Article

Monday, February 20, 2012

History Files: Tycobrahe Sound Company And “The California Jam”

54,000 watts of audio power... 105 dB SPL at one mile... 200,000 satisfied rock fans...

Oh, what an interesting time it was! Concert sound reinforcement was in the early stages of moving to where we are today.

This article originally appeared in the June 1974 issue of Recording Engineer Producer (REP) magazine, and Live Sound also ran a text-only version many years ago. It is presented here in its full glory, without editing and much as it originally appeared, to provide a fuller understanding and appreciation of that time and place and the people behind it all.

It also shows that marvelous “new” concepts like digital delays really aren’t so new at all. And, see if at least some of the names mentioned sound familiar. They should.

Shortly after one o’clock in the morning on April 6, 1974 young people from throughout the West started snaking through the gates of the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California.

By two A.M. over 15,000 people were bedding down on the grassy infield and at sunrise the crowd was well over 150,000. At ten A.M. over 200,000 rock fans began shouting their approval as Rare Earth opened THE CALIFORNIA JAM, a twelve-hour rock concert produced by the American Broadcasting Company and Pacific Presentations.

In a motel a mile away seven other groups were standing by to be flown by helicopter into the backstage compound at the speedway. They had come from around the world.

Months of careful planning had preceded the Jam and the on-site construction and installation was started weeks in advance. Miles of chain link fence had been installed. Thousand of drinking fountains and portable toilets were in place. A 45-bed hospital had been constructed in the infield. A six hundred foot length of railroad track was laid across the front of the staging area.

Dubbed “The Grand Funk Railroad,” the track supported three moveable stages constructed on railroad tracks. One stage was to be permanently set for the closing act, Emerson, Lake and Palmer. The other groups would alternate between the remaining two staged. While one act performed, equipment would be set up and checked out on the remaining stage for the following group. The plan was to cut the set-up time between acts to almost nothing.

The concert was to be recorded for commercial album release and videotaped by ABC-TV as material for future “In Concert” programs. To knit the entire project together the producers needed a sound reinforcement company with the know-how and equipment to saturate the broad expanse of infield, provide two-channel monitor to the stages and feed signal to the recording vans (Wally Heider Recording) and the television audio trucks.

They called in TYCOBRAHE SOUND COMPANY of Hermosa Beach, California. Tycobrahe had provided both equipment and technicians for most of the groups on previous tours and had developed a very sizeable inventory of high power sound reinforcement gear.

In the early stages the Jam producers were estimating an attendance of approximately 60,000, and the initial objective was to provide coverage only to a distance of 1,000 feet from the stage.

One of the first factors considered was the placement of the staging area within the infield to take advantage of the prevailing winds. The stage was set on the western quadrant of the field so the prevailing westerly winds would carry the sound eastward across the audience area.

“We were lucky,” said Jim Gamble, Tycobrahe Vice President and Director of Engineering, “The wind blew just the way it was supposed to all day long. If it didn’t, there would be nothing we could have done to compensate… nothing.”

The amount of power required to cover the area to the 1,000 foot perimeter was swiftly determined. According to the company’s V.P. and Director of Marketing, Ralph Morris, “We rate our standard arena system as adequate for 10,000 people in an outdoor situation. That’s a 6,000 watt system. We use that formula and add in multiples thereof. Of course, it’s only a rule of thumb because the sound doesn’t just go out so far and then stop. But the formula works.”

Some days before the concert it became apparent that the attendance would almost certainly surpass the 200,000 mark and appropriately the capability of the reinforcement system was upgraded. An additional array of speakers was added on towers at the 1,000 foot mark. These speakers were faced outward and fed through an 859 millisecond delay.

All the basic hardware used by Tycobrahe was designed and built by them and carried their brand name. The company began manufacturing its own equipment when it recognized the need for a specialized sound refinforcing mixer. The specifications established by their engineering team called for a mixer that was simple and straightforward, highly ruggedized and portable.

The Tycobrahe Model MX24-4 input mixer has stereo main and monitor outputs, with separate panpots on each input. It was designed solely for sound reinforcement and can accommodate the “screaming microphone levels which would clip the inputs on most studio consoles.”

Each input has 3 band equalizers with 3 selectable frequencies in each band. There is no EQ on the outputs so that inexperienced, or overzealous mixers cannot get into too much trouble with a single EQ control.

Overall EQ is available for the monitor mix, but those controls are included in the monitor power amp circuitry. Dual band limiters are in the outputs of the mixer which limits about a half a dB from the clipping point of the power amps. They are similar to Altec dual band limiters, with a crossover frequency of 250 Hz. 250 was chosen because that frequency is just about the dividing point between vocals and bass.

Dual band limiting is necessary, according to chief engineer Jim Gamble, to prevent pumping the midrange and highs during those very heavy bass parts.

The amplifiers used at the Jam were also Tycobrahe products, their 2,000 Watt BFA 2000 bi-amplifiers. Like the mixers, the amplifiers were designed specifically for location sound reinforcement applications. The low frequency section of the amp delivers 1,500 Watts, and the high frequency channel delivers 500 Watts. The crossover frequency is at 800 Hz. The units are packaged in a rugged portable case, and are mounted in drawers for easy access

The electronics for both amps are mounted on a single, fan cooled, heat sink which can be unplugged and instantly replaced in case of failure. The raw power supply transformer, rectifier and filter capacitors are mounted separately in the drawer, although the voltage regulators are mounted on the heat sink assembly.

According to Gamble, “Each of the amplifiers has its own voltage regulator, although they are fed from a common raw supply. This is necessary because of the very heavy power demands, especially from the bass amplifiers. Often the demands are so heavy that the AC supply for the entire concert site fluctuates up and down with the music, dropping from 120 volts to as low as 90 volts. We feed the voltage regulators from a +/- 75 VDC raw supply and regulate down to +/- 55 volts. This allows for nearly a 30 percent reduction of input voltage before the amplifiers will fall out of regulation.”

The monitor amps are packaged similarly; the electronics are mounted on a replaceable fan cooled heat sink, installed in a separate drawer in the same cabinet with the bi-amp unit. A six band graphic equalizer is included for the monitor amps to counter feedback problems that arise on stage due to the proximity of the monitor speakers.

The Tycobrahe loudspeaker units are the result of several years of research. In explaining the reasons behind selecting the elements of the Tycobrahe system, Gamble says, “bass horns are the most efficient, but there is a tendency to produce peaks and nodes as you walk across in front the speakers, differences in levels of as much as 10 dB. The infinite baffle is of course, the flattest, but it is really inefficient. The bass reflex has the next flattest response, and is more efficient.

“If you stack a lot of them together in the right configuration to get good bass coupling, you get a very flat response without those peaks and nodes, as you move through the audience. That is why we use, mainly, the bass reflex enclosure. We have tried all sizes from 7 to 30 cubic feet and there was a point where more cabinet volume didn’t make any difference. That was around 10 cubic feet. Our enclosures are 10 1/2 cubic feet and have 2 JBL 2220A’s, a 2482 driver with midrange horn and 2075 tweeters in them.”

To support the speaker arrays and amplifiers two, fifty-four foot, six level towers were installed, one on each side of the stage. The first level was a utilitarian platform left empty. On the second level of each tower were two eight-foot bass horns driven by 18-inch woofers. Seven smaller rear loaded horns were mounted on the third level. The upper three sections of each tower supported fifty Tycobrahe bass reflex cabinets.

Care was taken construct the towers and mount the loudspeakers so the speaker elements were directly over each other in a vertical line to keep the system in phase.

Following a standard company procedure, speaker lines are run individually to each woofer in the bass reflex enclosures because, as Jim Gamble pointed out, “If you put the two woofers in parallel across one line, there’s a chance that they won’t react exactly the same and you get a reflected impedance back across the speaker lines. Also, two speakers in parallel present twice as much of a load in series with the speaker cables. Any resistance in the cables will then become twice as significant and more power will be dissipated in the cables. It’s a matter of maintaining as much efficiency in power transmission as possible.”

Gamble went on to talk to REP about the sound dispersion: “A lot of people told us our bass was going to roll off. They said we were just going to have a hell of a time getting bass way out there. I said that’s just not true. The air disperses high end, not low end. And I was right. We found we had to really crank up the high end to get the tweeters out over that broad an area. We had about 225 tweeters in the system but what was really predominant was the bass. It was solid and it sounded good.

