Live event visual amplification - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Live performance

live performance may refer to:*A play or musical*A concert, a live performance before an audience*A dance performance, dance performed for an audience.*Live radio, radio broadcast without delay...

events including theater, music, dance, opera, use production equipment and services like: staging, scenery, mechanicals, sound, lighting, video, special effects, transport, packaging, communications, costume and makeup to convince live audience

Audience

An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...

members that there is no better place that they could be right now. This Live Event Support article provides information about many of the possible production support tools and services and how they relate to each other.

Live performance events have a long history of visual scenery, lighting, costume amplification and a shorter history of visual projection and sound amplification reinforcement. This article describes the technologies that have been used to amplify and reinforce Live events. The sections of this article together explain how the tools needed to stage, amplify and reinforce live events are interconnected.

Introduction

Live Event Visual Amplification is the display of live and pre-recorded images as a part of a live stage

Stage (theatre)

In theatre or performance arts, the stage is a designated space for the performance productions. The stage serves as a space for actors or performers and a focal point for the members of the audience...

event.

Visual amplification began when films, projected onto a stage, added characters or background information to a production.
35 mm motion picture projectors became available in 1910 - but which theatre

Theatre

Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

or opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

company first used a movie in a stage production is not known.

In 1935 less costly 16 mm film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

equipment allowed many other performance groups and school theaters to use motion pictures in productions.

In 1970 closed circuit

Closed-circuit television

Closed-circuit television is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors....

Video

Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...

camera

Camera

A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...

s and videocassette machines became available and Live Event Visual Amplification came of age. For the first time live closeups of stage performers could be displayed in real time. These systems also made it possible to show pre-recorded videos that added information & visual intensity to a live event.

One of the first video touring systems was created by video designer TJ McHose in 1975 for the Rock and Roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

band The Tubes

The Tubes

The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics...

using black and white TV monitors. In 1978 TJ McHose designed a touring color video system that enlarged performers at the Kool Jazz Festivals in sports stadiums across the USA.

Timeline

1910: 35 mm film projector
Movie projector
A movie projector is an opto-mechanical device for displaying moving pictures by projecting them on a projection screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices, are present in movie cameras.-Physiology:...
1935: 16 mm Kodachrome
Kodachrome
Kodachrome is the trademarked brand name of a type of color reversal film that was manufactured by Eastman Kodak from 1935 to 2009.-Background:...

film projectors
1965: Sony Portapak
Portapak
A Portapak is a battery powered self-contained video tape analog recording system that can be carried by one person. Earlier television cameras were large and relatively immovable, but the Portapak made it possible to record television images while moving around...

1/2" video tape system released
1967: Joshua Light Show
1967: Film Projector -motion picture effects
- Joffrey Ballet
  Joffrey Ballet
  The Joffrey Ballet is a dance company in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1956. From 1995 to 2004, the company was known as The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. The company regularly performs classical ballets including Romeo & Juliet and The Nutcracker, while balancing those classics with pioneering modern...
  
  -Astarte
1968: Ant Farm Founded in San Francisco
1969: "TV Bra for Living Sculpture" Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik
Nam June Paik was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the first video artist....

- Charlotte Moorman
Charlotte Moorman
Madeline Charlotte Moorman Garside was an American cellist and performance artist.She was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. She studied cello from age ten and won a scholarship to Centenary College where she took her B.A. in music in 1955. She received her M.A...

(2 TVs B&W)
1969: Video Free America Founded in San Francisco by Art Ginsberg & Skip Sweeney
- 1970: VFA -"The Continuing Story of Carol & Ferd" B&W Reality TV show display performance
  - (1/2" video tapes switched live to 12 TVs B&W) Skip Sweeney Video Performer
- 1971: VFA -"All the Video You can Eat" display performance 12 TV monitor 4 input
  - (1/2" video tapes switched live to 12 TVs B&W) Skip Sweeney Video Performer
1971: The Kitchen
The Kitchen
The Kitchen is a non-profit, multi-disciplinary art and performance space located at at 512 West 19th Street, between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City...

Founded in New York city by video artists Steina and Woody Vasulka
1975: "Media Burn" Ant Farm (Car crashes through wall of TVs)
1975: The Tubes
The Tubes
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics...

