AV issue 7

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2010

PROPOSED AWARDS CATEGORIES BEST INSTALLATION $1m+

BEST USE OF AV IN POST-SECONDARY TEACHING

This would represent the most innovative, best conceived and consistently excellent audiovisual installation of the year.

This award would cover audiovisual projects and installations in the post-secondary education sector.

BEST INSTALLATION UNDER $1m

BEST USE OF AV IN K-12 TEACHING

This award would provide smaller installers and integrators the chance to show their wares. The install that best meets the unique demands of the project would win. Doesn’t need to be the most glamourous or highest profile project going around.

This award would cover audiovisual projects and installations in the K-12 (Kindergarten to Year 12) education sector.

BEST AV PRODUCTION

This award won’t be tied to any one event or installation. It will be recognition of a nifty ‘idea’; a solution to a curly problem; a unique perspective on an existing technology. In other words, anyone reading this could potentially win this award with their wit and cunning.

for th

e audi

ovisu

al prof

essio

nal

This award would cover all staged events – commercial product launches, made-for-TV spectaculars, one-off events etc. The winner wouldn’t necessarily be the most lavish production but the best conceived application of AV technologies and design.

INNOVATION AWARD

ALIA SEE YOU NEXT YEAR! 24 – 26 AUGUST 2010 integrate-expo.com

AV AWARDS PROPOSED PROMOTING INNOVATION, REWARDING EXCELLENCE

Here’s the proposition: the professional audiovisual community needs a credible set of industry awards and AV Magazine along with Integrate would like to be the ones to facilitate them. We’d like to use this page to tell you, the AV readership, our thoughts and open the topic up for comment.

WHAT: Industry Awards for the professional audiovisual community. Awards with a focus on innovation and

excellence. Awards for people and AV companies.

HOW: The Awards would be based on submissions from the industry. With the assistance of the industry through organisations including InfoComm International, AETM (Association of Education Technology Managers) and ALIA (Australasian Lighting Industry Association), submissions would be assessed according to publicly available criteria to produce a published short list of entries in each category. A final judging panel drawn from the industry would then evaluate the short-listed submissions in detail, to arrive at the category winners.

WHEN: The Awards period would be for work completed in the previous calendar year – kicking things off with the 12 months of 2009. A submission deadline would be advertised (the deadline would be sometime early next year) and the winners would be announced at Integrate 2010 (24–26 of August).

WHAT THEY’LL BE CALLED: Not sure yet. Suggestions of a name that’s snappy and has some significance to the industry would be very welcome.

WHAT THEY WON’T BE: Awards are too easily hijacked by commercial interests. As soon as this occurs, and the awards’ credibility is called into question, then they’re of little value to anyone. We would like for these AV Awards to be hard-won and a legitimate recognition of innovation and excellence – in other words, something that really means something. This can only happen if the submission process and judging criteria are well formulated, totally transparent and rock solid. Importantly, there won’t be any awards for product categories.

CHANCE OF SUCCESS: AV and Integrate are prepared to put the time and resources into making these Awards a success. But, to reiterate, the Awards aren’t about the magazine, we’re simply the best conduit or facilitators of these awards – in our opinion. What we need is some feedback, an indication of the enthusiasm for these Awards, because we’re aware that it does take time and effort to pull together a compelling submission.

To sign off, we’re under no illusions as to what’s being proposed here. Awards have the veneer of glamour and boozy back-slapping, but behind awards of any substance is an enormous amount of work and dedication from people who will never be adequately recompensed for the time invested. In other words, it’s a labor of love. But we believe the payoffs for the industry are significant and will be worth the effort. People and companies who excel and drive innovation deserve recognition, not necessarily for the accolades in and of themselves, but also to continue to drive innovation and excellence in our corner of the world. A goal that we believe is worth pursuing.

Your comments and suggestions are not only invited they’re required. Please get in touch.

Christopher Holder Co-Director of Alchemedia Publishing & Events chris@alchemedia.com.au

Andy Ciddor AV Editor Andy Ciddor: andy@av.net.au

06

Editorial

Non Disclosure Disagreements

We have some very clever people working in our industry; doing things in ways that nobody else has dreamt of, and achieving what is frequently considered impossible. Some of these clever people are proud of what they’ve managed to do and share their ideas with others.

It could be that they’re aware their ideas can be of use to the rest of the industry or it could be that by showing what they’re capable of, they hope to attract the attention of potential customers, distributors, employees or investors.

There are other clever people who believe that if they keep their ideas a secret then nobody will know what they’re up to, or who their customers are. Such a strategy usually lasts until about 30 seconds after the project is complete, when somebody else spots the idea and either uses it anyway, or worse still, goes public and passes it off as their own.

In the time that I’ve been writing about technology and its applications, I’ve been very disappointed at the number of brilliant ideas, strategies, solutions and products that I’ve come across and that I’ve been forbidden to write about. OK, I understand that some things (but not really all that many) need to be kept secret for reasons of public safety or national security. The other reasons I’m given rarely make too much sense.

I believe that we need to be proud of our achievements, whether it’s using readily available products and technologies in smart and innovative ways or developing new technologies or methods. We should be telling each other, and our clients and customers about what they can get from us and how good we are at doing things well.

This magazine tries to find examples of good ideas and clever applications to put in our pages, and it’s been really encouraging to see how many of you are proud of what you do and have come to tell us

about it. You can expect to see the projects, productions, products and ideas that you’ve told us about, appearing in this magazine in coming issues. If you haven’t been in touch with AV yet to tell us about your achievements, please send me an email or give me a call.

Although, as you can probably guess from our big coverage of a very big project in this issue, we’re interested in the spectacular and the grand gesture, we’re also interested in the small and the agile, as you will also find in our mooving tail of AV in service of the rural and the remote.

Another way you and AV magazine can celebrate the excellence and innovation possible in our industry is by giving them some recognition through open, competitive, peer-assessed awards. The concept behind our as-yet-unnamed awards is that they’re about recognizing what you do well, not how big the project or production was, nor how far over budget you were able to get before the tap got turned off.

These awards are intended to be about excellence in the AV industry as judged by that industry. AV magazine is not going to get involved in setting the award criteria; neither will it participate in the adjudication process. We see our role solely as promoting, financing and supporting awards that the industry ‑ through its enthusiasts and its trade associations ‑ will own and run.  Get in touch with AV and share your stories of clever designs, interesting ideas, and strategies, products, and projects that exploit useful technologies and equipment.

Contact AV’s editor, Andy Ciddor at andy@av.net.au

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Extron pioneered configurable A/V control systems with the MediaLink family of push-button controllers. Now, with TouchLink, Extron is set to revolutionize the way you design, install, and maintain touchpanel systems.

Three new TouchLink panels feature a high resolution touchscreen with field-labelable backlit buttons, full-motion video, and many more features.

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Crew Tim Stackpool is a broadcast technical director, most recently completing the design and construction of a three-studio TV facility for IP Studios in Sydney. After spending 10 years at Channel Nine, Tim founded and remains co-owner of production company Sonic Sight. Tim also supplements the [lavish – Ed] income he receives from AV Magazine by assuming the role of Australian correspondent for Global Radio News in London and the Canadian Economic Press.

Advertising Office: (02) 9986 1188 PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086

Editorial Office: (03) 5331 4949 PO Box 295, Ballarat, VIC 3353

Editor: Andy Ciddor (andy@av.net.au) Advertisement Manager: Stewart Woodhill (stewart@av.net.au) Editorial Director: Christopher Holder (chris@av.net.au)

Bruce Ramus has extensive experience in creating and producing advanced media experiences for theatrical and architectural environments. He has designed and directed international live shows and events for 28 years, including rock bands U2, R.E.M., David Bowie, Bryan Adams, David Byrne, and Savage Garden.

Through his work, Ramus Illumination seeks to involve and engage a contemporary culture in the ancient ritual of theatre, and to provide an opening in the digital media landscape to present the soul of the community.

Publisher: Philip Spencer (philip@av.net.au) Art Direction & Design: Dominic Carey (dominic@alchemedia.com.au) Additional Design: Heath McCurdy (heath@alchemedia.com.au) Deputy Editor: Brad Watts (brad@av.net.au) Circulation Manager: Mim Mulcahy (subscriptions@av.net.au)

Scott launched Auditoria Pty Ltd on completion of his Masters in Design Science at USYD and leading into his role as Audio Director for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Since then Scott has designed audio and technical systems for some of the world’s largest events including World Youth Day 2008, whilst providing technical consultancy for permanent installations in the Australasian region. Knowing all too well how overcomplicated audio can be presented, Scott and the team at Auditoria are bringing us back to the principles.

alchemedia publishing pty ltd (ABN: 34 074 431 628) PO Box 6216, Frenchs Forest, NSW 2086 info@alchemedia.com.au All material in this magazine is copyright © 2009 Alchemedia Publishing Pty Ltd. The title AV is a registered Trademark.

Apart from any fair dealing permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. The publishers believe all information supplied in this magazine to be correct at the time of publication.

They are not in a position to make a guarantee to this effect and accept no liability in the event of any information proving inaccurate. After investigation and to the best of our knowledge and belief, prices, addresses and phone numbers were up to date at the time of publication. It is not possible for the publishers to ensure that advertisements appearing in this publication comply with the Trade Practices Act, 1974.

The responsibility is on the person, company or advertising agency submitting or directing the advertisement for publication. The publishers cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions, although every endeavour has been made to ensure complete accuracy. 1/10/09

Graeme Hague worked for the last 20 years in regional theatre venues as an audio, lighting and AV technician. Graeme is a regular contributor to AudioTechnology magazine and was the principal writer for the new Guerrilla Guide to Recording and Production (www.guerrillaguide.com.au).

He owns a Maglite, a Leatherman and a wardrobe of only black clothing which proves he is overwhelmingly qualified to write on any technical subject.

You prepared for a stunning presentation.

So have we.

The sensational new Hitachi Professional Series LCD Projectors.

Unmatched Hitachi reliability and awesome resolution makes the Professional Series 3LCD projector the ideal video solution for auditoriums and convention halls. From the UltraPortable Series to the powerful Professional Series for larger venues, Hitachi has the range to deliver renowned performance with unprecedented reliability and durability.

Ultra Portable

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For more information on these products please visit www.hitachi.com.au or contact us on 1800 HITACHI or at dps@hitachi.com.au

For more information visit www.hitachi.com.au or email dps@hitachi.com.au

Ultra Short Throw

Production Audio Services Pty Ltd P.(03) 9264 8000 info@productionaudio.com.au www.productionaudio.com.au

Issue 7 REGULARS NEWS News from the AV world

12

INFOCOMM NEWS Regional news from InfoComm

64

TERMINATION Snakes, ladders and classic AV gear

66

FEATURES

20 46

58

TAKE THE MCEC GUIDED TOUR The convention and exhibition centre that went green: very green

20

THE MCEC PLENARY A flexible plenary hall like no other

26

MCEC: THE MEETING ROOMS Where every room comes full equipped and ready to go

34

DAIRYLIVE A moving tail of AV innovation on the hoof

46

SONY AT THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE Sony’s new partnership brings signage to life at The House

50

COURT IN THE BUSH Port Augusta’s award winning courthouse

54

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE PRE-VISION Developing design ideas outside the venue

62

TUTORIALS DIGITAL AUDIO BROADCASTING A look at what the (lack of) noise is all about

58

PREACHING TO THE CONVERTED The fundamental principles of digital audio

60

CALCULATING DECIBELS An excerpt from InfoComm’s AV Math Online course

65

REVIEWS

26

44

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SOUND SHUTTLE Induction loop hearing assistance to go

40

VERDICT PLUS Handheld wireless polling

42

BEYERDYNAMIC MCE 55.18 More than just a lapel mic

44

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NEWS

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1/A SHORT THROW

2/STARDRAW

3/A DL3 FOR INSTALLATIONS

Epson has introduced the Epson EB-410W ultra short throw projector – for use with interactive whiteboards in the modern classroom environment. The Epson EB410W features an ultra large calibre, high precision lens which allows it to project a 60-inch screen from as close as 62cm from your screen or whiteboard.

This goes a long way toward eliminating distracting shadows and annoying glare in the presenter’s eyes.

The EB-410W also projects in wide XGA resolution (1280 x 800 pixels), which is fast becoming a common format for newer PCs. With network functionality, monitoring and operation can be carried out from a remote PC via a network connection. System administrators can turn the projector off, switch between sources, as well as control and monitor lamp and temperature conditions. Using this feature you can be sure that all projectors are operating correctly and be certain that all units are turned off at the end of the day, saving time, money and reducing the drain on the environment.

Epson: (02) 8899 3666 or www.epson.com.au

Following an initial preview at InfoComm 2009, Stardraw.com has announced the official release of its latest system control application, Stardraw Control 2010. Control 2010 is a step up from the 2007 version, offering users greater flexibility, sexier user interfaces, and the ability to exploit the everincreasing processing power of modern hardware.

Control 2010 is, however, fully compatible with 2007 systems.

An important addition in the Control 2010 platform is the inclusion of a generic HTTP, or WebServices driver.

This implies anything that talks HTTP can talk to any system controlled by Stardraw Control. For example, you can use a browser on any device, anywhere on the planet as a UI – that includes smartphones of all kinds, including the ubiquitous iPhone.

Another new feature is event logging: deployed projects write all events to a self-contained log file during use so the installer can review events over any timeframe to analyse and diagnose system activity remotely.

Stardraw: sales@stardraw.com

Hot off the press from Barco is news of the DL.3F – a fixed-installation version of High End Systems’ erstwhile and well-established DL.3 digital light. As the newest edition to Barco’s line of digital lighting products, the DL.3F features the same integrated media server and output capabilities as the DL.3, yet with reduced input and output capabilities. Although the new digital light does not include the DL.3’s integrated camera system, the DL.3F does retain its predecessor’s full range of media manipulation tools, stock content library and ease of maintenance, along with adding a more attractive pricing aimed at the fixed-installation market.

“The new DL.3F offers many creative and labor saving options at a reduced cost,” said Chris Colpaert, VP of Creative Lighting for Barco. “We now offer two versions of the DL.3, enabling customers to purchase exactly what they need for each project. The DL.3F is ideally suited for permanent installations and other venues wishing to utilise the benefits of digital lighting.”

Barco: (03) 9646 5833 or sales.au@barco.com

NEWS IN BRIEF

its centre of gravity range, it’s a simple and quick procedure to set-up and adjust the array.

The bracket has been certified with up to seven cabinets, under a safety rating of 10:1 and all within a standard tripod stand’s load limit.

Loud and Clear Audio: (02) 9439 9723 or info@loudandclear.com.au

The Alcons LR7 micro pro-ribbon line-array system can be deployed in a variety of applications. Now, the BRK5LR7 extends that versatility further: With its swivel yoke, up to five LR7 cabinets in stand-configuration and up to seven LR7 cabinets in flown configuration can be stand or truss mounted. Both the LR5 unit and LR7 unit configuration can be connected to a single ALC amplifier channel, for efficient system layouts. As the standfitted array always moves within

Following on from our E-waste article in issue six of AV, it transpires that four Sydney councils have banned the dumping of electronic waste from January 2010 in a bid to force the federal and state governments to implement a national recycling scheme.

Mosman, Manly, Warringah and Pittwater Councils, responsible for all of Sydney’s northern beaches, resolved to enact the ban ahead of a national e-waste policy expected to be announced in November.

The four councils grouped as

SHOROC – Shore Regional Organisation of Councils – are hoping to redirect the devices from landfill to a nationally regulated recycling system that is yet to be agreed upon. A spokesman for the Minister for the Environment, and EPHC chairman, Peter Garrett, says a decision on the national scheme is expected at the next meeting in November. He wouldn’t speculate on how long it might take to enact procedings after that.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Belden has appointed Ecco Pacific to distribute all its cabling and connectivity products to the electrical wholesale market.

Ecco Pacific currently represents a number of high profile brands including 3M, Wiha and Vortice and has appointed Matthew Holohan, a well-trained Belden specialist, as manager of the Belden account. Wayne Hillhouse, general manager of Ecco, said they are confident that Ecco can provide the level of service that is expected by Belden.