“If you put enough speakers together you get a big, wide plane to project off of and that acts as a huge coupling board and that’s what we were depending on ­ that coupling. With that much coupling you can really project it out there. A lot of people say if you don’t have a horn you can’t get the bass out there. Well, that’s not true. We even found that the horns we did use contributed very little to the bass level.”

“The system developed 54,000 watts RMS and we measured 105 dB SPL at a point one mile distant from the stage. At the mixing tower we measured 120-126 dB, and that was about 160 feet from the stage. We were originally told to put the mixing towers up 50 feet from the stage, but no way were we going to be that close.”

The amplifiers were installed on the towers with standby units in place and a compliment of spare components handy. Each bank of amplifiers was manned by a technician who monitored the meters and was ready to exchange any amps that failed. A complete lab and repair station in a Tycobrahe van was located in the backstage compound.

Two Tycobrahe mixers fed the main system. They were installed on a tower in the audience area 160 feet from the stage. The cabling between the mixing tower and the amplifiers was redundant. A spare line was available to each tower and the tower technicians had the ability to switch lines instantly in the event of a failure by using specially constructed switchboxes.

One main system mixer was assigned to each of the two stages for which Tycobrahe was responsible. (The Emerson, Lake and Palmer set-up on the third stage was mixed by their own personnel.)

Two additional MX24-4 mixers were used to feed the on-stage monitor systems. One was installed on each stage behind the acts so the monitor mix was completely independent of the main system feed.

The delay in the system that fed the auxiliary speakers at the 1,000-foot distance was accomplished by using tape delay recorders augmented by an Eventide Clockwork digital delay unit. It was found, however, that the delay system and auxiliary speakers were not necessary. The primary on-stage amplifier-speaker array was sufficient to cover the entire area.

Although the delay arrangement was stipulated in the contractual arrangements if the attendance estimated approached the 200,000 mark, the Tycobrahe people were confident that the on-stage system was adequate and the company is philosophically opposed to delay.

The effectiveness of the reinforcement system was checked prior to the Jam by simply driving to all points in the infield while recorded music was fed through the system.

A three-man Tycobrahe crew was assigned to each of the two stages for set-up and miking. The microphone selection was very straightforward; Sony ECM22p’s were used for the drum overheads and Shure SM57’s were used on each instrument.

The SM57’s were chosen because, according to Jim Chase, Tycobrahe’s director of operations, “You have to use a real close-pattern cardioid dynamic microphone on any instrument that is going to be put through the monitor system. Other people use a lot of wide-pattern stuff, even good cardioid patterns, but no good enough. There’s only one mike that works for us and that’s a Shure SM57.”

Everything on stage was miked except the bass, which was also taken direct, so as to deliver through the system the distortion and other effects created in the guitar amplifiers. As Chase points out, “We don’t much get into studio techniques in terms of miking or direct instrument feeds. The groups are looking for a sound and they want to be in control of that sound. They don’t want us to color it or change it. We’d make it clean if we had our choice. If we were to take the instruments direct we wouldn’t get the musician’s tube amplifier mushing and his power supply saturating and the speakers moving to maximum excursion, and all the other things that create the particular noises that you can get out of a guitar amplifier. The talent wants that and they want us to simply reinforce it.”

At the Jam the signal from each mike on stage had to feed four separate and distinctly different entities: the main Tycobrahe sound system, the Tycobrahe monitor system, the Wally Heider 24-track recording vans and the ABC-TV videotape trucks.

Two vans were use by Wally Heider, one for each stage, and it was determined that the Heider mixers would feed the signal to the ABC-TV mix.

From the early planning stages the interfacing of the four systems was considered one of the primary potential trouble areas. As Ralph Morris stated it, “The equipment was all different and the concepts were all different. And, of course, each group of engineers had different points of view. We anticipated ground problems as with any interconnected system so we left plenty of time to work them out. Sure enough, when we plugged it all in, it hummed!”

In considering how to isolate the various signal feeds from each microphone any resistive method was quickly discarded because of the substantial gain loss that would occur. Instead, each microphone fed a separate four-winding transformer. The transformers were special-ordered from Sescom and mounted in boxes with ground-release switches.

The installation of equipment began on the Tuesday before the Jam with Wednesday and Thursday devoted to the set-up of speakers and electronic hardware and the check-out of each individual system. On Friday morning the main system, monitor system, recording and TV systems were interconnected for the first time. It was then a question of methodically going through the systems and eliminating the ground loops. Ralph Morris told the story of one potential area:

“At one point we found we were still picking up an additional ground on some channels which was then no an overall problem. So we started going through them and found one connector with the shell wired to ground. Some manufacturers make them that way and they have to be disconnected. At that time our chief engineer said, ‘Oh, my God, we’re going to have to go through 180 connectors and clip the grounds on all the shell connections!’ But most professional audio engineers will remove the case ground if they use that brand of connector so as it turned out that was the only connector in the system that was causing the problem.

“Our MX2404 mixers are wired with all internal grounds returned directly to the center tap of the power supply secondary. If a mike cable with the connector shell wired to the shield is plugged in, this creates an exaggerated ground loop and a lot of hum, even if the input is turned down. We did this on purpose so we could instantly recognize an improperly wired cable.”

Another interesting point was the special attention paid to the delivery of power to the site. Separate mains were run to accommodate the Tycobrahe equipment and isolate it from the power source feeding the on-stage equipment of the groups. Otherwise, as Jim Gamble pointed out, “We’d have had the whole band playing and sucking up the A.C., especially on the bass notes. The power gets eaten up by the low end instruments. Consequently the AC starts dropping on every low note. It can drop from 120 volts down to as low as 90 volts. Instead of more power when you need it most, we’d get less.”

All-in-all the problems involved with bringing 12 hours of an ultra high level of audio entertainment to a potentially volatile audience of over 200,000 supercharged rock fans seemed to be very few… Very few, indeed, as typified by the comparative brevity of what the producers and their sound contractor had to say about problems.

Perhaps a statement from one of the producers summed it all up: “We were delighted to do without any lurid post concert headlines.”

Our sincerest thanks to Mark Gander and the gang at JBL Professional for supplying these materials.

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Friday, February 17, 2012

Digitalism International Tour Headed By Dual Allen & Heath iLive Systems

German electro house duo Digitalism has been touring internationally this year with Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing systems for front of house and monitors.

“Early on in the tour, the band only carried one iLive system, to keep monitors consistent,” explains house engineer Daniel MacBean. “However, we were so impressed with how easy the system is to tour with and set up that we decided to get a second system in for front of house. It literally takes 30 seconds to set up: plug in Cat-5, turn on power, and I’m good to go.”

The band has performed in North America, Europe, Asia and the international festival circuit this year using two iDR-48 MixRacks and iLive-T80 control surfaces connected using Audinate Dante, which provides a digital split between the house and monitor systems along with suppling additional recording facilities.

“After ease of use, the most striking feature about iLive is the sound quality. It really is the most analogue-sounding digi board I’ve ever used. If you shut your eyes it genuinely sounds analog, it has warmth that you can’t find in any other digital desk. Plus, the effects, reverbs especially, sound amazing with very little fiddling, and the EQ’s, dynamics in particular, are a definite cut above the competition,” says MacBean.

Allen & Heath

END

Notes to the Editor

The attached image shows the iLive-T80 surface during a recent performance by Digitalism in New York.

Established for over 40 years, Allen & Heath designs and manufactures professional audio mixing consoles for an international clientele in the live sound, installed systems and nightclub markets.

For further press information, please contact Vicky Clark, PR Manager at Allen & Heath: Tel: + 44 (0)1326 370192 .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)                         

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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

How Similar Are Your Loudspeaker Pairs?

While you may use may different sets of speakers in a given day, how do they compare when put to the test?

I was working on some array predictions and wondered just how close “like” loudspeakers are in response.

To find out I rounded up some loudspeaker pairs from the warehouse to do some comparisons.

I limited the test to loudspeakers that could be measured up close and personal – within a couple of meters.

This would minimize any errors due to aiming and the environment.

I also looked at the magnitude of the frequency response only, as the phase response will be ultra sensitive to distance errors, and one cannot be sure if a phase slope difference is due to the loudspeaker placement or tolerance issues within the loudspeaker itself.

I felt it was cheating to use the phase plot to “position” the loudspeaker so I decided to ignore phase altogether.

Arta software was used for the comparisons, and the procedure I used was as follows:

1. Measure the axial IR of one loudspeaker.
2. Save this response as an overlay.
3. Measure the second loudspeaker.
4. “Subtract from overlay” to yield the difference.

