growing music festival in Columbus, Ohio. Once again, Logic Systems Sound & Lighting of St. Louis were brought in to provide its audio and lighting production. The festival had an attendance reaching 50,000 each day, making it one of the of largest U.S. festivals so far this year. 

DALY CITY, Calif. — For Sheryl Crow’s current spring tour, promoting her new album Detours, FOH Engineer Sean “Sully” Sullivan put together a streamlined live sound system based around a Digidesign VENUE D-Show Profile integrated with a Pro Tools|HD system.
 

Radian Audio Engineering has introduced the new Apex Series of compact stage monitors. The Apex 1200 and the Apex 1500 are ultra-compact, low profile, two-way floor monitors for live performance and installed sound applications. The Apex 1200 features Radian’s 12-inch coaxial speaker with a 2-inch compression driver, offering a 90-degree conical dispersion. Power handling is 500 Watts RMS with a frequency response of 55 Hz–17 kHz and a sensitivity of 99 dB. The enclosure is 12.5“ x 14.5” x 21.5” and weighs 56 lbs.

NILES, IL — Currently touring in support of Warpaint, their latest release on the independent Silver Arrow label, The Black Crowes have shown hands-down that they are still, as the UK's Melody Maker once called them, "the most rock 'n' roll rock 'n' roll band in the world."

DETROIT – Detroit's Electronic Music Festival has become one of the most highly anticipated annual events for electronic music fans in Detroit and across the globe. And Movement 08 at Detroit's Hart Plaza is no exception. Between the excitement of the Festival and the number of artists who want to participate, Paxahau, producers of Movement 08 – Detroit’s Electronic Music Festival, announces the addition of a fifth stage. Paxahau approached ISP Technologies, LLC regarding outfitting the 5th stage with some of their top end pro audio gear. 

ORLANDO, Fla. – Avril Lavigne has morphed, over the course of a career that is less than a decade young from a self-professed skater punk to a newly married pop princess with her own fashion line. But one thing that has remained constant is FOH Engineer Jim Yakabuski who has been running Lavigne’s sound since midway through her first tour in 2003. For Lavigne’s latest North American trek, Yakabuski and Orlando-based sound reinforcement provider LMG Inc. have chosen to return to an L-ACOUSTICS V-DOSC and dV-DOSC loudspeaker system – this time supplementing the rig with the manufacturer’s KUDO enclosures and new LA8 amplified controllers.