“We carry a broad range of

AKG

DMS 700

4

The new DMS 700 is a revolutionary digital wireless solution designed for the future: The First Professional Digital Wireless System

4/REALLY REALLY REAL, REALLY CAST Software announces the third and final instalment in the latest wysiwyg trilogy. With wysiwyg R24, pre-visualisations and renders are ‘really virtually real’, according to the company. What users will see in Shaded View visualisation is exactly what they get on the set, in the venue, or on the exterior of a building.

R24 delivers the actual results as visualised for the project – as opposed to a mock-up image not based on industry technology. With wysiwyg’s proprietary library of over 20,000 lights, gobos, and trusses, there’s no ‘cheating’ required.

R24 is built on the advances made in R22 and R23, and according to Cast, raises standards for the industry.

In addition to the new features and visualisation, its developmental accomplishments have not sacrificed wysiwyg’s robustness or performance. Indeed, a lot of work has taken place to increase its speed, especially for the new visualisation. New LED models also use a point source to better represent a diode for LED fixtures and walls.

Cast Software: www.cast-soft.com

products, including industrial, AV, security, and networking cables.

And we have representation in every state to promote the brand,” he said.

Adam Callender, Belden’s regional manager for Australia and New Zealand, said Ecco is very focussed on the wholesale market, is logistically very capable and offers a high level of service to the wholesale market.

Ecco Pacific: 1300 363 148 or www.eccopacific.com.au

The recent Deafness Technology Forum was a pre-cursor to National Hearing Awareness Week (held 23-29th August), and featured a media launch

by The Hon Bill Shorten MP, Senator Rachel Siewert, Senator Mitch Fifield and Chairperson of Deafness Forum of Australia, Alex Jones.

As members of the Deafness Forum of Australia, Hills SVL participated in the Deafness Technology Demonstration at Parliament House, Canberra.

Over two days, Thomas Kelly,

technical support and ampetronic loop designer, and Gordon Anderson, ACT branch manager, met with members of parliament and other interested groups to discuss Hills SVL’s technologies and design techniques.

“Our practical demonstrations on metal loss and spill control helped reinforce our message that loop design is imperative to a successful system installation,” commented Gordon.

Hills SVL: (02) 9647 1411 or act@hillssvl.com.au

• Up to 110MHz tuning range • 256 bit RC4 signal encryption for secure audio transmission • 2-channel digital true-diversity receiver • No Compander (used in analogue systems): higher sound quality • On-board DSP per channel (Compressor, EQ, Limiter) • Quick setup via infrared data link to the transmitter • Graphical spectrum analyser helps find clear channels • Remote monitoring and control via PC

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NEWS

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1/FATA MORGANA

2/ PROJECT WITHOUT WIRES

3/MORE CLASS FROM ARX

Christie announces the Mirage WU series. The range is an expansion to Christie’s Mirage series of three-Chip DLP, 3-D active stereo projectors. The four additional projectors include the Christie Mirage WU3, WU7, WU12, and WU18, offering more pixels, with WUXGA 1920 x 1200 native resolution, and brightness options of 3000, 6600, 12000 and 18000 ANSI lumens.

The WU series is the only purpose-built, 3-D stereoscopic projector with a 16:10 aspect ratio resulting in greater display flexibility. The projectors feature built-in edge-blending and Christie Light Output Control (LITELOC) for constant brightness tracking and monitoring of lamp output. They also feature ‘Comprehensive Color Adjustment’, allowing the adjustment of actual RGB channels in individual projectors for even colour matching across multiscreen applications. The optional Christie ‘Twist’ module for internal image warping allows projection on virtually any screen or surface.

VR Solutions: (07) 3844 9514 or www.vrs.com.au

The Sanyo WXGA PLC-WXU700 is the first projector to offer IEEE 802.11n high-speed wireless LAN capabilities.

Video playback is performed using advanced video streaming, which allows playback of video stored on a computer hard drive to start playback even as the file is being streamed, or downloaded to the projector. The streaming and playback is compatible with MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, and WMV file types.

Incorporating Windows embedded CE 6.0 software, the PLC-WXU700 can be used as a network projector from any computer running Windows Vista. The content on any PC monitor from a LAN can be transmitted wirelessly to the projector, eliminating complicated setup with special programs or drivers. By opening Windows Vista's Network Projector function on a PC, the computer will search for the projector and complete the connection with a single click. Other features include a widescreen native aspect ratio (1280 x 800), and 3800 lumens brightness.

Sanyo Oceania: 1300 360 230 or www.sanyo.com.au

Australian based Pro Audio manufacturer ARX is pleased to announce the addition of the USB I/O universal transformer isolated USB interface to its AudiBox range of audio tools.

All ARX USB DIs feature the transformer isolation and heavy duty steel construction that audio professionals require in demanding applications – where ‘little plastic boxes’ with unbalanced I/O simply don’t cut it.

The USB analog to digital and digital to analog converter chipsets incorporated into the USB I/O circuit topology allow maximum headroom and ensure low input and output noise. The unit is powered directly from the USB bus too, so requires no external power supply or bulky wall wart. The Interface is also true plug and play so requires no special driver program installation on Mac OSX, Win XP and Vista. The ground lift switch eliminates earth loops, ground hum, and other extraneous interaction – the interference and distortions commonly experienced with computer based audio systems.

The Resource Corp: 03 9874 5988 or sales@trc.com.au

4/TWO MILLION TO ONE

5/ DECIMATOR DECIMATES

6/DIM AS YOU SIM

Sharp Corporation of Australia has unveiled the Aquos LED backlight LCD TV, the LC-40LE700X, set in a stylish piano black design. Better for the environment as well as the eye, the TV delivers energy efficient, eco-friendly performance with an impressive reduction in energy consumption compared with conventional LCD TVs. The LED technology delivers greater energy savings with a power consumption of 139W, producing less heat generation and a backlight life of 100,000 hours.

The LC-40LE700X also features a dynamic contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1, delivering unprecedented degrees of black, and images that project incredible depth.

Using Sharp’s X-Gen panel, light leakage is minimised and more light is allowed to pass through for higher peaks. The 100/120Hz frame rate conversion and a pixel response time of 4ms ensures viewers never miss a detail. The HDMI and Aquos Link feature allows users to control compatible HDMI connected products using a single remote control. $2,999 Sharp Corporation: 1300 135 530 or www.sharp.net.au

This year’s IBC conference and exhibition in Amsterdam saw local Australian manufacturer, Decimator Designs (formerly Redbyte Designs), build on its earlier success at NAB where it was awarded a Broadcast Engineering Pick Hit award for the Decimator Quad. This time, Decimator Designs picked up a TV Technology Europe STAR (Superior Technology Award Recipient) award for the MD-Quad – a miniature quad-split with 3G/HD/SDSDI and HDMI outputs.

The MD-Quad acts primarily as a quad-split, but in pass through mode the user can select any of the four inputs to be displayed via both the 3G/HD/SD-SDI and HDMI outputs. Offering low latency buffering for each input allows non-synchronous sources, and a selection of user controllable functions via a rotary encoder, LEDs and a push button can then be used for status and control of the device. It’s all squeezed into a teeny-weeny 94 x 94 x 23mm enclosure.

The AV Group: (02) 9764 5911 or www.avgroup.com.au

ETC’s range of SmartLink enabled dimmers are available in either six-channel 20A or 12-channel 10A format. The compact (666 x 435 x 157mm) dimmers feature back to back SCRs and fully-rated magnetic circuit breakers. A straight forward front panel keypad allows the user to build up to 32 level-conscious scenes and one sequenced with programmable fade and hold times. SmartPack dimmers include useful features for architectural applications such as: Auto-Restart, non-volatile preset storage, optional RCD protection, capability to dim multiple load types including incandescent, low voltage, 2- and 3-wire fluorescents, and five selectable output curves.

For those requiring stand alone operation, the SmartLink Astronomical TimeClock station can automatically activate lighting presets and sequences using real-time or astronomical events. SmartPack dimmer can also accept a DMX input from a lighting desk.

Jands: (02) 9582 0909 or www.jands.com.au

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1/SIMULATION EARTH

2/ THINNER THAN THIN

3/ BEN-HUR 2009

The Australian Museum has installed a Panasonic widescreen large venue DLP projector as part of an interactive game. The projector is being used in the ‘Climate change: our future, our choice’ exhibition as an integral component of the popular ‘Be a Political World Leader’ interactive touch-screen game. The game enables up to four participants to act as world leaders, making tough decisions and co-operating with other visitors to see if they can save the planet.

Australian Museum Exhibition Project Coordinator, Catherine Cooper, worked on the design and set-up of the exhibition, and was involved in choosing the Panasonic projector for the game.

“After deciding the concept of the game and defining our requirements for the projector, we decided we required a projector that was very slim, as the ceiling height in the exhibition space is not very high. It was difficult to find a projector that met all the requirements, but after some research we found that the Panasonic projector was perfect for the job and also within our budget”, she continued.

Panasonic Australia: 132 600 or www.panasonic.com.au

NEC Australia announces its latest digital signage solution, the 46-inch MultiSync X461UN ultra-narrow professional display. Intended for video wall solutions, the narrow bezel allows for a screen-to-screen distance between neighbouring X461UN displays of 7.3mm, and can be deployed in video wall matrices of up to 10x10 screens, creating a total surface area of almost 60 square meters – a near 500-percent improvement on NEC’s previous 34mm MultiSync 20 series displays.

The barely discernible transition gap between displays ensures a homogenous picture across the matrix.

The MultiSync X461UN comes with the optional SpectraView colour calibration kit, which provides identical colour settings, ensuring colour uniformity and fidelity across multiple screens in tiled-screen environments. The MultiSync X461UN can be combined with many of NEC’s large-format accessories, such as the MPD-SBC-8/16-2 single-board computer, SBI008WU DVI daisy-chain module or SB-L007KK HDSDI card. The display is a keen contender for digital signage, anywhere you can think of planting a digital sign. $12025 NEC Australia: 131 632 or contactus@nec.com.au

Being the 50th anniversary of the release of Ben-Hur, we’ve decided there’s no better way to witness the 212 minute epic than to settle down with a few cold ales in front of the Panasonic 85-inch full high-definition plasma display panel. We figure if the film was processed with aspect ratio of 2.76:1, (making it one of the widest prints ever made), this baby from Panasonic is just the viewing ticket to get us into the chariot-racing zone. Bring it on Charlton!

The display takes advantage of Panasonic’s latest energy-efficient, double luminance technology, NeoPDP, to deliver crisp, blur-free dynamic image reproduction.

The screen has been built specifically for commercial installations and features a lifespan of approximately 100,000 hours and a panel of tempered glass on the front for protection against bumps. Available around December this year for $44000 Panasonic Australia: 132 600 or www.panasonic.com.au

2009 PLASA AWARDS FOR INNOVATION

Eight Awards for Innovation were presented, and the judges also singled out three products for commendation.

The eight Awards for Innovation went to: LumenRadio, for the CRMX Nova, which the judges felt advanced the technology behind wireless DMX distribution.

D.T.S., for the XR300 Beam. The judges being refreshed to see this significant development in existing moving light technology.

Robe UK, for the Robin 300 series plasma. The opportunity to deploy

The 2009 PLASA Awards for Innovation were recently presented to a packed audience at The PLASA Show in Earls Court, London – continuing to reflect the diversity of products nominated from across the entertainment and installation technology spectrum.

Over 60 products were nominated for the awards, all of which were on display, both on the winning exhibitors’ stands, and in the centrally located Innovation Gallery at PLASA 09, which wound up proceedings on the 16th of September.

new technology in the form of the plasma lamp, led Robe to perform a ground up rethink and redesign of the traditional moving light.

The Cast Group, for the WYSIWYG R24. The plethora of LED display technology caused Cast to re-evaluate its design and visualisation software which has led to a significant redesign of the graphics engine and fixture attributes.

Coda Audio, for the SC8 Sensor controlled subwoofer. Coda are the first to come up with an integration of velocity sensors into actual

speaker drivers which has enabled its speakers to be accurately measured and performance compensated in real time.

ETC, for the ETC Selador fixture, a significant step towards the goal of energy efficient incandescent replacement lighting. ETC has developed an LED fixture with a colour output that’s close to the spectral curve of traditional incandescent sources.

JoeCo Limited, for the BlackBox Recorder, which the judges said provides a neat, compact solution for capturing multichannel audio

and combines ease of use with functionality.

Midiator Vision for the Midiator.

The judges agreed this new breed of show controller combines all the creative elements of a show and enables them to be under the control of one designer.

According to the Awards Chairman, James Eade: “This year the entries displayed a range of technological advances which resulted in a considerable amount of products vying for one of the coveted eight awards. We did whittle it down to the eight after considerable

Tune in to the comprehensive

pro audio range from Sony

4

4/XTA'S FIRST INSTALLATION XTA Electronics announces the diversification of its product portfolio with the arrival of its first installation product, the DC1048 integrated audio management system. Featuring full matrix mixing, the DC1048 can be completely configured under the iCORE software package. 24-bit converters coupled with a 96k sample rate, ensure a dynamic range of over 112dB. XTA’s limiters offer peace of mind when configuring a system to ‘set and forget’.

With four inputs and eight outputs all electronically balanced on three-pin Phoenix connectors, the DC1048 also has GPIO interfacing built in along with the front panel USB connector and RS485 networking. It’s a simple affair to get your system configured, then left secure with only remote access via the touch panels.

Production Audio Services: (03) 9264 8000 or sales@productionaudio.com.au

The Professional Choice From wireless and wired microphones to versatile A/V mixers offering integrated control with a variety of projectors - Sony’s comprehensive range of pro audio solutions offers an assurance of reliability, quality and consistency.

With a host of systems and accessories to choose from, together with proven performance in broadcast, production and AV applications, it’s hardly surprising that Sony’s pro audio range is the professional choice. debate, but there are also some notable commendations”.

Those commendations (in no particular order) are; Klein & Hummel for its SMS speaker installation tools.

Artistic Licence for its Two-Play installation DMX controller.

SRS Light Design for its WMC12 wireless hoist controller unit.

Cisco has acquired Tandberg for $3b. Tandberg commands 40 percent of the global videoconferencing market while competitor Polycom has 34 percent of the market. Cisco makes videoconferencing equipment as well, though it focuses on the high-end portion of the market. Tandberg makes similar products, but is far more diversified – mostly cheaper conferencing hardware and specialised software for managing videoconferencing

systems. Certainly, the acquisition will significantly strengthen Cisco's position as the leading video conferencing equipment provider.

(Source: www.fiercecio.com) Cisco Systems: www.ciscosystems.com

PCM-D50 Linear PCM Recorder The latest addition to Sony’s family of portable audio recorders, built rugged and compact to withstand the demands of any environment.

• 96kHz/24 bit, virtually noise-free recording quality • 4GB internal Flash Memory, plus expandable Memory Stick Pro-HG Duo™ slot for up to an additional 4GB

www.sony.com.au/production proaudio.au@ap.sony.com 1800 017 669

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NEWS

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1 1/AWASH WITH LEDS

2/HITACHI PROJECTS

3/FULL ORCHESTRA

The Martin Professional MAC 401 Dual is a versatile LED moving head washlight with a double-sided design that gives it flexible dual functionality, for example, as a double washlight or beam reflective mirror. The 401 Dual’s colour mixing system blends colours at the source before they leave each lens so individual source colours aren’t seen. The MAC 401 Dual offers up to 6600 lumens and a 50,000 hour lifetime. For applications where noise is an issue, a silent mode option bars fan use. For television and film, the MAC 401 Dual LEDs provide flicker free looks on camera.

A fast mode setting boosts pan/tilt speed when needed. For flexibility, both RGB and hue/saturation control modes are provided. Firmware updates via DMX input make it easy to add new software features.

Power consumption is 370W with all LEDs at full. RDM protocol will follow in a future firmware release.

