I'm writing this from the airplane on the way home from Winter NAMM 2010. By all accounts it was a very vibrant show. Attendance was healthy. New product innovation was everywhere. And NAMM's new emphasize on the house of worship market was evident. NAMM sponsored their first ever Night of Worship concert, featuring Lincoln Brewster, Paul Baloche and the Band of Brothers featuring Kirk Whalum, Paul Jackson Jr., Gregg Bissonette, John Pena, Tom Brooks and Carl Albrecht. Concert attendance was estimated at 1600 --- very successful. The new Hands On Training Zone (H.O.T. Zone) sponsored in part by Church Production Magazine, Christian Musician Magazine, Worship Musician Magazine, Worship Leader Magazine and Technologies for Worship was also well-attended and most appreciated by those in attendance.
The showfloor was open less then half an hour before I saw the first of many products that I would consider potential "game changers" for the house of worship market. Primacoustics, the acoustical panel and equipment division of Radial Engineering has come up with a range of acoustical isolation products called IsoTools I think could revolutionize the quality of sound reinforcement and recording. These simple solutions provide additional isolation from adjacent instruments and sound sources. The IsoTools can provide additional acoustic isolation between a snare mic and a high-hat mic, or a tom mic and a crash or ride cymbal mic. They can provide additional isolation from a hollow wooden stage floor and a microphone stand (vocal or instrument), and can shield bleed over between horn sections or individual players of any sort. Kudos to the innovative folks from Radial Engineering.
Shure's new PSM900 promises to take personal monitoring to the next level. It offers additional mixing, muting and overall sound quality options that will provide the in-ear monitoring experience that every house of worship musician desires.
Later this year, Shure is introducing several new in-ear monitors --- the SE425 two-way, and SE 535 three way --- that offer improved sound quality and additional sound refinement options for musicians, singers and anyone (read consumers) wanting at truly professional in-ear monitoring experience. Oh, and the new chrome finish option certainly boosts the coolness factor.
Waves, which blew me away at the AES (Audio Engineering Society) show in New York late last year with their, Waves Live plug-ing for live sound applications, held a very well-presented press conference that was substantive and entertaining. The Israel-based company introduced two more plug-in suites from engineer/producers Chris Lord-Alge (Skillet, Switchfoot, Stevie Nick, Creed, David Bowie etc) and Jack Joseph Puig (Switchfoot, Green Day, Black Eyed Peas, U2 etc) --- both of whom were in attendance and talked the audience through the suite of products designed for their individual work-flow and sonic preferences. But Waves stunned the audience when they announced a strategic alliance with Digico, the UK-based manufacturer of digital mixing consoles for live sound. Managing Director James Gordon and Marketing Director David (Webby) Webster took the stage and acknowledged that Waves' plug-in effects will be integrated into Digico's Stealth DSP systems. Behind-the-scenes discussions after the press conference reveal the Waves/Digico integration will be something end-users, including churches, will be able to experience in very short order, and may progress into additional options and opportunities for both companies.
Ever wished you could create a mix, mute or patch sequence --- or even just an effect --- for a live sound event in your church, and email it to another sound engineer to integrate seamlessly into your next church service. Presonus can now do it with their newly expanded Virtual StudioLive suite of products. Besides a new, larger 2.4.2 console, medium-sized for live sound front-of-house or monitoring applications, the Virtual Studio Live application provides live, real-time, bi-directional control of all StudoLive functions whether working on the computer interface or the actual console. That's right, I said live, bi-directional and real-time.
Samson's newly expanded Expedition Series of portable, powered live sound loudspeakers with removable mixer, wireless microphone options is targeting a market dominated by Yamaha and Fender Passport. Besides sounding great, Samson's new XP510A has an easy-to-use iPod connection that increases this systems options and functionality.
CAD (formerly Astatic) expands upon their patent-pending, remote polar pattern control system with their new 1800VP lectern/podium mic. The VP range of ceiling and stand-mounted choir mics, with remote polar/pick-up pattern control are great. But adding that functionality to a podium mic brings the sound reinforcement innovation to a new and increasingly useful realm. CAD offered a live sound product demo on the NAMM show floor which was very loud, that in my ear provided 12 - 18 dB of additional isolation between the omnidirectional and hyper-cardioid settings on this new lecturn mic --- all of which can be controlled from the mix position, up to 2000 feet away from the microphone.
Peavey's newly updated Impulse Series of portable loudspeakers surely turned some heads with their new ribbon mid-/high-frequency drivers, which sound excellent. And the new, very attractive cabinets only add to the value.
Two new companies enjoying their first NAMM appearances are K-Array, the Italian loudspeaker manufacturer distributed in the US by Sennheiser, and MyMix, a new personal monitor mixing innovator aimed at the musician market. K-Array's niche is thin and narrow loudspeakers. Some of their line arrays are only a few inches wide. They literally disappear in an architectural environment. However it's their Nynja floor monitors that really caught my eye. Only two inches tall, these powerful floor monitors have steerable (both horizontal and vertical) sound coverage patterns while taking up a fraction of the visual (vertical) floor space of a traditional wedge monitor. They can also be mounted on the ceiling, possibly as a low-profile, under-balcony speaker.
MyMix, which had their public debut at NAMM, offers musicians up to eight personalized stereo mixes, while recording up to 16 channels of multi-track audio and a stereo mix to an optional, built-in SD or SDHC card. The recorded audio can then be imported into any recording software for individual rehearsals after a practice, songwriting, archiving, or any other live sound recording need. In a live, personal monitoring application, users have control over volume, tone, pan and effect level. Simple and easy to use, myMix systems use common Ethernet hardware, and the Ethernet AVB protocol.
Regardless of the state of the economy, the Winter NAMM 2010 was, by all accounts, a successful event.
Next stop.....NAB in Las Vegas early April.
Best Regards,
-- Brian BlackmorePublisher and Editor-in-Chief
Church Production MagazineWorship Facilities Magazine
bblackmore@pmipub.com919-325-0120 x206919-325-0121 fax
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