Tag Archives: pandemic

World News

With Console Production Back on Track, Yamaha Pro Audio Launches DM3 Series

Posted on by Clive Young
Yamaha's new DM3 Series ultra-compact digital mixing consoles.
Yamaha’s new DM3 Series ultra-compact digital mixing consoles.

New York, NY (April 6, 2023)—Yamaha Pro Audio launched its first post-pandemic mixing consoles right this moment with the introduction of the DM3 Series—a transfer that moreover served discover that the model’s digital desk manufacturing was basically again at pre-pandemic ranges.

Preston Gray, Marketing Director - Pro Audio, Yamaha
Preston Gray, Marketing Director – Pro Audio, Yamaha

“Yamaha has skilled some challenges with provide chain over the previous couple of years, however [the issues have been] resolved in loads of areas now,” Preston Gray, Marketing Director – Pro Audio, advised Mix. Yamaha has resumed full manufacturing of its CL Series digital mixers, QL Series digital mixing consoles and RIO I/O racks, along with creating a variety of new merchandise set to debut at NAMM and InfoComm this yr.

The firm’s new DM3 Series kicks off with a pair of 22-channel ultra-compact digital mixing consoles—the DM3-D ($1,999) and DM3 Standard ($1,699). The DM3-D has the added function of supporting Audinate’s Dante protocol, permitting it to tie right into a Dante audio community, however the desks are in any other case similar, offering customers with 16 mono, one stereo and two FX Return enter mixing channels, in addition to a half-dozen Mix Send, two FX Send, one stereo and two matrix output mixing channels. Also onboard are 18 results; a full-color 9-inch touchscreen; a darkish mode and a few options meant to make it helpful exterior of dwell sound—specifically, enabling it for use in recording conditions as a DAW distant management.

“It’s received a USB interface on it, so it’ll permit musicians to not solely use it dwell, but in addition carry it again house with them and monitor their band and their tasks within the studio as effectively,” stated Gray. “We’re excited in regards to the versatility of the product, and the way that may assist empower musicians.”

Capturing Chris Young’s Live Sound On Tour

The introduction of recent consoles comes on the heels of revived CL, QL and RIO manufacturing. “The manufacturing of our hottest and high-performing product traces…have absolutely resumed from a manufacturing unit manufacturing standpoint, and we’re at the moment accepting new orders on these,” stated Gray. “We’ve been capable of obtain that by working very carefully with the factories [on] their provide chain [so as] to make use of components which have a extra steady provide state of affairs. It’s saved the manufacturing unit busy, however we’re on a great monitor and have absolutely resumed manufacturing on these at this level.”

Production on the corporate’s flagship Rivage consoles continues to be constrained because of provide challenges, he cautioned, including that the desks stay in manufacturing as the corporate catches up: “We really by no means closed the order desk on any of our consoles; we had been profitable in taking and transport orders of digital consoles all by way of 2022. We couldn’t sustain with the surging demand that we noticed within the dwell leisure market [so] we had been the primary ones to make that proactive determination to announce the manufacturing suspension of digital consoles to channel companions. We had been artistic in that we had been capable of finding and provide consoles all through 2022; that allowed us to navigate a few of these international part shortages and we nonetheless shipped consoles each single month in 2022.”

With lots of these challenges put to relaxation, the Yamaha Pro Audio staff finds itself trying ahead to highlighting its new choices, stated Gray: “We’re stoked to have the ability to share them with everybody at NAMM and InfoComm.”

World News

PLASA Report: Live Sound Bounces Back, But Challenges Remain

Posted on by Mix Staff

United Kingdom (March 23, 2023)—Following the height of the pandemic, the live performance trade blew the doorways off in 2022, with acts of each form hitting the street, enjoying to audiences in every single place that had been starved for an excellent night time out. While it was a blockbuster yr on the field workplace, nevertheless, it additionally underlined continued issues that the stay sound manufacturing sector faces within the wake of COVID. With that in thoughts, the UK’s Professional Lighting & Sound Association (PLASA) has launched its The Live Sector in 2022 Report, revealing the outcomes of a survey it carried out in November, 2022 amongst greater than 1,300 stay sound execs in 40-plus nations.

Many of the report’s findings are maybe unsurprising: labor shortages are nonetheless up; Brexit and vitality prices because of the battle in Ukraine are affecting companies; the overwhelming majority of producers are dealing with huge provide chain points; and extra. Some findings are shocking nevertheless, such because the return of freelance audio execs to the trade, suggesting that the institutional lack of skilled execs to different fields might have lastly rotated.

Financially, the trade has largely “bounced again” as predicted, with firms with over one million kilos turnover seeing optimistic progress, though these with underneath a million turnover are nonetheless usually making up floor. Also, most firms that took on debt through the pandemic are nonetheless paying it again.

Delays and shortages throughout the board stay, with 90% of producers dealing with part delays and ¾ non-manufacturers dealing with delays in completed items. Several causes are cited, with Brexit main the best way.

Skills and work additionally stay affected, with employment down 10%, and ¾ of employers struggling to fill roles. And because of this, firms are delaying initiatives. Approximately half of employers don’t assume that graduates have the required expertise, though a 3rd point out their want to rent apprentices to satisfy work.

The huge exodus of freelancers could also be over, with 90% of freelancers reporting they’re again within the trade, both full or half time. Although a 3rd report working 40+ hours every week, the common working week might have barely shrunk, and extra are working from house. However, long-term safety for freelancers seems to have decreased, and there’s a lot much less worldwide journey, although that’s typically positioned on the ft of Brexit.

