ProSound News - December 2008 - (Page 62)

[62] Obama Acceptance (continued from page 49) of Tom Krajecki and Scott Brumm from Shure Incorporated (which is headquartered in nearby Niles, IL), who both arrived on the scene with a pair of racks filled with UHF-R wireless receivers. As opposed to adding to the confusion with yet more wireless gear, the real purpose of bringing the UHF-R receivers to the rally was to give Gorzelanczyk the ability to view and monitor all RF activity in the area. On any given day in this major metropolis, the airwaves are heavily saturated, with or without a presidential victory rally. With this in mind, plus the presence of even more visiting wireless RF sources present, Brumm made sure he had the capacity for every frequency band legal for use in the U.S. available for viewing within the racks. “I networked all of the receivers, and using Shure’s Wireless Workbench software, brought them all to George’s computer for complete control and monitor- ing,” Brumm relates. “Stationed inside a trailer with antennas mounted on top, he was then able to use the collective scan features of the devices to monitor all RF activity in the area live and in real time.” While wireless operations filled the airwaves around him, the star of the night, President-elect Barack Obama, brought his victory message to the people via a pair of Shure SM57s mounted on a special presidential “Y” fitting carried to the rally by Tom Krajecki. Those mics were heard via a sound system designed and deployed by Clair Chicago, using an Electro-Voice X-Line PA and Midas mixing consoles. After mapping the Grant Park venue area using LAPS (Line Array Prediction Software), both Hunt and Mark Kishbaugh, account executive for Clair Chicago, chose to use two main hangs of 12 X-Line line-array loudspeakers each (11x Xvls and 1x Xvlt) for the main output, augmented with one delay hang of eight Xvls. Two more arrays of four Xvls were used as screen hangs, 12 ground-stacked Xsubs provided low-end support, and eight X-Array boxes were used as stage fills and delays. EV’s Xw12 floor monitors were seen on TV screens around the world, delivering the mix to the man himself. EV P3000 amplifiers provided power for the system. “Aside from its excellent throw, X- Line offers great vocal articulation, making it perfect for an important speech event like this,” Hunt says. Clair’s system threw sound much further than the outer limits of Grant Park. It also delivered audio to televisions and radios across the globe via an unprecedented 720 press feeds. To make sure the rest of the world heard the best possible mix, Clair used a Midas Heritage 3000 (operated by Joe Keiser of Clair) at Front of House, and a Midas Venice 320 (managed by Bryan Farina) to monitor each of the 700-plus returning press feeds. Each worked alongside Klark Teknik DN3600 EQs. Clair also used two Midas XL42 preamps beneath the podium to split feeds to Front of House, the press system and to ABC-TV. “We used four consoles to send signals to the press,” says Hunt, “but on a stage as critical as this, we needed to be able to monitor all incoming signals quickly and easily, so we sent everything to a Venice 320. Using analog was great because it really added depth to Obama’s voice, and imparted gravitas to his words. It was wonderful to hear him through the Midas preamps. It was an inspiring show to actually attend. The sound, the speech, the crowd—it was a truly memorable night.” In the wireless realm, however, it was a night that required a lot of prepara- tion, as Gorzelanczyk found while using Shure’s Wireless Workbench software during RF War Games the day prior to the event. “We were pretty well filled up,” he says of his spectrum analysis, putting it rather politely. “One of the best aspects of using Wireless Workbench was that beyond obtaining an active report of all RF activity, I could instantly view intermodulations among frequencies as well, and quickly take corrective actions to safely relocate the party or parties involved.” “People have been asking me which bandwidths I used,” Gorzelanczyk says in preparation to revealing the inner secrets of his wireless blueprint once more. “There’s an easy answer to that question: basically all of them. We were everywhere—everywhere that we were allowed to be in this country. I went in there hoping for the best and expecting the worst. In the end, we prevailed.” Shure www.shure.com Electro-Voice www.electrovoice.com Midas www.Midasconsoles.com Clair www.clairglobal.com prosoundnews.com December 2008 http://www.shure.com http://www.electrovoice.com http://www.Midasconsoles.com http://www.clairglobal.com http://www.prosoundnews.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of ProSound News - December 2008

ProSound News - December 2008 Sound Business Contents Hank’s Best Yet Sound Recording Studio Showcase: Great City Productions Software Tech Tracks Sessions Anticipating Post’s Future Post Showcase: Eargasm HD Audio Post The Business of Being Creative Sound Innovations: VRsonics VibeStudio Spatial Design Suites Field Reports: Product Profiles Yes We Can Hear Obama Live Sound Showcase: Stone Temple Pilots Centerstage Soundcheck Sound People View From the Top Product Spotlight Classifieds Advertiser Index Company Index Music, etc

ProSound News - December 2008

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