FRONT of HOUSE • November 2018 • Industry News

›› PORTLAND, OR — Justin Timberlake is currently on his sixth world tour, Man of the Woods, in support of his fifth album that goes by the same name. His two live engineers, Andy Meyer and Paul Klimson, rely on DiGiCo consoles supplied by Clair Global, the touring sound provider.

At FOH, Andy Meyer credited the DiGiCo SD7 he’s been using for offering “an input count, flexibility, and sonic clarity that is unsurpassed by other platforms.” His SD7 console is receiving 200 input paths at FOH, with 138 outputs. “I’ve got snapshots for changes that I want to make, and I fire them all off from time code. I used to do it manually, and I have foot switches to do it — just in case.”

The snapshots are starting points, Meyer said, noting how, throughout Timberlake’s performance, Meyer makes slight adjustments: “I don’t EQ the system; I let the system be the system, and I fix it in snapshots. If there’s a frequency bugging you, you find out what it is, and then you put a snapshot in to clean it up. You learn those things over time so, frequency-wise, I’m pretty set; it’s level-wise that I’m doing the work in real-time.” Meyer is very hands-on with Timberlake’s vocal. “You can’t just leave that up,” he insists. “It’s pretty much always an adjustment situation.”

Monitor engineer Paul Klimson has worked with Timberlake since the artist’s 20/20 tour in 2013. He called the SD7 a no-brainer for this show. “The SD7 is the only console to use when you’re talking big channel counts. And it really does come down to that. Also, the surface layout, flexibility of programming with the macros, and having the ability to see many channels at once keeps all the important things under my fingers without having to page around to find things.”

The show file Klimson works off now has been in existence since 2014. It was a pretty full file back then, he said, but even more inputs and outputs have been added on this tour. “There are two stage racks and a Nano rack, and I use all the inputs, so we’re at 140 channels,” he noted. “I’m really excited to change over to DiGiCo’s new Quantum engine when it becomes available, and explore the new options and features that will aid us monitor engineers.”

Klimson said this tour is a lot of fun, like driving a Ferrari. “In-ear mixing for bands is quite utilitarian, as they have to hear everything, so you give them a decent mix — especially this band, because they are all playing together and vibing off of each other. There are 32 stereo monitor mixes between Justin, the dancers, and the band. We are very lucky working with these guys!”

›› LAS VEGAS — For years, we called it “Parnelli Weekend,” the three-day stretch between the annual PLSN/FOH Parnelli Classic on Thursday morning and the awards ceremony Saturday night. But since the Parnelli ceremony shifted to Anaheim in January — the next one is set for the Anaheim Hilton on Friday, Jan. 25, 2019 — the “weekend” has become a season.

On Oct. 18, as scores of players took off for the golf tournament’s shotgun start at 8 a.m., the last of this year’s Parnelli Awards and Indispensable Technology “IT” product awards were being gathered in preparation for the ballot. It has since been posted online, and voting has begun. (A printed version appears on page 34 of this issue, and subscribers can vote at parnelliawards. com/vote until Dec. 14.)

Included on the ballot are the regional winners of this year’s Hometown Hero award competition, which has its own round of nominations and voting that takes place with enough lead time for the names of the finalists to appear on the final Parnelli ballot. (The profiles of this year’s Hometown Hero regional winners begins on page 30.)

The weather for this year’s Parnelli Golf Tournament was picture-perfect at Rhodes Ranch Golf Club in Las Vegas, where PLSN and FOH publisher Terry Lowe and group publisher Greg Gallardo welcomed close to 100 players, with support from sponsors IntelliEvent, Advanced Entertainment Services (AES), Doug Fleenor Design, Chauvet, CPR Tent & Events, Elation, Morpheus Lights, Solotech and ROE Creative Display.

The team from CPR Tent & Events went home with the top trophies , and all were able to enjoy a great day on the course and the camaraderie of others in our industry, all while knowing they were helping to support the next generation of live event production professionals. Representatives from UNLV were also on hand to cheer on the players and thank them for their contributions to the Parnelli Scholarship Fund.