Overall, turnover and demand has elevated, with the trade exhibiting resilience and hope for a extra predictable future. This yr’s findings stand in distinction to 2021’s report which confirmed enormous challenges and never a lot confidence for restoration.

World News

Brooklyn Bowl Nashville is Ready to Roll

Posted on by Clive Young
A d&b audiotechnik Vi line array system brings concert performances to multiple floors—and 19 lanes of bowling—at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville.
A d&b audiotechnik Vi line array system brings concert performances to multiple floors—and 19 lanes of bowling—at Brooklyn Bowl Nashville. Rick Smith

Nashville, TN (June 18, 2021)—They say that bad things happen in threes, but for the team behind Brooklyn Bowl Nashville, two was more than enough.

“Our grand opening was scheduled for Friday, March 13, 2020,” recalls Carl Gatti, head of production for the venue. “After the first day of orientation on March 1, we had a horrible tornado come through North Nashville. Structures across the street and behind us were totaled, but our only damage was a broken window, some smashed patio furniture and a knocked-over HVAC on the roof. We encouraged staff to volunteer in the neighborhood for the cleanup, and pushed orientation to the following week—we still had the VIP grand opening party set for Friday night. Thursday, as we were finishing the video install and running some lines for lighting world, we got the call to send staff home because of the coronavirus. We got the double whammy.”

A full 16 months later, Brooklyn Bowl Nashville will hold its long-awaited grand opening June 25 and 26 with a pair of Old Crow Medicine Show concerts, finally seeing the 1,200-capacity venue throw open its doors to the public. Coming 12 years after the original Brooklyn Bowl opened in New York City, the new LEED-certified venue serves up live music, 19 lanes of bowling and a patio overlooking third base of First Horizon Park, the next-door home of the Triple-A Nashville Sounds baseball team.

Tour pros who pull up to the venue can expect to use an audio system outfitted with Avid VENUE S6L-24C consoles at FOH and monitor world, while the crowd is covered via a sizable d&b audiotechnik rig based around Vi8 and Vi12 speakers, Vi SUB and B22 subwoofers, and various Y10p fill speakers; monitoring includes a passel of M4 wedges, V-GSubs and V8 sidefills. Available miking includes usual suspects from Shure, Sennheiser and Audio-Technica, and a variety of Radial DIs are on-hand as well.

There’s also plenty of streaming gear in-house, all of which has been put to good use. “It ended up being our saving grace to get us through this pandemic,” says Gatti. Over the last year, the venue hosted major livestreams by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Larkin Poe, Maren Morris, Margo Price and Billy Strings among others, and also became a movie studio for a day when Dierks Bentley filmed the video for his hit “Gone” there, using the stage for performance footage while commandeering the kitchen, bar and other areas to film send-ups of classic movies and sitcoms.

The livestreams will continue, but the venue’s looking forward to hosting live audiences—and bowling, which continues during shows. “The pins are on strings so they’re significantly quieter and dampened; you don’t hear pins crashing or being reset while the show is happening,” says Gatti. “Headliners go on around 9:30, play 90 minutes, maybe a two-hour set, and then while people are partying until we close at 2, we do what we call the Disco Load-Out.”

Brooklyn Bowl Nashville • www.brooklynbowl.com/nashville

World News

AVIXA Talks COVID Safety for InfoComm 2021

Posted on by Megan A. Dutta

InfoComm 2021 Update

As the pro AV industry begins to focus on InfoComm 2021 — which will take place in person Oct. 23-29 in Orlando, FL—we sat down with Rochelle Richardson, senior vice president of exhibition and event services at AVIXA, to discuss the planned health and safety precautions that the organization has put in place for the show.

Editor’s note: U.S. health agencies and regulatory bodies are rapidly updating rules and regulations regarding COVID-19 precautions in public spaces. This article presents AVIXA’s health and safety plans as they stand in late May; policies may evolve in line with national and state guidelines before the show begins in October. For the most up-to-date health and safety updates, visit https://infocommshow.org/health-safety.

[To stay up-to-date on the show, visit our InfoComm 2021 hub.]

SCN: Do you plan on observing current CDC recommendations such as masks and social distancing during InfoComm?

ROCHELLE RICHARDSON: As we bring the community back together in October, we understand that the health and safety of all in attendance is top of mind. As excited as we all are, masks, social distancing, and smart protocols still play a significant role in keeping our attendees, exhibitors, partners, and staff safe.

We have all seen that while the vaccines rollout continues, health and safety guidelines are continuing to change and, in some areas, relax. We will continue to monitor recommendations from local health authorities, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for large group meetings and events. In compliance with the health and safety recommendations, we will provide ongoing updates about maximum occupancy levels, requirements for PPE and mask wearing, social distancing rules, cleaning protocols and additional important information.

The current regulations in effect at the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) are the same as will be followed by the InfoComm show, which at this time require face masks to be worn, encourage social distancing throughout the convention center, and limit seating to 50 percent capacity in all meeting rooms to allow space between attendees.

Inside the exhibit hall, exhibitors will be responsible for implementing and monitoring appropriate health and safety guidelines, as provided by InfoComm show management, within their exhibition space. InfoComm show management will be enforcing separate entrance and egress access points, and controlled occupancy of public spaces and education and meeting rooms. Show management will also increase the amount of health and safety event signage for easy engagement and understanding.

We are working diligently through many details with the Orange County Convention Center (OCCC) in light of the recent announcement by the governor of Florida with regard to reducing COVID-19 restrictions. Because we anticipate continuing updates regarding COVID-19 precautions until the show in October, we will provide regular updates in the Health & Safety section of the InfoComm show’s website.

