.

Look what the Cat dragged in

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:16:00 +0000

If you read this and are interested in testing out this beauty, please give us a call at Parsons. We have D.W. Fearn now in house. Back in the day I used the mono version on several vocals and I can honestly say this thing smokes and you've never heard anything quite like it. If you need something with an absolutely delicious flavor to it- this is it.

News

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 15:20:00 +0000

We've had some interesting reps come in over the last week. Phil from Radial was in. Although he's from Vancover he's still a nice guy ;-). Perhaps another Vancover-Bruins final this year?.... Radial is our go-to box. Why? Ask Clair Bros. or Bruce Springsteen. Radial makes outstanding direct boxes and other do-dads. You can get a budget box from Radial or you can get a nice JDI with a Jensen transformer. Passive or Active flavors, one channel or up to eight in a nice rack mount box. Tip for the day-call Parsons and get a price on a Radial. We have the best prices but you have to call.

We had the guys from Midas in last week to show us the new Pro2C. Yikes! This is a rockin' desk. Everything you need in a live sound rig and more. We were particularly impressed with the portability, sound quality and ergonomics of this desk. Call for a price or a demo. If you are looking at a live sound desk in the +20K category, you need to look at this.

Rick Scott was out in California a few weeks ago getting a first view of the new Yamaha CL series consoles. We really look forward to these hitting the market this summer. As everyone knows, Yamaha is the leading console manufacturer on the planet. Stay tuned for way more information on these new products.

Don't forget: Parsons is one of the only authorized Shure Axient dealers in New England. Call Rob Pemberton on more info on this product.

Right On, it's Spring!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:20:00 +0000

Spring is finally sprung here in the Northeast. Parsons has some cool things in house for you to come in and check out or drag back to your studio to evaluate. As you may know, Parsons is the only place in the area where you can actually take home a piece of gear to try out in your environment. Everyone knows thats the best way to check something out.

Wow, I almost forgot about ProTools User Group. Rich Spillberg will be joining us and I guarantee this will be great. Rich is fresh off the road with Josh Groban. For those of you that don't know Rich, you can go to his website www.richspillberg.com

Rich Spillberg is the eclectic blend of a broad sum of experiences. As a musician, recording producer/engineer, filmmaker, educator, and philanthropist, he is continuing a path that dates back to his earliest days, growing up in a musical family wherein music was the main inspiration of every day life.

At the age of nine, Rich was introduced to the guitar. It soon became the great describer; a way to express himself at a higher level – a tool of communication. Within a few years Rich formed his first band and through this experience the fine art of collaboration – the basis of all of Rich’s future production work – was born. Continuing to learn from the styles of Ace Frehley, Michael Schenker, Eddie Van Halen, and many other musicians of the day, Rich honed his guitar playing to a high level and soon formed the band with whom he would sign his first recording contract. Over the next ten years, Rich’s band – Wargasm – recorded several award winning albums, which garnished critical acclaim, and broad radio airplay. That attention pulled in a large fan base that fuelled worldwide touring.

Rich’s path then took some turns, leading him simultaneously to audio engineering, computer programming, and multimedia productions. Within a few short years, Rich built up a solid client base as a producer, engineer and filmmaker. At around the same time, Rich co-founded Africa Reads, a 501c3 organization with a focus on spreading literacy in Africa.

The audio engineering work soon began to attract larger scale artists such as Due Voci, Lady Antebellum, Renee Olstead, and Josh Groban, and brought Rich back on the road supplying his expertise to the artist’s live performances. On the Josh Groban “Straight To You” tour, Rich also played guitar and mandolin in the show, allowing him to maximizing his talents.

RFVenue- okay, we were really skeptical about these funky looking wireless antennas. This is a local company making some excellent antennas for your wireless system. So good in fact that if you don't notice an improvement in your overall wireless reception, we'll just take them back. Really, fantastic gear at reasonable prices that will all by it self improve your wireless reception. Come over and borrow an antenna and see for yourself.

