ProAudio Review - August 2008 - (Page 44)

LIVE | Feature Gear for FOH Engineers — A PAR Contributors’ Wish List THE FIVE MOST NECESSARY ITEMS FOR A SUCCESSFUL DAY AT THE CONSOLE By Will James When the editors of Pro Audio Review asked me to partake in this column, I spent the better part of a week deciding on how to attack this issue. Is it new gear, or is it old gear that I need? Is it about new concepts or older, proven methods? Is it a cool piece of gear I recently reviewed for the magazine? After much agonizing thought, I decided that it’s probably more important to list my five most important requirements for a successful day at the console; this includes dispelling myths by listing things that I never want to see at the console again, as well as important things I definitely need. One: Some might pick a particular piece of gear as their number-one need, but I decided that the single most important thing to have is the knowledge of things that make this business so great. For me, the most important thing is to have a really great time by mixing professionalism with humor and science with art; combining old tried-and-true methods with possible new ideas; wearing many different hats during the day; doing above and beyond; and finally, realizing that I really don’t know everything, but I really do give a damn about making a difference. Two: In the equipment department, I would have to pick the Klark Teknik DN360 graphic EQ as a must-have piece of gear. Is there a better piece of gear that has attained “Industry Standard” status? It’s certainly a piece of gear by which all others are measured. We have all used them thousands of times; just think where the mix and speaker world would be without the DN360. Three: I want big, heavy, analog consoles — consoles like a Midas Heritage, a Legend, an XL4. Does it get any better than that? You can take your little, thin-sounding, OS-crashing, overheating, digital consoles and … keep them. My company has considered purchasing digital consoles, but I keep coming back to big, warm-sounding analog consoles. (Maybe I need to go to recording school.) Four: Line array — I just love what line array has done for concert sound. Back in the day (when we did not know any different) we loved big 400-lb. speaker boxes; you could stack ‘em up for miles and create walls of sound. Now, we have four times the output and infinitely better fidelity from boxes that weigh 100 lbs.! I think line array is better by a factor that is incalculable. There are still the occasional times and places for conventional trapezoidal boxes, but not too many. Five: For my final pick, I must choose powered speakers. We employ a powered line array, and it has changed my life and the lives of my crew guys. Our subs are powered, our line array is powered, and next it will be powered monitors for us — no more racks of cumbersome, overweight power amps, and no more NL4 and NL8 cables that need repair (even though they are so simple to repair). Powered speakers have incredibly reduced our set-up times and the amount of space required to transport all of this stuff. Powered speakers have changed our lives. There are many things out there that make a difference for our day at the gig. Everyone has their special “top five” and all are arguably valid. For me — a guy that owns a production company that does audio, lighting, stage, roof and generators — there are an infinite number of cool widgets and gadgets, consoles and speakers, mics and stands, and reverbs and delays. But quite honestly, there is not one particular model of those things that are more needed than another for me. I like to think that I can mix on any console; get glossy, cool effects from any reverb; and get smooth, but cutting vocals from any mic. It’s not always the gear. It’s always the skill. Will James, owner and chief engineer of Atlantis Audio and Lighting, is a regular contributor to Pro Audio Review. WISH continues on page 46 ® Midas Heritage 4000 Klark Teknik DN360 Graphic EQ 44 | ProAudio Review | August 2008 www.proaudioreview.com http://www.proaudioreview.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ProAudio Review - August 2008

ProAudio Review - August 2008 Contents Publisher's Page Broadcast News and New Products Yamaha Pocketrak 2G Olympus LS-10 Linear PCM Recorder Bench Test Marantz PMD620 Flash Recorder TASCAM DR-1 Portable Digital Recorder Tips From The Pros: Location/Production Audio Prosumer Portables in a Pro World Studio News and New Products Apogee Ensemble Solid State Logic Duende Mini FireWire DSP Live News and New Products Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing World Tour Behringer Eurolive B412DSP and B415DSP Active Loudspeakers Gear for FOH Engineers — A PAR Contributors’ Wish List Contracting News and New Products Buyer's Guide Single Slice

ProAudio Review - August 2008

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