To reserve tickets and vote for the 18th annual Parnelli Awards, go to parnelliawards.com.

›› THORNTON, CO — Denver area concert production company Brown Note Productions is expanding its audio, lighting and video (AVL) integration division to include a second location, this one in Austin, TX.

Established in 2004, Brown Note has designed and installed numerous AVL installations in music venues, houses of worship and universities in Colorado, Wyoming, and neighboring states.

The decision to expand the integration division was a result of the increasing market demand for highly qualified design-build firms with expertise in integrating audio, video and lighting.

Brown Note named Austin-based Zach Richards, who worked for Austin’s Big House Sound for the past 22 years, as director of integration for both the Denver and Austin locations, and hired Matt Bauer as integration project manager.

Already up and running, Brown Note Productions Integration will officially open its Austin doors in early 2019.

›› ASHEVILLE, NC — Marc Lopez joined d&b audiotechnik Corporation as VP of marketing, Americas. In this role, he leads the U.S.-based marketing team and is responsible for d&b marketing activities in North, Central and South America.

A veteran of the pro audio industry, Lopez has more than 20 years of experience working with Yamaha Corporation of America in applications support, product management, R&D and — for more than a decade — marketing management. Until recently, he served as the director of marketing for Yamaha, where he established a number of key marketing initiatives including consultant development programs, education programs, major events and digital campaigns.

“Marc is a great talent in the industry. He has extensive knowledge and experience, a keen sense of the market, and dedication to building strong customer relationships,” said Larry Italia, president and CEO of d&b audiotechnik Corporation, the Backnang, Germany-based company’s U.S. subsidiary in Asheville, NC. Based in Orange County, CA, Lopez joins a growing d&b presence on the West Coast.

›› NEW YORK — Billy McFarland, founder of Fyre Media, the company behind the failed Fyre Festival of April 2017, was sentenced Oct. 11 to six years in prison in a Manhattan federal court.

Arrested June 30, 2017, then released with $300,000 bail the next day, McFarland pled guilty in March 2018 to defrauding Fyre Festival investors. In a plea deal, he agreed to forfeit $26 million and had been awaiting sentencing in late June.

But on June 12, less than 10 days prior to his sentencing date for the Fyre Festival related fraud, McFarland faced a new set of charges after allegedly running a ticketing scam called NYC VIP Access that lured ticket buyers to pay close to $150,000 for fake tickets for major concert and sporting events, all while McFarland out on bail.

At that point, his bail was revoked and McFarland was sent to prison to await a new sentencing date and the prospect of extended jail time. The six-year sentence, while longer than Federal sentencing guidelines for just the Fyre Festival fraud alone, but far short of the 115-year maximum sentence that could have been imposed.

Along with the federal criminal charges, at least eight civil lawsuits were filed in the wake of the Fyre Festival against McFarland and others involved with the festival. The first judgment, a $5 million sum awarded to two Fyre Festival attendees who paid $13,000 to attend the event, was announced July 1. Total damages sought by plaintiffs in other pending civil suits exceed $100 million.

›› HIGHLANDS RANCH, CO — Cherry Hills Community Church (CHCC) has expanded tremendously over recent years, ranking at the end of 2014 as the number one fastest-growing among 27,000 churches surveyed nationwide by Outreach magazine. The Denver-area megachurch has a 225,000-square-foot main building plus a separate chapel for special events such as weddings. The church holds three contemporary services each weekend.

CHCC invested in Lectrosonics digital and Digital Hybrid wireless technology, prompted by the FCC’s new 600 MHz band wireless rules and a move to upgrade its facilities with a fully networkable system. The new equipment — including dozens of channels of Venue 2 receivers, SSM micro bodypack transmitters, 24 LT bodypack transmitters, 32 HHa handheld transmitters and 14 channels of Duet IEM systems.

“We’ve been on the update path since I started a few years ago,” said church audio director Ben Edison. “We updated the sound system to L-Acoustics Kara speakers. We upgraded our DiGiCo consoles to Stealth Core and upgraded our I/O System to SDRacks. And now, we’ve flipped all our wireless gear to Lectrosonics.”

