Article appearing in Pro Sound News Magazine, December 1995
“Corporate and Black-Tie functions are not like regular club gigs where if you have a bad night, the audience half expects it and they know they can always come again another night when you’re ‘on’.” states Joe Klein, president of Corporate Sound and Lighting of North Attleboro, Massachusetts. “As a sound professional specializing in corporate and industrial event sound, I need to be ‘on’ constantly. These events are extremely important regional fund-raisers, annual parties or very intense, morale building, national shareholders or sales meetings. A lot is riding on the audio presentation. If it’s ‘off’, the whole mood, flow and message is lost, attendees are discouraged, corporate executives are disappointed and I would never be called back to do the job again. There can never be any mistakes.”
To make all of his events perfect and continually generate repeat business for his company, Joe stays on the cutting edge of audio technology combined with proven, established technology, to meet the growing demands of his clients. Corporate Sound and Lighting stocks several of the better known loudspeaker lines, but it was the recent acquisition of Technomad loudspeakers that Joe attributes to his continuing success specializing in providing sound and lighting for many New England based corporate giants.
“Technomads are the ultimate in multi-purpose loudspeakers,” Joe states. “Since acquiring the Technomads at the end of 1994, I’ve been using them for all of my corporate events. Depending upon the speaker model, Technomads can function as monitors, floor or flying side-fills, drum monitors, you name it. When I use the Technomads, I find I need only about half the amount of loudspeakers than with other loudspeaker brands. The coherency and linearity is fantastic. Gain before feedback is incredible and the dispersion is mindboggling. There is no lost energy and even behind the FOH system, on stage, the coherency is fantastic. I can’t get over the efficiency of the Technomad loudspeakers. The Technomads sound so natural compared to anything I’ve ever heard.” Joe continues, “Since the Technomads are the only self-casing loudspeakers I know of, set-up and tear-down is fast and easy and truck packs are a safe, secure and solid dream-come-true. What other speaker systems are out there where you can just throw the lids on them, stack and latch and away- you-go?”
Events range in size from a small sales meeting of 300 for the computer peripheral manufacturer EMC2 to a Dorchester political rally of 3,000. One recent event was the Cardinal Cushing Charity fund-raiser held at the Sheraton in Boston. 1,500 people gathered in the 100 foot long and 80 foot wide main ballroom for this prestigious annual affair. “The event called for extreme high-fidelity for video audio playback and strong voice articulation for many speeches and announcements. For the FOH, I used a small Technomad system consisting of two Berlin 400-watt two-way full range cabinets, two Cairo 800-watt three-way bi-amped cabinets, two Chicago 1000-watt subwoofers and two Noho 300-watt full range cabinets were used as delay loudspeakers. I was concerned about providing clear, articulate sound under the two balconies that ran down the full length of each side of the room. The wide dispersion pattern from the FOH full-range Berlin and Cairo cabinets covered the under balcony area so completely and efficiently, additional under-balcony loudspeakers were not required.” Joe continues, “There were so many people at this event they were actually sitting on the loudspeakers. The Technomads have such a smooth, transparent and clean delivery, the sound level was as comfortable right in front of the loudspeakers, as it was in the back of the room.”
Another recent event involved a 15 piece big band lead by the great band leader, Illinois Jacquette. The Price Center charity fund-raiser, held in Mansfield, called for a flown FOH system consisting of only two Berlins and two Cairos. Two Nohos were flown and utilized as side fill cabinets. Joe states proudly, “Mr. Jacquette could not get over the amazing articulation coming out of, what he referred to as ‘those tiny little loudspeakers’. The Technomads were very responsive even through some of the most delicate dynamics. Mr. Jacquette stated, the music that evening gave him ‘that warm blanket feeling.'”
Amplification is exclusively Hafler model Pro 5000s. According to Joe, “The 5000s are one of the most pleasing sounding amps. They are very fast and have a great damping factor. I only use four Pro 5000 amps to power a Technomad FOH system consisting of two Berlins, two Cairos, two Chicago subwoofers and two Noho cabinets. Since the Technomads are so efficient, the Haflers are the perfect match for them.” For much larger events or should multiple events occur at the same time, Joe inventories fourteen of the Pro 5000 amps.
Mixing consoles are Soundcraft 200s. “I have three of the 200s as well as a Mackie 1604 with the expander unit and a 1202. The Mackies are usually reserved for the smaller gigs while the Soundcraft 200s go out on the live band situations and major corporate gigs. I also have an old Yamaha MC2408M that still works great.” Outboard gear is LA Audio 4C four channel compressors, Yamaha Q2031 Stereo EQs, Klark Teknik DN300 mono EQs. Effect units are from Lexicon and Yamaha. Wireless microphones are exclusively Shure LS Series Diversity wireless microphone systems with antenna distribution. “I’ve found the Shures to be very reliable in the many, many diverse situations I find myself in. I also use many other brands of mics including Beyers, Sennheisers, AKGs and EVs.”
One such diverse situation was a First Night Celebration on New Years Eve in Northampton. Several sound companies were contracted to supply over thirty Technomad loudspeakers for 12 different indoor event sights around town. Joe concludes, “The Technomads are just amazing. No matter where you were the sound was perfect. Whether it was in a very reverberant church or a small theater, the Technomads seemed to tame every acoustical environment. It was a real pleasure to work with the other sound companies in putting on such a flawless and joyous event on the first day of 1995. I stated then it was a good omen for the year and that turned out to be very true. Business has been and continues to be great.”