We've got some cool rental gear including a vintage Neve 1073 and some new Rupert Neve Design mic pre's and compressors. Give us a call to check our current inventory if you have a project coming up.

QSC- we have some QSC stock in our rental department for your coming gig. You must pre-book this gear as it goes in and out frequently and we want to be sure we have it for your gig.

Prism-Killer Orpheus Firewire units in house. Come and borrow one to check out or check it out here. I can't express to you how awesome these units sound. You will not find a unit with these features that sounds better.

d&b audiotechnik- we love this gear. Call us for information on anything d&b related

Installs-Rob Pemberton has been busy doing installs for several studios, schools and Houses of Worship. If you need something that just needs fixing or an entire rig, call and speak to Rob or Roger

Pricing- if you read this entire blog you will find out (or already know) that if you pick up the phone and call us you will get a better price than anyone on a piece of gear. Parsons is a service based company,we'll compete with anyone on price but you have to call.

Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:10:00 +0000

Happy New Year to all our customers. Last year was a banner year for Parsons and we hope to continue that into 2012.

Here's the latest:

ProTools User Group Meeting on Tuesday January 17th at 7PM. Sean and Dan will be doing an evening of Protools 101. Intro to Protools. If you want to learn Protools, this is the first class you should take.

Rick, Roger and Marko will be at NAMM January 19th-22nd. If you're going, please ping us and say hi! We're always up for a cup at Starbucks so find us and we'll treat.

For best prices and advice for QSC, Rupert Neve, Dangerous Music and d&b audiotechnik please give us a call. There's lots to talk about with these products. As everyone knows, Parsons has the best prices and support for the products we carry but you have to call. 781.431.8708

As you may not know, Parsons is a CERTIFIED Shure Axient dealer. For sales and rentals give Rob a call.

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:49:00 +0000

Did you know?

ProTools User Group Meeting Tuesday January 17th at 7PM. Protools 101 will be the topic

Parsons has demo and rental gear available for your next gig.

Parsons is a Shure Axient certified dealer. Call Rob for Advice on this product

We have QSC gear handy for you to try. QSC represents a great value in PA gear.

Parsons can handle your d&b audiotechnik questions.

We try the gear we sell in a recording or performing situation before we recommend it.

What we love and checked out recently:

Neve Portico channel strip
iZotope
Millennia 500 series modules (outrageous)
Radial Workhorse
Cloud microphones
Fink channel strip

We have these units in house and available for your test drive.

Did You Know?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 17:46:00 +0000

The next PTUG meeting is December 20th with John Whitcore and Robert Miller of Avid. They will going over HDx and ProTools 10. Bring your questions!

Parsons has demo and rental gear available for your next gig.

We have QSC gear handy for you to try. QSC represents a great value in PA gear.

Parsons can handle your d&b audiotechnik questions.

We try the gear we sell in a recording or performing situation before we recommend it.

What we love and checked out recently:

Neve Portico channel strip
iZotope
Millennia 500 series modules (outrageous)
Radial Workhorse
Cloud microphones
Fink channel strip

We have these units in house and available for your test drive.

Thanksgiving

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:25:00 +0000

Parsons will be closed on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Happy Holiday to all.

Post Expo

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:28:00 +0000

We had an awesome time doing the Expo this year. The speakers and exhibitors were fantastic. Special thanks goes out to our guest speakers that traveled great distances: Robert Scovill, Greg Price, Bruce MacPherson, Martin Dombey, Dr. Ian Corbett, Frank Filipetti and Bill Ostry.

Upcoming events: our end of year sale is coming up. We'll let everyone know when we've posted the list.

Don't forget PTUG meetings the 3rd Tuesday of every month.

Parsons will be closed on Black Friday. Have a great Thanksgiving!

