Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Switchcraft Announces New, Versatile SC700CT A/V Direct Box
Connects the outputs of a wide range of audio and electronic devices to consoles, preamps, house systems and more
The new SC700CT A/V direct box from Switchcraft is ideal for connecting the outputs of MP3 players, PCs, laptops, CD players and other audio devices to audio consoles, mic preamps, effects processors, house sound systems and other equipment with 3-pin XLR inputs.
The SC700CT converts the outputs of high impedance stereo or mono line level audio devices and musical instruments to low impedance, balanced and isolated mic level signals.
All stereo inputs on the SC700CT are summed to mono and output to a single 3-pin XLR connector.
Features:
-Left and right RCA inputs
-Left and right RCA thruputs
-20 dB Pad
-Pin-1 ground lift
-Recessed I/O panel
-Laser etched product labeling
-Rugged extruded aluminum enclosure
The new SC700CT A/V direct box is built by hand in Chicago, USA.
Switchcraft SC700CT Web Page
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Harrison Debuts Mixbus Mixbus, A Virtual “Analog Console” Integrated Into DAW
Virtual mixing surface based on Harrison's 32-Series and MR-Series console designs, plus Harrison's proprietary digital mixing technology.
Harrison has introduced Mixbus, a virtual “analog console” integrated into a full-featured digital audio workstation (DAW), providing True Analog Mixing for OS X.
True Analog Mixing offers a virtual mixing surface based on Harrison’s 32-Series and MR-Series console designs, plus Harrison’s proprietary digital mixing technology.
Mixbus enables the user to record, edit, and mix a musical performance “in the box” but get a sound reminiscent of the golden age of album recordings, and offers engineers a Harrison music console “in the box”.
With Mixbus’s logical knob-per-function interface, the user works with the fluidity of a traditional analog recording studio while retaining the convenience of a DAW.
Features:
* Straightforward “knob per function” mixer layout based on Harrison’s renowned 32-series and MR-series music consoles.
* Precision DSP algorithms for EQ, Filter, Compression, Analog Tape Saturation, and Summing based on Harrison’s world-renowned large format analog and digital mixing consoles.
* Unlimited stereo or mono input channels (based on available CPU power) featuring High-pass Filter, EQ, Compression, and 4 Mix Bus sends on every channel.
* 4 Stereo Mix Buses (can be used for groups or auxes) featuring Tone controls, Compression, Sidechaining, and Analog Tape Saturation.
* Stereo Master Bus that features Tone controls, Analog Tape Saturation, K-meter, and Limiting to help you make polished mixes.
* Plugin delay compensation to support effects such as parallel compression.
* Comprehensive “at-a-glance” metering with peak, peak hold, and compressor gain reduction visible on every track and bus.
* Extensive DAW features via the Ardour Digital Audio Workstation.
* Supports AudioUnit plugins and any CoreAudio interface.
Mixbus is available for an introductory price of $79.99.
Click here to view a video overview of the Mixbus
Harrison Website
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Church Sound Profile: Houston Clark On Building An A/V System Business
Reflections on the church technology marketplace from the co-owner of Clark Promedia
Though admittedly not involved in anything arts or performance related while in school, these days Houston Clark finds himself sharing the helm of Clark Promedia with his brother, George, where together they design and build sophisticated audio, video, and lighting performance systems, primarily for the house of worship market.
Clark helped found the company – based in Alpharetta, Georgia – in 1996 while he continued to work in the software industry. He eventually joined the company full-time in 2002. The brothers complemented each other well with Houston concentrating on the business side, (sales, marketing and operations), while George focused on the performance technology aspects.
Houston Clark recalls, “A lot of it really originated out of a passion to work with my brother. We were eight years apart age-wise and really didn’t know each other as adults. I had left for college when he was in sixth grade.
“So it wasn’t until he got in college in Atlanta, that we really spent any amount of time together as adults, and just realized that we really enjoyed one another. We’re very different from a personality perspective. The desire to work together was the starting point. Over time we both developed an incredible passion for the church and helping the church create engaging environments. And obviously media – multimedia is a huge part of creating an engaging environment in today’s church culture.”
While they knew what they wanted to do, it took them a little while to determine a specific area to concentrate on. Clark continues, “The first couple of years, we did literally anything from conference rooms to production events. In fact, we produced a user conference event for the software company I worked for, and worked at whatever else we could in this industry.”
