New Audio Technology Stuff

The National Association of Music Merchants (forever hereafter referred to as NAMM) winter show was last week.  While, typically, it is the summer show that is the musical instrument manufacturing industry's biggest event, the tradeshow last week revealed some cool new products.

First, check out the Akai Synthstation.  It is a powerful, feature packed synthesizer and music production application for the iPhone and iPod.  This is crazy!

Also, there is the iPK25 keyboard controller.  It's so new, you can't hardly find it on the internet, but go check out this really cool video on the Electronic Musician site.

And here is an interesting video on some new studio isolation products from Primacoustic, which is a part of the Radial Engineering family of companies and a real leader in acoustic design technology.  I was really impressed with the simple and creative design of some of these little problem-solvers.  Some clever, thoughtful new tools that will really work well in many studios and performance applicatons.

"The Death of High Fidelity"

I deeply dislike Rolling Stone Magazine. When it comes to politics and cultural commentary, it is a worthless rag and always has been. Their writers and editors will go to whatever length necessary to be edgy or radical, eager and willing to completely disregard both common sense and elementary decency for the sake of selling a few more copies. You can tell that, politically, they swing so far to the radical left not because they necessarily believe it, but because they believe that they are supposed to believe it. Because they are Rolling @#~&%$*! Stone Magazine! Give me a break.

However, credit needs to be given where credit is due and much more often than not, their reporting on modern music is very, very good. This article on modern music production in the age of the MP3 is right on, except for the typo's. I have previously blogged on this at length because I think that the decline of technical quality in an age that is resplendent in technological achievement has taken a terrible toll on art in general and music in particular. It is a grim reflection on the poverty of our collective soul. One of the reassuring things about this article is that it suggests that other people are feeling the same way and that some artists, engineers, and producers are starting to resist the recording industry marketing forces that have exacerbated this problem.

Drive-by Blog Entry

Just checking in... some scattershot thoughts, notes, and activities.

First, it's freakin' winter here today. No snow, yet, but it is 25 degrees, counting the wind chill. And it is gusting at 40mph. Time to yank the A/C window units and actually do that weatherstripping project I've been thinking about for the last month.

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My brother has a blog. It is in this cool community site that his church has launched. It is sort of like a Facebook-style social networking thing. When I get time, I'm going to learn more about it and see if it might work at our church, too. I jointed their community yesterday so that I could post snide comments and random jibes, and I really like the vibe and feel of it. Check him out and read about his self-diagnosed obsessive-compulsive approach to writing (or not-writing). Heh.

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Today I am neck deep in putting together a training presentation on A/V systems for worship that I will be conducting at a local church this evening. I'm looking forward to it. I used to do this kind of thing a lot, some 10 years ago or so. Training volunteers in this area of ministry is very satisfying. It is a balance of 50% basic audio technical info and 50% relational servant/leadership info.

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At church this past weekend, my son Jordan, with our worship team, led a song during the offertory called "The Blessing", by John Waller. The response of the congregation was astounding and inexplicable. He did do a great job, playing piano and singing, and it is an effective, powerful song, expertly arranged by our worship director. But the outpouring of emotion surprised us all. Jordan has played on our teams for years and is a very gifted musician, but this is the first time he sang the lead as a soloist. That was really the only difference this week and, still, that doesn't explain the weeping, the effusive affirmations, the hugs from strangers, the people calling us at 7:15 AM the next day just to tell us how moved they were by that song. Nancy, who works at our church, said staff and congregants alike were all still talking about it on Monday.

The funny thing is, JP actually didn't even know for sure that he was singing that song until last Friday, the day before the first service. Also, Nancy and I have always known he could sing and play, so we just assumed that he would give it his best shot and that he'd probably do well. He does have a knack for that. Sure, we were proud of him but, honestly, for us, it was kind of routine. As a family, that's kind of what we do and have always done...we go, we play and sing, we worship. And then we do it again next week.

But there was something different this time. The Kid was at the nexus of some kind of spiritual watershed event, I think. I don't have the answers, but I am intensely curious about what God is doing and what He is planning, both in the life of my son and in the life of our church.

I hope to have a video clip in a couple of days and, if I can figure out how, I'll post it.

Groovy stuff I saw today at WFX - Atlanta

Here are a couple of the more interesting products that I have seen here in the WFX exhibit hall.

Earthworks is a renowned manufacturer of innovative microphone solutions. Their newest product is really the cat's pajamas, though, their PianoMic System. At $4500 retail, you aren't going to find it on every piano you see, but it does sound extremely good and it solves several long-standing technical challenges in mic'ing a grand piano. Larry Blakely, their chief marketing guy, said that at the recent Audio Engineering Society (AES) show, they were swarmed by people interested in this new item.