Parsons Expo Insider

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:59:00 +0000

Rogers Expo Insider:

I thought I’d write up a little preview of the coming attractions at Parsons Expo 2011. This year, once again, we have an unprecedented group of speakers, panelists and exhibitors. I’m sure you’ll agree once you check it all out. This is my view of what’s going on during the day.

No day starts off without coffee and this Thursdays no different. The Lincoln Street Coffee truck will be here again serving up fine brew and smoothies. If you’re an insider because you’ve read this, introduce yourself to a Parsons staff member and get a free drink chip.

Give-aways: We have some cool stuff to give away so be sure you drop your business card in the bowl out front.

Undercover…Tom Stephensen, Roland. Design a digital console….check. Sell more than any other mixer on the planet…….check. When you see Tom hanging out at the Expo, pull him over and talk about the Roland Digital Consoles with him. He is a true rock star in the world of digital gear and you need to swing by the Henderson booth to chat with him. Tom has also done his share of recording having worked with Phil Collins, The Grateful Dead, Cyndi Lauper and others. Tom will also have coffee chips with him so be sure to ask him for one.

11AM in the Patio: Dr Ian Corbett kicks off the morning with his talk on Audio Artifacts. Ian has given this talk at AES last year and shall we say raised a few hairs. He will demonstrate MP3 artifacts and discuss various encoders and lossy compression formats. This is a good appetizer before Bob Ludwigs talk at 12:15.

11AM in the Terrace: Paul Stewart-Genelec. Paul will go over calibrating your monitor system. This demonstration really showed us the power of DSP and calibrating techniques for loudspeakers and got a “wow”! from our staff last week

Avid. Clearly you have questions about Protools 10 and the new HDX system. Here’s your chance to “hold them down” and get your questions answered. There’s no question there will be a lot of questions! If you have Protools or use it, you need to spend some time in the Midland Room on Thursday.

At 12:15 Bob Ludwig starts up the Ballroom. Bob travels down from Maine every year to talk about something he’s been thinking about and this years no different…well, yes it is. He’s coming to talk about what you are thinking about. In addition, he’s got some things he wants to “air out”. This session will be jammed so get there early.

Bill Ostry will again be joining us for the New England debut of Shure’s new Axient wireless system. If you use wireless, this is the place you want to be at 12:15.

Also at 12:15 is Bennett Prescott. Bennett will be giving his talk from AES about differences in DSP platforms. If you are interested in loudspeaker design using DSP then this is the place for you. This is the warmup for Dave Gunness and Rich Frembes session at 2:45 in the Terrace Room concerning TEQ.

1:30PM: Frank Filipetti goes over an entire session from soup to nuts on Protools. You will find Frank to be extremely candid and interesting in discussing some of his latest recording techniques. Frank won’t remember me from his famous F1 to Mitsubishi Apogee listening session at the Hit Factory but that’s another story. Frank also enjoys a cigar now and then so bring your Cubans!

The Terrace room hosts Greg Price at 1:30. Greg is an all world FOH engineer (Ozzy, Aerosmith, Foo Fighters) and now works for Waves. Come by and hear what Greg has to say about current trends and workflows. Live sound guys want to be here at 1:30.

In the Ballroom: Plug Ins panel with Bob Ludwig, Frank Filipetti, Robert Scovill, Bruce MacPherson and Greg Price moderated by yours truly. Join us for a discussion on latest plug in chatter in all audio domains. Greg and Bruce from a manufacturer perspective and Bob Frank and Robert from a user perspective. If you use plug in’s then you need to be here at 2:45.

Patio at 2:45. Fran Manzella joins us again to show off his latest studio design 25^th St Studios. You will recognize this from last months cover of Mix magazine. Frank will have pictures and talk about the project from its conception to completion, Stunning room!

Terrace Room at 2:45: Dave Gunness and Rich Frembes talk about Temporal EQ.