Show Technology: (02) 9748 1122 or www.showtech.com.au

Hitachi Australia announced the CP-X3010N LCD projector, which through a LAN network connection allows multiple projectors in different rooms to be networked, controlled and maintained from one remote location. The CP-X3010N offers a brightness of 3000 lumens, a 2000:1 contrast ratio, and the convenience of multi-networking capability. Features include 16W of built-in audio, eliminating the need for external speakers, while maintaining a low noise rating of 29dBA in ‘Eco Mode’. Additionally, the CP-X3010N features a lamp life of 3000 hours in ‘Standard Mode’ and 6000 hours in ‘Eco Mode’.

The CP-X3010N also come with Hitachi’s projector control application (PJCtrl) which allows the user to control the functions of their Hitachi projector through a toolbar on their desktop or laptop PC. Since all of the functions for controlling the projector are on the PC, PJCtrl helps to reduce costs associated with lost remote controls and battery replacement.

Hitachi Australia: (02) 9888 4100 or www.hitachi.com.au

Orchestra, by Analog Way, is an ergonomic remote controller designed to manage, either independently or simultaneously, several switchers such as the DiVentiX II, as well as the new Opus system, either as stand-alone boxes or in any combination.

Orchestra offers the control of matrixes in order to multiply the number of sources, whatever input number the Analog Way switcher provides. Once connected to the Analog Way switchers, Orchestra can control up to six independent screen configurations in different locations (single display or multiple projectors in softedge blended mode) and store up to 64 presets per screen configuration.

Designed with a 16x9 TFT colour touchscreen for preview of all configurations. Also equipped with a USB port, the complete configuration of the event can be saved for future use.

Thanks to its newly designed ergonomics, Orchestra will help manage multi-screen and multi-location live presentations with more peace of mind.

Axis Audio Visual: (03) 9761 5855 or www.axisav.com.au Quinto Communication: (03) 9558 9377 or www.quinto.com.au

WORN OUT?

most flimsy connector known to mankind – especially with a 21-wire cable weighing on it.

Regardless, it was better than a DIN plug. But we digress. The design is printed on a comfy American Apparel T-Shirt and really is de rigueur for fashion conscious AV installers – just don’t be surprised if someone tries to hook you up to a CRT while you’re wearing it. $15 plus shipping – get in while the dollar’s good!

Best dressed installation stalwarts could do a lot worse in the wardrobe department than this T-shirt from Threadless Tees.

Seriously, forget relying on handouts from the A/V industry to keep you clothed. Do yourself a favour and buy this little number.

Supplied in industry standard black, the ‘AV’ T-shirt, designed

by Ollie Moss, let’s everybody on location know at least one person in the team knows what they’re doing. The shirt includes

representation of the majority of AV style sockets and connectors including that rather maligned SCART connector the French adopted in 1980, and Sharp attempted to make a worldwide standard. Good old SCART, or Syndicat des Constructeurs d’Appareils Radiorécepteurs et Téléviseurs, was pretty clever at the time as it was bi-directional and could tell your VCR to play nicely with your television.

Unfortunately it couldn’t carry composite video, and those 21-pin connectors were possibly the

www.threadless.com/ product/1379/AV#zoom

SUPERFLUOUS SCART FACTS: •The French refer to these connectors as ‘Péritel’, and will no doubt snigger if you mentioned the term ’SCART’.

•Sharp vainly hoped the rest of the world would take up SCART by calling it ‘Euroconector’ in Asia, and ‘EIA Multiport’ in The States.

• The HDMI-CEC standard is derived from SCART’s AV.link.

• Maximum SCART cable length is about 10 to 15 metres without a relay device.

• SCART is compatible with Teletext.

Tune in to the comprehensive

pro audio range from Sony

4 4/LOUD IN LISMORE Southern Cross University (SCU), based in northeastern New South Wales, is celebrating the completion of its Music and Media Performance facility upgrade, comprising Yamaha digital mixers, loudspeaker management, power amplifiers, and loudspeakers to fulfil its live sound reinforcement and educational requirements. In a major enhancement to the existing multi purpose space at the University’s Lismore campus, SCU has made significant investments in both its FOH and foldback configurations, incorporating a complete Yamaha system.

The upgrade features Yamaha M7CL-32 and LS932 digital mixing consoles, an SP2060 loudspeaker processor, 10 PC-1N Series networkable power amplifiers (comprising four PC9501N, one PC4801N, and five PC3301N units) and a total of 18 of Yamaha’s installation series loudspeakers (comprising six IF2112AS, one IF2208 and seven IF2108 full-range speakers, along with four IS1118 subwoofers).

Pity they didn't enhance those old parcans as well.

Yamaha Professional: 1800 805413 or pa_info@gmx.yamaha.com

The Professional Choice From wireless and wired microphones to versatile audio/video mixers and recorders - Sony’s comprehensive range of pro audio solutions offers an assurance of reliability, quality and consistency.

With a host of systems and accessories to choose from, together with proven performance in broadcast, production and AV applications, it’s hardly surprising that Sony’s pro audio range is the professional choice.

UWP Series UHF wireless microphone package Sharp Corporation of Australia has launched the world’s first LED backlight LCD TV with an integrated Blu-ray player, the AQUOS LC-40LB700X. Consumers can use a single remote to watch TV, and also play Blu-ray, DVD and CD discs. Connecting cables are unnecessary, thanks to the all-inone design.

Set in a piano black finish, a reportedly superb image is achieved with the AQUOS LED system. The integrated Blu-ray player features BD LIVE to access

additional content via an internet connection and a USB terminal for added local storage. High definition audio is achieved with 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD, and DTS-HD audio output. The LED backlight technology delivers a low power consumption of 139W.

Each package has a transmitter and receiver so you’re up and running straight from the box!

• Space Diversity Reception ensuring stable signal reception • Rugged and lightweight to provide reliability and mobility needed for field and venue applications

Sharp Corporation: 1300 135 530 or www.sharp.net.au

www.sony.com.au/production proaudio.au@ap.sony.com 1800 017 669

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FEATURE

The biggest, most sophisticated convention centre in the southern hemisphere is now open for business.

Text:/ Christopher Holder

THE PLAYERS MCEC: The new convention centre and the existing exhibition centre combine to form the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

MCET: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Trust operates the MCEC. The convention centre was built via a PPP (public/private partnership).

Plenary Group: the convention centre and adjacent commercial precinct were developed on the government’s behalf by a consortium led by Plenary Group.

Brookfield Multiplex: consortium member, Brookfield Multiplex Constructions built the convention centre and the adjoining Hilton Melbourne South Wharf hotel.

The Department of Innovation, Industry & Regional Development: were the lead department for the convention centre project.

Major Projects Victoria: project managers for the construction of the new Melbourne Convention Centre (a department of DIIRD).

Architects: Woods Bagot and NH Architecture.

Rutledge Engineering: subcontracted by Brookfield Multiplex to design and construct all audiovisual systems.

Jands: stage machinery and lighting technical subcontractor for the plenary hall.

Brookfield Multiplex Services: the company formed to maintain the building for 25 years

FEATURE

because of the level of integration. MCEC has chosen to keep AV in house – rather than outsourcing most of the AV to a supplier, as many facilities do. In an era of spreading the capex load, this would appear to be a courageous decision. But take one look at GLOBAL PLAYER MCEC and the advantages are obvious – the Visitors and residents AV doesn’t arrive on the proverbial trolley, of Melbourne will it’s totally integrated – technically and have noticed serious activity on the banks architecturally. of the Yarra – they call the new area South THE (NOT SO) BRIEF Wharf. The Melbourne Convention Centre is a significant undertaking, transforming the Integrating the AV was a significant decision, MEC into the MCEC; the biggest facility of but having it properly integrated – seamlessly its type south of the equator, and providing functioning as a component in a bigger Melbourne with the credentials to be a organism – can only happen through good genuine player in the international exhibition/ management, determination and a plan. The conferencing market. And make no mistake, management team led by Chief Executive competition is fierce. Not only do you have Leigh Harry, Director of Operations Frank to slug it out in the domestic market – Perth, Mohren and Project Manager David Sheehan Cairns, Gold Coast, Sydney, Adelaide and had a plan – ‘The Brief’ – a 500-page document Darwin all have excellent facilities – you’re up that embodied the management group’s against Hong Kong, San Francisco, Singapore, expectations of what this facility could and Kuala Lumpur and others. should be. The Brief didn’t have any drawings To land the big conferencing fish you need or design intents – all that was left to the to have the full package; a compelling story architects – rather, it provided a minimum to tell; something that ticks all the boxes. The expectation. From there the workshops had a MCEC looks to have this covered. For starters, foundation upon which to build: it’s the first six-star energy rated conference Leigh Harry: During these workshops – where centre in the world. Then there’s the much the builders, the architects, management vaunted plenary hall – the state-of-the-art and subcontractors such as Rutledge were 5553-seat multi-function theatre capable involved – The Brief was a really important of handling just about any international document. There were times when there was conference… we’ll look at this in more detail a lot of tension, as you’d expect, because shortly. you’re asking people to deliver against a very For our purposes, the audiovisual detailed brief, knowing there’s a set amount of component of the fitout is excellent. Chiefly money, and there’s always inherent conflicts way of convening large numbers of people so that information can be effectively communicated and business transacted.

Some 12,000sqm of exhibition space, grand gestures such as a dome, a great hall, giant entry portals, versatile display areas, axial planning as well as complementary gardens and viewing areas… something Melbourne could be proud of. The opening event went off like a fire cracker, 1.5 million visitors filed through the doors shining the international spotlight on one of the great cities of the world.

Unfortunately, the audiovisual infrastructure’s diabolical… non-existent even – electricity would help, but that didn’t come along until decades later!

Of course, I’m referring to Melbourne’s original expo space back in the 1800s when exhibitions really came into their own. The western world was covered in a greasy film of industrial revolution soot, and World Fairs were a unique way of exchanging information and seeing the latest steampowered contraptions. Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building was built for just such an expo in 1880, and for a city of 280,000 it was a phenomenon.

It also goes to show there’s nothing new about the exhibition and conferencing game.

Facilities have been built for hundreds of years now, and the selling points are essentially the same: providing a convenient

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“everybody was prepared to work together, knowing there’d be moments of tension and conflict, but that relationship over four years has been critical to the outcome”

about how much money you’re going to spend on the design as distinct from the function.

The interesting thing about this process, in a working relationship sense, has been how closely Plenary, Brookfield Multiplex and guys like Rutledge and ourselves have been able to work together. Because, in theory, management reports to one government department that then reports to another, that then has the contract with Plenary that deals with Brookfield and Rutledge.

But if we had been communicating like that, we would have gotten nowhere. Instead, everybody was prepared to work together, knowing there’d be moments of tension and conflict, but that relationship over four years has been critical to the outcome.

AV: And what did The Brief mean for Rutledge?

Matt Edgcumbe, Rutledge Engineering: There wasn’t

a day that I didn’t have it with me or consult it.

The Brief was much more than a shopping list detailing the need for XYZ projectors, for example, it was also about workflow and how XYZ projectors would integrate into the facility as a whole – its role. And The Brief represented the client’s intent, so it was good to get the client on board from day one instead of having to introduce ourselves at the end of the process.

Leigh Harry: Which is what happened to us next door during the building phase of the exhibition centre – as management we weren’t allowed anywhere near the place – ludicrous. Then we were handed the keys for that building only seven weeks prior to the biggest exhibition ever to be staged in this country – that was the first time we’d even been allowed to set foot inside Shane Cannon, Rutledge Engineering:

the door. Just nonsense. So there was a real determination to not repeat those mistakes.

GREEN CREDENTIALS

The new convention centre exalts in the title of ‘Australia’s greenest convention facility’, with an impressive six green star environmental rating. Among the various measures taken to boost the new centre’s green credentials are a foyer displacement ventilation strategy and chilled slab, where cool air is supplied at low velocity and low level rather than blasting in from overhead. The system provides a better sense of cooling as air will require less fan force, which itself offers greater energy efficiency. The design’s maximisation of its northern aspect will assist in keeping the MCEC passively warm in winter, while energy efficient hydronic heating

MCEC FAST FACTS The 66,000sqm convention centre and surrounding precinct is a partnership project between the Victorian Government, the Melbourne City Council and the Plenary Group consortium.

The centre includes: • A 5553-seat plenary hall that configures to suit a range of events – from full plenary or grand auditorium to smaller concurrent conferences of 500-plus delegates, cabaret or flat floor banquet.

• A 1500 seat Grand Banquet room.

• 32 meeting rooms of various sizes.

• A convention centre integrated with the Melbourne Exhibition Centre that’s now one of the world’s most comprehensive meeting spaces.

• A six green star enironmentally-rated convention centre, providing conference delegates with a natural and healthy environment. The provision of fresh air at low level and a maximum of natural light provide a dual benefit: visitor comfort, and a reduction in the volume of natural resources required to operate a typical facility of this nature.

• An 18m-high glass wall façade front to the Yarra River.

• An entry level foyer for 8,400 guests.

• Four entry points to the convention centre from the exhibition centre, the Hilton hotel and the river promenade.

The new convention centre is part of a $1.4bn development of the new South Wharf precinct that includes: • A 396-room five-star Hilton hotel integrated with the new convention centre.

• An office and residential building.

• A 100,000sqm retail complex.

• More than 3,000 car spaces.

• A new pedestrian bridge linking the north bank of the Yarra River to the south bank.

picks up the slack in winter months. Advanced on-site water and waste treatment facilities are also addressed, as were the construction materials, public transport access… and the list goes on.

AV: Six stars seems above and beyond expectations. Which party pursued the high rating and why?

Leigh Harry: The state government was looking for a four-star rated building and to the credit of the Plenary consortium, Brookfield Multiplex, Rutledge, everybody who’s been involved in this project, we’ve ended up with a six-star rating. The Plenary Group, as part of their bid process with their contractors, made it clear that a core element of them winning this bid would be to up the ante and go for six stars.

Meanwhile, the state government had committed $370 million, and no more – there was no more money whether it was four-star or six-star.

So Plenary and their partners took that on as their investment, and I have no doubt that it’s already proving to be a significant factor in the marketplace.

AV: That all sounds quite altruistic but a six-star rating will obviously pay dividends with reduced running costs?

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Leigh Harry: Sure, but it remains as a big an investment by the Plenary Group and their partners. The reason I say that is because the utility costs of this building stay with us as the operator, so Plenary isn’t going to see the payback. The payback is actually all going back to the government as a reduction in operating costs as a result of reduced energy use.

AUDIOVISUAL INVESTMENT

Big facilities like MCEC have every right to be suspicious of audiovisual investment. Screens, control systems, and the like can all be obsolete before they’re even installed, and the running costs of managing, fault-fixing and repairing that gear can be considerable. Handballing the responsibility to someone else – letting them carry the capital and service costs – is an attractive proposition. MCEC has decided to shoulder the responsibility themselves.

Leigh Harry: Historically, we’ve always provided the audiovisual services in-house – going right back to the original convention centre – and we continue to do that. Saying that, it’s not a totally closed shop – we’ve always made arrangements for roadshows and the like, where people have their own production companies. And now we’ve taken the amount of technology in-house up another level. Although, we’re still not in the staging or theming business – apart from the lighting effects we can provide – so there is still ample opportunity for the other elements of the industry to show their wares at the MCEC, and since opening we’ve already seen some spectacular examples of that in this space.

AV: Did you set a target level of audiovisual self sufficiency? Say, 80 or 90 percent of people coming through here need not hire any additional AV? Leigh Harry: If you’re running a sophisticated convention or conference/meeting, you shouldn’t need any more equipment than what’s in-house. If, as I said, you’re still doing the themed gala dinner as part of that conference then, yes, you may still need the staging company or theming company.

AV: And would you say AV has been given a greater emphasis in the convention centre?

Leigh Harry: I’d say ‘yes’ for two reasons: Firstly, because of the level of what we were trying to pre-install in that sense, and secondly because of the level of inter-connectedness between the AV solutions – the signage solutions, the communication solutions – that we’ve put in place. 

