CareySound is much more than sound and video. Providing lighting solutions plays a large part in our product and service mix and done so since our beginnings in 1978. 25 years ago we were one of the first production companies to provide pre-rigged truss and Socopex mult connectors in the state. We were one of the first regional companies in the entire US to introduce moving lights over 20 years ago. And ten years ago we were one of the first to use moving lights for theater productions totally replacing the use of traditional fixtures.

Leading the newest trend in lighting is the use of Light Emitting Diodes (LED's) as a light source and new improved optics for moving lights that provide for huge energy savings. Witness the energy savings in our use of LED's in the recently refurbished Dillard Auditorium at Winston-Salem State University replacing a 100,000 watt system with a 6,000 watt system. In addition to the energy savings they will NEVER have to buy light gells again because of the built in Red Green Blue (RGB) color mixing produces all of the colors of the rainbow without gells. And let's not forget that even with EVERY light on there is no heat radiated from the LED's so there is no more "performing under hot lights."

Below are some recent photos of CareySound Lights in action. Call us today so we can show you how you can join this new lighting evolution and SAVE.



Corporate Showcase - Hanes Brand, Inc. Showroom Winston-Salem, NC
Lighting - CareySound
Gear Highlight - 12 Opti RGB LED, 20 GOBO Spots, 8 PAR36 floods, 2 Source 4 likeo’s, Custom GOBO’s





Private Party - Marriott Morrison Ballroom Charlotte, NC
Lighting - CareySound
Gear Highlight - 12 Opti RGB LED, 1 Laser Star, 16 PAR36 uplights, 2 Elation Design SPOT 250, Custom GOBO’s



Dillard Auditorium - Winston-Salem State University Winston-Salem, NC
Lighting - CareySound
Gear Highlight - 16 Opti RGB LED, 16 TP84A LED Bars, 6 Source 4 likeo’s


A Child’s Place Fundraiser - Grand Central Station Charlotte, NC
Lighting - CareySound



Corporate Conference - The Homestead Ballroom Hot Springs, VA
Lighting - CareySound
Gear Highlight - 12 Opti RGB LED, 2 Elation Design SPOT 250, 8 Source 4 likeo’s, 6 AMDJ ACCU Spot 250



SC Dept of Tourism - Embassy Suites Grond Pavilion Ballroom Winston-Salem, NC
Lighting - CareySound
Gear Highlight - 10 Opti RGB LED, 2 Elation Design SPOT 250, 5 Source 4 likeo’s, 16 Gobo Spot,
12 PAR36 floods, 16 PAR 56, 8 PAR64, 2 OptiPAR

Tags: Elation, Elation Lighting Opti RGB, LED Lighting

Barbara Weathers called me the other day about a possible date in the near future and I thought I might share this picture of her performing at a cabaret in the civic center in Roanoke, VA sometime in the early 80’s. She was still in high school at the time as were most of the other members of the band Covacus which was lead by Aggie Alum James “Coffee” Yourse. It was taken by our head SoundMan at the time, Mike Armeniox. Thanks for taking a camera along Mike.

Barbara went on to star with R&B legends Atlantic Starr before moving on to a solo carrier in 1990 . I am honored to have been a SoundMan and friend of such an amazing talent. A genuine artist that takes you breath away when she is on stage. And was a great baby sitter for my sons. Thanks for the call Barbara.

Barbara Weathers w/Covacus - Early 80’s - Roanoke Civic Center
(Click to Enlarge)

Tags: Barbara Weathers, Covacus, James "Coffee" Yourse, Roanoke Civic Center

Longtime readers should recognize Rick Earl as a contributor to this column. What you might not be aware of is that in addition to being a self described audio-junky and Technical Director for Cultural and Special Programs at Elon University in Burlington, Rick is also an experimenter and audio craftsman. Several weeks ago Rick brought in his newest creation, The Big E rare-earth velocity (ribbon) microphone, for us to audition.

Putting the Big E trough its paces at CareySound headquarters.

Ribbon microphones are known for their extended smooth linear frequency response and the Big E is no exception. Invented in the early 1920s by Drs. Walter H. Schottky and Erwin Gerlach and later refined and brought to market in 1931 by Dr. Harry F. Olson of RCA, the ribbon microphone broke new ground sound reproduction with a realism and clarity not found in the condenser microphones of the day. The figure eight bidirectional pickup pattern of the mic found an enthusiastic home in the motion picture industry. It enabling clear vocal dialogue without picking up the noisy motion picture cameras in use at the time by placing the camera in the null side of the pickup pattern. The Big E exhibits this Figure Eight pattern.

Saxophonist Skip Gailes performs live with the Big E at Elon Universities Jazz Concert


So how does it sound? Great! Hear for yourself. Click the play button above for an audio sample recorded this last weekend with The Big E.

