If you are in the UK and are interested please contact me at Karl@roadie.net and I will forward your information to the producer of the series.

Go to Youtube and search for “on the road” or “marshall headphones” to see the mosr recent series in the US featuring Jef Hickey, Pyro Pete, Phil Kaufman, and Ben Dorcy III.

There is information on Info on Wade Bowen’s website. page- http://www.wadebowen.com/richard-denton-caldwell/ Thanks!!
Wade Bowen — Richard Denton Caldwell Let’s keep his family in our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time.
www.wadebowen.com
Texas Musician..Wade Bowen — Richard Denton Caldwell
www.wadebowen.com
Texas Musician..

Wade Bowben had this to say about Rich Caldwell RFL on his website.
Listen to Wade’s single “Saturday Night”! Richard Denton Caldwell
5/9/77 – 4/19/12

It is with a very heavy heart that I announce we lost a brother in a tragic accident. Our sound engineer Rich Caldwell was killed in a car accident near his home in Bryan/College Station. Although new to our family, his passion and drive for excellence in the art of audio engineering was unsurpassed. He was a great man, husband and father. He will be greatly missed.

Please pray for Rich’s family and remember to live every day to it’s fullest and let the people close to you know that you love them.

I ask that, if you’re able, you consider making a donation to help Rich’s family cover funeral costs and living expenses while they recover from their unexpected loss. Donate online here or send checks to Community Bank & Trust, PO Box 2303, Waco, TX 76703, attention Lisa Martin. Please make checks payable to “Richard D Caldwell – Donation Account”.

Heaven is going to sound a lot better now.

God Bless – WB

Mix Professional Audio and Mixed Productions wrote a article about Rich Caldwell on February 1, 2012.

http://mixonline.com/live/applications/fixit_flyleaf_rich_caldwell/

Ray Polen had this to say about his Roadie Brother Rich . I toured with Rich in 2009. Rich was a brillant guy and I can only say this he had LESS THAN ZERO EGO. He was always there to willing to help others and did his job well. R.I.P. Rich Calwell RFL

Frank Maglin
All you sound engineers, Redline your consoles tonight in memory of Rich Caldwell. My all of our noises be a tribute to his short lived legacy. All your hard work will be missed and remebered…

Hardwire in ear monitors…
Posted on April 18, 2012 | Leave a comment
I’ve been stewing about this for awhile now… I think that there has to be a better/ new way to amplify hardwire in ear monitors. Back when in ear monitoring was in it’s infancy, bands carried racks of Carver power amps which lived with the monitor console. XLR lines were run to passive volume controls for the band members to control their overall volume. This was a decent solution aside from having to run a separate IEM snake so your headphone/speaker level audio did not crosstalk with your microphone signals. Moreover, I bet this setup sounded pretty awesome with tons of headroom. In my opinion, this piece is near the end of it’s useful life. Many musicians I work with don’t even wear it on a belt, instead leaving it in a rack or attaching it to an instrument (think piano, steel guitar, keyboard, etc). It’s beltpack form factor has caused a few limitations. 1. Battery Power: first of all, the battery needs to be changed every other show at minimum. The sound of the pack changes a bit as the battery dies. 2: Limo -> XLR cables. Because of the belt-pack form factor, standard XLR jacks could not be used. Instead, a small 5-pin connector which breaks out to XLR cables. Last time I checked, this cable costs over $100 to replace. 3. Cost – aside from the $100 cable, the system as a whole costs $500 – a hefty price for what you get in my opinion. 4. Bad quality/ inconsistent knobs. On most of the systems I have used which have been around the block a few times, the volume knob is scratchy, and the pan knob is finicky at best.

I asked a Shure rep recently if they had any plans to come up with a replacement to go with the new PSM900/1000 series. His reply was ‘why, we have the best product on the market.’ I thought to myself, well – you really have one of the ONLY products on the market.

One way I have seen a few folks do this is with a small Mackie/Behringer mixer. Usually TRS-XLR adapters are used to get into the line inputs. In my opinion this type of set up might be a step in the wrong direction since the audio would have to pass through the cheap mixer circuitry before hitting the unit’s headphone amplifier. I’m looking to get something that is a sonic improvement. I’m already working with a top-of-the-line digital mixing console. I don’t need mixing ability, EQ ability, or even a level pad really. All I want is a kick-ass amplifier

That said, I’ve been scouring the internet contemplating other options. My criteria are few: XLR line level inputs, one volume control, ability to be externally powered.

The Whirlwind PA1 seems like it could fit the bill nicely. Though bigger than the P6HW, it can still be worn on a belt. It can run off a pair of 9V batteries or an external 18V adapter. 18V should give this a little more headroom than a single 9V. However, the manual reccommends 30ohm headphones at minimum. Armature headphones like JH Audio are lower – around 15-20ohm. I would supposed that it might work, but at the expense of overheating or distorting the output devices. I’d like to try it find out.

This Little Dot amplifier could be awesome! It is marketed as more of a HiFi piece since it can be used with balance earphones. However it looks to be extremely well constructed. Look at those torroidial transformers and big filter capacitors! The alps volume potentiometer is quite welcomed too. It can output more than 1 watt into IEMs. It would probable come in around the same price as the P6HW. I would surmise that it sounds much better.

In my searching, I have found this new headphone amplifier that Audio Technica is marketing in Japan. The DH-01 appears to be aimed toward drummers. It has some sort of facility to attach it to drum hardware! It has an aux input so a drummer can mix his metronome into his IEM mix. It can run off external 9V or an internal 9V batter. I’d like to see internal photos or get my hands on one to try it out. (Hey Audio-Technica, if you’re reading this – I’d love to road test one!) At $200 shipped from Japan, the pricing seems decent.

One final option would be to use an amplifier designed for use in recording studios for use with headphones. One that looks to fit the bill would be the Furman SP-20AB. It has 20watts which might be too much! I’d guess with this much available gain into IEM’s it could be noisy. I’d love to give it a try…

Red Monkey Straps

Though it’s not exactly audio related, I would like to give a quick shout out to Red Monkey Designs! Chris Morrison (who also reps. JH Audio) brought some Red Monkey guitar/bass/banjo/mandolin straps to the ACM awards in Las Vegas for folks to check out. I loved seeing the amazing variety of straps they make. Red Monkey has so many creative designs and their quality is top notch. Many artists used them on stage for their performances. I am amazed that I don’t see more stores selling them! The straps range from from basic nylon with stout leather ends, to nylon with a cool fabric overlays, to premium hand-made all leather straps. It’s my understanding that completely custom straps can be commissioned as well. So, if you are looking for a killer strap, check out Red Monkey Designs!!!! They also make leather fashion accessories such as bracelets, watches, and belts.