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Wired In: Developing a System for a Unique Chicagoland Venue

Originally published on ProSoundWeb

The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow famously said, “Music is the universal language of mankind.” It’s certainly a dialect shared by four lifelong Chicago-area musicians who have come together to create Wire, a venue for live music performance, education and production carved out of an old Teamsters hall in near-west suburban Berwyn, IL.

The four musicians include Chris Neville of Tributosaurus, which faithfully reproduces the recordings of classic rock groups (a different one each month); Paul Bolger of popular jam band Mr. Blotto; Tracy Dear of alt country group Waco Brothers, and Jon Smith, a noted recording engineer.

A collective statement from the partners presents their vision: “Wire was an idea that came about several years ago, an idea that intends to reclaim music’s heritage as a method of communicating – not something done in isolation, but something shared with other musicians, the surrounding community, and the world at large.”

Wire’s stage hosts a steady stream of live performances both diverse and eclectic: rock, blues, reggae, acoustic, jazz – and those that escape easy definitions. Space behind the stage has been carved out as the classrooms for Rock University, where students learn both music and production, and above that is the makings of a soon-to-be implemented recording studio.

The venue is an important part of a thriving transformation of the arts community along Roosevelt Road in Berwyn, just a 20-minute drive from downtown Chicago and already the home of venerable FitzGerald’s Nightclub, a staple of the music circuit celebrating its 35th year.

It’s not surprising given the collective decades of performance experience that the partners are well-informed on the subject of sound reinforcement. Bolger, for example, notes that Mr. Blotto has owned its own PA for two decades, made up of premium components. Equally unsurprising is that they turned to fellow musicians for design and installation of Wire’s house and monitor systems.

Neville’s initial call went to TC Furlong, head of the sound company based in Lake Forest, IL since 1973 that bears his name and also a long-time player on the region’s music circuit. Furlong in turn brought Brian O’Connell of his staff into the loop to serve as project manager, and he too is a veteran player on the Chicago scene, noting, “I’ve known Paul (Bolger) for a long time. Our bands have opened for each other over the years.”

Developing The Space

The building that houses Wire actually began life as the Oak (and later the Oakwyn) Theater in 1934, largely presenting motion pictures. Later it was acquired by the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which transformed it from a theater into a two-story office building. It remained that way, even after the Teamsters vacated it, until being purchased by the Wire partners.

The interior was essentially “gutted,” revealing a beautiful, open space framed by exposed beige brick. After decades of inattention, the brick was restored to its original beauty, topped by a natural wood ceiling that adds to a warm, clean aesthetic.

A large stage (27 feet wide and 15 feet deep) dominates the front of the room, and looking out from there, one sees a large audience area capable of accommodating about 400, with a bar behind that topped by a VIP area comprised of a couple of the old offices that were left in place.

Right away, it was obvious that the room’s numerous hard, parallel surfaces (the floor is concrete) presented a primary demand of the house loudspeakers: pattern control. At the same time, the partners wanted a system with a highly musical signature.

During the evaluation process, O’Connell tipped off Bolger and Neville to a demonstration being presented by Bose Professional of its RoomMatch loudspeaker arrays at another local theatre. They liked what they heard, and a direction was set.

“RoomMatch has a beautiful musical signature,” Bolger says. “You can hear all of the subtleties, the true tonality of acoustic instruments, the ‘whisper’ of guitar strings. It’s beautiful, clean, and intelligible.”

O’Connell notes that a key aspect of the RoomMatch approach, with models available in numerous dispersion patterns, also met the absolute need for output that could be focused on the audience while keeping stray energy off of the room’s many reflective surfaces. Further, with the TC Furlong team new to RoomMatch, Bose Professional stepped up to provide design support, particularly in terms of modeling via the company’s Modeler software.

Main Configuration

What resulted are flown left and right main full-range arrays flanking the Wire stage, each comprised (bottom to top) of one RM12020 module, two RM9020 modules, and a RM7010 module.

The model numbers reveal the coverage patterns of the modules, with horizontal coverage wider at the bottom (120 by 20 degrees) and then tapering to more narrow (90 by 20 and then 70 by 20 degrees) as you move up the array. The result, according to Bolger, is uniform coverage of the room both front to back and side to side.