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The MCEC Plenary The crown jewel of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre is the plenary hall‌ worthy of a story in itself. So here it is:

Image courtesy of Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre

Text:/ Andy Ciddor

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The Plenary in its full 5553 seat mode with all stage lifts at the their one metre stage level and the Gala Venue seating in its tiered mode. Although all eight Nexo Geo arrays are rigged for the purpose of taking this photo, the four side arrays are not required in this mode and actually block stage sightlines for audience members in the upper levels of the side galleries.

FEATURE

Image courtesy of Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre

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Plenary Hall 2, the largest of the three halls formed by deploying the dividing walls. The entire stage is contained within this central space, although only the two central speaker arrays are used.

Every self respecting conference centre has a plenary hall: a place where all of the delegates from a conference can gather together for important plenary sessions such as openings, closings and keynote addresses. Indeed, the word ‘plenary’ means composed of all the members. It also has another, less frequently used meaning: full and complete, not limited in any respect. The Plenary at the recently opened Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre takes that second meaning to new heights, depths, and widths.

From its inception, the specifications for the plenary hall have included an extraordinarily diverse range of capabilities and operating modes.

Not only is the hall capable of seating 5553 delegates for the plenary sessions of conferences held in the centre, it includes the capability of being divided to become three fully-functional, acoustically-isolated theatres, two of which seat 1507 and the third 2569.

While using operable walls to divide a room is not exactly a ground-breaking innovation, the capability of converting a 1525-seat lower level of the venue from tiered theatrical seating, to flat floor seating, or cleared flat floor, or tiered conference seating, or tiered cabaret floor, or dozens of other possible floor configurations – each in under 10 minutes – is more than a little in advance of what most other plenary halls can do.

The capabilities of the theatre include everything from being a three-tiered theatrical and concert space with full production facilities, to being a two-tiered sports arena with direct access to the loading dock at arena level, or being a flat-floor exhibition or banquet space with direct vehicle access and the capacity to support forklifts and 40-tonne trucks, or being a cabaret venue, or being up to three fully AV-equipped

conference rooms. All venue facilities, from air conditioning to communications, can operate either as a single, seamlessly-integrated system, or three autonomous rooms. When divided, the larger central room retains the entire main stage.

Above both stage areas there are five Jandssupplied flying battens of varying widths, each suspended from a 350kg capacity AC electric winch system and driven by a basic Stage Technologies controller.

WALKING THE MAIN STAGE

IN NEED OF A LIFT

The main Plenary stage is 38m wide from wall to wall and 12m from setting line to back wall, with a distance between tormentors of 18m.

Supplied by Jands, who designed, installed and commissioned all Plenary staging and lighting systems, the stage has four independent lifts, each a steel platform 18m wide by 3m deep and each carried on six, 18-inch (457mm) diameter Spiralift actuators. The forestage, which can be lowered to form an orchestra pit, consists of a 22m-wide by 2.7m-deep steel platform carried on 10 Spiralifts, and a curved steel platform 19m wide and 2.8m deep, carried on eight more 18-inch Spiralifts. All lifts are designed for a rather hefty 20kPa load (approximately 2000kg/sqm) to carry the fullyladen trucks that can be driven into the venue from the loading dock, when the stage is lowered to auditorium floor level.

Over the stage there are 30 Jands motorised flying battens. Each 24m-wide batten has a load capacity of 500kg and is suspended from a 750kg AC electric winch to provide 9.5m of flying height, which is plenty if you want to hang scenery, but not enough for flown scene changes. The winch system is driven from a Jands-designed Stage Technologies controller.

The rear 14 rows of the theatre’s ground level seating comprise a series of independent lifts that can vary in height, and more unusually, deploy or store their seats on demand. Developed by Gala, the Venue seating system stores the seats inside the lift and rotates them up out of the lift and onto the platform when required. Each platform is actuated by a pair of six-inch (152mm) Spiralifts that allow for the adjustment of height from flatfloor to balcony level.

The Venue lift mechanisms were built by Melbourne engineering company Metaltec to Gala Systems design, using Spiralift actuators shipped out from Canada. The multicoloured Camatic Evoke seats (with fold-out A3 writing tablets for conference sessions) are mounted on a beam located underneath the platform deck, hanging like rows of sleeping bats when stored.

The mounting beam is mechanically rotated to swing the seats up and over the edge of the platform when they are required. As rotation necessitates a substantial clearance, the control system is programmed to raise alternate lifts to a sufficient height when rotating the seats. Thus 1525 seats can be deployed or removed, and floor levels reconfigured in just 10 minutes, at the click of a mouse or a tap on a touchscreen (once the area has been cleared and secured of course).

While more than capable of supporting the weight of seats and audiences, the Spiralifts in the Venue system are not up to the task of supporting

SIDE STAGES

If required, the two side rooms can be provided with 10m-wide, demountable ProStage decks at one metre height and up to eight metres deep.

Image courtesy of Gala Systems

INTRODUCING RED!

Image courtesy of Gala Systems

The Bat Cave. A view of the Venue seating when stored beneath the floor platforms. The large metal elephant's feet reinforce the platforms to carry the weight of the trucks that may be driven on the platforms in their flat floor position.

Mechanically linked pairs of Spiralifts raise and lower the Venue seat platforms, while the Cyberman-like knees guide the paths of the platforms.

Photograher: John Buckley

The new Remote Ethernet Device, RED-1.

The first graphical remote control from Biamp Systems.

Easy to use. Easy to install. And easy on the eyes.

RED-1 is the control you’ve been waiting for.

The main stage lifts under construction. Two of the heavily-reinforced stage lift platforms have already been installed. The Spiralifts for the two forestage platforms are also in place.

IN THE BOX SEAT The technology underlying the reconfigurable floor levels and the stage is the Spiralift from Gala Systems in Canada. Based on the brilliantly simple idea of interlocking two flat metal spirals to form a rigid cylinder, the Spiralift has been used in stage and auditorium applications around the world for over two decades. Its minimal under-stage depth requirements, mechanical simplicity, and the ease of interlocking multiple actuators, make it ideal for use in situations like MCEC on the edge of the Yarra River, where the water table prevents deep excavations for machinery rooms.

FOR YOUR NEAREST DEALER: Australia: Call 1300 13 44 00 or visit www.biamp.com.au New Zealand: Call 0800 111 450 or visit www.audioproducts.co.nz

FEATURE

Image courtesy of Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre

030

Plenary 1 in banquet mode. The Gala Venue seats are in storage under the decks and all lifts are in their flat floor position.

the specified 20kPa loads that could be placed on the lifts by heavy vehicles, so Metaltec developed additional support structures to reinforce the platforms when they are lowered into flat-floor mode.

All audio, video, AV, data and communications systems for the Plenary were designed, supplied, installed and commissioned by Rutledge Engineering with engineering reviews from Marshall Day Acoustics and Lincolne Scott.

HALL THE SOUND YOU COULD WANT

The PA speakers throughout all venues and conference rooms are Nexo. In the Plenary the FOH systems combine Geo-D line arrays with Geo sub cabinets, while PS8s are used as front fills and under balcony fills on the second tier, and PS10s are used for upper balcony fills. Due the vast width of the theatre, four Geo arrays configured as a broad L/R system are required to cover the entire audience. Nexo PS15U and PS15UM wedge monitors are used on stage.

All cabinets are driven by Camco Vortex-6 (2 x 3300W) and Tecton 38.4 (2 x 1900W) amplifiers.

When the room is divided into three separate spaces the centre room (Plenary 2) uses only the two middle line arrays. Due to the shape of the two side rooms, additional L/R FOH Nexo Geo arrays must be flown for front coverage.

Due to an architectural decision not to break the ceiling line to enable the side room line

arrays to be retracted clear of sight lines, these cabinets must be lowered and stowed on dollies when the venue is in full plenary mode. The side room line arrays are also Nexo Geo D and Geo subs, but with a Geo S1230 cabinet slung on the bottom of the array as a front fill. Balcony fills are divided between the rooms, reverting to local control for signal routing and delays.

Each of the three rooms is equipped with a Digico D1 Live digital mixing console linked to three DigiRack and six MiniRacks terminating all inputs and outputs for that room. Of course, all racks are fully networked on a fibre ring for redundancy and interconnectivity, so that any one mixer can handle all routing, mixing and processing. The consoles can be configured as three individual systems or one large threeconsole system for monitors, recording, and front of house.

The pool of microphones available for use in the Plenary includes Shure UHF-R series wireless handhelds, and lavaliers with wireless bodypacks.

Hearing assistance is provided in each section of the Plenary and both sections of the Grand Banquet room by Chiayo CT800 FM transmitters. Suitably-tuned FM receivers are available on loan from the technical office for the hearing impaired.

COMMUNICATION IS CLEAR

The production communications system is

based around a 36-port Clear-Com Eclipse digital matrix with full digital talkback stations on the stage manager’s panel and in the control room for each hall. There are a dozen twochannel wired beltpack units and 10 wireless beltpacks shared between the rooms. There are also facilities to interface the system with other communications systems both within the MCEC and those used by clients such as broadcasters and conferencing facilities.

PLENARY LIGHTS UP

The Plenary’s ability to take on multiple personalities at the drop of a hat necessitates a lighting system with a somewhat confused identity. A big stage with three front of house bridges and excellent site lines, just cries out for big complex productions. It would be great to see thousands of dimmer-per-circuit outlets and vast numbers of power circuits for the hundreds of movers that could so easily be accommodated in the venue.

However, its pretty difficult to justify a rig big enough for grand opera or a U2 concert, when the majority of productions will consist of half a dozen people on the forestage in front of a big video screen showing a company logo or a very big Powerpoint presentation, or perhaps a couple of dozen gowned academics sitting on the stage while a house full of proud mums and dads wait patiently for their kid’s turn to shake hands with the chancellor and receive their parchment.

FEATURE

Image courtesy of Rutlege Engineering

032

The view from the central mixing position at the rear of the first seating level. There are control/mixing positions available in similar positions in each section of the venue – at the flip of a seating row. The two iLite LED side screens are in position as are the two side rolldown screens that would nomally only be deployed if the venue has been divided into three smaller rooms.

With the staging and audio and power infrastructure already in place, it will be relatively easy to mount a major production in the Plenary when the occasion arises, but the lighting system in place will probably handle the bulk of productions that will be booked into the venue.

The pool of luminaires for use in all incarnations of the Plenary includes two dozen 1200W (80V) narrow Selecon Pacific zoom profiles, two dozen 750W medium ETC Source Four zoom profiles and two dozen 575W ETC Source Four Junior zoom profiles. There are also two dozen each of Selecon’s 2kW, 1kW and 650W fresnel spots and 20 ETC Source Four Pars. Throw in a Selecon four-colour cyclorama wash system and four of Selecon’s rather useful Rua followspots and you have a modest, but capable rig that will cover plenty of speech nights, AGMs and conference sessions. The dozen Varilite VL500 wash lights and the dozen VL 2500 spot fixtures will add a touch of colour and movement and the sheen of modernity when required.

In an effort to minimise the amount of costly and energy-intensive copper used in cabling the venue, Jands devised a ‘slightly-distributed’ dimming strategy where there are two dimmer rooms, one on either side of the venue. All lighting circuits on the prompt or stage left side of the venue’s mid line go to the prompt side patch panels and dimmer room, while all circuits on the OP or stage right side of the mid line go to the OP patch panels and dimmer room. Each dimmer room terminates 220 circuits of wall-

mounted patch panels feeding to five racks of Jands 12 x 2.4kW and 10 racks of Jands 6 x 5kW dimmers. All dimmers receive their DMX512 control feeds via opto-isolated splitters.

In keeping with the philosophy of providing good infrastructure to support future needs, the DMX512 control network is very extensive and capable of extreme flexibility. Built by Jands using Pathway Connectivity’s Pathport Ethernet-based system, the 51 dual-output nodes and the 21 dual-input nodes allow DMX signals to be routed, patched and merged from any point to any point in the network. This will allow any device on the network to be controlled by any of the three ETC Smartfade 2496 consoles or the Jands Vista I3. The house lights are controlled by a Dynalite system.

AUDIOVISUAL ROUNDUP

The AV facilities in the Plenary are part of the totally integrated system distributed throughout the convention centre. Of course there is the standard PTZ camera to monitor or record the activity in the room. Of course, there is a standard all-singing, all-dancing, MCEC lectern for each of the rooms; complete with on-board touchscreen, reading light, keyboard, AMX touch panel to control the room’s facilities, and (where would we be without it) the pop-out cup holder which isn’t the DVD drive draw. However, being larger than the other conference rooms, some of the video facilities in the Plenary are a little larger too. Instead of the more usual Barco CLMHD8+ projector used in the large meeting rooms, the projector for the main screen is an

18k ANSI lumen Barco FLMHD18, while the two side rooms each get a 14k FLMHD14, all of them being native HD resolution (as with every other projector in the MCEC). In fact, there are two Stewart projection screens in the central section of the Plenary Hall: a framed 12.2m (diagonal) screen hung from a flying batten upstage of the proscenium, and a motorised rollup 9.6m (diagonal) screen, suspended over the forestage, for use when the stage space is not accessible. Similar rollup screens are used in the two side rooms.

To provide quality video images to audience members at oblique angles to the main projection screen, there are two additional demountable screens of Barco iLite 6mm-pitch LED tiles that can be positioned on either side of the stage opening.

In addition to all of the usual scalers and format converters feeding the projectors, each of the Plenary control rooms has a DVCAM video recorder, a Digital Betacam player and a Panasonic AV-HS400AE multi-format vision switcher to give presenters an opportunity to produce professional-style presentations.

FULL & COMPLETE

Years of design and planning have gone into making the Plenary full and complete, not limited in any respect and now as its operational staff set about the task of making this come true for hirers on a daily basis, it will be interesting to see how producers, event directors and designers can make use of its unique capabilities. 

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034

FEATURE

MCEC Meeting Rooms The Plenary Hall may win the plaudits but it’s the 32 meeting rooms that will make or break a big conference. AV takes a much closer look.

Text:/ Andy Ciddor Images:/ Rutledge Engineering

FEATURE

Despite the impressive plenary hall, the grand sweeping public spaces of the foyers, the acres of digital signage and the stunning views across the Yarra to the city, the real beating heart of the Melbourne Convention Centre is the 32 meeting rooms that do the work of hosting luncheons, business meetings, working breakfasts, seminars, conventions, lectures, celebrations, symposia, cocktail parties, presentations, inquiries, banquets, public meetings, training sessions, dinners, demonstrations, awards presentations, product launches, dinner parties, afternoon teas and ceremonies of all kinds.

One of the key planning decisions taken about the meeting rooms is that every space would come fully-equipped with the presentation facilities required for the majority of activities likely to take place. Not only would these facilities be bundled into the booking cost, but they would be available to the hirer with virtually no effort from the MCEC staff and therefore very little set up or turnaround time.

To ensure this really does happen, every meeting space has a full complement of dedicated, installed equipment, waiting to be activated and configured for any given booking.

FOYERS

Even ‘empty’ foyer and pre-function spaces are fully equipped with food and beverage docking stations awaiting the connection of the appropriate mobile bar or servery for any given occasion. Overhead are quality JBL ceiling speaker systems that can be allocated to zones and fed the required program sources, which may include inputs from the embedded Shure UR series UHF radio mic receivers spread throughout the foyer ceilings. There is a pool of handheld and lavalier radio microphones available for use in these spaces.

At the suggestion of Rutledge Engineering during the design process, all ceiling speakers in the MCEC are part of a unique dual-function network that not only provides background music, paging and event-specific zoned sound, but is also an evacuation and emergency warning system. Built on a Bosch Praesideo framework

and driven by about 45kW of Praesideo 100V line amplifiers, the network of some 1000 JBL Control series speakers, together with another 1500 or so four-inch Bosch ceiling speakers, is powered through uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units. All elements of the system are linked by fire-rated cables and optical fibres to meet the stringent survivability requirements of an emergency announcement system.

In an effort to keep visitors thoroughly informed of their whereabouts, it seems that every doorknob, staircase, escalator and wall in the MCEC carries digital directional and informational signage. Ranging from 19-inch LCD screens and slender, rear-projected glass panels to walls of Barco iLite LED tiles, each screen is driven by a local Wincomm signage player.