The mic was not touched between measurements. The loudspeakers were placed as close as possible to the same position – marked with gaff tape.

A time window was used to isolate the direct field. Arta displays a marker that identifies the low frequency cut-off due to the window size.

The plots shown here are not the frequency response magnitudes of the loudspeakers. Instead, they represent the difference between the two units tested.

If two loudspeakers were perfectly matched, the plot would be a flat line. The data was smoothed at 1/24th-octave.

The units tested included 3 pairs of 2-way studio monitors, a pair of ceiling loudspeakers and a pair of general purpose 2-way foreground music loudspeakers. A sixth pair was tested, but the difference was so large that I concluded that something was wrong with one or both of them.

The small size and lack of aggressive horn-loading would be expected to produce better correlation between pairs than large-format devices, with their attendant steep crossovers, aggressive pattern control and greater required measurement distance.

The differentials were within a couple of dB over most of the spectrum, and up to 5 dB at crossover.

This illustrates nicely the role of equalization in the calibration of sound systems, as some of the differences could be eliminated with inverse- filtering using IIR or analog minimum phase filters.

A second lesson from the comparison study is that loudspeakers are individuals, even if they are the same model. One can be measured to the nth degree, but doing so only correctly characterizes that device.

A corrective equalization curve will be unique for a given loudspeaker, depending on the desired accuracy.

One could make an argument for marketing matched pairs of loudspeakers for critical applications, complete with individual corrective EQ curves (as is done to match microphone capsules).

If 2 dB were used as an acceptable tolerance for a matched pair, then most of these pairs would be rejected.

These differences are not an indictment against the loudspeakers tested. Instead they are a reality check regarding the general expectation level concerning loudspeakers, loudspeaker data and the perception of sound in general.

We work in an industry where 3 dB is both a large and a small error – large in that it represents a 2-to-1 power ratio, but small in that it is not a major loudness difference.

While studies like this one are at first sobering, the benefit is that they mold a realistic expectation level when considering loudspeaker accuracy.

It’s better to understand that no two loudspeakers are alike than to assume that they are and then operate on that assumption.

Pat Brown teaches the Syn-Aud-Con seminars and workshops. Synergetic Audio Concepts (Syn-Aud-Con) has been a leader in audio education since 1973. With nearly 15,000 “graduates” worldwide, Syn-Aud-Con is dedicated to teaching the basics of audio and acoustics. For more information visit their website at www.synaudcon.com.

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RE/P Files: A Production Analysis Of Eric Clapton’s “Layla”: Part II

Part two of an in-depth interview with engineer/producer Tom Dowd.

Tom Dowd has participated in as much recording history as maybe anyone around today. During his 28 years in the business, he has recorded and/or produced, among others;, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Herbie Mann, Ray Charles, The Coasters, The Drifters, Aretha Franklin, King Curtis, Otis Redding, Dusty Springfield, The Young Rascals, The Allman Brothers, Stephen Stills, and Joe Walsh

This is the second part in a multipart series. If you’ve not yet read part one, it comes highly recommended.

PL: Let’s set up a completely hypothetical situation.

Suppose that you’re the only engineer in a totally unfamiliar studio where they have every single type of hardware ever made.

What would you start out with - are you partial to Neumann or Kepex, for example?

TD: Well, first off, the musicians should position themselves where they’re comfortable. If I cannot take advantage of what the studio recommends as the best placement in the room for those people, then the house choice of microphones might have to be altered too.

Where I might have had physical separation, now I might have to use a high front lo-back rejection mike because the bass and guitar amps are six inches apart.

If the studio is accustomed to having the drums in one corner, the piano over here, and the guitar and bass in traps, and they’re using omni-directional microphones, that’s all very well and good if the musicians are comfortable.

However, if they’re not comfortable that way and end up standing on 14 square feet of a 20x40 room, I can’t use omni-directionals. Once the musicians are physically comfortable, then I can try lo give them the sound they want.

Certainly, I’ll use directional microphones where directional microphones are necessary, but I’m not too concerned with whether they’re Electro-Voice or AKG.

An instrument like a guitar, I would, for the most part, record as a mono track. In a case like this, you normally go for a very tight focal field on that source of sound, as opposed to something like drums, where the man is flailing about over a large surface area.

With drums, I want lo capture the motion and the depth, so I’d want a big spread, meaning distant miking. You don’t want them very tight, where you have to manufacture the sound he’s creating you want to be able to capture his technique and dynamics just as he did it.

PL: So you normally don’t limit, as a rule .

TD: I try not to. Often it depends on the complexity of what you’re trying to record, but I believe that you can usually gel away without limiting anything on an initial recording.

PL: What were the circumstances surrounding the making of “Layla’”/

TD: Well, Eric had this new group, and they felt that they’d better find out what they’re all about and do an album. I’d always had pleasant dealings with Eric and Ginger and Jack, and with the Stigwood Organization, and when Eric wanted to record, I was asked. At that time, the best place to do it was in Miami because that was where I was working. If 1 was in New York, it would have been done in New York.

PL: How long did it take to record?

TD: About two-and-a-half weeks.

PL: Had they rehearsed beforehand?

TD: They had a concept for each of the songs, but as I say, they had played them and listened to themselves in rehearsal halls, but they had not ever heard themselves back in a mirror image.

So they came into the studio and started horsing around. While they were doing that, we were setting up and working on the sound.

Then we did a couple of passes so everyone could hear what they sounded like on tape, so we could make adjustments.

Jim would say something like “Gee, I wish I had more bass drum,” or Carl would say “I don’t like this amp” and that would be changed.

PL: So each musician exerted a strong influence over how his instrument should
sound.

TD: Oh yeah. You have to look at a group with that talent level and remember that each one is a soloist.

You can’t say to one “Well, I’m making a vocal record, to hell with you.” Clapton is very very strong but extremely quiet. He will sometimes say something like “I don’t like the way the bass sounds,” but that doesn’t mean that the bass player can’t say “Well I do like the way it sounds.”

Or Eric might say “That’s lovely,” and if the bass player wants it changed, Eric will say “Let’s hear it that way then.” He’s the leader, but there’s wisdom and judgment he would never say “This is what I want. I don’t care about you.”

So they were playing around, jamming, and whatnot while we were still getting things straightened out. This is what’s been coming out in the last few years - alternate takes from “Layla,” which were really just rehearsals.

Once we got everyone sounding the way they wanted, then we could sit down with them and find out various things about the song, so we could start trafficking tracks.

How many voices will it ultimately have? How many guitar parts? Is it going to be piano and organ? You’ve got to plan ahead.

PL: I noticed you got a fairly “windy” drum sound. How did you mike the drums?

TD: Jim Cordon is a very tasteful, very strong drummer. Because he has such incredible facility, you have to be careful that you don’t over-mike him you could miss some of his dynamics because you have too many mikes fishing around.

If he had five tom-toms up, and you miked every doggone one, if he hit a cymbal that was anywhere near those torn mikes, it would be leaking in too many directions. Speaking of cymbals, he had a little dinky cymbal that once in a while we would put up.

It was just a toy, really he could have never gotten that sound with any of the other cymbals. Every once in a while, he’d just reach over and smack it. No matter where we put it, he’d manage to hit it hard enough so that it always came through!

That sound you’re referring to was a result of distant miking. We used the overhead mikes 67s or 87s — like “spotlights.” You have to adjust them initially for height and angle so that their fields don’t overlap and create a “hot spot.”

Once you’ve got the right focal plane in the down line, then you work on the vertical axis, so that you can catch a better proportion between a tom-tom sitting down on the floor and a cymbal way up on top of a stand.

PL: How about the organ?

TD: For the organ, we used an omni — on the top and an RCA 77 ribbon mike on the bottom. We usually took two tracks — the high end on one and the low end on the other.

The high mike is in back, and the one for the low is down by the lower baffle and around the side of the cabinet where you’re protected from the rumble of the motor.

If you look at a Hammond cabinet from the back, you have a shelf, then your rotating horn device, and then you have this big dumb dodo of a woofer that rotates and makes all that horrible rumble.

For the top vent, you can place a microphone at about a 20 or 30 degree angle to avoid the wind and draft deflection that the rotor causes.

Down here, to get rid of the “woof-woof” of that thing rotating, you would go to the side of the cabinet so that the baffle affords you some screening.

PL: How did Dunne Allman come to be involved in “Layla”?