At 4 oclock Robert Scovill talks about his experiences on the road with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. There’s a number of critical decisions an FOH engineer makes before going out with a large tour and you’ll hear what those are and how Robert made the decisions he made. Robert will surely also talk about his experiences with digital consoles and how they have affected the way the industry works. Another must take for live sound guys or musicians.

Barry Marshall heads up the Terrace room at 4PM. Barry has been preparing this presentation for the better part of 2011 just for the Expo. Join him for an in depth look at the Beach Boys’ Smile album sessions. When I say “in depth” I mean it. You will see video and hear tracks of this landmark release. This is the place for the recording guys.

David Missall: Digital Microphones? How the heck does that work? Michael will be here to explain. Very cool.

Rupert Neve with Dave Moulton via Skpe. This will be a great session and since Dave and Rupert have cleverly planned this out, I’m not saying anything. This will be provocative and interesting and everyone knows it so just be there. Rupert will be in Wimberly and Dave will be in the ballroom. There will be time for Q&A as well so start thinking of your questions now.

At 6:15- back by popular demand will be Professor Michael Bierylo’s Educators Summit. Surprised by last years standing room only session, we’ve brought it back again. This year we have guests from all over the country to join us. I imagine next year people will be coming from all parts of the world for this one.

Parsons Expo goodies

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:12:00 +0000

Rick, Roger and Marko just got back from AES with lots of fresh news to share for the Expo. Avid has all sorts of news (HDX) and my best advice to you would be to show up at the Expo and spend some time with the Avid folks. There's so much news and "stories" that you can get it straight from the horses mouth on November 3rd. Special thanks to Avid for a very cool party at Jungle City studios. Alicia Keys played a few tunes solo and it was fun to hear her in person. Nice!

Over the next few days I will be outlining cool things to come and check out at the Expo. Stay tuned.....

PTUG Jam Packed

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:48:00 +0000

Tuesday nights PTUG meeting, in case you missed it, was jam packed with people. We're back on track with this event and hopefully next month we'll start doing a webcast as well to accommodate everyone.

The Parsons Expo is looking like another exceptional day of audio and information. Our good friend Mike Bittle will be coming in from New York to show off his new company- Attend LLC. How do you send an 18Gig file? Easy. Attend MediaCloud solves a bunch of the problems we as media professionals have with client reviews, file storage and transfers etc. Be sure to check out Mike's talk at the Expo on November 3rd. Doors open at 11AM

PTUG Meeting Tuesday October 18. Expo November 3.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 19:03:00 +0000

Lets not forget about the PTUG meeting this month. "When Sessions Go Bad" Adam Rourke and Brad McCarthy will be our guest panelists. 7PM at Parsons.

The Expo is looking awesome once again. November 3rd 12 Noon at the Dedham Holiday Inn. Click here for details.

Parsons Expo November 3 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:06:00 +0000

It's that time of year again and we're busy organizing the Parsons Expo. This year we have some incredible guests coming to speak. Rupert Neve via SKYPE with Dave Moulton, Bob Ludwig, Rob Scovill, Greg Price, Frank Filipetti, Fran Manzella, Bennett Prescott, Barry Marshall, Bill Ostry, Michael Bierylo, Ian Corbett to name a few. This promises to be another awesome day of audio. Don't forget about our manufacturers (listed here on the site) will be showing their latest greatest gear as well.

The Expo will be at the Dedham Holiday Inn and doors open at noon.

Fall Professional Development 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:45:00 +0000

We have been super busy planning professional development classes for the fall and winter. PTUG (Protools User Group) meetings will be starting up and they will be the third tuesday night of every month starting in October.

Parsons Expo 2011 SAVE THE DATE. November 3rd at the Holiday Inn in Dedham.

Look for more info on Front of House Seminar Series in November. Not finalized but getting there....

They're back! PCI to PCIe TDM Crossgrade is back

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:25:00 +0000

So you've probably heard by now, due to popular demand, Avid has decided to turn back on the Pro Tools HD TDM PCI to PCIe program. We wanted to make sure everyone has pricing and understands it's a limited time deal (end date to be announced at a later time). Please call for pricing.