SCN: Are there any special cleaning protocols InfoComm will take to sanitize the show floor, bathrooms, etc.?

RR: Just as PPE and social distancing are top of mind, so are the most up-to-date and stringent cleaning protocols and policies. The Orange County Convention Center is a Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) STAR-accredited venue, recognized as the gold standard of safe venues, and is one of the largest venues in the nation with the GBAC certification.

The OCCC has adopted a three-pronged strategy prioritizing health and safety, including the implementation of the OCCC Recovery and Resiliency Guidelines. These guidelines provide a framework to prevent risk and protect clients, guests, and attendees, maintaining a thorough cleaning, disinfection, and infectious disease prevention program compliant with GBAC standards. The OCCC is also offering a Medical Concierge Program with Orlando Health and Visit Orlando for conventions and trade shows.

The OCCC has increased the number of hand sanitization sites available on the campus and the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting of public spaces, bathrooms, and commonly touched surfaces—including hand railings and door handles. Additionally, the OCCC has enhanced its on-site communications and increased signage with CDC recommendations on the campus.

As part of the InfoComm 2021 show, AVIXA is investing in the recommended GBAC cleaning of the InfoComm exhibit halls and education and meeting rooms each night and the cleaning of high-traffic areas throughout the day.

InfoComm vendors including Freeman (general services contractor), CompuSystems (registration), Production Transport (shuttle transportation), and OnPeak (housing) have enhanced health and safety protocols that are compliant with CDC and WHO directives.

The shuttles used to transport attendees during InfoComm will run at 50 percent capacity for social distancing and go through an extreme cleaning process using sprayers with hospital-grade disinfectant from floor to ceiling, with all surfaces being wiped down.

SCN: What dining options will be available in the convention center? At previous shows, it’s been difficult to find seating. Will this be an even greater challenge with distancing protocols in place?

RR: As in previous years, there are three food courts in the West Concourse with multiple menu options, 25 permanent retail locations, and seated services in the Gary Sain Café. This year, to accommodate social distancing protocols, we will have expanded food and beverage areas on the show floor and are working with the official food and beverage provider, Centerplate, to expand seating in all lobbies and common areas.

SCN: Has the layout of the show changed as a result of the pandemic?

RR: As in years past, InfoComm will be held in the West Building of the Orange County Convention Center within Exhibit Halls A–D, and other parts of the program will be hosted throughout Levels 1–4. As a result of the pandemic, the most significant changes are in the layout of the exhibit hall, which now includes wider aisles, dedicated entrance and exit doors, additional space in the exhibitor on-floor meeting rooms, and increased food and beverage areas to allow for social distancing.

We have also added two lounges in the exhibit hall to provide our attendees with additional networking locations at this year’s show.

We’ve made two other changes in light of the need for social distancing among attendees. We’ve decided not to hold the opening reception—which typically takes place the Tuesday evening prior to the opening of the show—and we’re moving the ribbon cutting on Wednesday to the C-Lobby at the OCCC to take advantage of the larger space.

SCN: Has AVIXA consulted with the area hotels on their COVID protocols?

RR: We work closely with Visit Orlando and OnPeak, the official housing partner for InfoComm, to provide an extensive hotel package offering, with 39 hotels in the Orlando area.

Each hotel brand has established its own COVID-19 cleanliness and safety protocols and we encourage everyone coming to InfoComm 2021 to visit the website of the hotel where you are planning to stay for information specific to that property, which you can find at onpeak.com/covid-19.

InfoComm attendees will have the opportunity to select the best available preferred hotel and easily take advantage of reserving the lowest rates over the show dates.

SCN: What can visitors expect to find in Orlando? If public places continue to have reduced capacity, will it be difficult to, say, find a place to eat?

RR: The Convention Center District is in the heart of Orlando, where you’ll find an abundance of dining, shopping, entertainment, and lodging options. We recommend checking with venues in advance regarding their availability and protocols. If possible, make dining reservations and purchase tickets for events/attractions in advance of your trip to Orlando.

SCN: How important do you think it is to have an in-person InfoComm this year?

RR: It is very important and necessary for many professionals in our industry who rely on InfoComm to be held in person. With the cancellation of the InfoComm 2020 in-person show and the cancellation or postponement of other industry events, many in the pro AV industry are ready and looking forward to coming together for InfoComm 2021 in October.

Live Sound Reawakens As U.S. Tours Return

SCN: What can attendees expect to find at this year’s event?

RR: This year’s show will combine a physical experience with a virtual offering to connect attendees and exhibitors to discover, learn, and network using content and experience areas to engage, align, and support the industry. Our focus will be on integrated solutions in the AV industry including conferencing and collaboration, content distribution and media, digital signage, and learning—appealing to attendees across different verticals.

We continue to offer a comprehensive education program and the opportunity to learn from experts during Emerging Trends Day, more than 60 education sessions, and Manufacturers’ Training sessions. The new Technology Innovation Stage will feature presentations from thought leaders, exhibitor-sponsored presentations, and Tech Briefs on product trends.

Additionally, in collaboration with the Digital Signage Federation (DSF), we will offer the D=SIGN conference as two half-day programs starting the afternoon of Tuesday, Oct. 26, and concluding the next morning.

We are also introducing an appointment scheduling feature for attendees to request more purposeful and focused meetings with exhibitors to help mitigate booth overcrowding, plus smaller networking events so our community can still gather safely.

SCN: Will InfoComm have a virtual presence this year for those who are unable or unwilling to travel?

