Pro AVL MEA November–December 2017

It’s no secret that we have been trying to add to the types of content we deliver to you by putting an increased focus on video. Many of you will have seen the Pro AVL MEA team walking around tradeshows with a pieces to give a fuller picture of our application features. But there is a lot more that we are trying to do.

general manager, Richard Lawn. He has spent the last few months travelling throughout Europe, Asia and the US to spend time with the leadership teams of some of the world’s best-known manufacturers. He has had unique access to the people who are moving this business forward and in-depth conversations about the experiences that have shaped them and their companies.

Industry Drivers

one interviews have been broadcast and there are plenty more still to come. So far we have covered Adam Hall, Coda Audio, d&b audiotechnik, Fohhn, Lawo, Nexo, Røde and Riedel, and the response them all on our website.

We have plenty more interviews in the can, so you can expect to see much more from Industry Drivers to explore some of the important issues facing the industry.

The video work we are doing is aimed at supporting and enhancing the content you read in the hope you agree.

Enjoy the magazine!

IN THIS ISSUE

Richard Lawn:

T: +44 1892 676280

F: +44 1892 676282

GENERAL MANAGER rlawn@proavl-mea.com

Sue Gould:

T: +44 1892 676280

F: +44 1892 676282

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR sgould@proavl-mea.com

Adrian Baker:

T: +44 1892 676280

F: +44 1892 676282

PRODUCTION MANAGER abaker@proavl-mea.com

Carolyn Valliere:

T: +1 562 597 1534

SALES ASSOCIATE cvalliere@proavl-mea.com

Nick Smith:

T: +44 1892 676280

F: +44 1892 676282

DIGITAL MEDIA MANAGER nsmith@proavl-mea.com

+65 6457 2340

F: +65 6456 2700

SINGAPORE OFFICE rboey@proavl-mea.com

Damian Calderbank

T: +971 (0) 52 230 2882

CORRESPONDENT dcalderbank@proavl-mea.com

Marne Mittelmann:

F: +65 6491 6588

CIRCULATION circulation@proavl-mea.com

eclipse seen in Riyadh

SAUDI ARABIA: As a result of accelerated growth in Saudi Arabia, eclipse Group has opened a new Riyadh.

This expansion will enable the rental company to better serve the needs of its partners and local and international clients in the Kingdom, which has seen demand increase within the regional events and meeting sectors.

Examining recent reports, eclipse found that Saudi Arabia hosted many business events last year and is looking to invest an estimated

Lea Salonga test drives Digital 9000 at Dubai

UAE: Tony and Olivier Award winning singer Lea Salonga recently performed for two nights at Dubai Opera. The Broadway star’s powerful vocals presented the venue’s audio team with the opportunity to put Sennheiser’s Digital 9000 wireless microphone system to the test.

Andy Hawkes, assistant broadcast and sound manager at Dubai Opera, worked at FOH for the shows. ‘Lea not only has both incredible quality and control, but also a real personality,’ he commented.

‘Because this handset/capsule combo is staggeringly clean and communicative, she not only sounded stunning, but there was also a real intimacy to the show. I don’t think any other mic I’ve used would have been able to carry so perfectly to an audience that size.’

The system was set up by Sennheiser’s Middle East team. It comprised two SKM-9000 handheld

Opera

mics with Neumann KK-205 capsules and an EM-9046 receiver.

‘This is the only wireless microphone system that offers completely uncompressed digital transmission,’ said Ryan Burr, head of technical sales and application engineering at Sennheiser Middle East. ‘It means that the process of reproduction of audio without a compander and expander is more akin to a wired microphone than to a standard analogue wireless mic system.’

‘Whenever I see a Sennheiser stick for any of my concerts, I know that my voice’s character, texture and quality will be preserved,’ revealed Lea Salonga. ‘I’m getting spoiled with the Neumann microphone head and Sennheiser stick combo. The combination makes my voice sound fabulous, and I feel I don’t have to work so hard.’

www.sennheiser.com

US$1.6 billion to boost its MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) business between now and 2019. In addition, several hotels and convention centres are currently under construction in the Kingdom, indicating further growth and business opportunities. eclipse claims to have ‘sensed the market’s unprecedented growth potential and opportunity’, which was a key factor in establishing a new facility in Saudi Arabia.

in Saudi Arabia presents an exciting opportunity for us and

it has never been timelier as we continually provide the high-end progressive technical services that eclipse is famous for,’ explained Martin Lubach, general manager at eclipse Staging Services. ‘As a leading event technical supplier to a broad spectrum of clients and market realises our objective to strengthen our position and service capabilities as one of the industry leaders in this region.’

www.eclipse.ae

UAE: Protec has added to its audio inventory with the purchase of L-Acoustics’ new Syva Colinear gap in the market,’ explained Protec head of audio, Ed Ross. ‘When there is no ability to hang any speakers in the room but we need to cover 200 to 300 people, this provides an elegant, neat-looking ground stacked solution.’

The systems were purchased directly from the manufacturer. Protec has taken stock of Syva Tops, Lows and Subs, with more on order.

‘It is a great system to use for medium-sized corporate events,’ furthered Mr Ross. ‘It is a slick and corporate-friendly ground stack that looks much better than your average speakers on sticks. The

system is optimised for ultra-wide horizontal coverage with extended throw capability. We’ve barely had it delivered and tested and it’s already out the door on events.’ One such event was at Versace. ‘It was a 40m x 30m room and the whole room was covered by the two Syva Tops and two Syva Lows,’

www.l-acoustics.com

www.productiontec.com

WORLD: Harman Professional is undergoing a ‘workforce consolidation’ resulting in the loss of 650 jobs across Europe and the USA, as well as a number of site closures.

Harman, which was acquired by Samsung last year, will be closing its Harman Signal Processing facility in Utah, as well as operations in Indiana and smaller sites throughout Europe. Harman took many of these sites on as part of various company acquisitions during the past 10 years.

‘To be clear, the changes we announced are the culmination of a transformation that the Professional Solutions Division has

been undergoing for the last two years to better serve our customers, increase our competitiveness and accelerate new product innovations,’ explained David Glaubke, director of public relations, global professional solutions at Harman International.

‘We have given our employees

we will make over the next year to assist with the transition and will do our best to mitigate the impact to our employees and their families. Importantly, we also will ensure that the process is completely seamless for our customers.’

Samsung’s acquisition of Harman

was driven by its presence in the automotive and consumer sectors, the automotive sector accounting for approximately 65% of Harman’s US$7 billion of reported sales at the time. Samsung stated its intentions upon completion of the purchase

to retain the Harman workforce, headquarters and facilities, as well as all of its consumer and professional audio brands.

The restructuring will also see Harman Professional add investment in areas such as IT infrastructure and

the supply chain. It will also open three ‘Centers of Competency’: one in Northridge, California for acoustics; another in Richardson, Texas for Electronics, DSP, video and control; and one in Denmark for lighting.

‘I want to emphasise that decisions like this, while necessary, are not easy to make,’ furthered Mr Glaubke.

‘We are very excited about the future of Harman Professional Solutions and believe that, with these changes, we are now aligned and structured to serve our customers better and to

pro.harman.com

Lea Salonga at Dubai Opera (photo credit Richard Evans)

Protec fills a gap with Syva

Harman restructures workforce, serves notice to 650 employees

L-Acoustics’ Syva Colinear system

ShowMatch™ DeltaQ™ loudspeakers provide better coverage for outstanding vocal clarity.

With DeltaQ technology, new ShowMatch array loudspeakers more precisely direct sound to the audience in both installed and portable applications. Each array module offers field-changeable waveguides that can vary coverage and even create asymmetrical patterns. The result is unmatched sound quality and vocal clarity for every seat in the house.

Learn more at SHOWMATCH.BOSE.COM

Multi-Media deploys new SD10s for The Voice Nigeria

so that I wouldn’t be caught up in button presses to mix the show. I can mix the show in one state, and, with a push of a button, the console populates the layout into the next state I need. I know where I am the entire show without having to try to rather impressive that I can achieve this over 36 faders, especially being quite a complex show. With help from Kyle Robson from DWR, it was possible to do that.’

Mr Robson commented: ‘I think it’s exciting to see bigger consoles get onto the market and to see top-end engineers using and loving them.’

B&C takes the wheel at Eighteen Sound

SOUTH AFRICA: Multi-Media

Event Trading recently purchased a pair of DiGiCo SD10 consoles from DWR Distribution along with two SD Racks on HMA Optics, Wave Servers, Orange Box and option cards. The technical production supplier put the new equipment straight to work on The Voice Nigeria

Sound engineer Adriaan van der Walt, who joined Multi-Media earlier this year, is no stranger to DiGiCo consoles. ‘DiGiCo is an amazing system because you can design it, lay it out and work with it in a way that suits your train of thought,’ he said.

‘On the run of The Voice, I completely reordered the layout of the console

‘Having the SD10s puts us in a different league compared to a month ago, and the audio boys in the industry will look at our company in a new way,’ Mr van der Walt concluded.

www.digico.biz

www.dwrdistribution.co.za www.multi-media.co.za

Al Jazeera begins MediaCentral standardisation

QATAR: Al Jazeera is moving its international news operations onto a MediaCentral hybrid cloud solution. deployment at the broadcaster following its announcement last year that it was to standardise its platform.

‘As an early adopter of cloud-based newsroom environment that better serves and engages viewers across all distribution platforms,

including television, digital and mobile,’ explained Mohamed Abuagla, executive director of technology and operations at Al Jazeera Media Network. ‘It proves that Al Jazeera is leading the way in developing the newsroom of the future in partnership with Avid,

ensuring that it will continue to capitalise on an open platform of common technologies with immense advantages to our journalist and production teams.’

‘Al Jazeera’s hybrid cloud breakthrough is a perfect example of how cloud deployment of MediaCentral can erase disparity and silos from even the most distributed media organisations and globe,’ Avid president Jeff Rosica commented.

www.avid.com

WORLD: B&C Speakers SpA has formalised a binding offer to wholly acquire Eighteen Sound from Landi Renzo Group for a total of €7.4 million before 30 November 2017. For the year ending 2016, the Eighteen Sound and Ciare brands reported a turnover of around €12.6 million, with a gross margin of €0.9 million. With a history of 60 years, the acquisition will allow B&C Speakers to consolidate its position in the professional transducer market.

‘We have always greatly respected both the products and the team at Eighteen Sound and we are sure that this integration will lead to extremely consistent results,’ commented CEO of B&C Speakers, Lorenzo Coppini. ‘The brands of B&C Speakers, Eighteen Sound and, not to forget Ciare, are really complementary. In the short term, we will be able to offer the audio market a complete and structured range of speakers, from the core business of pro audio to new sectors

that we can maintain and improve the group heritage of innovation and Italian quality manufacturing

that are essential characteristics of our group.’

Eighteen Sound was created in the wake of the 1998 sale of RCF to Mackie Designs (Loud Technologies) when AEB directors Ivan Paterlini and Vincenzo Baroni decided to diversify their electronic automotive control systems business by branching out into the professional loudspeaker market. Today, its facility consists of two highly automated manufacturing lines for cone drivers together with one for high-frequency compression drivers. Under its current owner, Landi Renzo, Eighteen Sound relocated to larger premises in Cavriago in 2013 before acquiring fellow Italian transducer manufacturer Ciare in 2015. ‘This is another step in the implementation of the new strategic plan, such as the disposal of non-core activities including Eighteen Sound, allowing us to better focus on automotive and gas distribution segments,’ explained Landi Renzo CEO, Cristiano Musi.

www.bcspeakers.com

www.eighteensound.it

AVC Sales and Marketing Consultancy for the MEA Region

1/4 PAGE

Projects we’ve generated and managed for our prestigious clients: Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company (UAE), Abu Dhabi Investment Council (UAE), ARAMCO (KSA), Binzagr (KSA), Dubai Marina Yacht Club (UAE), Equate HQ (Kuwait), IPA (KSA), Kuwait University (Kuwait), Muscat Hospital (Oman), Pepsi HQ Middle East (UAE), Petroleum Institute (UAE) and many more…

www.vivid-avmedia.com

Kyle Robson (DWR), Simon Panos (freelancer) and Adriaan van der Walt (Multi-Media)

SOUNDBITES

VV MOVES HOME

UAE: Dubai-based distributor, VV & Sons, has moved out of its long-term Diera home to a larger facility in Al Quoz. ‘Of course there are sentimental attachments and we were in the old place for more than two decades but change is inevitable and we have to evolve,’ said VV & Sons business development manager, Prajesh Dalal. ‘The

UAE: Neumann & Müller Event Technology has turned to virtual reality to better help its clients visualise the solutions it is offering. The decision to go down the VR route is reportedly a response to the demands of agencies and end clients.

‘Our philosophy is to provide the best service possible to our clients,

Neumann & Müller’s new reality

started bridging the gap between conceptual design and realism by offering pre-visualisation of work not only in 2D or 3D renders, but now in virtual reality as part of our consultancy service.’

stands, architectural concepts, corporate events or 3D product presentations.

therefore, we have been busy experimenting over the summer months in order to support this technical requirement requested from us using our creativity with the help of a software program that allows us to see the end result while the design is being drafted,’ explained N&M Dubai general manager, Rick Wade. ‘We have

N&M can now use VR to provide everything from complex wireframes to fully rendered images and videos, realistic lighting simulation, materials live video projection and show content to multiple screens. It is able to draw up detailed plans and create a realistic impression of a project at an early stage in the proceedings, particularly for up-front visualisations of trade fair

‘During the planning period, we advise our clients before they give their presentations and support them with their pitch,’ said Mr Wade. ‘Ultimately, through this innovation, we are taking our clients on a tour of their entire event where only certain people dare to go. The goal is to immerse them into their own event and give them a chance to experience it before everyone does, which can be a time-and-eventually cost effective method in the end.’

www.neumannmueller.com

idea behind expanding the team and the relocation is to have a centralised warehouse to facilitate operations for all our customers. It is easier for us to work with the centralised inventory.’

The move has also seen the distributor’s pro team swell to 45 members. In addition, there is a dedicated demo room, a common pool for any product line to be shown and there is the future return to Diera with a new showroom coming soon on Airport Road.

www.pro.vvsons.com

MIDAS EXTENDS WARRANTY

WORLD: Midas has extended the duration of its manufacturer’s warranty to 10 years, according to a letter sent out to its customers. The letter states that ‘products purchased since 1 September 2014, will be covered by this warranty timing extension’.

The note concludes by clarifying ‘no other changes have been made to the terms and conditions’. For more information, users are encouraged to visit www.musicgroup.com/support/home.

www.midasconsoles.com

KUWAIT: The two ballrooms at the new Four Seasons Hotel Kuwait at Burj Alshaya have been equipped with a mirrored audio solution from Renkus-Heinz. The American manufacturer’s IC Live column arrays have been installed by aDawliah Electronics to tackle

across the room so that when each ballroom is split, they become separate left-right systems for the two resulting smaller spaces.

‘The ballrooms are large, impressive spaces and they required powerful speakers with excellent directivity,’ said Joseph

aDawliah installs IC Live Transom Capital acquires Loud brands

WORLD:

the longer than ideal reverberation times in each room.

The acoustic challenge of the multi-purpose, divisible ballrooms is

Al Bidaa Ballroom has a ceiling height of around 8m, and a length of

Al Mirqab Ballroom is slightly smaller with a depth of around 35m and a ceiling height of approximately 7m.

aDawliah installed six RenkusHeinz ICL-FR columns in the same of the columns have been wallmounted as a left-right solution,

The remaining four columns are

Neeruda, technical manager, Integrated Solutions Division, for aDawliah Electronics. ‘We chose Renkus-Heinz for the brand’s beam steering expertise and we were not disappointed.’