MEETING ROOMS

Every meeting room has a complete, but easily expandable (and eventually also easily upgradeable) AV system that meets the requirements for most types of bookings. The facilities include a standard (but by no means ordinary) MCEC lectern, a motorised rolldown 16:9 LP Morgan screen, a Barco HD projector (either an 8000 ANSI lumen CLMHD8+ or a 5000 ANSI lumen iD H500), a Sony HD 3CCD PTZ (pan/tilt/zoom) camera, and a pair of Nexo speakers (PS8 or PS10). In the equipment rack for each room is the HP presentation PC, a Yamaha Blu-ray HD DVD/CD player, an Amino A130 IPTV set top box, an Extron ISM 824 scaling multiswitcher, a Biamp AudiaFlex audio DSP and a small stack of distribution amplifiers, and UTP and fibre transceivers.

In the half dozen meeting rooms that have panoramic windows looking out over the vista of the river and the city, projected video would be overwhelmed by incident light in the daytime, so these rooms have instead been equipped with Panasonic 103-inch HD plasma screens.

Each room is controlled by a wireless AMX touchpanel with a standardised menu system, talking to the Netlinx control processor that runs the space. The AMX system controls

035

video and audio source selection, IPTV channel selection, projection screens, video replay, audio levels, video conferencing, air conditioning, the Dynalite room lighting controls and the PTZ camera. In the case of rooms that can be joined or divided, the AMX system is programmed to seamlessly pick-up or hand over control, without any change of user interface. Perhaps the most important function on the AMX panel is the Help button that summons technical assistance from the duty control room technician.

Incorporated into the flexibility of many rectangular meeting rooms is the ability to rapidly re-orient the space from being a long room with the presentation at the end to become a wide room with the presentation in the centre of a long wall. To achieve this, there are duplicate motorised screens and speakers, and lectern outlets at both presentation positions, plus duplicate data, signal, control and power outlets at the control positions in these spaces.

The one fixed item that isn’t duplicated is the Barco HD projector, which is mounted at the centre point of the room and manually rotated (a quick and relatively painless process, performed by an AV tech on an elevated work platform) into the appropriate orientation. In keeping with the flexibility of orientation of these spaces, the fluorescent lighting fixtures are placed at 45° to the axis of the room, rather than the more usual alignment, which is across work surfaces.

LECTERN FOR THE BETTER

Every meeting room and each part of the plenary hall is equipped with an identical presenter’s lectern designed and fabricated for the MCEC by local design firm Sakimoto.

The lectern’s most striking features are its two touchscreens. The first of these is actually the docking station for the room’s AMX Modero wireless touchpanel which consolidates all of the rooms’ control functions.

The other screen is the 20-inch ELO IntelliTouch panel connected to the room’s HP presentation PC. Rather than expecting the presenter to provide the usual laptop computer

036

FEATURE

Above: two rectangular meeting rooms joined together. The duplicated sets of speakers for long mode and wide mode can be seen in each room. The retracted wide mode screen for the right hand room is also visible. Note also the diagonally oriented fluorescent light fixtures. Right Top: a standard MCEC lectern with its dual touch screens, gooseneck mics, cough button, direct USB socket and discreet LED document lighting. Right Bottom: meeting room racks in a local control room

to handle screen presentations and speaker support, the MCEC philosophy of providing all necessary facilities includes providing a well maintained, virus-free, fully configured and ready-to-go presentation PC built right into the lectern. While the computer is actually located in the room’s equipment rack in the local control room, all video, keyboard, pointing, and serial devices are remoted back to the control room via UTP cable using a Magenta universal MultiView Utx-SA. In addition to the touchscreen there’s a full-sized Cherry keyboard secreted in a drawer. Speakers can upload the data for their presentations from any of the speaker preparation rooms around the centre or if they wish, run the presentation directly from any USB memory device (Flash RAM, hard disk or even an optical drive) via the lectern’s built-in Belkin network USB hub. If the speaker insists on using their own computer on the lectern, video and audio can be inserted into the room’s AV systems via the MultiView interface.

The lectern also sports a pair of Shure gooseneck-mounted MX418/C condenser microphones, a mic mute button, discreet LED lighting for the speaker’s notes, a windowed front panel for custom artwork, and a pair of foldout cup holders.

CONTROL CENTRAL

The amount of audiovisual, communications and information technology required for the operation of the meeting spaces, preparation areas, management and administration offices and public spaces at the MCEC is quite staggering. Although Rutledge Engineering in its consulting role with MCEC took great care to keep complexity to an absolute minimum by moving the majority of the system to Internet Protocol-based formats carried over redundant optical fibre rings, there’s no getting over the sheer quantity of equipment to monitor, maintain and support. With the facility in full operation there are just too many systems spread over too large

a physical area for operations to be efficiently supported from a single operations room.

From the perspective of a building constructed on principles of energy and materials efficiency, a single central control and management point would have entailed vast additional amounts of cabling and construction materials and would have resulted in substantial time and access inefficiencies throughout the operational lifetime of the centre.

The chosen cabling and management topology for MCEC is a two layered star structure.

In the first layer there are three control rooms that each form the central equipment and management hub for about a dozen meeting rooms and associated spaces. In each of these control rooms there is a dedicated rack of equipment for each of the connected rooms, together with shared facilities, including system monitoring and the housing of the local technical support and operations staff. Each of the three control rooms can operate independently to

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038

FEATURE

TUTORIAL

Master Control, showing monitor wall, master AMX Modero touch panel and control computer. The top row of monitors show (left to right) dedicated feeds from both cameras in the Grand Banquet room and all three Plenary cameras. The last monitor is a switchable preview of the in-house IPTV system. The three 47-inch LCD panels display the incoming meeting room camera feeds aggregated by the Avitech VCC-800c video command centres in each of the local control rooms. All video everywhere in the MCEC is full 1920 HD. The standard MCEC dual redundant uninterruptable power supplies can be seen nestled under the monitor wall.

SUPPLIERS

monitor, configure, operate and provide timely support to the rooms in their immediate area. These control rooms also link to the unmanned (cold and noisy) server room, where the main communications entry points, shared data processing, transcoding, conferencing gateways, storage systems and central signal routing facilities are located.

The second layer is the star formed by the master control room which is connected to each of the three local control rooms. Master control, which is attached to the central management and booking offices, maintains an overview of the activities in every one of the rooms in the MCEC and, if necessary, master control operators can remotely access the equipment in the local control rooms to assist in time of overload or in quiet times when there is no need for operations staff in all control rooms.

BACKROOM HEADLINES

As the newest, biggest and greenest convention centre in the southern half of the world, MCEC has lots of headline grabbing features going for it, but it’s the careful planning for the long-term operational capabilities of the centre that will see it ticking over, year after year, requiring minimal staff intervention to service high usage at a high standard, and will make MCEC a success, long after someone else opens a newer and shinier venue. ďƒ­

AMX: sales@amxaust.com.au or www.amx.com.au Audio Products Group (Biamp): 1300 134400 or www.audioproducts.com.au Barco: (03) 9646 5833 or sales.au@barco.com Bosch Communications: (02) 9638 4752 or boschcomms@au.bosch.com Combitel (Amino): (03) 8676 5300 or www.combitel.com.au Group Technologies (Nexo, Camco): (03) 9354 9133 or sales@grouptechnologies.com.au Herma Technologies (LP Morgan): 1300 730 025 or info@herma.com.au IDT (Magenta): (02) 9417 4924 or sales@idt.com.au Jands (JBL, Shure): (02) 9582 0909 or info@jands.com.au Lightmoves (Philips Dynalite): (03) 9701 2500 sales@lightmoves.com.au Panasonic: 132600 or www.panasonic.com.au RGB Integration (Extron): 1800 398766 or rgbintegration.com Sony: www.sony.com.au Yamaha: www.yamahamusic.com.au

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040

REVIEW

Soundshuttle induction loop hearing assistance to go Text:/ Graeme Hague

Anyone who has worked with hard-of-hearing systems (HOH) will probably agree with me that, try as hard as you might, it’s an imperfect science that rarely keeps everyone happy. First and foremost, hearing problems are very much a personal affliction and no two peoples’ impairments are the same. Attempting to cater for everyone’s needs with a single, standard solution such as headphones usually means nobody gets anything quite good enough.

As a result a preferred method of tackling the issue of providing some kind of HOH system is usually targeted at induction hearing loops, where customers and audience members can switch their own hearing aid to a ‘T’ (telecoil) or ‘MT’ mode and pick up the broadcast signal. The simple logic behind this is that every hearing aid is configured for the wearer’s particular condition.

Unfortunately, from an equipment and installation point of view, hearing loops can be a daunting prospect. Real 'loops' of copper wire in a venue floor require a really significant amount of amplifier power to cover every seat. The same goes for shops, service counters and public areas. Delivering a HOH service to the entire area can be difficult and expensive, and usually ends up being below-par. Infrared and FM radio systems have made advances, but these still have shadowed areas and signal drop-outs. Instead, it would be better if the HOH area can be concentrated without compromising the experience of those who need it.

Humantechnik with their ViViD-Acoustics Systems have come up with a nifty device that can solve a lot of problems. Basically, it’s a portable self-contained induction loop system ­I assume that within the hard, plastic case an actual ‘loop’ is in there somewhere.

Combined with an in-built microphone and rechargeable batteries the Soundshuttle is a little larger than a portable CD player (remember them?) and comes in bright colours like yellow and blue, or you can opt for a not-so-in-your-face black.

TOO SIMPLE FOR WORDS

Set up is very easy indeed. Just turn the Soundshuttle on, make sure the microphone is facing the source you want to transmit … and that’s it. There are no volume controls, no tone adjustmentonly a green ‘on’ button and a red ‘Off’ button. If operating off the NiMH rechargeable battery it has run time of about four hours, but I imagine it will mostly be used in situations where it will powered by its plug-pack.

The Soundshuttle with its blatant logo announces to hearing impaired customers that a hearing loop is in place and that to hear the person behind the counter they need only switch their hearing

aid to the ‘T’ position. That is, if it isn’t an automatic thing since some modern hearing aids have that capability (apparently along with BlueTooth links to mobile phones).

The stated coverage of approximately four square mettres is limited which means the client needs be nice and close to guarantee reliable operation, but induction loops do need a lot of grunt to work well, so you can’t demand too much from a portable device.

The 3.5mm external microphone connection will be handy for anyone wanting a more permanent setup or perhaps where an operator is sitting down behind a security screen or a service counter.

All in all the Soundshuttle is a clever idea. The only drawbacks are the sixteen hour charge time if the batteries go completely flat and the short operational range. It definitely makes providing service to the hearing impaired a complete no-brainer.  PRODUCT DETAILS RRP $595 (GST Exempt) Group Technologies: 03 9354 9133 or www.grouptechnologies.com.au

2010

042

REVIEW

Verdict Plus Hitachi’s new tool to prevent interactivity from getting out of hand Text:/ Tim Stackpool

A collective groan can be heard from AV techs when the client organising that major conference you have booked to work on next week, starts talking about taking delegate voting data and presenting it on-screen. This often leads to loads of scribbling on bits of paper, rushed data entry, layout problems in Powerpoint and the resulting embarrassment due to typos.

On the horizon bringing some relief is the Verdict Plus (VP) interactive response system from Hitachi. Initially developed for classroom use, the VP system comprises a central workstation linked to multiple wireless handsets capable of recording audience reaction through a series of push button commands. Similar in size to a regular TV remote control, the handset has an intuitive button layout upon which respondents can enter alpha-numeric data or merely respond to yes/no, true/false questions.

Colour-coding on the keypad can also make data entry simpler. The data is then collected and can be automatically displayed on the PC as pie, bar, graph charts or a number of other layout options.

“While our initial focus for the product was on use in the classroom, there has subsequently been significant interest from corporate boardrooms, especially in the way this system can be integrated into our Starboard product, an advanced interactive whiteboard,” said James Burke, Hitachi’s Starboard product specialist. “In the conference arena, there is an emphasis on gaining opinion and feedback from the audience, and engaging their attention in order to avoid ‘death by Powerpoint’. The Verdict system can be key to achieving this by having the audience’s responses integrated live into the presentation at it proceeds.”

Pie charts aside, a more appealing gamestype representation of the data is also built into the software, where any quiz-like results can be depicted as vehicles on a race track. Using this feature in training and teaching environments, students can visualise their performance against other participants as if racing each other around the circuit. Conceivably, game-show type simulations could also be possible, using the handset as the contestant’s response ‘buzzer’.

NOW WIRELESS BY RADIO

This version of the hardware supersedes a previous release popular in the UK. That first generation used infra-red for each handset to communicate with the base station. The new release has replaced those comms with RF, thereby gaining the coverage and reliability expected by the conference industry. “We’ve also made the handset more robust” said Burke, “as the schoolroom application can have the units handled by loads of pupils each day. The layout of the keyboard and the alpha-numeric button facility was born out of the popularity of SMS and texting. If you can send a text on your phone, using the keys on our handset to generate words is just as simple. And the text can be checked via the handset’s on-board LCD before submitting.”

On the workstation side, the Verdict ‘Cens-us’ toolbar can be minimised alongside other presentation applications, making it instantly available for when audience reaction or participation is required. This way, predetermined questions can be used, or questions can be determined ‘on-the-fly’ if required.

Results can be displayed anonymously or tagged with a user name.

Each handset has a range of about 500 metres, with as many as 1000 participants per system.

As a standard unit, the kit comprises a single receiver, with 25 handsets as well as another for the moderator which can used to ‘activate’ or ‘deactivate’ a voting or response activity, along with other master controls. This allows the moderator a degree of freedom to control the software without needing to be chained to the master PC. All the wireless units are powered by rechargeable batteries. A charger is also included. Available only for Windows, the system requires a 133 MHz or higher Pentium CPU, with at least 64MB of ram.  PRODUCT DETAILS Starter Kit: 1 x Receiver 25 x Handsets Verdict Plus software: RRP $4,400 Hitachi Australia - Digital Presentation Solutions Division: 02 9888 4936

Verdict Plus handsets and receiver unit

Built-in racetrack presentation of results

www.magnasys.tv Distributed in Australia by: Magna Systems and Engineering, Unit 2, 28 Smith Street, Chatswood, NSW 2067 Australia Tel: (02) 9417 1111 Fax: (02) 9417 2394

044

REVIEW

Beyerdynamic MCE 55.18 Much more than just a lapel mic.

Text:/ Christopher Holder.

People have their favourite lavalier mics for a whole variety of different reasons. For some, the size is paramount – smaller the better (and shaving half a millimetre from the profile can make all the difference). For others, they won’t so much choose their mics as choose the wireless system and use whatever comes with the beltpack.

Water resistance and, of course, the sound quality and price are considerations as well. But what about a nifty squiggle mount? When I saw photos of Beyer’s (what’s officially known as) helical mount I could instantly see the possibilities.

These mounts come in three sizes and will attach themselves to just about anything. What these squiggles do is effectively turn the lapel mic into a go-anywhere omni bud mic. No instrument is safe! Strings, flutes, horns… the MCE 55 will happily attach itself relatively unobtrusively. I say ‘relatively’ unobtrusive because in the end you are attaching a plastic squiggle, but the visual impact is no more/less than clips or DIY bodge-jobs.

The mic itself sounds wonderful – open and natural, just like a high-quality omnidirectional microphone should. The frequency response is dead flat with a gentle 4dB lift from 7kHz upwards to 20kHz. It’s a sensitive mic and, being omnidirectional, will pick up everything in its orbit – bear this in mind if you work with noisy stages. But working as a close mic and with its gain wound down relatively low I found it worked very well on flutes and horns, without being an involuntary ‘room’ mic wherever it went.

