A Journey Concert and a dream come true!
Aug 27, 2010 Recent Events, concert sound
John Hansen
CEO, AV Vegas
One starry night in Vegas, I had been asleep for a couple of hours when my cell phone rang. I looked at the number and it was Mike Burns from the MGM Grand Garden Arena. “Hey Mike, what’s up?”, I said as I shook myself awake. Mike explained that the band’s tech team arrived in the arena at 1 AM and listened to the PA system that had been provided for them. After a quick listen, it became clear that there was something terribly wrong with the speaker system. It was a quality, self-powered PA from a very popular manufacturer, but there was definitely something wrong with it. After an hour of troubleshooting, it was decided that the answer was to find another PA that was ready to rock and have it installed for the show that was scheduled for the next night. That is when I got the call…
AV Vegas had been providing live sound equipment and musical instrument rental for the MGM Grand Garden for several years, so it was natural for Mike to call who he knew and trusted. He explained that we had an hour and a half window in which to remove the bad system and install and tune our system and then turn it over to the band. “Mike”, I said, “No problem. Oh, by the way, who is the band?” His reply was Journey. Journey? Wow! I was so excited, I could barely get back to sleep.
It turned out that this was first show of their tour and their sound check / rehearsal was at noon the next day. We arrived the next morning, just as excited as we could be. Removing the old rig was slow going. The speaker cabinet rigging was difficult to deal with, but finally it was time to fly our rig, We flew our JBL Vertec 4889 boxes and checked their performance. All was good. Journey’s sound crew was cool under pressure until they saw the band walking in the back door of the arena. Just seconds after we finished the rig, the front of house engineer yelled, are we up and running? I yelled YES as he was walking quickly towards his console. He stopped and gave me the biggest high five I have ever had.
There are a few days in life that are truly, truly grand. The day you meet the love of your life, the day your kids are born. I may be accused of over dramatizing this event, but I will never forget the night I received the phone call and the day that AV Vegas got to provide a PA System for Journey. You see, it is not supposed to happen this way. The big sound companies always get to do the big bands. But on March 6th of 2008, years of preparation paid off. AV Vegas, a mid sized concert sound company got to be part of rock and roll history. I will always be grateful to be able to serve the great bands that I have grown up with. Journey is just one of them.
![[Post to Twitter]](http://blog.avvegas.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
Tags: Concert, Journey, Last Minute Sound System, MGM
Make AV Vegas your Hometown Hero!
Aug 3, 2010 Audio Visual / Corporate Events, Backline Rental, Outdoor Concert Sound, Recent Events, Stage Lighting
AV Vegas has been nominated by Front of House Magazine for the Hometown Hero award. Winners from each region become the finalists for the annual Parnelli Award for Hometown Hero/Regional Sound Company of the year.
If AV Vegas has been your hometown hero, or you think we’re even mildly heroic, please vote for us here.
When you hire us to meet your needs, whether it be just a guitar amp at the last minute, or a Sound and Lighting rig for 20,000 people, we strive to always provide a superior level of service. We appreciate our customers for hiring us to do the job we love to do!
Sincerely,
John Hansen
Founder and CEO, AV Vegas
AVVegas rocks the Spirit West Coast music festival in Monterrey
Jul 22, 2010 Backline Rental, Outdoor Concert Sound, Recent Events
Independence weekend 2010 was a real blast for us over at AVVegas. We are “The Concert People” and the Spirit West Coast Music Festival is one shining example of a knock out concert. Talk about three action packed days full of bands and dozens of set changes. At times there is a less than a 10 minute window to clear the stage and set the next band, this is just the kind of challenge we love.
Twice a year, AVVegas packs up a massive Vertec 4889 PA, a small army of PM5D consoles, and enough backline to fill a SEMI truck. This massive pile of gear becomes the main stage PA and backline supply for the entire festival, comprising multiple stages, thousands of people, dozens of vendors, and one delectable Funnel Cake stand. Talk about a fun job, hard work yes… but this is the stuff we practice for.
Here are just a few of the photos we snapped between set changes, for your viewing pleasure.
Drummer Playing Hard During Soundcheck
Dual Patchmasters Ensure Quick Changeover
JBL Vertec 4889 Line Array PA System
Newsboys Singer Michael Tait On Stage
JBL Vertec Sidefills
Sanctus Real On Stage at Spirit West Coast
L Acoustics 115XT HiQ Monitor Wedges On Stage at SWC
Shure UHF-R Wireless On Stage
Spirit West Coast Crowd Shot
Shure UR2 Handheld Wireless Microphones Locked On Target
The Orange County Supertones SKA Band Rocks On Stage At SWC
Patchmaster Will
The Orange County Supertones Using Shure Wireless
Monitor Engineer Goya
David Eaves Goya Phil Morgan Serious At Work
David Eaves Phil Morgan Having A Laugh
AVVegas Crew Deep in Thought
AVVegas CEO John Hansen and SWC Stage Manager David Eaves
Tags: backline, concert sound, music festival, Shure, Spirit West Coast, SWC, Vertec
Our favorite find at InfoComm 2010… SM-4neo – The perfect powered speaker!
