By George Petersen
THIS WAS A TOUGH YEAR FOR MIDDLE TENNESSEE. And it was especially hard on Soundcheck, Nashville’s premiere live sound showcase for tour rehearsals, with off-the-road storage for instruments and backline for major tours, and on-site offices for leading companies such as Meyer Sound, Shure, Digital Console Rentals, Fender, Peavey, Tour Supply Inc., and others. And back in mid-May, when the once-in-a-century rains caused the Cumberland River to rise well over its flood stages, Soundcheck was at ground zero, and in a matter of hours was completely submerged. We had planned to host our sister publication’s annual Mix Nashville live sound and recording series just days later, and postponed the event until September 13 and 14, 2010.

Meanwhile in those months since the waters subsided, Soundcheck has been going nearly 24/7 to get back on line, pulling out drenched sheetrock, tearing out soaked carpeting, re-wiring and re-building, while rare guitars and amps went into a dry triage facility, where world-class restoration specialists went to work. Now, after this almost Herculean effort, Soundcheck is back.

It took a while to line up new dates for Mix Nashville that would work for sponsors, attendees and, most importantly, Nashville’s audio community. But we’re moving full-steam ahead with our favorite event of the year. Nashville is a recording town and there are plenty of programs catering to the studio crowd, but we’re also offering expanded programming, with two full days of presentations and panels focusing on live sound.

Hosted by Meyer Sound and Yamaha, Soundcheck’s Studio D will be the central point for all things Live, with three presentations each day from the sponsors, and I’ll be moderating two stellar industry panels featuring top-level industry pros offering advice and insights from their years of experience. The first, on Monday afternoon at 2:30pm, is “Sound System Meets Venue—Selecting The Right Playback Package,�? which given the selection of range of gear available today, will look into answering some tough questions about creating the right system for any installation. At 2:30pm on Tuesday, the topic will shift to “What’s Next? Technologies That Will Drive the Next Five Years in Sound Reinforcement.�? And with all that’s going on—from consoles to plug-ins to processors to snakes to system control to wireless—this should provide a fascinating glimpse into determining what’s around the corner and on the horizon.

Best of all, the event is FREE to all greater Nashville residents, and a mere $39 for earlybird registrants from outside Davidson County. Visit the Mix Nashville website today for all information and links to registration. Hope to see you there!
George Petersen is an independent journalist/author/producer. Visit him on Facebook or at www.audioinfosource.com.
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Keith Barr 1949-2010
By George Petersen
I’M LOSING A LOT OF FRIENDS LATELY. And not Facebook “friends�?, but real, amazing human beings that are no longer with us. The other day, it was Keith Barr, the genius who founded Alesis and was a co-founder of MXR, who passed away at 60. Besides some of the greatest stompboxes ever devised, Keith also led the team that created the Alesis ADAT digital modular digital multitrack recorder that—while mostly obsolete today (digital TAPE recorders?)—forever changed the audio world. For a more compete background on the life of Keith Barr, go to “In Memoriam—Keith Barr”
Even today, there are major holdovers from the ADAT technology, such as the LightPipe standard for carrying eight channels of digital audio over a fiber optic strand, and the company still continues, but perhaps the huge legacy of Keith Barr came from the vast number of industry pros today who were lucky enough to be part of the Alesis empire in Southern California and developed their marketing / sales / engineering / management / manufacturing chops there. The list of alumni from that great organization is substantial and they all share a bond from working within that team environment.
Farewell, Keith. You left us all too soon, but your mark on the industry is indelible and long-lasting and will continue to be felt for years to come. Rest in peace. You will not be forgotten.
George Petersen is an independent journalist/author/producer. Visit him on Facebook or at www.audioinfosource.com.
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By George Petersen
MAYBE I SHOULDN’T BE TOO SURPRISED, but a study in the August 2010 Journal of the American Medical Association states that the number of teens with hearing loss is on the rise over the past two decades—now about 20% or one in 5. No specific cause or culprit is stated, but maybe, just maybe it’s kids LISTENING TOO LOUD!! Way back when I was a kid, I’d listen to loud music, but not in cars with 130+ dB systems or with earbuds in my head 24 hours a day. Sometimes even ears need a little rest from the assault

NPR just did an article on the subject. Here’s the link: “Study: Hearing Loss Increases In U.S. Teens” It’s great reading. Do someone you know a favor and pass it along.