RR: Although we are excited about the return to in-person events, we understand there may be some individuals who are not able to attend this year’s show in person, and we are taking an approach that ensures everyone in the pro AV community is included. We will offer a virtual experience that will include livestreamed content from the Technology Innovation Stage, access to exhibitor information and resources, access to the content from InfoComm on-demand through Nov. 30, and registration for the InfoComm 2021 Post-Show Virtual Experience.

As we venture into the months leading up to InfoComm 2021, there are multiple ways for our community to engage, such as AV³ a one-day virtual event scheduled for June 17 where we will showcase new technology for the pro AV industry, learn from expert speakers, and gather the community together online. And in the coming days we will announce details about a one-day virtual preview event for InfoComm in the fall.

And finally, the InfoComm 2021 Post-Show Virtual Experience will take place Nov. 9–10. IC21 in-person and virtual attendees will have the opportunity to attend exhibitors’ interactive demos and schedule one-on-one meetings with exhibitors.

SCN: Anything else you’d like to share?

RR: We are elated to be able to come back in person! The InfoComm team has relied on the research conducted by Freeman Events Research team on the impact of COVID-19 on event attendance; Freeman’s latest research indicates that 80 percent of InfoComm attendees have or plan to get vaccinated, and 76 percent plan to return to in-person events by the fall.

We are optimistic about the future and the return to in-person events, and we look forward to seeing everyone at InfoComm Oct. 23-29 in Orlando.

World News

Live Sound Reawakens As U.S. Tours Return

Posted on by Clive Young
New Zealand band Six60 played to 50,000 people at the country's Eden Park stadium in April.
New Zealand band Six60 played to 50,000 people at the country’s Eden Park stadium in April.

New York, NY (May 28, 2021)—On the other side of the world, the concert business is moving full-speed ahead. Case in point: New Zealand has been allowing major events to take place, such as when homegrown rock band Six60 held a concert for 50,000 fans at Eden Park stadium in April. That’s what happens when your entire country has had just 26 COVID-19 fatalities to date. In the United States, however, the pandemic has taken a far more deadly toll, resulting in a live events industry that is now starting to reawaken as the first post-pandemic tours head out in June.

The spring season, usually marked by summer tours gearing up and outdoor venues tackling maintenance issues before the crowds return, has been quiet other than a small stream of artists and festivals putting dates on sale, usually for August or September. Current gigs—and the work they bring for audio pros and production companies—are still few and far between, even as a brighter future draws nearer by the day.

“There are still a lot of unknowns from where we’re sitting now,” said Shaun Clair, vice president of sales at Clair Global, “but we also see a lot of hope in what’s to come. We see an immense amount of opportunity ahead.”

Production manager/FOH engineer Brian Speiser (left) and monitor engineer/stage manager/guitar tech Bobby Tis, seen here in 2018, will hit the road this month with The Tedeschi-Trucks Band.
Production manager/FOH engineer Brian Speiser (left) and monitor engineer/stage manager/guitar tech Bobby Tis, seen here in 2018, will hit the road in June with The Tedeschi-Trucks Band.

The hard part for the touring industry remains getting to the point where shows return. Even with the fall season starting to heat up due to festival and tour announcements, there’s still the thorny issue of making a date stick; plenty of tours announced during the pandemic have already been pushed to next year, and more than a few venues that are hosting concerts this summer expect to be operating with skeleton staffs until absolutely necessary.

Adding to the confusion for production personnel is the lack of national guidelines on COVID-19 precautions for large gatherings. Every city and state has different mandates for appropriate capacities, social distancing, mask-wearing and more, turning each show on a tour into a collection of moving targets in terms of safety measures, potential ticket sales and more.

While COVID has made touring far more complicated, that isn’t stopping some acts from heading out. The Tedeschi-Trucks Band springs back into action starting June 11 with a show in Jacksonville, FL—the first of 30 dates scheduled through the end of July, followed by two weeks off and then more touring. Production manager/FOH engineer Brian Speiser readily acknowledges the road will be a different place for the hard-touring group this year.

“We’re not taking the full band and crew out,” he said. “We’re going to do a much more scaled-down, socially distanced show outdoors, so we’ve got half the band and a little more than half of the crew. We’re all going to hop onto one bus, throw a bunch of band gear in a trailer on the back, head out as inexpensively as possible and try to make something happen. We’re going out there in the safest, most responsible and least expensive way we possibly can, to do shows in a way that is not going to get people sick.”

Numerous executives at national and regional event sound providers pointed to vaccinations as crucial to the industry making a resurgence. “If you’re not getting vaccinated, you’re not getting hired; it’s that simple,” said one, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Whether you want to get [vaccinated] or not is your business, but considering how bad the last year has been, it’s actually surprising the number of people I talk to who haven’t gotten [vaccinated] yet. It takes five weeks for the shots to reach full efficacy, so if they want a chance to do something if an opportunity comes up, the ones holding off are almost too late already.”

Band and crew vaccinations are already in full effect on the Tedeschi-Trucks tour, said Speiser, who views the precautions from an unusually open-eyed perspective. “To supplement my income during the pandemic, I worked for a company that does COVID testing for the movie and television industry, so I spent six months driving around to actors and crew people’s homes, administering nose swabs and then dropping them off at a lab,” he recounted. “Having done that, for me, the safety issue is very important, plus I’ve also seen people who are vaccinated who have still gotten sick. The idea of now getting on a bus with a bunch of people, traveling around the country, going to places where there’s going to be a lot of unmasked people and cities where they have looser restrictions than they do here in New York is pretty scary.”