‘The system is well designed and works particularly well with the option to split the ballrooms into smaller spaces,’ added Renkus-Heinz Middle East sales representative, Norbert Bau. ‘When and commissioning, the client told us that they are very happy with the

www.adawliah.com.kw www.renkus-heinz.com

Transom Capital Group has acquired all of Loud Technologies’ brands, including Ampeg, EAW, Mackie and Martin Audio. The transaction results in the establishment of a new company, Loud Audio LLC, which will be led by the existing Loud Technologies team to ensure continuity across the business. The acquisition will reportedly allow Loud to expand into new markets and invest further in product development.

step in a broader strategic plan to enable and grow each of our iconic brands,’ revealed Mark Graham, CEO at Loud. ‘Our brand and product strategies are greatly enhanced going forward as each will be working from a vastly with access to growth capital.

Transom is an exciting partner as they have experience in our industry and a great track record of building brands. They share a commitment to our core values of customer focus and product

innovation, and we are looking forward to working together to make our brands even more valuable to our partners and customers.’

‘This transaction presents a great opportunity to work with the Loud team to achieve the next stage of growth for these iconic brands,’ said Ty Schultz, managing partner of Transom Capital. ‘These brands are positioned well with major retailers, installers and production companies and bring with them an outstanding legacy of innovation and category-

We have been working closely with Loud’s leadership to ensure continuity of the supply chain, channel relationships and Loud’s employee base. We look forward to realising the compelling growth opportunities for these brands both in the retail and professional audio spaces.’

www.loudtechinc.com

www.transomcap.com

The installed IC Live speakers

The dedicated service centre

Loud N Clear grows for Tomorrowland

LEBANON: Beirut-based rental house, Loud N Clear, recently doubled its L-Acoustics, K2 inventory from 24 to 48 cabinets. The expanded system was called into action to cover the Tomorrowland Unite festival in Byblos.

The rental company made its initial K2 purchase in 2016 alongside Kara, Arcs, K1-SB, SB28 and SB18M cabinets. Over the course of the year, the company in this inventory to be able to boast 48 K2, 32 SB28, 16 K1-SB and 24 Kara with 14 LA8 racks for power and management.

The 120m deep, 50m wide beach location for the event led to the

full inventory being put to use. The main PA comprised an L-R system

L-R hangs of eight K1-SB. Further low-end reinforcement came from 32 SB28 ground stacked along the front of the stage. A further eight K2

ClearOne gets Batelco talking

per side were called into action for the delays, while six Kara cabinets further 18 Kara covered the VVIP and VIP areas. On stage, the DJ booth was served by four Arcs cabinets with the same number of SB18Ms delivering low end. Power and control for the system was delivered by 13 LA8 racks.

‘We faced a very hard situation to work on the sand,’ recalled Loud N Clear general manager, Roger Bou Farhat. ‘But after we installed the rig and heard the sound, we were happy with the result. It was worth all the hard work.’

www.loudnclear.me

BAHRAIN: Manama-based systems integrator, Yusif bin Yusif Fakhrohas (YY Fakhro), recently installed a three-piece ClearOne Collaborate Pro 900 videoconferencing system at Batelco’s corporate boardroom in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The integrated telecommunications provider was seeking a reliable, easy-to-use and high-quality system with which to videoconference with its vendors and employees throughout Bahrain, Jordan,

operations.’

The installed system comprises ClearOne’s Spontania cloud-based media collaboration platform, which provides the ability to connect to 25 devices; the Converge Pro840T DSP mixer and ceiling-mounted beamforming microphone array; and the Unite 200 USB PTZ camera that captures a 73° viewing angle of 1080p at 60fps video.

Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Egypt. ‘Now, all parties can quickly arrange teleconferences with superior-quality video and audio,’ commented Yusuf Abdulrahman Fakhro, managing director of YY Fakhro. ‘In fact, the company reports that team collaboration has improved and employees feel more connected, which has increased productivity.

Batelco’s decision-making process

‘With ClearOne’s proven track record in successfully delivering integrated multimedia communications solutions and YY Fakhro sharing existing customers’ feedback and case studies, the Batelco AV/IT team quickly understood how ClearOne’s solution could solve its communications issue,’ said Mr Fakhro.

www.clearone.com

www.yyfakhro.com

WORLD: Rosco has acquired DMG Lumière. The French manufacturer has grown rapidly since it was founded in 2014 by the de Montgrand brothers – Mathieu, Nils and Jean – along with their partner, Nicolas Goerg. It specialises in LED broadcast applications.

DMG Lumière’s workforce and technologies will help to further develop Rosco’s LED lighting

catalogue, while Rosco’s global sales, marketing, distribution and customer service teams will provide access to DMG products.

‘DMG Lumière is the perfect partner as we look to grow, and we’re delighted to welcome them into the Rosco family,’ enthused Rosco CEO, Mark Engel.

www.dmglumiere.com

www.rosco.com

The L-Acoustics cabinets in action for Tomorrowland

The Batelco conferencing setup

DMG Lumiére’s Nils de Montgrand and Rosco owner Stan Miller

Bohemians put DeltaQ through its paces

UAE: The recent Bohemians performance at a packed Hard Rock Café Dubai proved to be a good test for the venue’s Bose ShowMatch DeltaQ house PA. The solution has been particularly praised for the way acoustic environment.

‘Although the venue is quite acoustically challenging, I think Bose has done a great job with the DeltaQ array,’ said Avril Rodriguez, the freelance sound engineer who mixed the gig. ‘The system coverage is really good right from the front to the rear end of the hall and the low end really kicks.’

Biamp joins Logitech Collaboration Programme

dispersion, we are able to cover the whole room easily.’

pro.bose.com

WORLD: Biamp has joined the Logitech Collaboration Programme (LCP) as an integration partner in the programme’s Complementary Technology Provider track. The partnership will result in integrated and complementary products designed to offer a complete video collaboration experience.

‘Through Logitech’s Collaboration Programme, integrated solutions

leveraging our innovative products – like Devio and TesiraForté –communications technology, provide our customers with a comprehensive experience, further increasing productivity,’ said Jody Thomas, director of business development at Biamp Systems.

‘We are pleased that Biamp has joined our programme,’

commented Jason Moss, the global head of business development for Logitech’s video collaboration group. ‘By closely collaborating with Biamp, we are able to offer a better user experience to our joint customers,’ he furthered.

www.biamp.com

www.logitech.com

As previously reported, the solution comprises six per side left-right hangs of the ShowMatch arrays with four ground stacked SMS118 subwoofers for low end and RoomMatch Utility 208 loudspeakers providing underof each array are the SM5 type been used for the bottom SM10 and SM20 modules, respectively. The subwoofers were installed in a quad format to achieve what the manufacturer describes as ‘optimum low-frequency enhancement for the system’. The ShowMatch arrays are powered by Bose PowerMatch PM8500 over a Dante network from a Bose ControlSpace ESP-880 central processor.

‘We have three different versions of the ShowMatch speakers depending on their vertical coverage – 5°, 10° and 20°– and we are using a combination of all three at Hard Rock,’ furthered Nithin Gopalakrishna, account manager UAE for Bose’s Professional Systems Division. ‘The area is not symmetrical but because of ShowMatch’s unique features for

136dB and LF down to 59Hz from a single 10" driver-equipped line array box? You better believe it.

Spirit captures Raha Moharrak

UAE: Creative Force used an Aston Microphones Spirit to capture Raha

for this type of session out of all of build quality and sensitivity proved to

‘Raha Moharrak gave a very had great off-axis rejection and a

and Mr Featherstone describes

and balanced during the recording

LDA rides the rails

BOTSWANA: serves both passenger and freight public address and voice evacuation

also put a pair of Aston Microphones

The physical characteristics are quite

www.astonmics.com

www.creativeforcedubai.com www.mediacastsys.com

a control centre in Gaborone that facilitating the playback of live www.lda-audiotech.com

Aten extends HDBaseT remit

WORLD: Aten has expanded privileges such as a dedicated ‘Since joining the HDBaseT frequently held the HDBaseT

Amate gets Loud

CYPRUS:

www.amateaudio.com www.mpsound.eu

Alliance can realise the integration www.aten.com www.hdbaset.org

Aston Microphones’ Spirit and Origin mics

Loud Music Fest 2017 used an Amate solution

Joker JK12 point source cabinets delivered front-fill

Oasis PPD lights up MBC

UAE: Oasis PPD supplied, installed, tested and commissioned the lighting solution for MBC’s new studio in Dubai Studio City and the MBC ProSports studio in Riyadh. The project called on lighting technology from Rosco, Desisti and ETC.

The systems integrator installed more than 3km of Rosco RGBW and Vary White LED strips to illuminate the set, as well as the manufacturer’s Braq Cube for the low ceiling application and its I-cue moving mirror. It turned to Desisti for LED Fresnels and soft lights as well as its motorised hoist and pantograph. The ETC element of the project called on the manufacturer’s Source 4 LED Lustr+ and Eos family console with back up.

‘Coordination of all of the aspects an entertainment lighting system can be complex,’ said Karim Abdel

Massih, lighting systems manager at Oasis PPD. ‘As in this case running over 3km of LED strips all over the studio and making sure the power and DMX distribution is performed

any requirements of the lighting operator.

‘Integration of the lighting system as a whole with all other aspects that make-up the studio was done carefully,’ he continued. ‘With our many years of project management experience and by working closely with the brand partners, we ensured that the products arrived on site ready to be installed in sequence. We are honoured to work with the media giant, MBC group, for their new studios. This cutting-edge equipment puts them on par with the world’s top studios.’

www.oasisppd.com

Arthur Holm starts the debate

NIGERIA: German conferencing

Technik was recently brought in by a Nigerian government agency to install a state-of-the-art conference solution in Abuja. The solution comprised Arthur Holm systems with Crestron control technology. Kuchem installed more than 280 Arthur Holm DynamicTalk microphones with Dynamic3Talk and DynamicX2Talk 17-inch displays. DynamicLoop has been integrated for HDMI signal distribution. The systems integrator

for the systems to keep with the aesthetics of each room. A Crestron touch panel setup was reportedly chosen for its ease of use and offers control over the Arthur Holm setup and the media displayed. Ceiling cameras have also been synchronised with the conference system and an HD projection system is equipped. Following the installation, the Kuchem team provided the agency staff with training.

www.arthurholm.com

www.crestron.com

www.kuchem.com

Discreet power at Our Lady of the Star Church

LEBANON: Our Lady of the Star Church was recently inaugurated in the Lebanese seaside town of Jieh. Ahead of the church’s approached Prolites in regards to a full sound system solution for the sanctuary.

The main requirements for the audio system were that it deliver powerful sound while remaining aesthetically discreet and that it needed to be installed in time for the opening of Our Lady of the Star Church. To meet these needs, Prolites presented a solution comprising various K-array cabinets that would blend with the interior of the church.

The system installed is formed by

Pixel Chams al Sham brings Blackmagic to Nassif Zaitoun gig

SYRIA: Pixel Chams al Sham was hired to produce video feeds for IMAG and online streaming at Nassif Zaitoun’s recent concert at the Damascus Opera House. The live events production company operated a multicam production comprising 10 Blackmagic Design cameras.

The Pixel Chams al Sham team was led by Mamdouh Kaddour and deployed a pair of video systems. The main system was used for the live multicamera mix for television broadcast and online streaming. The secondary system, built around an Atem Television Studio Pro HD, fed the venue’s LED screens.

‘I wanted to keep the two production areas separate, so that the auditorium audience had their own unique experience at the concert,’ said Mr Kaddour. ‘I also fed computer graphics through

to the switcher via an Intensity Shuttle, which were mixed into the big screen feed to complement the performance on stage.’

The cameras deployed included

eight Blackmagic Studio Camera 4Ks and a handheld URSA Mini, as well as a drone rig for capturing aerial shots. ‘The cameras deliver excellent live performance images,

both for big screen and social media content,’ Mr Kaddour noted. ‘All of the studio cameras were paired with ENG lenses, and were used in an array of rigs: on dolly tracks,

four Kobra KK102 and four Kobra KK52 Mark I line array cabinets, installed two each per side and painted white to disappear into the décor. Handling low end is a pair of KMT12 Mark I powered 12-inch subwoofers. The choir and instrument section are covered by two KF12P multi-purpose speakers as monitors, while a further pair of Kobra KK52s serve the altar area. A KA84 and a KA24 provide power and processing.

‘The results were outstanding and exceeded our expectations,’ recommend this system for its innovative design and high quality.’ www.prolites.com

drones and on jib cranes, and the images we captured from each gave us a huge variety of options during the performance, which helped bring our production to life.’

HyperDeck Studio Pro and Mini recorders captured the ISO feeds and live PGM mix for postproduction, allowing Pixel Chams al Sham to put together a highlights video.

‘Nassif’s Damascus concert was so we had to have a live production system in place that wouldn’t let us down,’ Mr Kaddour concludes. ‘We’ve relied upon Blackmagic Design products since the inception of Pixel, as they meet our requirements for extremely high live production values, reliability and affordability.’

www.blackmagicdesign.com

The new MBC studio in Dubai

The K-array solution

An extensive Blackmagic Design setup was used for the Nassif Zaitoun performance

Crystal control for visual radio station

KENYA: Royal Media Services (RMS) lays claim to being Kenya’s largest electronic media operator with the widest geographical reach in the country. It operates 14 radio stations as well as several television channels and has recently established its FM. While Ramogi FM combines elements of radio and television, a Lawo Crystal IP mixing console provides vital control for its network, audio and video.

The 12-fader Crystal IP desk is paired with a Crystal Compact Engine matrix, offering 288 I/Os. The system was reportedly chosen due to a combination of Lawo’s reputation and presentations the manufacturer made to the broadcaster. Ramogi FM’s Crystal solution will serve as

The 12-fader Crystal IP desk

a test run for RMS as it considers future upgrades to other stations.

Lawo’s VisTool to control the three PTZ cameras installed in the live studio. Each camera is activated by opening a fader on the Crystal IP.

www.lawo.com

SAUDI ARABIA: Spectrum Entertainment Services supplied the audio solution at King Fahd International Stadium for this year’s Saudi National Day celebrations. The Dubai-based A/V rental company had only recently added the Adamson systems, including 24 E15 and 12 E12 loudspeakers, 12 E219 and 24 E119 subwoofers, to its inventory.

Spectrum’s Adamson roster was deployed in its entirety for the Saudi National Day event.

12 E15s and six E12s per side, while 12 E119 and six E219s handled the low end on each side.

Meanwhile, 32 Adamson Y10s were used as delays to ensure coverage for the audience of approximately 50,000 throughout the stadium. The system was driven by E-Racks featuring 22 Lab.gruppen PLM+ 20K44

‘We were thrilled to use the new Adamson E-Series arrays for Saudi National Day,’ enthused Theodoros Gkiantsis, the FOH engineer who mixed the operetta performed during the festivities.

‘The E-Series is extremely linear and it takes very little work to get the system sounding great. We received rave reviews about the

quality of the sound across the board.’

‘We’re following our long-term clients to bigger venues while also supporting larger festivals and major international tours,’ said Julien Beyrouthy, general manager of Spectrum Entertainment Services. ‘We’re seeing the demand for high-performance audio systems continue to grow and invested in Adamson’s sound, phase coherence, even coverage and clarity.’

www.adamsonsystems.com

www.spectrum07.com

Spectrum deploys Adamson at King Fahd Stadium Calibre acquired by Coretronic

WORLD: Coretronic Corporation has acquired British image processing technology manufacturer Calibre. The Taiwanese manufacturer of DLP projectors plans to make use of Calibre’s HQUltra image processing technology and in-house R&D capabilities.

Coretronic’s strategy to strengthen its leading position in display and image processing technology with a rich set of capabilities afforded Chen, president at Coretronic. ‘This will help Coretronic Group with its plans to further advance in the pro A/V market as well as assisting with

entry into the rapidly expanding direct-view LED display market. It will help Coretronic continue to drive its move to being an allround display systems provider.

In addition, Calibre will leverage Coretronic Group’s wide-reaching sales coverage and growing pro A/V channel sales, particularly in Asia, North America and Europe.’

