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Monitor Engineer Finds ‘Freedom’ with Yamaha PM1D on Alisha Keys Tour

BUENA PARK, Calif.⎯After winding down the first leg of the ‘Freedom’ tour backing her “The Element of Freedom� fourth studio album, Alicia Keys has since headed off to Europe with ME Kevin Glendinning in tow. Glendinning is using a Yamaha PM1D digital audio console, his preferred digital console. “The PM1D system is a very advanced and reliable network that I have had a lot of success and countless hours on,� states Glendinning.

â€?I remember when the PM1D first came out ten years ago looking at the complexity and thinking I’d never get my head around the functionality of the entire system.â€? Several years later, while using a PM5D he needed to advance to a PM1D system for Justin Timberlake’s ’06 club tour. Due to band expansion, the musical director insisted that all musicians have stereo mixes. “I called up Joseph Lopez at Yamaha on a bit of down time

and asked to take the PM1D certification class,� says Glendinning. “He really took me under his wing and got me one-on-one console time in the Yamaha Commercial Audio Headquarters training room, which was very valuable. Once I figured out the simplistic elements (getting audio in and out), it all came really quick and reminded me of an analog desk.�

“So many of the new digital consoles have lost the feel of mixing boards and adapted more of a computer-like feel to them. The PM1D has faders, knobs, meters, buttons, just like what we had been used to using. I really get frustrated mixing on what feels like an iPhone or consoles with layers and layers of information you can’t see at a quick glance. The PM1D rig is two pages ins and outs, very fast, and visually concise.� From a monitor perspective, Glendinning says the PM1D ‘is the fastest console out there with mechanical control that’s very responsive.’ Since the entire band is on in-ear monitors, he also uses a PFL system linked on the PM1D cue bus.

Glendinning started his professional career working at db Sound in Chicago (now Clair Global Chicago) where he says he was fortunate enough to be on tour with a lot of headliner engineers like Niall Slevin, Jon Rodden, Paul Owen, Chris Wade-Evans. “I learned what I could from them and have been independent now since 2003.�

Coming up in the ranks, Glendinning says he learned to mix mostly on Yamaha consoles. “The company has such a vast catalog of desks, from small format entry level to top of the line 96×48 frames. I have used many different types of manufacturers’ consoles on various tours to switch it up, but I will say this, whether it was a simple fly date, ‘SNL’, or the GRAMMY Awards, at one point or another, I got the artists all on a Yamaha, and everyone was always very happy.â€? The monitor engineer has mixed for such acts as Justin Timberlake, Maroon 5, Lenny Kravitz, Leona Lewis, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and No Doubt, to name a few. He also mixes the entertainment portion of the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Golf Tournament each year.

-END-

PHOTO ID: Monitor Engineer, Kevin Glendinning mixing Alicia Keys ‘Freedom’ tour on a Yamaha PM1D 7,500 feet above sea level in Ischgl, Austria.

About Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc.:
Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems, Inc. (YCAS) provides a full line of integrated professional audio products offering complete systems solutions for the broadcast, sound reinforcement/installed sound, touring, commercial recording, and post production markets. With the addition of NEXO to the product line, the company remains the official U.S. and Canadian distributor for all NEXO speaker models. YCAS offers comprehensive in-house and field product training for its customers, a dedicated dealer network, and 24/7 technical support.

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