By Ben Stowe, CTS – “Sound & Lighting Guru” When it comes to providing sound for an event, few things are as important as the level and clarity of the sound. One without the other doesn’t get the job done. Loud, inarticulate sound is blaring and offensive to the listener. Clear, articulate sound that’s not…
By Ben Stowe, CTS – “Sound & Lighting Guru “Watts” the difference between one passive or powered loudspeaker from another? As the president of NLFX Professional, I and my staff get asked this type of question all the time. I frequently find myself addressing a wattage-based specification. I suppose it’s just one of those things…
by Ben Stowe, CTS – “Sound & Lighting Guru” There are so many choices we have to make. Paper or Plastic? Mac or PC? Star Wars or Star Trek?…just to name a few. The one choice that perplexes DJs to the point where many just go along with what’s popular with their peers is “Active”…
by Ben Stowe, CTS – “Sound & Lighting Guru” Bi-Amping a loudspeaker or a system in it’s simplest form is just what the name states, using two amps for the job. Typically this is used to independently control the levels and frequencies going to a particular driver within a loudspeaker. In Illustration 1 we can…
by Ben Stowe, CTS Wow! What a year we just experienced. Besides perhaps being the last full calendar year of civilization, if you believe some of the apocalyptic hype surrounding the end of the Mayan b’ak’tun (which this writer does not), 2011 was notable for many other things. On the technology front, I’d be remiss…
by Ben Stowe, CTS The world is not flat, and mic cable is not the same as DMX cable. Both might seem to be profound revelations, but upon review of the facts it seems patently silly that we would regard either as a revelation. In our advanced age of understanding, it’s hard to believe that…
by Ben Stowe, CTS If only I had a nickel for every person that asked me what par a LED fixture was. I understand it’s virtually the only way they know to attempt to quantify the output of a fixture and thus make comparisons against other fixtures to determine the appropriate one for a given…
by Ben Stowe, CTS My last post on deciding when to purchase equipment was so much fun, I figured why not follow it with another diatribe on how much gear to purchase. I’m probably best known for my understanding of the physics and “geekery” of how equipment works, so why not shake up the establishment…
by Ben Stowe, CTS With the bevy of new products unveiled at NAMM in January, once again I get the same questions via e-mail, Facebook and chat boards. “Should I buy the…now or wait for the price to come down?” “What do you think will replace the…?” “Do you think I should get…or wait for…?”…
by Ben Stowe, CTS I think everyone who watches TV has by now seen the insurance commercial where R. Lee Ermey is featured in his typecast role of a drill sergeant, although this time also as a therapist. His patient starts the scene by saying, “… and that’s why yellow makes me sad, I think”….
