FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Megan Clifford Director of Brand Marketing Phone: 603-654-2433 ext.123 [email protected]
Earthworks PianoMic™ and Mason & Hamlin Model A Make Beautiful Music Together at NAMM 2014
Milford, NH – Earthworks®, manufacturer of the revolutionary PM40 PianoMic™ System, and Mason & Hamlin, one of America’s oldest and most respected piano manufacturers, are teaming up at NAMM. The two New England-based companies have both focused on innovative designs and expert craftsmanship in their respective products, and they are all made in America.
The Pianodisc® equipped Mason & Hamlin Model A will be on display at the Earthworks booth #6882. Attendees will not only be able to admire this handcrafted piano, but also hear all its nuances faithfully reproduced through the Earthworks PM40 PianoMic™ System.
At 5'8", the Mason & Hamlin Model A grand is widely regarded as the biggest sounding piano under 6' in the industry. It is equipped with a PianoDisc™ iQ player system with new ProRecord optical key sensors. This player system features high-definition playback with 1024 levels of expression on each note. It interfaces with Apple iOS and Android devices and is operated wirelessly. The Mason & Hamlin Model A Grand is a perfect piano to demonstrate the incredible capabilities of the Earthworks High Definition PianoMic™ System.
The Earthworks PianoMic™ System was engineered to revolutionize piano miking and achieve an incredible improvement in piano sound for live and recording applications with no mic stands or booms. This innovative design allows near-perfect closed lid piano miking. The PM40 combines breathtaking realism through two 40kHz random incidence omni microphones. It also provides more gain-before-feedback, significantly less leakage from surrounding instruments and the same pristine sound quality with the piano lid either up or down.
Hear the Pianodisc equipped Mason & Hamlin Model A miked with the Earthworks PM40 PianoMic™ System, along with the rest of the Earthworks product lineup, at NAMM in Anaheim, January 23-26, Booth #6882. You can also visit Mason & Hamlin / PianoDisc at NAMM, on the 3rd Floor, Booth #521. earthworksaudio.com masonhamlin.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Megan Clifford Director of Brand Marketing Phone: 603-654-2433 ext.123 [email protected]
Earthworks High Definition Microphones™ Record Choir of More Than 5000 Sing Zach Sobiech’s “Clouds”
Milford, NH – On December 5, a choir of over 5000 singers came together to sing Zach Sobiech’s “Clouds” at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota as a tribute to the singer-songwriter. A matched pair of Earthworks QTC40s was used to record the 5000-person choir on the first anniversary of the song’s release to benefit the Zach Sobiech Osteosarcoma Fund at Children’s Cancer Research Fund.
Veteran producer Karl Demer of Atomic K Records & Productions, a full service Audio/Video/Photography production company based in Minneapolis, MN, produced the original version of “Clouds” performed by Zach Sobiech.
“A year ago I was asked to produce a song for a teenager name Zach Sobiech who had terminal cancer and wrote a song to say goodbye to his family and girlfriend,” explains Demer. “A video was made of his experience recording the song. This video went viral on the internet; the song went to #1 on iTunes and Billboard and to this day, has raised nearly 1 million dollars for Children's cancer research specifically to find a cure for the type of cancer that took his life.”
Being the producer of the original version of “Clouds,” Demer was asked by Dan Seeman, KS95 general manager and close friend of Zach Sobiech, to produce a recorded audio track and direct the choir for the 1 year anniversary event.
The hope for the event was to have 1000 singers, tearthworksaudio.com hough that goal was quickly reached and a cap put on registration for participation knowing that many more would be there as spectators. “They wanted to ask several local choirs to sing the song at the Mall of America rotunda during their annual KS95 for Kids Radiothon sponsoring the Children's cancer research fund,” says Demer. “They were hoping to get up to 1000 singers. Day 7 of promotion for the event, we had to stop registering singers at 3600 due to the capacity of the venue! The Mall of America estimates the number in attendance singing at 5000 people.”
Demer now had the task of figuring out how best to record a choir of 5000 in a less than ideal location. “I was doing pre-production research as to how I should go about recording 5000 singers on 4 levels in a full circle with reflective surfaces everywhere,” says Demer. “Earthworks mics kept coming up in my searches for realistic symphonic recordings from a stereo pair, so I reached out to Earthworks through their website and told them of my challenge. Later the next day, to my surprise, Craig Breckenridge responded with a very detailed description of how he suggested I go about placing mics for the recording. He apologized for the delay in response but wanted to get the input from his whole team at Earthworks! I was blown away by such personal service despite never meeting Craig.”
