Fixin' up old faithful to be your dream machine once again

When it comes to procurement for professional audio, lighting, and video services, is it possible to balance the “best price” and “best service”? We think it is! Below are some insights that may help you navigate this challenge. The Challenge of Price-Driven Procurement Many municipalities and organizations are required to purchase from the vendor offering the lowest price. But is this approach always the best? As taxpayers, we want assurance that public money is being spent appropriately, and that there’s no room for favouritism or backdoor deals. The intent is good, but in practice, this system often results in a “bare bones” solution. The theory behind it is to guard against preferential treatment or collusion, ensuring that public funds are used responsibly. However, focusing solely on the lowest price can often result in solutions that are less than ideal.

Essential Tips to Enhance Your Audio Experience – From Training to Equipment Upgrades

Upgrade Your School's Audio and Stage Systems for a Superior Experience

It certainly has been different times dancing on Zoom for over 2 months. Now we are coming up on a new dance season. Everybody has different levels of confidence in returning to activities and that is perfectly fine. Some kids can not wait to get back in the studio. Some want to continue but would like to do so from home. Of course, depending on class size there may be a rotation where you spend two weeks in the studio and one week at home. Maybe you will dance in the studio like normal (with new physical distancing guidelines) but want to practice at home. With these new situations Rosco has made a kit version of their popular dance floor called the Marley Mat . The floor that is used in the Rosco Marley Mat is a lighter weight version of Adagio floor that we use in our studios. That makes it perfect for dancing at home for all types of dance including ballet, jazz, acro, lyrical and even tap . It will have the same feel and “speed” of the studio floor. Being a lighter weight material allows the floor to be rolled up when not in use and unrolled and used immediately. The Marley Mat kit can be purchased for $ 149.00 (price current as of July 2020) plus shipping and tax. The package comes with a 5’ 3” by 6’ section of black or grey floor, and a roll of tape that would allow you to lay down and tape the floor 5 times. Additional tape can be purchased. You can find and purchase the kit from StageStore at the following link. StageStore is a great supplier in Ontario of theatrical type products. https://www.stagestore.ca/product/rosco-marley-mat-kit/

Redefining the microphone for the meeting space

Tech tips that can help your congregation make the transition back to church successfully

Even with the proliferation of wireless systems, our entire industry runs on wire.  Miles, or should I say kilometres of wire. But the truth is that we use a lot less than we used to. Back in the 1980’s we didn’t have digital audio snakes or DMX cables for lighting. And every video line was a coax cable or multiple coax bound together. A simple audio snake could be an inch in diameter for just a couple dozen channels. But that was then. We’ve come a long way in the last 30-40 years, but we still run a lot of wire. It’s just different now. So, how much wire does go into a world class theatre? For the last six months Horizon Solutions’ crew has been pulling wire into the new Tom Patterson Theatre in Stratford, Ontario to support the new Audio and Video systems. There is a lot of wire there. To be clear this wire does not include the lighting systems, nor does it include the cables that plug from plates into the pieces of equipment. Those are a completely different story.