LOS ANGELES (February 23, 2009) — The GRAMMY Museum, which opened in December 2008, is a 30,000 square-foot facility that explores and celebrates the enduring legacies of all forms of music, the creative process, the art and technology of the recording process, and the history of the premier recognition of excellence in recorded music — the GRAMMY® Award. The one-of-a-kind "21st Century Museum" features interactive, permanent, and traveling exhibits — with four floors of dynamic and engaging multimedia presentations. The grand opening of The GRAMMY Museum also marked the culmination of the milestone 50th Celebration of The Recording Academy® and the GRAMMY Awards.
One of the exhibits, The “Hall of Fame”, designed by Gallagher & Associates, features a sculptural column of more than 350 Shure Model 55SH Series II Microphones. The “Hall of Fame” is the place where you can dig deeply into the history of GRAMMY nominations and awards. Dedicated computer databases contain information on 50 years of GRAMMY recordings and artists, while the most recent year's winners are honored in a contemporary display. The artifacts connect you to legendary recordings and artists that have been honored by the GRAMMY Hall of Fame and Special Merit Awards.
“The Shure 55SH Microphone has been a music industry icon for more than 60 years, as the GRAMMY has for over 50,” said Mark Brunner, Shure’s Senior Director of Global Public Relations. “We are honored that the GRAMMY Museum selected this classic microphone to evoke a profound connection to the history of music performance. The microphone sculpture, like this fabulous museum, is something that every music fan should see in person.”
The GRAMMY Museum is located within L.A. LIVE at 800 West Olympic Boulevard, Suite A245, Los Angeles, CA, 90015. For more information about The GRAMMY Museum and its programs, visit www.grammymuseum.org.
Low Profile Design Combines Affordable Room Scheduling Solution and Complete Crestron Control for Classrooms, Conference Rooms, Hotel Rooms, Home Automation Systems
Featuring a wide array of touchscreen functionality with flexible mounting options and single wire installation, TPMC-4SM delivers room control, power and communication via Ethernet, allowing easy installation virtually anywhere, making the 4SM an ideal solution for retrofits, renovations and existing structures where cutting holes in walls is undesirable or impractical. Mounting the 4SM, either flush or tilt, on glass surfaces or on concrete/brick walls is simple, safe and reliable, providing a clean, hassle-free installation in corporate boardrooms and conference rooms, and in European interiors. Standard wall, lectern and tabletop mounting options offer additional choices to meet any design requirement.
As a stand-alone touchpanel, TPMC-4SM features direct network connectivity with RoomView™ Server Edition software to provide a streamlined enterprise room scheduling solution for any size organization. With power and communication via Ethernet over a single CAT5e cable, "Room Scheduling Mode" requires no control system or programming, delivering a true, fully integrated room solution, increasing efficiencies in meeting room scheduling and employee productivity. View room calendars and check availability status of all rooms throughout buildings or across campuses and reserve rooms in real time, right from the touchpanel display.
Onboard inputs provide direct connection of occupancy sensors, enabling the 4SM to conveniently display room availability status with easy-to-read LEDs that are backlit green when a room is "available", red when "occupied", and trigger RoomView to automatically reset calendars when "no shows" occur.
TPMC-4SM also communicates with any Crestron control system via the LAN, to control AV presentation systems, HVAC, lighting and shades, in corporate boardrooms; control of in-room entertainment, amenities, and room partitioning in hotels, and control of all classroom AV and multimedia presentation technology in colleges and universities. In addition, the 4SM is a perfect choice in residential applications as a low-cost bedside touchpanel or anywhere in the home, with custom, one-touch presets enabling whole house control of home theater systems, distributed audio, light/drapes, thermostats, security and more.
The compact yet powerful 4SM delivers fully programmable functionality to access and leverage advanced Crestron control systems, 4.3" high-performance 16:9 wide-screen color graphics with streaming audio and video, 2-way IP intercom, WAV file feedback, and a built-in proximity sensor that wakes and lights up the touchpanel upon approach. The single cable PoE solution eliminates the need for additional electrical and control wiring, resulting in clean, easier installations and significantly reduced installation costs.
