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ToolsOnAir’s Broadcast Suite Helps Blink TV Maintain their Cutting Edge

V Festival

London, UK, June 2010….
One of the most well-worn business clichés states that the key to success is to “find a need and fill it.” For London-based Blink TV, that philosophy has been anything but a cliché.

I normally wouldn’t spend 20 minutes watching a video online, but this is something so special I had to interrupt my regularly scheduled blog to post it.

Aimee Mullins has built a career as a model, actor and activist for women, sports and the next generation of prosthetics. The records she broke at the 1996 Paralympic Games made people notice, but it’s what she’s done since that’s truly admirable. Plenty of people pay lip service to the idea of not giving up, of not acknowledging “can’t” and choosing not to wallow in self-pity, but Aimee is a person who, despite being born without shinbones, truly walks the walk.

The Hot Shop at Tacoma’s Museum of Glass is a cacaphonous, fast-paced environment. A single Community ENTASYS system has replaced four conventional speakers to meet the museum’s audio needs.

Nearly two decades have passed since a handful of congregants gathered in a rented school cafeteria for Kensington Church’s first service. Today, Kensington’s five campuses bustle with activity, from youth programs and community groups to multiple services throughout the week.

The main Kensington campus in Troy, Michigan recently upgraded their sanctuary with a new Digidesign VENUE system. As veteran engineer Tim Corder explains, the VENUE is the first phase of an upgrade plan that will eventually include a new P.A. system as well. Nonetheless, Corder says, the new VENUE console has already delivered far more than expected.

Green Street Development is working toward a new type of urban renewal, renovating older homes along Phoenix’s light-rail corridor to LEED or NAHB green standards. By creating eco-friendly, low-upkeep homes within walking distance from public transportation, Green Street encourages the rebuilding of neighborhoods. This week at Greenbuild, the company will unveil the first two NAHB Emerald-certified remodels in the United States, with Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon presiding over the ribbon cutting ceremony at 150 West Elm Street.

Green Street is also working to empower others, holding seminars on green building; currently the classes are offered in Phoenix, Tucson and Prescott, with other locations projected soon. The seminars regularly draw a mix of homeowners, municipal officials, contractors and other educators.

The Elithis Tower, designed and constructed at a cost no greater than a comparable traditional office building, has opened for business in Dijon, France. The tower creates more power than it uses, making it the world’s first positive energy office structure. From design to material and user behavior, the Elithis Tower applies the latest sustainable development techniques and is now open to journalists, academics and architects interested in studying or replicating this model.

As reported in Altenergymag, the Tower’s designer, Thierry Bievre, General Director of the group Elithis Engineering, took on the challenge of creating a building that would actually generate a negative carbon footprint at a cost that was comparable to a traditional office structure.

Phoenix Developer Leads by Example, Greening Neighborhoods One Building at a Time

Philip Beere is hardly your typical fix-and-flip home remodeler. True, his company has been involved in purchasing and renovating older homes for resale, but the similarity ends there.

In an age when cities and corporations have been rightfully criticized for “greenwashing” or falsely over-hyping their environmental practices, Beere is one of few urban pioneers who truly walks the walk and talks the talk, making a difference both by doing and by empowering others.

As most of my friends and colleagues know, I spent many years in the music and audio industries. I watched that sector evolve from a nascent pool of cutting-edge start-up companies in garages to the corporate mega-liths they’ve become today.

The secret to that evolution? They learned how to do business. They learned how to market their products. The best product in the world will fail if no one knows about it.

Those companies who figured it out survived and prospered. Those who didn’t are still tinkering away in their garages.

For chart-topping producer/remixer Jez Colin, the studio is more than just a place to work; it’s an instrument in and of itself, and a major part of his creative palette. And with the introduction of Pro Tools 8, it’s taken on an even larger role.

“Pro Tools has always been the focal point of my working canvas,” he says. “Everything in the creative process happens in Pro Tools for me, from conceiving ideas through mixdown and mastering.”