Hi Everyone. It's Ken-at-Bose here. I've had some wonderful correspondence recently with Steve Miller (no introduction necessary). He has graciously allowed me to post excerpts here, knowing that this community really appreciated his comments from about a year ago.

In my opinion, this fellow is a real gentleman.

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Hi Ken,

I’ve been having a lot of fun with my towers (I can never remember the correct name) and have been using a pod and a tower in my studio for quite a while now. One way I use it is for overdubbing with my computer, instead of using ear phones which I am so sick of after all these years is, I’ll play a rhythm track back over my studio monitors, play guitar through a Pod into the tower, and run a direct line from the pod to the computer, that way I can get a pleasing electric guitar sound at a low level from the tower and still be recording direct to the hard drive. I’ve also used the pod and a tower as an amp as well. It works for me.

I'm in San Diego right now and heading into music camp next week and will be back home June 8th. In July I'm trying to rent four systems to add to my two, for the July 17 day music camp. This is a great place to experiment with the gear, about twenty different stages, 500 musicians covering every kind of music. Last year I directed about ten different shows in different venues using two towers, and of course broke all the rules, the last show using the towers was a show with comedians, a country band, a string quartet, a concert pianist playing a Steinway 9 foot grand, a jazz group, a soul band with horns and an electric Blues band. The lack of sound pressure, the clarity of tone and the ease of use was great. We played one electric show in a very bad sounding room, all glass and cement, and were amazed at the difference in clarity but we didn't have pods or enough towers so the system clipped every now and then but it was a good start.

The acoustic guys love it because it’s so quick and easy to get a great sound the electric guys are hard to convince until we really get enough systems set up properly for each musician and enough time to get everyone comfortable. I'm not surprised at the resistance from people who have spent years playing too loudly.

I think and electric bass sounds better through a tower than any amp I've ever heard!

I would love to hear and see an electric band use the systems to learn how it’s done correctly, we had one brief try with six towers, but it was right before a live show, the confidence factor was low and the stress factor high and we didn't really get it right. Most musicians used to doing large scale shows are so use to high sound pressure that when its missing it freaks them out. My band plays at very low stage volumes and has a mature approach to what we are doing but it would help to see it done correctly.

You may use my comments in your email and I appreciate you being careful about it. I don't usually endorse products, I like to pay for my own equipment and have an honest relationship with everyone I work with. I honestly love the beautiful way these towers reproduce sound and don't have a problem saying so.

- Steve Miller, May 2005 -

quote:

I think and electric bass sounds better through a tower than any amp I've ever heard!
- Steve Miller, May 2005 -

I've been getting the same feeling lately too. In fact, I'm probably days away from setting-up a "jerk lounge" with some old tube combo amps along with PAS using POD/GNX4 to do some A/B room testing. Not quite the same thing I realize but if I can verify the room feel to be 98% of my DC-30, I'd probably throw that heavy but groovy old beast on eBay tomorrow.

I hadn't heard about your recent camp in San Diego but I sometimes live under a rock? I've been a guitar instructor at Mark O'COnnor's string conference in San Diego during the 1st week of August (great camp BTW) but I wished I could have check-out this out. Always loved your music, tone and playing!

BTW - If you're ever back in SD area and need an extra PAS I'd be willing and honored to loan mine if possible.

Steve Miller, you rock and long-live the great master Les Paul...

quote:

One way I use it is for overdubbing with my computer, instead of using ear phones which I am so sick of after all these years

I have been doing the same thing...I just sold all my Studio Kans headphones on eBay, don't need em anymore!

Yaaah!

I agree about the cans. Independently of this post, Todd Urbonas (musician/songwriter in Providence) recommended I try taking the cans off when recording. He claimed that wearing cans seriously reduced your ability to land on the note and generally hear your performance. After some experimentation in my studio, the best technique I found is simply singing live with a few tracks solo'd for reference. The lower in volume the track is, the less overall bleed, and it turns out you don't need a lot of level. Also, the less level from the tracks, the more you tend to concentrate on the details of your performance. Point a cardioid mic away from the speakers for best bleed rejection. Also, as my studio system (Mighty Boy) is triamped, I mute the bass, crossed over at about 120 Hz. This is to avoid probably the biggest problem in track bleed: low end.