Next is a peculiar product, really. The Corevalus SamePage System is, essentially, an electronic, computerized music stand. And, although my company is a dealer, I have been skeptical of what I've read. Having now seen a good demo and been able to play with the system myself, I am starting to come around. It has a touch-sensitive interactive screen that enables you to highlight or circle specific passages. It does some simple transposition. It uses a customizable database of songs, which enables the worship leader to easily add or subtract songs from a set list...while playing. The foot controller, used for turning the pages, works exceptionally well, which surprised me. There are a number of other commendable features that range from the convenient to the ingenious.

This is a young company with a new and fairly radical high-tech concept. Sorry, but I couldn't find any decent still photos of the product, but if you go to their website via the above link, they have a short online video demo that is pretty cool.

Also, Bill, Jeff, and I ate bison burgers at Ted's Montana Grill, a restaurant chain owned by Ted Turner who blurs the distinction between being insane and being insanely wealthy. The burgers were great and so was the hand-squeezed lemonade.

I will try to post more on other interesting things I see and do.
And perhaps eat.

Worship Facilities § The Premier Conference for Growing Churches

Okay, this is where I am:

Worship Facilities § The Premier Conference for Growing Churches

And these are the folks with whom we are sharing our exhibit space:

Adaptive Technologies/Allen Products - They make all manner of ingenious hardware for hanging speakers, monitor screens, and such. Suspending big heavy things in the air is serious business and, in their field, these guys are the best.

M-Audio - Computer audio interfaces, keyboards, software, speakers and in-ear monitors.

Intelix - Sophisticated audio distribution gizmos. Mixers, processors, and a slew of really cool little electronic signal conversion products called baluns.

TOA Electronics - Full range of pro audio tools, including the super fantastic HX-5 mini-line array.

I've already run into several old friends and seen some very impressive new professional lighting, video, and audio technology, targeted primarily at the house of worship market. I have some pics, but no way to upload them at this point. It's all incredibly geeky and don't for an instant think that I fully understand what all of this stuff does.

WFX - Atlanta, GA / Gospel from Brazil!

It was never my intention for my blog to be merely a recap of my calendar, nor just a haphazard aggregation of news items or semi-interesting links. However, for the time being that is what it has devolved into.

It is what it is. At least for now. And so that is why it is at least apropos, if not otherwise commendable, to report that I will be in Atlanta for the next few days attending and participating the Worship Facilities Expo and Conference (WFX). It should be fun, actually, and the plan is that it will develop business for my company. I'll be hanging out with Bill (Braveheart) Wallace and Jeff McLeod (of the clan McLeod), two of my esteemed colleagues.

Which is good. Isn't it? Of course it is.

An interesting synchronicity is that during the time I am there some friends (and very good clients) from Brazil are leading a worship event on Thursday night in a church just a mile or so away from my hotel. Diante de Trono, which is the worship team from Igreja Batista da LaGoinha, have come all the way from Belo Horizonte (I love the sound of that name...it means "beautiful horizon" in Portuguese). They are an extraordinarily dynamic church and, though I have several of their recordings, I have never seen them live. It should be outstanding. One of my very good friends, Randy Adams, records and produces much of their work and he will be there, too. This may well be the highlight of the whole trip.

What was the first CD you ever listened to?

Mine was "Power Windows" by Rush.


I had purchased it and Simple Minds' "Once Upon A Time", but I listened to Rush first. I was blown away by the fact that where there was no music, there was the most profound, utter silence. I imagined that it was silent like in a vacuum, like in outer space. I had an excellent pair of Sennheiser headphones and I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever heard, that silence.



The CD is 25 years old.

Tell me what you listened to first.

Why MP3's are Tools Of Satan

"For purists, it is the dark ages of recorded sound." Even for those of us who aren't, strictly speaking, purists, it sucks.

Yes, I know this horse is dead. And yet I am strangely compelled to drag it out and beat on it periodically. Technology should make art, and therefore, life, better, not worse. (Is that too many commas? I couldn't decide.)

I've got things to say. But I've been fiendishly busy lately, plowing the fields of commerce.

UPDATE: "Big-selling albums by Linkin Park and the White Stripes were not enough to prevent widening losses at Warner Music, which suffered a drop in income as fans shifted from compact discs to digital downloads."

2007 Willow Creek Arts Conference

It's hard to know how to follow a post on a half-ton wild pig, so I had to wait a bit...plus it's been very busy around here lately.