With production facilities across the campus already networked, Edison was determined to integrate digital wireless mics and IEM systems. “The number one driving force was the Duet in-ear monitoring system. We’ve been on in-ears for a couple of years, with no wedges on stage. We do have wedges in the ceiling for the choir, but the band is all on in-ears. We put in 21 channels of Venue 2 and 10 channels of Duet into the 3,500-seat worship center. The chapel, which seats 350, got 10 channels of Venue 2, the 600-capacity atrium got 10 channels and the youth group room got 12 channels, with 10 Duet in-ears,” said Edison.

Three DNT16i analog-to-Dante input converter boxes enable integrating wireless mics with the worship center’s installed media network. “We have networking built in across the quarter-mile campus for when we do multiple rooms for special events like Christmas. But mostly, the Dante network is local to the worship center. We run Ableton tracks and all video on the network, and now we’re pushing our Venue 2 receivers over Dante,” he said.

Although the audio production industry in general did not like having to discontinue the use of working wireless systems just to comply with new FCC regulations, Edison noted a silver lining: “We’ve been able to save going with Dante instead of having to add analog inputs into the DiGiCo SD-Racks.”

Campus-wide, the new Venue 2 receivers are paired with a variety of Lectrosonics bodypack transmitters. CHCC’s total complement includes 24 LT bodypack transmitters and 32 HHa handheld transmitters.

An SSM super small micro beltpack transmitter is available for situations where a larger device is too bulky. The new package of Lectrosonics gear also includes a single WM watertight bodypack transmitter. “We haven’t used it yet, but we do outdoor events in the summer, mainly baptisms, so we’re going to use it in a baptism tub,” said Edison. “Plus, it’s a utility piece for anyone doing anything in the kid’s room or needs a device they can get wet. I’m excited to use it.”

›› BROOKLYN, NY — The nine-piece band Turkuaz has steadily worked the jam and groove concert circuits since forming as graduating students of Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music scene in 2008.

Recording and FOH touring engineer Zach Fichter said, “Telefunken mics are the backbone of each and every mix I do. Whether I’m out with Turkuaz, freelancing with another band, or doing venue work at home, I lug around a pelican case filled with mics and the Telefunkens are always the first on stands.”

“The M81 dynamic is my go-to mic,” Fichter added. “Between Turkuaz’s collection and my own we use 13 of them for our 32 inputs. I love the 81s as vocal and horn mics because I’m dealing with a lot of loud backline. The tight pattern and high fidelity really help those quieter elements be distinguishable over the wall of amplifiers and cymbals. For reflective rooms I leave them flat and for big rooms or outdoor stages I can add a little bit of high end to get them to cut more like an M80. They’re incredibly flexible.”

Fichter also praised the dynamic M80. “I have not used another snare mic since the day I got my first M80-SH. The first time I plugged that mic in I thought ‘Yep, that’s the way a snare should sound,’ and moved on. And Telefunken’s M82 is without a doubt my favorite low-frequency mic. The switches allow me to use it on a wide variety of sources and styles of music. When I’m home in Richmond, I’ll often mix a metal band with double bass drum one night and a funk band with an unported kick the next — the 82 is always my first choice. It also sounds exceptionally good on low horns, bass and organ, and it’s my secret weapon on floor tom. It has this amazing ability to make low frequency elements like kick and bass sound fat and full even on tiny speaker systems on sticks with no sub.”

›› SANTA BARBARA, CA — Bon Iver performed at the Santa Barbara Bowl with an L-Acoustics L-ISA Hyperreal sound system.

Clearwing Productions flew a 7.1 L-ISA configuration comprised of three center hangs of eight L-Acoustics K2 plus four Kara down paired with two adjacent hangs of 14 Kara for the five-array Scene system.

This arrangement was flanked by two outer hangs of nine Kara enclosures each for the Extension system, while a dozen KS28 subs were flown in two cardioid arrays directly behind the center K2 hangs for focused LF. A pair of L-ISA Processors at FOH generated the show’s spatialization.