Tags: Rick Earl, Big E, Ribbon Microphone

Don’t let this happen to you!

‘Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Because someone burned down the house...’

C is for Christmas. C is also for Churches and Caution. For A/V systems it’s fire season. Every piece of equipment in the A/V closet is being dusted off and put into use. In the last 10 days, two of CareySound’s church families have already had mishaps. The following are a few of the most common problems we find during the holidays:

• Extension Cords - Use extension cords with great care. Make sure that they are the proper size for the job at hand. Not all cables will handle large loads Particularly if they are long. Never use a cord that is too long for the job. Those nice coils of unused cable build up heat and can melt. Also make sure that they have a third ground lug. Do not use cords with broken or missing grounds. Watch where you place those cables to make sure they are not steeped on or cause a trip hazard. And make sure to throughly inspect cables for signs of wear.
• Electrical Outlets - Even circuit breakers can fail. Do not overload your wall outlets. Most are only rated for 15 amps TOTAL and almost always there is more than one outlet per circuit. Just because there is an open hole doesn’t mean there is adequate power.
• Lights - Even if you don’t overload your electrical outlets lights can cause problems. They can put off massive amount of heat and can cause fires. A light doesn’t have to be in direct contact to cause a problem. Just being too close to another object can cause fires.
• Inexperienced Operators - In addition to becoming more complex, modern audio systems are also growing more powerful. That new capacity needs to be respected and controlled by trained personnel. It’s very easy for audio feedback to do damage to your eardrums and sustained feedback and excessive loudness can cause loudspeaker overloads and in extreme cases fire.

It doesn’t take a soundman to tell this poor speaker was driven beyond reason.
Somebody had to hear this speaker screaming for help
before it flamed out. This speaker was screaming for an intervention.
Please fire your deaf sound man before you burn down the sanctuary.

Remember -
Only REAL SoundMen can Prevent Speaker Fires.

So please use care this Christmas season. We want everyone to have a safe holiday.
This has been a public service announcement from your friends at CareySound.

Tags: public service announcement

Free 40 Track Digital Recording System Software

Buy a Roland V-Mix Standard System form us between Now and December 23 for the low price of $11,995.00 and we will upgrade the system with a copy of Cakewalk Sonar REAC, the 40 ch live recording software package a $1,295.00 value for FREE.

System must be for immediate shipment and not a part of any other system package or special offer. Shipping not included.

Tags: Roland RSS V-Mix

Our friends over at Harrison Audio in Chapel Hill host the web site goodbuyguys.com and have posted the wonderful blog entry that follows:

These Guys Really Get It

One of the unexpected benefits of running a web based business is the ability to find out a lot about your customers in a hurry. Most of our customers have web sites and we always take a look at how they present their businesses on the web as part of processing their orders.

A large number of our customers are entertainment production and audiovisual presentation companies. I rarely see anything of real interest at these sites and I remain surprised that industries with such a high level of technical knowledge miss the opportunity to put their best foot forward. These sites are usually “black box” pictures-pictures of the equipment the company owns- and lists of technical specifications that may impress their competition but rarely mean anything to a potential customer.

That brings me to the point of this posting. When we were in the “hands on” sound and lighting business one of our good friends and competitors was Carey Sound in Greensboro, NC. I have been friends with the company owner, Ken Carey, for over 25 years and he generously sub-contracted shows to us more than once. I guess the term “competitor” doesn’t really fit here.

The web site he has put together for his company is breathtaking in its depth and quality. Any production company seeking to create a real presence on the web would be hard pressed to put together anything better than what Ken has created.

The type of information he so carefully presents is a lesson in how to use the web to gain new customers and hang onto the ones you already have. His “how to” videos are great information and a powerful sales tool. No doubt, they have deflected lots of last minute panic calls from his rental customers.

Ken’s extensive News section is well laid out and makes for lots of good reading if you are in the sound business.

Carey’s Rental section answers lots of the questions that a potential rental customer might have in a good humored and honest manner that lets the renter know exactly what to expect.

The photography is beautiful (lots of smiling faces), the layout is logical and easy to navigate, and details regarding the services and equipment Carey offers are presented with the clients point of view considered on every page.

I’ve spent a well over an hour browsing this site in the last week, and still have not seen it all.
If you are ready to move your company’s web presence into the big leagues, don’t miss this site.

p.s. Congrats to Carey Sound on their new building and their 30 year anniversary.

I'll let you all in on a not so secret, secret.

