Production
"CareySound has been providing quality production for us for well over 20 years and they have never let us down. CareySound always delivered what they promised, often more, for the best prices. I recommend Carey Sound without hesitation!"
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"Utilizing state-of-the-art tools and years of personal experience their great staff worked tierlessly to make sure every minute detail was covered flawlessly. They were a pleasure to work with and really came through for us. They helped us get it right the first time."
Rentals
"I spent days researching audio rental places in North Carolina for my wedding and most wouldn't give me the time of day! Then I spoke to Carey Sound and they had exactly what I needed at fantastic prices clearly posted on their website. Great people - great gear - Thanks guys!"
Quality
"CareySound stands firmly behind the quality of their work and treated us like one of the family. You can expect the best with them on your team."
Moving NoticeCareySound is moving 100 feet to the right in the same building into Suite G.
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Ken Carey
Create Your Badge
2011
Winter - Southern Style
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: Event Production
In the South we enjoy temperate weather during the winter months. So what do you do when your event theme is a winter wonderland. You call CareySound of course to make it snow. The following pictures were taken a few weeks ago at the Lasater Mill House in Lewisville for their Gift of Giving social event and open house. Over 800 people attended the two day gala and CareySound brought the snow while Sterling Events provided the furniture and decor.
Join Us
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: News
Sunday, January 8
12 noon until 4:00 pm
You can even get half-price tickets by clicking here.
Christmas Eve Eve
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: Event Production
CareySound celebrates Christmas Eve Eve with High Rock Community Church in Salisbury, NC.
Phase Two - Digital
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: Sales
CareySound has completed the second phase of the audio system upgrades to the SloanTheater at Greensboro Day School in Greensboro with the addition of a digital audio backbone and control system by Roland Professional Systems RSS. The latest upgrade of their aging analogue mixing desk with the newly released M-48 digital system from Roland follows the installation by CareySound a couple of years ago of a Dynacord Cobra Compact Line Array loudspeaker system.
Technical Director Dana Lowell completed training on the new system last week and is excited by its flexibility and ease of use. At a fraction of the cost and complexity, the new system provides them the audio capabilities that until recently were only found at high end Broadway Theaters. This new piece fulfills the mission of the Greensboro Day Schools theater department to provide the most up-to-date cutting edge learning environment for their students in the performing arts.
CareySound has been selling the Roland Digital Systems since they we first introduced. The system installed at Greensboro Day School, the M-480 mixing system, is the latest addition to the Roland V-Mix digital mixing platform. With a newly developed mixing engine, the M-480 provides an enhanced level of powerful and flexible audio processing for the premium choice in a digital audio console. It includes unprecedented routing ability, channel and EQ DSP, and also supports a cascade connection that enables 96 channels of mixing by connecting a second unit - all via one simple Cat5e/6 cable. Supporting live events, mobile production, broadcasting, and sound installation, the V-Mixing System with the M-480 V-Mixer at its heart provides "best in class" innovation for any live mixing venue.
Highlights includes:
Technical Director Dana Lowell completed training on the new system last week and is excited by its flexibility and ease of use. At a fraction of the cost and complexity, the new system provides them the audio capabilities that until recently were only found at high end Broadway Theaters. This new piece fulfills the mission of the Greensboro Day Schools theater department to provide the most up-to-date cutting edge learning environment for their students in the performing arts.
CareySound has been selling the Roland Digital Systems since they we first introduced. The system installed at Greensboro Day School, the M-480 mixing system, is the latest addition to the Roland V-Mix digital mixing platform. With a newly developed mixing engine, the M-480 provides an enhanced level of powerful and flexible audio processing for the premium choice in a digital audio console. It includes unprecedented routing ability, channel and EQ DSP, and also supports a cascade connection that enables 96 channels of mixing by connecting a second unit - all via one simple Cat5e/6 cable. Supporting live events, mobile production, broadcasting, and sound installation, the V-Mixing System with the M-480 V-Mixer at its heart provides "best in class" innovation for any live mixing venue.
Highlights includes:
- 48 mixing channels plus 6 stereo returns for a total of 60 channels
- Main (LCR) outputs, 16 AUX buses, 8 matrices
- Configurable to 90 inputs and 90 outputs depending on Digital Snake configuration
- 4-band advanced parametric EQ, and delays on all inputs and outputs
- Compressors and Gates on all mixing channels
- Six built-in stereo (dual-mono) multi-effects and twelve graphic EQs (switchable to 8-band PEQs)
- 214 possible output patch points on each port (A,B, console). Allows direct routing from preamp to output point without having to use mix channel.
