live

SLAM Rally - a mighty important day in Melbourne

On Tues Feb 23, 2010 a huge amount of Melbourne's music and music-loving community took to the streets on the 34th anniversary of AC/DC's famous Long Way to the Top video clip, marching from the State Library, down Swantson St, left up Bourke St and finishing at the steps of Parliament House on Spring St.

The reason? A whole bunch of gigs look(ed) like being swallowed in a mire of Liquor Licensing regulations following the sensational reporting of some violence in the streets of Melbourne in the midnight hours. Was this related to venues who host live and amplified music acts? Apparently so.
Following the closure of Melbourne's Tote, Fair Go 4 Live Music and SLAM (Save Live Australian Music) joined forces, and a reported 20,000 came along to help show both the Victorian Government and Liquor Licensing Commission just how passionate we all are about maintaining our culture of live music in Melbourne.

Factory Sound was lucky enough to interview Jon Perring from Fair Go 4 Live Music shortly after the S.L.A.M. Rally, and here's a quick chop-up of how we saw the events unfolding.

The awesome pic above was taken by Kristy Milliken and you can see more wonderful shots at the 'Mess and Noise' blog of S.L.A.M. Rally here. Check more about SLAM by going here, and take 6 mins out of your day to look at our video if you get a chance.

Shure Super 55 - even better than it looks

It's the mic no self-respecting Elvis impersonator should be caught dead without. For many years the retro-styled, unidyne-inspired 55SHSII was really the only choice for looking good and being heard at the same time. Seems though that Shure has recently cottoned on to the old trick that a bunch of sound engineers worldwide had been doing. Keep the body, rip the guts out and throw a Beta58A or Beta57A capsule inside. More frequencies, better sound, and far less chance of feedback on stage.

Anyway, the resulting Super 55 mic is a ripper, and well worth the listen. We've used it a few time in store now, and are pleasantly surprised at how well it grabs the sound. Do you remember the first time you sang into a Beta58 after using a crusty old SM58 that had been in the same venue for a dozen years? Same sort of thing when you have a crack at the Super 55. You'll be well-impressed.

And the pic? That's a screen grab from our Round 16 footy tipping video. We were showing off the Quest LT-01 cable tester, but we'd just gotten our first batch of Super 55 microphones, so we gave one a try. See the clip here if you've got a lazy 41 sec to spend. Yes, we really did use a keg and Sapporo can for kick and snare, beer bottles for the bass notes, and it all was recorded using our new favourite mic.