“Dispersion is very even, and there’s distinct clarity in fully revealing the subtle detail of the music,” he states. “You can walk anywhere in the room and the hi-hat doesn’t go away, the vocals don’t go away, the real character of the music doesn’t go away.”

The open nature of the space and a truss grid above the stage translated to easy selection of optimum locations to fly the arrays. Meanwhile, there wasn’t enough height to fly the subwoofers with the arrays, so to keep the floor clear of obstructions, the system’s two RMS218 (dual-18-inch) subs are positioned together beneath the center/front of the stage, and they’re in a cardioid configuration topped by a judicious use of digital processing to help keep their output under control.

All main system loudspeakers and the subs are driven by four Bose Professional PowerMatch PM8500N networked amplifiers and managed by a ControlSpace ESP-00 digital processor using four ESP I/O cards. These components are located backstage.

Mix & I/O

The other primary component in the system is a Yamaha Commercial Audio CL5 digital console that’s capable of handling both house and monitors. Fronting the custom sound booth constructed in one of the rear corners of the room, it provides plenty of capabilities for guest engineers.

The console is linked via (Audinate) Dante networking to two Rio stage boxes, one to each side of the stage, that accommodate up to 64 inputs, with another eight inputs available on the console.

“The CL5 is a great choice for this application,” O’Connell notes. “The technology is proven, engineers like to mix on it, there’s plenty of capability, plus we’ll be able to link it via Dante to the recording studio system when it’s ready.”

“This is an excellent console both sonically and operation-wise, with plenty of onboard facilities in terms of effects,” Bolger adds. “Plus it’s great for teaching our students. We like to get them behind the board and show them the cause and effect of what they’re doing on stage as it relates to what’s happening with sound in the house.”

Currently a Dante run from the console feeds a multitrack recorder for capturing live performances, and Cat-5 is also in place to facilitate a Dante link to the main system rack in the near future. (That feed is analog for the time being.)

There really weren’t many options with respect to the booth location – placing it centrally would have impeded crowd traffic flow while also occupying too much prime listening real estate. However, this difficulty is largely alleviated with the use of the console’s StageMix app with an iPad that’s kept at front of house, allowing engineers to dial in the mix from anywhere in the room.

At The Stage

This applies to monitors as well, with the CL5 accommodating up to 16 mixes on stage. Several QSC KW122 (12-inch) active 2-way loudspeakers are available for artists, placed horizontally on their cabinet’s monitor position, with a 15-inch KW152 provided for drum fill. They’re also outfitted with EQ modes for switching between optimized settings with the press of a button on the back panel.

“I really like these boxes as monitors. Both the 12s and 15s get it done,” Bolger says. “I also like that you can adjust them if you want. It’s incredible what compact loudspeakers can do these days.”

“Actually, my band played at Wire a few months ago, and as a musician, I found the stage monitoring situation to be great,” O’Connell adds.

The microphone package offers a variety of models from Shure (SM57 and SM58, several BETA mics, and three KSM137 condensers). Direct needs are met with Radial Engineering ProDi boxes as well as a ProD8 providing eight channels in a single rack-mount box.

All of the equipment hadn’t arrived as the venue’s grand opening date approached, so TC Furlong supplied loaner gear from its extensive rental stock to handle the situation until everything was delivered and installed. The company also provided training on the console and a technician for opening night.

Desired Result

Wire is convenient to expressways and public transportation, seeing notable success in attracting patrons from all over the Chicagoland area for live music several nights a week. It’s already garnered a reputation among musicians as a place to play and be heard, and among patrons who appreciate the care that’s gone into creating the venue.

“It sounds more like a concert hall than a club,” says O’Connell. “This system sounds fantastic, to us and to the club’s owners and to everyone who’s been there.”

“We set out to create a place where we’d want to play as artists, and that’s led to a great result and what we see as a valuable addition to the area music scene,” Bolger concludes. “We’ve worked carefully in how we’ve allocated our resources, and those choices have paid off for everyone involved.”

Engineer/Producer Freddie Breitberg Utilizes Shure To Capture The Great Postmodern Nightmare

A Pro Sound Web writeup on one of our recent sales: We were happy to help Freddie Breitberg add 13 Shure KSM313 ribbon microphones to his personal mic locker.