If you have bought tape or batteries from use in the last twenty years it's come form Jeff at Harrison Brothers. His web site GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Shurtape gaffers tape, Duracell Procell batteries, MagLite flashlights, Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Electratrac and Coast Wire extension cords , OnStage Stand mic stands and “value added” customer service. Sure, we will still will have it on hand for you if you get in a pinch but don't hesitate to buy from them directly.
    

   

Our construction crew is hard at work getting the new building ready for us.

There are only 22 days left...

until the move to our new location on Pomona Drive and although all of our old gear has been moving quickly we still have stuff to sell and I'm not moving it to the new building. To show how serious we are, I am going to lower our listed prices by 20% and unlike before you don't have to buy more than one thing at a time.

You wouldn't believe what we have already thrown away.

If I plug it in and it doesn't work it gets tossed into that huge dumpster in front of the store. It's disappearing out of the dumpster as fast as we throw it away.

I have updated the list on the Sale Page that you will find by clicking here and have added some new items. You really owe it to yourself to check it out. We are accepting all reasonable offers.

Also we are acting as the official broker for the disposal of the recently replaced gear from Mt. Zion Baptist Church. This gear is in incredibly good condition and you can find a complete list and pictures on the Sale Page as well. Please help us spread the word.

We would like you to share our excitement of moving to our new location at 301-E Pomona Drive so we have devised this simple contest. The first two people to correctly identify the most of the 10 previous locations will win a free Electro-Voice Raven. This microphone was originally designed by Blue Microphones for Fender as the perfect electric guitar mic and so guess what it excels at. It was never released by Fender but was picked up by EV as part of their EVBlue series. This is a great electric guitar mic, an interesting vocal mic, a good horn mic and not a bad kick drum mic. SoundMan has these in his personal mic drawer.

Name all ten locations and Ill throw in a $50 gift certificate for dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House. Contest ends when we move in 28 days.

You can click on one of the photo's on the home page to see a larger image.

The SoundMan Award for
CareySound.com Evangelist of the Year 2008

Mike Sveda

We would like to recognize Mike for his tireless efforts in spreading the CareySound.com gospel by his countless hours spent on every sound web discussion board, both pro and enthusiast alike, on the internet with the first ever official SoundMan Award. He has racked up more outstanding referrer links in his postings than just about every other site visiter combined. Thanks Mike.

-SoundMan-

It's hard to believe that 10 years have gone by since Dale joined the CareySound team. Dale announced to us a couple of weeks ago that he will be moving on to take a guitar repair job over at the Music Barn. He will be missed by all of us. We wish him well in his new endeavor.

Mike "Stageman" Birney will be taking over for Dale in the afternoons and Lynn "Wife-of-SoundMan" will be there in the mornings while we make some personnel changes.

The year 1990. The eventThe Fun Fourth Festival in 'Old Greensbrough'. The headlining act Chubby Checker. Sound, Lights and Stage, you guessed it, CareySound. If you look closely you can see a few of our team members and friends. Click here for a bigger picture. I believe Rick Earl is at FOH. Where you there too? Can you spot yourself?

I was browsing around the web looking for nothing in particular - just to pass the time and found this Russian ProSound site featuring two of my favorite things - Electro-Voice and CareySound. Apparently they picked up on a news release from the EV website on our Phoenix rig. Now if they would just invite SoundMan for a visit. My passport is current and I'm ready to go. Click here for a link to the Russian site and click here for the original press release on the EV site.

If you didn't already know this, we are just a little Apple obsessed here at CareySound. All things Apple and Steve's newest toy defiantly ranks high as a necessity, and yes, John and I stood in line on the first day with the rest of the Mac faithful. Even Tommy shared in the excitement and ran out to get his very own new iPhone too.

And speaking of Apple, I have had a few people ask how careysound.com is produced. On a Mac PowerBook of course. The web software is RapidWeaver with numerous plugins and hand coding by John. The photo's are taken with various Cannon EOS digital camera's with an occasional iPhone shot and are edited with IPhoto and ImageWell.

Taking a day off
It's been a hard year and I really needed recharging. Being an audio entrepreneur has it up and downs and I have just survived a trusted partner running off with a 30 year accumulation of gear (and my dreams of retirement). A little bit of advice to the next generation of SoundMen. If what drives you is pushing buttons and making noise, then keep it simple. Buy only what you can afford and can handle by yourself. The bigger your company gets the less likely it will be that you get to use anything you worked so hard buy. I have owned $100,000 dollar consoles that I never got to actually use. Believe it or not SoundMan does have other interests and from time to time he does allow himself time off.

