Posts Tagged ‘personal monitors’

This past week, Shure debuted it’s new PSM 900 wireless personal in-ear monitor system at the 2010 winter NAMM convention. Boasting better RF performance and sonic quality than any other wireless in-ear monitor system on the market. I spoke with Geno, a Shure engineer at NAMM about their new system. He described the feature packed bells and whistles of the system. Of which many of us have become spoiled with; allowing us to efficiently program multiple wireless systems. Features such as infrared sync and group/channel scanning. The PSM 900 takes these features to another level. In under 5 seconds, I was able to scan the entire group and lock in those frequencies! Another 2 seconds and it was synced via infrared, very cool!

I really like the P9R bodypack. It’s small and lightweight but does not feel fragile. It is actually made of metal! According to Shure it’s the thinnest personal monitor bodypack available. One feature which is worth the price of admission alone, especially to us monitor engineers is CueMode. CueMode can be enabled on any bodypack and gives the ability to select and monitor up to 20 different mixes without the need of additional equipment. You can actually monitor the audio you’re transmitting without the coloration of a consoles cue section electronics and yes, that means you’re also monitoring the RF! Another cool feature is the ability to mute the PSM 900 RF. This allows you to scan and program your system while other bands are performing. Without interfering with other RF systems being used. The effects of inter-modulation are greatly reduced by the precision front-end RF filtering of the PSM 900. Up to 20 compatible frequencies per 36 Megahertz frequency range are possible.

I haven’t had a chance to field test it, which is the only true way to give a piece of gear the thumbs up or down I did however take a listen to it at the Shure booth during NAMM. The program being played was unfamiliar but in trying to focus on the sonic quality of the system my initial reaction was that it did seem light years ahead of previous wireless PSM systems. The low end seemed tight and punchy and the noise floor was very low. The price point for the new PSM 900 is about $1000.00 and should start shipping mid-2010.

Not having network capability is a HUGE drawback with today’s coordination that is required for multi-RF systems. Despite that, the system can be managed quickly and easily so all and all it seems to be a great system.  I can’t wait to take it for a test drive to see what it sounds like out in the trenches. Stay tuned…

Jason Spence – Owner

jason@jss.net

(615) 534-1190 Ext. 2

In the past several years, audio technology has evolved to the point where audio designers, installers and touring professionals have a wide array of software and hardware to help analyze, predict and solve almost all types of audio problems that may arise in any situation. One would think that all our audio troubles would be over. But this is far from the truth. In churches, clubs and live on many touring stages around the world volume is still the number one problem. No new measuring device, software-analyzing program or state-of-the-art digital console can solve what a simple turn of a knob can do, Reduce Stage Volume.

The answer to volume issues in a live situation is always the same. Turn Down. Removing the stage monitors and instrument amplifiers is the number one way to drastically reduce stage volume and dramatically improve sound quality at the front of house. Simply replacing the floor monitors with a personal monitor mixing system like the Aviom Pro 16 Personal Monitor Mixing System is a sure fire way to reduce stage volume, increase performers monitoring ability and clean up the look of the stage.

The Aviom Pro 16 Personal Monitor Mixing System transports line level audio from a mixing console to a 16-channel A-16II personal monitor mixer. Each musician gets an A-16II mixer and with a pair of personal in ear monitors, headphones or ear buds has the ability to create a full stereo monitor mix independent of all the other musicians on stage. The A-16 II personal monitor mixer allows musician to control level, pan and stereo spread along with save and recall.

Integrating an Aviom personal monitor mixing system into a church, performance space, club or a touring bands production system is low stress and affordable. Aviom makes a wide array of system cards for Yamaha digital mixing consoles along with cards for Digico, Digidesign, Innovason and Soundcraft digital mixing consoles. Aviom also manufactures the necessary input and output devices and accessories to help customize or augment existing or new systems. Please contact JSS and we will be more than happy to answer any questions or design an Aviom system to fit your needs and solve any volume issues you may be having on stage

Ed Frebowitz
Audio Engineer
www.JSS.net