Bon Iver’s musician lineup is as eclectic as its repertoire, ranging from as few as three artists to more than 20, depending on the show. At Santa Barbara, the band performed as a five-piece, with one full-time drummer and four multi-instrumentalists on vocals, guitar, keys, bass, sax, percussion, and a second drum kit.

“Even with only five guys, we still had 85 discrete inputs coming from the stage,” said Bon Iver’s FOH engineer Xandy Whitesel, who manned a DiGiCo SD7 console at FOH, paired with an SD5 onstage for monitors, mixed by Donato Paternostro. “L-ISA is currently capable of 96 inputs, so I gave it each of my 85 inputs as channel direct outs, and ended up busing effects returns.”

Although the band wasn’t looking to do something sonically “gimmicky,” they were excited about the separation that the vocal, musical, and percussive elements would have during the show.

Bon Iver’s production manager, James Dean, was duly impressed. “Walking around the venue, you can more easily place instruments in the field of ‘vision’ using your ears,” he said. “It was much easier to notice which drummer was doing which part. It was like wearing headphones, but without the headphones — very detailed.”

›› GEORGE, WA — PK Sound and Excision joined forces to presentsion the first ever Bass Canyon Festival held at the Gorge Amphitheatre, a naturally scenic venue located near the Columbia River Gorge, about 150 miles southeast of Seattle and operated by Live Nation. Some 18,000 fans attended the inaugural event for four nights of camping and three days of non-stop bass music, featuring performances by 40 artists, in addition to headliner Excision — all powered by PK Sound.

The 2018 Bass Canyon Festival used 16 of PK’s Trinity Advanced Robotic Line Arrays speakers/side in the main hang, plus four out-fill Trinity speakers on either side of the deck. LF action included 12 Gravity 30 subs and 44 CX800s in the main ground cluster, plus 12 flown CX800s behind the main hangs. Three hangs — each with eight PK VX10 compact arrays — were deployed as field delays.

FOH engineer Bryan Andres noted Excision’s long history of preference for PK Sound, “because PK Sound has that lowend that he’s looking for. Plus, with Trinity, we have the punch in the mid-range and the clarity in the top. So he knows he’s going to get the best result — and the best sound — for the way he makes his music.

“Because you can change the directionality with Trinity, you can actually narrow the sound field in the top boxes and focus the sound to go farther, making more of an impact on the higher, farther distances,” Andres added. “It was really nice at the Gorge, because we had the top boxes angled up. Then, by focusing the horizontals, we were able to push the sound pretty high up the hill.”

Andres feels the inaugural Bass Canyon Festival was a hit with attendees. “People loved it, the show was flawless and there were no issues.” Dates for a second annual fest — Aug. 23-25, 2019 — have already been announced.

›› BANGOR, ME — British hard rockers Whitesnake kicked off their 2018 summer tour in Bangor, ME in mid-June, supporting Foreigner on the “Juke Box Heroes” tour. After that tour wrapped Aug. 1, they continued with solo dates in the U.S. and Canada.

James Gebhard (The Killers, The Strokes, Ride), Whitesnake’s FOH engineer, specified a Waves eMotion LV1 Live mixer for the summer trek.

Gebhard’s setup included two SoundStudio STG-2412 interfaces with 48 analog ins, two AES ins, 24 analog outs and two AES outs. His front rig featured two Dell P2418HT multitouch displays in a clamshell design; a Mac Mini; a Waves SoundGrid Extreme Server for plug-in processing; a DiGiGrid IOC interface as a primary I/O (as he feeds the P.A. system via AES); and a NetGear 16-port switch to connect everything. In addition, he employs a Sennheiser SPB 8000 mic for 5.1 audience recording.

“When I was on tour with The Strokes in 2003, I left my trusted Midas XL4 console and jumped on a DiGiCo D5 (and progressed to the SD7, when it was launched) and loved it,” said Gebhard. From that point on, I always made the effort to check out the ‘competition,’ be it a Venue Profile, PM1D/5D, Vi or at the time, an InnovaSON desk. When Whitesnake said they were going on tour in 2018, I made an effort to get myself in front of a LV1 to check it out.”