One the hardest things in taking time away from my obsessive techie compulsion to turing knobs, push buttons and amplifying sound and a busy schedule of commitments is to find either a block of time long enough to eventually forget about his hectic daily existence or find a place that so completely overwhelms my mind that I can truly decompress and relax. So short of a paid sabbatical or extended leave of absence I tend to look for a destination that can distract me for long enough to relax a little. My first choice is always the desert southwest in general and the wonders of southern Utah in particular. I crave the power of the scorching dry heat of the red rock. Put me in the middle of the majesty of the hoodoo's, needles and arches that make up this region and instantly all visions of flashing lights and moving faders disappear, But unfortunately Utah is not exactly next door and this SoundMans pay grade makes jet-setting a rare indulgence so I have to be content with less ambitious get-a-way destinations. My local hideaway is the NC mountains and thats where I found myself this last weekend looking for a little solitude.

I started off my weekend with a little work, after all I am a SoundMan first and foremost and I had to pay for the gas somehow. My show was in Asheville and at least it was in the right direction. My thinking was sound. Drive separately and hitch up the LittleGuy (my portable home away from home) so I can slip away to the hills when my duties were complete, so off I went.

We had agreed to help the band load-in, sure, why not. What's a few extra pieces of band gear going to hurt, besides we were getting a few extra buck for the trouble. Oops! God I hate surprises on show day.

I'm a proud, Boy Scout trained SoundMan and I take very seriously that sacred Boy Scout creed - Be Prepaired. I've honed my facility scouting reports with years of experience with all manner of difficult and dangerous load-in's and I asked all of the right, well rehearsed, litany of questions. Does the load-in involve any of the following: small doors, carpet, inclines, more than 50' to the stage, unlevel truck, freight or personnel elevators, no ramps or dock plates. You would think that with a barrage of questions of that nature that they would get the idea you took this whole safe load-in thing seriously and would then inform you of any additional issues specific to their venue. Darn - stupid me - I forgot all about this being a don't ask don't tell kind of society now, so I see I'm going to have to add the following to my list: frightened grounds keepers, marble statues and precious limestone stairs & terraces, bathrooms a half mile away, fighting for the loading steps with other vendors, and the real deal breaker - over 200' of deep pea gravel. And would it seem like I'm just bitching now if I mention the fact that we arrived on time only to find that the south-of -the-border crew putting up the stage were just getting around to starting when we arrived.

That was when I got my first pleasant surprise. Everybody that got off of the bus was as old as I was. These guys knew what it is like to work for a living and there wasn't a sour whinny face on the buss - they came to perform and it was a pleasure to work with them. I'm not exactly known for my fondness of country music so my next pleasant surprise was wonderful. This band was great. There is something to be said for, shall we say, such a mature group (this was no geezer tour, i.e. a bunch of old guys that have lost their chops still pretending that they are fifty)- years of practice perfecting your art. And I got to mix to boot. All in all another successful day.

So that's right, I was talking about a day off. So I landed in Black Mountain after the show and slept completely through the next day - pea gravel is no fun at all on this aging body of mine. I love Black Mountain. It's easy to get to. It has a parking lot to park that I can park the LittleGuy in that I get left alone. The local shops and restaurants are great.

When I finally emerged from my peaceful slumber I headed over to the Cellar on Cherry Street for some shrimp and grits. It was Sunday brunch time and they had a guy playing solo acoustic guitar for tips. Nice touch. Good food, pleasant surroundings, a little light music. It's the kind a place that fills it's walls with paintings for sale by local artists. They had a $450 painting in the mens bathroom. Does anybody actually buy the art displayed in the bathroom? I always try to buy the musicians CD. It helps them out with expenses and I think it says I appreciate the talent better just a tip and besides, sometimes the CD is actually as good as they are live and not butchered by overproduction. But this time I saw only a tip jar so I gave him the same respect I get when I perform well - I like to call it the SoundMan tip - I left without complaining to him that it was too loud.

O.K. - back to work - I've got knobs to turn.

Thanks for indulging me - SoundMan

With all of the excitement of an archeological dig, we descend into the depths of the CareySound catacombs. A real Indiana Jones kind of experience. Epic adventure and all that. Never knowing what technological oddity lays around the next dark corner we continue deeper. What did I just run into. It's too dark down here. We need to bring it to the surface.

This is an interesting find. One wouldn't normally expect to find a lighting artifact in a soundman excavation. I guess we will have to speculate that this first generation Moto-Light moving light fixture had just too much robotic geek creed going for it to resist. Either that or SoundMan is really a closet lighting puke. Say it isn't so SoundMan. Please, say it isn't so.

Act Three The official debut of the new Electro-Voice Phoenix Loudspeaker System will be at the opening event of Signal Festival in Chapel Hill on UNC's campus in the Great Hall Student Union, on Thursday April 26th. CareySound is the official audio sponsor of the three day festival. Click here to go to the SignalFest website for more information.

CareySound is proud to be the ONLY dealer for the Phoenix on the SouthEast Coast.