Originally posted on Pro Sound Web on January 14, 2015.

Chicago engineer/producer and sound designer Freddie Breitberg recently utilizedShure KSM ribbon microphones in recording the debut album of big band jazz artists The Great Postmodern Nightmare.

With some of his collection of classic RCA ribbon mics were due for ribbon refurbishing, Breitberg decided that the time was right to try Shure’s distinctly modern ribbon technology.

“Ribbon microphones are like old friends: You love them for their warmth and personality,” he says. “They have always been a key tool for me in music recording, and I’ve always had a collection of vintage ribbons to offer my clients. This project, which was actually a crowd-funded CD, gave me a great chance to explore the personalities of the Shure KSM ribbon mics.”

The sessions took place over two days of live recording at I.V. Lab Studios on Chicago’s north side, with Breitberg deploying Shure KSM313s on all the horns and using the KSM353 as part of his mid-side stereo room miking arrangement and on amplifiers.

“I’ve done a lot of big band work live in the studio, and came up with a sort of horseshoe layout for the horns to take advantage of room acoustics and the figure-eight pattern of the ribbon mics,” he explains. “I spot-mike each instrument individually, and I use Mid-Side stereo miking to capture the room. It gives me both room sound and isolation.”

Specifically, to capture horns, Breitberg used a set of KSM313s, which have a unique ribbon design in that the two sides of the microphone produce distinctly different frequency responses—neutral from the front, slightly brighter from the rear.

“The 313 sounds fantastic on horns,” he says. “They are as warm as my vintage RCA ribbons, but with more high end. That means less EQ and less processing in mix – and that is always a good thing in recording.”

In working with a large group of identical KSM313s, Breitberg was also struck by a couple other things. “They are just wonderfully consistent from mic to mic,” he reports. “Compared to other ribbons, they have plenty of output, and their null points in the figure-eight pattern are tremendously deep, which really helps with isolation in my room scheme. The results were really compelling.”

Breitberg’s big band technique, which he calls “working in perpendiculars,” places the band in a U-shaped seating arrangement with the drums at the base. For this band, one leg of the “U” had four trumpets directly across and parallel to the drums, with the bones and saxophone sections perpendicular and directly across from one another. The rhythm section of bass, piano, and guitars was arrayed on either side of the drum kit.

Rather than the traditional distant ambient room miking technique, Breitberg places two mid-side stereo set-ups inside the “U.” Mid-side stereo combines two mics, one bidirectional and one cardioid, to create a controllable, phase-cohesive stereo image. For this task, he used the Shure KSM353 with its flat, uncolored response in the side position, paired with a KSM32 cardioid condenser to capture the on-axis sound.

“I cut my teeth on orchestra and big band, and I’ve developed this technique over the years,” explains Breitberg. “It’s killer because it locks in your phase. The mid-side mics act more like EQ and compression as opposed to ambience—in a positive way. The matching Shure ribbons really accentuated that.”

Recording the 18-piece group live was a real test of the microphones and of Breitberg’s technique. “The first time I played back the tracks, it sounded like it was already mixed. It produced nearly perfect phase coherency for a really natural blend, and the deep null in the figure-eight pattern gave me enough isolation to do punch-in fixes if needed. When you think about it, to do that, recording an entire big band live, is pretty amazing.”

As a result, Fred Breitberg decided to add the KSM313 to his mic locker. In fact, he purchased 13 of them—the largest documented sale of ribbon microphones in Shure history. “These are great-sounding mics, and add so much more flexibility than a ribbon that’s identical on both sides,” he says. “They have the warmth and personality of a vintage ribbon, but with higher output and SPL handling that vintage RCAs never had. Though they’re perfect for horns and guitar amps, I’ll also be using them on strings, nylon guitars, piano, drums, and whatever else they test well on. I decided I had to have them.”

Interested in Shure Ribbon Mics for your next event? Contact us at 847.367.9588!

Chicagoland’s Marriott Theatre Makes Jump To Digital With DiGiCo SD7T

Originally posted by Digico

LINCOLNSHIRE, Illinois – November 2014 — The Marriott Theatre in the Chicago suburb of Lincolnshire is the most subscribed musical theatre company in the US, and a new DiGiCo SD7T console is ensuring that its sound is every bit as top rate as the shows that are produced there year-round.