Jun 28, 2010 Audio Visual / Corporate Events, Latest Gear, Outdoor Concert Sound, Recent Events
InfoComm 2010 was a great experience, and… conveniently… only a 10 minute drive away from AVVegas HQ. So it’s no surprise that we spent a good deal of time there, browsing the plushly carpeted aisles looking for cool new gear that we can offer to our clients. There were so many great new products being offered, but we wanted to mention just a few that we either already purchased or are going to purchase in the not too distant future.
First off, if you haven’t heard of this oddly named company, you should check out Projection Screens by AV Stumpfl. Their rigid, perfectly square, unwavering structure make them rock solid installations, and the selectable aspect ratio is a big plus.
We also ran into our friends at SLS, who make those sweet sounding 8695 line array boxes that we love so much, turns out… they went ahead the built amps right into the box, giving us the new SLS 8695 series Self Powered Line Array (PLS8695V2).
|
|
Of course, LED’s were everywhere in the Lighting partition of the show floor, which come as no surprise to AVVegas, who has been talking about our 3 watt LED wash lights for quite some time. Our LED’s are still brighter than anything we saw being showcased at InfoComm. We did find a prototype display of the soon to be released Martin Mac 350 LED Moving Light, which was real cool to see in action!
In the end, there was just one product that was so new, so cool, so innovative, and so “it’s about time” necessary, that we just couldn’t help ourselves, we bought this little gem right out of the booth, taking the demo units straight home to our shop. I’m talking about the Sound Projections SM-4neo Portable PA system. This big little system is a 2 speaker self powered PA, with batteries that go for hours, a built in mixer, CD player, and usb port for mp3 audio. It’s even got built in ducking (the music fades when you talk into the mic). Oh yea… did I almost forget the best part… two built in Shure 90 channel wireless receivers for wireless handhelds or belt packs.
This past weekend I used the SM-4 system for the first time in the field, for a Grand Opening ceremony at a retail outlet. First… there was no power outside the building… so I did the ribbon cutting ceremony completely on batteries! Then I played music on my laptop, which was patched into the stereo inputs on the back of the main speaker. Later when our local 93.1 “The Party” radio station stopped by to do an on-the-air promo, I patched their radio rack right into the SM-4 and saved them even having to pull their PA out of the truck.
The whole gig consisted of two SM-4 speakers (master and slave), stands, an AC cord (that I didn’t need), a laptop, and a couple xlr’s to patch the radio station. This all fit easily into the back of my SUV, leaving our trucks behind, watching me longingly as I drove away, wishing they could come along, but knowing that… at least for this kind of small job, I didn’t need them any more.
Tags: InfoComm, InfoComm 2010, LED Light, Mac 350, SLS Line Array, SM-4, SM-4neo, Small PA, Sound Machine, Sound Projections, Speakers on a Stick, Stumpfl
New Years 2009… what a week!
Jan 13, 2010 Latest Gear, Outdoor Concert Sound, Recent Events, Stage Lighting
On an average day the AVVegas crew is busy working shows all over town, but there are some weeks that just stand out, and this New Years was one of them. With our massive equipment inventory spread across more than 20 different venues, we had quite a lot to keep up with. So as we take a moment to recap the holiday weeks I want to congratulate all the AVVegas professionals and our clients for one extremely successful new year.
One of our favorite parties on December 31st takes place on the Brooklyn Bridge, the one at the New York New York Hotel & Casino that is. Every year the bridge gets closed down for the week leading up to the big night so we can transform it into a massive outdoor party zone, with hundreds of lights and enough sound to awe the crowd out on Las Vegas Blvd.
There is a new technology that has been growing rapidly in both quality and demand, and AVVegas is proud to be on the cutting edge. LED Lights have been available for nearly 4 years, but only recently has the technology exploded into the mainstream. In preparation for this New Years we bought a boat load of brand new LED based Par Cans, several hundred to keep up with demand. These new lights are bright enough to rival their conventional counterparts, but you can run 10 of them on a single electrical outlet! The light you see in these pictures is from either our LED Pars, or our MAC2000 moving lights, no par cans in sight!
See you next year!
See More Photos at our Facebook Page
Tags: bridge bash, brooklyn bridge, LED, led par, led stage lighting, new years, new york new york
Not an Actor but still want your own awards show?
Oct 29, 2009 Recent Events
Well now you can! You can Thank Steve Harvey for it too! We’re talking The Hoodie Awards folks. Ford Motors is a proud sponsor of a concept that allows the communities themselves to nominate plain ol’ people from the neighborhood that stand out as local heroes. When the 2008 show rolled in to town a change was made to improve the production. That change? Hire AV Vegas as the sound and production partners. The result? Hiring AV Vegas for the 2009 show as well. Recording a live show is tough, but if there is no issues at all it can create a sense of reassessment of why they had issues in the previous years. The only thing missing was having AV Vegas in the mix….. Let us see who they turn toward for 2010! Click the video link below to see our gear and hear our backline and audio in action! The venue was Mandalay Bay Arena.