John just sent me a few great pictures from the AHA Gala setup I thought I'd share. Enjoy!

Sometimes the most important choice to make is not what to buy but who to buy it from. CareySound installed a system upgrade back in December of last year at Fayetteville St. Baptist Church in Asheboro that included a new MIDAS Venice mixing console and Aaron Cranford, who is regional manager for Peak Tech-nologies and in charge of audio at the church, puts it this way…

"It was a pleasure working with you guys upgrading our system, and we really love our Midas. Over the past few years we had experienced much lesser quality consoles which contributed to many sound deficiencies throughout our auditorium. Some of the church's past music directors had received information and suggestions from other "so-called" sound engineering companies, who obviously didn't really know much about sound equipment, or was just out to make a dollar, and made decisions without checking the quality of the company, much less the quality of the equipment. I am not a music director but I have been around sound reinforcement equipment for many years, it's a hobby and something I enjoy doing. Therefore, I will go around to companies and check out the equipment they sell and how technical their people are.  Carey Sound has been at the top of my list since I first came into your store some 4 or 5 years ago.When I saw that you represented the Midas Consoles and EV equipment, I knew that at least you carried some of the finest equipment on the market.  But then after talking with some of your folks who work for you, I knew then that Carey Sound had the best quality in equipment and personnel."

"Back in September the Deacons of the Church came to me and asked if I would take over the sound and try to correct it.  I pretty much knew what it needed but I came to your shop and talked with Tommy. Tommy came to our Church and we went from one end to the other. Tommy agreed with me but he also pointed out some things that I wasn't aware of that worked out much better, which is why it's nice to work with folks who know what they're doing. Tommy put a quote together, I presented it to the Deacons, who brought it before the Church and a unanimous decision was made to go ahead with the project.   I have received many compliments now of how much better it sounds within our auditorium.  Everything is working and sounding great. The Midas Console is just outstanding.  The sound from it alone is enough to justify it, but the ease of operation is an added luxury that speaks volumes for this piece of equipment. The Sennheiser wireless and EV podium mics sound very clean and professional and the EV floor monitors produce really great quality sound as well. And knowing that we now have a Whirlwind Medusa Snake Cable for all the signals to flow throw removes the fear of RF interference."

"So thanks, Ken, for having the professional people and equipment that takes the worry out of sound engineering."

When you are looking for answers and solutions, we don't think you should have to try it three or four times to get it right. CareySound supplies you the right solution the first time providing you the best long term value. We consider our Customers lifetime members of our extended family and never just a quick sale.

Dynacord Cobra 2 System- EV QRx 115/75 - MIDAS Verona - EV P1200RL monitor amps - KT 9340 Helix EQ - KT RTA - KT SquareOne Dynamics - Dynacord DRP15 - Dynacord DRP10 - DeltaLab 1024DDL - Dynacord DSP244 - Dynacord Crossmax - EV Cardinal, Raven, PL10, RE27, ND957, ND 157, ND308, EV RE510 & EarthWorks Drum microphones - KT DN100 - Ashley Proteà w/remote

There is nothing like the smell of a new equipment. Lonnie Gough of Winston-Salem has completed building his PA system with this brand new EV/KT monitor system form CareySound. It features six EV Zx 5 loudspeakers, three Klark-Teknik SquareOne Grahpic dual 1/3 octave eq's and three EV CP 2200 power amplifiers in a custom shock rack case by Odyssey.

WARNING - Political rant ahead.

It seems that Greensboro's new privately owned (publicly maintained - read our tax dollars) center city park needs a little more work. Let's see now - compare the first photo taken on Sunday with the MUSEP held there in June of 2004...

and...

it's the incredible shrinking park. Somehow I don't think all of those "improvements" will allow for a MUSEP sized audience. It's amazing how they have turned a wonderful, wildly successful, and not to mention low maintenance community gathering spot on the grass in the middle of the city and turned it into a concrete, stone, shrubs, oh yes, let's not forget the major water element (fountain that I seriously doubt they will let you wade in) that practically guarantees high maintenance costs and then throw in a SMALL amphitheater that mimics the unsuccessful one already across the street. It will no doubt get used and it will no doubt look good but it sure is a shame to lose such a wonderful downtown open space.

I'd put Ms. Veronica Peagler's Technical Theater Students from Ligon Middle School in Raleigh up against any tech crew in the state. Yep - All middle school students. It was truly exciting working with this crew. When asked where they got their tech chops from they all answered in unison Ms. V. I hope they invite us back for some more tech talk.

The mission of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz is to offer public school-based jazz education programs for young people around the world, helping students develop imaginative thinking, creativity, curiosity, a positive self image, and a respect for their own and others' cultural heritage.