TD: Well, Duane and I were into a recording project — maybe it was “ldlewild South” around when I got the call from the New York office saying that Eric was wanting to record Derek and the Dominos. The next time I saw Duane, I said “You’ve got to meet Eric Clapton,” and he said “Oh, I’d be embarrassed to, lie’s such a line guitar player.”

Soon after that we had lo part company as he was going on tour or something. Now when Eric came down with Bobby and Carl and Jim, I said “I was just working with a line guitar player named Duane Allman last week, and I’d love for the two of you to meet.” Eric looked at me and said “God, I love the way that guy plays, but I’d be too nervous to be in the same studio with him.”

They both stood in awe of each other, both two very soft spoken gentle human beings. As fate might have it, after we’d started doing Derek and the Dominos, the Allman Brothers were doing a concert in the Miami area. One night in the studio, I said to Eric “Would you like to go down and see Duane Allman and the band play- tonight?” and he said “I’d love to, but don’t let him know I’m there. I’d be embarrassed if he asked me on stage.”

So I called up Duane and said that I might be able to bring Eric by, and he said “Don’t tell me if he’s there ‘cause I’ll freeze. I can’t play in front of him. ” To make a long story short, they finally visited with each other at the concert that night, and later on, the Allman Brothers came up to the studio. Eric and Duane went off in the corner and spent like seven hours talking to each other and trading licks.

The first time that Duane had available, he came back and played on the “Layla” album. The two of them just fell in love with each other.

PL: Did you feel early on that this was going to be a landmark album?

TD: When we were making it, I felt that it was a mighty good album. I knew that the music was good, the songs were good, and the performances were outstanding on the part of every musician. When I finished mixing it down, I walked out of that room and said and several people have teased me about this “That’s the best damn album I’ve made in 10 years!”

I Looked Away
TD: Hah, there’s that Delaney Bramlett influence! The sequence of the songs on this album in the order in which we recorded them.

Actually, I should qualify that a bit some of the tunes were done before Duane arrived, and he was later added to them.

PL: It’s strange to me that Clapton’s made so little effort to preserve the Cream licks.

TD: Yeah. He’s not ashamed of that stuff he’s proud of it. It’s just that he doesn’t believe he has to wear that coat the rest of his life.

Eric doesn’t walk into the studio and say “I’ve got to make a record as good as . . . ,” he says “This is what I want to do now.”

PL: Were any of these tunes actually written in the studio?

TD: Bobby Whitlock indicates that a few of them did come out of things that transpired in the studio. We’ve talked about this a couple of times, and he said that there are one or two songs that they only had the faintest clue to when they walked in.

I don’t know which songs he’s referring to, but I would guess some of the later ones.

Bell Bottom Blues
PL: Was this a case of ultimately using both lead guitar tracks, or was it originally conceived of that way?

TD: Well, when you’re playing one part, you’ll often hear another in your head. Then you’ll decide to re-do it that way, still keeping the first one. When you play them back together, you realize that they’re complementary and should be together.

The vocal harmonies here are excellent.

PL: Were all the vocal parts worked out beforehand, or were some generated in this same way by hearing what they already had on tape?

TD: Both things happened. They’d usually do two live, and there was always the possibility that Eric would go one over Bobby or Bobby would go one over himself.

Then they suspend the ending, which is just as bizarre as everything else they did on this song.

Keep On Growing
TD: This is the tune where Jim re-did the drum track.

PL: Do you have any of the original drum track in there?

TD: Yeah, I’m sure there are some elements of the original track. I remember that when we put the tabla on, he said “I want to re-do the drums.”

PL: Isn’t that considered very difficult?

TD: Well, I wouldn’t trust it to but one or two drummers that I’ve ever worked with, and he’s one of them. I might go with Al Jackson the same way.

The problem is overdubbing drums isn’t really meter, but feel. A drummer might have the best time in the world, but he still has to be responsive to the music as a whole and the other musicians.

If one of the guys staggers or lays back a bit, he has to make an instantaneous decision: does he lay back with them, or does ee do something to complement their laying back?

That’s the spontaneity of playing drums — how perceptive are you and how quickly can you respond? The reason Jim wanted to re-do the drum track was because the lyrics didn’t turn out to be where he thought they’d be.

When he finally heard the lyrics, he realized that there were some places that called for him to break out and “punctuate.”

Oh, that ending. They still do that and it aggravates me. They sometimes get cute and put these little post mortems on.

Nobody Knows When You’re Down And Out
TD: This is one of those songs where the performance and the sincerity of the endeavor really come through.

It happened one night when we were talking about old jazz blues, and somebody said “You know, nobody ever plays ‘Nobody Knows’ . . .” one of those things.

PL: I really like Clapton’s dynamics here - the way he brings out that arpeggio as a fill, almost.

TD: Exactly! If I had a limiter on it, those dynamics would all have been erased. This kind of thing is always a challenge, when you’re not sticking a limiter on to make sure that it doesn’t overload or whatever.

You’re sitting there having a great deal of anxiety, hoping that you can anticipate what they’re going to do. Instead of “painting” the picture with equalizers, add more echo, do this, do that, you’re taking a “snapshot” - trying to capture it just the way they did it.

I can promise you, when they do things like that, the earphones are off. I’m not against earphones — don’t misunderstand that — but often when you’re using phones, you don’t relate to the other musicians as well.

PL: Was Eric playing as softly as it sometimes sounds, or did he have an amp that just wouldn’t break up?

TD: I must say that there was a dramatic change from my last contact with Eric in Cream to Eric in Derek and the Dominos.

With Cream, it was always three or four Marshalls, wide open, feedback, earth-shattering levels, and so forth. Of that group. Ginger was the softest member. Between Jack and Eric with their Marshalls, I couldn’t hear Ginger when I walked into the studio, and Ginger Baker is a loud drummer!

He always used to protest and say “They’re making too much noise!” ‘cause he couldn’t even hear himself!

When we go in for “Layla,” Eric shows up with a Champ and an old Gibson one of those straw-colored things midway in size between a Champ and a Princeton. Duane came in with something out of that old school too God knows what it was, those oldy goldv amplifiers.

They played so softly that if you weren’t close miked on the amplifiers, the fret noises would have been too loud, which is to say nothing of the other instruments leaking in. Really, if you opened up one of the studio doors, the rush of air would pin your meter!

I Am Yours
TD: I forgot all about this one! I didn’t see it at the time, but it’s a very strong cousin to “I Looked Away.”

PL: This has a definite Caribbean or Polynesian flavor to me.

TD: To me, it sounds like Mediterranean. If it sounds like Trinidad or Jamaica and it sounds like Mediterranean, then it must be African, because that’s where they both feed from.

Anyday
PL: Why haven’t there been more albums featuring two “super guitarists”?

TD: Well, it’s nice to do for people who are guitar buffs, and it’s good for the guitar players, but then all of a sudden you’re in a very delicate position.

You get into that “jazz” category, where you’re making records that you know are musically this and that and you’re doing something to preserve a tradition that you believe in.

You’re trying to educate the public. Unfortunately, when you’re talking about mass education, you may not be talking about mass tastes.

Key To The Highway
TD: This was influenced by a record that was being done that they heard in the hallway.

I had worked with Sam the Sham — Sam Samudio — and Ronnie Hawkins, and we’d done songs like “Key to the Highway” and other traditional, spiritual-type things.

That night, someone was making a tape copy or something in another room, and when we broke, Duane heard it and said “Hey, that’s a great old hymn, it goes like ...” and Eric said “I remember . . . !” Eric is very deep in American blues lie knows it extremely well, better than a lot of American musicians.

PL: He often treads a very fine line be tween a lead and a rhythm part.

TD: Well, he enjoys playing rhythm more than anything in the world.

Most people don’t know what n really excellent rhythm player he is. He’d have a delightful time if nobody ever asked him to play a solo or go “Boo.” Really, he’d be tickled silly.

PL: I’ve always said that you can tell this is a live vocal because of that interplay between the voice and guitar. Also, sometimes a word or two will be off-mike, like he’s moving around.

TD: I think this is live most or all of the blues numbers were. Eric, at that time, was quite insecure about his singing. He didn’t feel he was an adequate vocalist, and he really didn’t want to sing.

Tell The Truth
TD: Tell the Truth!

It’s interesting that this version came out as slow as it did, because if you were to hear it now like how he did it on the “Rainbow” album, or how it’s been done by a few other groups they all play it much faster.

Duane was really an incredibly sensitive musician. You know, he’d be playing a part and all of a sudden think “What I’m doing is not that significant, so I can just as well take it the hell out and not bother anybody with it,” and he would make room for the people that are playing to play more.

