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NSCA 2003 turned out to be an opportunity to have some extended and educational conversations with people, that would not have been possible at NAMM, with its crowded corridors and deafening background noise. What may have been a somewhat low attendance in Dallas was, for me, a welcome relief from the riotous bazaar of Anaheim.

I was able to track down Aviom’s CAT 5 personal monitor mixer, that I had been curious about, and LSI’s Mark Herman pointed me toward the amazing laser-based snake from Whirlwind, as well as Apex’s IntelliQ.

I heard an excellent presentation by John Meyer, about line arrays, and traded stories of crazy musicians with Lake’s Bruce Jackson.

Also, it was a chance to visit with some names I am familiar with from the LAB, who do not get out to the West Coast very often. Although Sound Services’ Teri Hogan stayed home to mind the shop, John Hogan drove up from their home near Austin, and we sat outside and chatted for a while. The Hogans run an EV MT system, and are currently shopping around for a box that two people can easily lift, but will still deliver solid level.

Kent Clasen, of MSM Communications in Lawrence, Kansas, stopped by the Live Sound International/PSW booth, and we talked about a recent install that his company did for a church in their area. Other people stopped me in the corridors, and to briefly say how much they enjoy the site, and the LAB, and to keep up the good work. That was very gratifying.

C.K. with Kent Clasen

Geoffrey S. Cook and Steven Millner

A&O Sound’s Steven Millner and Geoffrey S. Cook passed by, who work in the Christian market, in Texas and nationally. Geoffrey asked me if I knew anything about the Dropkick Murphys - we both enjoy their bagpiper, Spicy McHaggis - and I described my impressions of them, both from mixing their original incarnation, years ago, and more recently, seeing them perform in Ventura, CA, and Belgium.

Debra Hawtree of Conquest Audio Wiring

Often overlooked, in the all the hubbub about new speakers and consoles, are the workhorse products that help us do our jobs, but do not have the glamor. At one point, I was staring at a rack of adapter cables with what I guess was a slackjawed, disoriented look, because Debra Hawtree, of Conquest Audio Wiring, kindly came up and asked if she could help me. I had just been going through some flashbacks of how many D.J.’s I have encountered who not only do not have their own d.i.’s, but do not even have adapters to go from their RCA outs to 1/4”, to get them into a venue or sound company’s direct boxes. I said “I don’t know how to tell you how many nights this would have saved my life,” pointing to Conquest’s RCA to XLR cable. Ms. Hawtree burst out laughing, and I got a good picture of her with their product.

Clear-Com’s JX Loeb

I also met JX Loeb of Clear-Com, and talked to him about how people take intercoms for granted, and how a badly maintained one can turn into an enraging experience, when something goes wrong, and you cannot talk to your counterpart on the other end of the snake, when some input is freaking out or has totally disappeared. I checked out the Clear-Com Q700 wireless beltpack, which carries the Vega brand name, and allows the wearer to select from multiple comm channels, or a patch from the program source.

I tried on the CC-26 Ultra-Light headset, which I had never seen before, and definitely would like to use one, in environments that are not so loud that double-muffs, or ye olde handset, are required.

OrionCases’ Bob Dugas

I have a bad habit. I like to yank people’s chains, and provoke a response. I knew just what to say when I walked into the Hardigg Cases’ booth, when I saw their colorful molded cases. “So, you are competing with Pelican!” Bob Dugas of OrionCase reacted like a champ. “We’re not competing with Pelican, there’s no comparison!” He turned around and picked up a Storm Case and held it up to me: “Here! Check out these latches!” They have an iM2500 rolling case which meets carry-on specs, that was looking very good, and Bob even told me how he bought the larger iM2950 version for his wife, since it costs about the same as a large Samsonite roller, but is far more protective.

McCauley showed their new M.LINE High Mobility Line Array, that follows up on their larger MONARC MLA5 line array, and uses the same rigging system. The M.LINE series consists of a low frequency module, and both 90 and 120 degree full range boxes. We are certainly seeing a trend at many companies as far as adding modestly-sized line arrays, for smaller venue, corporate, and theatre use, after initial releases of bigger boxes, aimed at the larger event and arena market.

Jeff Taylor and Dynacord Cobra

Dynacord is releasing their COBRA line array boxes to the US market and I went to a demonstration hosted by Jeff Taylor. The COBRA-2 system is a passive design with matching sub, while the COBRA-4 is an active three way mid-high box, also available as the FAR long-throw version, paired with a planar waveguide subwoofer.

The convention center cuisine was convention center cuisine, no surprise there, although the downtown Dallas McDonald’s is the only one I have ever seen with black and white checkerboard tile floors! Thank goodness that the hotel had a pool, and I also got to enjoy a few quiet hours of fishing, on a lake outside of town, the night after the show ended.

Here is a listing, by company, of some products that I thought were interesting. – C.K.

* Apex Intelli-Q
* AKG WMS-4000 RF mic
* Aviom A-16 Personal Mixer
* Bassmaxx B-Zero
* EAW Digitally Steered Array
* L’acoustics 112XT and 115XT
* Lake Contour
* Meyer MILO
* TC Electronics
* Whirlwind Digital Laser System
* Yamaha PM5000 and AFC
* “Understanding Line Array Systems” – a talk by John Meyer