Fusion D400Q Desktop Storage Systems Protect and Store Concert Audio for Linkin Park‘s Minutes to Midnight Tour
IRVINE, Calif. -- Feb. 12, 2008 -- Sonnet Technologies Fusion™ D400Q desktop four-drive SATA storage systems are being used by Front of House engineer Ken “Pooch” Van Druten for recording and mixing performances from Linkin Park‘s Minutes to Midnight tour, which began its North American leg today in Omaha, Neb. Pooch stores multitrack audio files from each of the band‘s live concerts on the Fusion D400Q systems and subsequently edits and remixes them for release and Web posting. The Fusion system‘s swappable-drive-module design simplifies transport and setup at each venue along the tour while the included RAID/Enterprise hard drives provide reliability and flexibility in the storage of concert audio.
“I chose to work with the D400Q because of its well-established reliability, durability, and compatibility with multiple interfaces, including eSATA and FireWire® 800, for our Macintosh platform,” said Pooch, who has served in key mixing, tour management, and production management roles with artists and groups including Eminem, Guns N‘ Roses, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Limp Bizkit, Seal, and Whitney Houston. “No other SATA storage system has all of the features offered by the D400Q, and though they have traveled all over the world and been exposed to challenging transport and environmental conditions, our units have been problem free. From outdoor stadiums to indoor arenas, the D400Q just works every single time.”
Fusion D400Q desktop storage systems incorporate four swappable Enterprise/RAID Edition drives and provide up to 4TB of storage. For maximum convenience and flexibility, these units feature four interfaces: eSATA, FireWire 800, FireWire 400, and USB 2.0. A single cable connects the system to the computer or its host controller, and an integrated port multiplier enables all four drives to be accessed at the full speed of the respective interface. Pooch and his team from Evil Entertainment have used Fusion D400Q systems on every live audio recording of Linkin Park since the beginning of 2007.
Sonnet Fusion D400Q storage systems were instrumental in capturing the band‘s Projekt Revolution tour performances, which concluded in September 2007, and they are playing a similarly vital role on the new Minutes to Midnight tour. During audio recording, two Fusion D400Q systems are daisy-chained via FireWire 800 link, and another FireWire 800 connection links the systems to an Intel®-based, dual-processor Macintosh® tower equipped with Pro Tools® HD version 7, a Digidesign® 96i interface used mainly for monitoring, a Digidesign Command 8 control surface, and a pair of Genelec® 8050A near-field speakers. The speed of the D400Q systems‘ swappable drives has proved to be one of its most valuable assets in day-to-day use, as Pooch and his colleagues regularly move them from one system to another throughout the day.
Fans attending the concert can purchase a digital souvenir package, a post-gig memento that features an audio download of the entire concert -- mixed by Pooch and made available on the Web after the show -- along with show photos and a digital version of the tour program. Each show takes approximately 24 total hours of work from the time it is recorded until it is ready for release as a series of MP3 audio files. Pooch will work with Linkin Park through the Minutes to Midnight tour, slated to run into March 2008, and is booked to work the band‘s touring cycle into 2009.
More information about Sonnet and the company‘s products is available at www.sonnettech.com.
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About Pooch and Evil Entertainment
Evil Entertainment is one of the top production management companies in the world today. The company, founded by some of the most experienced and talented individuals in the music and live event industry, provides both personal management and tour management talent. Evil Entertainment services include tour management, production management, FOH and monitoring, live sound engineers, stage technicians, carpenters, and any other production talent required by a live event.
Evil Entertainment has been part of the largest tours in the world. Some of the company‘s clients include KISS, Linkin Park, Ozzy Osbourne, Guns N‘ Roses, Audioslave, Limp Bizkit, Korn, Marilyn Manson, Whitney Houston, Kid Rock, Incubus, Eminem, Courtney Love, Rob Zombie, Pantera, System of a Down, Ted Nugent, Xzibit, Maxwell, Rage Against the Machine, and Earth, Wind & Fire. More information about the company is available at www.evilentertainment.net.
About Sonnet Technologies
Sonnet Technologies, Inc. of Irvine, Calif., is a leader in providing local storage systems for professional users of Macintosh®, Windows®, and UNIX® systems in the film, video, and broadcast industries. Since its founding in 1986, Sonnet has pioneered and brought to market innovative solutions that enhance the performance and connectivity of Macintosh and industry-standard computers. Today, the company is a world-leading computer hardware upgrade company with a product line featuring a range of high-performance, cost-effective, and reliable storage solutions, as well as a variety of performance-extending upgrade cards. More information is available at www.sonnettech.com.
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