In a couple of weeks Nancy and I will be attending the 2007 Willow Creek Worship Arts Conference in Chicago. It is a big three-day gathering of various types of artists, musicians, and technical folk that usually draws several thousand people from all over the world. Willow Creek Church holds as one of its core purposes the equipping, encouraging, training and building up of other churches. And they do an excellent job of it. I appreciate the investment that my church is making in us by sending us.

I've been a couple of times before and have always gotten a lot out of it. This time I didn't know that I was going until just a few days ago, so I registered very late. Nearly all of the "breakouts" (Willow-speak for "seminar" or "workshop") that I would have probably chosen first were full to capacity so I kind of had to shop through the leftovers to find something interesting. Honestly, though, that doesn't bother me at all because often in my life God has used what seemed to be serendipitous or ambivalent encounters to inspire me or teach me something new and important. So it is with hopeful anticipation that I look forward to classes in the following areas:

• Vocal Artistry For Worship
• Got Blog?
• Line Array Workshop
• Extreme Vocal Makeover

Here's the deal with the singing. I sing because I lead worship...I don't lead worship because I am a singer. I am, at best, a functional singer. It is because I am skilled in other areas that I am an acceptable vocalist, able to sing parts, read music, interpret vocal styles, etc. I like to sing, but it's never been my main thing and I've never worked at it like I have my other instruments. So the vocal classes will be good for me and I'm certain I'll learn some things. My wife is an excellent singer and so is my son.

The unfortunately named Got Blog? seminar is no doubt going to be about blogging, presumably from a Christian bent somehow. Fine...I'm looking forward to picking up some tips and ideas, maybe making some new friends. My Mac laptop is kind of sick...I hope I can get it fixed before I go. Doubtful.

The Line Array Workshop is a technical thing about loudspeaker design and installation. It will really more benefit me professionally since that is one of the many things that I sell. It should be interesting, too, because Willow Creek uses a lot, and I mean A LOT, of Meyer Sound loudspeakers. Meyer is what the Lord uses in Heaven. They are the best speakers available, so it will be fun. I'm sure I'll learn something.

The David Crowder Band will be leading worship at some point, plus Willow Creek has a very strong music department, too. Keynote speakers include Donald Miller, who I really like alot because of his great book, Blue Like Jazz. Also, Erwin McManus, who I kind of like but I'm not sure I completely get, Dan Kimball, whose blog I have occassionally read, but about whom I know very little and who is therefore suspect, and Brian McLaren. Also, Willow Creek's own Nancy Beach, who I like a lot, and Dewitt Jones, who is a reknowned National Geographic photographer and award-winning filmmaker, and will probably have amazing photos displayed on Willow Creeks amazing projection system. That will be cool.

Honestly, some of those new-wavey, emergent church-types make my theology itch just a bit. But I will give them my undivided and open-minded attention while they try to brainwash me into believing their crazy new ideas about Jesus and God and church and such. Some of those guys aren't even Republicans. Can you believe it?!?!

It will be a fun time.

How To Make A Record

Here are a couple of really cool short YouTube videos on how vinyl records are made. I've been in the music biz for over half my life and I've never seen this before.

Part 1

Part 2

Amazing.

Prince and the Superbowl - Behind the scenes

Here is a really quick follow-up to my Superbowl post from last week.

A lot of folks in the pro audio industry marvelled at the effort that was put forth to make Prince's half-time performance so unbelievably successful in the midst of a downpour.


Here is a link to an article from Front Of House magazine's online edition that gives some of the detail. This article ultimately points to a press release on Sennheiser's website that gives even more detail, if you are interested. They make the wireless mics that were used.



Yeah, I know, this is another geeky techo post, but some folks like that kind of thing.


Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day!

p.s. I hate the way Blogger does photos.

The T-Equalizer

Now here is an interesting audio accessory.

I can't decide if this is really cool or incredibly stupid. It could be both, I guess. Maybe I'm not the target market. Don't think I want one, but I can think of a few folks that I might buy one for.

The ad copy is pretty good, too.

The Most Horrible Sound In The World

This has been another week in which I have been tool busy trying to live my life to properly chronicle it, hence the dearth of blogging once again.

I've got a couple of legitimate posts that I am working on as well as some accumulated notes and half-baked opinions that I may sling up later. In the meantime, I ran across this entertaining story about the most disturbing kind of audio information and I thought it would be fun to pass on.

I'm also thinking about posting my response to Heather's meme, a type of blogging I've never done before and may never do again. For some reason, I like reading other people's responses but get kind of wierded out by my own.