As Calibre becomes a whollyowned subsidiary of Coretronic, its former CEO, Tim Brooksbank, will continue to lead in the role of managing director.

www.calibreuk.com

www.coretronic.com

Tim Brooksbank

King Fahd International Stadium

LiteDeck comes to Fruition Kuwait TV adopts Tedial/EVS solution

UAE: Prolyte Group is in the process of completing an order for more than 500 pieces of LiteDeck staging platforms placed by Fruition Events. Delivery will be completed in two batches, the event’s season started at the end of September. The second batch was delivered in October.

‘Investigating the opportunity of local production with the Prolyte not only invest into a sustainable product line, but also to enhance availability in the UAE market,’ explained Warren Barlow, managing director of Fruition Events. ‘LiteDeck offers a clean aesthetic look in comparison to existing steel products, whilst retaining simple functionality and creative design principles. Coupled with the extensive backup of the Prolyte network, we will have the added capability of developing special components locally, to meet the demands of the most creative deliveries.

Fruition Events further commits to invest into Prolyte Group products

to strengthen both brands in the MENA region. This set up will further ensure availability of the products for use by other Prolyte users.’

stock, backed by short lead times and direct availability, we now have a platform to service events as well as dry rental solutions and sales opportunities.’

With Fruition Events only looking to invest in sustainable product lines, it worked with Prolyte to establish a new route-to-market. This will see the LiteDeck frames manufactured locally by Talex, an Abu Dhabi-based extrusion plant that specialises in precision engineered aluminium products.

LiteDecks, welding jigs were developed at Prolyte headquarters in the Netherlands and sent to Abu Dhabi.

automatically added to archive

to use the joint solution, selecting it to integrate with its long-term archive management system and its EVS IPDirector suite. This is part installed by EVS’ local partner, INC System Integrations. The production asset management system manages content produced, ingested and played out via more than 20 XS series servers, allowing for live assets to be sent to the broadcaster’s Tedial MAM archive solution.

‘This new cooperation offers an excellent networking opportunity for this region,’ noted Lars Toonen, sales representative at Prolyte. ‘By creating a large rental

‘By outsourcing the product to a local company, we not only reduce shipping volume and lead times, but we also keep the region,’ said Ralph Stockley, Prolyte Group CCO.

www.fruitionevents.ae

www.prolyte.com www.talex.ae

KUWAIT: Kuwait TV is one of the adopt a joint solution offered by MAM technology solutions provider Tedial and live production technology specialist EVS. Tedial’s partnership with EVS creates a bi-directional link between the former’s Evolution enterprise MAM system and the latter’s IPDirector production asset management suite, reportedly removing surplus steps from a live content created via EVS to be

‘Making sure they have an easilymanaged archive of content is hugely important for them to future-proof their live programming,’ said Esther Mesas, Tedial CMO/CSO. ‘Having this tight integration between the EVS

that will help them to save expensive resources throughout the production process.’

www.evs.com

si.inc-technologies.com www.tedial.com

Delivery of the first batch of the LiteDeck frames

Tedial’s Esther Mesas

WORLD: www.sdvoe.org www.wyrestorm.com

APG

Arıkan Sirakaya with the Audient ASP4816

Salim-Sulaiman on stage

Changing roles

VENUETECH IS ONE OF THE VERY familiar names in Dubai’s distribution community. With a range of equipment from the likes of Sennheiser, Active Audio, Televic, SGM, Robert Juliat, ELC and Link on its roster, it has supplied a variety of projects across the region. While it regularly offers design services and after-sales support, it likes to leave the integration work to its clients. This business model changed for a Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque.

‘Our aim as a major distributor is to never do an installation by ourselves,’ states Elie Khairallah, technical director at Venuetech. ‘But due to the nature of this project, we had to take it on by ourselves. We were invited directly by the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque committee. The system we proposed is a complete solution.’ Having designed a solution based on the client’s requirements, the company was awarded the contract and given seven months to supply and install new audio solutions for the main prayer halls, courtyards and call to prayer system.

This saw Active Audio SA450P+, SA300P+ and SA230P+ column speakers with SB115 subs installed in the main prayer hall, an ElectroVoice XLD line array system to cover the large outdoor courtyard area and MC2C weatherised speakers from Active Audio for the arcades. Up in the minarets, Electro-Voice EVH speakers

have been installed to provide the call to prayer. At the other end of the signal chain, eight channels of Sennheiser’s 2000 Series wireless mics are distributed through the prayer halls, while a wired e965 condenser mic provides the source for the call to prayer. Meanwhile, ELC has provided a large number of Ethernet switches as the backbone of the audio network. Cabling includes a large volume of custom-built solutions from Link that needed to be air freighted in early in the project, and a Yamaha CL3 mixing console completes the solution.

The design and supply was an easy enough task for Venuetech, after all, this is what it has built its reputation on. But the installation aspect provided some new challenges. ‘We had to do all the civil work as well for the installation, such as pulling cables,’ recalls Mr Khairallah. ‘We

had three sub-contractors, one for cables and electrical work, one for the marble and one for all the mechanical package along with our proposed system.’

its fair share of challenges for a task was to work in the mosque in

an operational iconic project,’ admits the technical director. ‘Every day the mosque is open for visitors.

‘In phase one, most of the work took place at night and then during the day it had to be in operational condition, keeping in mind that

day,’ he continues. ‘Inside the prayer halls, it is a very delicate issue to match the colour of the new columns with the marble. Another challenge is to install all our equipment and keep the old system working. The existing system was working until the time came to switch over.’

Following the successful switchover, a different challenge that has added to the company’s skillset. ‘We are extremely happy that we were able to

been a very challenging project but the whole team is happy with what

part for us was the civil work because this is something done by others and you need to really worry about other people’s performance.’

Most importantly, he feels the mosque now has a solution that it deserves. ‘The whole mosque system is really state-of-the-art for everything, from the loudspeakers to the microphones. The client wanted the best of everything. The audio side of the mosque had been its weakest part, now the job is accomplished.’

www.venuetech.ae

needed to change its business model and provide the full service. James Ling reports

Electro-Voice speakers cover the outdoor courtyards

Sennheiser wireless systems have been put to use

The committee made a specific request for subwoofers for the project

A Yamaha CL3 controls the audio

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EDUCATION NEWS

SEMINAR DIARY

4–5 NOVEMBER

Eurotruss Academy

Dubai, UAE

Eurotruss will provide technical training for using and applying load cases, load-bearing tools and basic understanding of passive and dynamic forces to manage rigging plots.

www.procom-me.com

14–15 NOVEMBER

School of Emerging Technologies 4K

Dubai, UAE

The training concentrates on how to design 4K A/V systems by discussing the importance of signal data rates and which parameters are most critical to each application.

www.extron.com

19–23 NOVEMBER

Technical Training on Bosch Public Address

Dubai, UAE

This course offers hands-on training on the installation manufacturer’s Praesideo, Plena and Paviro public address solutions.

ae.boschsecurity.com

3–5 DECEMBER

Foundations of Crestron Programming Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

This three-day course will teach the basic programming skills a new Crestron programmer needs

www.crestron.eu

5–7 DECEMBER

InfoComm MEA

Summit

Dubai, UAE

Running alongside InfoComm MEA, the summit features sessions on acoustics and digital signage as well as streams covering A/V in the university and retail environments.

www.infocomm-mea.com

QSC and Vivid bring Q-Sys training to ME

UAE: QSC recently hosted a pair of two-day Q-Sys Level Two training seminars at Dubai’s Jumeirah Creekside Hotel in conjunction with Vivid Audiovisual Media. The workshops were led by QSC training application engineer Ercin Ural and attended by systems integrators from across the Middle East. The training programme is accredited by Avixa for eight renewal units.

‘Instead of shipping the equipment racks to various countries, we’ve decided to go for a central location and invited

our customers to come to Dubai,’ explained Chris Hellmuth, managing director of Vivid AV Media. ‘The Q-Sys Level Two training is a handson training where every student works on test gear.’

‘There is no more valuable investment for a manufacturer than in training regional specialists,’ commented Patrick Heyn, director of marketing and training for QSC Systems.

training.qsc.com

www.vivid-avmedia.com

Cape

Town gets to grips with the S and SD series

SOUTH AFRICA: DWR

Distribution’s Kyle Robson recently conducted a DiGiCo training course in Cape Town. The intensive one-day programme focused largely on the British manufacturer’s S and SD ranges.

‘We had 10 delegates attending from various companies, consisting of both old and new users,’ recalled Mr Robson. ‘The main focus was to educate the users on how to use both the S

and SD range comfortably and we also shared tips and tricks to show just how powerful the platform is.

‘There was a huge interest in this and everyone gained a deeper knowledge of the internals of the systems. The course was well received and I’m very grateful to everyone who attended,’ he concluded.

www.digico.biz www.dwrdistribution.co.za

Crestron announces EMEA training

EMEA: Crestron is launching a series of training courses for its DigitalMedia NVX range and Avia DSP platform across the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Starting with Avia, the one-day course will provide attendees with the technical background required to simplify audio programming, tuning, expansion and integration within common DSP applications.

Prior completion of Crestron’s online Avia Quick Start course and Audinate’s Dante course is required to attend Avia training.

‘This course will enable attendees

Neil Walton, training manager at Crestron EMEA. ‘They will also be able to create and apply custom channel strips and presets, tune and set up a room’s DSP system and

as Dante audio network expansion and acoustic echo cancellation.’

In terms of DigitalMedia NVX, the two-day workshops are aimed at systems integrators and technicians working with DigitalMedia solutions and will provide the skills needed to deploy systems for projects of all sizes.

‘The DM NVX course will provide training in the design and installation of networked video and audio distribution systems using Crestron Walton. ‘This will ensure that the interaction between designer, installer, programmer and end user is considered in all design decisions. At the core of this course are best practices for network implementation, including an in-depth look at network

www.crestron.eu

Videlio establishes 4K and IP Academy

WORLD: Videlio has partnered with Cisco and EVS to launch the 4K and IP Academy. The academy provides a series of training programmes designed for engineers, broadcasters and media to help in the transition to next-generation, IPbased broadcast infrastructures.

‘We are trying to ease the pain that engineers face when moving from the HD-over-SDI world that they know, to disruptive

technologies like HDR and 4K-overIP,’ said Vincent Loré, managing director of Videlio.

The 4K and IP Academy begins with three initial courses available: Discover, a one-day workshop designed for broadcast engineers as a primer on HDR, 4K and IP technologies; Understand, a three-day workshop that builds on Discover by walking engineers through the design

and implementation of an IP infrastructure; and Master, a workshop based on the Cisco engineers who need to manage live IP production systems.

‘Live video production requirements with respect to the switches and networks,’ explained Cisco’s strategy director, media

segment, Roger Sherwood. ‘That’s why we are announcing the launch of a new Cisco Learning programme engineers. We are delighted to count Videlio as one of our partners for these new media and entertainment industry-focused training courses.’ www.cisco.com www.evs.com www.videlio.com

The Q-Sys Level Two session in Dubai

Kyle Robson led the DiGiCo training in Cape Town

DHDI grants access to online library

WORLD: Delta H Design (DHDI) has made access to its online reference library public. The organisation aims to aggregate topics of interest regarding acoustics, thermal dynamics, classical mechanics, wave behaviour and quantum physics. The library includes History, University Research Labs, Organisations, Statistics, News and Reports, Research, Testing Laboratories, Commercial, Experimental and Government/ Military.

‘As more and more trusted, vetted sources of information become available, the knowledge of a great many researchers, scientists, artists and creators, makes the possibilities of accelerated technological innovation more possible than ever,’ commented Hanson Hsu, principal designer and CEO of DHDI. www.deltahdesign.com

LDA provides Evac training

Shidco hosts DTS training in Tehran

IRAN: Tehran-based distributor, Lighting seminar to take place in Iran. The event covered the Italian manufacturer’s entertainment, theatrical and architectural lighting products.

The event was organised by Shidco’s marketing manager, Hamidreza Darab, and saw presentations by DTS area sales manager, Antonio Parise, and the manufacturer’s technical sales engineer, Lorenzo Campana, as well as an introduction from Shidco CEO,

Mehdi Darab. During the event, the DTS representatives covered technical and commercial aspects of the lights.

The products covered during the seminar included the Core moving head spot and beam, Nick NRG 1401 beam/wash moving head

and Katana on the entertainment side. For architectural lighting the IP65-rated Brick LED wash light was the highlight. Finally, Scena LED 80, made up the theatrical portion. ‘We believe with the good portfolio we have in the pro audio industry, we have been able to strengthen our light industry side by working closely with DTS,’ concluded Mehdi Darab.

www.dts-lighting.it

www.shidco.com

SAUDI ARABIA: LDA Audio Tech recently conducted a seminar covering public address and voice evacuation systems for engineers and project managers in Mecca. With Le Méridien Towers Makkah serving as the venue, the seminar was led by Ibrahim El-Hallak, LDA product manager for KSA.

The workshop was attended by approximately 20 individuals from installation and systems integration companies throughout the region. Mr El-Hallak discussed the technical functionality of LDA’s PA/voice evacuation systems. www.lda-audiotech.com

•

The DTS session in Tehran

Thomsun expands catalogue

UAE: Thomsun Trading, has added to the roster of brands it represents with two new additions. The company will now act as the Aviwest.

deal, Thomsun will now represent the Riedel-owned brand throughout years, Thomsun has provided outstanding sales and distribution services for leading A/V technology brands – and today it also has an we’ve found the right partner to in the vital Middle East region and deliver value-added solutions

around our products.’

Intercom solutions and now have the opportunity to offer our clients in the region their award-winning line of intercom and partyline solutions,’ added Thomsun’s Jose events and performance venue exceptional voice intelligibility,

Apart moves to Sonic Wave

products with an outstanding audio performance while being incredibly

GM, Andy Williams. ‘Adding Apart to us your one-stop shop for all A/V requirements.’

dependable operation and user interfaces suited to fast-paced productions.’

As for Aviwest, the deal will see Thomsun target the regional broadcast industry with the French manufacturer’s video contribution over bonded 3G/4G cellular

‘Aviwest is dedicated to helping its customers respond to present and future live video production and contribution challenges by providing them with cost-effective and reliable systems that guarantee exceptional video quality from any location around the world,’ stated Jeremy Guevel, regional sales manager for Aviwest. ‘With Thomsun Trading as our partner, we hope to provide more immediate and faster access

to our solutions to existing and prospective clients in the region.’

