Here is some additional commentary on the recent FCC decision. I think the concluding line of the article by Bill Evans sums it up best: The future is not entirely clear, but be prepared for interference from lots of stupid and worthless text messages to start hitting your wireless mics and ears in the near future. FCC Puts Screws to Live Event Audio Industry The important thing to keep in mind is that we don’t know what is going to happen, but we all need to be watching this very closely and be ready to defend our uses when the time comes. Read More →
With all the big news about elections lately, many of you may have missed the vote that the FCC placed on the same day you were casting your vote to elect a new President of the United States, or possibly to uphold marriage in some states. (I say uphold marriage because that is what the people in every state that I’m aware of voted to do.) The Federal Communications Commission voted on Tuesday to approve white space devices. White space is the area reserved for television stations, but not actually in use by one. Historically, this white space has been used by wireless... [Read more]
For those who are unsure exactly what is going on with this DTV transition, you may be interested in reading this article from EV. Expect more information on this transition to be coming in the next few weeks and months. Electro-Voice wireless microphone operation above 698 MHz in the United States – Electrovoice. Please note that it is not yet illegal to USE wireless products above 698, just illegal to manafucturer or sell them. How are these changes going to impact you? Read More →
I heard this morning that the new Soundcraft Si3 is supposed to be shipping in October with a street price of about $35-40k. This will definitely help Soundcraft’s presence in the middle of the road console market. Of course, it may still be out of the reach of many churches who are looking at an LS9 or similar console. Sometimes it isn’t all about money though and we have to factor into the equation features and the quality of the console. I would further predict that this is just a start and we will be continually seeing smaller digital consoles with lower... [Read more]
Either this is the week for digital consoles, or there must be a trade show coming up soon. In addition to the recent announcement of the Si3 digital console from Soundcraft, they have announced upgrades to the Vi6 and Vi4 digital audio consoles. The new upgrades will allow the Vi6 to handle 96 channels and take the Vi4 to 72 channels. All that is needed for the upgrade is a DSP card and new V3 software if you have one of the existing consoles. Those interested in purchasing a new system will have the option of a package for 64 or 96 input channels for the Vi6 and 48 or... [Read more]
Midas has slowly been giving us information regarding the XL8′s little baby brother. (It seems that everyone is introducing a new baby brother these days – I just wrote about the UR1M last week.) Many knew or expected that a smaller version of their flagship console must be on the way so that it would be more within the reach of most people’s budget. Well, their theory is that they needed to start with he big guy and then scale it down from there. The real advantage of scaling something down instead of up is that you know the infrastructure can handle... [Read more]
