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Personal Mixer Headphone Extensions
Headphone extensions have been the bane of many a sound engineer's existence. The cables on IEMs are never long enough to get from the musician's head to the Aviom or M-48, which means we need to provide some sort of extension cable. In the past, I've tried buying 1/4" headphone extensions and used 1/4" to 1/8" adapters, but those cheap, off-the-shelf adapters are very stiff and the adapters don't always work.
Recently, we've tried making our own. I found some super-thin cable and put a 1/4" TRS on one end with an 1/8" cable end on the other. Those worked well; at least until the 1/8" ends started failing -- which was about week 3. We then switched to regular cable (Mogami 2792) with a TRS on the PM end, and a locking 1/4" cable end with 1/4" to 1/8" adapter on the other. We even zip-tied a carabiner to the musician's end so they could clip to to their belt loops. Those work OK, but we've still had issues with the adapters (usually the left side cuts in and out).
While walking the trade show floor at WFX, I was tipped off to a possible solution.
Line 6 Launches New XD-V Series Digital Wireless Microphone Systems
Line 6 has introduced the XD-V75, XD-V55, and XD-V35 series digital wireless microphone systems.
Featuring microphone modeling technology, XD-V systems offer 24-bit, 10 Hz-20 kHz, compander-free performance. The new flagship XD-V75 line includes handheld, lavalier, headset and bodypack digital wireless systems.
The family offers a full complement of professional features including signal encryption, dynamic filters, gain control, channel scanning and more.
Utilizing the same 4th-generation digital wireless platform as the XD-V75, the XD-V55 family offers handheld, lavalier and headset systems and the compact, portable XD-V35 family includes handheld and lavalier systems.
"For performers who want wired mic audio performance and wireless freedom, the combination of Line 6 modeling and class-leading digital wireless platform makes the latest XD-V systems the only choice," says Steve Devino, live sound product manager at Line 6.
Ensuring faithful reproduction and stunning full-range audio clarity, XD-V systems all provide 10 Hz - 20 kHz frequency response and wide dynamic range (up to >120 dB). They do not use companders or compress the audio signal in any way, and audio quality does not degrade with distance.
XD-V systems operate in the 2.4GHz band, which is free from interference due to TV broadcast...
Read more: Line 6 Launches New XD-V Series Digital Wireless Microphone Systems
Better Drum Sounds - tom toms
The fifth chapter in this video series on how to mic up your drums with Drum Clinician Mike Snyder and Audio Engineer Dean k. Mike demonstrates how to get the best sounds from your rack toms and floor toms.
Spend some time with these guys and learn how to tighten up your tom sounds by using the Audix D2 and D4 microphones. I think that you'll be well-rewarded for the time you spend watching these videos today. Please call us if you have questions about drum microphone technique, or about Audix microphones.
Roland R-1000 Multi-Track Recorder Player Review
by Mike Sesser, ChurchTechArts.org
We first saw it at NAB in the spring, and have been anxious to get my hands on it ever since. The R-1000 is a 48-channel recorder/player that plugs right into a V-Mixing system using REAC. It can also be used in a MADI environment if you have an S-MADI Bridge...more on that in a moment. There a number of options for doing virtual soundcheck and multi-track recording out there, but the R-1000 has a few tricks up it's sleeve.
First, we'll consider it's use in a V-Mixing environment. If you are familiar with REAC, you know it's a 40-channel protocol. The R-1000 can record and play back up to 48 channels. It accomplishes this by having two sets of REAC ports. REAC A loops out to C, B loops out to D. Thus, if you have two stage boxes, the R-1000 drops into the system between the stage boxes and the mixer. You can easily pick off which channels get recorded up to a maximum of 48.
Better Drum Sounds - overheads
We're 4 chapters into Audix's video series on getting better drum sounds. In this video, you'll hear Mike and Dean talk about how to use the ADX51 condenser for proper pickup of the "room dimension" of your drum kit.
The ADX51 is reasonably-priced at $229.95 and is part of several of the Audix drum packs. If you need a good all-around condenser microphone, make sure to check out the ADX51. It makes a great hi-hat mic, too. More on that in a subsequent video. As always, please call us if you have questions.
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