‘The ability of mobile devices to record high-resolution video and the ubiquity of high-speed 4G/ is fundamentally changing digital media news gathering in the broadcast industry,’ added

‘Aviwest’s superior bonding technology allows broadcasters to deploy an ecosystem comprising a full range of mobile devices and smartphone apps to industryleading video transmitters, encoders, transceivers and decoder

platforms, as well as a cloud-based management system with live video

‘With the increasing commercial viability and reliable coverage of that clients in the broadcast and ENG industry will deploy Aviwest solutions for a higher ROI in live and remote coverage of news Das, broadcast sales manager at Thomsun Trading.

www.asl-inter.com

www.aviwest.com

www.thomsunmusiconline.com

Venuetech to represent Atlona across MENA

UAE: exclusive distributor for Apart Audio

Hall in the company’s roster. ‘Apart delivers a range of

‘We are delighted to start the further expand the Apart presence Wave staff and together support their dealers and systems integrators as the Apart product range is an brand portfolio.’

www.apart-audio.com

www.sonicwave.ae

MENA: Venuetech has been appointed by Atlona as its chief regional manufacturer representative for the Middle East, Arabian Gulf and North Africa. Based in Abu Dhabi with

leverage its presence in the MENA region to boost A/V distribution solutions manufacturer’s visibility commercial A/V project space.

presence and reputation for supporting professional brands across sales and business development, systems design,

local service and repairs, training

service partner,’ explained Ronni Guggenheim, general manager of Atlona. ‘Their reach and expertise is sure to heighten awareness about our growing portfolio of enterpriselevel A/V solutions for connected spaces.’

sports events are currently the trend in the MENA region, and such entertainment facilities, hospitality businesses, command centres and

brand manager at Venuetech. ‘A/Vover-IP along with comprehensive control are a part of every solution, Atlona’s products and innovations intelligently address today’s A/V challenges and technology trends. Huddle rooms also continue to become more common in almost every type of facility, and Atlona’s wired and wireless collaboration and presentation solutions ideally spaces for corporate, higher education and other verticals.’ While targeting 4K and IP-based installations Venuetech will strategically position Atlona products alongside some of the other brands is represents, such as Barco, Active ‘Binding all these systems together with solid distribution, presentation and control platforms is one of the

www.atlona.com

www.venuetech.ae

WORLD: RTW is to serve as the global distribution partner for Nixer Pro Audio’s PD-Dante handheld monitoring and diagnostic system. The device allows users to listen directly into Dante streams on an Ethernet

‘RTW is happy to be distributing this revolutionary product worldwide,’ commented Andreas

Pro Audio is a high-quality company and achieves great results with the products it manufactures. PD-Dante is a

Westcon takes on Revolabs

perfect addition to our product portfolio and will surely also open

www.nixerproaudio.com

www.rtw.com

EMEA: Westcon Group European Operations has been appointed as the new EMEA distributor for Revolabs’ complete catalogue products. The agreement covers the manufacturer’s new Yamahabranded systems, including the

‘With the development of our latest solutions, the creation

Yamaha, and now our partnership with Westcon, we’re continuing to expand our reach to provide broader support to our growing IT channel,’ declared Russell Harpham, EMEA director at and trusted IT distributor, and this partnership will accelerate Revolabs’ growth and align with

our mission to deliver high-quality, impeccable customer service.’ ‘Revolabs’ product portfolio fully delivers our vision for world-class technology that streamlines communications and enhances our existing line card of vendors,’ commented Andy Herring, EMEA product manager at Westcon. www.revolabs.com

ASL will be distributed by Thomsun Trading

Aviwest’s Jeremy Guevel with Thomsun’s Sanal Das

Sonic Wave MD Andy Williams with sales manager Armand Bulder

Naisvyn Lucas (Venuetech) and Ronni Guggenheim (Atlona)

Nixer Pro Audio’s PD-Dante

BRAND NEW QUATTROCANALI SERIES

-user friendly interface

-in-depth networking

-full remote control via Armonía

-lockable control functions

APPOINTMENTS

Coup for AAG as Glen Dougherty becomes COO

UAE: Glen Dougherty has become AAG Events LLC. In this role, he will preside over all departments and work closely with the entire AAG team while focusing on the distribution for audio products. The company is looking to distribute products in the Middle East, Africa, Australia and parts of Asia.

‘I’m delighted to have been given this opportunity to lead AAG and take it beyond just A/V or print,’ said Mr Dougherty. ‘Although AAG has been in the industry for about a year, we have taken our time to build a highly

David Webster moves to Coda

professional team of individuals that possess unique skill sets, be it in automation, pyrotechnics, even in

creates quality events for our clients, using emergent technology, larger-than-life displays and sustainable design with a showready attitude,’ he continued.

WORLD: David Webster, known to his peers as ‘Webby’, has joined Coda Audio as its director of global marketing. Mr Webster is a industry, having co-founded DiGiCo following career stints at Klark Teknik and Midas.

‘I’ve spent many years in the audio industry and been closely involved in some very exciting and groundbreaking developments,’ said another. Coda is undoubtedly of systems that not only sound incredible but have advantages that

everyone involved in using them. The quality is unbelievable – but what is just as captivating is that the sound is being produced by systems so light and compact that, by virtue of these qualities, they open new doors for, lighting, video and stage show designers, as much as they do for audio engineers and road crew.

It’s the same on the installation side, where reduced size and weight are crucial issues in, for example, heritage buildings or houses of worship.’

Coda’s director of global business development, Paul Ward,

Williams Sound hires director of marketing

WORLD: Williams Sound has hired Diane Thomas as its new director of marketing. She joins the wireless communications technology manufacturer from Audio Research Corporation, where she served in the same role. She possesses more than 30 years of experience in brand strategy, marketing initiatives, product development, analysis, customer engagement and communications across a range of industries.

‘We are excited to have Diane lead our marketing efforts,’ said Richard brings a fresh perspective and a wealth of marketing experience.’

Ms Thomas is looking forward to starting her new role. ‘For more than 40 years, the Williams Sound brand has been synonymous with high-quality products and exceptional customer service,’ she said. ‘I plan to leverage my proven track record

commented on the appointment: ‘There is no question that securing Webby’s services is a great coup for Coda. He is a proven top-level operator whose success and longevity in the industry speaks for itself. Combining impeccable marketing credentials with a strong technical grounding, Webby also possesses a genuine empathy with every stakeholder in the audio chain, from the stage to the front of house and with installers and production teams alike. He has a thorough understanding of what is required to be successful in our industry and employing his considerable talents is sure to be of

‘Paul Ward is someone I know well and have a huge respect for, so I’m very much looking forward to working with him and sharing ideas,’ Mr Webster added. ‘The company already has an enviable infrastructure and is very much in control of its destiny. With those things in place, I see my role as working within an exceptional team to take Coda Audio forward and entrench the brand as a major global force in the audio world.’

www.codaaudio.com

design and motion graphics, which, I believe, gives us the ability to outperform in the industry.

‘My vision is to shape AAG to be an event service provider that

‘We want to be a service provider that, like our team, is humble and trustworthy yet innovative and customer focused. I want to be able to build a relationship with our clients and give them enhanced, tailor-made solutions. If we stay loyal to our values, our clients will stay loyal to us.’

www.aageventservices.com

Jeremy Rees takes the reins at TSL Systems

WORLD: Broadcast industry veteran Jeremy Rees has joined TSL Systems as its new managing director. He will be stepping into the shoes of Roger Henderson, who is stepping down from the

Mr Rees joins the company from Cisco where he served as senior director, delivery. He has also worked for NDS as vice president and held positions at the BBC and the New York bureau.

of building winning marketing and branding strategies to drive the spirit of innovation that has become the mantra of this great organisation.’

www.williamssound.com

the company as executive director until the end of the year. Mr Rees will oversee TSL Systems’ global services.

‘The broadcast industry never stands still and I am very much looking forward to helping TSL’s business portfolio to adapt and grow to meet the challenges of the future,’ commented Mr Rees.

‘I am delighted to be joining the company and working with the team in continuing to provide outstanding solutions to existing and new customers.’

TSL Systems hopes that the appointment of Mr Rees will bolster its board of directors during what is a period of strong growth for the company that has projects over the last 18 months.

‘Jeremy’s experience will be invaluable in springboarding the company to the next level in its growth and development,’ said Mr Henderson.

‘Roger has nurtured TSL Systems over the last few years and done a great job in transitioning our business through some challenges and he deserves an immense amount of credit for helping us rebuild and refocus our offering,’ TSL Holdings chairman, David MacGregor, we have seen dramatic growth in our projects, services and the up the baton and see us continue this success.’

www.tslsystems.co.uk

Glen Dougherty

‘I’m delighted to have been given this opportunity to lead AAG and take it beyond just A/V or print’

David ‘Webby’ Webster

Jeremy Rees

R&D expansion at d&b

WORLD: d&b audiotechnik has hired position that has been vacated by

Ayrton adds

MEA sales manager

MEA: the team and ensure customers

NOBA8

When design meets sound

The NOBA series is characterized by an innovative & unique design. With its curved shape, made of 4 mm thick aircraft graded aluminum and its extremely powerful 8” woofer of 300 Watts, the NOBA8 is able to deliver an unheard low frequency response for its small woofer size. To blend in with any interior, the NOBA8 comes available in both black and white.

Discover more on audac.eu

www.ayrton.eu

Zane Cretten

Frank Bothe and Jan Biermann

The German manufacturer unveils a new solution for mixing and monitoring 3D immersive productions

LAWO IS targeting immersive audio mixing and monitoring applications with Lime, the Lawo Immersive Mixing Engine. Developed in cooperation with New Audio Technology, the 2 series consoles.

Dolby Atmos (7.1.2 and 5.1.4 bed), MPEG-H,

loudness control in accordance with ITU

and video streams in any multi-vendor IP setup. Through standardised and vendor-

personal audio and broadcast applications. In addition to this, the system includes and surround productions. This draws on releases. Headlining these is the mc2

automated mixing capabilities include microphones, while maintaining a constant

automated close-ball mixing solution.

and reportedly provides central stream routing and resource management across

In addition to this, the console provides

touchscreens, as well as multiple mini sensitive colour-coded encoders.

heads, and scale and display any source on any output head. The same source can be displayed on multiple output heads at www.lawo.com

The evolution of EV

ELECTRO-VOICE HAS focused on portable live sound solutions with a pair of additions to its catalogue. The ELX200 is a family of portable solutions, while the Evolve 50 is a portable powered column system. Starting with Evolve 50, this is a column format loudspeaker and subwoofer system that offers a maximum sound pressure level of 126dB and weighs in at 35kg. The column features eight 3.5-inch neodymium drivers matched to a 12-inch subwoofer and its to 1,000W.

Evolve 50 has a horizontal coverage of 120° and 40° asymmetrical vertical coverage. In terms of its physical make-up, the array is enclosed in durable ABS plastic, while the ported subwoofer is enclosed in wood. Assembly is via a symmetrical aluminium subwoofer pole with integrated wiring. At each end of the pole, the cable-free connection is locked into

place by an internal magnet. In terms of control, an angled input panel gives users access from above to make adjustments and connections, and includes EV’s QuickSmartDSP interface. This allows navigation of system parameters via an LCD display with single-knob control, as well

Fulcrum starts a family

DESCRIBED AS being particularly effective for systems where targeted pattern control is required, Fulcrum’s new CCX1295 is a 12-inch subcardioid coaxial loudspeaker that is stated to provide 9dB of low frequency attenuation in the rear hemisphere while still providing the output capability of a normal 2-way

member of the CCX12 family, and is soon to be joined by additional 12-inch models said to offer a full range of horn patterns.

The core speaker specs include a frequency response from 71Hz to 20kHz, 400W power handling at

product incorporates Fulcrum’s

as multiple presets and options for signal routing and inputs. It also features Bluetooth streaming of background music or musical accompaniment directly from any mobile device. The Bluetooth QuickSmartMobile app allows the monitoring of up to six Evolve 50

systems simultaneously. The app facilitates dial-in settings in real-time from in front of the system. The ELX200 family comprises powered and passive 10-inch, 12-inch and 15-inch 2-way models as well as 12-inch and 18-inch subwoofers. As with the Evolve 50, the ELX200 family offers the Bluetooth QuickSmartMobile app. This allows the wireless monitoring of up to six ELX200 systems simultaneously and facilitates dial-in settings in real-time from in front of the system. Additional features include SST (Signal Synchronised Transducers) waveguide design, and the aforementioned QuickSmartDSP. Finally, and away from live sound, the manufacturer has also unveiled its Evid-S family of installation enclosures. Available in black or white, the series has been designed with ease of use for

integrators in mind and includes 4-inch, 5.25-inch and 8-inch 2-way models with matching dual 10-inch and single 12-inch subwoofers. One of the major highlights of the family is its new wall-mount system. Using this solution, installers can attach the wallmount (using its built-in spirit level) and terminate the cables inside, apply the paint cover to protect the wall-mount until construction is completed (when the cover can be removed) and then slide the pre-wired speaker with adjustable arm onto the wall-mount and lock into place.

series’ weatherproof credentials. All models are paintable and IP54 An IP65 weatherproof version is available for the 5.25-inch loudspeaker cabinet and the 10inch subwoofer models.

www.electrovoice.com

Passive Cardioid Technology, company’s FL283 line array module, while the coaxial transducer and 90° x 45° horn can be rotated in 45° increments. The enclosure’s 40° vertically trapezoidal to ceilings.

The CCX1295 is described as particularly effective in systems where targeted pattern control is desirable, and is said to offer a unique shape and compact size to complement any architectural style.

www.fulcrum-acoustic.com

BRUTALLY HONEST.

At this level, there is no room for dishonesty. You need the sound of absolute truth. Designed and engineered from scratch to reveal details that no other flagship monitors can. Innovation runs deep and wide in the new ADAM S Series. With more bass extension.

Trust Your Inner Ear

Dramatically enhanced mid-range detail. And loud, intensely accurate output without fatigue or distortion. This is sound designed to reach your inner ear. Inspire trust in your creative instincts. And move you to create your best work… by hearing what others miss.

CCX1295 subwoofer

The ADAM S Series

S3H

Peavey takes power up a level

THE PVXP DSP powered enclosures from Peavey Electronics offer ADSP (Advanced Digital Signal Processing) technology and an asymmetrical horn said to keep the sound focused towards the audience using the company’s Quadratic Throat Waveguide technology, reportedly covering a 100° x 50° radius (15° upwards and 35° downwards). The series is stated to provide 128dB SPL and the cabinets house a 1.4kg magnet paired with

Dual 18-inch sub option joins Radius

DESIGNED FOR both portable and installed applications, EAW has added the RSX218 subwoofer to its Radius series. The product the manufacturer describes as the family’s signature features.

titanium diaphragm. An Adjustable EQ comes in the form of the ADSP – EQ presets include Music, EDM, Rock/Country/ Monitor, and offer adjustable treble and bass to tailor the sound to the environment. Additional features include an XLR and ¼-inch TRS and a ground lift. Thru Output via TRS phone jack are also featured.

PERFORMANCE ART

622.3mm x 409mm x 381mm and DSP measures 717.6mm x 480mm x 475.2mm and weighs 23.13kg.

point inserts on the top, bottom offer the versatility of ceiling or wall mounting. A perforated steel grille speakers.

www.peavey.com

RSX218

Coated with EAW’s Roadcoat

powered by 1,400W of onboard acoustic (transducer) and electronic (DSP) solutions to allowing smaller AC services to be

Like the other models in the Radius series, the RSX218 features a large navigation access to all functions. Dual locking etherCON connectors connectivity for single cable audio and communications. XLR audio input and thru connections provide an analogue input redundancy from Dante, while power is delivered via powerCON connections.

www.eaw.com

SYVA COLINEAR SOURCE

Syva is a new breed of speaker, blending our groundbreaking line-source heritage with plug-and-play simplicity and an elegant design. 142 dB. 35 meters of throw. 140° horizontal coverage. Down to 35 Hz. Syva gives you peerless power and performance. Learn more about Syva at l-acoustics.com and experience our immersive sound solutions at l-isa-music.com

RCF extends its highs and lows

DESIGNED BY RCF to be used in combination with its TT+ 2-way touring systems, the TTS 15-A subwoofer is a compact, highoutput module offering high power, portability and ease of handling. Incorporating a 15-inch woofer powered by a 1,100W RMS SMPS

RDNet network capabilities, the weatherproof cabinet is equipped with a double M20 threaded pole mount for vertical or horizontal mounting together with two presets on the rear-enabling deployment in cardioid mode. The RCF TTS 18-A II is an 18-inch version powered by a 1,400W RMS SMPS a lightweight neodymium magnet, inside–outside copper voice coil, silicon double spiders and a waterresistant treated cone.

The Italian manufacturer has added three 2-way models to its TT+ range in the form of the TT 10-A, TT 20-CXA wedge monitor and upgraded TT 08-A (TT 08-A II). Powered by internal LF 600W and that also provide full DSP and FiRPHASE processing functionality, the rear back panel of each model provides individual signal I/O, RDNet monitoring control connection and one EQ preset control. The TT 08-A II and TT 10-A speakers are 8- and 10-inch models, respectively, whilst the TT 20-CXA is a full-range symmetrical monitor housing dual 8-inch drivers with a 2.5-inch exit HF compression

response together with a 90° x 60° coverage pattern, the versatility of the monitor is extended by virtue of a steel pole mount promoting its use as a full-range FOH system. The housed in Baltic birch plywood that coating.