Around 1997 George Clark started to work with sound at Northpoint Community Church, and his brother notes, “We convinced Northpoint to let us do their audio system for a 2,700-seat auditorium, which is just crazy. I mean there’s no way they should have done that.
“But that allowed us to start with a church that was influential, and that really is what solidified the market niche we’re in. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the number of churches that were new and needed to build facilities that embraced and valued performance technologies was just exploding.
“And we just happened to be in that position. We had the incredible opportunity to literally start with one of the most influential churches in the country.”
Looking back, he concedes, “It was crazy. Today if I were competing for a job it would be unheard of for someone to say, ‘Well I’ve never done this before, but I really think I could do a good job.’ You know, I could tear that up from a competitive perspective, given the risks you are taking, it’s just crazy. You’ve got to look back at that and say it’s a total God thing because they were crazy to do it, but George had the confidence that he could do a good job.”
The facility at Northpoint, called the East Auditorium, is operating currently with fundamentally the same system Clark Promedia installed over a decade ago.
Community, Culture & The Church
Clark has strong feelings regarding the topic of the church understanding and responding to the culture of the community it serves, as well as being relevant in its presentation both in method and content.
“What I’ve learned is that you could have phenomenal content and average platform, and by platform I mean the audio, video, and theatrical lighting solution, and you’re just beating people back with a stick,” he says. “Conversely, you can have an incredible platform, but your content just isn’t that relevant. I think that’s the conundrum many churches are finding themselves in.
“Good content is readily available today. You and I could go on the web and listen to the top 10 church leaders in the country right now. Whenever we want to. We can listen to Andy Stanley, Ed Young and Mark Driscoll, just any number of highly influential teachers. And then you’ve got all these churches on a Sunday trying to create relevant content that essentially competes with what you and I can get almost any day of the week. Good quality content was just not as prevalent six or seven years ago as it is today.
“Whether we like it or not, multimedia is ingrained in our culture. One of the challenges we’ve found is it’s very difficult sometimes for churches to break free from the culture that they’ve developed internally because they’ve been around so long.”
“Yes, the technology is incredibly important, because that’s part of the message now, but understanding culture and how the technology can be used in communicating culture has been really where we’ve focused the last several years. That’s the value that a company like ours, that’s been around for years, can provide.
“So for me personally, that’s allowed me to be not so much focused on whether this is the right speaker or the right video projector. We have a team of people that do that very, very well. I get to focus on helping churches understand what would be meaningful for them to do in order to help them communicate to the culture that they’re trying to reach.
“I think sometimes we lose sight of the fact that it’s the content that being delivered that is critical, that’s making the difference.”
Doing Business In The Current Economy
The current economic challenges have manifested in many ways for different companies, but Clark Promedia is faring well through the turbulence, and Clark has a realistic attitude and expectations.
“For us, business has been consistent, we haven’t seen phenomenal growth like we’ve had in the last six or seven years,” he says. “But the caliber of opportunity seems to be still there, still solid. And we’ve just got such a long history with so many churches now I would say we’ve been able to have some balance because churches are still growing and they still need our support.”
On The Home Front
While not necessarily technically inclined at home, Clark admits to being what he calls ‘a born again gamer.’
“I have children that are 16 through 22 (the older ones are boys) and we’re Xbox junkies,” he explains. “It’s been fun because it’s allowed me to be engaged with my kids in something that they value, which is important to them. I have a nice media room – thank you George – I’ve got the Xbox, I have a 72-inch Mitsubishi single chip DLP rear screen projection system. I better not tell you what loudspeakers I have though, I might make somebody mad because I didn’t use their loudspeakers, but they’re professional.
“I’ve got a Kindle. That and the iPhone are the two best technical innovations for me personally that I’ve seen in the last six years. They’re incredible. Everybody laughs about my iPhone, but it’s a valuable tool.” Other than the iPhone, when queried as to whether he’s a Mac or a PC, the response is succinct: “I’m a Mac, no question.”
Involved more with athletic endeavors in school than the arts, Clark also used to participate in triathlons, however, back surgery about 10 years ago has limited his athletic pursuits these days primarily to swimming. Married for almost 23 years, he also enjoys traveling with his wife, reading (juggling three or four books at any given time), and is a huge history fan.
“Growing up I didn’t listen to the radio; I didn’t really have an appreciation for any of the performing arts,” he concludes. I’m technical by my education and background; I was a systems analyst and software engineer and then moved into more of the software marketing and business development side. So I appreciate and understand technical things but the artistic side was something I never thought about.