The Institute's, highly regarded Jazz in America programs are tailored for middle schooland high school students to help develop an understanding and appreciation of jazz music. The series has traveled to over 20 states over the last two years and strives to share the positive aspects of jazz with young people who would otherwise not have the opportunity to learn about this great national treasure.

CareySound was honored to be asked to provide production for the series as it traveled through North Carolina this last week. It was six stops in five days. A scaled down Cobra system with a Dynacord CMS mixer, EV Sx300 monitors and KT equalization provided quick setup and flawless performance in a variety of venues.

One click on this new image in the sidebar to the right takes you to our newest site feature. This is the place to look for deals on toys tools that need to find a new home. Here is where you will find the best gems left over from trade shows & demonstarations, items no longer needed in the Rental Department and special purchases. You get the first chance at these items before they are whisked away to eBay for auction.

CareySound is a full service system based sales company and we offer complete turnkey solutions -think expert personal shopper (see our • Sales Section in the sidebar to the right for more details). This new sale page gives us an avenue to introduce individual items for sale.

The MIDAS XL8 Digital Live Performance System made it's first official installation debut at Westover Church in their new sanctuary last week. Matt Larson, Midas/Klark Teknik US Sales Manager, graciously gave a private demonstration of the new system on Monday for a few of our select guests.

Brandon Potter, head audio production guru of First Assembly in Winston, smiles when he discovers how versital, sonically superior and affordable the XL8 system is.

Call us NOW to find out if you are MIDAS material.

I have a confession to make, I have had a secret four year love affair with a great Cajun/Zydeco/Alternative/Folk Rock/Jam Band from Gloucester, NC. We first met under the big tent at the Seafood Festival in Morehead City, NC on the Coastal Yesterday Stage. Every year I look forward to our three day rendezvous by the sea. Last year they recorded their performance and are now poised to release their second album form these recordings. You can check out their schedule on their website by clicking here. When you see them tell them Ken sent you. See you at the festival.

Click for a sample off of their first albumTongueAndGrooveSample.


Unknown Tongues Live at the Seafood Festival release date October 5th.
Click here now to pre-order.

A full month ahead of schedule, BOSCH received regulatory approval and is wasting no time in taking over the reigns of TELEX as evidenced by the departure of Raymond V. Malpocher last week, Maybe now we will start getting product flowing again. I've had this feeling that the old owners were bleeding last minute money from the company by cutting production and not replacing inventory. Goodbye venture capitalists. Hopefully now that Ray is gone we will see the end to "built to order" and start to see lead times shorten and shipping from inventory rise once again. It's been hard to explain to our customers why it was taking so long to receive their orders.

It's somehow fitting that the first one to be delivered is to God.

Delivered Friday and waiting in the depths of Westover Church of Greensboro, seen here being put through a last minute shakedown before it is deployed next week, is the elusive MIDAS XL8 digital system. Just look at all of those boxes waiting patently to be opened. We will have more news soon so stay tuned.

More Powerful - Smaller - Lighter

In 1987 Electro-Voice introduced Manifold Technology to the concert touring community, arguably the most advanced and powerful loudspeaker system of it's time. Now after almost 20 years of advancements, EV introduces the new Phoenix Series, a new generation of affordable manifold concert loudspeakers for the new century.
Designed for tremendous SPL and sonic headroom, as well as ease of transport and set-up, PHOENIX fills the needs of the live sound PA professional who finds that X-Array is just too much and QRx is not enough. The high output performance of PHOENIX has been optimized to reproduce rock, pop and dance styles of music. Utilizing dual ND2 neodymium compression drivers on a manifold horn and state of the art DVX woofers, PHOENIX loudspeakers can perform louder for longer with less stress on system components.

The electronic data sheet's can be found in the Tech Download section to the right .
And the perfect power amplifiers for the new Phoenix Series was also just announced.

PowerH From Dynacord

Up to 7kW, only two rack units high, and weighing a mere 14.5kg! With the PowerH series, Dynacord has opened a new chapter in the history of professional high-powered power amplifiers. The 3-stage grounded bridge Class H topology and an extremely stable, state-of-the-art floating switchmode power supply guarantee the ultimate in efficiency, absolute reliability, and audio performance of the very highest quality.

PowerH power amplifiers are ready for integration into IRIS-Net-based networks. Retrofittable remote modules allow complete system supervision and remote control combined with DSP-functions that include ultra-precise FIR filters and optimized algorithms for loudspeaker protection.
The electronic data sheet's can be found in the Tech Download section to the right .
Call us now for more details.