For wired applications the MCE 55 has an optional phantom-powered ‘preamp’. Plug the mic’s mini four-pin XLR connector into the preamp (not much bigger than a standard XLR housing) and then its off into the desk, stage box or recorder. It’s this link that frees you from the restrictions of wireless beltpacks, including Beyer’s well-regarded Opus series. It also frees the mic up from the hassles of wireless connector PRODUCT DETAILS Price: $445 (includes helix mounts but not the preamp) Audio Telex: (02) 9647 1411 or nsw@audiotelex.com.au

protocols. I plugged the mini XLR into a Shure SLX beltpack without any problems but if I was working with another brand, I could just as easily have been scratching my head or digging about for an adapter.

The mic itself is small enough to sneak into the hairline for theatre applications and will thrive in traditional lapel mic duties. But team the MCE 55 with its merry band of helical friends you’re not so much getting another lavalier, you’re getting a genuine ‘small diaphragm’ omni that’ll happily slot into just about any situation.

The word is, the squiggles will also be sold separately. Definitely worth stocking up on! 

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046

FEATURE

Heard it on the Bovine DairyLive: A mooving tail of AV innovation on the hoof.

Text:/ Graeme Hague

This was going to be a video conference with a difference. For a start, the organisers wanted to broadcast a more dynamic presentation, something akin to morning news television with slick production values. Tricky perhaps, when the seminar’s primary subject is milking cows and the ensuing results, namely milk and dairy products. Needless to say, dairy produce doesn’t normally knock Iraq and the footy off ‘top of the hour’ headlines.

An answer was to include information clips and short interviews with specialists from as far afield as Dubai and Hong Kong, professionally filmed and edited.

One problem solved…

They were also determined to get away from the standard approach of simply having ‘talking heads’ on a large screen lecturing a largely non-participating audience. The whole idea of DairyLive was to give farmers and others involved at the (ruminated) grass roots end of the industry a real opportunity to discuss some important issues and ask hard questions of the experts on hand. However, farmers are literally few and far between and they’re pretty busy at the best of times. Getting them together in a location suitable for any kind of video link was going to require a bit more than asking everyone to jump in the ute and drive into the big smoke.

Instead, to solve this problem technology had to go out into the country.

We’re talking the country type of country – some of the venues in question struggled with having enough power, let alone broadband and ISDN access. It was definitely going to be a logistical and technical challenge.

SHAKING UP THE INDUSTRY

DairyLive was initiated to respond to a series of problems faced by the dairy industry. An odd quirk of government bureaucracy meant that funding for any other kind of action had all but dried up and, in fact, only money for ‘special events’

was available. Even then, because the first proposals cited a number of separate seminars, the money wasn’t allowed. Only when someone had the brainwave to tie them all up as a simultaneous network broadcast did it become a ‘single’ event and the chequebook came out. That was the good news. The bad news was it had to be done before end of the financial year, less than eight weeks away.

Esther Price, of Esther Price Promotions, who has long experience of putting together rural and agricultural seminars, was commissioned to make it all happen. Esther first discussed the concept with Dean Lomax of Lomax Media.

Lomax Media specialises in corporate and commercial video projects and could provide the kind of broadcast production values she envisaged for the event. Dean was confident he could do the job, but when it came to supplying AV gear to different locations all across Australia he turned to Derek Petersen of Totally Sound, a production company based in Bunbury, WA. Totally Sound is no stranger to conferencing equipment both large and small, and has built a reputation that sees Derek often crossing the Nullabor to oversee events on the east coast. But even Derek recognised that while he could certainly put together the gear required (and perhaps plug in the odd cable or two), DairyLive would benefit from the networking expertise of Tony Routledge at the Perth division of Audio Visual Image’nation, better known as AVI. AVI was the last link in a team of specialists brought together for the program – a bit like Ocean’s Eleven without the glamour of Brad Pitt.

SEEN & HERD

That program was a live audio and video link to eight locations: one each in Western Australia, Queensland, Tasmania, New South Wales and South Australia, plus another three in Victoria including what

would be the main controlling hub and source for a majority of the broadcast material in Warrnambool. Just in case things got too simple, a connection was established to Antwerp (yes, that Antwerp) for an address by the president of the European Association of Dairy Trade and another to Chicago for a quick chat from one of the head honchos of Kraft – the cheese folks, not the electro-robots… okay sorry, that was Kraftwerk. [As if all those cheesy cow jokes weren’t enough – Ed]. Finally, a continual feed would be sent to the internet and a website for interested viewers to tune in. By the way, with everything kicking off at a respectable 10am in NSW the Chicago crew was on site at 8pm the previous evening, while in Antwerp it was 3am – a tough short straw for the Belgians, but I guess someone had to suffer the scary alarm clock.

Before anything could be switched on, a lot of work had to be done and there wasn’t much time to do it in.

At first it was believed that IP connections between all the venues would be the best method, offering superior bandwidth and speeds, but while a certain telecommunications provider (who shall remain nameless… but let’s call them Telstra for convenience sake) could offer a suitable IP network they couldn’t guarantee it – a subtle but important distinction. So a decision was made to utilise ISDN connections instead – not quite as capable but far more reliable.

Now Tony at AVI could go ahead and place work orders for the ISDN ports to be installed at all the locations – not a routine exercise in itself… new cable can easily take weeks to materialise, as we all know.

As it happened, Telstra came to the party, except in a few locations where a rather liberal interpretation had been applied to what constituted an accessible connection point and local contractors had to be hurriedly called in to add extensions.

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047

The main Warrnambool stage with the video control centre in the foreground.

LINKS & COMMS

The final network was a slightly daunting mixture of IP, ISDN and PSTN links. To take the fear factor out of the equation, AVI recommended using the bridging services of Thomson Reuter, who has an impressive Master Control Room (MCR) in Pyrmont, Sydney. The MCR is reputedly the largest and most technically advanced internet streaming broadcast facility in the southern hemisphere and I doubt anybody’s going to argue (I wonder if they can tune into the footy?).

Three of the venues were connected to AVI first with ISDN, before being routed to Thomson Reuters via an IP connection.

The other five had direct patches into the MCR via their own ISDN links. All eight used a dedicated PSTN link to provide straightforward talkback-style communications between everyone, a facility that was to prove more important than expected. Finally, the connections to Antwerp and Chicago were created with IP. While all this was being put in place, Derek Petersen at Totally Sound was

overseeing the supply of the screens, cameras, microphones and staging to all the locations. The Warrnambool venue needed particular attention. As the hub of the broadcast it required a full studio vision mixing, captioning, graphics generation and replay system, to assemble the feed to be sent to Thomson Reuters for distribution.

WRANGLING THE MEDIA

Lomax Media was busy compiling the pre-recorded material from the interviews conducted all over the world. Overseas production houses had been given specific (and not particularly difficult) direction in regards to format, but some of them still managed to keep Dean up until the wee hours of several mornings turning the files into something workable and a few ended up in the virtual trash can. Dean and his staff were also putting together a library of video transitions, sub-titles and headings, and other visual effects to smarten up the vision.

This included an introduction sequence that required more than 90 layers in an Adobe After Effects project.

Everything was transferred to digital tape with a second machine ready for backup, plus identical files were on standby in a DVD player and Dean had a laptop computer powered up, just in case. If the Boy Scouts handed out Redundancy Badges, Dean would probably earn enough to carpet his office.

The actual running of the DairyLive seminar required, as you’d always expect, a lot of behind-the-scenes stage organisation.

Adding an interesting element, all the venues had their own camera crew and a master of ceremonies (usually a local celebrity, such as an ABC radio jock) who received cues to properly announce all the various segments.

During question periods both an audio and video feed was sent with the MC introducing the questioner to the entire network’s screen audience. This is where the PSTN comms link really came in handy, because the one thing that couldn’t be sourced was preview vision from each place. Requests were called through on the talkback and live vision was instantly switched over with the fervent hope that nobody on the other end was doing anything inappropriate.

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FEATURE

The Main Control Room at Thomson Reuters.

THREE GOOD FRIESIANS TO BE IMPRESSED

Just about everything for DairyLive went smoothly all day, a testament to the skills and professionalism of everybody involved.

The only glitches were that the website set up as a portal for viewing the broadcast was hit by an unexpected level of demand and struggled to cope, plus for a short while the WA venue suffered some signal degradation back to Warrnambool during a question time.

However, they received a good signal from Warrnambool all day.

This type of broadcast seminar isn’t the first of its kind and it certainly isn’t the largest. What did make it notable are three things. Interconnecting a number of capital city locations is almost easy and similar levels of infrastructure can be found in many regional cities. However, DairyLive required a network to some seriously under-resourced locations, and achieving that seamlessly and reliably deserves recognition. Also worthy

of a thumbs-up was the effort to ramp up the presentation with TV-like production including hosts and live, talkshow style content in front of a live audience at all of the venues. Finally, the level of teamwork between the forty crew from the participating companies was remarkable not so much for their ability to work together, but rather for the respect shown to each other by stepping back and letting everyone make their contribution. Sometimes when the pressure is on, being patient and getting out the way can be the hardest thing to do.

DairyLive was a success and set a benchmark for reaching out to distant communities and industries that are run by small individual concerns like dairy farmers. It gave them a chance to collectively voice their opinions at a time when they needed to be heard, despite that time and geographical constraints could have stifled them. DairyLive should provide a blueprint for similar events.

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050

FEATURE

Sony Signs on at the Opera House ‘The House’ gets a revamp in Front Of House.

Text:/ Andy Ciddor

In April of this year, Sony Australia signed a multi-year deal with Sydney Opera House to become a Major Partner and the exclusive entertainment technology partner. As part of that collaboration, Sony has become a participant in the Accessibility and Western Foyers Project, the largest building project undertaken since the building’s original architect, the late Jørn Utzon was re-engaged as Sydney Opera House architect in 1999.

With that project now reaching completion, less-mobile visitors, people with a disability and families with prams can finally travel undercover to the western foyer and to all levels via a new lift that connects the lower and ground levels to the main box office level.

Visitors can enter the lift via an underground corridor near the Opera House Shop on the lower level and also at a corridor on the ground level at the top of the escalators. New escalators connect the upper level to the Opera Theatre and Concert Hall southern foyers.

The Western Foyer, a new Utzon-designed space which unifies the foyers of the Playhouse, The Studio and Drama Theatre is now open for public use. Additional amenities provided in this space include new ticketing, toilet and cloaking facilities, food and beverage outlets, a complimentary taxi phone service and more public seating.

Sony’s contribution to this project includes the supply and installation of 29 of its public display screens for a range of digital signage applications. The complement includes 15 of its 42-inch FWDS42H1 LCD panels in the Western Foyer, three 50-inch FWD50PX3 panels in the box office area in the southern foyer, eight of its 52-inch GXDL52H1 LCD panels to line the audience entrance tunnel plus two of its new 65-inch GXDL65H1 LCD panels in the entrance way to the corridor. The IP54-rated 65-inch GXDL65H1 units have a sturdy aluminium frame with protective tempered glass and employ a sealed internal heat exchange system to keep the electronics cool without any air exchange with the outside environment. This makes these displays ideal for their semi-external location by a busy dusty roadway.

WORKING TOGETHER IN CONCERT

However, Sony’s partnership with the Sydney Opera House extends much further than supplying displays for this building project, as they have also supplied a digital signage system to cover every public display in The House. Developed in the UK at Sony’s Basingstoke R&D centre, Ziris is a highly scalable signage creation, scheduling, management and replay system. Already in use in sites throughout Europe, its largest current rollout is a 4000-screen system for La Poste, the French post office. Operating as a web-based service, Ziris allows users to create and deliver 65-inch GXDL65H1 panel in its enclosure by the entrance to the new audience entry tunnel.

“Sony’s partnership with the Sydney Opera House extends much further than supplying displays for this building project”

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Concert Hall foyer screen switched from digital signage to performance relay mode for latecomers to watch the show while they’re waiting to enter.

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FEATURE

content then monitor and manage the digital signage network via a web browser.

The Ziris Create package is used to build pages up to 10 layers deep from text, HTML, still images, Flash, slide shows, video files or live streams, then schedule their replay on a screen-by-screen basis.

Ziris View acts as a centralised playout system, directly delivering the contents to each screen across a TCP/IP network. Meanwhile, the Ziris Manage tool provides automatic and remote status monitoring of every display device, together with remote control for non play-out operations, including switching display devices on and off, changing volume levels, and switching their video inputs.

The Ziris system was installed and configured by Sony specialists who worked with Opera House staff to set up standard content templates. It has now been running for several months and after training of the IT, technical, promotions and graphic design staff, has been handed over for full in-House operation.

“Since installing the Ziris system and the Professional Displays

by Sony, we have gained the potential to engage and entertain our audiences with the best technology available,” said Sydney Opera House Technical Manager, David Claringbold, “It is this cohesive content management system that makes it easier to manage one of the world’s premier entertainment venues.” 

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054

FEATURE

Court in the bush Port Augusta’s award winning courthouse puts a new face on regional justice Text:/ Graeme Hague Photographer:/ Jason Ngagokorua

In Port Augusta, South Australia, the government commissioned a new court building that would not only cater for the local judiciary system, but provide a vehicle for processing cases involving indigenous offenders, particularly those who live in the more remote areas, and whose crimes can stem largely from having little understanding of the laws they have broken. In these circumstances the process of being arrested and incarcerated can be a completely bewildering and terrifying experience. While they are by no means immune to law, it was considered practical to try and reduce the amount of psychological distress in the judicial system.

The first step in producing a less traumatic legal process was the court’s location itself. Port Augusta is over 300 kilometres from Adelaide and while it’s not exactly the ‘outback’, it ain’t Rundle Street Mall either. This was a logistical challenge for Greg Hallam and his team at Total Electronic Contracting, based in Adelaide, who undertook the AV installation. The Audio Products Group supplied much of the hardware with consultant liaison manager, Jim Seretis providing the expertise. With a three hour drive each way, Greg and the crew wouldn’t want to leave their lunchbox back at the workshop. As it was, thanks to the usual delays and disruptions you find on any

building project, they still racked up quite some mileage on the van traveling to and fro several times.

The courthouse’s exterior design was an award-winner, blending in with the landscape and therefore not presenting a daunting, alien place. Inside there are three court rooms, a Multi-Purpose Court, a Jury Court (the Supreme Court goes on circuit to Port Augusta three times a year) and a Magistrates Aboriginal Court. In addition there are registry and mediation facilities, offices for legal services, function rooms, a large foyer, and at the more serious end, holding cells for prisoners.

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“The courthouse’s exterior design was an award-winner, blending in with the landscape and therefore not presenting a daunting, alien place.”

MOVEABLE FEAST

It’s absolutely vital in a facility like this, and in a location like this, to maintain a high level of intelligibility in sound re-enforcement (and the resulting recordings). While the legal fraternity are used to making themselves heard, the other participants in the process; the accused and witnesses, often aren’t nearly as articulate. Each court is equipped with Biamp AudiaFlex DSP processors, including Acoustic Echo Cancellation (AEC) cards using advanced noise reduction algorithms that result in very high intelligibility. The acoustics of each room are demanding, mainly because modern courtrooms are deliberately quite spartan with hard reflective surfaces that resist damage (lacking too the ornamental flourishes of the past that by default act as acoustic soaks) and also containing transparent, protective screens for jury members and witnesses – more large areas for sound reflection. This is especially the case in the Magistrates Court where the furniture and fittings are moveable and a new acoustic anomaly can raise its head at any moment. So the DSP cards certainly need to be on their toes. The input cards also feature Biamp’s proprietary Truesound AEC algorithms for increased frequency response, improved audio quality, and a more natural sound during full duplex transmission of speech.

That shifting furniture in the Magistrates Aboriginal Court is again about making some of the indigenous visitors to the room more at ease with their surroundings. In some aboriginal cultures sharp corners are believed to contain bad spirits. There are also drop-down screens to avoid direct eyecontact between the dock and the witness box, preventing any use of the ‘evil eye’ to intimidate witnesses (I could use one of those screens in front of my beer fridge…). To allow for these, the microphone positions had to be moveable, yet still firmly secure, adding an extra element of installation complexity for the Total Electronic Contracting team.

Top: The view from the bench . Centre: The outside world (and a great deal of ambient light) comes into the courtroom through large picture windows either side of the bench. Bottom: Stunning panoramas in the outside waiting area.