George Petersen is an independent journalist/author/producer. Visit him on Facebook or at www.audioinfosource.com.
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By George Petersen
STANDARDS COME AND GO, but when something comes along that’s picking up widespread support in the consumer, automotive and pro audio markets, and sponsored by well-known names such as Broadcom, Cisco, Harman, Intel, Samsung, Xilinx, Analog Devices, Applied Micro, Audinate, Avid, Barco, Biamp, Meyer, Shure, Sennheiser, and others, you gotta take notice.
Founded just a year ago—and celebrating its first birthday at InfoComm—the AVnu Alliance is dedicated to advancing pro-quality audio video by promoting IEEE 802.1 Audio/Video Bridging (AVB) standards over various networking link-layers. AVnu promotes the benefits of AVB technologies and will create compliance test procedures and processes that insure AVB interoperability of networked A/V devices, with the goal of better A/V experiences for end users. For anyone involved in the installation/manufacturing/sales/distribution/operation of A/V products—meaning everybody in our industry—AVnu is a good thing.
And learning more about AVB is a good thing. This month’s InfoComm show is the ideal opportunity for audio professionals to learn more about the practical benefits of the emerging AVB standards. To that end, the alliance will host a technology and product pavilion in the main hall at Booth C7934 on the show floor with various Alliance companies demonstrating their use of AVB. The Alliance members also invite all InfoComm attendees to their first-birthday celebration at the pavilion on Thursday, June 10 at 4:00 pm.
Keeping with education theme, “Designing The World’s First Ethernet AVB Systems with HiQnet System Architect�—a training session hosted by Harman—will focus on configuring an Ethernet AVB system in a house of worship system design. It happens Wednesday June 9 from 2:30 to 4:30 at Room N208.
Also not to be missed is a panel discussion on Friday, June 11 moderated by InfoComm’s Dan Goldstein, presenting a detailed explanation of AVB, the advantages of this open, non-proprietary technology and the importance of a compliance program in promoting the interoperability of AVB devices.
For more information about AVnu, AVB, and the AVnu Alliance—including detailed white papers on various aspects of the technology—visit www.AVnu.org. For more information about Infocomm, go to www.infocommshow.org.
When not working on Mix stuff, George Petersen records and performs with the SF Bay Area-based rock band ARIEL. Check ‘em out at www.jenpet.com.
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By George Petersen

Original Sgt. Pepper’s session master tape
CLICK ON IMAGE TO SEE LARGE VERSION

NORMALLY, LOOKING AT A TAPE BOX IS NO BIG DEAL, but when it’s an original multitrack master tape from a Beatles session, we’re dealing with pure audio archaeology. And with today’s 09/09/09 Beatles hoopla, I thought I’d share a bit of Beatles history…
Years ago, while on a jaunt in the U.K., I was fortunate enough to get way, way close to this holy relic and somehow had the foresight to snap a picture of the tape in question to share with you now.
What you see here is a 4-track master on 1-inch tape from The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band sessions. Using two 4-track machines to create tunes with eight or more tracks using tape editing, track bouncing and manual sync methods, The Beatles, George Martin and crew went through a LOT of tape in the course of producing the album.
Recorded at 15 inches per second (the maximum speed on a stock Studer J37 deck) at Studio Two in EMI Record’s Studios on London’s Abbey Road on January 20, 1967, this 10.5-inch reel tape contains tracks from “A Day in the Life,” with rhythm on track one, vocals on track two, bass/drums (and apparently tambourine) on track three and orchestra on track four. The notation beneath the track listing notes that a better phrasing of the words “blew his mind out in a car” is on another 4-track tape recorded with a different take.
Recorded on February 2, 1967, the other 4-track tune on this tape is “Sgt. Pepper’s,” with rhythm on track one, effects on track two, horns on track three, and vocals (with printed echo) on track four.
The “GE” initials on the box indicate the engineer was Geoff Emerick, with PMc (Phil McDonald) assisting on the first session and “RL” (Richard Lush) on the second date.
The tape itself was EMI’s house brand.
Who says that archaeology is all about ancient history?
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George Petersen is an independent journalist/author/producer. Visit him on Facebook or at www.audioinfosource.com.

