US TOURING LIVE SOUND <


loudspeakers completed the flown system, while a total of 32 700-HP subs provided low-frequency power. Meyer Sound’s Winnie Leung agrees that being headquartered in the US gives the company access to people who are invaluable in the development of its products. “Being in the US with such a vibrant music community allows us to work closely with many exceptional US suppliers, sound engineers and designers on their needs. We are able to respond quickly to customer demands and this is critical in our industry. “We are also close to many academic institutions that are at the fore of audio studies. Collaboration with UC Berkeley’s Center for New Music and Audio Technologies has allowed us to advance sound directivity research, and this was crucial to our development of the CAL column array loudspeaker.” > meyersound.com


QSC From its humble beginnings crafting handmade guitar amps from a one-room shop in Orange County, California, QSC has grown to become a leader in professional power amps and speakers – with its Powerlight switching power supply of particular importance to the touring industry. 2008 marked the start of QSC’s fifth decade in the business. It currently manufactures products in an 81,000 square-foot facility next to its headquarters in Costa Mesa, California. These include, for tour sound applications, the Powerlight 3 series of amplifiers and the Wideline line array system, which offers the widest horizontal coverage in its class at 140-degrees. The Wideline-10 system was put to use last year on tour with eclectic pop artist Jason Mraz, during the US leg of his worldwide tour. For venues such as Colorado’s 9,450-seat Red Rocks Amphitheater, production company Sound Image provided a system that comprised 24 cabinets per side with a four-cabinet centre array. Stage manager Michael Goldfarb comments: “When local sound professionals and promoters see the WideLine-10 system rolling off the truck, the reaction is, ‘where’s the rest of the PA?’ Then they hear it.” Asked about the benefits of manufacturing in the States,


QSC’s Brian English says: “For US-based companies, buying from American manufacturers is more desirable due to accessibility, availability and speed of response. Then there’s the mental security of buying home-grown products that are made in USA. We want to support American manufacturers”. But English does note some cons, too. “Selling outside the USA, through distributors and their various levels of distribution, combined with all the different countries’ import duties and tariffs, adds significant cost to the final price a company would ultimately pay for our products and systems. This makes it difficult to compete with local manufacturers.” > qscaudio.com


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PEAVEY/CREST Peavey, established by Hartley Peavey – who owns the company to this day – in 1965, has grown rapidly to become one of the largest music equipment manufacturers in the world and still makes the bulk of its products in America. Of the 33 facilities, totalling 1.5 million square-feet, that it operates, 18 of them are located in its home state of Mississippi. Peavey acquired Crest in 1999. Crest had been building tour grade amps since its inception in the late 70s. These had included the first 3U two-Ohm capable, high-Wattage amplifier, the 4001, and the 8001, which, in 1987, became the US industry standard concert sound amplifier. Today, for touring applications, the company can offer Crest’s Pro 200 series amps in combination with Peavey’s Versarray ribbon line source system. This was the FOH rig taken out on the road for the Mayhem Tour last year when metal heavyweights Trivium, All That Remains, God Forbid and more delivered their heavy rock sound to audiences across the US. The tour’s Jägermeister stage, a custom-built foldout stage housed within a 44-foot trailer featured twin arrays of eight 1,400-Watt Versarray 212 enclosures per side, complemented by 16 2,400-Watt Versarray 218 subwoofers. The system was managed by Peavey Architectural Acoustics Digitool processors and powered by 24 Crest Pro 9200s and six Pro 8200s. Kevin Ivey, general manager of Peavey’s commercial audio division, says that Peavey has noticed a decrease in major US tours of late but, far from having a negative effect on the firm, this has proved to be beneficial. “We've watched as the number of major tours has diminished over the last two decades and regional touring companies and larger rental companies have grown in prominence. As such, we've begun to address the needs of the touring companies for lighter, more rugged and more versatile gear, as it is more prone to be passed around among smaller tours versus spending months on end with the same crew. Versatile rigs ultimately spend more time on the road, and thus ‘on the clock’ for the rental companies, and Peavey's Versarray line array system is a good example. “The US market presents a broader scope for systems than other world markets and many of the applications of traditional touring gear are now anything but traditional. The House of Worship market in the US is huge and in many ways it rivals clubs and music venues in the size and complexity of systems being installed and used. Sports stadia, found in every large city and university in the US, are being fitted with audio and video systems that encompass the latest technologies. The range of larger tours, to smaller regional tours, to festivals, to permanent installations, requires American manufacturers to provide a broader scale of solutions. We are driven to develop new technologies to match the market's requirements.” > peavey.com


A huge Meyer Sound array


(above) and JBL’s Vertec system (above left)


The US market presents a broader scope than other world markets. Kevin Ivey Peavey


” audioPRO December/January 2010/11 19


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