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Q-SYS Ecosystem and AcousticDesign Series column loudspeakers help complete renovation at one of the busiest airports in Latin America

With over 20 million passengers flying through each year, the Santiago International Airport in Chile is one of the busiest airports in Latin America. With a major renovation and expansion in the works, the AV team chose QSC and the Q-SYS Ecosystem of processors, loudspeakers and amplifiers to deliver wide-area audio and paging distribution throughout the facility.

A redundant pair of Q-SYS Core 510i Integrated Core handles the AV&C processing throughout the airport. Should the primary Core enter a fault state, the secondary Core assumes full audio streaming and control communication with connected Q-SYS peripherals and third-party devices. This prevents any unwanted interruptions to audio, video or control that are critical to day-to-day operations.

Q-SYS features a software-based, multi-zone paging platform that enables native Q-SYS network page stations deployed throughout the airport. In total, the page stations support 256 network channels of live or delayed paging, page routing and store-and-forward capabilities without the need for additional control processing hardware.

QSC loudspeakers and amplifiers provide audio throughout the facility. Each of the 12 zones in the installation includes a redundant QSC CXD-Q Series 8-ch network amplifier setup, while the loudspeaker complement includes over 850 of the new AcousticDesign Series column surface-mount loudspeakers. The column loudspeakers offer better performance for high ceilings and reverberant environments like those found in the Santiago Airport concourses. The narrow vertical coverage pattern produces less audio excitation in these kinds of spaces, resulting in better clarity throughout the vocal range.

The PGA31 is an affordable wireless cardioid condenser headset microphone that delivers reliable sound quality for speech and live vocal performance applications.

Click here to view Shure PGA31 Rentals

It's no secret that the Phoenix area has some of the most spectacular fireworks displays and Fourth of July celebrations in the country. 

There are seven July Fourth festivals in the Phoenix area that never fail to capture the spirit of the occasion, and they are the largest and most well-attended events of them all.

Whether you're a local or you're visiting Phoenix from out of town, these are the celebrations to attend. Don't miss out on top-notch entertainment with nationally renowned performers taking the stage, family friendly activities and games, and of course the fireworks! 

Be sure to utilize the Valley Metro Rail if possible this year. It's your best option because parking at these well-attended events, and driving around restricted streets, will be challenging.

Fabulous Phoenix Fourth (Phoenix)

The City of Phoenix is, of course, the largest city in the state of Arizona and is in the geographic center of what is referred to as the Valley of the Sun, or the Greater Phoenix area. The Phoenix Fourth of July event is one of the biggest in the state and has one of the largest free fireworks show. It is usually televised. Typically, approximately 100,000 people attend this Phoenix Independence Day celebration.

When Is the Fabulous Phoenix Fourth?

July 4, 2019, from 6 to 10 p.m. Fireworks begin at 9:30 p.m.

Where Is It?

It is at the Steele Indian School Park at 300 E. Indian School Road in Phoenix (map). No vehicles will be allowed in the park during this event. This event is accessible by Valley Metro Light Rail. Check the July 4 light rail schedule information. Free parking is available at the light rail park-n-ride lots.

Despite what you hear online about how important automation is for event marketing and ticket sales, it’s not the magic success pill that many event organizers would like you to think. The reality is that automation is just one tool in your toolbox, and just like a builder can’t build a solid structure using just one tool, you can’t build a successful event using a single tool. It would be great if you could, but unfortunately, it takes more than just automation to build successful events.

Now, I know you’re wondering, “What are you talking about, Gary? What do you mean automation isn’t enough?” Let me give you some examples to explain what I’m talking about and how it affects you and your events.

Example 1

You’ve invested in an online ticketing software because the salesperson convinced you your event would fail if you didn’t connect your Facebook Page to your ticketing platform and add the Facebook pixel to your ticket sales page. “Facebook is the most important place for you to promote your event,” he said, “so you have to have access to this feature in your online ticketing software!”

You listened to him and used his platform to ticket your event, but ticket sales didn’t come rolling in. You placed some Facebook ads and integrated your Facebook and ticketing software accounts correctly! What went wrong?

I’ll tell you what went wrong – you relied on automation alone.

Example 2

An event marketing agency tells you they’ll help you with your email advertising, so that you can promote your event to the right audiences. You pay the agency and see new emails written and a landing page designed. However, you’re not getting a boost in your ticket sales. What went wrong?

Again, you relied on automation alone.

