Article

Friday, April 30, 2010

David Cooper Departs Midas & Klark Teknik To Form Consulting Firm

Midas and Klark Teknik are the first clients of David Cooper Consulting

David Cooper has announced that after 18 years at the forefront of Midas and Klark Teknik, he has formed David Cooper Consulting.

“I’m absolutely thrilled to be in a position to now offer my services to other manufacturers,” says Cooper. ”Fronting Midas’ exceptional sales and marketing team for nearly 20 years has been an honor and a pleasure, but over the last few months I’ve had a strong desire to be in charge of my own destiny. At Midas, we’ve had some good times; we’ve had some great times, but if I don’t do it now, I never will!”

Cooper continues, “There will be speculation that my departure has something to do with the new owners of Midas Klark Teknik but this could not be further from the truth. Midas and Klark Teknik are profitable, in extremely capable hands, have a stable vision for long term growth that remains true to the brand values and have already received considerable investment from the Music Group. I have nothing but optimism for the future success and growth of Midas and Klark Teknik business on a global basis.”

He adds that he is determined not to lose touch with Midas, the brand he has loved and cherished for so long. “It seems it is possible to have your cake and eat it,” he notes, “and I’m delighted to announce that Midas and Klark Teknik are the first clients of David Cooper Consulting, which will exclusively represent both brands in Asia.”

John Oakley, Managing Director of Midas Klark Teknik, states, “I am incredibly sad to see David leave the company after all he has done for our brands and his record speaks for itself. However in equal measure we are delighted to start using the services of David Cooper Consulting and fully expect a mutually beneficial, long term relationship.”

The philosophy of David Cooper Consulting is to provide focused, long term sales and brand management services to an exclusive number of pro audio manufacturers. The select few that the new enterprise will go into partnership with will benefit from the company’s strategic approach to brand management as well as its extensive global network of relationships built up over a generation.

David Cooper Consulting Website
Midas Website
Klark Teknik Website

{extended}

Audiofile Engineering Releases Backline Calc 2.0 for iPhone OS

Professional audio calculator for iPhone and iPod touch adds new features.

Audiofile Engineering has released Backline Calc 2.0, an update to their audio calculator app for Apple iPhone and iPod touch.

Backline Calc is a valuable tool, featuring more than 20 calculators and converters.

“Playing, teaching, practicing or writing music, mixing live sound and producing music all involve calculations and conversions of musical and technical data,” says Matthew Foust of Audiofile Engineering.

“Backline Calc lets you calculate musical, acoustic, video and even electrical data quickly and easily, so you can get on with the music and not the math.”

The Backline Calc app is free to download and includes three basic calculators: Note Length, Frames to Time code, and File Size.

The rest of the calculators can be purchased and unlocked directly from within the app.

The acoustics calculators include Distance to Time, Time to Distance and Sound Pressure Level. The electrical category includes Compare Power and Compare Voltage calculators. There is also a Files calculator for converting sizes of audio files.

In addition to a newly designed, streamlined interface and a fully integrated Help feature with examples and instructions, version 2.0 includes a new Time to Samples calculator as well as the addition of a Tap Tempo and number keypad for easy tempo input.

Backline Calc 2.0 is now available in the Apple App Store.

Audiofile Engineering Website

{extended}

Guitar Center Helps Indiana Nazarene Church With Worship Facility A/V Needs

GC Pro provided the Valparaiso Nazarene Church much needed assistance in choosing technology for the church’s new worship facility.

When Indiana’s Valparaiso Nazarene Church decided to invest in a brand new facility, it worked with Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro) to select a wide range of audio products with complimentary support and consultation.

The new eight-million dollar facility features a 1700-seat venue that is used weekly for worship services and live concert events, plus it also has an audio/video production studio used to produce the church’s various DVDs, CDs and Podcast materials.

To make certain the new facility’s audio/video and lighting systems would be exactly what the church needed, GC Pro’s account manager Dan Scalpone worked closely and collaborated with one of the church’s Worship Leaders, Jake Randall, in choosing everything to keep Valparaiso Nazarene at the cutting edge.

“I just randomly called Guitar Center, I got ahold of Dan at GC Pro, and told him I’ve got this huge project,” stated Randall.

“I just have a bunch of questions and I need pricing,” and Dan said he would love to help. It was just from that one phone call that the relationship started between GC Pro and myself. To this day I call him anytime I need anything for our audio and video systems.”

What Dan Scalpone did was help Randall make the church’s vision of a state-of-the-art venue and production complex a reality. “He went above and beyond,” Randall commented, “Dan and the GC Pro team drove out here, looked at the facility and began advising me on what equipment would streamline what we had envisioned.”

“And the only reason we are up and running today as efficiently as we are is because of Dan and GC Pro. They went through everything with a fine-tooth comb and nailed everything down. Truly attention to detail.”

The centerpiece of the audio system at Front-of-House position is a Digidesign VENUE D-Show System, which is based around the VENUE D-Show console and employs a VENUE FOH Rack and Stage Rack processing and I/O system.

This configuration allows Randall the flexibility to handle any situation or performance that might come into the venue.

Other equipment includes several Apple computers, wired and wireless microphones from AKG, Audio-Technica, Earthworks, Heil, Rode, Shure, and Sennheiser, an AJA Ki-Pro Portable Digital Disk Recorder, and much more.

Randall continues, “It’s actually really funny, when we get artists such as Contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp in to perform, they don’t have to bring any gear with them because they don’t need to.”

“They use all of our lights and lighting console, all of our rigging, our front-of-house VENUE board, our line array system, everything. For most bands, they can walk into our sanctuary and have everything they need. I owe that to getting the right advice and equipment from GC Pro.”