The production’s overriding concern isn’t merely to keep people on the tour safe, but also to ensure that they don’t inadvertently bring COVID-19 from one tour stop to the next and endanger the venue’s personnel. With that in mind, the Tedeschi-Trucks Band has developed a specific COVID-compliance rider that it has forwarded to all stops on the way, said Speiser.

Live Showcase: The Tedeschi Trucks Band (2018 Tour)

“The rider lays out the minimum of what we expect to see when we show up to the venue— nobody is allowed access to certain areas, everyone has to be masked, that kind of thing,” he said. “Most of these venues we’re playing are places that were set up to do shows in a COVID world. When they get the rider, a lot of them are telling us, ‘Yeah, we will be going even further than what you’re requesting.’ Of course, there’s a few who take a look at the paperwork and are like, ‘That’s cool that you have that, but you don’t have to worry about it so much here.’ And our response has to be, ‘We’re worrying about this everywhere. Don’t think that just because you don’t think it’s important that we’re going to forego these restrictions. This is how we’re going to tour.’”

As vaccination rates go up and the number of new COVID cases continues to decrease, states are loosening venue capacity restrictions. Unless they get derailed by spikes in the number of cases, the fall festival and tour dates being announced now are likely an accurate assessment of when most regions will see live event work ramp back up. Once shows resume in force, it’ll be time to buckle up—next year is expected to be a free-for-all, with pent-up consumer demand for concerts being answered by a touring business more than ready to deliver. “2022 looks to be an incredible year,” Shaun Clair confirmed, “and obviously, we’re all just really excited to get back to work and start doing what we love.”

World News

Pandemic Folk-Prog Goes Platinum

Posted on by Steve Harvey
Despite the pandemic, the 68-piece Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) and choir recorded the now-platinum Histoires sans paroles – Harmonium Symphonique album at Montreal’s 1,900-seat Symphony House.
Despite the pandemic, the 68-piece Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) and choir recorded the now-platinum Histoires sans paroles – Harmonium Symphonique album at Montreal’s 1,900-seat Symphony House. SIMON GOULET

 

Montreal, Canada (May 12, 2021)—With the pandemic restricting travel late last year, a group of engineers collaborated remotely to record orchestral re-interpretations of songs by 1970s French-Canadian folk-prog band Harmonium. Histoires sans paroles – Harmonium Symphonique draws from the band’s three studio albums to present more than two hours of music performed by the 68-piece Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) and choir.

Rick Winquest, based in California, had been scheduled to spend up to four weeks in Montreal as the recording engineer and sound consultant. When COVID-19 stymied that plan, it fell to Charles-Émile Beaudin, working in the Piccolo Mobile recording truck at Montreal’s 1,900-seat Maison Symphonique (Symphony House), to track the project.

The project was orchestrated by music arranger Simon Leclerc, who co-produced the album with Serge Fiori, Harmonium founder and leader, under the artistic direction of Nicolas Lemieux, president of record label GSI Musique. Winquest, who first worked with Leclerc on Star Trek at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood and was mentored by legendary scoring engineer Danny Wallin at the lot’s Record Plant-owned Studio M, monitored the sessions from his office in Santa Clarita.

Beaudin brought in microphones by Neumann, Sennheiser, Schoeps, Sanken, Royer, Microtech Gefell, Coles, Brauner and AKG from Studios Piccolo and his own collection. Apart from close-miking solo guitar, harp and celeste, says Winquest, “The main concept was distance-miking techniques: Decca tree and wide room and section placements. Symphony House has such astounding acoustics that of course we needed to work with the natural ambience of the room to make the instruments sound bigger than life.”

Beaudin also subsequently mixed the tracks at Studios Piccolo in Montreal, again working remotely with Winquest. Throughout the project, the pair communicated in real-time through Google Docs and Zoom, including with orchestra contractor François Pilon, while Winquest monitored via Audiomovers streaming software.

To monitor during the sessions, Winquest employed a Focusrite D-to-A feeding his Bryston amps and PMC IB1S speakers. “Charles used PMC speakers for monitoring also, so we had fairly equal listening environments,” he says.

Harmonium Symphonique
SIMON GOULET

With coronavirus protocols in place, Winquest also helped design a 20-foot extension to the concert hall’s stage to accommodate the OSM with social distancing. “Normally, two violins would be around one music stand. Now, each had their own stand and they were two meters apart, so we needed more space,” he says.

Released in December 2020 by GSI Musique, the album was already certified Platinum—solely from physical and digital download sales—in February.

Top Guitar Miking Tips—How to Capture a Roaring Guitar Amp

Winquest worried that, with the orchestra so spread out, timing and delay might be a problem. But conductor Leclerc ably kept everyone in sync, he says. As for the environment, “We brought in a load of baffles and gobos so that we could have more control over the instruments and the acoustics of the stage and room.”

In the end, the only real challenge was a resonant frequency in the hall, he says. “For live performance that’s not a huge problem, but when recording it amplifies and can really poke out.”

The new album
The new album.

Winquest developed a process with Beaudin for the mix sessions, listening to files downloaded from Dropbox then exchanging notes using spreadsheets in Google Docs. “We fine-tuned this process so that Charles could look at all of my comments with song timing locations and such. Each tab was a different song with timings notated for easy location of mix fixes.”

Delays to the project due to the pandemic also hastened the deadline, says Beaudin. “The time to mix was shrinking every day, and there was a lot to do—two hours and 15 minutes of music. Just by myself I would have gone crazy. So Rick was a really helpful second pair of ears. That helped me go through the process at that speed. And he’s amazing; all of his tips were great.”