Too often, someone will be playing and they’ll figure “The song is this long, so in here I’ll just play rhythm.” When they think they’re contributing, whatever they’re doing might be tipping some intricate rhythm pattern that exists between two of the other musicians.

Sometimes, when you stop doing your part, the best thing you can do is not do anything stay away.

Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?
TD: I met a disc jockey at Rod Stewart’s house last night, and we were just talking about this song. He swears that a recut of this song could be a hit.

I never saw the man before in my life! He came up to me and said “You’re Tom Dowd you made the “Layla” album. There’s a song in there . . .” and he started talking songs. He actually proposed that Rod record it.

We were talking about doing it sambalike or reggae. Rhythmically, you can give this type of song a pattern like “Grapevine” or “Shame Shame Shame” — it’s very easily done. You could put it into a push-one playing double time in the rhythm configuration, even though the chord changes are only playing two bars of cadence inside of one measure of change.

One thing interesting about this song is the flow of words. They deliver them in a unique fashion, so that the words are the percussion “Why-Does-Love-Got-To-Be-So-Sad?” - like a cowbell part or a 01 a tambourine part.

They’re actually using words to give the illusion of percussion.

Stay tuned for the third and final segment in this series where engineer/producer Tom Dowd will conclude discussing the album and much more!

Take the PSW Photo Gallery Tour of audio equipment ads appearing in RE/P magazine, circa 1970

Our sincere thanks to Mark Gander of JBL Professional for his considerable support on this archive project.

Please send all questions and comments to ProSoundWeb Editor .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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Shure PSM 1000 Used Exclusively At The 54th Annual Grammy Awards Show

All artists and bands who performed using in-ear monitors during the 54th Annual Grammy Awards show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles used the new Shure PSM 1000 Personal Monitor System, including Adele, Coldplay, Maroon 5, Foster the People, and Taylor Swift.

“The PSM 1000s are a dream come true,” says Tom Pesa, monitor engineer, Stage Right, for this year’s show. “The RF stability is so solid, it allows us to focus on mixing. Using the Cue Mode feature, we can provide the monitor engineers a single pack with all of the bands’ mixes so they can scroll through them while on stage.”

“In a very short time, PSM 1000 has become a favorite among some of today’s top artists and their monitor engineers,” adds Cory Lorentz, artist relations manager for Shure. “This year’s Grammy Awards show had 26 channels being used by everyone from Rhianna to Katy Perry.”

Bruce Springsteen opened the Grammy Awards this year with “We Take Care of Our Own,” a track from his forthcoming album, Wrecking Ball, with the rest of The E Street Band all using wired Shure SM58 microphones for vocals.

Shure UHF-R wireless microphone systems, with a combination of SM58, Beta 58A, and KSM9 handheld transmitters, were chosen by a long list of artists for performances throughout the evening, including Bonnie Raitt (UR2/SM58), Coldplay (UR2/Beta 58), The Civil Wars (UR2/KSM9), and Jennifer Hudson (UR2/KSM9) for her emotional rendition of “I Will Always Love You,” in honor of Whitney Houston.

“One of my favorite performances was The Civil Wars doing ‘Barton Hollow’ as the introduction for Taylor Swift,” adds Lorentz. “The Shure KSM313 on their guitar sounded amazing, as did the Shure Super 55 on Taylor Swift during her song.”

This year’s show featured tribute performances honoring The Beach Boys, who performed with two Shure endorsers: Maroon 5 (UR2/SM58) and Foster the People (UR2/KSM9); and Glen Campbell, featuring Shure endorsers The Band Perry (UR2/SM58), Blake Shelton, and Campbell (UR2/SM58) himself.

The 54th Grammy Awards ended just like it opened, with a legend performing on a wired SM58: Sir Paul McCartney closed the 2012 GRAMMY show with a medley of “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry That Weight,” and “The End.”

Shure

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Derik Lee Utilizes JBL LSR4300 Monitors In Soundtrack Work For “Bring It On: The Musical”

Derik Lee, a New York-based musician, composer and recording engineer, utilized JBL Professional LSR4300 studio monitors in recording and mixing the score for “Bring It On: The Musical,” a new theatrical musical comedy that recently debuted at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

“I began recording and producing the music in my Brooklyn home studio, which of course I’m intimately familiar with, and which is based around JBL LSR4328 monitors,” notes Lee, who learned his craft working with renowned producer/ engineer Frank Filipetti. “Soon after, I had to move my setup to a room in Studio 54 in New York, which turned out to be fine.”

Things changed when composer Tom Kitt and orchestrator/arranger Alex Lacimore asked Lee to come to Los Angeles to continue work on the project. “When I got to the room—which was normally used by the theater ushers—I took one look and thought, ‘I’m dead.’ I was in an area that was like a little box and didn’t see how it could possibly sound good,” Lee explains. “I set up my laptop, keyboard, and a pair of JBL LSR4328 monitors—and the sound was way too boomy. My heart sank…but that was before I turned on the RMC Room Mode Correction feature.”

Using a supplied microphone and internal analyzer, the LSR4328’s RMC system measures and compensates for the misleading peaks in bass response caused by room modes and the speakers’ proximity to walls and work-surface boundaries.

“I turned on the RMC system and the clouds parted and the butterflies came out,” says Lee. “After a huge sigh of relief, I knew I could keep working. Having a reliable reference monitor is important for any project, but it was especially important for ‘Bring It On’ because of the nature of the music. It’s intensely synthesizer-driven and has a lot of sonic elements.”

Just when Lee was getting a handle on the project, he had to relocate again—this time to an office. “If that wasn’t enough, after a while I had to move once more, to the conductor’s dressing room. The dressing room in particular had trouble written all over it,” Lee says. “But once I kicked in the LSR4328P RMC system, the low-frequency response I was getting was excellent. That and some judicious speaker positioning enabled me to get accurate mixes no matter where they stuck me.”

In addition to smooth bass response, Lee needed speakers that were accurate through the rest of the frequency range, and had resolution of musical detail that would let him know exactly what was being recorded. “I couldn’t have gotten through this project without the LSR’s,” Lee said. “I never had to use the RMC feature in so many places before and under conditions where we were constantly making revisions to the score right up until opening night. No matter what rooms they threw me in, I knew I could trust that my mixes would translate well in the theater.”

JBL Professional
Harman

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Monday, February 13, 2012

Strength In Smaller Numbers: Setting The Stage For Sara Bareilles On Tour

"We all work together - band and crew - with a level of honesty and efficiency that really adds value to our every move." -- Trey Smith, front of house engineer

As part of their efforts to keep Sara Bareilles performing at her peak on the road, Trey Smith and Kevin Twist share the responsibilities of many.

With Smith standing-in at front of house and fulfilling all the duties of tour manager too, Twist takes a place each night at the helm of monitors, in addition helping to manage myriad other production details.

Speaking from Nashville while on hiatus after wrapping up a successful touring season late last December, Smith concedes that he and Twist probably have done everything the tour has demanded at one time or another outside of selling merch out front.

“Fortunately there’s another person for that,” he notes with a laugh and subliminal sigh of relief that reveals itself between the lines. “We may be small and pulling double-duty in many areas, but we all work together - band and crew - with a level of honesty and efficiency that really adds value to our every move, and gives us a certain power that is greater than sheer numbers.  Beyond camaraderie, we’ve all been together long enough that this is really like family.”

Eclectic Collection
Since signing with Epic Records in April of 2005, Eureka, CA-born Bareilles has gone from bar and club scene graduate to mainstream success as a singer, songwriter, and pianist with a string of hits (“Love Song,” “King of Anything,” et al.) and three Grammy nominations. This past touring season found her both headlining and supporting Sugarland, the latter appearances having the unfortunate distinction of finding the artist concluding her performance on the Hoosier Lottery Grandstand stage just before its collapse at the Indiana State Fair on August 13.

The venues Bareilles inhabits are as eclectic as the members of her audience, ranging from 1,500-seaters like the House of Blues outlets found in major markets, all the way up to rooms with a capacity for 7,000 like the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, which was the site of her next-to-final performance for 2011, as well as the backdrop for the photos that accompany this article.

Most of the time Bareilles sings and plays piano onstage, but she also is seen and heard with an acoustic guitar and even a ukulele, which, Smith admits, is “a tricky instrument to do with a full band setup. We’re still trying to get it 100 percent spot-on, and are pretty close.”

