Rants
Integration Control – Don’t Make Me Think
CX JULY THEME: CONTROL Integration Control – Don’t Make Me Think by Simon Byrne. Some of you would have read my piece about the incomprehensible state of house light controls in last month’s edition of CX. I see a lot of the same problems in the installed control systems as part of installations. That…
Read MoreMoving the Wall of Vinyl
DUNK’S WORLD Moving the Wall of Vinyl by Duncan Fry. They say that vinyl (as in records, not wet-look trousers) is making a comeback. As I look at my wall of 12” LPs I realise that for a lot of us it never went away! The reason I was looking at the…
Read MoreA Traveller’s Tale: Flying High on the A380
DUNK”S WORLD A Traveller’s Tale: Flying High on the A380 by Duncan Fry. I see on the news that Airbus is ceasing production of its jumbo-riffic giant of the skies – the A380, citing changing tastes in passenger’s plane requirements. It turns out it’s a bit thirsty, and needs to be full of passengers…
Read MoreBlowing Up (It Wasn’t Just Pyro)
TOURING Blowing Up (It Wasn’t Just Pyro) by Julius Grafton. The things that went wrong resonate same as the golden moments. Gold when everyone is happy, the show is sold out, sounds and looks great, and money flows where intended. But the sticky brown moments are our great test and they could come hard…
Read MoreA Christmas AV Fable – Cruella under the spotlight
By Anonymous* Cruella de AV steered her Roller into the car park and ascended the unswept stairs to the regional office. Sue the receptionist quaked in fear at her desk, the six incoming phone lines unlit and five staff upstairs unaware of what was to happen. ‘Who are YOU?’ Cruella spat. Without waiting for an…
Read MoreSnow Job – The Projector from the Smithsonian
DUNKS WORLD Snow Job – The Projector from the Smithsonian by Duncan Fry. It’s been a great season for the snowfields this year, so my gf said “Let’s go to the snow for a long weekend. We can stay in the town, and catch the shuttle bus up the mountain. What do you think?” Ah,…
Read MoreFast food on the road; fast, hot or good?
Dunk’s World Fast food on the road; fast, hot or good? If you’re lucky it’s any one of those three! By Duncan Fry. Considering how much fast food I’ve sampled over the years, the bad experiences have been very few and far between. A steak ordered rare from a beachside diner in Venice, California that…
Read MoreFear and Loathing at Overseas Exhibitions
Duncan Fry / Dunk’s World Fear and Loathing at Overseas exhibitions Where the Hell’s our stand gone? When you tell people you’re off to Amsterdam, or Los Angeles, or Frankfurt, or Nashville to work at an exhibition, they nearly always say, “Enjoy the holiday!” Hah. Dream on baby! It’s as far from a holiday as…
Read MoreHoney I Shrunk It- I really Did
REGULARS Honey I Shrunk It – I really Did We reprise a piece from CX Magazine, February 2013 where Duncan Fry ponders a smaller PA system… Since it’s the start of a new year, I’ve made a new year’s resolution to shrink the size of my current system to still keep the same output level…
Read MoreAdelaide soundguy lives up to tired stereotype, regrets it immediately, apologises.
As reported at themusic.com.au and on social media, a sound tech at Adelaide’s The Gov managed to insult a female band member with a sexist comment last Friday, moments before she was to take the stage. Reportedly asking ‘How’s the glass ceiling going for you?’ of said band member, the sound tech was consequently flayed…
Read MoreDuncan Fry – Don’t Diddle With Bo
Duncan Fry – Don’t Diddle With Bo I was working quite regularly with a band – let’s call them the Defects. One Friday their gig was cancelled about half an hour before I was due to get in the truck and head off to the load in. While I sat there wondering whether I would…
Read MoreMackie gets Thumped
Gearbox Review: Mackie Thump 12A By Jason Allen. Mackie’s low-end, stalwart plastic powered box range, the Thump Series, have been given an update. Sporting a new 1300W amp, there are four new top boxes and a sub, the 12A, 15A, 12BST, 15BST and 18S respectively. The ‘BST’ models include Bluetooth streaming and control, which comes…
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