While never quite clicking with American audiences, who were not used to listening to French language songs, Harmonium still found a place in the prog rock pantheon. The band’s 1975 album, Si on avait besoin d’une cinquième saison (also known as The Five Seasons), was described by Rolling Stone as “the pinnacle of the whole Folk-Prog movement.” In 2015 it landed in the magazine’s list of the 50 best progressive rock albums of all time.

The band certainly has a place in many Canadians’ hearts, says Beaudin. “Harmonium’s music is in the blood of every Québécois. Some say that if Québec was a country the anthem would probably be a Harmonium song.”

Harmonium Symphonique • www.harmoniumsymphonic.com

World News

Ghost-Engineering Meek Mill’s ‘Quarantine Pack’ EP

Posted on by Keith Nelson
Anthony Cruz in pre-pandemic times.
Anthony Cruz in pre-pandemic times. Brian Ngo

New York, NY (April 30, 2021)—When COVID-19 shut down the world last spring, multi-Platinum rapper Meek Mill and Anthony Cruz, his engineer since 2013, were in the Bahamas realizing that the way they recorded together wouldn’t be the same going forward. Once the pair returned to a closed-up United States, it didn’t take long before the artist couldn’t deal with how the pandemic-induced lockdown was preventing him from emptying his thoughts into songs. Cruz recalls, “It got to a point where he was like, ‘I understand things are real, but I really need to get going.’ My back was to the wall and I had to find a solution.”

Once Cruz found it, they never looked back—Meek Mill and Cruz were able to record, mix and release the four-track Quarantine Pack EP in late November 2020, closing out an eventful year. Cruz recapped it all for Pro Sound News in this interview, lightly edited for length and clarity.

 

Q: After getting back from the Bahamas as the pandemic was ramping up, how did you and Meek adjust to the lockdown?

We’d been in-person vibing for seven years by that time, so it was a very dramatic change of workflow. It was just too dangerous at the time to jump out and do the regular in-person workflow, so when I was digging into potential solutions and testing different options, I was like, “How are we going to be able to work?” I ended up finding an amazing solution for the time.

 

Q: That involved a home studio?

Before the pandemic, we were able to store equipment at Meek’s house. He had never really used the space because he likes to leave the house to go to work, so we typically would lock-in the studios. We’d already built out a proper home studio for him—we have Genelec 1234A speakers with 18-inch subs on either side, a Universal Audio Apollo interface, and his mic chain is a BAE 1073 mic preamp that goes into a Tube-Tech CL 1B. He uses a Slate VMS microphone, which is basically a mic that mimics all the classic mics—it’s like a tool belt where, depending on who you’re recording or what the vibe of the song is, you can change the texture to match some of the vintage classic mics that we’re used to that cost tens of thousands of dollars. It does a really good job of matching the tone, and it just became our go-to over time.

 

Q: How were you able to record Meek remotely?

People are using Zoom to control the computer and then they use one of these audio streaming companies that basically allow you to get a clean signal on your side as the engineer and you control the workflow of who you’re recording. It’s interesting because it allowed me to really see what the opportunities were in this space, because it was never a necessity before to have to be ready for remote recording. You have to use Zoom and you have to use a plug-in and stream it, too—it’s not efficient—and it’s basically like he had a ghost engineer. Meek would be like, “Oh my god! Cruz isn’t even in the room and he’s recording me.”

Anthony Cruz (center) recorded a feature by Meek Mill (right) on the Ed Sheeran (left) track “1000 Nights” in 2018.
Anthony Cruz (center) recorded a feature by Meek Mill (right) on the Ed Sheeran (left) track “1000 Nights” in 2018.

Q: Did you observe a difference in the creative process between you and Meek working remotely as opposed to when you two have been together?

What you notice when you’re working remotely compared to in-person is that it’s all about trying to maintain the energy as if you’re still in the room. I had to find multiple ways of making the process efficient enough where it didn’t interrupt his workflow. We kept the same level of speed, but there were so many things I had to do on my end—I had to have an account that had all the beats that I was gathering from producers, copy a link, send it over to his computer while I’m streaming the audio. Then, after the session, I had to find a program that could back up all the files so I could send them to myself without it taking up too much time because maybe the internet wasn’t strong enough. We would be on a FaceTime call during the session, so we could still have that interaction and I could hear what the energy was in the room. That was a big thing. We had a separate iPad [for FaceTime] that was the communication between me and him live on the spot. Besides the streaming link, I was hearing him on the mic, but when he jumped off the mic, I had to mute the signal so we didn’t get feedback, any blasts of music or whatever. I needed a source of communication, so that was FaceTime.

It’s actually amazing the things we were able to get done. The Quarantine Pack EP he put out in late November is exactly what it’s titled—we did it all remotely. I would hit [producer] Nick Papz and bounce ideas. We got nothing but time on our hands, so it’s like your mind’s going crazy—“we’ll make this a bigger record!” Being in tune with the mixer live, you guys are both able to collaborate on a mix. They can be like, “Yo, let me try something different here,” and they’re able to control your computer and do their thing, and then you’re like, “Oh, hold on—let me try something.” So it’s this live collaboration. It still feels like we could potentially be in the same room. We were able to do some incredible things and still impact with the music.

Also By Keith Nelson: Recording Roddy Ricch for Round Two

Q: I saw you guys got back to the studio in November. How was it being back in person?