Bareilles’ live band features Joshua Day on drums, Daniel Rhine on electric and upright bass, Phil Krohnengold on keys and guitar, and Javier Dunn on guitar. With everyone singing backing vocals, Day is known for bringing a vast collection of percussion (shakers, tambourines, and much more) to the stage, while Krohnengold’s keys are backed by the classic sound of a Leslie speaker.

“We have stage volume,” monitor engineer Twist says, “but this isn’t a heavy rock ‘n’ roll stage where there are towering sidefills or anything. There’s a fair amount of bleed, but we do our best to isolate the various elements by carefully positioning cabinets onstage and adjusting our volumes based upon the venue. Overall we keep things very natural. We don’t want to put cabs in iso-boxes offstage. That look isn’t consistent with who we are, and it can sometimes be disturbing for musicians sonically, or even psychologically if they’re not used to performing without an amplifier behind them.”

There’s A Balance
Concurring with Twist, Smith subscribes to the notion that there’s a need to adjust accordingly to the needs of every room, especially since the tour carries no stacks ‘n’ racks of its own, relying instead upon “whatever the venue is kind enough to provide,” and a console package from Spectrum Sound that places a Midas PRO9 at front-of-house and a VENUE Profile from Avid for monitors.

“Honestly, the band provides really great input,” Smith notes. “Everything is really awesome before it even gets to me. We’ve worked hard to get the tones just right onstage across the board, and a lot of our success stems from our relationship with the musicians. We can go to them with suggestions for any room, and they’ll work with us to obtain the best possible results. There are no egos anywhere.”

Smith has spent a lot of time with Bareilles’ vocal mic (a wireless Shure KSM9) to keep her voice right on top and in the pocket. “She doesn’t sing as loud as I’d like her to all the time,” he confides. “So I have to turn to a few tricks.

“A good deal of effort is put into ringing out her mic. It’s pretty hot and picks up a lot of things, and she likes to run the stage - walking back-and-forth, sometimes right in front of the PA. She loves the openness that the KSM9 naturally has, but in turn I have to combat cymbal bleed into the mic, or a guitar amp that may be getting picked up. There’s a balance, and sometimes I walk a thin line.”

Once lead vocal is properly placed on top, Smith builds the rest of his mix around big, fat, drum-heavy sounds that openly display his love for percussion with a natural, focused flair sans a lot of gating.

“I love a large, looming drum presence,” he admits. “Kick drum with real depth; big, deep, heavy snare… Yet I keep everything operating with pinpoint precision. High-pass filters are my best friends in the world. I roll everything up, even if it’s a kick drum. If I’m in a big arena or a shed, I like to have less around 44 to 50 Hz, even 60 Hz. You can roll that up and keep your mix cleaner. The first thing I focus upon each day going through our line check is just cleaning up the low-end.”

Sharing Resources
As a complement to the sonic options available to him within the 48 channels on his Midas PRO9, Smith was quick to raid Spectrum Sound’s remaining inventory of vintage outboard gear to complete his aural palette.

A TC 2290 dynamic digital delay found its way into his outboard rack, along with a Yamaha SPX990 that serves as his drum plate, and an old school Rev100 (also from Yamaha) used as the effects engine on Bareilles’ vocal. To better complete his outboard view of the world, a dbx 160A comp/limiter climbed aboard for electric bass, because, Smith reasons rhetorically, “Why not?”

In keeping with a production theme that finds strength in smaller numbers and efficiency, the show’s input scheme was designed to be shared. Eschewing a traditional split system that places one set of preamps in the front-of-house console and another separate set of preamps in the monitor desk, Smith and Twist called upon a pair of DL431 input splitters from Midas and charted a different course.

Rack-mounted devices, the DL431s are each equipped with 24 mic/line inputs that each feed three separate preamps - two with separate gain controls, and a third with fixed gain.

“The DL431s are basically 3-way, active splitters in our scheme,” Twist says. “The way we have it setup, the A and B preamps in the units are controllable in 2 and a half dB increments.

“The A side goes to the PRO9 out front, and the B side travels a path to me through a Klark Teknik piece that converts it from the AES50 language the DL431s speak into MADI for my Profile. All of our input comes from these two Midas DL431s.

“What we gain from all this is a reduced noise floor throughout the entire system, along with the sound of a Midas preamp on my console. In blind tests I’ve done with Spectrum Sound, people pretty much choose the sound of a Midas preamp over that of the VENUE preamps a majority of the time.”

Painting The Soundscape
Onstage, all musicians use ears for monitoring courtesy of Shure PSM900 systems, although Bareilles supplements the personal monitoring devices with a trio of M4 wedges from d&b audiotechnik.

Serving as confidence monitors more than anything, the d&b wedges provide Bareilles with some foldback for her voice and piano when she sometimes removes one of her earpieces.

Twist mixes for the band pretty much in a fashion you’d expect: very stereo with each of their instruments up, nothing really unusual going on, everyone listening to each other. “We probably went through 15 or 20 different reverb sounds on the console before we found one that painted the right soundscape for Sara,” he recalls.

Listing a Massey L2007 as a favorite plug-in he uses as a mastering limiter across everyone’s mix, Twist adds, “My plug-ins are straightahead, but the one thing I call upon as a supplement to what’s on the console is a Serato Series dynamic EQ from Rane. It helps Sara listen to the high-end on her vocals with less cymbal bleed. I have it set so that if she comes off the mic, it pulls out enough of the bleed so it’s not overbearing.

“For drums I use the SPL Transient Designer. It adds a little extra polish that’s hard to create in the low-end when you’re on ears, especially in the floor toms and kick drum.”

A reality these days for many touring acts, taking a “PA du jour” approach to life on the road has its advantages and disadvantages. “Line arrays are getting more consistent, and that’s a much-appreciated trend,” Smith adds. “Many times we find ourselves with a (JBL) VerTec rig, or an (L-Acoustics) V-DOSC, and then there’s a lot of EV (Electro-Voice) stuff. I EQ a lot. My board is pretty much set from night-to-night, from there I just dial-in everything else and make it the best I can.”

In addition to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, venues hosting this tour act included the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT, the Electric Factory in Philadelphia, Orlando’s Amway Center, and the Hollywood Palladium. Having toured relentlessly since 2010, Bareilles is rumored to be ready to return to the studio shortly, as well as reveal her next steps on the road.

Gregory A. DeTogne is a writer and editor who has served the pro audio industry for the past 30 years.

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Sunday, February 12, 2012

Rising Stars The Band Perry Utilizes Selection Of Shure Mics, Personal Monitoring

Rising stars The Band Perry is touring with a selection of Shure microphones, under the direction of trusted engineers Earl Neal (front of house) and Justin Beckstead (monitors).

The Band Perry’s calling card is the sweet vocal harmony between brothers Reid and Neil and their big sister Kimberly. 

For most performances, an SM86 is Kimberly’s vocal microphone while Reid and Neil use Beta 58As, but the band has also recently opted for Shure Super 55s on some songs. In addition, the band will occasionally use KSM9s for vocals.

“We initially chose the Super 55s because of their look, but I really like what the mics sound like,” explains engineer Earl Neal. “The capsule sounds good, especially for acoustic-driven music.” 

But depending on the venue or the stage configuration, he can swap Shure microphones, changing frequency responses without sacrificing quality.  “For some recent opening slots, we had limited stage space – the vocals were sitting 10 feet from the drums.  So we brought out the KSM9s on supercardioid just to tighten things up a bit.”

Neal is no stranger to mic swapping, though some decisions have been stranger than others.  “Probably the oddest thing I’ve ever done was use a wireless vocal mic as a hi-hat mic,” he says.  “I was mixing with Aerosmith, and Steven [Tyler] used to shove his vocal mic near the hi-hat and say, ‘That’s what I want the hi-hat to sound like.” 

Neal tried all manner of mics, EQs, and compression before deciding to give the Hall of Fame frontman exactly what he asked for.  “Finally, I put the wireless vocal mic back there, mimicked his channel, and he was happy.”

Justin Beckstead has been a fan of Shure’s in-ear products for years.  He recalls, “When the Shure [PSM] 600 came out, that was a great leap forward from the existing technology.” Now, with The Band Perry, he’s using the PSM1000, and is pleased with features like CueMode, which allows monitoring of up to 20 different channels on one bodypack.

“I use the CueMode if we go out on fly dates, and we have a limited number of packs and units.  It’s very helpful, because you not only monitor the mix; you monitor the frequency that it’s on.  So if they’re taking hits, you’re hearing it.”  Beckstead is quick to add, “Although, that almost never happens with the PSM1000.”

