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MONITOR ENGINEER ‘AL-Tee’ FINDS YAMAHA PM5D ‘KOOL’

BUENA PARK, Calif.─ Kool & The Gang’s story starts in the Jersey City, N.J. projects. They were teenagers, studying Miles Davis albums and James Brown singles while jamming in basements. In 1969 they made their first record. Still teenagers, and full of confidence, they named that first record after themselves. Their confidence and creativity produced a string of loose-but-tight, ‘fun’ records, culminating in the Pop Chart smash Jungle Boogie. Kool & The Gang didn’t need a singer then, their horns were the lead voice and the fans chanted along. Their songs were featured in films like Rocky and Saturday Night Fever.

Kool & The Gang found a special sound at the unique intersection of jazz, r&b, funk and pop. Their music has been created by the same core of players for over thirty years: Robert ‘Kool’ Bell, his brother Khalis Bayyan, their longtime friends Dennis ‘DT’ Thomas and George ‘Funky’ Brown. Past members include Robert ‘Spike’ Mickens, the late Charles Smith, Ricky West, and Woody Sparrow.

Kool’s current monitor sound, and for the past seven years, can be attributed to Alfred ‘AL-Tee’ Williams who for the past four years has been using a Yamaha PM5D digital audio console. Williams, has also been mixing front of house for over ten years for bands like The SOS Band, Bar-Kays, MIdnight Star Daze Band, Confunksion, and Lake Side, to name a few.

“One of the best things I like about the Yamaha PM5D console is its Recall capabilities, “states ‘Al-Tee’. Self-taught on the console, ‘Al-Tee’ takes his 5D card from gig to gig and pops it into a console with his saved settings to any production-supplied PM5D console. “Routing my outputs and inputs is wonderful, plus the updated software version allows me to use 24 GEQ on my mixes.� Williams says he looks forward to checking out the new PM5D-EX with DSP5D Expander capabilities.

NEXO monitors are used for most Kool & the Gang shows. The band uses Sennheiser EW-300 in-ear monitors and AMT mics are used for the horns.

Kool & The Gang maintains a heavy touring schedule, and this summer appears in St. Petersburg, Boca Raton, Amelia Island, FL; Rochester, NY; San Jacinto, CA; Garland, TX; Gulfport, MS; Las Vegas, NV; Mableton, GA; Bethehem, PA; before departing for Spain, The Netherlands, Germany and Finland.

For more information on Kool & the Gang, visit www.koolandthegang.com.

For more information on the Yamaha PM5D and PM5D-EX console, write Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc., 6600 Orangethorpe Avenue, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; e-mail [email protected]; or visit www.yamahaca.com.

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About Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc.:
Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. offers a complete line of integrated professional audio products for the commercial recording, production, broadcast, live sound, and sound reinforcement markets. The company has a dedicated dealer network, intensive field training, and 24-7 tech support in the U.S. and Canada.

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