Following market feedback, the NX Series of modular active loudspeakers consisting of a line array module, 2-way monitors and high-power subwoofers has been further extended with the NX 32-A and NX45 A 2-way enclosures. Housed in birch plywood, the polemountable cabinets are protected with a 2mm grille in front and

rigging. The larger-format RCF NX 45-A is a high-output, 2-way module designed for use in combination with the 8000 Series subwoofers.

The NX 45-A woofer features a lightweight, 15-inch neodymium woofer and a horn-loaded, 4-inch exit HF titanium compression driver, both of which are powered by an internal 1,400W RMS SMPS

full DSP. The crossover point is set at 700Hz, providing clarity and intelligibility in the vocal range.

ProAudio Technology downsizes

weight 21kg and the width 58cm.

According to the company, the linear acoustic phase above 80Hz ensures a perfect broadband coupling among the individual speakers within the array and allows the whole system to be equalised

allow an economical drive with up to six elements per channel of a 10.4-

For example, a 2x6 VT16 and 2x4 SW18 system can therefore be driven

single 230V/16A Schuko outlet and needs only two cables per side.

users to hang up to 11 VT16s on a 250kg motor. The fully integrated

within aluminium housing to aid heat dissipation, the NX 32-A offers full DSP capabilities including coherent audio distribution without phase distortion.

equalisers, compressors, gates, limiters, delays, duckers, priorities and two independent auto-mixer algorithms. An Automatic Level Control facility is also available; a probe connected to input 8 automatically adjusts the volume level according to the measured environmental noise. The device also accommodates 10 logic inputs (GPI) and six logic outputs (GPO), are operated by a relay. A serial port can also be set to control the unit from a third-party system and it is possible to link two MZ 8060s create a 16-input, 12-output total access matrix.

Finally, RCF has also released for installed systems named DPS 604X. It has four inputs and four

PROAUDIO TECHNOLOGY’S VT16

vertical line array loudspeaker incorporates two 8-inch highexcursion, low-mid drivers arranged symmetrically around the hornloaded, 1.4-inch HF driver, said to

provide a distinctive sound below 50Hz. In the mid-range, all three drivers work in parallel, reportedly to provide essential headroom with a compact music programme. The horizontal dispersion is 90°, the

grade steel allows vertical angles between 0° and 8° in consistent 1° steps and arrays of 16 VT16 loudspeakers in vertical arrays.

www.proaudio-technology.de

Away from speakers, RCF has recently launched the MZ 8060 digital audio matrix for installed and commercial applications. The product is described as the central management unit for the system integrator and the complex systems developer, and reportedly boasts simple installation and set up. It features an 8x6 matrix – eight universal mic/line inputs and six outputs. DSP includes parametric

outputs that could be combined in switch on the rear panel allowing the selection of eight operational modes. It also has two hi-pass

cut-off frequencies ranging from 50Hz to 250Hz. The audio wiring uses Euroblock terminals.

www.rcf.it

LFs down to the ground

THE LAs418G is a ground stack version of Next-proaudio’s LAs418 subwoofer, which by taking away the capability of arraying the sub, retaining the same design and performance of its predecessor. At 87kg, the LAs418G includes eight handles, four on each side.

Measuring 516mm x 920mm x 1030mm (HxDxW), the new version incorporates two long-excursion and high-power 18-inch drivers said to provide ultra-low frequencies at a high SPL. Forming the matched

subwoofer for the LA family, the LAs418G delivers its 9,000W output down to 24Hz (–10dB).

the speaker is housed in a multilaminate birch plywood enclosure

semi-matte coating. The LAs418G is available in either a standard

the parallel wired Neutrik NL4 connector on the front of the subwoofer.

www.next-proaudio.com

The VT16 vertical line array

LAs418G

DPS 604X

TT-10-A

TTS 15-ATTS 18-A II

DOES MORE. WEIGHS LESS.

The ELX200 series combines real professional audio quality, precision control, and robust, EV-engineered components in an ultra-lightweight package – a truly potent blend of performance and portability.

•

Wireless control and monitoring via the new Bluetooth®*

QuickSmartMobile app

•

Perfect for both portable and installed applications

•

•

Lightweight package with heavyweight performance QuickSmartDSP provides best-in-class processing via EV’s signature single-knob user interface with LCD

•

Electro-Voice-patented SST (Signal Synchronized Transducer) waveguide design combines a more compact foot print with enhanced acoustic performance

ELX200 EVOLVE50

•

SLEEK SOUNDS STUNNING

•

Clean, compact design, built to blend in Easy transport and setup

Real PA performance with wide, even coverage

•

•

High-quality Bluetooth®* audio & wireless control and monitoring via the new Bluetooth®* QuickSmartMobile app QuickSmartDSP provides best-in-class processing via EV’s signature single-knob user interface with LCD

Ecler everywhere

active and passive compact, 2-way surface mount speakers. The cabinets are available in black or white and house a 5-inch woofer with a 1-inch tweeter. They have the ability to switch between mono and stereo operation and offer bass and treble tone control. With the ability to be installed outside, the eMotus5OD is also available in black or white, and is a 2-way cabinet that encases a 5-inch woofer and 1-inch tweeter. On the selector with options for 3.75, 7.5, 15 and 30W operation.

Vue gives big output to new Nano

ECLER’S NEW eMotus Series comprises a pair of stereo loudspeaker kits and an outdoor speaker, and has been developed to cover a wide range of commercial installation applications. The eMotus5P and eMotus5PB kits are aimed at classrooms, leisure facilities and sports centres, meeting and conference rooms, auditoria, museums, retail outlets and for sound reinforcement in clubs and bars. The eMotus5OD is

an outdoor speaker designed for use in theme parks and outdoor spaces such as gardens and nature parks, as well as accompanying its family members in sport centres and museums.

The eMotus5P and eMotus5PB are identical except for the Bluetooth connection, IR remote control functionality and a 0-10VDC remote port for volume control offered exclusively by the eMotus5PB model. Both kits supply

The eMotus Series is designed for ease of use due to the vast number of applications the systems are intended for. The same can be said of Ecler’s ePinBlu wireless audio receiver. It connects over Bluetooth and includes a mini-jack connection with stereo audio output. A USB charging cable comes in the box to provide the ePinBlu with enough power for up to seven hours of operation. A mini-jack to mini-jack connector is also included, along with a mini-jack to RCA stereo cable.

www.ecler.com

VUE AUDIOTECHNIK is claiming to have ‘reset the SPL-to-size benchmark’ with its new e-Class range of loudspeakers. Debuting with the e-352 Nano, the series claims to offer Hi-Fi quality sound at professional output levels reaching 120dB SPL.

The e-352 Nano houses a 25mm Truextent beryllium dome tweeter with a neodymium magnet assembly that is claimed to offer extremely low distortion and an extended frequency response of a pair of 3.5-inch custom-designed cone transducers that combine a neodymium magnet structure with high-temperature voice coils optimised for heat dissipation.

features an integrated highfrequency waveguide, while a pair of V-shaped wire bumpers provide protection for the tweeter while eliminating the diffractions. All three drivers are housed in a compact die-cast aluminium enclosure. The aluminium is corrosion and moisture resistant, allowing the speakers’ use outdoors and in harsh weather applications. The onboard passive crossover network is mated to DSP inside the VueDrive V2.5 Systems, which provides power and transducer protection for up to eight e-352s.

www.vueaudio.com

The e-352 Nano

Q-Sys control goes small format

QSC HAS designed its TSC47W-G2 touchscreen dialer/ controller to give integrators is accomplished due to the Q-Sys controller’s 4.7-inch screen that can be set to either portrait or

landscape mode. The screen features LCD touch technology with a 960x540 display and PoE

a single cable. TSC-47W-G2 is bundled with mounting accessories for standard wall and junction

boxes, and allows users to create custom graphical user control interfaces.

Up above on the ceiling, the same integrators might install QSC’s AD-C4T and AD-C6T ceilingmount loudspeakers from its

Next-gen studio monitor control

YAMAHA IS targeting ‘nextgeneration studios’ with its MMP1 Studio Monitor Management System, built as an answer to the complexity of monitor and communication presented in the wake of immersive audio formats. In addition to monitor controller functionality, the MMP1 also offers support for in-the-box

A 40x36 matrix, comprising 32 inputs and eight DSP channel inputs with 32 outputs and stereo downmix outputs, as well as stereo headphone outputs at 44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96kHz, and 20x20 channels at 176.4kHz and 192kHz, facilitates monitor source mixing for a range of formats, including stereo and immersive audio such as Dolby Atmos. Flexible

talkback and eight stereo cues facilitate communication between multiple users.

Following the monitor matrix is a 32x32 speaker management matrix at 44.1, 48, 88.2 and 96kHz or 16x16 channels at 176.4kHz and 192kHz that features crossover

all channels. Precision FIR bass

as well as IIR types to maintain channels. Time alignment delay and EQ are also included, along with eight analogue and 16 AES/EBU I/Os. Built-in Dante audio networking enables I/O expansion and system scalability.

A range of response shaping options and vintage analogue effects that have been modelled at the

component level using Yamaha’s VCM technology are supplied by channel strips, each with four selectable EQ types: Precise, Aggressive, Smooth and Legacy. Cough functionality allows external controllers connected via a GPI interface to mute microphones. Current Status monitoring is also available using the MMP1 Controller iPad app, designed to provide control of the main parameters. In other news, continuing its recent march into the conferencing world, Yamaha has developed the YVCSpeakphone as a solution intended to bring ‘natural and clear’ audio to Skye for Business meetings, as well as enhance the user experience.

AcousticDesign Series. These are now EN 54-24 type A compliant, meaning they meet European standards for audio and voice alarming.

www.qsc.com

solution, the YVC-1000MS has been designed for large meeting rooms, rooms with special table

classes taking place within the Skype for Business application. The device features separate microphone and speaker units, and integrates adaptive echo cancellation and other processing technologies developed by the manufacturer over the years. Connection is assured to be fast thanks to a user-friendly design, said to provide an ‘intuitive’ connection to a call on a smartphone by Bluetooth and the ability to bridge to a Skype for Business call via USB.

www.yamahaproaudio.com

TSC-47W-G2 can be set for vertical use and horizontal

The MMP1 Studio Monitor Management System

Zsound adds passive sub to LA110

THE LA110P from ZSound is a comprising dual 15-inch cone drivers and a built-in 3-channel maximum output of 4,700W. It can be used in conjunction with the manufacturer’s LA110 line array or other full range loudspeakers and is suitable for a variety of applications,

installations. The cabinet is reportedly capable of a peak SPL of 133dB with a frequency response of 38Hz to 100Hz (±3dB). The enclosure itself is constructed from 25mm and 18mm plywood and waterproof paint. Four recessed handle cups are mounted on both sides of

USB alternative to StudioLive 16.0.2

PRESONUS HAS followed up on the success of its StudioLive 16.0.2 digital mixer by releasing a more compact USB version. Designed for studio recording and live sound, StudioLive 16.0.2 USB is a portable alternative that retains the 16 channels of its bigger brother and provides the option for rack mounting.

StudioLive 16.0.2 USB boasts processing, XMAX Class-A mic preamps and 24-bit, 48kHz BurrBrown digital converters with 118dB dynamic range as the regular 16.0.2 desk. Where the USB unit differs is with its 18x16 USB 2.0 interface that replaces the FireWire 400 recording and control interface of the larger model. This allows it to work with any Mac or Windows audio software supporting Core Audio or ASIO. The USB desk also includes

four aux sends, while adjacent channels and aux busses can be stereo linked. The main bus takes the form of a stereo, 31-band graphic EQ. A Fat Channel processing section handles the compressor, limiter,

Go, Go Mic Mobile

SAMSON’S GO Mic Mobile is wireless microphone system that connects directly to smartphones without the need for cumbersome adaptors or interfaces’. Designed vlogging and live streaming applications, it captures HD audio when recording with a smartphone or DSLR camera.

Available as a handheld or

lavalier with belt pack, Go Mic Mobile’s dual-channel receiver mounts onto the phone or camera, transmitting and mixing digital audio on two separate channels. It plugs directly into iOS and Android devices using the respective Lightning and micro USB-C cables bundled. A shoe mount adapter facilitates DSLR camera or professional camcorder connection. The system’s

downward expander and 3-band, semi-parametric EQ available on each channel, all aux busses and a pair of onboard effects outputs. The latest PreSonus software suite is also installed.

the enclosure for transport and a rear panel connector plate carries two Neutrik Speakon NL4MP connectors for loop-in and loop-out connections to additional enclosures. The sub can also be used directly with the LA110 array and it uses the same rigging hardware.

www.prozs.com

SOLID STATE Logic is aiming to take its System T IP-based, live-to-air broadcast audio production system into smaller spaces, such as OB vans, with

compact control surface can be incorporated as part of a larger System T installation or as a standalone product for smaller facilities.

Sticking with the USB theme is the AudioBox USB 96, an audio/ MIDI interface that records up to 24-bit, 96kHz. It provides a pair of mic/instrument inputs on the front panel and is also available as part of the AudioBox 96 Studio recording kit that includes the Studio One Artist software, Studio Magic plugin suite, monitoring headphones and large diaphragm condenser microphone.

Also new is Quantum, a 26x32channel Thunderbolt 2 interface for use in recording. It has a directto-DAW signal path for low latency with 24-bit, 192kHz converters with 120dB of dynamic range and PreSonus’ recallable XMAX microphone preamps. Up to four Quantums can be stacked to add up to a 96x96 system if needed.

www.presonus.com

rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides up to 13 hours of wireless transmission.

With a frequency response between 10Hz and 22kHz, and a bitrate of 48kHz, Go Mic Mobile is built to transmit uncompressed, low-latency audio and operates at up to 30m via the 2.4GHz frequency band. It also includes a

switchable headphone/line output with volume control for monitoring or connecting to an analogue input using the 3.5mm cable that comes in the box.

www.samsontech.com

S-Series gets better connected

CONSOLES IN DiGiCo’s S-Series range have gained new connectivity options with the DMI-MIC Pre-Amp Card, which adds an extra eight mic inputs via a 25-way D-sub connection. This allows for up to

40 mics directly on the same console, using the same preamps already in the console.

‘To take advantage of this and our other DMI card options, we are running a Get Connected programme,’ commented

DiGiCo general manager, Austin Freshwater, ‘so contact your local dealer for full details of the programme and get connected soon.’

www.digico.org

The S300 comes in two versions: 16+1 faders and 32+1 faders. The console can connect to either a Tempest T25 (256 paths at 48kHz) or a T80 (800 paths at 48kHz) Processor Engine and runs the same software as the larger S500 surface and TCR (Tempest Control Rack). It includes a fully integrated Dante control API that provides arbitrated audio control resource sharing between the company’s Network I/O range and its Tempest platform-based consoles.

There are up to eight Dialogue auto mixers and two Dynamics sections per path, including compressors, oversampled true peak limiters, gates, expanders and de-essers. An additional effects rack provides multiple reverbs, dynamic EQ, noise reduction, signal generators, summing tools, upmixers, downmixers and the company’s bus compressor as standard.

all System T consoles and controllers means production can move between control rooms within a facility, or an S300 can be used as a backup surface to a larger S500. Where processing engines are of different sizes, SSL’s compatibility mode reportedly allows the pre-selection of channel, busses and effects resources that will be inactive on the smaller processing engine. According to the manufacturer, settings from the larger device are never lost and resources can be reassigned at any point during the show, even with audio passing.

www.solidstatelogic.com

SSL’s System T S300

DMI-MIC Pre-Amp Card

The LA110P

Sennheiser focuses on mobile videography

SENNHEISER’S FOCUSMIC Digital mini-shotgun microphone is built for capturing high-quality, focused audio from the direction in which on an iPhone. It plugs directly into an iPhone Lightning port and is designed with a Sennheiser camera microphone capsule and Apogee PureDigital preamp and A/D converter.