The ability to monitor so many channels from his own bodypack provides added flexibility, allowing Beckstead to roam the venue as necessary.  “I’ll walk all the way to front of house, or out into the stands,” he says.

Shure

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Thursday, February 09, 2012

The Craft Of IEM Mixing

Guidelines that foster quality results and happy artists.

In the early 1990s we were the kings of grunge, based in Seattle.

We were the capital of music at the time, and we had a ton of wedges. Literally, a ton or more, as our company had over 100 of them.

A few hours down the road in Oregon, we heard tales of a well established rock band using custom-fitted “headphones” that went inside the ear, like a hearing aid.

At the time I remember saying, “that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard – it will never fly.”

Not too long after, our big rock band client had a drummer that used them, and by the next tour the rest of the band had adopted them.

In-ear monitors (IEMs) were here to stay and I loved them. By the end of the decade, many if not most of our clients had switched.

IEMs are one of the turning points in modern sound reinforcement, right up there with line arrays, digital consoles, satellite television on the bus, and carrying your own catering on tour. They are an effective tool to control the age-old demon of stage volume.

But like any other good solution, there are trade-offs. The artist may feel isolated. There might not be the experience or expertise to provide an adequate mix.

But using IEMs is not too difficult, and even with basic tools used properly, one can get excellent results.

Here are some simple ways to get the most out of IEM applications that you’ll be able to use if you’re a weekend club warrior, mixing the worship band, or out on the touring circuit.

Creating An Environment
First, we want to make sure we don’t do anything rash. With any monitor gig, trust is key, so you don’t want to blow it with your artist by appearing to be haphazard.

No sudden mix moves, no hot patches, no dropping mics. Recognize that the mix is being piped directly into your artist’s head. If you need to patch on stage, be sure to mute the affected inputs.

It’s possible to damage hearing with IEM, but mostly, problems will serve to anger or upset the artist.

Just as with mixing for loudspeakers, gain structure is a key. Gain structure irregularities, as well as hums and buzzes, become extra obvious in an IEM mix, so make sure your rig is as clean as possible in terms of noise.

Custom-molded IEM earpieces offer about 30 dB of attenuation to the outside, while generic earpieces offer less, depending on the method of sealing.

Regardless, they change the monitor mix game to being less about sheer volume or dealing with outside issues - for example, stage volume or the volume of the house system - to creating an environment that makes the artist comfortable.

The isolation may lead the monitor engineer to add inputs into the mix that are not in a traditional wedge mix.

But the amount and exact nature of these inputs will depend on the preferences of the artist.

For example, an input not used in wedge mixes is ambient microphones, but these can be a welcome addition for IEM applications.

My preference is to use small profile shotguns and fade the input from these mics in and out of the mix only as necessary, usually just between songs to allow the artist to hear and experience the audience reaction.

Others, however, use ambience as part of their mix, but in my opinion, this can “smear” it, making it seem less direct and more distant.

Whenever possible, I place the shotgun mics downstage, away from the house loudspeakers, and try to get as much audience and as little stage or main system volume as possible.

The goal is to get IEM earpieces that sound great on their own, much like with reference monitors. Some earpieces are best with specific music types, just as with some loudspeaker systems.

Recently there has been a trend in both loudspeaker and earpiece design that take an approach of having the best response possible, as opposed to “coloring” the sound so that it sounds better in some applications than others.

Dynamic Flavor
In many ways, building an IEM mix is like building any other mix, with my approach leaning toward “less is more”.

I always configure it as a stereo mix, and don’t typically use any equalization on the mix output buses, but there are times when I will run some sort of compression or limiting on the mix buses.

In the past, this was more for protection, but these days, depending on the artist, it is possible to use methods similar to studio mastering techniques to enhance the quality of the finished mix.

Proceed with caution though if you’re new to this approach, because it’s easy to squash the life out of the mix through overuse, robbing it of any dynamic flavor.

To counter the isolation factor, I strive to create an environment by crafting a mix with depth and space, largely by using panning, level and reverb.

Being isolated reduces the localization of the instruments on stage and can create a dry feeling.

It really depends on the preferences of the artist. I’ve had instances where it was more like a traditional mix, particularly for vocalists - though with the vocal more pronounced.

Other times, it was just that player’s instrument with click and very little melody and rhythm instruments.

I’ve also built mixes where the artist preferred non-standard panning arrangements, such as all backing vocals extreme-panned to one side and the primary vocals to the other side, or the classic Beatles panning of all instruments on one side and all vocals on the other.

Working with your artists is the only way to insure you get what it is they wish.

In building the musical bed of the mix, I again go with the “less is more” mantra, sticking with the basics.

The techniques include mic selection, placement, and working at the source to get the best result possible before it’s introduced into the equipment.

Some mix engineers have specific mics they use in all instances on particular instruments. My approach is to listen to each individual instrument or vocal, and then select the input devices I think will best represent each of these sources.

Of course, this isn’t always possible, and in many cases, is easier said than done. Some artists may have favorite mics, or you might not be in a position to carry your own mics and instead must rely on a limited selection from the provider.

As a result, it’s best to know how a wide variety of mics work and then what may be best in your specific application.

Being able to dictate what you use is the best-case scenario, I’ve heard many mixes that were compromised by the mix engineer applying a one-size-fits-all philosophy to dynamics processing, so you need to be flexible enough to deliver the desired results when equipment choices are limited.

Stare Of Doom
When working with the individual inputs that comprise the mix, again, I try to keep equalization to a minimum, and strive to use none.

This isn’t possible in many cases, particularly if I can’t dictate the mics or control the source. At this point, it’s about listening and making only necessary changes.

Rather than just “fishing” for the EQ points, it’s better to know where in the spectrum needs to be adjusted.

A big pet peeve of mine is when a mixer isn’t ear trained and needs to bump the frequencies to see if they made the right guess. That’s annoying enough through loudspeakers, but if the artist is using IEMs, you’ll likely get the stare of doom.

I tend to apply more processing - particularly reverb and multi effects - when mixing IEM than in a traditional wedge environment. It’s not uncommon to have a half-dozen effects units and a dozen or more dynamics processors.

However, while I may use more devices, they are used sparingly, only enough to get the desired results. I’ve heard many mixes that were compromised by the mix engineer applying a one-size-fits-all philosophy to dynamics processing.

Simply, it’s better not to use these tools rather than letting them detract from the mix. Be especially aware when using compression on vocalists - too much and they might compromise mic technique and vocal style to compensate for the effects of the compression.

By sticking to the basics and properly using the gear you have, it’s not rocket science to craft quality IEM mixes. Using common sense, being methodical and organized, and knowing the equipment helps in better dealing with any situation.

Finally, command of the craft instills the artist with a sense of confidence. This, in and of itself, will keep you working for many years to come.

After being a touring refugee for the last three decades, Dave Stevens is now sequestered 35 feet below the Las Vegas Strip, in charge of Monitor Dungeon on a large, modern circus-style production show.

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Sunday, February 05, 2012

RFvenue Releases New Long-Range UHF Antenna For Wireless Mic & IEM Systems

RFvenue has introduced the new high-gain, foldable, circularly polarized CP Beam antenna for use with wireless microphone and in-ear monitoring systems used in applications such as concert touring, location sound, audio/visual, and broadcast.

The CP Beam antenna is optimized for long-distance applications in the 470-698 MHz UHF range.

“The patent-pending CP Beam is a convenient, easy-to-use, full-size beam antenna for long-range applications that can be very quickly utilized when needed,” states RFvenue CEO Chris Regan. “Customers wanted a compact and durable high-gain antenna without the size, weight, and additional cost of hard plastic or metal designs.

“It’s great that it folds up for storage, yet is quickly deployable. There’s no need for a dedicated flight case to store the CP Beam – it fits in a two RU rack drawer when folded.”

Robert J Crowley, inventor of Crowley and Tripp microphone technology and chief of Soundwave Research, which operates RFvenue, adds, “The new RFvenue antennas all incorporate ergonomic and human factors that have been ignored in the past. RFvenue’s products make wireless systems easier to use, more dependable, and eliminate guesswork in an increasingly complex RF spectrum.

“The CP Beam is a high-gain, broad bandwidth, directional antenna that is excellent for long-range wireless mics or IEMs, as well as point-to-point RF links.”

The new CP Beam has a $499 list price. The company’s products are shipping worldwide through distributors, dealers, and a nationwide manufacturer’s rep force in the US.

