February 2010
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.
Whole lotta Hosa
You know that Factory Sound is well-connected; our huge stocks of Canare and Neutrik are bigger than any other store in Australia. But if your needs are less DIY and more NSN (need something now), our Great Wall of Hosa should get you out of just about any corner you're likely to get painted into.
Not content with keeping a small handful each item, we've stocked up big time. If you lined up each of our Hosa leads end to end... actually, there's no way you'd want to have a go at that.
Just type Hosa into our search bar, and you'll find out what's going on. We've been growing into Australia's biggest Hosa fan for the last few years, and now we've got a seriously fat selection of Hosa leads, adaptors, console lamps - even Hosa labels for your cables. And because we've got our product search sorted now, you can just type the name of the console / converter that you need a lead for (ie; Yamaha, Apogee, Tascam, etc) and the relevant Hosa selections will come up - this is especially handy for a whole bunch of 25-pin D-sub leads that may have different wiring standards according to manufacturer specifications.
Of course, if you still don't find the lead your need, contact us and we'll sort you out.
Read full postSoundman's Survival Kit (hey, we didn't name it)
It's great to wake up on a Friday morning to a little surprise. Here's today's one:
Presonus has put together the Soundman's Survival Kit and it come FREE for anyone who purchases a Presonus StudioLive between 19th Feb 2010 and 30th April 2010. Not only is this $120 worth of free stuff being chucked in, it's $120 worth of essential tools to make sure the gig goes smoooth as...
You can probably see from the pic what you get, but just in case:
- LED torch (ok, the Yanks call it a flashlight)
- Forged steel multi-tool (looks like a Leatherman to us, but we'll let you know when we've had a closer look)
- Mini-Sharpie & 1/2" track tape for marking up channels
- A rugged ballistic nylon StudioLive 16.4.2 mixer carry case with handles, padded shoulder strap, locking zippers and a side zipper storage compartment
So that's it... the Soundman's Survival Kit. No bottle opener, no stubby holder, no lighter, no extra large cigarette papers. Just real tools to help the gig, not distract from the job at hand. What you do after load out is completely up to you...
MIDAS PRO6 masterclass with Nahuel Gutierrez
We were lucky enough this week to host a couple of great days, featuring MIDAS PRO6. The masterclass sessions were hosted at Factory Sound, in conjunction with MIDAS and National Audio Systems (the Australian importer for both MIDAS and Klark Teknik).
Our presenter was Nahuel Gutierrez, who has worked with a stack of touring acts as PA tech (Beastie Boys), Monitor Engineer (Oasis) and heaps more. Rather than presenting as a company product specialist, Nahuel was able to give real-world perspective during the 2 sessions we ran. It would have been great to invite everyone, but we only had space for 12 in each session. Both days were highly informative, and a great forum for healthy and robust discussion between a bunch of live sound engineers eagar to learn more about the future of mixing both here and abroad.
Of course, Factory Sound TV was there to grab an interview with Nahuel.
MIDAS PRO6 has featured in a few other episodes, so help celebrate YouTube's 5th birthday (doesn't seem long enough!) and have a Captain at this lot: Richard Ferriday talks us through Pro6 in Sydney here, Phill Webb shows us Klark Teknik hooked up to PRO6 at Integrate 09 here, Bryan Davidson shows PRO6 running IrisNet at Integrate 09 here, and some much older episodes with Phill Webb showing us some the 'new' Klark Teknik SQ1S at Entech 08 here, with Richard Ferriday showing the 'new' XL8 at the same Entech 08 show here.
Read full postMoney back, risk-free Rode guarantee!
Not content with offering the fattest warranty around on microphones (10 years is pretty chunky), Rode has cranked it up even further from now until the end of June 2010.
How does a 100% Money Back Guarantee sound? The press release we've just been handed says:
“We appreciate that the investment in a RØDE microphone is a sizeable purchase for the majority of our customers.” commented Damien Wilson, Global Sales & Marketing Director. “This money back guarantee makes RØDE the obvious choice for today’s ‘smart’ consumer. Now you can rest assured that if you are unsatisfied with your purchase you have sixty days to claim a full refund!”
“We’re completely confident in standing behind our product in this way, and combined with the RØDE Ten Year Warranty we feel we really are offering RØDE users not only one of the finest precision instruments in the world, but the very best in after sales service and support.”
We dig Rode, not just because they make great microphones, and have great support, but also because they are designed and manufactured right here in Australia, and Rode is an Australian (yes, Australian owned and manufactured) company that is kicking serious goals all around the world. You'll need to register within a few days of purchase, then the 60-day love period is yours. See more at www.rodemic.com/moneyback
Read full post
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