THE SOLUTION IS A BLEND OF AUTOMATION AND HUMAN TOUCH

Automation alone won’t make your event a success. Instead, you need a blend of automation and human touch to reap the rewards that automation offers. Think of it this way – if you hand someone a complex tool they’ve never used before and tell them it’s great because it will make their job easier and faster, they’ll love it. However, if they don’t understand how to fully use that tool, they’ll be paying for something that won’t deliver the results they want and need.

Email marketing has been proven to be one of the best ways to promote products, services, and events. In fact, email marketing is more effective at generating sales than search engine marketing and social media marketing, so it’s essential that email marketing is included in your event marketing plan.

Research has found that 4.24% of visitors from an email marketing message to a website or sales page buy something compared to just 2.49% from search engines and 0.59% from social media. One reason for this could be because email marketing messages are 5-times more likely to be seen than messages posted on Facebook.

The data paints a clear picture. Email marketing works, and you need to promote your events through email marketing to maximize attendance and ticket sales.

10 WAYS TO USE EMAIL MARKETING TO PROMOTE YOUR EVENTS
For event promotion, your email marketing goal will typically be to drive people to your ticket sales page. The following 10 recommendations will help you increase interest in your event among the right audiences and motivate them to click through to visit your ticket sales page where you can include an irresistible event description, images, videos, details, testimonials from prior attendees (if yours is a repeat event), and so on.

Once people land on your ticket sales page (and assuming you’ve created a great ticket sales page), they’ll want to attend your event, and they’ll buy tickets. But first, you have to get them to that ticket sales page with awesome email marketing messages.

Anaheim, CA. – The NAMM show has marked a series of successes for CHAUVET DJ over the years. This year the streak continues as CHAUVET DJ Freedom H1 has been named Best Lighting Product of the Year in the Music and Sound Retailer magazine’s 33rd Annual Music & Sound Awards. The award was presented to CHAUVET DJ at their booth during the NAMM show this month. CHAUVET DJ’s Freedom H1 has been the buzz of the special event lighting industry since its introduction in 2018. The industry responded by making it the Best Lighting Product of the Year. This marks the fifth time a CHAUVET DJ has won the award.

The CHAUVET DJ Freedom line of 100% wireless battery-powered products has included some of the most powerful event lighting tools for years. Freedom H1 packs all of the punch of its bigger-sized predecessors. It is a compact 100% TRUE wireless, battery-operated, LED wash light with a built-in D-Fi transceiver. The fixture features a single hex-color (RGBAW+UV) 10W LED. Its magnetic base makes it easy to mount the light to most metal surfaces providing added versatility. Because of its small size, Freedom H1 features effortless transport and set-up. Freedom H1 has a digital display for easy control and adjustment of all settings. Multiple control options include stand-alone mode, wireless DMX, or IR. The Freedom H1 X4 system includes 4 fixtures, 4 diffusers, a carry bag, multi-charger, and IRC-6 remote.

INDIO, CA – A little bit of magic happens every evening in April around 7:20 in the Coachella Valley. That’s when the sun sets behind the San Jacinto Mountains, filling the sky with glorious reds and ambers, creating the perfect setting for taking stunning photos and for becoming immersed in the sounds of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

As glorious as this colorful panorama may be, though, the ambient light that comes with those sunsets can play havoc with the best laid lighting design plans. Will Chandler not only circumvented this issue, he turned it to his advantage by using the evening sky as an inviting backdrop for a lightshow that managed to be both engagingly warm and brilliantly intense at the same time. Helping him in this endeavor was a collection of CHAUVET Professional STRIKE and ÉPIX Strip Tour fixtures.

“We needed a versatile rig for our time slot on the Coachella Outdoor Stage,” said Chandler. “Although we could afford more subtle moments later on in the evening, I was looking for fixtures that would provide a lot of impact earlier on during sunset. Video helped provide a lot of that impact, and that’s why I incorporated eight video walls into the rig to supplement the lighting. The STRIKE 1s also provided a lot of impact, and their color temperature was actually very complementary to the sunset going on behind the stage. The ÉPIX Strips helped outline the configuration, even when it was still bright outside.”

Chandler ran 20 STRIKE 1 fixtures across the stage at uniform heights. “All of my STRIKEs were facing straight into the crowd to create some really impactful moments,” he said. “With some fog blowing across the stage, we got some cool silhouette looks.”

The 34 ÉPIX Strip Tour fixtures in Bob Moses rig were hung horizontally across the width of the stage facing the crowd at a 45° angle. Chandler positioned the RGB linear fixtures at five different heights to create a zig-zag pattern that added a sense of angularity to the stage, endowing it with greater depth, while retaining the classic rock-and-roll looks that characterized the band’s earlier shows.