FocusMic Digital attaches to a variety of iPhone models, including the SE, X and 8 plus, via a metal grip that allows 270° mic rotation. The all-metal microphone casing

FocusMic Digital

and grip is constructed to withstand life on the road. A ¼-inch thread for attaching to camera accessories such as tripods, table stands and

handles is equipped on the grip. The mic is powered by the smartphone and a foam windshield is included. Parameters such as sensitivity and

Wisycom widens wireless reach

WISYCOM IS aiming to increase wireless reach for projects of all sizes with the development of a compact RF matrix combiner and a pair of wideband antenna systems. Based on the company’s larger MAT288, the MAT244 Programmable RF Combiner aims to deliver the manufacturer’s RF distribution

Designed to combine RF from four separate locations, the RF combiner

operates on a bandwidth from 150MHz to 840MHz and can be managed remotely via Ethernet.

Running on a redundant power supply (AC/DC), each input supports programmable attenuators, while antenna boosters can be supplied on every input independently.

Moving on to the antenna systems, the company’s LBN2/LNN2 UHF wideband antennas feature a Log Periodic Dipole Array (LPDA). The

Wisycom’s MAT244

to 1,300MHz frequency range and are said to enhance reception by providing a gain of approximately 6dB with a beam width of 140°. The antennas differ in their connector

gain can be adjusted via mobile apps, including Apogee’s Maestro and MetaRecorder applications. The apps also enable the setting of

protection function.

In other news, the German manufacturer has released the MMD 42-1 dynamic microphone head as an individual accessory.

The omni-directional capsule previously featured on Sennheiser’s MD 42 reporter’s microphone and as a part of the AVX Combo Set. It is compatible with many of

Sennheiser’s wireless microphone series, including the AVX, D1, SpeechLine Digital Wireless, evolution wireless, 2000, 6000 and 9000 systems, and is designed to minimise wind and pop noise. Finally, the Neumann brand is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its renowned U 87 professional studio microphone with the limited release of the U 87 Rhodium Edition. Only 500 units will be sold worldwide, each individually

www.sennheiser.com

type. The LBN2 comes with a BNC connector, while the LNN2 has an N connector.

Meanwhile, Wisycom’s LBP/LNP wideband LPDA antennas feature a

signals around 20dB. The antennas 800MHz frequency range and are described as providing approximately 6dB of gain with a typical beam width through the coaxial cable attached to its input connector (200mA at 12V). Again it is with the connectors where the difference can be found. The LBP is provided with a BNC-female type connector, while the LNP comes with an N-female type connector.

www.wisycom.com

form factor for straightforward mounting not requiring an Super 55 – the 2009 recreation

Røde offers new

RØDE MICROPHONES has made

www.shure.com

Audio-Technica gets smart

AUDIO-TECHNICA’S

device.

BALDWIN BOXALL’S touchscreen microphone has manufacturer describes the unit has been designed to work with the

for use with microphones from its improved rubber band architecture

musicians. The kit combines diaphragm cardioid condenser www.audio-technica.com

process of changing batteries and www.rode.com

Chiayo reaches

PRO for accommodating a combination

The unit incorporates a message and routine announcements and

to route broadcasts via a different www.baldwinboxall.co.uk

Apex Pro

prevents output distortion. The eight to 12 hours of operation

www.chiayo.com

SHURE HAS begun shipping the two audio network interfaces

ATDM-0604

APEX

ANIUSB-Matrix

ATDM-0604 Digital SmartMixer

Videomic Pro+

Evolution Series Evolution Series

A series of high-intensity touring and installation loudspeakers, engineered for even coverage, outstanding control and unforgettable audience experiences. Now featuring the recently launched Evo 7T mid-high and Evo 7TL-215 mid-bass speakers

PRODUCTS

Riedel builds an IP bridge

RIEDEL’S MICRON IP App has been developed to extend the capabilities of the MediorNet MicroN 80G media distribution network device by providing a ‘seamless bridge between MediorNet and IP networks’. It is designed as a universal tool for all IP-interfacing requirements.

Supporting SMPTE ST 2110/ AES67-compliant video and audio, in addition to baseband video (SDI) and audio (MADI), the MicroN IP App’s feature list includes audio embedding/de-embedding, frame sync, sample rate conversion, audio/video delay, signal routing and an on-screen display. It can be fully networked with all existing MediorNet products and can be used as a standalone SDI-to-IP

converter to a fully networked system with multiple IP gateways, baseband inputs and outputs.

Up to four MediorNet high-speed links can be supported, as can four SMPTE 2110-20 I/Os, four baseband 3G-SDI signals and eight 3G-SDI outputs, four of which monitor the SMPTE ST 2110-20 streams. 128 channels of AES67 audio, two optical MADI ports and sync I/O can also be managed. MicroN IP is also compliant with NMOS device discovery/registration and connection management, but gives the option for manual

NMOS devices.

‘With several I/O options and MicroN IP can create IP endpoints

anywhere in an installation to create a truly hybrid signaltransport and processing environment,’ explained Dr Lars Höhmann, product manager at Riedel Communications.

In other MediorNet news,

Riedel has revealed MediorNet KVM (keyboard, video, mouse), a solution that comprises two plug-and-play boxes that facilitate lossless transmission of DVI video signals up to 1080p with transparent USB 2.0 and stereo

LQ Series update gets everyone talking

communicate in full-duplex with mobile app users on smart devices. All setups

managed within Core

CLEAR-COM’S LQ Series of IP interfaces has received an update to enable what the manufacturer describes as ‘a complete communication solution of analogue, digital and IP intercom systems, fully integrated and connected over IP networks’. The update adds SIP capability for

telephony, connects traditional intercom systems with Agent-IC mobile applications and increases I/O channel density for HelixNet digital partyline.

Starting with the mobile side, the addition of Agent-IC to the LQ series means that users on traditional intercom systems can

RTS gets comfortable

THE LH-SERIES, comprising the single-sided LH-300 and dual-sided LH-302 intercom headsets, has been developed as the successor to RTS’ PH-Series models. With a lightweight design, they are built to handle day-to-day critical communications applications while offering long-term wearing comfort.

The LH-300 and LH-302 feature a new microphone boom design for stronger rotation stops.

The headband-to-glider joint, meanwhile, has reportedly been made more robust and the rotator pins have been reworked with heavy-duty stainless steel. A precoiled overhead cord is said to reduce strain, preventing it from catching on objects or distracting by touching the skin. A yoke has been added to allow ear cup movement in all directions for increased comfort, along with a soft headband pad. Both models come bundled with replaceable

RTS’ LH-300 and LH-302

The update also offers a six-fold increase in I/O ports to HelixNet. By connecting LQ devices to the HelixNet Mainstation via an Ethernet module, LQ will provide up to 24 audio ports assigned to any of the 12/24 intercom channels in HelixNet to supplement the ports for interfacing with 2-wire and/or

4-wire intercom or audio devices. Signals from remote devices are routed over IP to the assigned HelixNet end points. HelixNet is also now able to directly connect into the Eclipse HX digital matrix intercom network with the LQ device.

The SIP telephony interfacing capability means users on any Clear-Com or third-party intercom systems can make direct calls over SIP-based phone systems over LQ. Meanwhile, the manufacturer has debuted Dynam-EC (Dynamic

analogue audio. The host-side box includes a DVI-I input, loop DVI-I output, USB-B input and 3.5mm jacks for audio I/O. The remoteside box possesses a DVI-I output, four USB-A outputs and analogue audio I/O. The KVM extenders utilise MediorNet Ethernet tunnel functionality to access the system via Ethernet ports on the MediorNet frames.

‘Over the years, we have had many requests for the ability to easily access remote KVM data through the MediorNet,’ said Dr Höhmann. ‘MediorNet KVM provides a low-cost solution and a critical value-add for clients looking to include PCs in their MediorNet systems.’

www.riedel.net

module for Eclipse EHX. Said to module incorporates a multi-user interface and allows the user to manage IFBs, conferences and lines both locally and across intelligently linked matrices. Features include a macro record/ playback facility for repeat command sequences; real-time management of SIP/VoIP lines; and monitoring facilities, including assignable monitors, spot and multi-channel meters.

www.clearcom.com

Orion Studio goes HD

GALLOPING INTO Antelope

Audio’s interface catalogue is the Orion Studio HD. With many of the same features as the Orion32 HD and Goliath HD, including full Pro Tools HD and Native DAW compatibility, Orion Studio HD offers HDX and USB 3.0 connectivity with zero-latency streaming and 24-bit/192kHz audio processing. The HDX and USB 3.0 pro audio interface features a library of classic studio hardware including EQs, compressors and AuraVerb, as well as guitar amps and cabinets in addition to more than 40 real-time FPGA

hardware-based audio effects. Simultaneous streaming of audio is possible via HDX or USB 3.0 and MADI (to Dante Bridge), ADAT, S/PDIF and DB25. A total of 12 Class-A mic, line and Hi-Z preamps are included with individual phantom power. Control of the system is offered by the manufacturer’s desktop and mobile apps.

With regards to its FPGA audio effects, Antelope has announced the addition of six new vintage compressors: VCA160, TUBE176, X903, Gyraf GYRATEC X, STAYLEVIN and ALT-436C.

leatherette ear cushions, an acoustic limiter and a speaker protection cloth.

RTS has ensured seamless operation with all of its existing systems. The LH-Series headsets

also provide several connector options, such as XLR, 4-/5-pin, male/female and 3.5mm audio jack.

www.rtsintercoms.com

Riedel’s KVM-Link

Incorporating the most innovative wireless audio technology in the world, Axient Digital was engineered from the ground up for professional productions that demand fl awless execution. With an unprecedented level of signal stability and audio clarity, plus fl exible hardware options, advanced connectivity, and comprehensive control, it’s a wireless system built to take on the challenges of today—and tomorrow.

NMK Electronics Enterprises

T: +971 4 266 5244

F: +971 4 262 6682

E: info@electrionics.com

W: www.nmkelectronics.com

nmkelectronics

NMK Middle East FZCO

T: +971 4 266 5244

F: +971 4 262 6682

E: info@electrionics.com

W: www.nmkelectronics.com

nmkelectronics

W:wwwnmkelectronicscom

Immersive upgrades

applications. With 3D Immersive Extension, users can upmix, repurpose or convert channel-based

The upgrade also supports Avid’s Pro Tools version 12.8, with native 7.1.2 stems for Dolby Atmos mixing. The combination of Pro Tools 12.8 and Halo 3D Immersive Extension is said to provide ‘a

professionals handling multichannel and object-based audio formats.

The 3D Immersive Extension replaces the Halo 9.1 Extension but owners of the existing Halo 9.1 Extension can upgrade to the 3D Immersive Extension for no additional cost.

Bath processor. The new module

process Dolby E, Dolby Digital and measurement and correction, dynamics processing and upmixing. The AMB Dolby Module also provides support for Dolby Metadata

Finally, the British developer has also released a new 1.4

version of MasterCheck Pro, adding support for the FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) and Opus formats. MasterCheck Pro is a mix-optimisation software suite for producers to test how their mixes will sound on popular playout platforms that use loudness matching techniques, such as Apple Music and Spotify.

www.nugenaudio.com

NUGEN AUDIO has unveiled its Halo 3D Immersive Extension, said to add further options beyond its existing Dolby Atmos bed track

capability. The upgrade provides an Ambisonic-compatible output as an alternative to channel-based output for VR, gaming and other immersive

In addition to new Upmix capabilities, Nugen had unveiled the AMB Dolby Module as the last option for its AMB Audio Management

comes to Pyramix

MERGING TECHNOLOGIES claims it has completed its immersive audio tool set for broadcasters with the development of the

quality experience,’ he explained.

inserted within Broadcast Wave

Island

ITU-R BS.2076) and MPEG-H (by Fraunhofer IIS) export. The result is Pyramix 11, which is reportedly

with Object-Based Audio (OBA) metadata according to ADM or MPEG-H 3D audio.

Matthieu Parmentier, coordinator of R&D projects at France TV and the chairman of the EBU Audio Systems Group, provided feedback during the ADM development process. ‘OBA is the future of sound for broadcasters, to address multiple platforms with the highest

free solution to address the next generation of encoders.’

While the Orpheus project’s Ircam export interoperability, Fraunhofer export using its own authoring tool. The Fraunhofer team worked closely with Merging Technologies to ensure that a comprehensive available by exporting Pyramix 11 OBA projects directly into the MPEG-H Authoring Tool.

www.merging.com

Pyramix 11

The Ambisonics ExtensionThe MasterCheck Pro interface

The

Mobile recording from TASCAM

THE US-1X2 is the latest member of TASCAM’s US series of USB 2.0 recording interfaces.

Described as ideal for singer/ songwriters, podcasters and small home studios, the portable interface provides 24-bit, 96kHz desktop recording and can be USB bus-powered for use with a Mac or Windows laptop.

The XLR microphone input incorporates the company’s Ultra-HDDA mic preamp, which features a –125dBu EIN rating and a 101dB signal-to-noise ratio. The preamp provides a 57dB gain range, while the interface offers switchable +48V phantom power.

Input 2 can be switched between front- and rear-panel jacks. On the front panel is a switchable, ¼-inch line/ instrument input for recording a mono line-level signal without the need for a direct box. On the rear panel is a pair of RCA line inputs admit signals from stereo consumer audio devices.

Stereo line-level outputs are provided on RCA connectors, and the line outputs and ¼-inch stereo headphone output have independent output level controls. The headphone out incorporates an LEDs show signal present, peak/clip, phantom power active and USB active. The new interface is housed in a black powder-coated metal chassis with the company’s detachable Bio-Cell side panels.

Zero-latency direct monitoring can be enabled with a rear-panel switch or in the included Settings Panel software for Mac and Windows. The US-1x2 is class compliant for macOS and is compatible with Windows PCs using an ASIO driver. Using an Apple Camera Connection Kit, users can record and play back with iOS devices. Steinberg’s Cubase LE DAW is also included in the package.

tascam.com

Apogee goes direct

APOGEE STATES the Direct Monitoring option from Apple’s Logic Pro X will enable users of its Element Series and Ensemble Thunderbolt audio interfaces to eliminate recording latency. The functionality requires Logic Pro X version 10.3.2 and

Apogee Control Software update version 2.0.

The newly implemented Direct button is found in Logic’s channel strip audio device controls, where Apogee hardware input parameters, including mic pre gain and input type selection, are currently found. Selecting this

option causes the monitoring signal to come directly from the hardware input, reportedly bypassing any I/O buffer or plug-in induced latency.

According to Apogee, experience will allow customers working with its hardware and Logic Pro X to focus on a single session window when recording with complete visibility and control of input parameters, recording latency.

www.apogeedigital.com

New Sonnox plug-ins for SoundGrid

THREE SONNOX plug-ins – Oxford EQ, Oxford Dynamics and Oxford Reverb – are now compatible with Waves SoundGrid platforms, enabling their use for live sound via Waves Multirack or the eMotion LV1 live mixer, or in the studio via SoundGrid Studio and the Waves SutdioRack.

Less is More

VHD2.0 Large Format Point Source System

Sound Engineer Angus Davidson has been involved in large scale sound reinforcement for the last thirty years mixing for famous acts like Supertramp and Crowded House. For him sound quality is the number one priority and this is what has drawn him to KV2 and VHD.

“The capabilities of the VHD2.0 in sound quality and coverage have astounded me but the cost savings in transport, crew, rigging, power requirements and set up times make this system a real winner. VHD delivers real bang for the buck on all fronts."

Angus Davidson Sound Engineer

US-1x2

Logic’s direct monitoring function

TSL helps to bridge the gap

ADDITIONS AND enhancements have been made to several products in TSL’s range to help users bridge the gap from traditional broadcast to IP infrastructures. Joining these is the MPA1 Solo SDI, a 1U, 100mmdeep device allowing users to view all 16 embedded audio channels in an SDI stream and monitor any individual channel or channel pair using its ‘scroll to listen’ feature.

