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Roland M-48 Personal Mixing System For “The Motown Sound: In Performance At The White House”

”Once everyone agreed that we would use a personal mixing system for the band, there was really no question that it would be a MADI-equipped digital console along with the M-48 live personal mixers and S-MADI REAC to MADI bridge." - Chris Anderson, Anderson Audio

A Roland M-48 personal mixing system provided the monitor mix for the house band at the most recent “In Performance At The White House” concert series at the East Room of the White House. The

The concert focused on the legacy of Motown music (“the Motown sound”) that was born in Detroit and embodied by the Motown Records label. The evening featured artists such as Jamie Foxx, John Legend, Sheryl Crow, Ledisi, Seal, and Gloriana.

East Shore Sound was contacted in the early planning phase of the production to coordinate the house audio and RF systems for the show. “We have worked on several events at the White House over the last decade,” said Bill Saltzer of ESS. “The East Room is not your typical performance venue. The room is only 40 feet by 80 feet, and there is no offstage space to house the traditional amount of
equipment that goes into making a one hour TV show. The stage is only 14 feet by 32 feet, so with eight musicians on stage, space is at a premium.

“Adding to the complexity of the logistics, since the event is being shot for television broadcast, it is not feasible to have a monitor engineer on the side of the stage where he can easily communicate with the musicians,” Saltzer continues. “Also, since there will be a separate recording and broadcast mix, controlling the ambient sound from the monitor mix becomes even more critical.”

To accomplish this, music director Greg Phillinganes — whose credits include Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson’s first solo tours and The 60th Emmy Awards — agreed early on that the band would wear in-ear monitors.

Traditionally this would have equated to a monitor mixer controlling eight independent mixes of audio for the band as well as mixes for the various guest artists. Given the limited amount of time in the production schedule, it was obvious that a personal mixing system would efficiently provide each member of the band with the flexibility to get the mix they needed for their in ear monitors. This would also allow the monitor engineer to focus his attention on each of the 16 guest artists.

Chris Anderson of Anderson Audio, provider of the PA system for the event, comments, ”Once everyone agreed that we would use a personal mixing system for the band, there was really no question that it would be a MADI-equipped digital console along with the M-48 live personal mixers and S-MADI REAC to MADI bridge. The M-48’s offer several unique features that set them apart from other personal mixing systems on the market.

“First, the M-48’s allow you to choose up to 16 stereo groups from f40 sources in any order. The flexibility of this allows each of the musicians to choose and group the audio sources and assign them in any order providing a truly personal mix. Each M-48 sees 40audio sources in 16 stereo groups along with power via a single Cat-5e cable. This makes for a much cleaner stage free of wall wart power supplies.

“Additionally the local ambient microphone built into the M-48 allows them to have conversations with each other without having to remove their ear buds.”

By utilizing in-ear monitors with the M-48s, the mixes translated perfectly from a hotel ballroom, which was the site of rehearsals, to the live performances in the East Room.

After sitting through the first day of rehearsals, Mitch Maketansky of Music Mix Mobile notes, “The Roland system is great. While the band wasn’t too sure of the personal mixer concept at first, after a quick explanation of how the M-48’s worked, rather than spending an hour having the monitor engineer dial in a mix for each of the musicians, within 5 minutes they each had their own mixes created allowing them to get on with rehearsing the music.”

“The Motown Sound: In Performance at the White House” will premiere Tuesday, March 1 at 8 p.m. ET on PBS stations nationwide. (Check local listings.) It is a production of WETA Washington, D.C., in association with Bounce, a division of AEG, and the National Black Programming Consortium (NBPC).

Roland Systems Group

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dBTechnologies is an Italian-based speaker manufacturer, leading in the Touring & Live sound market by providing innovative audio solutions. Their flagship ViO series is made up of an entirely active/self-powered series of loudspeakers. The dBT lineup also includes passive loudspeakers, software, and amplifiers, all delivering uncompromising performance. dBTechnologies speakers headline some of the largest festivals and concerts worldwide, setting standards in both Live and Installation markets.