For the event, Demer ran the matched pair of QTC40s through Midas preamps and recorded directly off the preamps to his Macbook Pro running Cubase.
Though familiar with Earthworks High Definition Microphones™, this was the first time Demer had an opportunity to use them. He explains his experience using the QTC40s to record the 5000-person choir: “The QTC40s responded with superior clarity and frequency response. Basically what I heard with my headphones off is what I heard with my headphones on while soloing the QTC40s. The benefit of this stereo pair was that they gave me a beautiful true stereo image of 360 degrees on the x-axis and nearly 180 on the y-axis.” You can see and hear this impressive event on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLhUS_QjcZY
While the Largest Clouds Choir event was Demer’s first experience using Earthworks microphones, they have quickly found a home in his studio. “I’ve since used the stereo pair of QTC40s as room mics for a horn session,” explains Demer. “I was equally impressed by their natural response. I’ve never had an easier time integrating a horn section into a mix while retaining such detail in the instruments.”
“As I said earlier, I had never experienced such great personal service from a company that I had never done business with before,” Demer concludes. “The fact that they collaborated as a team to help me find the correct solution for my recording dilemma shows their true passion for audio excellence.”
To read Zach's story or to donate to the Zach Sobiech Osteosarcoma Fund, visit ChildrensCancer.org/Zach.
Links
Earthworks: earthworksaudio.com Atomic K Records & Productions: atomick.com “Clouds” by Zach Sobiech: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDC97j6lfyc
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Megan Clifford Director of Brand Marketing Phone: 603-654-2433 ext.123 [email protected]
Earthworks Microphones Capture Singing Christmas Tree Performances
Highland Baptist Church utilizes 22 Earthworks High Definition Microphones™ for Singing Christmas Tree Performance
Milford, NH - Franklin Denham, Minister of Music at Highland Baptist Church in Meridian, Mississippi, has been conducting Singing Christmas Tree performances since 1985. The history of singing trees goes back to the outdoor presentations in 1933 at Belhaven College, Jackson, MS, which is considered the first and oldest outdoor Singing Christmas Tree event in America. At the time, indoor performances were rare, as it required a rather large church to accommodate this type of performance. All of the tree performances at Highland Baptist Church have been continually held indoors and are performed 6 times each year. Over the past 29 years, there have been approximately 2,800 attendees per season. Depending upon the year, there will be from 65 to over 100 singers on the tree. It stands 35 feet high, with nine rows of singers and weighs 21,000 pounds fully loaded. “Over the years we had used conventional condenser microphones for sound reinforcement on the tree,” explains Denham. “About four years ago we converted to Earthworks® and placed 16 SR30 High Definition Microphones™ on the tree. The Earthworks microphones make 60 singers sound more like a hundred. We are able to get more gain-before-feedback. This allows us to bring the choir sound up to a level that will balance well with our 21-piece orchestra and organ. An immediate bonus of the Earthworks microphones is a dramatic improvement in intelligibility. If a choir can be heard and understood, what can be better than that?”
The choir begins each program singing on risers directly behind the orchestra. For these selections, Denham utilizes 4 Earthworks FW730 Flexwands™. “The Flexwands provide us excellent coverage of the choir, more gain- before-feedback and more intelligibility,” says Denham. “The rear rejection of the Flexwands keeps the leakage of the orchestra into the choir microphones at a bare minimum. The Flexwands are almost invisible from the congregation when the house lights are up. When house lights are dimmed, the Flexwands become completely unnoticeable. One of my favorite features of the Flexwands is that the microphone connector is in the base and there are no visible wires above floor level. The Flexwands are light years ahead of our previous microphones.”
“I would also like to mention that we have an Earthworks PM40 PianoMic, which is just stellar. We use a few extra SR30s for solo instruments. The recent addition of an Earthworks podium microphone allows us to hear the spoken word with incredible detail and clarity either on, or off-axis. The use of Earthworks High Definition Microphones™ has made an incredible improvement in our church services and music performances.”
earthworksaudio.com
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Megan Clifford Director of Brand Marketing Phone: 603-654-2433 ext.123 [email protected]
Earthworks 521 ZDT Preamp for 500 Series Racks Shipping October 2013
Milford, NH – The Earthworks 521 500 series preamps, first shown at Winter NAMM 2013 in Anaheim, CA will be in stock and shipping October 2013.