It offers traditional SDI, AES and analogue connectivity. In terms of enhancements, TSL’s MPA1 Dante now supports AES67 audio, enabling its use in both Dante and AES67 networks.

monitoring products can also now take advantage of SNMP support as a free of charge upgrade – enabling more intelligent integration with TSL’s TallyMan or

any third-party control system. Finally, the PAM-IP range of audio monitoring devices now have dedicated ports for connecting to existing Dante networks whilst also

Jünger partners with Tecom

AUDIO PROCESSOR manufacturer, software developer, Tecom Group, have formed a partnership to target loudness control and normalisation.

a pair of solutions – LA Playout and LA Production.

LA Playout sees the integration of with Tecom’s Loudness Analyzer software. At the end of processing,

loudness values are logged and transferred to a light version of J*AM Loudness Logger. LA

Playout receives data from J*AM, relates it to a broadcast schedule and carries out a comparative analysis of the loudness level for programme blocks, advertisements and announcements that allows for the detection of on-air loudness deviations. The solution carries out the analysis in near real-time and all

the measurement data is delivered over the network and does not require any additional hardware. Meanwhile, LA Production is an measurement and normalisation. It uses the original adaptive Level Magic algorithm that allows broadcasters to comply with all current international loudness standards. The system normalises

providing compatibility with AES67. Users looking to operate SMPTE 2022-6 or SMPTE 2110 networks can make use of two dedicated 10Gig/E network ports on the device.

TSL Products has also updated the core software of TallyMan with version 1.9 delivering the Ember+ standard. Ember+ brings further control functionality into the has recently adopted the standard across its catalogue, meaning that TallyMan will have access to the parameters of all of its devices. The update also brings the latest version of virtual panel design software, allowing users to create custom control surfaces on physical panels or touchscreen computers.

www.tslproducts.com

so the audio is compliant with a selected standard but free of any unwanted artefacts. While the system offers a manual mode, in are analysed and normalised if

necessary. A frame-accurate video player and audio channel mapping option are also part of the solution.

www.junger-audio.com

www.tecomgroup.com

TSL’s TallyMan Control Panel

5GHz signal analysis arrives

ROHDE & SCHWARZ is claiming analysis bandwidth with guaranteed signal and spectrum analyser, using it in combination with the RTO2064 digital oscilloscope as an external

Amplitude and phase measurement accuracy are reportedly ensured throughout the measurement

THE TELOS and Minnetonka Audio, has introduced

bandwidth. standard.

www.rohde-schwarz.com

dual-channel partyline belt packs and

‘You can access any networked audio

into Omnia audio processors. Based on a repairs incoming audio, optimising

Dehummer removes unwanted sounds

backbone employing the latest standards-

Designed to replace outmoded matrix that enables plug-and-play networked added to the system on an ad-hoc panels, rack-mounted master expansion panels, master desktop stations, wired

Omnia presets, FM pre-emphasis, stereo same FM reception-improving composite

www.telosalliance.com

An R&S FSW85 equipped with the FSW-B5000 option connected to an RTO2064 digital oscilloscope

Better performance, quicker setup, immediate payoff: Digital 6000 was developed to exceed the expectations of audio professionals and business managers alike. Our new professional wireless series delivers reliable performance in even the most challenging RF conditions. Intermodulation is completely eliminated by Digital 6000, enabling more channels to operate in less space.

Discover more: www.sennheiser.com/digital-6000

Digital 6000 utilizes groundbreaking technology from our flagship Digital 9000. Dependability is guaranteed by our renowned Long Range transmission mode and proprietary audio codec. Digital integration is seamless with AES3 and optional Dante output. Monitoring and control of the two-channel receiver is at your fingertips, with an elegant, intuitive user interface.

Compromise is not an option when everyone is counting on you.

An AoIP monitor mix solution

SONIFEX HAS collaborated with a UK broadcaster to create the AVN-PXH12 in response to the broadcaster’s need to monitor ‘hundreds’ of audio sources available on an AoIP network. A 2x12-channel mix monitor and ‘AoIP Portal’, it is a 1U system with the ability to monitor and mix up to 24 AES67 AoIP sources simultaneously to a speaker/ headphone combination.

discrete stereo analogue audio inputs (a front panel 3.5mm jack socket, two rear panel 3.5mm jack sockets and a rear panel stereo XLR input pair), any Ravenna or AES67-enabled Dante AoIP connected streams can also be selected. Stereo signals are routed to 12 control channels accessible on the front panel, each possessing Normal and Alternate input options.

3.5mm jacks with individual attenuation settings, and a monomix speaker output. There are also discrete volume controls for headphones and the speaker, the latter of which has a mute button. The rear panel’s three line-level XLR-3 audio outputs can be assigned as mono mix, left and right channel outputs, or as any physical or AoIP input sources.

BroaMan goes Nano

BROAMAN HAS developed a new, smaller version of its Repeat48 kind on the market capable of signal across a single channel for 4K distribution. It can also split that up into the more traditional quad-link 3G for 12G transport over four channels.

The compact boxes provide electrical-to-optical and opticalto-electrical conversion in a plugand-play package for simple 4K transmission.

Repeat8-Nano 4IN features

consumption and Reclocker for ‘superior’ jitter performance. It’s also compliant with standards including SMPTE-424M, SMPTE310M, SMPTE305M, SMPTE297M, SMPTE-295M, SMPTE292M, DVBASI and MADI.

In other news, the manufacturer has added the Mux22 BNC Intercom version to its Mux22 series, which allows the connection of up to eight intercom panels or matrix ports using coax cable in the AES3id standard of AES3. There are eight bidirectional AES BNC ports, each

The AVN-PXH12 allows any AES67 audio channels on the network to be assigned to input channels and mixed down to analogue outputs and a headphone output, as well as a built-in speaker. It is capable of monitoring up to 12 stereo audio sources at the same time. In addition to AES67 sources, four

Buttons are provided for input selection, mute and left, right or stereo output selection. Front panel LEDs display the statuses of the AoIP network, synchronisation and power.

Also found on the front panel are outputs for paralleled stereo headphones on 6.35mm and

The AVN-PXH12 can also serve as a PTP masterclock or slave clock. Other features include IEC mains and secondary DC power inputs, two Ethernet RJ-45 connections and an Ethernet SFP module, a GPIO connector and built-in web server.

www.sonifex.co.uk

Dante solutions from Radial

BUILT WITH a 14-gauge steel construction, DAN-TX and DAN-RX from Radial Engineering use 24-bit/96kHz converters to send and receive two channels of analogue audio over a digital, Dante-enabled network.

The DAN-TX includes ¼-inch, RCA and 3.5mm inputs with a

single Ethernet output, for an easy interface with devices such as a CD/DVD player, smartphone, tablet, instrument or professional audio source, according to the company.

When used with mono instruments, the DAN-TX works as a thru connection for a stage amp,

while the trim control reportedly provides ±10dB of gain. The box and a –20dB pad.

The DAN-RX is a 2-channel Dante receiver with dual XLR outputs that can connect to a mixing

speakers to route audio from FOH to the stage. A 3.5mm headphone output with level control is also provided. The DAN-RX connects to the network via a single Ethernet cable. Power for each device can be supplied with a 15V adaptor (included) or via PoE, and both power sources can be used simultaneously for redundancy.

www.radialeng.com

ARX breaks networked audio out

ARX SYSTEMS announced that it had licensed Dante digital-media networking technology for use in future products at the start of 2017. Now, the Australian manufacturer make use of the licence: the Network DI analogue breakout box. It uses the Dante protocol to extract audio from a network, converting it to Transformer isolated analogue audio.

Network DI can convert any audio available on a network into analogue and route it to devices

speakers, mixing consoles and DSPs.

Network DI is built to receive audio channels from Dante and deliver studio-quality, low-latency audio via balanced XLR output connectors.

The box, which features a heavyduty, all-steel chassis design, matt rubber base pad, includes a Mono switch on the front that delivers left and right analogue summation where needed. It comes bundled with an optional bracket kit for

SFP outputs, while Repeat8Nano 4OUT features four SDI

Both devices can be connected creating 4-channel, point-to-point transport.

Each box can also be connected to the larger Repeat48 or the Route66 for greater distances.

Extending 4-channel 3G-SDI converter also boasts low power

of which can handle 2-in and 2-out. In total, the device features eight 3G-SDI channels for video, 16-in/16-out for audio, four GPIO or RS-485; Sync I/O; two LAN; two SANE/LAN; two Optocore

protocol. It can all be transported another Mux22 (point-to-point) or Route66 (network) device.

www.broaman.com

under-table mounting. Similarly, the ARX Dante is a digital-to-analogue distribution splitter that can receive audio channels from a Dante network. In Dante mode, the splitter will extract two channels of digital audio from the network via an RJ-45 Ethernet input and split them into two channels of 1:4 splitter. In analogue mode, it will take two channels of analogue audio and split them into two channels of 1:4 splitter.

www.arx.com.au

The front and rear of Network DI

DAN-RX

DAN-TX

The AVN-PXH12

Repeat8-Nano

Mux22 BNC Intercom version

Keeping it Neets in the boardroom

THE NEETS Sound Bar – SB1 has been developed to offer clear audio reinforcement in meeting and conference rooms. The Danish manufacturer has designed it to

spaces.

Neets product manager Michael Rumph described it as ‘a sound

When combined with a control Communication” and “Music” modes.’ Its applications include listening to audio tracks and sound from video, as well as reinforcing conference call audio.

source, and its wake-on-signal

option is also included for it to be

cabinet and fabric-covered grill

of 4-inch woofers and 1-inch tweeters.

In other news, the manufacturer

has released a white version of its 7-inch Neets Touch Panel in response to customer demand.

white version of the Neets Touch Panel will now also be available, and so will an optional white table stand,’ declared Mr Rumph. The Neets Touch Panel offers a single point of control for A/V equipment in conference rooms, learning spaces and classrooms.

www.neets.dk

AT THE heart of Middle Atlantic’s T5 Series Conference Tables is the Tech Kit, a patent-pending, in to the pedestal. The kit is said

device mounting or a combination of the two.

Each T5 solution also includes a table top and support pedestals, and features three of the

Lever Lock plates said to save

The pedestal incorporates Wiremold InteGreat HDMI cable providing two HDMI connections and two AC outlets.

be installed in the room or with said Megan Knedler, director of product management, furniture for Middle Atlantic. ‘The T5 Series Conference Tables brings

infrastructure, device mounting, thermal management, power

comprehensive furniture solution.’

The tables are available in

as Middle Atlantic’s C5 Series Credenzas.

www.middleatlantic.com

OUT BOARD has developed the RCX Smart Remote for use with its LV-Series and DV-Series chain-hoist motor controllers. Available in 16-, controllers across the ranges, barring the LV4 and DV4 versions. The RCX controllers are designed for portable, digital multichannel rigging assigns controllers to switch banks in

rack. In terms of connection, options protocol to 100m, digital and wired E-Stop or industrial-grade non-Wi-

Fi wireless. Each remote has the sets of settings and is capable of integral load cell monitoring.

www.outboard.co.uk

Operation in channel-rich 5GHz frequency l Interference-free in congested site environment l Wired-like wonderful audio quality with maximum clarity l Less than 23ms low latency l Up to 128 Beltpack connection per Base Station l Up to eleven(11) full-duplex audio channels l Up to five(5) group communication channels l Patent-base super-scalable IP based repeater solution l Hands-off like a butterfly & bee l No limitation on the number of Beltpack linkable per RBS25 l Compact Beltpack for high mobility l Compatibilities with other wired systems l AES 256bit level 3 encryption l Mobile Station in the line-up l LaON in-house solution including the wireless SoC and RF module built-in the systems l Easy wiring and installation l More with less cost-effective solution

T5 Series Conference Table

RCX Smart range

Neets Sound Bar – SB1

solution

Controlled connection

SWITCHCRAFT’S AUDIOFIX connector has been designed to offer three points of switchable

studios, broadcast applications

TASKER IS offering a solution to integrators dealing with the than 70 different audio, video standard, another option is its range cables that do not need to follow the states that these cables can be

a switchable ground lift function, –20dB attenuation circuit

Each of these switches is

The PH120 compliant range

2 shielded cables, the red sheathed 2

2

double shielded and wrapped with digital audio or video, even during silicone rubber cores and sheath in www.tasker.it

TU-660/M

... are not synonymous with TOA‘s horn speaker.

60W

Driver Unit for Horn Speakers

High quality sound

High SPL

High durability

Drastic acoustic enhancement made possible with the switch to ring diaphragm.

TOA‘s expertise and long-year research have brought a brand new driver unit to horn speaker market. Improvement of low frequency range as well as high range by applying ring-type diaphragm is an innovative progress in the horn speaker history. Furthermore, TU-660 has realized higher durability compared to conventional models. Experience more clarity than ever.

We supply sound, not equipment. www.toa.com.sg I TOAasiapacific www.toa.co.in I TOAINDIA www.toa.eu I TOAeurope www.toa.jp (TOA global)

www.switchcraft.com

Aten goes further

ATEN’S VE8950 4K HDMI-over-IP extender supports the video matrix function through the AP router/ DHCP protocol with a reportedly unlimited transmission distance. Whilst supporting HDMI audio and individual stereo, point-to-point and multipoint-to-multipoint, the VE8950 includes 3D and 4K/2K at 30Hz transmission via a proprietary A/V codec. A support receiver daisychain, web GUI control and USB 2.0 connectivity are also included.

In other news, the Taiwanese manufacturer has also developed the VS1912 12-Port DP Video Wall

Media Player for digital signage, videowalls, projection screens and digital board applications. The

An LED upgrade for VL1100

PHILIPS ENTERTAINMENT

been designed to offer a highquality yet low-power tungsten alternative to lighting designers working to illuminate stage and screen. Designed to directly replace spotlight, the VL1100 LED is a moving head spotlight and the newest addition to the Vari-Lite family.

The VL1100 LED is built with a 3,200K LED light engine under the of power consumption by allowing users to manage the balance between light output and fan level remotely.

As the fan noise level is adjusted, the total power output of the VL1100 automatically aligns with the required noise level. A hybrid system of liquid cooling and forced

Sony moves FWD

to include text, graphics and video with live web feeds and IPTV content. They also come with Sony’s Meeting Room App installed as an information-sharing solution.

For those looking for a new desktop projector, Sony has just replaced its existing D-series projectors with four new models: the VPL-DX221, VPL-DX241, VPLDX271 and VPL-DW241. These reportedly offer higher brightness, better contrast ratio and longer lamp life than their predecessors,

PC-based media player supports 12 displays in various asymmetric layouts. Custom widget tools add media, images and real-time clock displays. The advanced videowall feature allows the resizing, layering, spanning across multiple screens, and rotating of pictures and videos at 90° intervals.

www.aten.com

Grass Valley takes the hassle out of tracking

air keeps noise levels down.

VL1100’s colour reproduction and uses the same colour mechanism with a colour system tuned to the LED light engine. Philips has also included standard and classic operating modes, enabling the direct replacement of a VL1100.

www.philips.com

GLASS VALLEY is claiming to have launched the world’s integrated camera tracking capabilities. The product is the result of a partnership between the Belden brand and AR and VR technology manufacturer Mo-Sys Engineering.

The solution pairs Grass Valley’s LDX Series Cameras with Mo-Sys’ StarTracker tracking technology to produce a ‘fully-optimised’ setup that reduces the complexity of setting up by removing the need for bolt-ons and additional

SONY’S NEW 4K LED displays are designed to offer uniformity for customers seeking an ultra-highsolution. The FWD-65BZ40E, FWD55BZ40E, FWD-65BZ35E, FWD55BZ35E, FWD-55BZ30E and FWD-49BZ30E are all described as simple to use and cost-effective for those on a budget.

Supporting 4K HDR, the new FWD displays are equipped with the manufacturer’s 4K HDR Processor X1 that facilitates object-based HDR remastering and Super Bit Mapping 4K HDR. Sony states that they offer a wider palette of mapping colours due to the included Triluminos display, while X-tended Dynamic Range Pro

technology is designed to make darker areas on screen darker and brighter scenes brighter.

