Audio Professionals NW

So the client walks up and says: ‘We didn’t get the dvd of the music video that we wanted to play in time, but it’s on youtube can we play it from there?’

We used the venue’s wireless internet access to load the video. We ran the output of the laptop through the video switch and set the video to full screen. Using the laptop keyboard we were able to start the playback while still in full screen mode.

I wasn’t sure it would work, but it ended up working and looking great. I am not sure the audience even noticed the difference.

You can see the video here.

Sent from my Palm Treo.

For the last 3 years we have been called on to provide sound and video for the Christian Family Adoptions Banquet. It is always a great show and we enjoy being involved with such a great cause. This was the 3rd year that APNW has been involved.

The show takes place at the Hilton Conference Center in Vancouver, WA.

I will post some photos when we have them.

What a blast, the PIP for August 1st had to be canceled due to rain, so yesterday was the first Pictures In The Park event for 2008.

We used our 16 x 10 stretch screen and one of our Sanyo projectors. The audience seemed to have a great time. We tried to really cover the field with 4 mains cross firing it was a difficult task. The field is about 150′ x 375′ plus there is an area about 300′ x 120′ to the rear of the main field that some folks sat in. We used a cluster of speakers in the front of the audience and they seemed to project well. I think we achieved good coverage. I walked the perimeter several times and I thought everyone could hear clearly.

Hope to see you at the next event. Check it out at http://www.picturesinthepark.us

We had the opportunity to run sound for an outdoor wedding last week. It was a lot of fun. The family was relaxed and they were great to work with.

My biggest complaint about outdoor weddings is that usually the audio is thin and difficult to hear because of poor speaker placement and not enough speakers. The last thing that you want at a wedding is to have the lack of good audio distract you from what is really important – like the bride and groom. My other complaint is that you can almost never hear the bride and groom recite their vows! I have rarely been to a wedding were the bride and groom were mic’ed.

The whole reason for a wedding is to hear the bride and groom make their vows one to another and it seems criminal to me not have that part of the ceremony mic’ed.

We set up 4 main speakers and 3 more in the reception area. We also set up a projector and a power point presentation that looped during the reception. We put a lapel mic on the groom, this gave us great audio for both the groom and the bride. We could have gotten away with just 2 speakers but we wanted to make sure that the audience was well covered and there was not a bad seat in the house, sound wise.

We recorded the ceremony so the bride and groom will be able to go back and listen at a later date. I don’t know about you but the day I got married is a bit of a blur and a CD with the audio on it would be cool to go back and listen to. We also recorded the open mic at the reception so the toasts can be heard again!

It sounded really excellent I was very pleased. The entire audience could hear everything clearly. The wedding planner even commented that it was the best sound at an outdoor wedding she has ever heard. So the lesson is: use as many speakers as you need to get good coverage.

Last summer we produced a series of four movie screenings (two in Scappoose, Oregon and two in Gresham, Oregon) for Pictures In The Park (www.PicturesInThePark.us).

This year we will be producing five shows at Main Street Park in Gresham. It should be fun, we had a great time last year!

We have a different screen setup this year it is the same height as last year at about 9′ but this one is 15ft wide. This lets us use a bit larger viewing area for 4 out of 5 movies that will be wide screen. We will also be using our new Mackie sub woofer and 4 main speakers instead of 2. It sounded great last year so hopefully it will sound that much better this year.

This year we will also be using our OCEAN Matrix OMX-7240A video switcher. This will let us switch quickly between the pre-show power point presentation and the movie. In the past we have had to physically switch cables between the laptop and the DVD player. With the switcher all we need to do is push a button – it is very cool.

Well another OCEAN Conference has come and gone (www.OregonHomeSchoolConference.com). We had a lot of fun and tested out some new gear. Take a look at the picture below.

We provided AV support in Hall B which was used for the keynote sessions at the Conference. Our set included two of our 9 x 12 stretch screens with skirts and four Mackie SRM450 speakers.