- Supports integration with Personal Mixing System and Multi-Channel Live Recording/Playback
- Cascade connection supports large format applications for 96 mixing channels
Click on image for larger view.
Call CareySound now for a demo. (336) 292-8282
Breakthrough Apple iPad System Integration
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: Sales
Amongst the stifling economic realities that our world is now operating in the health care industry has still managed to see significant growth and nowhere is that more evident than right here in the triad at Solstas Lab Partners. Headquartered here in Greensboro, Solstas, formed with the corporate merger of Carilion and Spectrum in March of 2010, is now the 10 largest clinical, anatomic pathology and esoteric laboratories in the US.
It’s sprawling campus located in the Federal Drive office park out near the airport is seeing rapid expansion and now includes two new conference rooms outfitted with the latest in teleconference systems provided by CareySound. We were tasked with providing a state of the art teleconferencing A/V system utilizing Apple iPads for complete remote control of the system on a budget that was two thirds the cost of competitive bids.
Features: RTI Control Systems, Apple iPad, Biamp Nexia conference audio control with telephone hybrid, EV EVID ceiling speakers, Stewart Audio amplification, Galaxy Audio flush mount microphones, Middle Atlantic cabinetry.
At Your Service
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: Help Files
Everybody needs a little help from time to time and CareySounds trained staff is at your service when things go awry. We excel at troubleshooting complicated system problems that crop up from time to time in even the best designed systems.
We have designed an online system to get you the help you need as quickly as possible. You will find the new link to our service department in our popular Quick Links section on the right sidebar of this home page. You don’t need to be a current CareySound customer to take advantage of this valuable service. We welcome all requests.
Please also feel free to avail yourself of the help files in our Help Archive that is full of technical solutions. A link to this section can be conveniently found on the top of each web page on our site.
Please also feel free to avail yourself of the help files in our Help Archive that is full of technical solutions. A link to this section can be conveniently found on the top of each web page on our site.
Thanksgiving
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: Ken Carey
Happy Holidays
CareySound - The Next Generation
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: News
Greensboro News & Record Careers Section of the newspaper this weekend had a great article on CareySound’s own John Carey. He was interviewed for it a few weeks ago in Madison while providing production for Shinefest. Please follow this link for to read the full article.More Than Just Sound...
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: Event Production
Mission: Elegant Evening
Grandover Resort, Greensboro, NC - CareySound may have had its beginning as an audio company but our roots go much deeper harnessing the technological magic of event theatrics — fleshing out the dreams of our customers and fulfilling fantasies. When event specialist Veronica Foster approached us a several months ago with a request to create a lavish ballroom experience featuring a very large nine foot by twenty-four foot dazzling crystal centerpiece that hung 6 foot tall over a huge white dance floor we jumped at the chance.
Special challenges presented themselves to our CareySound team from the very beginning of the project. The event was to take place in the large Grandview Ballroom located in the heart of the luxurious Grandover Resort Complex located in central North Carolina. The hotels strict policies on hanging anything, much less a huge centerpiece, was particularly challenging. Couple this to the very high profile of the invited guests that was to include local dignitaries, out of town professionals and the governor of the state, it required a lot of creative engineering and consultation with hotel staff. There was no room for error in its implementation. We basically had to provide a safe support structure for the hanging crystals where there was none in the ballroom ceiling.
Sophistication & Style - CareySound adds a dramatic crystal & light centerpiece and a changing color palate to this elegant evening. (Click to Enlarge)
The client, their over four hundred invited guests and the hotel management all agreed that the CareySounds solution was spectacular.
From Cool Blue to Red Hot at a flick of the switch.
Thirty–four interconnected LED light fixtures surrounding the ballroom provided a dynamic saturation of color that changed the mood in the room throughout the night without elevating the temperature in the hall. They utilized existing power outlets throughout the room without the need for additional power distribution.
Guests dance the night away on the huge white dance floor under sparkling crystals.
Summer Diversions
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: Event Production
It’s officially summer and if you get stuck without something to do we have a few suggestions.