Hear What You've Been Missing

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 09 May 2011 21:38:00 +0000

Tour is stopping at Parsons on May 12th at 6PM. Please RSVP for this event. This is an Avid sponsored event so bring your appetite as well. We'll be serving nice sandwich's and beverages.

•Discover new and more flexible ways of working with Pro Tools HD 9 software

•Learn how to eliminate distracting latency so you can create better recordings

•Hear the pristine sound clarity of Pro Tools HD Native

•See the performance advantages of using Avid hardware and software

•Get your questions answered by Avid experts and mingle over refreshments with your industry peers

•Marvel at the opulent Parsons digs (kidding).

Post Avid de Mayo

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 May 2011 21:12:00 +0000

Another successful event at Parsons. Special thanks to Greg Addington from Avid. Greg spent all day showing our customers and staff the SC48. Great desk and great price.

Don't forget about Avids "Here What You've Been Missing" tour. It's stopping by Parsons on May 12th from 6-8PM. We will NOT be serving Margaritas.

Avid de Mayo-Game on for SC48 Day

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 May 2011 15:12:00 +0000

Greg Addington from Avid has strolled in the door and he's firing up a brand new SC48 for our Avid de Mayo day TODAY. Come by and get your hands on this hot desk as well a nice cold frozen Margarita. We'll be here all day so cut out of work early and stop by.

Avid de Mayo-SC48

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:45:00 +0000

Very exciting! Greg Addington from Avid is coming to Parsons on May 5th to spend time with everyone on the SC48. This is your opportunity to come over to Parsons, have a margarita and some snacks and get your hands on the SC48. The SC48 is fast becoming one of the industry standards for Live Sound and is extremely rider friendly as well. With the touring season beginning, this is an ideal opportunity to come by and learn about the console.

Whats Going On at Parsons

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 21:09:00 +0000

It's time to blog about whats going on at Parsons in the dead of Winter. I have been super remiss on writing for the past month and frankly thats just lame, no excuse. We've decided that everyone's going to take a swing (isn't spring training right around the corner) at writing about something they think is cool (or not).

Rick Swensen from AudioPros stopped by a couple weeks ago and dropped off the Midas F Venice console (and the F stands for Firewire ha!). You have to check this thing out. It's got firewire inserts on every channel! Rob walked out there with his laptop and plugged it in and low and behold it worked right out of the box. This console is manufactured in the UK and retains the Midas "sound" at a very reasonable price. Check out this picture of it and swing by to twist the knobs. We've got audio running through it and you can do a mix while you're here. You can check out all the specs here.

There are other things cooking as well. Protools 9 has been a hot seller this past month but what you really need to know is that there are some super specials with SC48, Mixrack and Profile desks. Trade in one of your old crappy junker consoles that are not exactly increasing in value and get some cash off on a new digital console. Call Les or Rick for the details on this deal. We have a Bobcat outback to drive over it and promise to post the destruction here on the blog.

Super cool news: We're opening up a little Certified-Preowned page on the website. You will find top notch, quality gear thats in house ready for you to buy. This gear will have been thoroughly tested similar to your Lexus with our 131 point inspection. (just kidding on the 131 point inspection). Guaranteed for at least 100,000 miles or at least 30 days. We'll spell out the real terms on the new webpage but check back soon for this.

Jeff Nelson from Dolby was in yesterday to show us the new Dolby DP568 Reference Decoder. Our broadcasters will love this new box for having all the latest and greatest features.

Whats going on with Yamaha you ask? Martin Dombey came by and trained the staff on the M7. As we all know, this is a popular console for the live sound cats that like 48 faders all in front of them. It does some rockin' things for the price and if you need a demo of this please call. Did I mention its a bargain at its price.

