How To Get Your “Quiet” Idea Shouted From Coast To Coast

Posted on by Jeff Posted in arts education, good business ideas — No Comments ↓

spokesperson for buytape.comAfter a couple of years of supplying tape products to a high school robotics competition put on by an organization called US First, I had the opportunity to attend one of their competitions.  What an eye opener!

The North Carolina regional competition was held in Raleigh, NC during the first weekend of April.  I attended on the last day of the event and I still can’t believe what I saw.  The work these kids did was outstanding, and USFirst can count on me as an ambassador of this great program with anyone who is willing to listen.

That is how the man who began this great organization has turned it into a national powerhouse.  Dean Kamen, best known as the inventor of the Segueway scooter, began USFirst twenty years ago because he understood the value of science education.  He also understood that if you build a great organization with a firm foundation, others will do your promoting-your “shouting”– for you.

Now luminaries from science, politics, entertainment, government and journalism are all lining up to sing the praises for USFirst.  USFirst reports in their current newsletter that 60% of Fortune 500 companies sponsor local teams.

We congratulate USFirst on their great accomplishment, thank them for being a wonderful customer, and wish them well on their upcoming national championships in St. Louis, MO at the end of April.

Click here to see some pictures from the North Carolina regional competition.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and HB  extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.

Are Virtual Performances Just Around The Corner?

Posted on by Jeff Posted in audio visual, good business ideas, Pro lighting, Pro Sound, special event production — No Comments ↓

good idea jeff for goodbuyguys.comA Tupac Shakur video shown at the Coachella Festival was presented as though it was an actual performance, with the late rapper appearing to perform onstage with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog.  It has gotten notice from all sorts of media, including those as mainstream as CBS News.

While it turns out that what the audience saw was just some clever computer generated editing and projection by a company called Digital Domain.  The producers and the event promoters attempted to convince the audience that Tupac’s appearance was a hologram, but in reality, it was just a very clever projection produced by a company called AV Concepts.

This virtual performance was the latest take on 35 mm film presentations like Natalie Cole’s live film duet with her father Nat on her version of the hit song “Unforgettable” back in the 1990’s.

After seeing how much attention has been devoted to this re-purposing of a 19th century magicians trick, it is probably time to consider whether a concert going audience would actually accept a “virtual” performance and pay for it.

Since the Coachella show was such a hit, there is not talk about an arena tour that would feature Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog in a full blown concert with a virtual Tupac.

Read more about how this show was put together by clicking here.

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Quick update-Two morons explain how this was done.  Skip  to 3:30 to bypass the mindless discussion.

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Ecoset

Posted on by Jeff Posted in customer service, good business ideas — No Comments ↓

mic stand mike for goodbuyguys.comEcoset, a West Coast company, is bringing sustainability to the video and film production business.

Located in North Hollywood, CA, since 2008 Ecoset has operated a warehouse where production supplies can be recycled.

Items such as set pieces,  plastic water bottles, office supplies, gels, electronic waste and construction materials can be both recycled and re-purposed in order to keep them out of the waste stream.  These services are available during preparation, actual production shooting and wrapping up after a production is finished.

Non-profits have access to reusable items like construction materials and non-reusable things like food waste and electronics can be recycled rather than being sent to the landfill.

You can see some testimonial videos by clicking here.

Click here to learn more about their new warehouse.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and HB  extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.

Sun Shines On The Mobile Stage Industry

Posted on by Jeff Posted in audio visual, batteries, extension cords, good business ideas, Pro Sound, special event production, Staging — No Comments ↓

good idea jeff for goodbuyguys.comHaving spent many years in the outdoor event business, I can tell you that there is nothing as complicated about working outside as the issue of electrical power.

When you are producing concerts and other outdoor events you find yourself either using a noisy and smoky construction generator, a too small extension cord run from the nearest building, or waiting forever for an electrician to install a temporary (and very expensive)service panel.  None are a good solution.

Kleege Industries, a long time player in mobile staging, has created a new and potentially revolutionary solution to this problem with their Helios 250 mobile stage.

This 32’x24′ mobile stage and load bearing roof is equipped with a 5000 watt solar array that generates enough power to operate a full size concert sound system.

It was tested extensively on last year’s Country Throwdown Tour with Willie Nelson, and according to a Kleege press release, it performed flawlessly.  It is also equipped with a backup biodiesel generator, but the genset was not needed a single time.