Founded in 1975, The Marriott Theatre sells more than 400,000 tickets a year and has presented more than 165 productions to an estimated eight million people. The venue has received a record 500 Joseph Jefferson Award nominations – Chicago’s highest theatrical honor for artistic achievement.

In addition to the steady stream of musicals that run eight-to-ten weeks each, the company also periodically produces children’s productions in the morning as well as special events, such as concerts from a popular Beatles tribute band. The stage setup is a theatre in-the-round, which sometimes revolves depending upon the production.

Robert Gilmartin, The Marriott Theatre’s resident sound designer, decided that the SD7T would be best for the venue’s needs after conducting research and consulting with other theatrical sound designers and engineers. “We needed something dependable, reliable and multifunction,” explains Gilmartin, who recently made the transition from analog to digital with the new DiGiCo desk supplied by TC Furlong Inc. of nearby Lake Forest, IL.

“Marriott’s Lincolnshire theatre has always counted on superior audio quality, flexibility and ultra reliability for all equipment acquisitions,” says TC Furlong of his company’s long-time client. “DiGiCo punched all three tickets with the SD7T.”

Gilmartin notes that the console performed flawlessly throughout the entire run of its first 2014/2015 season production, the classic On The Town, which ran from August 13 through October 12. The engineer partly attributes the show’s success to the full month he had to become familiar with the console in the theatre’s rehearsal space before opening night.

“It’s been very smooth; all the preparation and testing really helped,” he explains, adding that Group One Limited’s Matt Larson and theatrical audio consultant Zac Jac Duax spent a productive training day that brought Gilmartin up to speed with the hardware and software.

In addition to requiring a console that could enable a complex theatrical show to be quickly programmed both online and offline, Gilmartin needed a highly capable cast management solution. With singing casts of as many as 32 actors on stage, having enough input channels to accommodate everything was absolutely mission-critical. The SD7T boasts up to 253 input channels, making it something of a theatrical sound designer and engineer’s dream machine.

“Everybody is mic-ed,” says Gilmartin, noting the need for multiple tracks on the console. “We mix manually by hand and bring up one at a time – depending upon who on stage is singing or speaking – which cleans up the audio.” He adds that the SD7T makes it easy for the engineer “to be fast with his fingers” well in advance of each cue.

The orchestra, comprising eight to ten musicians, is located in an enclosed room in back of one of the theatre’s four sections. A glass wall gives the conductor a clear view of the stage.

The SD7T replaced the house’s incumbent all-analog gear – a large console and two side boards, which had been used for special effects and sub mixing. Gilmartin, who has been at the theatre since 2007 – initially as the in-house engineer and promoted soon thereafter to sound designer – is also pleased with the abundance of outputs that the SD7T provides (128 busses plus 32 Matrix busses).

Gilmartin says the best compliment about the capital expenditure came from a gleeful Terry James, The Marriott Theatre’s Executive Producer. Following On The Town’s opening night after a stellar performance, “Terry said, ‘I forgot all about the new board.’”

For smaller productions and performing arts centers, DiGiCo additionally offers the SD10 and SD9T, both of which deliver the same audio performance and similar feature set to the SD7T.

For a complete list of The Marriott Theatre’s upcoming performances, visit www.marriotttheatre.com.

TC Furlong Inc. specializes in live sound rentals and sales for the performance industry. For more info, visitwww.tcfurlong.com.

Lectrosonics Aspen Processors Installed in Second City Theatre

Originally posted by Lectrosonics PR

BOConnell_Sm Operating since the 1950’s, The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise, best known as the first ever on-going improvisational theater troupe in the United States. It is known also for the inclusion of live, improvised music during their performances and has served as the training ground for a host of famous alumni including John Belushi, Mike Myers, Bill Murray, Gilda Radner, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, and many more. As part of an upgrade to the facility’s sound reinforcement (SR) systems, the venerable nightspot recently incorporated three Aspen SPN1612 16 input / 12 output audio processors from Rio Rancho, NM-based Lectrosonics.