For all of our Hoodie pics click here
To view video click here
Tags: Arena, awards, backline, BBQ, car wash, concert sound, Harvey, hoodie, Mandalay Bay, Marie, MusiQ Soul Child, nephew, PA, Perry, Steve, Teena, Tommy Davidson, Tyler
Got LED’s? We do! What the future holds
Oct 29, 2009 Recent Events
We have plenty of 1 watt LED par cans and Flood panels. Next we will be upgrading these 1 watt par cans with a beefy 3 watt version. Look for them soon!
Tags: future, LED, led stage lighting, lighting, par, rental led
Enjo Banquet at the Bellagio
Jun 15, 2009 Audio Visual / Corporate Events, Decor Lighting, Recent Events
In June of 09, AV Vegas was hired to provide AV services for the employee’s banquet for Enjo, an Austrailian company. They chose the Bellagio to be their venue. Coastal Productions was responsible for production and Coastal chose AV Vegas to provide the sound and video, but to make the banquet even more elequent, they turned to AV Vegas’ lighting department to create a look that went well beyond expectations. AV Vegas” General Manager, Chris Holloway and Lighting Designer, Eric Chu met with the client, the decor company, Destinations By Design and the Bellagio catering staff. After three meetings, load in day came and the rest is photography.
All this color doesn’t just happen, it must be designed and programmed by a qualified lighting designer. Eric at work!
We also lit the outside patio that was just out to the side of the banquet room. What a great atmosphere for guests who wanted to catch some evening air.
These photo show some of the incredible table decor created by Destinations by Design. Between the professionalism of the Bellagio, the creativity of Dest by Design and the technical excellence of AV Vegas, we created a look that was incredible.
The roll that teamwork played in this event can’t be overemphesized. It would have been nice without the lighting, although it was stunning with the lighting. The lighting would have enhanced the room without the decor, but the decor sealed the deal! It is an amazing feeling to work with professionals like these!
Tags: Audio Systems, Audio Visual Equipment Rentals, AV Equipment Rentals, AV Gear, Decor Lighting, Event Lighting, Lighting Rentals, Party Decor, Stage Lighting Equipment Rentals, Stage Rental
AV Vegas at Spirit West Coast Christian Music Festival
Jun 6, 2009 Outdoor Concert Sound, Recent Events
AV Vegas, provided PA System for Concert Sound, Backline and Production Labor for Spirit West Coast Christian Music Festival in Del Mar, Ca. May 2009.
AV Vegas has provided Sound, Stage Lighting, Backline and Video for Spirit West Coast since 2000. In 2008 they awarded us the Main Stage and we have been doing it ever since.
Matt Elliott in the foreground, our newest engineer, mixing “Barlow Girl” on the Yamaha PM5d, while a traveling engineer loads the second PM5d console for tonight’s h
eadliner band.
The view of a line of L Acoustics 115xt Hi Q Monitor Wedges. They are extremely expensive speakers, but they are perceived by many to be the finest wedges in the world. The bands love them because they sound great. The engineers love them because they are stable and not prone to feedback. We love them because we can brag that we have the same boxes as the mega companies, for what that is worth.
There are a thousand cables on a concert stage and every one has to be patched correctly. Will Leininger, my lifelong friend swaps the trunklines of our two Whirlwind Main Snakes for the next act. Since 1993, Will has built our stage monitor system, wired our main PA Sound System, engineered and patched at our larger events. When he is not assisting AV Vegas on our shows, he runs his own home theater install business in Las Vegas, Called L&T Design 702 242-5462. 
You can hardly see him in the photo, but I assure you, he is there. If the stage is rockin’ and the musicians are happy and everything is working as it should, then you can bet that Goya is at the helm. Goya is the head of the audio department for AV Vegas. He was happily on the road with Jeffrey Osborne until he fell in love with a beautiful girl in Vegas. The rest is history.
A couple of the headliners wanted to mix on our Yamaha M7cl Monitor Console. It is a good choice because it is easy to use, even for an older analog engineer. AV Vegas has two M7cl consoles in stock.
Big heavy amp racks to power our JBL Vertec 4889 Line Array Speaker System. More watts than Obama has taxpayer dollars.
Truly one of the highlights of the event, and my favorite photo. This is Toby Mac’s Front of house engineer. He played the console like it was an instrument. He was having a lot of fun mixing Toby, who is a high energy Christian Rapper and Dancer. Jumbotrons in the distance.
AV Vegas will be providing sound, lighting, backline and video at the upcoming concert in Monterrey, Ca. Visit Spirit West Coast.
Tags: Audio Systems, Backline Equipment Rentals, Backline for Bands, Band Gear, Concert Lighting, Las .Vegas. Lighting Systems, Lighting Rentals, Live Sound Gear, PA Systems. Concert Sound, Pro Audio, Sound Equipment Rentals, Sound Systems Rentals, Stage Lighting Equipment Rentals, Stage Monitor System, Stage Sound System, Vertec