056

NON-LETHAL AUDIO GEAR

The holding cells needed special consideration, too. Regional police stations and courtrooms experience a high level of self-harm and suicides, particularly in the early stages of an arrest when uncertainty and panic can be running strong. Communications systems between prisoners and people trying to help them, taking place from either side of a protective barrier, had to be provided with hands-free operation and hardware that couldn’t be turned into a weapon by the prisoner to hurt themselves or anyone else.

Speakers had to be flush-mounted in the ceiling, without sharp edges and resistant to water, while the AKG boundary microphones needed similar protection and to be beyond reach.

Back in the courtrooms, full video conferencing facilities are in place. With the Port Augusta courthouse dealing with a lot of cases involving witnesses from far and wide, it’s often more sensible to establish a remote link-up that’s displayed on the large LCD monitors located in plain view of the entire courtroom.

Courthouses are no longer grand Old Bailey-like structures with an affable Ronnie Barker in the dock, content to do porridge for being nicked. The Port Augusta facility is a good example of a modern space where state of the art AV equipment plays an increasingly important role in the law, ensuring that justice is not only seen to be done, it’s heard clearly, recorded properly and sometimes broadcast via a conference link reliably.  FURTHER INFORMATION Total Electronic Contracting (08) 8365 0377 www.tecsa.com.au Audio Products Group (Australia) (02) 9669 3477 www.audioproducts.com.au

FEATURE

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058

TUTORIAL

Digital Radio The revolution isn’t being televised, it’s being broadcast with digital radio!

Text:/ Brad Watts

Radio – it’s seemingly become the poor cousin of technology during the last eight years. The world had seemingly forgotten about this erstwhile communication format, while it has fallen hook, line and sinker for iPods, Zunes, and anything else that could playback prerecorded collections of audio material – be that music, spoken literature, or indeed the concept of the ‘Podcast’ (basically recorded broadcast-style material downloaded via the internet).

What was wrong with good old FM, and even older AM radio for that matter? There’d be thousands of old blokes with nine-volt ‘transistors’ firmly clamped to their ears that would claim there was nothing at all wrong with traditional broadcast radio. However it’s almost needless to mention the fact that those colourful ol’ radio listeners haven’t got the greatest hearing these days. Why do you think they hold those radios so close to their ears?

What does digital radio broadcasting have to offer over the ‘analogue’ broadcasting we’re more familiar with? To begin with there’s the prospect of having more radio stations available to the listener. Digital radio can deliver a greater number of stations due to various factors. FM transmission requires 0.2MHz per channel, which theoretically allows 102 FM programs over the Band II 87.5 to 108MHz spectrum. In practice things are a little different, and there are ways to actually cram in more stations than this – but we’ll stick to the theory for this article. The ‘frequency reuse’ factor with FM is about 100, meaning that only one out of 100 transmitters can use the same frequency twice without interfering with each other. With DAB (digital audio broadcasting), the reuse factor is increased to about four. With a bit of juggling of codecs (e.g. transmitting at only 192kbps of the allocated 256kbps) the broadcaster can increase this number to about 4.3 times the available channels on the FM band. Equally, DAB can use what’s known as a DAB ensemble. Basically it involves combining a number of programs on the same frequency by sharing out the available data bandwidth.

Obviously the audio quality of each digital stream

will suffer, but for voice-only transmission this may be perfectly acceptable. So in a nutshell, DAB allows more stations. For audiences in remote areas such as we’re used to in Australia, this will mean a lot more choice – when DAB finally becomes available outside the five mainland big cities.

OUT WITH THE OLD

The DAB audience also has a number of features available that simply aren’t possible with AM and FM transmission. Take for instance radio-text. This can display song and artist titles, music genres, competition phone numbers, weather reports, or even services such as traffic reports and program guides. I’m told RadioTAB use this feature to display racing results. Brilliant! It’s also possible to transmit image slideshows, with the station’s logo or even image captures of the presenter – the possibilities are vastly greater than analogue broadcasting. In fact, some digital radio receivers are able to pause a broadcast, with the material being saved to the digital radio’s flash memory. Most importantly, however, is the improved sound quality of DAB. We all know the annoying sound of an FM station that won’t quite tune effectively, with its static and interference. DAB is devoid of such issues. There’s absolutely no hiss, and if a station is out of range of the receiver the station is effectively invisible to the receiver – there’s no half measure for reception.

‘Tuning’ your digital receiver is also markedly easier than scrolling through seas of static before stumbling across your favoured radio program.

Your digital radio will instantly find the available radio stations and save each co-ordinate instantly to your receiver’s memory locations – storing the station as a name rather than a set of numbers.

From then on, recalling those stations involves a single button press. It couldn’t be easier! As is the case with any electromagnetic transmission, interference can result from the electromagnetic and electrical fields generated by computers, machinery and similar equipment. The typical fix is to move the radio receiver to a different position.

For the broadcaster there are savings to be made

TUTORIAL

FEATURE

059

“There’d be thousands of old blokes with nine-volt ‘transistors’ firmly clamped to their ears that would claim there was nothing at all wrong with traditional broadcast radio.”

with digital broadcasting as more programs can be transmitted from a single, central transmission plant. Maintenance issues also become less of a concern as the transmission equipment is primarily based on DSP assisted equipment and computers.

WE LOVE IT

As usual, Australia is taking on this new technology in a much more aggressive manner than our European amigos. Britain and Europe are still using the original DAB standard that stipulates use of the MPEG layer2 format, whereas we technology-toting Aussies have moved to the more recent, internationally approved Eureka 147 DAB+ standard, utilising the AAC+ codec (HE AAC V2). Germany, for example, is planning to make the leap in 2010.

Of course there’s continual debate as to which format sounds better, but the AAC+ codec allows some rather flexible tricks to be applied to data rates, achieving ostensibly better sound quality at lower bandwidths. It also allows multichannel transmission for surround-sound broadcasting should the broadcaster require. In Australia, most radio licensees have about 256kbps to carve up as they see fit. Because the AAC+ algorithm is a more evolved animal than MPEG, and thus being more efficient, bit-rates as low as 64kbps and 48kbps are very common, and sound remarkably good considering the funnel these programs are forced through before reaching your digital radio receiver.

No doubt you’re wondering what all this will cost, so I’ll let you in on the good news. Just like the radio that’s been belting into our homes and cars since 1923 (the year of the first commercial radio broadcasts in Australia), digital radio is still very much free-to-air and business-as-usual for the listener. No fees, no contracts, signing in or logging on, and there’s no complicated hookup procedure.

Just clean, clear, radio reception. All that’s required is a digital radio. Like all new technology, however, digital radio receivers are selling at premium prices at the moment, with a typical unit costing around the $200 mark – remember the prices of in-car GPS units just a few years ago and I believe you’ll get the idea as to when those costs will begin subsiding. Just don’t be suckered into buying a DAB only receiver from overseas sellers on eBay in the meantime. There are plenty of units out there capable of tuning in to DAB+ and traditional FM broadcast – because unlike analogue television, analogue radio isn’t going to be shut down anytime in the foreseeable future

The ABC's Greater Sydney (top) and Greater Melbourne (bottom) coverage maps for the DAB. As all stations share the bandwidth from a single transmitter in each city, the coverage for each station should be identical.

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TUTORIAL

Preaching to the Converted Digital Audio Basics Text:/ Scott Willsallen

All digital audio systems work by converting sound waves in air into a digital signal. This digital signal is then processed, stored, or both, and finally it is converted back into sound waves in air. The first step of the process is capturing the sound by a transducer, for example a microphone; this microphone transforms the sound into an electrical signal ‘analogue’ to the sound waves in air. This analogue signal is called a continuous signal since it reflects the sound wave in a continuous manner in time. Digital systems work with signals at certain intervals in time; these signals are called discrete signals. Continuous signals are transformed into discrete signals by two processes: time sampling and quantisation.

TIME SAMPLING

Time sampling is defined as the process where a continuous signal is measured or sampled at regular time intervals. The frequency at which these samples are taken is called the sample rate and is usually expressed in Hertz (cycles per second); some well known sample rates are the sample rate of the CD (44.1kHz), and the DVD (48kHz). Higher sample rates yield better results at capturing higher frequencies and avoiding frequency aliasing, as explained in the following paragraphs.

Henry Nyquist published a paper in 1928 that became the basis for digital audio theory.

In this paper he described the relationship of the sampling rate to the maximum frequency that can be sampled in a system. In brief the maximum frequency that can be sampled, also called the Nyquist frequency, corresponds to half the sample rate. When a signal with a frequency higher than the Nyquist frequency is fed into a system it will produce frequency products folded around integer multiples of the sampling frequency, the relationship of the new frequencies to the input frequency is given by the formula: Fa = ±NS±F and N = 0,1,2,3...

Where: Fa are the new frequencies resulting in Hz S is the sampling frequency in Hz F is an input frequency in Hz N is an integer For example, if we record a signal with a frequency of 23kHz on a system with a sampling frequency of 44.1kHz we will get frequency products occurring at: ±21.1kHz, ±23kHz, ±65.2kHz, ±67.1kHz, ±109.3kHz, etc. If we subtract 21.kHz from 2 kHz we can see that this situation will produce an aliased artefact with a frequency of 1.9kHz. This problem can be avoided by adding a low-pass brickwall filter prior to the conversion. This problem can be encountered in the analogue-to-digital conversion as well as in the digital-to-analogue conversion.

The following figure further develops this concept.

QUANTISATION

The other process involved in transforming electrical analogue signals into digital signals is called quantisation. Quantisation can be defined as the process of assigning discrete values to the amplitude values of a continuous signal. The number of different discrete values a continuous signal can take is defined by the bit depth; the bit depth is the number of binary digits the maximum value can have. The maximum number of different values that can be represented by a certain bit depth including zero is given by: 2n, where n is the bit depth. For example a four-bit system will have a maximum value of 1111, which in decimal notation is 15, and can represent 16 different values including zero.

DYNAMIC RANGE

The dynamic range of a system increases with greater bit depths. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is given by the following equation, adding approximately 6dB per bit added.

TUTORIAL

SNR(dB) = 1.76 + 6.02k Where SNR is the signal to noise ratio, and, k is the bit depth.

QUANTISATION ERROR

Higher bit depths also result in smaller quantisation errors. The quantisation error is the difference between the amplitude of the continuous signal compared to the amplitude of the discrete value signal. The maximum quantisation error corresponds to half of the quantisation step value.

The shape of this quantisation error is closely related to the input signal, for complex signals the quantisation error will be randomised and its effects will be negligible. For periodic signals, e.g. sine tones, the quantisation error could result in transforming the sinusoidal (sine) wave into a square wave, presenting odd harmonic distortion; the effect will be clearly audible and unpleasant.

FEATURE

than the quantisation step would result in a signal ‘invisible’ to the system; adding dither with an amplitude of one third of the quantisation step will result in making the signal ‘visible’ to the system. The effects of dither are illustrated in the following figure.

DITHER

A common method to avoid quantisation errors is by the addition of dither. Dither is a low level noise signal (usually white noise) added to the signal to be coded prior to quantisation.

The addition of dither can help in reducing the effects of quantisation error of periodic signals by randomising the quantisation error, avoiding audible unpleasant distortion. For example, when a sine tone that does not vary greatly in level is input into the system without dither the resulting coded signal will be a square wave signal, with odd harmonic distortion, which is very audible and unpleasant to the ear. Dither takes advantage of a process called pulse width modulation; when adding dither to the input signal the resulting coded signal will be contained within a series of ‘pulses’ or changes between two quantisation values, these pulse fluctuations will vary in width following the shape of the original signal. This process will add some low level random noise and at the same time remove the harmonic distortion.

In the end the ear will average the pulse width modulation and hear the original signal within the noise, the resulting low level random noise is far more pleasing to the ear and less audible than the harmonic distortion.

Dither is also used to reduce the quantisation error when a low level signal is introduced into the system. A signal with an amplitude smaller

A Pulse Code Modulated (PCM) signal refers to a signal that has been time sampled and each sample has been coded with a number corresponding to a set of discrete values (sampling and quantisation).

BIT RATE

The bit depth and sampling rate will determine the bit rate of the digital audio obtained and ultimately the size of the resulting file. The bit rate of a digital signal is obtained by multiplying the sampling frequency by the bit depth and then by the number of channels, this will give us the number of bits per second. For example a Compact Disc has a sampling rate of 44.1kHz, a bit depth of 16 and a channel count of 2, resulting in a bit rate of 1.4112 mega bits per second (44,100 x 16 x 2).

SAMPLE & HOLD

It is important to briefly describe another part of the system that transforms the audio into a digital signal. This circuit is called the sample and hold, this circuit delivers the audio to the analogue-to-

061

digital converter. The sample and hold obtains a sample of the amplitude at a specific time, dependent on the sample rate, and holds this value while the analogue to digital converter calculates this value. An overview of the input and output of a digital audio system is shown in the following figure.

Finally, it is important to note that there can be errors introduced by imperfections in the circuitry of the sample and hold. Errors introduced by variations in the sampling period are called jitter, this happens when the timing of the sample and hold is not constant resulting in amplitude errors.

Another error in the sampling process happens when voltage drops occur in the hold circuit of the sample and hold. These voltage drops are called droop and also result in amplitude errors.

With this we conclude the first part of the tutorial series on digital audio. In the next issue we will be discussing Digital Signal Operations and the associated latencies, as well as digital audio storage and typical storage media with their corresponding bit rates.  Scott Willsallen is the director and principal consultant of Auditoria P/L. Scott has completed a Masters with Honours in Audio Design Science at the University of Sydney.

062

FEATURE

Sydney Opera House Pre-Vision Saving plotting time in one of the world's busiest venues Text:/ Bruce Ramus

Back in October 2008, I was contacted

by Toby Sewell, the Head of Lighting at the Sydney Opera House, to provide ‘design mentor’ services with a view to upgrading the level of technical and design skills of his staff in hope that this would translate into better looking productions and a consistently higher level of design and operation for the many performances that come through the venue on a weekly basis.

Sydney Opera House has seven performance spaces and is one of the busiest performing arts venues in the world, hosting a vast array of performances, from ballet and opera, to theatre and rock and roll. Even circus spectacles and film premieres, make their way to Bennelong Point. To achieve a consistently high standard of lighting for this wide range of shows requires preparation that, with such a full schedule, is often impossible. Limitations of budgets, lack of space for training and programming results in very little opportunity for the growth of the departments’ abilities to adequately meet the needs of the incoming productions, let alone have the time to implement new technologies or ideas.

HI VIZ

One of the ways I sought to address this was by researching and installing a Pre-visualisation (PreViz) suite inside the Opera House. I felt that this would give the Opera House staff the time and space to develop design ideas outside of the pressured environment of the venue, and begin to learn how to program all the different technologies available. I imagined it would allow the designer/operator to get performance lighting to a state whereby he/she could address the subtleties of lighting, rather than spending the precious time getting back to square one with the positional focuses and palette creation each time a show began. So I started the research by looking for precedents in similar venues around the world, and began to see an emerging pattern. Radio City Music Hall in New York, the Royal Opera House at

Covent Garden, London, and the Victorian Arts Centre in Melbourne had all seen the benefits of using a virtual lighting system.

As George Panait of the ROH in Covent Garden wrote in ‘Live Design’: So, why light opera virtually? The answer is simple when you look at all the advantages.

Time saving is a huge one… Saving labor costs, of course, is another immense benefit, as you don’t waste time on stage focusing the moving light rig with 40 technicians hanging around waiting with only the lighting board operator and the lighting designer working. I think using Pre-Viz also fuels creativity, as lighting designers can have most of the rig focused and spend more time concentrating on the design side of the lighting concept.”

FULL SHEBANG

I knew Sydney Opera House would require not only the hardware and software to create an extremely fast and expandable Pre-Viz system, but also the training to get it immediately operational and an ongoing maintenance contract to ensure future technical updates, support, and refresher training courses.

So I contacted Tom Thompson at Prelite, a San Francisco-based company that specialises in pre-visualisation systems. I enjoyed a great experience touring with Tom (with U2 in 1997 on the <Popmart> tour), and, having pre-programmed the many U2 tours I’ve been involved with, had a decent working knowledge of the various Pre-Viz systems.