The Helios 250 is a collaboration with Sustainable Waves, a leader in the field of alternative energies.  They adapted their solar array technology to Kleege’s mobile stage to create a staging solution that works for a show anywhere the sun shines.  Onboard battery storage even allows the show to continue after dark.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and HB  extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.

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Gaffers Tape Inspires Font Designer

Posted on by Jeff Posted in branding, gaffers tape, good business ideas, tape — No Comments ↓

spokesperson for buytape.comTruth be told, the buygafferstape.com blog is rarely about gaffers tape, but that’s a story for another time.

Today I came across what might be the most unusual use for gaffers tape that I have seen in 20+ years of selling the stuff.

Font designer Jason Gregory of GBH, working with Puma, the show and sportswear manufacturer, used gaffers tape to design a new typeface for Puma’s “Make Football Anywhere” campaign.  In this case we’re talking the English version of football, soccer.

The designers at GBH actually folded pieces of gaffers tape into different shapes to create the individual letters.  When they were finished, the digitized images of the folded tape to make the font.

Not only did they create something that was eye catching, the new font also reads well and stands out on the football field when used on players uniforms.  Click here to see examples of Puma’s “gaffer” font.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and HB  extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands.

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A Digital Microphone. Really?

Posted on by Jeff Posted in audio cables, audio visual, mic cables, microphone stands, microphones & mic stands, Pro Sound, wireless microphones — No Comments ↓

mic stand mic for buymic.comA recent trade journal article caught my eye with this headline:

Future mics need to be more digital and more controllable.

The article goes on to point out the obvious, that sound is inherently analog, involving the moving of air and that there is no electrical signal to digitize until the physical energy of moving air is converted into an electric current.

While there are seemingly unlimited opportunities to digitally manage and manipulate sound after it has been converted to electricity, the beginning of this signal chain is going to stay analog until it is possible to capture the electrical impulses in our brains that turn into sound before any air is actually moved.

Consequently, it does not seem possible for “future mics to be more digital“, since whatever a device may do to sound after it is digitized, that device is not a microphone, no matter what you may call it.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and HB  extension cords and OnStage Stand mic stands. Yes, we do sell analog microphones.

Is This Opening Week of Stage Collapse Season?

Posted on by Jeff Posted in Pro lighting, Pro Sound, special event production, Staging — No Comments ↓

good idea jeff for goodbuyguys.comLast year’s outdoor concert season brought a disturbingly high number of stories about stage collapses.  The collapse of the stage at the Indiana State Fair before a Sugarland concert that killed 7 people was the most high profile, but there were lots of others.

Unfortunately, the finding by the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration to levy $80,800.00 in fines did nothing to improve concert performers’ and audience members’ safety.  It just shifted the focus away from where it needs to be.

Particularly surprising was OSHA’s inclusion of the local stagehands union (IATSE) on the list of those that were fined.

I was reminded of a time when I was the vice-president of our stagehands local (also IATSE) when a Pink Floyd concert was held at our local arena.  It was a sort of “greatest stunts” tour, and it included the flying of a giant pig over the audience’s head.

At the time I thought little of it, as the riggers on the tour were clearly competent, and they took lots of time to test the installation and make sure that it was safe for everyone in the building.

Had I known that I was potentially putting the financial well being of our union in jeopardy, we might have been forced to deal with the flying pig in a very different way.

Stagehands, who are hired by the local promoter or venue to assist the performer’s touring crew, are in no position to make the final determination on whether the installation is safe.  Even if engineering diagrams and stress and load bearing engineering specs were made available to us, we were not qualified to analyze them.  That’s like requiring the popcorn vendor to certify that the popcorn was packaged in a sanitary manner.  Their job is to sell the popcorn.

In the case of the Indianapolis stage collapes, Local 30 of the IATSE was fined $11,500.00 for four violations related to securing the roof.

I don’t mean to make light of any safety concern, but if a stagehands local is going to be ultimately responsible for an equipment package that they are exposed to for a single day, then it could bring the concert industry to its knees.

The only solution here is for the structures that are used for outdoor events to be certified by the manufacturers and for the users (promoters) of these structures to honor the limitations that the certification mandates.  No “after the fact” fine levied on somebody why was just doing their job is going to change anything.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and HB  extension cordsand OnStage Stand mic stands.