The results have changed the whole thing for me. Hearing my vocal live in the air (via bone conduction too) allows me vastly better intonation and overall more control of my performance. Why? Because you're hearing the real thing! (duhhhh) The only thing missing is the feedback from monitoring and hearing the actual electrified signal. The need for this goes away when you are confident in your recording procedure, which is a simple matter of listening to a few playbacks, experimenting with working distance and watching level meters for a bit. I found that with a small amount of experimentation and just simple good choices of recording components, a simple setup can quickly be set in stone and you can concentrate on the art without having to think about the technology.

Todd also reported a recording technique where he set up a PS1/L1/B1 behind and turned it up to a comfortable level, so that the direct and the amplified signal were all recorded. According to Todd, this produced one of those "magic" sound qualities that you get with vintage tube gear and all the stars and planets lined up (and no doubt tube power cords). I havn't tried this yet but I can attest that the shedding of cans for recording was a very liberating and empowering experience for me. I'm getting my best-ever vocal recordings doing this.

With the last three singers in my studio we have been using the OM5 with the singer facing the PAS at about a 45 degree angle about 7' from it. Keep volume "just enough" to be real and record it...very little bleed. The Neumann works well too, but gets more bleed, not that it is such a bad thing for a home project studio.

Another thing I did with a band a while back:
Recorded drums w/D6 on kick (into PAS & out of PAS into computer) and Neumann TLM 105 overhead, bass thru pod, direct keys, and vocalist lined out from the PAS into the computer.

I let the kick drum play into the room thru the PAS and everyone in the band dropped their jaws. The sound of the kick & band was very full and nice in the room. Unknowingly, when recording, the Neumann was picking up the bass drum room sound as well as overhead drums and on playback it sounded HUGE! Too huge unfortunately, and I had to gate it down...but we learned something valuable about USING the bleed. Had I kept the kick volume just a bit lower in the room it would have been perfect in the recorded mix.

We kept ALL of the live vocal tracks.


This is basically the way I have been doing drums this year, one mic overhead, with great results and customer satisfaction. The real benefit for them is reduced mixdown time and cost. For me it's less money in the end, but it sure is easy and I love the sound. In the past I used to get wimpy tom sounds with 57s on each one, I'm guessing due to phase cancellation.

The PAS has improved the ease and sound when recording, another big plus and reason for justifying the cost of a Bose.

Hi guys.....

I am the Technical Coordinator for the brand new 1500 seat Performing Arts Center, here on the campus of Texas A&M - Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, Texas...aka, the Red-Neck Riviera.

The venue was designed, primarily for acoustic musical performances...orchestras...symphonies...choral groups, etc., so trying to use standard 3-way amplification on electric groups really "pulls a vacuum", and gives me nothing but muddy sound and angry patrons who cannot understand the lyrics or the music, due to rampantly bouncing sound waves, compounded by an almost 3 second decay time.

I purchased one of the PAS units and completely blew away everyone who heard it in the hall, and we now have two with another on the way. The clarity is amazing with no need for volume, which is exactly what this venue requires.

The difficulty that I am going to encounter with pop groups or any amplified groups is going to be their lack of knowledge or experience with the PAS equipment and their fear of using something with which they have no experience. This is my main concern.

I would like to know if it would be possible to make contact with Steve Miller, or have him make contact with me to, in essence, have him endorse the PAS equipment and to allay the fears of those who would be using the equipment in this venue, since it is my intention to utilize the gear for my "house" system. What are my chances of making that contact happen?

Check out the venue at pac.tamucc.edu.

Many thanks,

Rich Moore
Technical Coordinator
Performing Arts Center
Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi
richard.moore@mail.tamucc.edu

Hi Rich,

I'm glad the the Bose System is working out so well for you.

Can't help with the Steve Miller endorsement, but you might find this little 'how-to' applicable.
Introducing Performers to the New Bose Approach.