Tom has been involved in this niche of the industry since 1998, setting up Pre-Viz environments for live concert tours, theatrical productions, architectural installations and corporate events. Prelite had just completed a permanent system installation in Radio City Music Hall in New York, so it was also aware of the challenges faced by large institutions.

Prelites’ motto, ‘a calm, relaxed environment with all of the comforts of home, all the tools of the office and none of the pressures of the show site… we make time’, seemed precisely

what was required for the frantic schedule of Sydney Opera House.

SYSTEM SPECS

Once we were convinced of the value of such a system, Tom helped guide us to the appropriate system, at the heart of which was the NRG Storm i7 (3.2GHz Intel Core i7 overclocked up to 4.0GHz, 6GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM) computer, loaded with the two fastest video graphics card available at the time, the NVidia GTX 295s. This machine was primarily used in gaming environments, and the graphics speed and processor power were going to be essential in effectively dealing with the quick render times needed to produce realistic visuals, not only for lights but also for displaying sets and video content. We matched this with a Canopus TwinPact100 capture card, and the most recent software from Vectorworks (to draw the plots), Autodesk 3DS Max (to draw and optimise the sets) and ESP Vision (to provide the Pre-Visualisation). As Tom points out, “The system they have there is the fastest we have seen, partly because all of the components are new, and partly because they are serious about doing it ‘right’. There were no corners cut in constructing their system – it’s built for the long-haul.”

SPRINGER INTO ACTION

We enlisted the help of the very talented CAD department at Sydney Opera House to virtually construct the two main theatres, the Concert Hall and the Opera Theatre, which they did in record time. And, in due course, Tom travelled to Sydney to train five staff members on the Vision software and associated CAD programs. Then, the day the training was complete, we began to test it by programming offline the award-winning Jerry Springer: The Opera which opened on April 21. This controversial opera, based on the TV talk show host, opened in London in 2003 and made its Carnegie Hall debut last year, but here in Australia, had a limited scope and

063

FEATURE

For comparison: SOH Concert Hall - as photgraphed by Paul Najor

SOH Concert Hall - Luminous09 Standard Rig as visualised in Pre-Viz

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SOH Concert Hall - Luminous09 Standard Rig Top Plan

timeframe to mount the production, so the PreViz was invaluable.

It performed really well and enabled us to pre-program a complicated production with more than 400 cues in under three days.

This allowed the show to be produced in a very tight timeframe and look like we’d spent weeks rehearsing. Without the Pre-Viz system expectations for the production would have to have been reduced considerably.

Sewell was pleased with; “how the palettes and cues came back even with the slightly different trim heights between the ideal (Pre-Viz) and the real (the venue). With a narrow window of four days from bump in to opening night, preplotting was the only way to realise a complex music show with such limited venue time.”

SOH Concert Hall - Luminous09 Standard Rig Front

More recently, the Sydney Opera House lighting department used the Pre-Viz system to pre-plot for Brian Eno’s Luminous Festival using a purpose-built standard rig in the Opera Theatre. Using five Sydney Opera House programmers who created vastly different shows for international artists such as Battles, Pivot, Ladytron, Lee Scratch Perry, Rachid Taha , Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Jon Hassel & Maarifa Street and Damien Dempsey.

VISUALISING SOMETHING GREATER

The new Pre-Viz room is part of major technical, architectural and educational upgrades planned for Sydney Opera House through 2013. “The immediate future involves an upgrade of the basic infrastructure,” Sewell reports, “from

installation of a DMX-over-Ethernet network in every venue to the purchase of new consoles in five main venues (plus spare), a new movinglight rig, venue-specific luminaires and new dimming systems in all venues.”

The Pre-Viz suite at the Sydney Opera House is a great first step on the road to integrating and modernising the technical departments.

It’s growing into a lively design space where students of all ages and levels of expertise can learn new ways to see. It’s exciting, and to me, the future of lighting is becoming clearer. We’ve begun encouraging creativity and ideas, and that will equip our future light artists well. 

064

NEWS

REVIEW

InfoComm News News from the Asia Pacific Region NEW INFOCOMM ACADEMY ONLINE CLASSES NOW AVAILABLE InfoComm Academy online has launched two new classes: GEN104 AV Math Online – 15 RU’s AV Math Online is designed to help students develop mathematical proficiency in AV calculations. This course blends online lessons with short videos and provides a downloadable workbook with real-world AV math practice problems.

GEN105 Project Management for AV Online – 10 RU’s This class has been designed to meet a very important need in the industry—implementing sound project management principles for successful completion of AV projects. This course provides an overview of project management as well as concrete tips for all audiovisual professionals.

Detailed information including the full lesson plans can be found at www.infocomm.org/education . As indicated, each class comes with RU’s to assist with your CTS Renewal.

Please Note: This month’s AV Magazine, InfoComm Academy Tutorial (on the page opposite) comes from GEN 104 AV Math Online

The InfoComm Academy program will again feature the “Super Tuesday” Seminar program plus, new for 2010, a program of seminars with a potential for a wide variety of topics.

If you're interested in presenting an InfoComm Academy seminar at Integrate 2010, go to our Call for Presenters page on the InfoComm Regional Website.

REGIONAL ROUND TABLE FUTURE DATES The dates for future Roundtable meetings in 2009 are as follows Melbourne – 27th October Sydney - 28th October For Further Information on any of the above please contact Jonathan Seller, CTS, InfoComm International Regional Director at australianz@infocomm.org or look on the regional web page www.infocomm.org/ asia-pacific

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REGIONALISATION OF DESIGN SCHOOL InfoComm International Staff Instructor, Rod Brown CTS-D is has been working on the regionalisation of our Design School curriculum. If you would like to contribute it’s not too late, please contact Rod directly at rbrown@infocomm.org

INFOCOMM ACADEMY CALL FOR PRESENTERS – INTEGRATE EXPO 2010 The InfoComm Academy will be soon be publishing its Call for Presenters at Integrate Expo 2010. We will be establishing an Educational Advisory Group to assist us to ensure the program is tailored to suit the market’s needs.

Not just a magazine www.av.net.au AV Industry Jobs Board: the best place to hire & be hired

TUTORIAL

065

FEATURE

Calculating Decibels Predicting audio coverage

To give you a taste of its training material, InfoComm makes some selected parts of its courses available in AV. This material is taken from the InfoComm Academy Online GEN104 AV Math Online course.

For further information on this and other InfoComm Academy online courses go to www.infocomm.org or contact InfoComm International’s Regional Director Jonathan Seller, CTS at australia@infocomm.org.

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the InfoComm International Board of Directors have released InfoComm’s first performance standard, ANSI/INFOCOMM 1M2009 Audio Coverage Uniformity in Enclosed Listener Areas. Because the delivery of consistent coverage in a listening area is important for supporting both speech reinforcement and program audio, the following educational excerpt is intended to provide a look into decibels.

DECIBELS INTRODUCTION

When AV professionals predict the performance of a sound system, they need a convenient way to measure the impact of any possible changes to the system. Those changes are typically in the level of sound pressure or the amount of power required from an audio amplifier. Because sound systems are designed so that the audience can hear the message that is being communicated, a scale based on how humans hear sound is needed.

This scale is called a logarithmic scale.

Decibels are used to express the relationship between one value and another value. The decibel calculations put that relationship onto a logarithmic scale.

CALCULATING DECIBELS

Decibels indicate the relationship between one number and a second number of the same unit (feet/meters, sound pressure, voltages or power in watts).

Here is the decibel formula for distance: 20 * log (D1 / D2) Here is the decibel formula for power: 10 * log (P1 / Pr)

Notice we have included a multiplier symbol to help you perform the calculation. Typically in decibel formulas such as this one, multiplier symbols are assumed.

When you divide the two numbers in the formulas above, the result (represented below as X) is going to be either greater than 1 or between 0 and 1. If it is greater than 1, when you finish the formula you will have an increase, or gain. If it is

The answer is: - 4.8 dB Example two:

Assume a loudspeaker is generating 80 dBSPL at a distance of 22 feet (7 m) away from the source outdoors. What would the level be at 88 feet (27 m) away?

STEP ONE:

anything else, your answer will be negative, or a loss. Written in a mathematical way: X > 1 (gain) X < 1 (a loss)

In AV, the 10 log formula is for power calculations only. The 20 log formula is for voltage, pressure and distance calculations.

Sample 10 and 20 log Decibel Calculations An audio amplifier is delivering 15 watts, and its output is decreased to 5 watts. What is the change in decibels?

STEP ONE:

Ask yourself, “What do I expect to happen?” If the amplifier will be delivering less power, there will be less sound coming out of the system. In the AV industry, this is called a “loss.” If the distance doesn’t change and there is a decrease in power, there will be less sound.

STEP TWO:

Divide the numbers.

You know that you are expecting a loss. That means that when you divide these numbers, you are expecting the result to be between 0 and 1.

Using your calculator, try dividing 15 by 5 and then 5 by 15. Whichever answer is between 0 and 1, use that answer. Recall from the earlier lesson Order of Operations that operations within parenthesis are performed first.

15 / 5 = 3 (Don’t use this answer) 5 / 15 = 0.33 (Use this answer) STEP THREE:

Calculate the log.

In this example, the problem concerns power.

Therefore, you need to use the 10 log formula.

In step two, you completed the division. Now enter 0.33 in your calculator and press the “log” button.

10 * log (P1 / Pr) 10 * log (0.33) 10 * (-0.48) STEP FOUR: Multiply -0.48 by 10.

10 * (-0.48)

Ask yourself, “What will happen?” If a listener moves from 22 feet (7 m) to 88 feet (27 m) away, the sound will be perceived as softer.

STEP TWO:

Using decibel math, calculate how much softer the perceived sound will be. You will be solving for sound pressure (distance), so use this formula: 20 * log (D1 / D2). You know that you are expecting a loss. As stated in the previous lesson on decibels, this means that when you divide the distance values, you are expecting the result to be between 0 and 1. Use whichever answer is between 0 and 1.

88/22 = 4 (don’t use this one) 22/88 = 0.25 (use this one) 20 * log (22/88) 20 * log (0.25) 20 * (- 0.602) -12 dB STEP THREE:

Now that you have calculated the amount of loss, the impact of the change needs to be determined.

Add the results from step two to the original dBSPL measurement.

80 + (-12) = 68 dBSPL 80 - 12 = 68 dBSPL The sound pressure level at 88 feet (27 m) from the point source is 68 dBSPL. 

About InfoComm: InfoComm International is the international trade association of the professional audiovisual and information communications industries. Established in 1939, InfoComm has 5000 members from more than 70 countries. Its training and education programs, along with its separately administered Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) and corporately administered Certified Audiovisual Solutions Provider (CAVSP) company credentials, set a standard of excellence for AV professionals. Its basic general knowledge course ‘Quick Start to the AV Industry’ is available free of charge from its website at www.infocomm.org

066

Termination AV Classics — What are your picks for future AV equipment classics?

Text:/ Graeme Hague

I was looking at a U47 today. For those of you not familiar with audio equipment the Neumann U47 microphone is a piece of classic gear. Sixty years after it was first produced original U47s are still brought out in recording studios and presented with a holy grail-like reverence. Unless you’re actually singing into it, you’re expected to whisper in hushed tones, respecting its exalted presence among you.

Falling to your knees and genuflecting is quite okay.

In another 60 years what will be regarded as classic AV equipment? What sort of thing will have us looking at our colleagues with wide and excited eyes, a finger to our lips, and saying, “Guess what I’ve got?” before we scurry out the back to surprise everyone?

Not much, I reckon. This is the best I could come up with.

The first thing that comes to my mind is the humble overhead projector. It should have a really noisy fan and be focused on the screen in such a way that it creates that horrible keystone effect, just like the opening credits to Starwars. For complete authenticity some species of insect – preferably a very large moth – could be trained to buzz around annoyingly in front of the beam and eventually extinguish itself messily and with an awful stench on the hot lamp. Any old kind of scribble can be on the transparencies, but make sure the pens themselves are half dried out, so you can’t read it properly.

Which reminds me of those screens. Your classic screen would be the kind that rolls up like a window blind, except you have to yank on it a half-dozen times before it decides to retract. The tripod legs have to be spindly, cheap chrome and spotted with rust, squeak horribly when you operate them and refuse to fold up at the end of the session until they abruptly snap into place and trap the webbing between your thumb and finger causing profuse bleeding.

ROUND AND ROUND ON THE CAROUSEL

Slide projectors… ah, how do we ever survive without them? Now they would be classic.

Who could ever forget loading countless slides

sequentially into a carousel and no matter how many times you check, at least one of them will be inserted upside down or back-to-front?

Mind you, the clatter of those slides changing guaranteed keeping the audience awake in the darkened auditorium. It was even better when you had to advance the carousel a whole 360° to find a missing picture. The best systems were the paired-up, synchronised projectors which really only doubled the odds of something going catastrophically wrong. And what fun and laughter we had, when a projector turned itself off for some reason and everyone had to wait around fifteen minutes for the globe to cool properly before you could restart it. The remote controls – particularly the early infrared ones – were a hoot, too. There was nothing funnier than the keynote speakers of yore as they tried in vain to get the remote control of a slide projector to actually ‘see’ with the receiver.

Early video projectors – I can’t believe we still don’t use them. Particularly those threegun monsters that weighed more than any venue ceiling was intended to support and usually dropped one of the colour cannons during operation, causing an overall green or blue image. They were a little like the cannon in television’s ‘F-Troop’ really. You needed to give one of the supports a swift kick or maybe grab a broom (for the ceiling mounts) and try a sharp whack to make the projector behave. Of course, now it’d be out of focus… And there were those enormous models that were a screen and projector all in one, the size of a small car. When you opened the covers to make an inevitable adjustment, it was like unveiling the hyperdrive on Starship Enterprise. Awesome stuff. We probably all caught some form of cancer working on those things.

SNAKES AND EWPs

I have a fond memory involving a ceilingmounted projector I was installing in a public bar in tropical Queensland. Two of us, Mick and myself, both standing on the same A-Frame ladder that was too short and trying to lift the projector that was too heavy

up to a mounting point that was too high… watched on by pool-playing locals taking bets on who would get hurt the most. (Workplace Health and Safety wasn’t even born yet). Then someone outside decided to throw a full-grown python in through an open window for a laugh, assuming most patrons wouldn’t realize it was a (relatively) harmless critter. A pet, in fact.

And he was right.

Boy, did we laugh. Tears streamed down our cheeks with mirth as we hung onto that projector. Our only saving grace was being on the ladder while the snake slithered around on the floor, although if there’s one thing snakes have a certain affinity for – it’s ladders, or so the board game would have us believe. Luckily one of the other drinkers saw the ruse, picked up the snake and promptly got bitten on the hand, so he chucked it back out the window in disgust. Pythons aren’t venomous, but the crud they have between their teeth from eating dead rats will give you blood poisoning in an instant.

So I suppose that while I can’t really suggest that classic AV equipment can give us some kind of desirable, warm and retro result like the trusty Neumann U47 can, at least the memories of working with that gear are filled with joy, humour and the satisfaction of a job well done against the odds.

Like hell. Classic AV stuff? Chuck it in the bin and a lit match after it.

The snake got away, by the way. 

If you would like to tell the AV industry about your selections for the 2021 list of all time AV classic gear, or if you have a better snake tale (who hasn’t?) then send your thoughts to editor (andy@av.net.au).

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• • • • •

Seven distinct coverage patterns from seven newly designed waveguides Six pre-designed finishes, including two weatherized versions Completely flexible installation accessories Intuitive input panels Three system formats: horn-load (EVH), front-load (EVF), and a true line array (EVA)

To learn more, visit www.electrovoice.com/evinnovation

Bosch Communications Systems Unit 2C, 6 Boundary Rd NORTHMEAD NSW 2152 Tel: 02 9683 4752, Fax: 02 9890 5928 Email: boschcomms@au.bosch.com • www.boschsecurity.com.au

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