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By George Petersen

LES PAUL, THE AVIATOR??? Here’s another astounding story about a side of master guitarist/inventor Les Paul that’s never been referenced anywhere and here it is for the first time. Interestingly, the link to this whole episode starts years ago in my studio. Stay with me for a bit and enjoy this amazing revelation about a side of Les few people know about…

In 1988, I was recording Greetings from Ariel, the debut album with my band, ARIEL. It was a fun rock excursion and featured a number of well-known guitar players doing guest solo spots. We had already recorded tunes with Ronnie Montrose, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Brad Gillis, Bill Spooner, Danny Kalb and Craig Anderton-all monster players in their own right, but I wanted to record something with Les Paul as well.

I called Les, asking if he’d be interested in doing a session. I told him we could do it any way he wanted. We could do it at his house, or at a studio in New York, or I’d fly him out to California and we could do something in L.A. during Winter NAMM, or we could do something in my place near San Francisco. He said no, because he was retired from that and if he consented to do my project then he’d have to do a lot of explaining to Lionel Hampton’s manager, who evidently had been calling fairly frequently, trying to get Les to do a project with Lionel.
Les started asking about my studio. Thinking that this meant he was perhaps warming up to the idea of doing something for his old pal George Petersen, I gave him a detailed description of the gear, which included an Akai ADAM digital 12-track, a highly modified 56-input Soundcraft 600 analog desk and a homemade digital 4-track mastering system made from interlocked Nakamichi DMP recording processors-essentially hotrodded Sony PCM-F1 units.


My studio, circa 1988
Next, Les asked where the studio was and I said it was in Alameda, California. Then the bombshell hit. “ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA!” Les shouts. “Years ago I swore I’d never return to that &%#$&#$ Alameda, California!” The immediacy (and vigor) of his response made me think of the Three Stooges’ “Niagara Falls” routine, where Curly goes berserk whenever he hears the phrase “Niagara Falls.” Something was going on here, and I wanted more information.
I asked Les for some extra details and he told me the most amazing story. At some point during his Army stint during World War II, he was flying in a two-seater Army Air Corps plane over the San Francisco Bay Area.
During the flight, the plane developed a massive hydraulic leak, started losing control and spraying fluid all over the cockpit. Les said he was soon soaked with the fluid and evidently “some other fluids” (thankfully he didn’t elaborate about the “other” fluids) as the plane suddenly starts losing altitude.

NAS Alameda, circa mid-1940′s
Fortunately, down below, the two spotted the Alameda Naval Air Station with its long, clear runways reaching out into San Francisco Bay. Somehow the pilot manages to make it to the runway, but the plane hits hard, bounces up and on second impact, the wings snap off.
This leaves the two occupants wheeling down the runway in the fuselage, with little control while trying to stop before the plane ends up in the bay. Just before the breakwater, they finally manage to stop the plane, but getting out, Les and the pilot face the mile-plus walk back to the control tower.
Off in the distance, the pair noticed a jeep heading towards them. Salvation at last! And after surviving a harrowing landing, at least they won’t have to walk back. The jeep pulls up with a sailor/driver and a furious officer, who screams “You have no right to land an Army plane on a U.S. Naval facility!”
Les never did tell me what happened next, but he concluded by saying, “That’s why I’ll never return to Alameda, California.”
And after that experience, I’m not sure I’d blame him for feeling that way.
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George Petersen is an independent journalist/author/producer. Visit him on Facebook or at www.audioinfosource.com.

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By George Petersen

HAVING BEEN A FRIEND OF LES PAUL FOR 25 YEARS, I have many good memories about him and I’d like to share a few of these.
I called Les up once in April, 1994 (for some reason I still don’t remember) and as we made some small talk, I asked him if he heard the news about Richard Nixon, who had passed away the weekend before. As soon as I mentioned the name “Richard Nixon,�? Les suddenly became very belligerent, and started screaming “Richard Nixon—that good for nothing &%#$&#$!!!�? Once I got Les to calm down somewhat, I meekly asked “so I guess you didn’t like that guy?�?