“George has been an incredible teacher in exposing me to this environment, and the things that are valuable in this environment. It’s funny to look back on. I would have never in a million years have thought about this as a career path, but when you look back, you see how your background is helpful in what you’re doing.”
Mark Johnson has been involved with audio and video in one way or another for over 35 years, including production, manufacturing and covering the industries for various publications.
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Wharfedale Introduces EVP-NEO Line Of Loudspeakers
Seven models are available in the new line, including two floor monitors, three full-range loudspeakers and two subwoofers
Wharfedale Pro is now shipping the next generation of the company’s EVP line of loudspeakers, the EVP-NEO series, which are distributed in the U.S. by American Music & Sound of Agoura Hills, California.
Lighter in weight with improved materials and construction, the EVP-NEO series builds on the sound quality of the EXP-X.
Seven models are available in the range: EVP-12M NEO and EVP-15M NEO are low profile stage monitors, with EVP-12NEO, EVP-15NEO and EVP-215NEO completing the full range lineup. EVP-18SUB and EVP-15SUB subwoofers provide low end reinforcement to the range.
Cabinets are now more compact and use heavily braced MDF panels for a perfect balance of rigidity and weight reduction, and handles are made of aluminium, much stronger and more durable than the previous generation.
A formed powder coated grille protects the transducers and provides better resistance to dents, also giving the units a unique appearance. All models in the series are available with road tough carpet covered or painted enclosures.
A new ultra flat HF unit on a 70-degree x 70-degree circular waveguide improves high frequency response, while the woofers in the full range models now use neodymium magnets for greater power and efficiency. New crossover networks are used throughout the range with transparent thermal HF protection.
A dual angle pole mount allows for flat or 10-degree mounting of the full range speakers, directing more HF at the audience and less at the ceiling, reducing early reflections.
A combination Speakon/Jack parallel input/output is used on all models and is located on a recessed panel. The stage monitors have a third parallel input/output located on the opposite end, allowing for neat and tidy parallel wiring of monitors along the front of a stage.
The EVP-NEO range is shipping now and is priced starting at $249 US MAP.
American Music & Sound (AM&S) Website
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All-Star Game VIP Gala In St. Louis Celebrates With Martin Audio
Stanco Productions of St. Louis provided audio for the Major League Baseball special event, including Martin Audio W8LC line arrays
Held during Major League Baseball’s centerpiece summer event, the MLB All-Star Gala was a private VIP hospitality celebration for close to 4,000 guests that included MLB employees, corporate sponsors, team owners, players and their families.
The gala was held at the Ballpark Village adjacent to the new Busch Stadium with The Switch, a leading St. Louis-based production company, responsible for the event and Stanco Productions, also from St. Louis, contracted to provide audio for the event.
One of the main challenges, according to Sam Wehrmeyer, Stanco Technical Director, was “achieving clean, even coverage with a nice full sound, but not too loud as people needed to be able to maintain conversation levels.”
“Martin Audio W8LCs are the perfect box for that type of situation as they still have a full, robust sound, even at lower volumes,” Wehrmeyer continues. “We only needed eight boxes a side seeing the space wasn’t that deep. Full even coverage was a must to achieve the design so we also incorporated 4 outfills a side to further cover the space.”
The first night gala concert after the Home Run Derby featured local rock ‘n’ roll legend Chuck Berry as well as hip-hop artist Nelly, both originally from St. Louis.
The actual audio setup included eight Martin W8LCs a side plus four for outfills. There were also six Martin Audio W8LMs and two W8LMDs in a tent structure behind the stage with local delicacies and hometown exhibits that also celebrated St. Louis.
Martin Audio Display software was used to facilitate the array design. Other equipment included a Yamaha consoles, Crown amplification, Turbosound 21-inch subs, and XTA processing. Besides Wehrmeyer, crew for the event included Edwin “Dee” Blanton, FOH Engineer, and Randy Anderson on monitors.
“The W8LC is really all about superior sound from a small footprint,” Wehrmeyer explained. “To save on space we opted not to use the speaker wings on the large rooftop we provided. So we designed the rig to fly from the inside of the top. For this application the compact format worked really well. On Stanco’s last tour with Nelly we utilized the same boxes. They worked just as flawlessly in stadiums and arenas around the country. We really couldn’t be happier with them.”
Martin Audio Website
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