The church has come a long way from its original dwelling that began in a tent in 1924. Today, Valparaiso Nazarene Church ministers to close to fifteen hundred people every week, and Scalpone likes to think that GC Pro is partly responsible for its members coming back year after year.

“They wanted to create a venue that really stood out from a technological standpoint and utilize newer technologies to create a unique worship environment and great live experience for the congregation,” stated Scalpone. “Working closely with Jake, we were able to put together a comprehensive package of equipment solutions that not only did everything he needed, but was well within their budget. That is a true partnership.”

Guitar Center Professional Website

{extended}

Reidel Provides Comminications Solution For Emmy Award Winning Red Bull Air Race

Utilizing its revolutionary MediorNet technology, Riedel Communications was responsible for all on-site communications and signal distribution for the even.

The Red Bull Air Race World Championship received a prestigious Sports Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Science in New York.

The Red Bull Air Race World Championship program, which is broadcast in the U.S.A. on Fox Sports Network, won in the category “Outstanding Technical Team Remote” which recognizes the technical portion of sports programs in remote venues.

The program for FSN is produced by the American company G.R.A.C.E Productions together with the Austrian based production company West4Media as well as Riedel Communications, SiVision and Sky Media.

For the seventh year in a row, Riedel Communications is serving as the official global supplier of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship.

Riedel is providing the entire communications and signal distribution solution for the event, integrating both HD video and audio signals as well as wireless and wired digital intercom systems.

Additionally, Riedel is supplying the HD cameras and RF links for the race planes’ onboard cameras enabling pictures to be delivered from the pilots’ perspectives.

Riedel Website

{extended}

True Systems PT2-500 Mic Pre Now Shipping

Descendant of the TRUE Systems Precision 8, the PT2-500 conforms to the modular 500 Series format.

The PT2-500 mic pre and DI from True Systems is now shipping.

The PT2-500 features up to 70 dB of high-headroom, low-noise microphone gain.

A high-quality direct input provides a THRU jack for amping or effects. As well, switchable phantom power, 80 Hz high pass filter, and polarity reverse provide flexibility in a compact

Descendant of the TRUE Systems Precision 8, the PT2-500 conforms to the modular 500 Series format.

Like all TRUE Systems preamps, the PT2-500 boasts a frequency response from1.5 Hz to 600 kHz .

“More so perhaps than any other mic pre manufacturer, TRUE Systems is a natural fit for the 500 Series,” said Brad Lunde, president at TransAudio Group, the U.S. distributor for TRUE Systems.

“Engineers have been asking for the PT2-500 for years as the 500 Series format is quickly becoming the de facto protocol for modular gear.”

True Systems Website

{extended}

Klein + Hummel Monitors Chosen By CTV

Network upgraded their monitoring across many facilities to maintain high production standards.

The Canadian television network CTV, which delivers a wide-ranging mix of programming to its viewers including many homegrown hits and informative news programming, has upgraded its monitoring environment acros the board.

To maintain its high production standards and to standardize across its many facilities, the network will be relying on over four hundred Klein + Hummel studio reference monitors for nearly every stage in its production process.

The large purchase of K+H monitors came in anticipation of the Winter Games in Vancouver, as CTV, together with Rogers Media, outfitted the international broadcast center.

“We had a huge number of television production control rooms to fill,” explained Paul Sellers, manager of audio operations and technologies for CTV Television Inc. 

“And while the speakers were used initially in Vancouver, we intend to use them for the 2012 Summer Games in London and other major events throughout Canada.” ”

Also, one-hundred-fifty Klein + Hummel monitors had joined CTV in 2006 when the broadcaster purchased CHUM, a network that had already switched over to those monitors.

“My background is in TV production, not music production,” noted Robert Miles, audio and communications engineering manager, CTV/Rogers Consortium. “I think there is less predictability with regard to the final playback medium in television. Some people will watch on a finely tuned, multi-thousand dollar home entertainment system while others will watch the exact same program on a small TV tucked between the blender and the coffee maker on the kitchen counter.”

“The audio that we produce at CTV has to translate in both of these environments – and everything in between. These monitors have what I would describe as a ‘simple’ sound. I don’t really hear the speaker, just the program material.”

He continued, “I’m also impressed by how robust the K+H monitors are to room conditions. I first heard them in their showroom in Germany, which is remarkably realistic.”

“There are desks around, as there would be in a “real” studio environment and the room treatments are modest, again, as they would be in a “real” world situation. The speakers sounded great in the showroom, and are very consistently transparent across the range, from the O 300 to the O 110 and even to the M 52.”

“During our setup for the Winter Games, we used a number of simple drywall rooms for our editing and audio production suites. Even before we put up some simple acoustical panels to cut down on flutters, they sounded way better than I could have possibly hoped.”

K+H monitors

{extended}

Shure Celebrating 85 Years In Profesional Audio

Company honored that their customers and channel partners have helped them to achieve 85 years of success.

Founded in 1925, Shure Incorporated celebrates its 85th year in the Professional Audio industry this week.

Used by some of the largest names in history including Elvis Presley, Martin Luther King Jr., and every U.S. President since Lyndon Johnson, Shure Incorporated has enjoyed a long history. Today, the company offers a wide product portfolio that puts professional-grade audio products into the hands of performers, system designers, and content creators at all levels of experience and in a wide variety of applications.

“We’re honored that our customers and channel partners have helped us to achieve 85 years of success in the professional audio industry,” said Sandy LaMantia, President and CEO of Shure Incorporated. “The company’s history of success is a tribute to our founder, S.N. Shure. His dedication to quality and service is evident in every Shure product and every Shure Associate.”

See related articles:
History of Shure
Timeline of Notable Shure Achievements
Perspective of Shure’s Michael Pettersen

Shure Incorporated Website

{extended}