Regarding the benefits of using the LV1, he cited “two things above all: the sound quality — the separation and definition are at a level I never heard before in a live environment — and the ease of setup. Easy setup is a major bonus, as on this tour I do not have a FOH audio tech with me. All I have to do is ‘unlid’ a few flight cases and plug in a few cables — literally, that’s all! My LV1 setup is on wheels, rolls into place, and presto, I’m ready to go.”

On using plug-ins, Gebhard noted, “The most important plugins are in my master chain. We all know what great mastering can do for a studio recording. It’s the same with my live mixes. Plug-ins that feature heavily in my showfile are the Waves Scheps Omni Channel, which sits across my rhythm section (kick, toms, bass).

“The flexibility of this plug-in is insane,” Gebhard added. “When I first got it on demo, I wasn’t sold on it, but mixing live, the Scheps Omni Channel just nails it with minimal CPU. The SSL E-Channel sits across all my silverware (hi-hats, four channels of overheads and ride). I don’t think it needs much describing, as any engineer knows just how good this plug-in is. The Scheps 73 is used on my snare mics and on my guitar sub groups.”

Gebhard is also quite the fan of the API 2500 compressor plug, which he uses on his four channels of guitar and all seven vocal channels. “I own a few analog 2500’s, and having an almost endless amount of them on the LV1 makes me a very happy engineer,” he said. “They are so versatile, from being a very smooth and soft compressor, to being able to shape the aggressive tone — all from the same plug-in.”

Gebhard concluded, “I’ve never mixed a Whitesnake show without Waves plug-ins. Even before the LV1, using MultiRack alongside my console of choice gave me the ability to create and sculpt the sound I wanted with Waves. But for me, the LV1 has taken it to the next step: I have now gone from being a live engineer to being a live producer. The direct access to all the plug-ins right there in front of me, inside the console, together with the amazing sound quality, has taken my engineering skills up a few more rungs up the ladder.”

›› WORCESTER, MA — Corporate AV and installed sound production house Revelation Productions opened its doors 22 years ago with EAW loudspeakers as its mainstay product.

Recently, the company reinvested in EAW, acquiring 20 Radius RSX208L loudspeakers, which are bringing the same value and sound quality that their first EAW system did years ago.

In addition to corporate AV work, Revelation Productions also provides design and install services throughout the region. The company has installed Radius systems in two different churches to date with more scheduled in the future.

“They are a nice fit, not just for churches, but for so many venues,” said Revelation Productions’ Anthony D’ Elia. “The system is easy for just about anyone to use, sounds terrific and fits the budget. We are recommending them to everyone looking for a feature-rich, user-friendly, sound reinforcement system.”

Along with Radius line arrays, Revelation Productions purchased an assortment of Radius two-way, point source loudspeakers and subwoofers to round out its offerings.

Pictured below with their new EAW Radius line array system deployed for UMass Medical are, from left, Revelation Productions’ director of operations Amy Palumbo, audio engineer Josh Hamilton and president Anthony D’Elia.

›› IRVING, TX — For the fourth consecutive year, Sound Productions, a major supplier of pro-audio, video and lighting products, hosted a technical arts training for members of Dallas Summer Musical’s High School Musical Program. This annual training is designed to boost individual knowledge and proficiency levels, as well as provide tools and resources for students looking to enter the AVL field after graduation. Attendees received pro-tips and hands-on-training from industry leaders.

Head of sound and production at the Tony award-winning Dallas Theatre Center, Brian McDonald, and Soundpro veteran, Jon Sheets, led the training and focused on topics like mics, mixing and wireless systems. Next year, they hope to reach a wider audience by expanding the attendee list to include students within any technical arts role, such as choir or band.

Sound Productions CEO Joshua Curlett is a longtime patron of Dallas Summer Musicals and has created and supported several educational and outreach programs within the organization. In 2017, Sound Productions contributed $15,000 to establish the first ever Technical Theater Scholarship, as well as build two community programs.

