Wednesday, April 13, Las Vegas
FUN IN THE PITS
So this is new in 2011. What’s this stage doing in Central Hall? And there’s a rock band up there playing away, complete with two vocalists, two guitars, bass and a drum kit with an isolation booth.
I must have stumbled into one of the PITS. Also known as People Integrating Solutions and Technologies.
These special booths were located throughout the Exhibition Hall and offered hands-on classes demonstrating how to use some of the latest technologies. This year’s offerings included Broadband, Post Production, Pro Audio and Radio. It’s a nice way to take a break from walking in a sea of booths in the convention halls
I got to do a quick multitrack mix of the band’s performance with an iPad running a controller application. The app displays a set of mixer controls with direct feeds from each instrument and vocalist.
Great idea NAB.
LUNCH AND AWARDS
By the time I get to Wednesday the show is really almost over. By the time we get to mid day it’s time for one of my favorite events and I can relax a little.
The Technology Luncheon appeals to most of the engineers attending NAB. The NAB Engineering Achievement awards, one each for Television and Radio every year, are recognition of some of our industry’s most committed members. In the descriptions of the individual achievements of the winners it’s possible to read the history of our broadcast industry.
This year’s award on the radio side went to Bob Du Treil, Sr, well known for his many years of consulting engineering and innovative work in both AM and FM allocation. Congratulations Bob!
Other technical awards include the Technology Innovation Award. In a bit of a surprise for a show with a fairly large majority of television attendees, the NAB honored NPR Labs for its pioneering work on HD Radio and emergency radio notification systems, among other things. This is a well-deserved pat on the back for a research group that is breaking ground in our industry. Congratulations NPR Labs!
See you next year in Vegas.
Michael LeClair is the Technical Editor of Radio World Engineering Extra.