“Symmetry and geometry play key parts in this design, along with the juxtaposition of the old-school vintage look of the blinders against the colorful neon effect of the strips,” said Chandler. “My goal was to keep this show in line with the look of the original touring show. This incorporated a lot of the same fixtures, including STRIKE 1s and ÉPIX.”

LAS VEGAS, April 8, 2019 — Today, at the 2019 NAB Show, Shure unveiled TwinPlex™, the Company’s new line of premium subminiature (5 mm) omnidirectional lavalier and headset microphones. Designed to stand up to the toughest conditions, TwinPlex provides natural audio at both high and low frequency when professional vocal performance is a must. The new patent pending capsule technology offers best-in-class sound in an easy-to-conceal package, ideal for quick costume changes or discreetly placed under wardrobe with no impact on sound quality. Developed with input from leading audio professionals, TwinPlex supports the diverse needs of theater, broadcast, film and television, and corporate presentations to produce high-quality audio production with superior dependability.

TwinPlex consists of four lavaliers (TL45, TL46, TL47, TL48) and an ultra-light, fully-adjustable headset microphone (TH53) in multiple colors with extensive accessories and options. The unique dual-diaphragm omnidirectional design yields extraordinary off-axis consistency and industry-leading low self-noise creating lifelike vocal clarity and warmth.

“We’ve put these mics on a number of different people, and they simply sound outstanding. The noise floor is really low, and there’s an appreciated lack of handling noise—clothing noise from the cable is actually nonexistent,” commented Peter Schneider, owner at Gotham Sound.

To simulate years of intense use, the ultra-thin, TwinPlex cable was flexed, stretched, and pulled to the absolute limit in internal tests. Available in 1.1 mm and 1.6 mm options, the paintable cables are immune to kinks and memory effects, resulting in never-before-seen flex performance due to an innovative spiral construction with redundant shielding.

CHICAGO — On successive weeks in Las Vegas, Billboard Magazine presented its two major award shows, honoring the best-performing recordings of the previous year. On April 25, the Billboard Latin Music Awards were hosted by actress Gaby Espino at the Mandalay Bay Events Center and broadcast live by Telemundo. The following Wednesday, May 1, Kelly Clarkson hosted the NBC telecast of the Billboard Music Awards from the MGM Grand Garden Center Arena.

These celebrations of success featured very different artists and separate crews, but shared key production elements. Both events used Shure Axient® Digital wireless microphones and Shure PSM® 1000 in-ear systems for the artists. Shure PSM 1000 was the default choice by artists for personal monitoring. Music mixer Eric Schilling worked both events, mixing all performances at the Latin Billboards, then alternating mixes with Paul Sandweiss at Billboard Music Awards the following week. For both shows, the broadcast production mixer was Tom Holmes, and the primary PA and backline supplier was ATK Audiotek.

“Of course, we always make available whatever wireless microphone the artist prefers, but Axient Digital has really become the mainstay at these award shows,” notes Eric Schilling. “We never really have any glitches or complaints, and the sound quality is outstanding.”

For the Billboard Music Awards, wireless system design and coordination was provided by Soundtronics, with 20 channels of Axient Digital augmented by 10 channels of Shure UHF-R® microphone systems. For the Latin Billboards, Orlando-based Frequency Coordination Group (FCG) handled the wireless responsibilities, supplying 24 channels of Axient Digital and 4 channels of Axient analog.

PreSonus® is now shipping Studio One® 4.5, a major update to its powerful yet easy-to-use recording and production software. With more than 70 new features and improvements, this free update for Studio One 4 users adds several of the most requested features from the Studio One user community and adds advanced tools that streamline professional audio and MIDI production workflows.

The redesigned Input Channel section adds updated hardware preamp controls for selected PreSonus audio interfaces, as well as software-based input gain and phase controls to every input. This combination of hardware- and software-based gain controls offers more flexibility and control throughout the entire recording and mixing process. All audio and instrument channels, effects channels, and buses also feature gain and phase controls so you can manage perfect levels across the entire mix without increasing event gain.

Grouping has been completely redesigned: Groups now have attributes for defining edit groups or mix groups using attributes for Volume, Pan, Mute/Solo, Inserts, and Sends. Groups can be nested and can be easily edited and activated/suspended with one click. A dedicated command can globally enable/disable all Groups at once.

Setting up an external audio interface is a lot easier thanks to several I/O setup improvements. Add any number of new inputs and outputs in just one step, including custom naming and coloring. Inputs and outputs can be reordered with simple drag-and-drop. Users who switch interfaces, move between studios, or collaborate will appreciate the new Import and Export options for I/O setups.