- Live concert 6/1/75 Winterland San Francisco
- (2 B&W TV 1 cam 1/2 " video tape) T.J. McHose Video artist
1975: The Tubes - Boarding House SF (1 TV B&W) "Leroy's Wedding"
- video recording of priest marries couple during stage show T.J. McHose Video artist
- 1975: The Tubes - Bimbo's (4 TV B&W) T.J. McHose Video artist
1975: Kool Jazz Festival -music concerts in sports stadiums
- successfully attracts young African-American male audiences
1976: Tubes Talent Hunt Boarding House San Francisco
1978: Kool Jazz Festival video reinforcement at sports stadiuontent and use LED
- Orbec color video touring display system T.J. McHose Video designer
- (3 live TV cameras on 4 CRT TV projectors Color) Mick Anger director
1980: Record Factory In store video display (TJ McHose)
1981: MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

begins cable broadcasting
1982: The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

Farewell Tour Eidophor
Eidophor
An Eidophor was a television projector used to create theater-sized images. The name Eidophor is derived from the Greek word-roots ‘eido’ and ‘phor’ meaning 'image' and 'bearer'...

Video Projector on 22' x 30' screen
- Nocturne Productions Video Truck - Paul Becher Director
  - Nocturne builds the first 2 "Broadcast" quality portable touring systems with Hitachi cameras (SK-91), Grass Valley 1600 switchers, and the GE "Talaria
    Talaria
    Talaria are winged sandals, a symbol of the Greek Messenger God Hermes . They were said to be made by the god Hephaestus of imperishable gold and they flew the god as swift as any bird...
    
    " projector, an idiosyncratic device which requires a board operator
    Board operator
    A board operator or board op is a particular type of operator at a radio station, television studio, or at a live production such as a theater or concert venue and provides live event support...
    
    with a wizard's license to keep it running.
1982: Nocturne systems go on the road with Journey
Journey (band)
Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco by former members of Santana. The band has gone through several phases; its strongest commercial success occurred between the 1978 and 1987, after which it temporarily disbanded...

(Becher Dir.) and The Police
The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...

, (Mick Anger Dir.) using a single screen over the stage center.
1983: David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

(Mick Anger Dir.) uses Nocturne video for the stadium dates on his "Serious Moonlight" tour.
- This tour was the first time a "Diamond Vision" type (LED) screen is used on a scaffold behind and above the stage for some shows, and eidophor elsewhere.
1984: Tasco builds a video system and begins to compete for the touring business with Nocturne
A TimeLine of Film and Video inventions is available at howOLDisit.com

By 2000 many bands tour with LED as well as DLP projection and LED video walls

Introduction

Live Event Visual Reinforcement is the addition of projected lighting

Lighting

Lighting or illumination is the deliberate application of light to achieve some practical or aesthetic effect. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylight...

effects and images onto any type of performance

Performance

A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...

venue

Music venue

A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Typically, different types of venues host different genres of music...

.

Visual Reinforcement

Reinforcement

Reinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for the process of increasing the rate or probability of a behavior in the form of a "response" by the delivery or emergence of a stimulus Reinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for the process of...

began more than 2000 years ago In China during the Han Dynasty

Han Dynasty

The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...

Shadow puppetry was invented to "bring back to life" Emperor Wu

Emperor Wu

Emperor Wu may refer to a number of Chinese emperors:*Emperor Wu of Han , emperor of the Han dynasty*Emperor Wu of Wei , a posthumous name of Cao Cao*Emperor Wu of Jin *Emperor Wu of Liu Song...

's favorite concubine. Mongolian troops spread Shadow play

Shadow play

Shadow play or shadow puppetry Shadow puppets have a long history in China, India, Turkey and Java, and as a popular form of entertainment for both children and adults in many countries around the world. A shadow puppet is a cut-out figure held between a source of light and a translucent screen...

throughout Asia and the Middle East in the 13th century. Shadow puppetry reached Taiwan in 1650, and missionaries brought it to France in 1767.

