ProSound News - December 2008 - (Page 68)

[68] Ardent Donates Vintage Console to Stax Museum MEMPHIS, TN—John Fry, founder of Ardent Studios, has donated the historic Auditronics console, which was used for many years in his studios, to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. The console was used in shaping the sound of countless Stax Records hits during a period when Ardent worked closely with the Stax label and recording studios. The console was made by Memphis company, Auditronics, owned by Welton Jetton and Steve Sage. Auditronics had supplied smaller consoles to both Ardent and Stax in 1966. The donated console was fabricated from amplifiers and equalizers made by Spectrasonics of Odgen, UT. The 20-input, 8-output console was installed at Ardent’s location on National Street in 1969, and moved to Ardent’s present location on Madison Avenue, where it served in Studio B until 1985. Auditronics also supplied Stax with an identical console for its A Studio in 1970. When the modest Capitol Theater was transformed into Stax Records in 1959, it began launching the careers of artists such Pictured at Memphis’ Stax Museum are curator Carol Drake (left) and Ardent Studios’ John Fry. A Roadie Holiday (continued from page 1) End the whining by giving him a Warm Mouse—a USB, two-button computer mouse that heats up at the flick of an on/off switch. Jimi Wallet ($15; thejimi.com). On tour, roadies can lose their money, their wallets or even their minds, but they never lose their laminates. Help them hold onto the other three with a Jimi Wallet, which can hang on a lanyard right behind an all-access pass (if you get it from their website, type in coupon code “PSN” for 15 percent off). Road Crew Comics ($5; roadcrewcomic.com). No matter how bad a gig is, someone else has one that’s worse—and it’s usually the guys in Road Crew, an online comic strip about engineers who couldn’t catch a break with a baseball glove. Their rather salty 44-page compilation book is available at the strip’s website. Bento 2 ($49; filemaker.com). Your touring pal can’t keep track of which paramour is in what town? Give him Bento 2, a streamlined, Mac-only database that pares back the “I’ll never use that” features while integrating with everything else in his laptop to keep him organized. Our favorite feature: Users can trade templates online. Pathfinder Checkpoint Friendly CompuBrief ($99, PathfinderLuggage. com). Nearly 250,000 laptops get left behind at airport security checkpoints every year, according to a study by Dell. With this TSA-approved computer bag, your road pal won’t have to remove his laptop when going through security, thus making him one less statistic. Extech SL130 Sound Level Alarm ($210, extech.com). Users can set a limit on this dB meter and can see it flash red up to 30 meters away whenever the level is surpassed. It can also time stamp up to 20,000 samples for future reference—like when the crew finally has to talk with the lighting guy about his snoring on the bus. Oxen 5-Pocket Jean ($69; oxenworkwear.com). Jeans with holes in the knees may be a perennial fashion statement, but they hurt like hell if you’re crawling on concrete under a stage. These spats, however, are the closest thing to shredproof, and sport a cell phone pocket to boot. WMWifiRouter ($30; wmwifirouter. com). When a gig is in the middle of nowhere, chances are the site’s WiFi signal is nowhere, too. Road dogs can use this software to turn Windows Mobileenabled smartphones into wireless internet hotspots for devices it can connect to via WiFi, USB or Bluetooth. Tappening Water Bottle ($15; tappening.com). Your road buddy talked the band into using bio-diesel fuel, is worried about his cat’s carbon footprint, and would use hemp dental floss if they made it—but he still drinks bottled water. These reusable bottles, made of recycled plastic, promote the idea of imbibing tap water with slogans like “Think Global, Drink Local.” ThisGigSucks shirts ($15; thisgigsucks.com). Dark, cynical T-shirts for dark, cynical roadies. Some of the slogans available include “If touring was easy, smart people would do it” and “No picks, no sticks, no set lists. Beat it.” With a site name like that, you know what you’re getting. The Rock Bible ($16; quirkbooks. com). Henry Owings, editor of the snarky zine Chunklet, has compiled a booklength list of commandments for rockers and the crews that loathe them, featuring bon mots like, “All drummers wearing headset microphones should be required to take a food order” and “If your amp has more than six knobs, you are one of them.” as Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding, the Staple Singers, Luther Ingram, Albert King, the Bar-Kays, Booker T. & the MG’s, Johnnie Taylor, Rufus and Carla Thomas, and dozens of others whose influence remains vital in the music of today. Today, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, located at the original site of Stax Records, has more than 2,000 exhibits, videos, stage costumes, photographs and instruments used to record the Stax sound. Visitors can stand on the exact spot where much of the great Stax music was made, in the re-creation of Stax’s Studio A, now including the console from Ardent Studios which is identical to the one formerly housed at Stax. Ardent Studios www.ardentstudios.com Stax Museum of American Soul Music www.soulsvilleusa.com FBT Hits the Big 45 RECANATI, ITALY—The year is 1963, and Tony Bennett’s “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” wins a Grammy for Record of the Year. Lawrence of Arabia wins Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and the Los Angeles Dodgers sweep the New York Yankees in the World Series. In the small town of Recanati, Italy, two friends named Bruno Baldoni and Vinicio Tanoni decide to build a workspace to produce guitar amplifiers for the booming music market. Recanati is in the Marches area of Italy and is considered a unique place where poetry FBT’s 540,000-square-foot production facility in Recanati, Italy and music has always accompanied its history. and also regional sound company cusFrom that small beginning, the compa- tomers. A powered version of the Modus ny, named FBT after its founders, became a was introduced at InfoComm 2008. worldwide supplier of not only instrument Sales are handled through FBT U.S., amplifiers, but also pro audio gear, includ- headquartered in Berlin, CT. Tom Concorde ing loudspeakers, mixing consoles, micro- directs the U.S. operation and states, “AV phones and power amplifiers. contractors and pro audio shops currently Today, FBT operates out of a 540,000- account for about 70 percent of FBT’s total square-foot production facility that allows sales in the U.S. That number is beginning the company to stay true to its philosophy to skew though, as the Modus and Qube of nationally based manufacturing—all (designed during a joint partnership with products are made in Italy; the entire pro- Renkus-Heinz) systems are gaining favor duction cycle from R&D to the design of with sound companies.” tooling dies, assembly of components and The future looks and sounds very final construction of each product is man- healthy for FBT, with new products introaged and implemented in-house. duced and markets being expanded in In recent years, FBT products, especially North America. To quote company founder the FBTMaxx, HiMaxx powered speakers Vinicio Tanoni: “Our maturity as a compaand the Modus 2-way line-array systems, ny, like fine wine, improves with time.” have seen success in the United States FBT with corporate AV houses, installations www.fbt.it prosoundnews.com December 2008 http://www.ardentstudios.com http://www.soulsvilleusa.com http://www.oxenworkwear.com http://www.oxenworkwear.com http://www.thejimi.com http://www.wmwifirouter.com http://www.wmwifirouter.com http://www.roadcrewcomic.com http://www.roadcrewcomic.com http://www.tappening.com http://www.tappening.com http://www.filemaker.com http://www.thisgigsucks.com http://www.thisgigsucks.com http://www.pathfinderluggage.com http://www.quirkbooks.com http://www.pathfinderluggage.com http://www.quirkbooks.com http://www.extech.com http://www.fbt.it 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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