Robert Scovill, FOH engineer for Tom Petty and theta Heartbreakers, Prince, Def Leppard, Rush and Matchbox 20, recently offered a select group of audio pros from around the world an inside look at how he works. Under the banner of audioseminars.com, Scovill’s offering, titled "The Complete Front Of House Engineer" chose the Conservatory of Recording Arts’ new 6,000-sq. ft. live sound classroom in Gilbert Arizona to host the event. The room, which Scovill helped design, is a state-of-the-art venue that offers the professional staging, lighting and power needed to pull off such an event. "We think it's a golden opportunity for us to be doing this at the Conservatory," says Scovill. "The live sound lab at CRAS is considerable, a little over 150,000 cubic feet and that allows us to showcase a sound reinforcement seminar curriculum as well as the gear in a completely professional setting."
Featured PA gear for the event was supplied in part by ProMix Electrotec and included:
A VDOSC line-array PA along with ARCs and LAcoustic Subs, TD-1s, Runts and BDEAP Subs from Sound Physics Labs. Other gear from Electrotec included a Paragon Production II console, API 2500 compressor, Klark Teknik Helix Equalization, Lake Technologies Contour, XTA System Crossovers & Delays, Distressor Compressors, Urei 1176 Compressors, TC M3000 and M4000 and Yamaha SPX 990s. Eldon's Boy Productions provided 64 I/Os of Pro Tools, 64 I/Os of Tascam DA-88 along with Ramlatch Snakes and Splitters.
The three-day hands-on seminar covered SIA Smaart operation, FFT analysis and RTA and system tuning, outboard gear usage such as compression, limiting, time based processing and MIDI and console routing concepts. Nobility Obliged, a local live band was brought in for an extended sound check and then was mixed the following day. Conservatory administrator Kirt Hamm offers, "this kind of event lets us offer our students a pros-eye view of the industry. Robert’s experience in the industry is unparalleled, which is why we had him design our live sound curriculum." The Conservatory’s live sound curriculum is just a part of its multi-faceted 900 clock-hour program in pro audio engineering.
Featured PA gear for the event was supplied in part by ProMix Electrotec and included:
A VDOSC line-array PA along with ARCs and LAcoustic Subs, TD-1s, Runts and BDEAP Subs from Sound Physics Labs. Other gear from Electrotec included a Paragon Production II console, API 2500 compressor, Klark Teknik Helix Equalization, Lake Technologies Contour, XTA System Crossovers & Delays, Distressor Compressors, Urei 1176 Compressors, TC M3000 and M4000 and Yamaha SPX 990s. Eldon's Boy Productions provided 64 I/Os of Pro Tools, 64 I/Os of Tascam DA-88 along with Ramlatch Snakes and Splitters.
The three-day hands-on seminar covered SIA Smaart operation, FFT analysis and RTA and system tuning, outboard gear usage such as compression, limiting, time based processing and MIDI and console routing concepts. Nobility Obliged, a local live band was brought in for an extended sound check and then was mixed the following day. Conservatory administrator Kirt Hamm offers, "this kind of event lets us offer our students a pros-eye view of the industry. Robert’s experience in the industry is unparalleled, which is why we had him design our live sound curriculum." The Conservatory’s live sound curriculum is just a part of its multi-faceted 900 clock-hour program in pro audio engineering.
Pictured top: Keith Morris of the Conservatory and Robert Scovill; 2nd: A view of some of the gear 3rd: Scovill at the "board"; 4th attendees and CRAS students at the Paragon console.