In some very strong words, but in a far calmer voice, Les finally replied that he hated Richard Nixon. I asked why and he said it went way back to the days when that &%#$&#$ Nixon was vice-president—and before, when he was known as Richard Nixon, “commie fighter.�?

Les explained that back in 1953, he got a phone call from Richard Nixon. Once he heard the voice say “This is Richard Nixon,�? Les muttered (expletive deleted) and hung up. A minute later the phone rang again, Les picked it up and the routine repeated. Finally the phone rang a third time, with Nixon saying “Les, this is really Richard Nixon,�? thinking the reason for the earlier hang-up was because Les assumed it was a prank call.
Figuring he wasn’t going to shake the VP, Les asked why he called, and Nixon explained he was calling to ask whether Les and Mary Ford could play a command performance at the White House for (the new) President Dwight Eisenhower and First Lady Mamie Eisenhower. Although Les didn’t think much of Nixon, he was definitely in the “I Like Ike�? camp, and immediately agreed to do the gig.

The day of the show came and everything went fine—at least until halfway through the show, when Nixon jumps up on stage between songs and asks Les to play a request for the First Lady. At this point. Les starts worrying, because he and Mary are playing to backup tracks with Les using a footswitch to trigger the start/stop cues on a tape recorder/amplifier hidden in a box he sits on during the show. The tape has rhythm guitar and Mary’s harmony parts sequenced on the tape. There’s no way to change the order of the songs during the show and he doesn’t want to reveal that their amazing full stage sound comes from taped tracks—a common practice now, but certainly a rarity in 1953.

Finally, Mamie Eisenhower thinks about the request and says she’d like to hear “Vaya Con Dios,�? which was on the charts at the time. Les says “I think we can do that,�? clicks on the footswitch and begins playing. Coincidentally, “Vaya Con Dios�? was the next song on the tape! So there’s you explanation of why Les always hated that &%#$&#$ Richard Nixon.

The NAMM Connection
Flash forward 49 years later. In 2002, during Summer NAMM in Nashville, Sony was hosting a special event for a limited number of members of the music/audio press—a private dinner with special guest Les Paul. I was among those few chosen to attend, and as I was friends with Les, Sony’s Paul Foschino asked me if I would do an interview-style conversation with Les after the dinner, which everyone would listen in on. I gladly accepted the offer and also encouraged them to videotape Les’ stories for posterity, which they did.
As the moderator/interviewer, I asked Les about his early days, developing the solid body guitar and his experiments with sound-on-sound recording and multitracking. Towards the end of the evening I threw in this zinger: “So Les, I understand you once had a chance to meet Richard Nixon.�? I figured that would add some spice to the conversation, but was surprised when the wiley Les—knowing the cameras were rolling—wasn’t wrinkled at all. In a very matter-of-fact tone, he calmly explained that he was very excited about the propect of playing for President Eisenhower, and at one point Mamie asked for a request, which happened to be in the order of the sequence was playing.

No screaming. No expletives. But now you know the real story.
Hopefully, somebody at Sony still has the tapes from that evening. And hopefully those tapes don’t have any unexplained gaps.

But you never know…

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—Thanks to Rick Clark for the photo above of Les and I from that Sony dinner.

George Petersen is an independent journalist/author/producer. Visit him on Facebook or at www.audioinfosource.com. George also performs with the SF Bay Area-based rock band ARIEL, and produces records, such as “Voodooville: A Celebration of New Orleans” by Chelle & Friends. Click here Voodooville video and check it out.
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By George Petersen

WE OFTEN GET A LOT OF STRANGE ITEMS IN THE MAIL at the Mix offices here, but the other day we were intrigued by the arrival of a rather odd parcel. Within the ordinary-looking outer packaging was an unmarked black box (somewhat reminiscent of the black monolith from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001-A Space Odyssey) and within that was a Mackie Onyx 820i analog mixer with FireWire interfacing, a copy of Pro Tools M-Powered software, a DVD marked “Insert Me” and a page of instructions printed using ransom note-style cut-out letters. The outside of the mixer’s box (shown in the photo below) touts a large notice saying it’s COMPATIBLE WITH PRO TOOLS M-POWERED in large letters with the words “and Logic, SONAR, Cubase, etc.” listed beneath in smaller type.