During the summer months of June thru August City Arts Music Center of the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department along with various other community partners sponsor a series of free musical performances every Sunday evening at 6 PM known as Music for a Sunday Evening in the Park (MUSEP). This year we Celebrate 32 years of this time–honored tradition that is held at different outdoor venues throughout the city and it's expansive park system.
Please join CareySound this summer as Greensboro showcases its finest musical talent. Get there early to get a parking spot, pick the perfect place to lay out your picnic and join us for the show.
In collaboration with First Friday, Center City Park livens up the heart of downtown with live music, Indie Market craft vendors and activities for children every First Friday from 7:00pm to 10:00pm, May through October
Join us for free movie nights in the Park! Every third Friday from May - September, there will be a different family–friendly movie. The screen is bigger this year, and the movie start time has been moved later so it will be dark. Bring family, friends, blankets or lawn chairs, and spare change to buy popcorn and candy!
During the summer months of June thru August City Arts Music Center of the Greensboro Parks and Recreation Department along with various other community partners sponsor a series of free musical performances every Sunday evening at 6 PM known as Music for a Sunday Evening in the Park (MUSEP). This year we Celebrate 32 years of this time–honored tradition that is held at different outdoor venues throughout the city and it's expansive park system.
Please join CareySound this summer as Greensboro showcases its finest musical talent. Get there early to get a parking spot, pick the perfect place to lay out your picnic and join us for the show.
Every Wednesday, Center City Park provides free live music during lunchtime. Bring your lunch, kick back and relax to some cool tunes with some of the Triad's best artists!
In collaboration with First Friday, Center City Park livens up the heart of downtown with live music, Indie Market craft vendors and activities for children every First Friday from 7:00pm to 10:00pm, May through October
College Night every Thursday is Greensboro’s hottest dance night at Greene Street Club in the heart of downtown with their newly upgraded sound system. And every Saturday night it’s Latin Night . These are always busy nights so it is always a good idea to get there early.
Wireless Microphone Basics Update
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: Help Files
I just received an email from Karl Winkler of Lectosonics, Inc., a company that makes some of the best wireless products in the industry, that I would like to share with you.
Good Points - I just ran across your paper on using wireless microphones. Thank you for putting this out there - the more information and knowledge, the better. I agree with almost everything in the article, but I wanted to make two points:
Karl is referring to an article from my Technically Speaking Series from a few years back that can be found in our Help Archive titled “Wireless Microphones - A Technically Speaking article on wireless basics.” that you can find by clicking here.
1. Rechargeable battery technology has evolved considerably in the past 10 years to the point where these can be used with confidence today. Rather than warn everyone away from using them, it might be more useful to encourage people to do some tests for themselves. The main thing to consider when using rechargeable batteries is "battery management". This is the process of purchasing, labeling, using, recharging, and ultimately disposing these batteries when needed. Higher capacity batteries won't take as many charges. I personally recommend disposing rechargeable batteries once per quarter. This will still save an enormous amount of money vs. disposable batteries.
We would like you to keep the following in mind considering batteries. The vast majority of our wireless customers volunteer novices and not professional users and don't have the time or the inclination to develop a battery management system. Our number one service call for wireless systems is still dead batteries. Even as a professional user CareySound still uses a new battery for every performance. It's just the cost of doing wireless. We feel the benefit of doing so far exceeds the risk of a system going down in a performance because of a low or dead battery and it is still our professional recommendation to install a new battery each time you use your wireless system.
2. Modern UHF (and even good-quality VHF) should not be affected by fluorescent lights, motors and the like. True - very inexpensive systems might be. The only real sources of interference for good-quality wireless systems are: other transmissions in the band, including TV and other wireless, and intermods from these same sources.
Again Karl makes a great point, modern wireless systems are largely immune from the spurious electrical emissions from florescent lights, motors and electrical appliances that plagued earlier systems. You generally should not experience interference with most modern wirelesses when using one or two new systems, but vast improvements in the quality in this new gear have created a new challenge.
The popularity and propagation of wireless systems has lead to a host of new issues. First as more users addd more and more wireless to their systems it is essential that they be installed correctly and not just thrown together and placed any old where as in the attached pictures.
Yep - You see these pictures right. We found these wirelesses stacked UNDER a pew in a church.
Secondly the spectrum of frequencies that these systems operate on has become increasingly crowded and more complex. Wireless microphones now share many more sources of potential interference from digital television (which now uses essentially 100% of its allotted range) to wireless personal in-ear monitoring systems and this is only going to get worse if the FCC lets consumer electronic manufactures into our current white space as has been proposed.