The next major advance in Visual reinforcement for events was the Magic lantern

Magic lantern

The magic lantern or Laterna Magica is an early type of image projector developed in the 17th century.-Operation:The magic lantern has a concave mirror in front of a light source that gathers light and projects it through a slide with an image scanned onto it. The light rays cross an aperture , and...

, first conceptualized by Giovanni Battista della Porta in his 1558 work Magiae naturalis. The Magic Lantern became practical by 1750 with the oil lamp and glass lenses. Special effect

Special effect

The illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....

animation

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

attachments were added in the 1830ies. In 1854 the Ambrotype

Ambrotype

right|thumb|Many ambrotypes were made by unknown photographers, such as this American example of a small girl holding a flower, circa 1860. Because of their fragility ambrotypes were held in folding cases much like those used for [[daguerreotype]]s...

positive photographic process on glass made Magic lantern slide creation much less expensive.

Magic lanterns were greatly improved by the application of Limelight

Limelight

Limelight is a type of stage lighting once used in theatres and music halls. An intense illumination is created when an oxyhydrogen flame is directed at a cylinder of quicklime , which can be heated to 2572 °C before melting. The light is produced by a combination of incandescence and...

to live stage production in 1837 at Covent Garden Theatre and improved again when electric arc

Electric arc

An electric arc is an electrical breakdown of a gas which produces an ongoing plasma discharge, resulting from a current flowing through normally nonconductive media such as air. A synonym is arc discharge. An arc discharge is characterized by a lower voltage than a glow discharge, and relies on...

lighting became available in 1880.

In 1910 Adolf Linnebach invented the Linnebach lantern

Linnebach lantern

A Linnebach lantern or Linnebach projector is a lensless projection system used in theatrical productions. It was developed by Adolf Linnebach in the early 20th century. Since the middle of the 20th century, it has largely been replaced by other projection technologies.The lantern consists of a...

, a lensless wide angle glass slide projector.

In 1933 the Gobo metal shadow pattern for the ellipsoidal spotlight allowed images to appear and disappear by dimmer control.

In 1935 16 mm Kodachrome film projectors added the first fully animated Visual reinforcement to Live Events.

Timeline

1600: Shadow play
Shadow play
Shadow play or shadow puppetry Shadow puppets have a long history in China, India, Turkey and Java, and as a popular form of entertainment for both children and adults in many countries around the world. A shadow puppet is a cut-out figure held between a source of light and a translucent screen...

leather or paper puppets cast shadows on a translucent screen
1760: magic lantern
Magic lantern
The magic lantern or Laterna Magica is an early type of image projector developed in the 17th century.-Operation:The magic lantern has a concave mirror in front of a light source that gathers light and projects it through a slide with an image scanned onto it. The light rays cross an aperture , and...

painted slide projector Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria can refer to:* Phantasmagoria, a type of show using an optical device to display moving images* Phantasmagoria, a video game* Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh, a video game sequel to Phantasmagoria...

ghost effects projector
1905: Linnebach lantern
Linnebach lantern
A Linnebach lantern or Linnebach projector is a lensless projection system used in theatrical productions. It was developed by Adolf Linnebach in the early 20th century. Since the middle of the 20th century, it has largely been replaced by other projection technologies.The lantern consists of a...

Munich Opera
1933: Gobo metal shadow mask adds patterns to ellipsoidal spotlights
1940: Overhead projector
Overhead projector
An overhead projector is a variant of slide projector that is used to display images to an audience.-Mechanism:An overhead projector typically consists of a large box containing a very bright lamp and a fan to cool it. On top of the box is a large fresnel lens that collimates the light...

Later used for psychedelic light shows
1950: Slide projector
Slide projector
A slide projector is an opto-mechanical device to view photographic slides. Slide projectors were common in the 1950s to the 1970s as a form of entertainment; family members and friends would gather to view slide shows...

35 mm Kodak Carousel
Carousel slide projector
A carousel slide projector is a common form of slide projector, used to project slide photographs and to create slideshows. The first carousel slide projector was invented by Louis Misuraca, who immigrated to the United States from Naples, Italy when he was a child. Louis was paid a one-time fee...
1965: Thomas Wilfred describes A highly detailed system to create event scenery using rear projections
1967: Liquid Projector psychedelic
Psychedelic
The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...