Additional programs backed by Curlett include Seats with Vets and Seats with Kids. The latter gifts 3,500 tickets for a community performance to underprivileged kids in the DFW Metroplex each year. The Seats with Vets program offers complimentary tickets to some of DSM’s most popular Broadway shows to retired and active duty military members. “It’s not about what you have, but what you give,” says Curlett. “Sharing the passion of our industry and giving the joy of performing arts to those that may not always have the opportunity is what we’re all about.”

›› GLENDALE, CA — When Los-Angeles-based Neptune Productions designed the system for the Homenetmen Centennial Street Festival, they expected an audience of between 700 to 800 people for an afternoon of Armenian pop performances. Neptune specifified the compact, yet robust, VUE al-4 line array system to provide coverage for the outdoor stage at Glendale’s Central Park. Yet, as the audience size grew four-fold to almost 3,000, the al-4 system rose to the challenge and provided plenty of coverage and clarity.

According to Neptune Productions president, Raffi Ganoumian, the al-4s performed beyond everyone’s already high expectations for the system. Neptune specified a system consisting of two stacks of VUE al-4 compact line array modules, hs-221 dual ACM subwoofers, and the hm-112 high-definition stage monitors.

“We knew the al-4s could more than handle the original audience projections of upwards of 800 people, but we had no idea how much further we could push them,” said Ganoumian. “With Harut Pambukchyan on stage, we noticed the crowd start to grow rather quickly, so we started cranking the system up and gave it more and more juice and it performed like a champ.”

As the crowd swelled to more than 3,000, the al-4s provided more-than-ample coverage for an audience field of more than 200 feet deep. “Perhaps the most amazing part is that the al-4s performed the way they did without the benefit of rigging,” Ganoumian explained. “Given their compact footprint, the al-4s performed so well that we completely impressed the performers that were on the stage, the organizers, and even ourselves. Now that’s something to celebrate!”

›› WINTER PARK, FL — It may be only a bit more than four years old, but Central Florida’s Action Church is on the move, with three locations established in Winter Springs, Oviedo and Sanford, FL, and another set to launch later this year in Winter Park. All are equipped with Allen & Heath dLive systems, with music director John Williams, pictured here, overseeing the audio systems.

Working in conjunction with volunteers and the Bradenton, FL-based Crown Design Group, Williams installed Allen & Heath’s dLive systems based upon their versatility, sonic quality, budget-friendly price point, and the unified approach they brought to the church’s diverse needs and environments.

“Our production demands are extensive and demanding,” Williams said. “That’s probably why one of the things we value most is flexibility. With dLive, the options in our toolbox have grown without having to make additional investments.”

The dLive consoles bring a level of portability to the church helping to fuel its rapid growth. Among the four existing systems in use, three can be moved about freely. At the Winter Springs location, operations are spearheaded by an S7000 control surface equipped with a gigaACE card and a DM64 MixRack outfitted with a Dante card. Currently the site of broadcast operations as well, Winter Springs additionally houses a ready-to-roll broadcast rig supported by a dLive C3500 control surface with Waves onboard, and a DM0 MixRack packing a pair of Dante cards and a gigaACE card.

“If I want to bring something in via Dante and go out with MADI, it’s not a problem,” Williams added. “We’ll split from our FOH desk and move into our broadcast console with gigaACE, record tracks and playback in Dante, then perform audio embedding and de-embedding via MADI. Everything we do seems to require multiple layers, and dLive just stays lock-step with us all along the way.”

›› MOBILE, AL — For an audio upgrade within the 900-seat sanctuary at Mt. Hebron Church, Vision Integration installed a Martin Audio Wavefront Precision Mini line array system. The setup includes eight flown WPM boxes per side with four CDD6 for front and side fills and two SX218 subs stacked on each side of the stage, all powered by iKON iK42 and iK81 amps. Four Martin LE200 wedges are used on stage.

This traditional church setting offers three services every Sunday. In fact, the church is growing so fast, they’re building a new 2,500-seat facility. According to Vision Integration’s Gary Baria, “they originally had an exploded cluster P.A. system that just wasn’t working for them. The WPM system had a nice clean look and exceptional intelligibility —— something they didn’t have with the previous system.”

