ORLANDO, Fla. — On the road in support of “Home Before Dark,” his 29th studio album, Neil Diamond has embarked on a major U.S. tour. Diamond has retained many of the veteran technicians who have traveled with him throughout his career. Among those are monitor mix/live recording engineer Bernie Becker and sound designer/FOH mixer Stan Miller, who hasn’t missed a tour or a show in 41 years.
Read More »WASHINGTON — As a bunch of news stories have recently explained, two sides are fighting over control of “white spaces” in the broadcast spectrum that are currently used for wireless microphones. On one side, the greedy scofflaws of the audio industry and their clients in businesses like live music and theater. On the other side, the apple-cheeked American consumer, pulling his child around the block in a bright red American Flyer wagon. (They’re on their way to buy a slice of apple pie. From a military veteran. At the local volunteer firehouse.)
Read More »WASHINGTON — A longtime issue facing the live production industry, the white spaces debate has hit full force in a string of events that appear strangely coincidental amid recent FCC field-testing at live events — all of which have failed conclusively. The consortium of tech companies (Yahoo!, HP, Motorola, Google), fervent about opening up the spectrum for wireless Internet use, continue to escalate its fight. At the forefront of efforts, Google has fired back with a new campaign and Web site, Free the Airwaves, to garner public support for open use of the tiny spectrum.
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NORTHRIDGE, Calif. — JBL Professional has announced the promotion of Harman Professional veteran, Stephen Morris, to the position of executive vice president of Sales, JBL Professional. Morris takes up the position having successfully led group-wide sales and marketing for Harman Professional’s cinema business and prior to that held senior sales and marketing roles at sister company, Crown Audio. The announcement was made by John Carpanini, President, JBL Professional. According to Carpanini, the appointment underscores JBL Professional’s commitment to recognize achievement and promote from within but also to continually improve sales and support operations.
Read More »NEW YORK — Lectrosonics has announced it now has factory authorized service available in the greater New York metropolitan area. Bayside, Queens-based Jaycee Communications is now an authorized Lectrosonics service facility. With New York being a major hub for musical entertainment, theater, broadcast and production for TV and film, audio professionals, rental houses and others now have local service for their Lectrosonics equipment.
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NILES, Ill. — As this year's presidential campaign enters convention arenas in both Denver and Minneapolis, trying to look back on every rally, whistlestop, handshake and baby kissed becomes a grassroots blur given the power to inspire, excite, cajole and ignite the electorate. With the immediacy of the blogosphere as well as electronic media reporting events, old-fashioned oratory from the stump proved to still be as viable as ever in '08, aided in countless instances by Shure Inc. Hitting the campaign trail hard again just as it has throughout its own history, Shure Inc. traveled with both Senators Obama and McCain nationwide from Warwick, R.I. to San Diego and beyond.
Read More »MERIDIAN, Miss. — This summer’s Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Tour, headlined by Slipknot and Disturbed, served as the proving ground for the new ribbon-loaded Versarray 212 line-array sound system from Peavey Electronics. As the exclusive sound system of the Jägermeister Mobile Stage — a custom-built, traveling foldout stage housed in a 44-foot trailer — the Peavey Versarray 212 provided articulate sound reinforcement while metal heavyweights Machine Head, Walls of Jericho, Five Finger Death Punch, Airbourne and more steamrolled concert audiences during the festival’s 30-date run.
Read More »WASHINGTON — Remember how we said the wireless thing was heating up? You have no idea. Now a “public interest group” has basically called for… Read More »Exactly Who Is Behind Google’s Grab for “White Space?â€
Read More »DALY CITY, Calif. — As the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival kicks off in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park this weekend, much of the live music will be produced and delivered through digital audio solutions from Bay Area audio technology pioneer Digidesign, a part of Avid Technology, Inc. In fact, most of the festival’s performers produced their music in the studio using Digidesign Pro Tools systems, and all three headliners including Radiohead, Tom Petty and Jack Johnson, as well as featured performers Beck and Steve Winwood among others, will all deploy Digidesign’s VENUE live sound systems for their performances at the event.
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TOKYO — Recently installed with a versatile Meyer Sound system, the 1,324-seat Akasaka ACT Theater in Tokyo is a multi-use venue designed to host a wide range of shows, from Broadway-style productions to symphonies, opera and dance. It is also part of the city-within-a-city of Tokyo Broadcasting System’s Akasaka Sacas as other large corporations successfully created complexes that are essentially micro-neighborhoods surrounding their headquarters in the high-density environs of Tokyo, including Fuji Television’s Odaiba, TV Asahi’s Roppongi Hills and Nippon TV’s Shiodome.
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Sennheiser is introducing the evolution e 965 microphone at the 125th AES Convention in San Francisco. The new microphone is the company’s flagship product within the evolution range and also its first large-diaphragm true condenser microphone.
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CARSON, Calif. — The new PL Series microphones from Electro-Voice got the punk rock seal of approval on this year’s Warped Tour, as new additions to the heavy-duty EV sound systems deployed annually for the tour’s Ernie Ball “Battle of the Bands” and Hurley Stages.
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