TELEX
Electro-Voice
Dynacord
MIDAS
Klark Teknik

Bosch Group Aquires Telex Communications

From the Bosch Corporate website -

STUTTGART/MINNEAPOLIS – The Bosch Group announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement for the acquisition of Telex Communications Holding, Inc. through the merger of a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH into Telex. The merger agreement provides for an aggregate purchase price of US-$ 420 million, includes the assumption of Telex indebtedness, subject to certain post-closing adjustments, and also provides for the satisfaction and discharge of the publicly held indebtedness of Telex and its affiliates. The merger agreement has been approved by the Board of Directors of Telex and the Board of Management of Bosch, and has also been approved by the requisite percentage of Telex's voting stockholders.

From the Telex Corporate website -

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - Telex Communications Holdings, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, announced today that it has signed a definitive merger agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH, pursuant to which Bosch will acquire Telex for an aggregate purchase price of $420 million, including the assumption of Telex indebtedness, subject to certain post closing adjustments. The purchase price will represent per share merger consideration to stockholders equal to at least $24 per share of Telex common stock, subject to adjustments that, together with certain additional contingent payments over several years, could result in aggregate consideration to stockholders of $29 per share. The merger agreement also provides for the satisfaction and discharge of the publicly held indebtedness of Telex and its affiliated companies. Upon closing of the merger, the surviving companyÕs name will be Telex Communications Holdings, Inc., with headquarters remaining in Minneapolis, MN.

Check out the new Blue mics we have been testing around Careysound, here we have the Blueberry and the Bluebird strutting their stuff in the studio and... hey, wait a minute... that guy looks familiar... oh it's none other than our multi talented manager Dale spending an afternoon in the studio. Maybe, just maybe if you ask nice he will let you hear how the recording came out. How about it Dale?

Everything Is Coming Up MIDAS
A Day In Pictures

Apparently my name has been changed to Rob.

On to the show.

The Venue.

Team MIDAS.

The stage is set.

Ta Dah

From humble beginnings. Are those Lego blocks on those 2X4's?

The Beauty.

The MIDAS touch.

The Brains.

You have to be tall to see over the crowd.

Hands on. A magical experience.

Yes, It Is Rocket Science.

Back on the bus.

A little out of the way spot for dinner.

Real SoundMen eat Mexican food. The was no can in this Mexican.

Oh, so that's why they said to bring along a jacket. Wish I would have listened.

A dramatic end to an amazing day.
Let the sales commence.

Details to follow when I can get a little sleep.

All good saga's begin with the sun rising at dawn and so does this one. I think someone forgot to tell MIDAS that real SoundMen don't do 7 am breakfast calls (or at least not in my version of a SoundMan) unless they are just getting to bed from the day before, but yet, here we are. So quit complaining man. There are new digital trails to blaze. westward wagons ho and all that... hey wait a minute. why did they say bring a jacket? This is the desert southwest isn't it? Oh well - when in Albuquerque...

One of our dear customers, Cloverdale Church of the Living God on Elm street in High-Point, met with tragedy a little over a week ago when an electrical short caused a fire that destroyed their church building along with nearly everything inside. The congregation will continue to meet in their youth and daycare center next door. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Pastor Perry and his congregation as they struggle with this loss.

If you would like to make a donation to the church it can be sent to Cloverdale Church of the Living God, care of High Point Bank and Trust. The banks address is address is 2758 South Main Street in High Point.

Winston-Salem, NC - CareySound has installed an EV XLc line array system in the sanctuary of First Assembly of God for their Easter presentation, Behold Him, that begins on April 12th and runs through the 16th.

The two, 888 pound, eight-box XLc127+ hangs were powered with 10-EV CP3000S amplifiers and controlled with 2-EV Dx38 system processors. An incredibly even ± 1.5 db sound field was achieved throughout the sanctuary with a 110 peak SPL.

Renowned audio recording & mastering engineer and founder of Digital Domain, Bob Katz has honored Steve in his Honor Roll of Good-Sounding Pop CDs for Here2Hear's recording of Ex Nihilo by Mad Dog Trio in 2002. The project was mastered by Jeff Carroll. Here2Hear Studio is our recording studio partner company.

Ex Nihilo - Mad Dog Trio Mastered by Jeff Carroll. Engineered by Steve Graham. Alternative Rock with a Jazz influence. Fat Rock/Jazz sound. Loud, but not squished sound at -9 dB monitor gain. Definitely compressed with an attitude. www.maddogtrio.com, MD3032102, ©2002

This is a picture taken yesterday of the front door to the first CareySound store location and in fact it was the also the fifth location. There are even product stickers still on the window. On August 1st CareySound will celebrate it's 28th anniversary. Anybody know where this first location was?

The Barn Dinner Theatre has been entertaining guests since the early sixty's and is the oldest continually operating dinner theatre in America. CareySound is proud to be part of that tradition. Nicole performed system maintenance at the theatre recently and they had some nice things to say about us that we would like to share.