RFvenue

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Thursday, February 02, 2012

New Firmware Update For Roland Digital Snake System Expands Flexibility

Roland Systems Group is now offering a new Version 2.500 firmware update for S-4000 Series digital snake systems.

The new functionality allows the S-4000H 8 x 32 digital snake head to support samples rates of 48 and 44.1 kHz – in addition to 96 kHz. This enables it to be used in V-Mixing System configurations, especially as an analog breakout box.

In addition, the update provides control of pre-amps of the S-4000S set in REAC Master mode using the S-4000R or S-4000 Remote Control Software (PC/Mac) without the need for slave equipment or the M-48 personal mixers present.

This allows new uses of the digital snake head such as a 40 input front end to a SONAR REAC Recording system – all connected to a PC via a Cat5e/6 cable.

The S-4000 Series was the first digital snake system using the REAC protocol - a low-latency, high-quality digital transport system.

The S-4000 digital snake system Version 2.500 firmware update will be available in mid-February. Visit www.rolandsystemsgroup.com/updates for more specific information.

Roland Systems Group

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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Extron Introduces New Eight-Port Fiber Optic Audio Extractor

Extron Electronics has introduced the FOX AEX 108, an eight-port fiber optic audio extractor for independent processing and routing of audio signals in a fiber optic AV distribution system.

Each port accepts signals from a FOX Series transmitter to extract a two-channel analog audio signal for processing, and then re-transmits the original signal to a FOX Series receiver.

To simplify integration with mixers, DSP devices, and audio amplifiers, the FOX AEX 108 provides both balanced and unbalanced stereo.

Buffered loop-throughs feature output reclocking and full transmitter power levels to ensure signal integrity.

Available in multimode and singlemode models, the FOX AEX 108 is great for use in FOX Matrix system applications that require extraction of audio signals for local processing and independent distribution.

“System designers and integrators that rely on Extron FOX Series products for fiber optic AV signal distribution now have a new option to route audio within the equipment room,” says Casey Hall, vice president of sales and marketing for Extron. “The FOX AEX 108 provides an easy way to extract audio signals for independent processing while maintaining the integrity and convenience of the fiber optic link.”

The FOX AEX 108 is part of the larger, expansive FOX Series of fiber optic products from Extron. It is compatible with FOX Series matrix switchers, switchers, distribution amplifiers, and HDMI, DVI, VGA, VGA/YUV, and AV transmitters and receivers.

Housed in a compact 1U, half-rack width metal enclosure, the FOX AEX 108 is designed to provide convenient access for audio signal processing and routing from an equipment room.

Extron Electronics

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Friday, January 27, 2012

New “Dangerous Source” Portable Desktop Monitor Controller

At the NAMM 2012 Show, Dangerous Music announced its newest monitor controller, the “Dangerous Source” - a portable and desktop unit designed for portable applications or to fit a limited space on the desktop, a complement to any DAW for its centralized control of loudspeakers, headphones, and more.

Dangerous Source fits beneath a 13-inch laptop computer, and it can also sit unobtrusively on the desktop within arms reach to provide easy control of volume, input selection, loudspeaker switching, and headphone control. An input for USB audio simplifies a traveling mix rig even further.

“With the explosion of professional recording and mixing being done on today’s powerful laptop computers, we wanted to bring our standard of audio path quality and functionality to portable monitor control,” says Bob Muller, president of Dangerous Music. “We’ve been making monitor controllers since before the product category existed in the mainstream, so the Dangerous Source seemed like the logical next step in the lineage of Monitor, Monitor ST and D-Box.

“We’ve also added a first for our products in that the Source connects directly to the computer via USB, saving even more cable hassles for the traveling engineer.”

The Dangerous Source monitor controller sports many of the key professional features of the company’s Dangerous D-Box, such as loudspeaker switching for two sets of loudspeakers, loudspeaker volume, AES/SPDIF digital IN, 2 Stereo Analog IN, and dual headphone out with a separate level control.

In addition, it can connect directly to a computer for monitoring of digital audio over USB. Dangerous Source is capable of up to 24-bit 192kHz on both digital inputs.

Although the Dangerous Source is the company’s first non-rack mount product, an optional 1RU user-installable front panel option will be available.

Highlights:
• Designed for portability
• Desktop form factor sits comfortably under a 13-inch laptop
• Optional 1RU front panel available
• Speaker volume control
• Two 1/4-inch headphone outs
• Supports 2 pairs of loudspeakers
• Alternatively select both loudspeaker outputs simultaneously for speakers and subwoofer combination
• Layering of multiple inputs in both the loudspeaker and headphone outputs
• 2 Analog IN: unbalanced 1/8-inch mini stereo at -10 dBv, balanced XLR/1/4-inch combo jack at +4 dBu
• AES/SPDIF digital IN, up to 24-bit/192 kHz
• USB IN, up to 24-bit/192kHz for Windows and Mac
• Line-level pass-thru for Control Room output
• Buffered digital thru output for AES/SPDIF input

The Dangerous Source is set for release in early Q2, 2012, the price is to be announced.

Dangerous Music

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

AKG Launches New IVM4500 IEM In-Ear Monitoring System

At the NAMM 2012 Show, AKG launched the new IVM4500 IEM in-ear monitoring system, including high-end radio electronic and a manual radio signal attenuator for more RF dynamic, enhanced frequency setup to show the number of free channels and supported TV channels, and quick frequency change functions to support monitors.

Battery life for the IVM receivers has been tested up to 10 hours.

“AKG’s IVM 4500 IEM in-ear monitoring hardware raises the bar for audio quality, as the user becomes more in-tune with their own sound,” states Wolfgang Fritz, product marketing manager – tour sound, AKG.  “AKG continues to set the standard of high-quality, reliable performance, while IVM4500 IEM adds another groundbreaking, performance-enhancing technology to the industry.”

IVM4500 IEM features antenna diversity, with two matched antennae and a new reference radio electronic design, all of which provide stable signals for the receiver.

Audio quality is enhanced with a high-end and powerful headphone amplifier, ultra linear frequency response and dual mode for individual mix. The quick frequency change functions support monitor engineers throughout performances to make their projects easily adjustable.

“The in-ear monitoring market has become far more mature over the years,” continues Fritz.  “Artists demand, and rightfully so, an in-ear monitor that combines reliability, performance, power, comfort and quality audio – traits we’ve worked tirelessly on to ensure the IVM4500 IEM meets the standards of the performer.”

Included in the IVM4500 IEM system:
—SPR4500 IEM diversity receiver, which automatically shows the number of free channels and supports TV channels with pre-programmed preset frequencies;

—SST4500 IEM transmitter, which is adjustable to 10, 20, 50 and 100 mW depending on country laws; and the IP 2 ear-channel headphones, providing excellent acoustics and low impedance;

—SPC4500 antenna combiner, the SRA2 W directional antenna and the RA4000 W omni-directional antenna complete the package.

AKG
Harman Pro

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

New Pivitec e32 Personal Mixer Provides 32-Channel Ethernet AVB Capability

Introduced at the NAMM 2012 Show, the new Pivitec e32 personal mixer is a 32-channel Ethernet AVB “listener” endpoint that can be used to build a stereo mix up to 32 channels of network audio sources that can then be controlled wirelessly from iPhone, iPod touch or iPad using Pivitec’s V2Mix app for iOS.

The e32 features a high-output headphone amp loud enough to work in loud stage environments as well as stereo line outputs for driving other devices, such as wireless IEMs, power amplifiers or powered loudspeakers.

Both are driven by a 24-bit/48-kHz digital to analog converter.

A built-in DSP provides three bands of EQ on each audio channel as well as a stereo three-band EQ and limiter on the master outputs.

The e32 also includes a “local” stereo line level input for connecting an MP3 player or click track for local listening.

Features:
—Stereo line level outputs on 1/4-inch TRS connectors
—High-output headphone amplifier
—Local 3.5mm line level input
—Rugged extruded aluminum chassis with black anodized finish
—Wireless control from Pivitec’s V2Mix App for iPhone & iPad
—Power from external 48VDC supply or PoE (802.11af)
—Made in USA

As an integral component in the Pivitec Audio Networking product family, the e32 is an ideal complement for the e16i input module. Multiple e16i and e32 units can be utilized to builde a personal monitor mixing system. 

Four e32s can be rack mounted in a single 1U rack, or a microphone stand adapter can be deployed for local mounting.

Pivitec

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