Audio – Twenty Years Ago. One Almo BDM’s Fond Memories and Meager Beginnings

by Steve Alexander | Dec 28, 2017 | audio, Product, sound engineering, soundscapes, Uncategorized

Hello Almo Customers!

As the New Year begins, I thought I’d take a moment to introduce myself, as I am one of the newer Business Development Managers here at Almo.

My name is Steve Alexander, I came on board with Almo in July of 2017 to help grow the audio offerings we provide to you, our customers. I’ve been involved in professional audio since the early 1980’s, graduating from the music business program at Belmont College in Nashville, Tennessee.

Click Image to Listen

Like many of you, while in school I did various jobs to supplement my meager student existence. My first “real” job in pro audio was working in a Music Row recording studio making cassette (you remember those, don’t you?) tape copies for songwriters and publishers wanting to pitch their songs to artist to put on their next release.

I eventually made my way to the control room, wrapping cables, setting up mics, and observing everything I could in order to have a chance to sit in front of the mixing console. During my tenure, I managed to work in various studios around town, eventually making my way up to chief engineer.

A number of years later I am still in love with audio. I’ve had gigs selling equipment to broadcast facilities, did some IT work as a Cisco engineer, and ran a team of AV pros supporting AV & VC technologies at the World Bank in Washington, DC.

I eventually married and settled in beautiful Annapolis, MD. Annapolis is blessed with a great number of talented musicians I got to know over time and thought, what’s an audio guy with an unfinished basement to do other than make the basement into a studio! Now remember, this was twenty years ago. So with a small budget I got to work. I triple-walled the control room and performance space to ensure as little noise as possible, made it into a performance space and built out the control room and vocal booth.

I decided to stick with a tape based system as a full blown Pro-Tools system was out of my financial reach at that time. So I decided on three Tascam DA-38’s synced together using their RC-848 transport remote, a Behringer 24×8 console was my recording desk, and I had a good bit of outboard gear to supplement what the Beheringer didn’t offer sonically, a Focusrite mic-pre & EQ, a number of dbx compressor/limiters, urei leveling amps, a Hafler audio amp, JBL monitors and Auratone’s for my car audio mix. All this was tied together using Whirlwind TTL patchbays to route signals. Over the years I had assembled a nice collection of microphones, from Shure SM57’s, to Sennheiser 421’s, and AKG D10, C391B’s, 414, etc.

One of my favorite projects was a compilation Christmas CD featuring local Annapolis artist. That CD provided the impetus for the still running two night live show of “An Annapolis Christmas” that occurs every December at our local music venue the Rams Head on Stage.

I’ve included a mix of “This Christmas” as performed by the Annapolis based band, Majesty 12.

No, it won’t sound as if it was recorded at Capital Studio A, but it ain’t bad considering it was recorded in my basement… ahh, my salad days…

Twenty years later, the technology is exponentially better, just to say you don’t need a million dollar budget to put together a decent sounding recording facility. This translates into the install and integration markets as well. With the convergence of AV and IT, the possibilities are truly endless. It’s an exciting time to be an AV professional. Almo ProAV is dedicated to helping our partners provide the best in class solution to their end users.

I hope you will allow me to assist you with any upcoming projects you have that involve audio.

BRING YOUR DIGITAL SIGNAGE OUT OF LA LA LAND

by Corinne Furmanek O’Rawe | Feb 17, 2017 | audio, digital signage, Education, sound engineering, Uncategorized

I recently spent a “date night” with my husband watching the beautifully shot widescreen CinemaScope, LA LA LAND.

The vivid colors, dancing, and music brought my thoughts to a time when movies were “silent”. Imagine how less invigorating the movie would have been without sound. It would definitely have fallen short of expectations.

The same can be said for specific Pro AV solutions. Think of how much more engaging they would be, with sound. Audio enhances the way the audience will perceive certain scenes. Picture a silent video clip with trees blowing in the wind. Do you have a visual? Now, add sound. Suddenly the image provides boosts of emotion. It can create an implication; even stimulate a feeling.

Too often, audio gets bumped down the priority list. Not adding enhanced options could result in an experience that falls short of expectations.

The good news is it’s relatively easy to ensure a positive audio experience during video communications or digital signage solutions. Many of the audio business opportunities are “hidden”. Your customers are not asking for audio, yet the vast majority of their solutions need audio.

So how do you spot these opportunities?

You look for clues. When you inquire about the location of the installation, you find the key to open the door to new opportunities. Audio solutions enhance environments like showrooms, restaurants, casinos, theme parks, waiting rooms, convention centers, trade shows and museums. Consumers are inspired by what they see and hear. Adding audio capabilities to digital signage should be a natural partnership. Adding audio gives you the ability to be appealing, as opposed to repetitive.

Are there best practices to using sound?

According to a past article in the Digital Signage Insider, there are guidelines for not only when, but how to use sound.

1. Don’t rely on sound alone to make your message.
2. Use audio to punctuate on an already strong and compelling visual message
3. Make sure your audio supports the same points as your video (it’s a partnership)
4. Audio enhances Visual

Adding audio capabilities to digital signage can definitely help your business grow. As we dive into 2017, remember to put the “A” back into “AV” when mapping out your digital signage.

Please join ALMO PRO AV on February 23rd, for our company webinar entitled “AV Starts with Audio”

Develop solutions to help leverage the human experience of sight and sound. By leaving the audio out of the solution, you are missing opportunities to build your business, leaving revenue opportunities in LA LA LAND.

AV in the National Park Service: Preserving the Sounds of Nature

by Melody Craigmyle | Aug 30, 2016 | audio, sound engineering, soundscapes

I’m a huge fan of the park service and visit them quite frequently. This summer I’m headed to Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. My idea of camping is with a full service hotel and restaurant but I do like it when there’s no TV and no cell phone reception, which was the case on my visit to Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Check out these pictures of ancient Pueblo Indian dwellings from yours truly.

Pueblo Indian

This year the National Park Service is celebrating its 100 anniversary in August and there have been lots of stories on the news providing coverage on the celebratory activities throughout the country. A few weeks ago, NPR did a segment on how sound engineers are going deep into the parks to record the natural soundscapes of streams, waterfalls, animals and all parts of nature that make our parks so spectacular. I was thinking about all those kids that grow up wanting to be a park ranger, then get into a band in high school carting around their own A/V equipment. Then through a turn of events, they end up in the A/V industry. Well guess what? Apparently you can do both!

One thing that was particularly interesting are the studies they are doing on how humans and our sound pollution affect the animals. The bio acoustical scientist in the interview, Kurt Fristrup, explained that just a few changes in decibels can have a great effect on their ability to hunt.

“Imagine you’re an owl looking for your dinner,” Fristrup said. “A three decibel increase in sound level cuts in half the area in which you could hear those sounds,” he said. “So you are half as efficient in finding food, with a relatively subtle increase in background sound level.”

Click Here to read the entire interview or download the segment.