Based on the ZDT Preamp technology designed by David Blackmer, the Earthworks 521 brings the exacting standards of the ZDT Zero Distortion Preamplifiers™ to the convenient 500 series format, providing a pristine amplification option to the 500 series rack.
“Earthworks is continually developing precision audio products that elevate the audio chain,” says Heidi Blackmer Robichaud, President/CEO of Earthworks. “We are thrilled to introduce the new 521 preamp, our first ever 500 series preamp, giving recordists an Earthworks ZDT Preamp option for their 500 series racks.”
The solid state 521 features switchable phantom power, polarity invert, and peak amplitude clip detection, just as in the original ZDT Zero Distortion Preamplifiers™. The transformerless output stage of the 521 will easily drive long cable runs without loss of quality. Transparent gain is switchable from 5dB to 60dB in 5dB steps.
The Earthworks microphone preamplifier topology provides outstanding common mode rejection, excellent overload margin and an incredibly low noise floor, combined with the ultra-wide bandwidth of the ZDT Preamps (1Hz to 200kHz ±0.5dB) and distortion of less than 1 part per million (0.0001%). This exceptional level of performance is maintained over an extensive range of impedances applied to the input, making the 521 suitable for practically any microphone – ribbon, dynamic or condenser.
The Earthworks 521 has a MAP of $999. earthworksaudio.com
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Megan Clifford Director of Brand Marketing Phone: 603-654-2433 ext.123 [email protected]
Line 6 Partners with Earthworks to Release the V75-40V Premium Wireless Microphone Transmitter
New mic combines industry-leading Line 6 digital wireless technology with the renowned Earthworks WL40V hyper-cardioid capsule
CALABASAS, Calif. – October 15, 2013 – Line 6, Inc. today introduced V75-40V, a new wireless microphone/transmitter that combines industry-leading Line 6 digital wireless technology with the renowned Earthworks WL40V premium hyper-cardioid capsule. Designed for use with Line 6 XD-V75 systems, V75-40V delivers stunning performance and unmatched sound quality, representing a new standard in digital wireless performance.
“We're pleased to partner with Earthworks, an industry leader in high-definition microphones," said Max Gutnik, Vice President of Products, Line 6. “Together we've created a digital wireless microphone that delivers performance previously found only in the highest quality wired studio microphones.”
“Line 6’s expertise and experience in digital wireless coupled with Earthworks' precision microphone technology—stemming from our measurement background—lends itself to a superior product for the live sound and worship markets,” said Heidi Robichaud, President/CEO, Earthworks.
Designed to deliver studio-quality performance to the wireless world, the premium hand- tuned and tested capsule from Earthworks features lightning-fast impulse response, high SPL handling and a wide frequency range. A textbook-perfect hyper-cardioid polar pattern conveys exceptional detail and nuance. The result is incredible vocals that require little to no EQ.
"Our engineering team worked tirelessly to make a product that sounds as scientifically perfect as is possible," said Daniel Blackmer, Director of Engineering, Earthworks.
The Line 6 XD-V system is the only wireless platform that can transmit the exceptional frequency range of the premium hand tuned and tested WL40V capsule from Earthworks. Featuring 24-bit precision for a full frequency response, exceptional dynamic range and no compression or expansion, the signal from Line 6 digital wireless systems is so clear and strong that it sounds and performs like a wired microphone.
V75-40V is a durable, dependable microphone transmitter designed to provide reliable performance night after night. The rugged metal body is designed to withstand the rigors of live performance, and a custom hard-shell touring case with soft inner padding protects the V75-40V between gigs.
V75-40V is expected to be available in October 2013. For more information, visit line6.com.
About Earthworks, Inc. Earthworks was formed by David Blackmer to realize a vision of providing precision tools with which to capture the sound and experience of being there. From exceptionally accurate condenser microphones to zero distortion preamps, we continually strive to develop new products that upgrade the entire audio chain to a new standard of sonic realism. Precision engineered and hand assembled in New Hampshire, Earthworks has a problem solving, pristine sounding solution to your miking needs, be it live, recording, installation or measurement. Backed by a 15-year warranty, you can rest assured that your investment in an Earthworks precision tool is a sound one. For additional information, visit the company online at www.earthworksaudio.com.
Media Contact: Megan Clifford Phone: 603-654-2433 ext.123 [email protected]