Listening: Go by the Newsboys. Several good songs on this album, but I think my favorites are "Your Love Is Better Than Life" and "Gonna Be Alright". The groove and lyric on the former are especially well-crafted, and I love the way the hymn wafts spacily in and out on the latter. You can listen to some samples on the links above.

They'll know we are Christians by our...uhm, theology.

A couple of things wafted by today, and I enjoyed their serendipitous juxtaposition. (That's fancy-talk for "funny side-by-sidedness")

The first was this article on ChristianReport.com listing the 50 Most Influential Christians in America. I was directed to this article by Jeff, whose excellent blog I read religiously, so to speak, and who I think believes that this is a sign of the soon-coming Apocolypse, if not something worse. He may be right, although I don't remember reading anything like this in those Left Behind books. All I know is that Jeff's name and my name are conspicuously absent from this list which casts an omnious shadow of dubious integrity on the whole deal.

I am happy to say, without smugness, but with a genuine sense of humble gratitude that a full 20% of these popular Christian folks are customers of mine. Because, regardless of which side of the denominational slice of bread you put your butter on, everybody who is anybody these days needs professional A/V production and broadcast equipment. And we don't judge people's theology at www.proaudio.com (well, sometimes we do, but we're smart enough to keep it to ourselves). Nope, the technology marketplace is an ecumenical gathering where all are welcome. Some of these nice people have been a big help in keeping my son enrolled at IU, and I am truly grateful.

The second fun thing that I ran across is synchronistically related, I am certain, albeit it in a way I can't quite pin down. Kind of like the way that the curvy black swashes are related to the white drip-drops in this Jackson Pollock painting. But I'm okay with the tenuous and pensive theological connection here. I'm an artist, so I thrive on ambiguity and dissonance. Here is this timeless and timely (how can it be both?) quote from that most irrascible of anti-religionists, Mark Twain:

"Man is the religious animal. He is the only religious animal
that has the true religion -- several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight."

This quote was at the bottom of today's A Word A Day. I made it print in green (uhm, blue)so as to dilute its venom. There is a sobering truth in this glib observation.

Another sobering truth is that when Jesus returns, one of the first things that happens is He sets everybody's theology straight. That will be a good day and, I do agree with Jeff, its probably not far off.

Warning: Geeky post about Internet Radio, music, and audio in general

This is a very interesting new product. First shown at last year's Consumer Electronics Show, the InFusion portable internet radio from Torian began shipping in November.

It is a battery-powered, fully portable, WiFi-driven media playback device. It also functions as an MP3 recorder/player and a regular FM radio. The cool thing about it is that it is designed to access the gazillion internet radio resources without the need for a computer. All it requires is WiFi. As WiFi becomes more and more ubiquitous, accessories like this will be increasingly practical. Not only will you be able to tune in at the local coffee shop, but even at home, it will be possible to listen to your favorite Ivory Coast alternative-rock channel as you mow the yard, fix supper, or clean the garage.

I love exploring the obscure and bizarre creative corners of our musical world through the many internet radio portals that exist today. For more info on this, check out this very helpful Wikipedia entry for details and links to explore. The only drawbacks so far have been that I have to listen to it on my computer, can't easily record the streaming audio, and therefore I can't take it with me.

This type of device or a variant should and will likely become standard equipment on home stereo component equipment. In addition to the buttons that allow you to select CD/DVD, FM, AM, and Cable TV, will be a button that says IP or somesuch, which will then allow you to tune in to the amazing programming choices that exist on the internet. Obviously, broadband internet access will be required, but that, too, is becoming more available with each passing day.

Audio quality continues to be an issue with every IP audio device. While I expect the InFusion sounds as good as most of the other internet-based players, I have yet to hear any consumer online-driven audio source that sounds as good as a compact disc through a decent conventional player. MP3's offer incredible convenience and access, but the fidelity is greatly inferior to the CD, DVD, or other fixed digital playback systems. In general, audio playback quality has suffered tremendously the last few years because the industries that drive the technology shifted their focus from prioritizing high-fidelity sound to high-quantity delivery methods. There are a host of issues, technical and aesthetic at play and I'm not going to get into it here. My hope and expectation is that the quality of the sound will soon catch back up with the wonderful freedom that we now have to listen to programming available from all over the planet.

The InFusion at first seems a little pricey at $229 and it is only available via special order through their site. But it is cheaper than most IPOD's and many other MP3 players. I think the idea is way more interesting than satellite radio, although, obviously, where there is no WiFi, there will be very little fun to be had. Yes, I want one.

h/t RadioWorld Online