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Drum Riser Too Crowded? Try Bending The Microphone!

Posted on by Jeff Posted in audio cables, good business ideas, microphone stands, microphones & mic stands, Pro Sound, wireless microphones — No Comments ↓

mic stand mic for buymic.comMicrophones come and microphones go, but the standard Shure SM57 has been the sound man’s choice for snare drum miking for over  40 years.  Regardless of how many high end mics you might find on a concert or studio drum kit, you’re still likely to see the SM57 miking the snare.

Granelli Audio Labs has finally found a way to improve, or at least change, this classic microphone without modifying its sound.

They’ve taken a real (not replica) SM57 and bent it at a 90 degree angle so that it takes up less space on the drum riser or in the studio.The maker of this unique product claims that the sound of the mic is unchanged and that it maintains identical performance specifications to the original.  Unfortunately, the modified unit costs roughly double what you will pay for an SM57 off the shelf.

If you’d rather try bending one yourself, we’ve got ’em here.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and HB  extension cordsand OnStage Stand mic stands.  We’ve got wired and wireless mics at buymic.com.

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A Digital Magazine That May Actually Save A Few Trees

Posted on by Jeff Posted in arts education, audio visual, good business ideas, Pro Sound, web development — No Comments ↓

mic stand mic for goodbuyguys.comI have long been a fan of the free (advertiser supported) trade journals published for the audio visual and entertainment production industries.  I am sure that this happens with all sorts of special interest professional groups, but magazines published for the types of businesses we serve are particularly well done.

I had resisted using the online versions of some of these journals because they were cumbersome and did not lend themselves to being used in the way I normally like to read.

Recent upgrades in the subscription version of  Mix Magazine (Mix Online) have made me rethink how good digital magazines can be.  This journal for audio professionals has a cover price of $2.95 for the printed version, but is available free to those in the trade.

The  internet subscription version of Mix is different from their web site, Mixonline.com, and you must subscribe in order to access the full blown digital journal.  It’s still free, but instead of simply going to the Mix site, you access the online journal through a special url that arrives through email.

This adaptation is fully searchable, has an active table of contents, and can be scrolled page-by-page the same way you would read the printed verson.

It even has a handy “help” feature that lets you set up the pages in the manner that works best for your reading style.

Mix is a big magazine with lots of good original content, and while it is advertiser supported, their editorial policy appears to be one that does not unfairly favor the companies whose ads appear along with well generated content.

It even has a zoom feature that keeps from from having to reach for my glasses.

If you want to take a look before you  subscribe, just click here.

Goodbuyguys.com is a collection of web sites (including buytape.com, buybattery.com,buymicstand.com, buyextensioncord.com, buyaflashlight.com and buywireties.com) designed to deliver a great selection of production supplies.

The Death of Television-Part Two

Posted on by Jeff Posted in audio cables, audio visual, extension cords, good business ideas, web development — No Comments ↓
spokesperson for goodbuyguys.com

spokesperson for goodbuyguys.comI wrote several weeks ago about ongoing rumors about Apple bringing a television to the marketplace and how I thought that that window of opportunity had closed for them.

The end of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament last night brought another revelation regarding where the television is headed.  Here’s one more reason to not count on the future of tv manufacturers.

I signed up for the NCAA  “March Madness” computer app (the first smart phone app I have ever bought) so that I could watch UNC play their first round game from my office, where I have no television.  I ended up watching another one of their games online in the round of 16 as well, since CBS opted to not broadcast it.  The app was not particularly well designed, but it was better than the radio, and I made it through the game.

Last night I was doing some work at home at my desk when I realized that the championship game was about to start.  Even though there is a big screen high def television in the same room as my desk, I found myself logging on to my NCAA “March Madness” account and watching the game (buffering, countless ads, jerkiness and all) rather than turning on the televison, because I needed to continue working.

It seems that convenience and content trumped high quality.  I didn’t even realize what I had done until the game was over.

As more and more content becomes available online, whether free or paid, the use of a dedicated device that only does one thing, like a television, seems doomed, regardless of the quality of the viewing experience.

GoodBuyGuys.com is your online source for Permacel gaffers tape,Duracell Procell batteries,  Nashua duct tape, Bay State wire ties, Hosa and HB  extension cordsand OnStage Stand mic stands. Need an extension cord for your obsolete big screen tv?  We got ‘em!

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