In true Mackoid tradition, the DVD had a short video clip of a Mackie employee with an altered voice, wearing a stocking (actually it was a pair of pantyhose) over his face to conceal his identity. The mystery spokesperson explains a few people were chosen to receive this “top-secret” parcel and then goes to play part of a Pro Tools session through the 820i. More mysterious perhaps was the other file on the DVD–an installer for the “Mackie Universal Driver Version 1″ that would let Mackie products act as an audio interface/front end for Pro Tools M-Powered software. If so, it’s a big deal–a lot of impact for a relatively few lines of code.

Assuming this isn’t simply a case of reverse-engineering on Mackie’s part, this development is significant for several reasons. Up until this point, Digidesign has been exceedingly protective about its hardware, with the only sanctioned deal being certain gear from sister company M-Audio working with the specially branded Pro Tools M-Powered software. So this is either the first step (admittedly, a small step and not a leap) toward penetrating Digidesign’s “software curtain” on Pro Tools hardware, or simply opening the market somewhat on the M-Powered side to bring more users into the Pro Tools fold. And once there, some of these users would, in theory, eventually upgrade to Pro Tools LE or a full-bore Pro Tools HD system, making it a coup for Mackie and a win on Digidesign’s part.

Yet, other than a mysterious note, a new FireWire-enabled mixer and a driver with a LOT of potential, there are many questions and few answers–at least so far. What other products are planned? Will/can other manufacturers join in the fray? Will this lead to third-party openings for other Digi products, such as Pro Tools HD or Pro Tools LE? In all, quite a mystery. However, more information should surely come on September 9–Mackie’s “official” launch date for the 820i. But one thing’s for sure: This story ain’t over yet. Not even close. Stay tuned to mixonline.com for more developments.

We’ll be watching this one!

When not working on Mix stuff, George Petersen records and performs with the SF Bay Area-based rock band ARIEL. Click here www.jenpet.com/ariel.html and check ‘em out.
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By George Petersen
EVER WONDER IF SOMEONE’S PUTTING YOU ON? We always appreciate getting e-mails and comments about Mix and the industry in general, but every once in a while, we just gotta wonder whether someone’s putting us on. It’s the web equivalent of the phrase “O.K., Where’s the hidden camera?”—wondering whether Allen Funt is gonna come out from behind a curtain. And sometimes, maybe it’s simply a sad reflection on whoever actually sends these things.

One time, some guy inquired, asking for a recommendation about what kind of outboard mic preamp he should buy. Someone told him his tracks would sound much better if he bought a Neve preamp. I replied that to in order for us to maintain some kind of impartiality, we have a policy of not recommending any specific products unless it is part of a written article, review, etc. But out of curiosity, I asked him what kind of mics he had. He replied he had a couple of Shure SM57s.
Believe me, there are few mics more amazing than this must-have, time-tested classic, but at this point the “Candid Camera” alarm went off in my mind. However, diplomacy set in and I recommended he could probably get more quality for his money by first getting some better mics which later—once he’s ready to invest in a super-quality preamp—would really make sense. Problem is some schmoe, an “expert,” no doubt, gave some one-size-fits-all advice that really didn’t fit his particular situation.

Another time, some guy e-mailed after reading what we assumed was a thoroughly tongue-in-cheek article I wrote on the back page of our AES issue last year with a bunch of joke press releases called “Products You Won’t See at AES”. You can check it out here: CLICK HERE FOR ARTICLE.
Among other things—including gems such as “The Roach Coach Music Library,” a “Drunkulator” plug-in and a “Stoogelizer” outboard processor—the list described the “Virtual Sur-Reality” helmet, which would give users the visual impression they were mixing in Abbey Road studios or the Sydney Opera House rather than the cheesy studio or dumpy basement club they were in.

It was written in jest, yet some poor soul actually thought it was real (talk about sur-reality!) and wondered how he could contact the manufacturer. I’m sure it was quite a letdown for this person to hear the truth, but maybe there’s a lesson to be learned here that indicates there might be a market opportunity for someone to actually make such a product. Any takers? And hey, if it’s on the Internet, it’s gotta be real… doesn’t it?

George Petersen is an independent journalist/author/producer. Visit him on Facebook or at www.audioinfosource.com.

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