Request

- I've been asked for a printable version of the SoundMan Puzzle so click here for a downloadable PDF version.

Fun Link

- I was digging through the Electro-Voice site doing some reasearch the other day and stumbled into an archive of data sheets on an amazing amount of old technology. Click here for a LINK to the index.

Across
3. Pink noise is equal energy per _______.
6. Soundman Says...
8. Interferance between overlaping loudspeakers causes this.
11. The soild state version of a tube.
12. Catheral of His Glory and Westover Church both in Greensboro have this is common.
13. They made the worlds first stackable line array.
16. 746 Watts = one ___________

Down
1. Another name for a tube.
2. In 1978 Careysound started in my ___________.
4. You can find the latest firmware upgrade for the EV Dx 38 system processor here.
5. When direct sound energy equals reverberant field energy.
7. Another name for switched mode power suppliy.
9. When considering the cost of ownership of a wirless microphone system, don't forget the ____________.
10. The bass effect you get from a close miked directional microphone.
14. A remote powering scheme for condenser microphones.
15. Calvin _________ owns two theaters in Myrtle Beach including Tribute the Concert.

Click here for a printable PDF Download of this months puzzle.

"Nicole, thank you so much for the time you spent with me and the kids at the sound board, and thanks for the emergency replacement mics too, we couldn't have had such a success without them!   Your six mics worked perfectly.  We put them on the Beast and Belle and other important leads so we could feel confident that at least they could be heard every time." Dana Lowell - Technical Director, Center for the Arts

Jay, this one is for you. We have added a new section in the About CareySound section. The Wayback Machine page will be an odd assortment of old pictures and remembrances and you can find it in the list to the right or click on Mr. Peabody.

Samson Audio has retired their S11 microphone. As many of you know, we have been using the S11 as our primary rental vocal microphone for years now and we have sold well over 1,000 of them. As one of our clients proclaimed, it was the "best cheap microphone I've ever owned." In a sea of inexpensive microphones it served us well. It didn't have great high or low frequency response and it didn't win any awards but not every situation calls for an expensive solution. It had decent handling noise and worked great in the wind without a wind screen, was built well and had the best mic clip around.

But never fear we are on a quest for it's replacement and we are narrowing down the field, so stay tuned for next "best cheap microphone I've ever owned."

John Carey over at TWISTEDSUN.NET, photographed and produced the EV/Blue Cardinal ad for us that I posted last week. He has turned another one of the many pictures he took during the photo shoot and turned it into a desktop picture (I understand that's wallpaper to you PC folks) for us to post. You can find more of his amazing desktops and photographs at his website twistedsun.net. Thanks John!

click here to download file

... a microphone as distinctive as you are.

In stock NOW exclusively at CareySound.

We’ve been working with Carey Sound for nearly 20 years and have a very positive experience every time!  Carey Sound has provide sound reinforcement, lighting and staging for a number of events, indoors and out, ranging from our Courtyard Concert Series, an intimate group of 20-30 people listening to acoustical act to bands such as Little Feat, with several thousand people.  CareySound always delivered what they promised, often more, for the price quoted.  I would recommend Carey Sound without hesitation!  Jamey Kerr - Operations Manager WKRR-FM/WKZL-FM

Carey Sound is a super company which provides excellent service with a knowledgeable staff that is easy to talk to. I love to deal with them. Super people! Elder Lateef Animashaun - Christ Apostolic Church - Greensboro N.C.

Carey Sound has supplied us with great service over the past two decades.  Most recently, we’ve employed Carey Sound for our “Courtyard Concert Series” which has featured such acts as “Lifehouse”, “Natasha Beddingfield” and “Collective Soul”.  In fact, I heard Ed Rolland, lead singer with Collective Soul say that the sound quality for their performance at Natty Greene’s (provided by Carey Sound) was “great” and one of the best sounds they’ve had on their local tour circuit.  From recording artists to record label representatives, when we book an event for these folks, Carey Sound is who we have and will continue to call.  No hesitation! Dave Aiken - Promotions Director -Dick Broadcasting Company - WKRR/WKZL

I have found Carey Sound to be an excellent source for great service! It is always a pleasure working with Carey Sound for our audio and lighting rental needs. Dale, Nicole, Tommy and Thirkeal and the Carey Sound Team have been the key individuals in assisting NC A&T's WNAA-FM during many of our on-location events. In this day and age of no customer service, the team at Carey Sound always go over and above when it comes to customer service, setting the pace and example for others to follow. Their attitude and dependability are commendable and highly valued by any Program Director! Keep up the great work!  D. Cherie' Lofton - Program Director -WNAA-FM/NC A&T State University