Liquid light shows
Liquid light shows
Liquid light shows or psychedelic light shows surfaced in the mid 1960s and early 1970s in America and Europe.Leading names were Glen McKay’s Headlights The Joshua Light Show/Joe's Lights/Sensefex located in NY), Tony Martin Liquid light shows or psychedelic light shows surfaced in the mid 1960s...
- Joshua Light Shows at The Fillmore
  The Fillmore
  The Fillmore Auditorium is a historic music venue in San Francisco, California, made famous by Bill Graham. Named for its original location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, it lies on the boundary of the Western Addition and the Pacific Heights neighborhoods.In 1968,...
  
  for The Grateful Dead, Big Brother and the Holding Company
  Big Brother and the Holding Company
  Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane. They are best known as the band that featured Janis Joplin as their...
  
  and many other Summer of Love
  Summer of Love
  The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, creating a cultural and political rebellion...
  
  bands

Introduction

A sound reinforcement system

Sound reinforcement system

A sound reinforcement system is the combination of microphones, signal processors, amplifiers, and loudspeakers that makes live or pre-recorded sounds louder and may also distribute those sounds to a larger or more distant audience...

is professional audio

Professional audio

Professional audio, also 'pro audio', refers to both an activity and a type of audio equipment. Typically it encompasses the production or reproduction of sound for an audience, by individuals who do such work as an occupation like live event support, using sound reinforcement systems designed for...

, was first developed for movie theatres in 1927 when the first ever talking picture was released, called The Jazz Singer
The Jazz Singer (1927 film)
The Jazz Singer is a 1927 American musical film. The first feature-length motion picture with synchronized dialogue sequences, its release heralded the commercial ascendance of the "talkies" and the decline of the silent film era. Produced by Warner Bros. with its Vitaphone sound-on-disc system,...

. Movie theatre sound was greatly improved in 1937 when the Shearer Horn system debuted. One of the first large-scale outdoor public address

Public address

A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...

systems was at 1939 New York World's Fair

1939 New York World's Fair

The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...

.

In the 1960s, rock and roll concerts promoted by Bill Graham

Bill Graham

William Carvel "Bill" Graham, PC QC is a former Canadian politician, who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of National Defence, and Leader of the Opposition and interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.-Personal life:...

at The Fillmore

The Fillmore

The Fillmore Auditorium is a historic music venue in San Francisco, California, made famous by Bill Graham. Named for its original location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, it lies on the boundary of the Western Addition and the Pacific Heights neighborhoods.In 1968,...

created a need for quickly changeable sound systems. In the early 1970s Graham founded FM Productions to provide touring sound and light systems. By 1976 in San Francisco the technical debate over infinite baffle vs horn-loaded enclosures, and line arrays vs distributed driver arrays, was ongoing at FM because of the proximity of The Grateful Dead and their scene Ultrasound

Ultrasound

Ultrasound is cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing. Ultrasound is thus not separated from "normal" sound based on differences in physical properties, only the fact that humans cannot hear it. Although this limit varies from person to person, it is...

, John Meyer

John Meyer

John Meyer may refer to:* John Meyer , American football player and coach* John Meyer , South African painter* John Ambrose Meyer , Maryland Congressman...

, and others). But at that time there were parallel developments in other parts of the USA - Showco (Dallas) and Clair Bros (Philadelphia) had different approaches; Clair in particular was moving in the direction of modular full-range enclosures. They would rig as many as needed (or clients like Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...

could afford) in whatever configuration they thought would cover a particular venue. Stanal Sound in southern California used fiberglass futuristic looking equipment for artists like Kenny Rogers

Kenny Rogers

Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...

.

A number of long-time sound professionals feel that live concert sound quality has not greatly improved since 1978 despite all the digital

Digital

A digital system is a data technology that uses discrete values. By contrast, non-digital systems use a continuous range of values to represent information...

, wireless

Wireless

Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...

, fiber optic, and computer advancements that have made it much easier to tune to a specific venue and assemble and maintain a touring system.

Timeline

1876: Loudspeaker
Loudspeaker
A loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...

Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone....
1878: Carbon microphone
Carbon microphone
The carbon microphone, also known as a carbon button microphone or a carbon transmitter, is a sound-to-electrical signal transducer consisting of two metal plates separated by granules of carbon. One plate faces outward and acts as a diaphragm...

/ amplifier
Amplifier
Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...
1924: Loudspeaker - moving-coil -patent Chester W. Rice
Chester W. Rice
-Biography:He was the joint inventor in 1925 of the moving coil loudspeaker along with Edward W. Kellogg.-External links:*...

& E. Kellogg
1924: Loudspeaker - ribbon Walter H. Schottky
Walter H. Schottky
Walter Hermann Schottky was a German physicist who played a major early role in developing the theory of electron and ion emission phenomena, invented the screen-grid vacuum tube in 1915 and the pentode in 1919 while working at Siemens, and later made many significant contributions in the areas of...
1930: Vacuum tube
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...

amplifier
1937: Loudspeaker - Shearer Horn movie theatre system
1939: public address
Public address
A public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...

outdoor system 1939 New York World's Fair
1939 New York World's Fair
The 1939–40 New York World's Fair, which covered the of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park , was the second largest American world's fair of all time, exceeded only by St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Many countries around the world participated in it, and over 44 million people...
1945: Loudspeaker - coaxial Altec "Voice of the Theatre"
1953: Loudspeaker - electrostatic -patent Arthur Janszen
1953: Microphone - wireless
1965: Loudspeaker - woofer
1965: Loudspeaker - subwoofer
Subwoofer
A subwoofer is a woofer, or a complete loudspeaker, which is dedicated to the reproduction of low-pitched audio frequencies known as the "bass". The typical frequency range for a subwoofer is about 20–200 Hz for consumer products, below 100 Hz for professional live sound, and below...
1970: Microphone - condenser
1974: Loudspeaker - Sensurround
Sensurround
Sensurround is the trademark name for a process developed in the 1970s by Cerwin-Vega in conjunction with Universal Studios to enhance the audio experience during film screenings...

movie sound system for "Earthquake"
1974: Loudspeaker - Dolby Stereo 70 mm Six Track
1975: Loudspeaker - touring - McCune JM-3 John Meyer
1979: Loudspeaker - Meyer Sound Laboratories
Meyer Sound Laboratories
Meyer Sound Laboratories is an American company based in Berkeley, California that manufactures self-powered loudspeakers, multichannel audio show control systems, electroacoustic architecture, and audio analysis tools for the professional sound reinforcement, fixed installation, and sound...

- Grateful Dead wall of sound
1983: Loudspeaker - THX
THX
THX is a trade name of a high-fidelity audio/visual reproduction standard for movie theaters, screening rooms, home theaters, computer speakers, gaming consoles, and car audio systems. The current THX was created in 2001 when it spun off from Lucasfilm Ltd...

movie sound system for Star Wars

Transportation support

Efficient and timely transportation is essential for live event productions.

Touring Packaging

Well designed touring system

System

System is a set of interacting or interdependent components forming an integrated whole....

s: unload from the truck

Truck

A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...

gently, roll easily into their stage location, connect to each other quickly. A well designed system includes duplicates of critical components

Electronic component

An electronic component is a basic electronic element and may be available in a discrete form having two or more electrical terminals . These are intended to be connected together, usually by soldering to a printed circuit board, in order to create an electronic circuit with a particular function...

and "field-replaceable" items such as cable

Cable

A cable is two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry...

s, switch

Switch

In electronics, a switch is an electrical component that can break an electrical circuit, interrupting the current or diverting it from one conductor to another....

es, and fuse

Fuse

The word fuse has several meanings:* Fuse , a device used in electrical systems to protect against excessive current....

s. Every component should be protected by a well padded road case that has room for all connector cables and allows easy access to the components for fast cable re-patching to bypass a bad component and for repairs during a tour. The road cases need good ventilation

Ventilation (architecture)

Ventilating is the process of "changing" or replacing air in any space to provide high indoor air quality...

and for outdoor use should be white to minimize solar

Sun

The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...

heat buildup. Road case sizes should be modular to pack tightly together on the truck.

Introduction

Timeline

Introduction

Timeline

Introduction

Timeline

Transportation support

Touring Packaging

See also