The WPM system only needed a two-box resolution because, according to Baria, “that provided more than enough coverage, consistency and control for the sanctuary space, something which turned out to be a very cost-effective solution for the install.”

Typically, the church has modern worship services with a praise team consisting of two keyboard players, a guitarist, bass player, percussionist and drummer with eight to 12 vocalists on wireless mics that alternates with a 30-piece choir.

As Baria noted, “the system had to be multifunctional and work for music reproduction and speech for the sermons as well as a special daycare service for kids with videos, and broadcast because the church also streams the services, all of which have been more than fulfilled with the WPM system.”

Rounding out the audio system are Allen & Heath D-Live consoles for FOH/monitors and broadcast. Baria concluded, “the audio quality is amazing. We got the system, hooked everything up and it sounded great from the get-go. We haven’t done any EQing since we turned it on and the coverage is excellent front to back and side to side with the CDD6’s for front fill and side fill. The church is just ecstatic about how the system sounds.”

›› TEMPLETON, CA — Formerly known as Beaverstock, the annual Whale Rock Music & Arts Festival is a two-day outdoor music and arts festival held at the Castoro Cellars winery. Established in 2013, the event hosts performances from rock, country, folk, bluegrass and funk artists, yoga classes and arts and crafts activities.

Whale Rock Music & Arts Festival features performances on two stages — the Main Stage and the Stomping Grounds stage, which is built on the bed of a 1957 Chevy flatbed. “Whenever an act finishes on the Main Stage, another act starts playing on the Stomping Grounds stage, so the music never stops but there are never two bands playing at the same time,” said festival promoter Luke Udsen.

Live sound engineer for the Stomping Grounds stage, Johnny Valdez, used AKG C7 and D7 microphones to capture detailed vocals from a tightly packed stage. AKG D7 mics were also used on guitar amps for their crisp, clean sound. Valdez selected the iconic AKG D112 for kick drums, while a pair of AKG C451B small-diaphragm condenser mics were used as overhead mics for drum kits, bongos and congas.

“The AKG C451Bs worked really well as overhead mics—we didn’t have any feedback issues at all, which is a common problem,” said Valdez, who serves as live sound engineer for Adept Events. “The AKG C7 and D7 mics have excellent clarity and the feedback rejection is amazing,” added Josh Barret, bassist and producer, B & The Hive. “We’re a rock band with a female lead vocalist, so she needs a mic that can pick up every little nuance of her voice for everything from soft ballads to hard rock—these mics did a great job.”

›› TORONTO — University of Toronto’s newly constructed Principal Hall is designed to serve as a multi-dimensional public platform for the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. The University tapped Mulvey & Banani Audio Visual Inc. (MBAV) to assist in the design of the facility’s sound reinforcement system.

With seating for 400 people, the hall’s design supports for multiple configurations and uses, ensuring maximum utility for students and faculty, and greater flexibility for a wide range of events. “The compact size and quality loudspeakers was a driving factor in selecting EM Acoustics for use at Principal Hall,” explains MBAV VP Gregory Rushton.

Supplier Contact Distribution of Ontario demonstrated EM Acoustics’ EMS-51. The compact loudspeaker has a 5-inch LF drive unit, linked via the internal passive crossover to a 1.1-inch diaphragm, HF soft-dome drive unit, which produces a 75-degree conical dispersion.

“The loudspeakers were required to fit into five-inch spaces between wood slats covering a 30-foot high ceiling. The challenge was to find something small enough that would still have the power to cover the room. Contact Distribution suggested the EMS-51 and it was perfect.”

Rushton specified 36 EMS-51 loudspeakers to cover Principal Hall. The space, which can be divided into three separate rooms, was equipped with a total of 18 zones that can be used together or individually. The first and second rooms are similar in size with flat seating areas — each room is equipped with eight EMS-51 loudspeakers. The third room, which is larger in size and features raked seating, utilizes 16 EMS-51s. The speakers are paired with Linea Research 88C10 10K watt, 8 channel amps.