A couple more weeks and Cat Reuthe will be joining our staff here at Parsons. Cat just got back from the Grammys and we're excited to have someone with her chops joining us. Cat will be joining Theresa on the sales support team.

Okay, enough for me for now.

Roger

NAMM etc.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 17:06:00 +0000

Rick, Marko and I headed out to NAMM last month and had an awesome time checking out new gear and listening to PA gear from our vendors. One thing I love about NAMM is all the bands that play on the various stages setup in the different venues. GOOD STUFF. I heard some killer systems from QSC, JBL, NEXO and Community. There's some very impressive technology out there and if you have some special requirements, please call and talk with us about them.

I spent some time chatting with Bob Clearmountain at the Apogee booth. I worked with Bob many years ago on a Crowded House record as well some Bruce Springsteen albums and it was great to see him. As you know, Apogee has a new line of converters and you should check them out. We'll be having an Apogee event later in March so keep checking back to the website for more info on this event.

Some of the other impressive gear we checked out had to be some of the compact Soundcraft-Harman consoles. Studer technology has trickled down and the lower priced consoles sure have a lot of value. We expect these to hit the market in the next few months.

Shure Axient: This system could potentially be a game changer for wireless microphone receivers. Check in here to see this exciting new technology that will be coming in 2011.

Just a shout out to Chris Stabach. Chris, after 4 years at Parsons, has left us for greener pastures and is now working for an audio distributor. We look forward to seeing Chris around showing off his wares and wish him the best.

Best,
Roger

Thank YOU!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:44:00 +0000

We'd like to take a moment to thank all the guest speakers, exhibitors and our customers for the best Expo ever! It was a special event and you all made it possible.

Happy Holidays,

Roger

Rob

Marko

Rick

Les

Theresa

Chris

Louise

See you Tuesday for the Expo!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 00:50:00 +0000

We're excited! The Expo is Tuesday and we're ready. All the guests that didn't make hotel reservations just realized that most places are sold out. Is it the Parsons Expo or Monday night football? Patriots v Jets. Since our event is 10 or so miles from Foxborough MA then you can imagine the issues. There are plenty of hotel rooms in Needham, Newton and up Route 95 so please keep trying. Monday night we'll be doing some Airport runs, and getting the gear over to the Holiday Inn. Join us at Legacy place where we'll be enjoying the game, food and beer at the Yard House. They have the worlds largest selection of Beer.

On to the Expo! Please show up and check out some of the sessions and exhibits. The speakers have worked hard at preparing some great lectures. Jason Waggoners 11 AM Line Array talk and iZotope lead the way for the day. There are free giveaways-Adam Speakers, Heil Microphones, and other cool things. The auction is finishing so if you haven't bid on something, its time.

See you Tuesday!

Parsons Expo Invites are out!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:09:00 +0000

We finally got the invites out for the Expo. Please forward them along to people you know would be interested. There's also quite a bit of info on this site so cruise around to the Expo area and check out all the people that are participating. We all love gear but this Expo is stacked with cool people speaking about things that they are passionate about.

PARSONS EXPO INFORMATION

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:52:00 +0000

I'm getting super excited about the Expo. All the speakers are checking in and the manufacturers are starting to ship their gear. Today, Bob Ludwig informed me that Susan Rogers will be joining him at the podium for his Loudness chat. We all know about Bob but Susan has a very cool resume. She's currently teaching over at Berklee. Susan did her graduate work at McGill in music perception and cognition and she's contributed greatly to the loudness panel at AES. I'm not doing her justice in this little blog but she's also done some recording. Prince, Barenaked Ladies to name a few. Anyway, more on this development because today is Friday and before I go home I need to get some actual work done.

Rob just got back from Ashville NC. He attended a special seminar for d&b audiotechnik users. Have you seen the Biltmore estate? Be sure to catch Jason Waggoners Line Array Seminar at the Expo. d&b will also be providing some of the PA gear for the ballroom.

Have a great weekend!

Roger