It was interesting. It was still nerve-wracking for me, because my biggest thing was, I’m in the house with my baby girl and I got wifey, and I just felt like it was something I’ve never had to deal with before. It was a genuine fear of not about me, but how I would affect somebody else if something were to happen on this trip. It got to a point where we took all the precautions we needed in terms of constant testing and making sure everybody was safe and masked and everything. The first time, Meek actually ended up in New York and we were able to link up in person. That’s in my backyard, so that was a no-brainer. We had a couple of sessions there, and then the next sessions in person were actually back in the Bahamas again. Once the vaccine came out, I felt a little more confident once I was in that groove.

 

Q: Do you feel that you’ve gotten better as an engineer over the last year?

I think it’s really helped me creatively. I’ve really tapped in on another level on a creative side. Before, I would put somewhat of a limit on myself. Now I’m trying more things and putting myself out there more creatively. I think that’s the biggest thing— that it’s helped me a lot that way. Once I actually got our workflow together, it actually inspired fellow industry people to come up with really cool innovative technologies of their own, and I’m working with [Jay-Z’s engineer Young] Guru on solutions as well. We’re coming up with how we can innovate this space and make it more efficient.

 

World News

60 Seconds with Dudley McLaughlin of Renkus-Heinz

Posted on by ProSoundNetwork Editorial Staff
Dudley McLaughlin of Renkus-Heinz
Dudley McLaughlin OANA FOTO

What is your new position, and what does it entail?

I am the national sales manager at Renkus-Heinz. The role oversees the North American and Canadian markets, and the position’s day-to-day duties include all things sales: rolling out sales initiatives, developing demo and event opportunities, and ensuring we see growth across the region. That said, the Renkus-Heinz sales team aims to be collaborative in the success of our customers. Thus, this role also includes a lot of outreach to our representatives, work with end users who rely on our solutions, and product development input to ensure we bring the right solutions to market. We want to do everything we can to ensure that our customers are happy.

How has your background prepared you for your new role?

I’ve been with Renkus-Heinz for three years, overseeing the western territory of the United States and Canada, and I have come to feel very much at home here. Renkus-Heinz is a family-run company, and that approach fosters commitment to the work we do. In my time here, I have worked directly on projects with our various partners—our reps, consultants, dealers, integrators and end users. That has included working on system design, custom product manufacturing, commissioning and support.

The asset that I leverage most often is my 40 years of experience providing a professional audio solution to someone else. I’ve worked in sales management, as a rep, as a salesperson in a music store and, of course, as a musician. Also, I have worked with some extraordinarily talented and prolific people through my journey in this industry, and I use what I’ve learned from others all the time to be successful today.

What new initiatives are we likely to see from the company?

Renkus-Heinz has continued to engineer new products over the past year. We recently announced the latest products in our C Series line and our S Series line, and we expanded the range of the new Iconyx Compact Series. We were very strategic with our supply chain last year, which meant chip and component shortages did not impact our ability to develop, manufacture or ship new solutions.

That same momentum can be expected for the year ahead. We will continue to bring new solutions to market as planned. We still have the ability to custom-fabricate solutions with custom paint and weatherization at our manufacturing facility in California. My moving into the national sales manager role is a strategic change that will allow us to work more closely with those who use our solutions. We recently hired Karan Kathuria to the position of director operating across Asia, Oceania and SAARC, giving us an increased presence in the region. We plan to continue to innovate, ship product and hire for positions that will support our partners.

[ Innovations: Renkus-Heinz ICLive X Series, by Ralph Heinz ] 

What are your short- and long-term goals?

There are two key objectives in play here. The first is to maintain the current sales as we bob and weave through a not-so-normal time. The second is to be prepared and ready for a return to normal. Renkus-Heinz expects 2021 will see a normalization as vaccine rollouts continue, and we will be prepared to transition into a faster growth mentality.

What is the greatest challenge you face?

I know many will expect me to talk about the pandemic, but I have always said that the most significant challenge today is tomorrow. How do we predict it? How do we prepare for it? How do we march into it? A company must be agile. What we do today is plan, but we always must recognize that tomorrow may change.

[ Harro Heinz, Renkus-Heinz Co-Founder, Looks Ahead at 90 ] 

I believe Renkus-Heinz is incredibly agile. We’ve been strategic, we’re poised for growth, and we are responsive. We are focused on delivering the right product and solution, and we do it by ensuring we work collaboratively with our partners for their long-term success.

Renkus-Heinz • www.renkus-heinz.com

World News

Sennheiser CEOs Talk Consumer Partner Search

Posted on by Clive Young
Co-CEOs Daniel (left) and Andreas Sennheiser.
Co-CEOs Daniel (left) and Andreas Sennheiser. Ludwig Schöpfer / StudioTusch

New York, NY (February 22, 2021)—Pro-audio mainstay Sennheiser turned heads last week with the announcement it is searching to find a new corporate partner for its Consumer Electronic division. Under the expected arrangement, the consumer division would gain additional resources that a partner could bring to the brand, allowing Sennheiser to focus on its Neumann, Pro Audio and Business Communications business units, co-CEOs Andreas and Daniel Sennheiser told PSN.

Opting to team with an outside entity is no small decision for the 75-year-old company; the consumer electronics division, which introduced its first headphones in 1968, comprises roughly half the manufacturer’s business, said Andreas Sennheiser. The partnership search, then, is the result of “actually having more opportunities at hand than we can give all the full potential [under our current] setup.”

The decision came after an internal assessment of the company’s divisions, said Daniel Sennheiser: “Looking at the different business units in more detail, we realized we need different strategies to make them successful. How we can develop all four business segments at the same time with the necessary power, so all markets that we’re in have great growth opportunities? We saw that the consumer part can be really driven to the full extent if we can find a partner and focus on the pro part.”