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| NORTHRIDGE, California – In one of the biggest television events of the year, Conan O’Brien made his debut as host of “The Tonight Show” on Monday, June 1, which aired on NBC from its new studio in Stage 1 of the Universal Studios Hollywood back lot. Valencia, California-based ATK AudioTek has supplied a state-of-the-art sound reinforcement system at the studio, featuring elements from JBL’s VRX, SRX, VERTEC® and Control® Contractor Series. Jeff Peterson of Green Audio designed the system. O’Brien’s debut on “The Tonight Show” featured guest actor/comedian Will Farrell and musical guest Pearl Jam. Monday’s show generated the program’s highest ratings for a Monday in four years, 82 percent higher than the show’s average in major markets in the second quarter of 2009. According to Peterson, the sound reinforcement system needed to be of pristine quality, but visually unobtrusive. “We designed a system to provide audio that met the standards of both live performance and television broadcast, configured to blend in seamlessly with the set design,” Peterson said. The main PA system at the new Tonight Show set consists of left and right clusters, each containing four JBL VRX932LA-1 compact constant curvature array systems with one VRX918S subwoofer on top. A center cluster features three VRX932LA-1 loudspeakers. The system is enhanced by a center array of two VERTEC VT4880A full-size arrayable subwoofers. The system also features two delay clusters flown 40 feet downstage from the main PA system, each containing two VRX932LA-1 loudspeakers. Peterson’s system design features a unique approach to nearfield sound support, with a JBL Control 23 surface-mount speaker underneath every other audience seat in the theater for dialogue, creating an “underseat” system of 178 individual speakers. Each row in the under-seat system is treated as an individual zone for signal-delay purposes, time-aligned to the main PA so they can be used in tandem. Onstage are 16 JBL SRX712M stage monitors for performers, four VRX915M stage monitors for drums, and two VT4881A compact arrayable subwoofer for the drum monitor system. Crown I-Tech 4000 amplifiers power the PA system, with highpowered I-Tech 8000’s driving the subwoofers. Crown I-Tech 4000 amplifiers power the stage monitor system. Signal processing for the entire audio system is accomplished via two BSS Soundweb London BLU 800’s, while the system is networked for remote control and monitoring with Harman HiQnet™ System Architect™ software. Designed to meet the exacting needs of a leading television show while also providing a concert-quality experience for performers and audience alike, the system design and installation has won instant favor on the set. “The system sounds terrific,” Peterson said. “The JBL speakers, from the line arrays to the under-seat models, were easy to install and configure, and provide reliability and consistency in this application.” |
| JBL is a unit of Harman International Industries, Incorporated (www.harman.com). Harman International Industries, Incorporated designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of audio and infotainment products for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. Harman International maintains a strong presence in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and employs more than 11,000 people worldwide. The Harman International family of brands includes AKG®, Audioaccess®, Becker®, BSS®, Crown®, dbx®, DigiTech®, Pictured, from left: Paul Bauman, JBL; Bryan Olson and Mark Dittmar, Firehouse Productions; and Brian Divine, Crown Audio. Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson®, Revel®, QNX®, Soundcraft® and Studer®. Harman International's stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "NYSE: HAR." Harman HiQnet™ is the world's first connectivity and control protocol that integrates all product categories in the signal chain for professional audio systems of all types, size, and applications. Harman HiQnet no longer requires the user to manage multiple disparate operating systems or be responsible for programming individual signal processors, speaker controllers, wireless microphone systems, and mixing consoles. HiQnet was developed by engineers from across Harman’s Professional Division and is coordinated by the System Development and Integration Group (SDIG), a team of dedicated systems specialists based in Salt Lake City, Utah. |
New HD-MD8x1 and 8x2 Switchers Achieve Much More than Signal Routing
HDMI switching has been a challenge; when systems don't work right, troubleshooting is nearly impossible. The problem could be at the source, the display, the cable, the switcher or an issue with HDCP authentication keys. Crestron HDMI switchers prevent frustrating switching delays with exclusive, built-in QuickSwitch HD™ technology, which pre-authorizes HDCP keys and maintains a constant handshake between sources and the display for fast, uninterrupted HDMI switching.
Crestron HDMI switchers feature DM Tools, a powerful setup and diagnostic software program that graphically displays the flow of all signals and data on a connected computer screen, optimizing system performance and enabling installers to efficiently deliver a reliable HDMI system. EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) is processed, to identify and automatically send the best resolution to display, so end users no longer have manually configure output resolutions to the display. CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) data, which is embedded in HDMI and DisplayPort signals, is managed to prevent devices from issuing unwanted, seemingly random commands, such as turning off a projector during a presentation.
Crestron HDMI switchers provide a seamless upgrade path from analog to digital. Existing analog sources may be integrated and switcher through the HD-MD8x1 and 8x2 by simply connecting Crestron DigitalMedia™ input cards using the DMCI chassis.
Never again will clients complain of equipment inexplicably turning off, long switching delays, or having to manually configure output resolutions. Only Crestron HDMI switchers provide the installation tools to ensure the reliable, high performance HDMI system designs.
LOS ANGELES, CA —The Boxmasters (Billy Bob Thornton, J.D. Andrew and Mike Butler) are back with what may be the trio’s best studio offering to date, Modbilly. A two-CD set, the record got an introductory boost with the help of a touring schedule that swept through several House of Blues, South By Southwest, followed by a recent run through Canada, Connecticut, and Massachusetts with Willie Nelson and Ray Price.
“I’ve been in bands from the time I was a little kid,” Thornton confesses, who has released 4 critically acclaimed solo records and released the third Boxmasters CD in less than a years’ time. “You know, during all the years I’ve played — and when I worked as a roadie, too — Shure microphones were all we had. I mean 58s and 57s mostly, which we still use to this day. They’re like the Cadillac of mics to us.”
Following a model established with their critically acclaimed and eponymously-titled first disc in 2008, Modbilly serves up a self-defining story with disc one featuring a dozen original songs. Switch to disc two, and The Boxmasters reveal more of their inner musical selves with great covers of Roger Miller’s “Half a Mind”, Tom Rush’s “Merrimack County”, and John Hartford’s “Gentle on My Mind”.
Recently off the road after a show with Willie at his Austin, TX club, Carl’s Corner, Thornton notes without reservation that “we’re going to go right home and start recording again. We don’t write songs with the intention of becoming successful or having hits or anything like that. We know we’re not going to sell ten million records, not many people are doing that now. So we stick to what we love and what makes us feel good, and whatever happens, happens. We just can’t stop recording — we’re kind of obsessed. But we’ll still probably do another tour next winter or spring.” Their next project, an acoustic record followed closely by yet another double CD to be titled Bellflower.
Modbilly can be ordered at The Boxmasters website. The Boxmasters also currently appear on Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm as contributors of a bonus track called “Yesterday Got in the Way.” The tune is available to those who purchase the CD on iTunes. Founder of the Sir Douglas Quintet in the ‘60s, Sahm is also known for his work with the Texas Tornados.