Lake Forest, IL-based TC Furlong, Inc., which provides audio production services, equipment sales and rentals, and some light installation services, was contracted to handle The Second City’s upgrade. Brian O’Connell, the firm’s Sales Manager who also assumes an integral role in the company’s consulting and system design efforts, discussed the nature of the project and his decisions for implementing three Aspen processors.

“The Second City produces shows with various scenes and songs addressing local, national, and international issues through social and political satire,” O’Connell reports. “Similar in content, the Mainstage provides for a larger, more historical experience while the E.T.C. is a smaller, more intimate room. UP Comedy Club is the newest room at The Second City and is dedicated to producing and presenting a diverse array of programs that include stand-up, sketch, improvisation, podcasts, and other eclectic performances. The house needed a capable sound system that could run unattended much of the time while also providing the reliability and consistency necessary for a venue of this nature. Working with our tech Scott Helmke, we determined that the Lectrosonics Aspen SPN1612 would be the right choice for each of the three rooms.”

O’Connell elaborated, “With eight Earthworks C30/C choir mics over each stage and lots of improvisation during a typical show, we needed very good automixing capabilities, since putting wireless microphone packs on the talent was not an option. In addition to clear, natural sounding audio quality, system reliability was another very important consideration because whatever equipment we deployed, it would be used constantly and for many years to come. My past experience has shown me that Lectrosonics equipment sounds good, is extremely well built, and is designed to last.”

When queried about those system attributes that were particularly noteworthy on The Second City project, O’Connell singled out the Aspen SPN1612’s automixing and audio processing capabilities. “The Lectrosonics Aspen SPN1612 has excellent automixing and loudspeaker management provisions in addition to a very flexible matrix mixer,” he added. “The fact that we could get great automixing, all of the speaker management options we required, and flexible matrix mixing in a solid, well-built product made the Lectrosonics Aspen units a no-brainer choice.”

With the SPN1612’s level of sophistication, it’s not uncommon for questions to arise during the design and implementation phases of a project. On that note, O’Connell was very complimentary of Lectrosonics’ customer and technical support services. “We had some questions early on in the spec phase about how the automixer functions operated and if there was enough processing power to handle everything we wanted to do,” he explained. “As always, the folks at Lectrosonics were extremely helpful. They had us up and running in no time.”

The third phase of The Second City’s upgrade was completed in January of this year and, since that time, O’Connell notes that the Lectrosonics equipment has performed admirably and that the client is very pleased. According to Kyle Anderson, Technical Director for Second City, “the processor allows us to get more out of the microphones and takes some things off the engineer’s plate to be free to mix music and manage various feeds for broadcast and streaming.”

5 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Digital Recorder

recorder-sq-bg Choosing the perfect digital recorder for your application can be tricky, with an increasing number of high-quality options from manufacturers available.

Here are 5 questions to ask that will help you find the perfect fit.

What kind of recording do you need to do? Are you just looking for mono or stereo recording of spoken work, or are you looking for full multitrack recording of a musical act?
What format would you like to record to? Many digital recorders have multiple mediums to which they are able to record, but these differ from one recorder to the next. Options include CD/DVD, CompactFlash and SD card, USB thumb drives, external USB hard drives, and even included internal hard drives. Make sure your recording medium is the best option for your workflow.
Where are you going to be recording? If you are choosing a digital recorder for a permanent installation, you may want to consider something that is rack-mountable. Often, these kinds of recorders also come with the ability to interface with a network, which can significantly speed up your workflow. If you need to take a recorder on site, you’ll need something portable and possibly battery-powered.
What sort of input or output do you need? Recorders will often offer a variety of inputs and outputs–RCA, TRS, XLR, DSub, optical, and more. You’ll also want to make sure you have any cables or adapters you’ll need.
Do you need extra options? Some portable digital recorders will come with built in microphones or ways to attach them to tripods. Install recorders may be surface mounted with optional rack-mounting kits available.

Choosing a recorder really comes down to clarifying your application, then identifying a recorder that fits within your needs and your budget.

We offer a wide range of digital recorders from several manufacturers, and have the knowledge and experience to help you make the perfect choice.

For a quote on a digital recorder, please contact our Sales Team at 847.367.9588 or sales@tcfurlong.com.

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