Sennheiser MD 435 and MD 445 Microphones – A Real-World Review

In recent years, the company has sought to make the various business units more independent, creating separate sales forces for each. “Now this is the next level,” said Andreas Sennheiser. “[All four] need investment in technology and audio competency, but also in sales and marketing. We believe that we can do this very well long term on the pro businesses, and a partner will help us accelerate the growth on the consumer business.”

While the CEOs are open to discussing a variety of approaches as they begin the search, one scenario that’s off the table is the possibility of selling the brand outright, said Andreas Sennheiser: “It’s our family name, and therefore we’ll hold that close to the family.”

As the manufacturer plans to focus on its other three business units once a partner is in place, plans are already afoot for those divisions. Daniel Sennheiser noted, “We’re looking forward to the pandemic lifting, especially now for live and broadcast, where we believe that we’ll see a renaissance of the industry; the public is really waiting for live events to come back. It’ll still be a little bit difficult for this year, we believe, but then in 2022, we’ll see great growth.”

The CEOs noted that the pandemic has aided their MI-based efforts, with the rise in home recording and home studios creating an upswing for both the Sennheiser and Neumann brands. “That area has actually grown significantly and gives us more opportunities to also invest into R&D and more products,” Daniel Sennheiser added. The pro-audio division’s broadcast and audio-for-video offerings, will be an upcoming focus, too, as they are the subjects of “strong plans and strong pipelines.”

Sennheiser isn’t letting the consumer division sit idle during the search either. “Every plan, every strategy that was in place prior to this announcement is still there,” said Andreas Sennheiser, “so we’re still driving the business strongly. With a new partner on the consumer side, we can even grow stronger there, creating therefore a better future for all sides.”

Sennheiser • https://en-us.sennheiser.com/

 

World News

Sweetwater Revenues Roll Past $1 Billion

Posted on by Steve Harvey
Chuck Surack, founder and CEO of Sweetwater.
Chuck Surack, founder and CEO of Sweetwater.

Fort Wayne, IN (February 17, 2021)—The past year was one for the record books in the U.S., and not in a good way, thanks to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Yet there was a silver lining for some, including pro audio equipment and music instrument retailer Sweetwater, which set its own record in 2020.

With professionals gearing up to work from home during lockdown, individuals and organizations implementing new video streaming and podcasting solutions, and a good chunk of the population looking to further its musical ambitions, Sweetwater served more than 1.5 million customers last year. That proved to be a significant increase from 2019, and 2020 ultimately drove the company’s annual revenues past the $1 billion milestone in for the first time in Sweetwater’s 42-year history.

Caring customer engagement has been key, according to CEO Chuck Surack, who famously started Sweetwater Sound as a mobile recording studio in the back of his VW microbus in 1979. Initially working from home, the company’s sales engineers struggled with how to best contact and communicate with customers, he reports. “I advised them to follow suit with our company’s mission, which is to simply ‘do the right thing’ and call just to ask them how they’re doing. No hidden agendas or sneaky ways to try and push or sell products.”

Noting that 82% of calls with customers are outgoing, Surack adds, “We’re continuing with this frequency and form of communication as it’s been preferred by our customers.” Most of Sweetwater’s 500-plus sales engineers have returned to the company’s campus during the pandemic, where they are following CDC and local government guidelines.

Sweetwater's new 480,000-square-foot distribution center
Sweetwater’s new 480,000-square-foot distribution center

That campus is ever-growing, too. Just prior to the pandemic, Sweetwater opened a new 480,000-square-foot distribution center—four times the size of the previous building—that added 50,000 more square feet for inventory. The company also added 400 new jobs last year, a 30% bump in the total workforce, which now numbers around 2,000.

“We built a brand-new sales floor in November that can house around 1,100 sales engineers,” says Surack, who plans to hire up to 130 new sales engineers. “We also have some expansion plans in the works for our on-campus music store. It will be double the size of the current store and should open late this spring.”

Sweetwater’s annual summer GearFest attracted more than 18,000 people to the campus in 2019. In 2020, in response to the pandemic, the company took the event online. More than 125,000 people participated worldwide, tuning in for 16-plus hours of livestreamed panel sessions and interviews, educational content and, of course, deals and giveaways, during the two-day event.

“We’ll plan to continue offering a virtual component so that we can meet our customers and fans of music where they are,” says Surack. “While there’s nothing like having nearly 20,000 people in-person at our campus in Fort Wayne from all around the world, we still want to allow the opportunity for people to experience GearFest from the comfort of their home if they can’t make it to us. With Covid-19 still a concern, we’re working out the plans and logistics for GearFest 2021; however, we look forward to the future where we can offer both experiences.”

Surack founded Sweetwater Sound in the back of his VW microbus in 1979.
Surack founded Sweetwater Sound in the back of his Volkswagon microbus in 1979.

There has been one constant during the pandemic, says Surack, a former touring sax and keyboard player. “Despite how much of the way we live, work and gather has changed over the last year, especially for the audio community, one thing has remained consistent—music. While many stadiums and concert venues have been empty and will likely stay that way for some time, people will continue to play and make music virtually or from a distance. In 2020, we experienced skyrocketing sales for gear like audio interfaces, microphones, preamps and other devices that allow you to pre-record and put things on YouTube or use for Zoom and live broadcasts. We anticipate that this will remain consistent as more people take up an interest in making music remotely, perhaps for the long haul.”

Hopefully, that love of music will see us through to whatever comes next. “While the industry has definitely not remained unscathed by the pandemic,” he says, “I am confident that music will continue to prevail until the community is able to return to a sense of normalcy.”

Sweetwater • www.sweetwater.com