It is more important than ever to carefully consider your wireless requirements with a professional and not to impugn the integrity of your local radio shack, music store and ebay searches but they just do not qualify as a wireless professional. You can still end up with issues no matter how hi-tech or expensive your hardware is if it is deployed or set-up improperly. The best choice you can make in a wireless system remains not in what gear you buy but from whom you get your advice.
Again, thanks for the good article, and also thanks for considering my points. Sincerely, Karl Winkler Lectrosonics, Inc.
Springtime Weddings
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: Event Production
Take for example this wedding we did in the recently renovated warehouse, now the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts, in downtown Winston-Salem. We painted this unique space with our state-of-the-art LED lighting fixtures perfectly matching the brides carefully chosen color palate creating a memorable atmosphere for this special day.
CareySound transforms the new Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts...
...into a magical place place fit for a bride.
CareySound team member Sheri Sims behind the camera with Image Magnification duties.
Help Us Help You...
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: Help Files
...how to make the most out a service call.
John took a service call this morning and it brought to mind these thoughts that I want to share. CareySound has been helping customers troubleshoot tech issues for a long time. It’s our experience that half of all issues can be solved over the phone and we have some suggestions to help you get back up and running as quickly as possible.
Before your call CareySound:
- Is everything plugged-in securely? Not only make sure that it everything is plugged into a working power source but that all interconnecting wires tightly connected
- Are all of the pieces of the system turned on? Make sure all of your gear is turned on. It’s not uncommon for one piece of gear in your equipment chain to have inadvertently been switched off.
- If something requires a battery (i.e. a wireless microphone transmitter) is the battery good and fully charged? Low or dead batteries is our number one service call related to hearing impaired and wireless systems.
- Make sure you are near the equipment you are having problems with and have complete access to the front and back of all interconnected gear. We will want make and model numbers and will ask you to perform a series of tests. You will be our eyes and ears during our session.
After you get us on the phone:
- Stay calm. Don’t wait until the last minute to call. Get there early and power the system up to spot issues well BEFORE everybody else arrives. We will inevitably ask you try things that you won’t want an audience to have to sit through or listen to.
- Listen carefully and don’t become distracted. For us to be the most effective you need to let us lead the procedure. If possible call us with a cell phone and use a hands free option if you have it, you will need your hands free to adjust and move things. It is even better if you have one that can take and send us pictures.
- Don’t jump ahead. We will be asking you a series of questions and asking you to perform simple operations that will not give reliable results if you try to second guess us and do something out of order or that we have not asked you to do.
It also wouldn’t be a bad idea to print out this article and keep it posted with your system along with our phone number so it will be handy if a problem happens. If you are already a customer and don’t already have our direct cell numbers call your sales agent.
Having CareySound as your audio company has its’ perks. Here’s hoping that you don’t need to call but in case you do our office phone number is (336) 292-8282.
New Low Rental Rates
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: Rental
In reaction to the banking and housing crash we were all confronted with in late 2008 we instituted a 1/2 Off Rental Sale to help ease the burden. Like with unemployment benefits, we keep extending the sale over and over again until it stopped being a sale, but rather the status quo. With food prices through the roof, and don’t even get me started on gas prices, it is time to make the changes as permanent as the new economic realities.
And so with no further ado...
Please check out our new permanent rental price reductions on our new revamped Rental page.
And so with no further ado...
Please check out our new permanent rental price reductions on our new revamped Rental page.
New Site Design
©2011 Ken Carey Filed in: Ken Carey
John and I have been hard at work redesigning careysound.com and we hope you like the results. We have greatly simplified the design and removed several sections that were seldom visited. The old site has been archived and is still accessible by clicking the link in the sidebar to the right.
We have had a lot of requests for lighting ideas and so we have added a new page under Event Production called Lighting In Action. There you will find a lot of large pictures from recent events, from wedding to corporate galas, to help spark your imagination.
I have also added Facebook page where you can find me most days. I’ve found that it’s a great place to post the old gear and people pictures I’ve accumulated over the years. Please feel free to join me there. You can find my Facebook link in the sidebar.
I welcome your input on the redesign which you do by clicking here.
Sincerely,
Kenneth M. Carey, pres.