The UI is designed for easy navigation and allows for the creation, scheduling, monitoring, control and management of content remotely via an online server. The displays also support HTML5 which allows users

and include BrightEra technology for brighter visuals, Vivid Mode for higher contrast images and Auto Start for when an HDMI or VGA signal is detected.

As well as the 4K displays and projectors, Sony has also launched a new collaboration solution in the form of Vision Exchange, aiming it at teaching and meeting spaces. Supporting Bring Your Own Device, the solution simulates lectures and presentations by connecting participant devices with the main collaboration system unit – PEQ-C1002 or PEQ-C1303. Up to six devices can be connected depending on the network connectivity strength. The PEQ-C1002 houses two HDMI inputs and the PEQ-C1303 four HDMI inputs. Additional licences can also be purchased that enable streaming output, remote communication and active learning functionality.

pro.sony.com

the product weighs less, making it applicable for SteadyCam and handheld applications.

The StarTracker system works

stickers (stars) that are randomly applied to studio ceilings or lighting grids, providing freedom of movement while ensuring accurate realtime position, rotation and lens data. Grass Valley’s LDX 82/86/86N Series cameras have been adapted to include the StarTracker system. The cameras, combined with Grass Valley’s XF Transmission, provide power and synchronization internally to the StarTracker system. The camera tracking data goes directly into the XCU in the control room via

From there, it can be interfaced over IP to a virtual studio system.

www.grassvalley.com

VE8950 4K HDMI-over-IP extender

The FWD-49BZ30E

Sony’s Vision Exchange collaboration solution

Philips VL1100 LED

The VPL-DX241

PRODUCTS

WyreStorm gets modular with HDBaseT and 4K

WYRESTORM’S LATEST HDBaseT solution, the H2C Series, has been designed for A/V projects requiring multi-source and multi-zone distribution of the latest HDCP 2.2 4K UHD with HDR, as well as multi-source audio matrix switching. Integrators can choose from a 6-way (MX-0606-HDBT-H2C) or 8-way (MX-0808-HDBT-H2C) PoH-ready matrix chassis built by WyreStorm selection of PoH transmission cards to meet the needs of a project. Each card offers distinct video, audio and transmission capabilities including HDBaseT Class A transmission with mirrored HDMI output, HDBaseT Class A

transmission with S/PDIF

ARC output, HDBaseT Class A transmission with line-level audio breakout and HDBaseT Class B transmission without Ethernet. Additional features in the H2C

Series include SmartEDID to remove screens by dynamically reacting to source changes and outputting the highest resolution compatible with connected displays. H2C models

Atlona targets HDR applications

ATLONA IS focusing on commercial integrations that require High Dynamic Range (HDR) content with a pair of releases.

The AT-HDR-M2C converts multichannel audio from 4K and HDR sources to digital and analogue stereo outputs, while the HDRH2H-44M 4x4 HDMI matrix switcher offers support for 4K/ UHD and HDR distribution between sources and destinations.

Starting with the audio converter, the AT-HDR-M2C delivers stereo downmixed audio over HDMI, analogue unbalanced audio and Toslink digital audio outputs. It also simultaneously passes through the HDMI input with no downmixing. The unit is compatible with HDMI signals up to 4K/UHD at 60Hz with 4:4:4 chroma sampling and supports HDR10 plus other HDR formats. The audio converter is

compatible with HDMI data rates up to 18Gbps and is HDCP 2.2 compliant.

According to Atlona, the AT-HDRM2C is compatible with current and emerging 4K/UHD and HDR sources and displays. Added to this, it supports all video resolutions, audio formats – including all Dolby and DTS formats – and colour spaces encompassed in the HDMI

can also pass metadata for HDR content. The device can reportedly serve both surround sound and 2-channel audio systems from a multi channel audio source and can de-embed HDMI audio with or without being connected to a display or another HDMI destination.

Integrated EDID management features and audio volume, bass and treble adjustments can be

controlled through the device’s graphical web interface, thirdparty control systems or the Atlona Management System (AMS) network software platform. AMS enables systems integrators and users to set up, manage and monitor multiple Atlona solutions over a LAN, WAN or VPN. Moving on, the HDR-H2H-44M is a 1U, 4x4 HDMI matrix switcher for HDR formats that has been designed as a routing solution between HDR-capable A/V sources and destinations. Like the audio converter, it is HDCP 2.2 compliant

Marshall embraces HDBaseT

MARSHALL ELECTRONICS is backing up its membership of the HDBaseT Alliance with three new products that call on the video transport protocol. HDBaseT is a global standard for one cable transmission of uncompressed audio, control and Power over Ethernet up to 100W over a single Cat-7/6a cable at lengths of up to 100m.

The CV612HT-4K PTZ camera is based on a 9MP sensor and is housed in a PTZ chassis that offers simultaneous four-axis control of Pan-Tilt-Zoom-Focus. It supports up to 4K (UHD) 3840x2160p, as well as standard HD 1080p/1080i/720p video.

Adjustment settings include white balance, dynamic range, exposure, iris control, gamma, red/blue gain and black level.

also include an embedded WebUI control via IR, RS-232 and IP Telnet with support for third-party control systems.

Similar to the H2C series, Wyrestorm has also launched the H2X series for larger installs, available in 10x10 and 16x16 formats. The H2X combines management of the latest 4K UHD with HDR and legacy video formats, including SmartTV functions and audio-on-demand products, while the integrated audio matrix with DSP routes up to 30 (MX-1010-HDBTH2X) and 48 (MX-1616-HDBT-H2X) separate audio signals, including ARC, HDMI de-embed from video

and separate line-level audio only sources.

Transmission card options include the TX-H2X-HDBT to add an HDBT input for remote source connection, while the TX-H2X-VDZ and TX-H2XADZ cards enable video and audio zone expansion respectively to allow a dealer to skew the number of A/V inputs and outputs to suit the project. A more commercially focused TX-H2X-SDI card features an SDI input for sources, HDBT output with mirrored HDMI out and includes balanced audio for sending support for balanced audio sources to audio zones.

www.wyrestorm.com

and supports 4K/UHD video at 60Hz with 4:4:4 chroma sampling, as well as HDMI data rates up to 18Gbps. It supports all video resolutions, audio formats and colour space formats encompassed

The HDR-H2H-44M includes EDID and HDCP management features and can send CEC control independently to each output for controlling individual displays. A Toslink digital audio output is paired with each HDMI output for sending PCM or surround sound audio to an A/V receiver. It can be controlled via Ethernet, RS-232 and IR.

www.atlona.com

According to the manufacturer, the VAC-HT48-POE-R receiver enables any current system to integrate new devices with HDBaseT into the installation. Over a Cat-7/6a cable, connected HDBaseT devices are supplied with 48V PoE and RS-232/RS-485 control with incoming audio/video converted to HDMI 1.4 output. The product will receive uncompressed 4K60 (4:2:0 8-bit), 4K30 (4:4:4 8-bit) and Full-HD up to 1080p video from up to 100m.

VAC-HT12-KIT HDMI over HDBaseT extender kit. This will reportedly convert any HDMI device into a single cable solution. Consisting of two main components, the VAC-

HT12-R Receiver and VAC-HT12-T

Transmitter, the VAC-HT12-KIT will supply any HDMI device with 48V PoE and RS-485/232 control, and will transmit uncompressed audio/ video from over 100m away. Away from HDBaseT, the American manufacturer has also unveiled an IP67 lipstick camera. The CV225 calls on a -inch, high-speed 2.5MP sensor to deliver 2,476,296 pixels of video through a single, fullsized 3G/HD-SDI (BNC) output in 1920x1080i, 1920x1080p and 1280x720p resolutions at 60/59.94/50/30/29.97/25fps.

New proprietary pixel technology enables the CV225 to produce what the manufacturer describes

as ‘the lowest noise ratio on the market today’.

The IP67-rated weatherproof design can withstand dust, sand or full submersion up to 1m for 30 minutes. The 3m breakout cable allows for remote control and adjustment via Sony Visca over an RS-485 twisted-pair wire, and is compatible with the Marshall CV-RCP-100 Touchscreen RCP Unit using a 3-pin XLR cable.

The CV225 is offered in two models, depending on region of use. The CV225-M supports 50/60/25/30fps, while the CV225-MB supports 59.94/29.97fps for use in the US.

www.marshall-usa.com

The CV612HT-4K PTZ camera

MX-0808-HDBT-H2C

Atlona’s AT-HDR-M2C audio converter

AT-HDR-H2H-44M 4x4 HDMI matrix switcher

30 HDL 30-A

A LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPION WITH AN IMPRESSIVE PUNCH!

• 2200W Peak Power

• 137 dB Max SPL

• 100° x 15° Coverage

• 1.4” Titanium Compression Driver, 4.0” v.c.

• 2 x 10” Neodymium Woofers, 2.5” v.c.

• Exclusive FiRPHASE technology

• RDNet remote Control and Management

• Only 25 kg (51.12 lbs)

The HDL 30-A is the first line array in a composite cabinet with zero-degree phase and ultra-linear amplitude response. A compact biamped two-way active touring system for medium to large events embedding RDNet for real-time remote control and monitoring of all the components. It features a symmetrical design, with state of the art transducers: two 10-inch woofers and an impressive 4-inch voice coil titanium compression driver on a 4 PATH waveguide, for a consistent coverage throughout the space.

Broadcast Pix expands production switchers

AS A result of the release of JVC’s KY-PZ100 PTZ network video production cameras, Broadcast Pix has expanded the robotic camera control in its integrated production switchers through serial and IP connections. Each system can reportedly control pan, tilt, zoom, focus, iris, gain and preset recall for up to 12 cameras.

According to the manufacturer, the cameras can be controlled using the joystick on any Broadcast Pix control panel. PixButtons, the company’s patented control buttons with LED displays, provide access to up to 100 preset positions to set the speed and range of PTZ camera movements.

The cameras can also be controlled via touchscreen using

the BPview adjustable multi-view and the Commander browser-based interface on a computer or mobile device. Using PoE technology, a

single cable powers the KY-PZ100 and delivers IP video and control to a Flint, Roadie or the company’s BPswitch system.

More advanced camera control

HAVING ENJOYED success with its RCCP-1 remote camera control panel, Telemetrics has built upon the system’s design with the RCCP-1A, offering more ‘advanced’ features. It has been developed with larger broadcast studios and production facilities in mind.

RCCP-1A includes all of the features of its older sibling, allowing users access to menu controls for broadcast cameras without the need for dedicated camera control units or external paint boxes. In addition, it provides more camera storage and dynamic camera

Meanwhile, Broadcast Pix has added NewBlueNTX to its BPswitch family of integrated production switchers. As a built-in, multilayer 3D motion graphics engine, NewBlueNTX produces resolution independent 3D text and graphics, as well as motion graphics animations.

According to the company, NewBlueNTX includes hundreds of title styles and templates for lowerthirds, scoreboards, main titles, crawls, rolls and bugs, as well as built-in motion graphic animation presets to create and update complex effects. Graphics can be selected and edited through appears on the PixButtons control panel. Graphics can be shared

across live or postproduction platforms through the BPnet cloudwhich is accessible through BPswitch.

NewBlueNTX also works with the Broadcast Pix Rapid CG option, which automatically updates onscreen graphics from databases, scoreboards, social media and RSS feeds. New Rapid CG features for BPswitch and NewBlueNTX include multi-layered playback for each channel, as well as the ability to trigger multi-layered playback using Action Buttons, plus Adobe After Effects project import, multi-lingual support and a second licence for the software.

www.broadcastpix.com

control of camera robotics and camera shading and a boost in power for the playback of complex key framed moves. Interactive timing control also offers variable speed playback of key framed moves. The manufacturer has also included its advanced auto-sensing technology to keep talent centrally framed by automatically tracking them.

At the entry-level end of the spectrum is the RCCP-M camera control unit. This has been designed for non-technical staff and budget-conscious productions, such as at a house of worship. With a 10.4-inch touchscreen, it is built with pan, tilt and zoom speed control knobs, in addition to a large focus knob. RCCP-M also possesses advanced auto-sensing technology and provides the option for upgrading to more advanced control later on.

Telemetrics has also added to its line of robotic servo-controlled pan/ tilt camera support systems with the PT-HP-S5 servo pan/tilt head. Joining the PT-LP-S5 in the S5 camera control catalogue, the PT-HP-S5 is aimed at smaller productions with limited budgets that require different POP shots. It can reportedly accommodate any box-style camera and lens up to 18kg and is fully 4K connections.

Also new is the Televator EP7 Series elevating pedestal, available in three models of differing sizes: the EP7-

600, EP7-700 and EP7-1000. With minimum heights of 680mm, 780mm and 1,080mm, they extend to heights of 1,462.22mm, 1,760.95mm and 2,660.95mm, respectively.

American manufacturer is the TeleGlide T4 camera track system that accommodates curve tracking. It is servo-controlled, can be preset with repeatable motion functionality, and can be purchased with custom length track and cable management systems.

www.telemetricsinc.com

The RCCP-1A offers more advanced features

The RCCP-M

Users drive Wysiwyg enhancements

CAST SOFTWARE is crediting direct user feedback and its beta testing programme for the round of improvements that form the backbone of Wysiwyg Lighting Design Software Release 39. The manufacturer describes the release as providing ‘improved security’ and ‘a rich new feature set for every Wysiwyg mode’.

The manufacturer lists six key features as particular highlights of the release. Panorama 360° image export means users can now export 360° spherical images of their design. With the help of VR goggles, users can then step inside their virtual design and experience it

Alpha beam shadows is the manufacturer’s attempt to get closer to reality. This feature considers the colour and Alpha percentage in the textures and alters the beam’s colour and intensity as it passes through the surface.

Library’s insertion points has been created to allow users to select from different insertion points when adding a Library item into a drawing. The manufacturer believes that this will help place an object correctly

Staying in the Library, the manufacturer has greatly increased its contents with R39. The release

return to the blackboard with ClickShare

new accessories, gels, gobos and updates.

The company has also translated its user interface into new languages to help more users get to grips with the package in their native tongue. Finally, Cast has made AutoCAD importing improvements. This has been designed to resolve any issues experienced when importing

www.cast-soft.com

Alpha beam shadows

GLP offers the best of the old and the new

GLP HAS designed its new JDC1 lighting complete versatility as it combines a traditional single that delivers clear, 1,440 RGB LEDs. work together to create a wide light’.

impression S350. Targeting the

Elation goes indoors and out

ELATION PROFESSIONAL’S

Hybrid. As the name implies, the as either a spot, beam or wash, and

3.0° to 40° in spot mode, 2.0° to 30° in beam mode, and 8.0° to 55° in wash mode. The beam can

silent operation and with a With a white LED engine as its clarity in the projected beam’ and than typical 700W discharge lamp

www.glp.de

Reach the Summit

MA-808 Portable Wireless PA System

The MA 808 innovatively integrates wireless microphones, speakers, CD / USB player and a Bluetooth interface for wireless music streaming into a sturdy, compact case that offers an entirely portable sound system anywhere it is needed. MIPRO supplies UHF and 2.4 GHz receiver modules options and matching handheld or bodypack transmitters, as well as the exclusive miniature transmitters for musical instruments, such as violin, saxophones, erhu, guitar, cajon, and so on, the MA-808 portable wireless PA system.

The Ultimate in Convenience

while eight rotating replaceable a new wash and a new PAR

Cool White/Daylight COB LED at maintaining an even pan and tilt.

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Lightweight with built-in pull-up handle and sturdy wheels for easy transport, the economical rechargeable battery system enables operations indoors or outdoors without AC power and cumbersome cables. Even handheld & bodypack transmitters can be stored within the sleek cabinet.

Proteus Hybrid

www.elationlighting.com

www.mipro.com.tw

The JDC1 combines a traditional single tube element with LEDs

Fuze Par Z175

Robe goes

Mega

ROBE HAS

the output and CRI in the latest addition to its Pointe series, MegaPointe. It’s described by the Czech manufacturer as a multi-functional moving head that uses a 470W short-arc light source said to produce ‘phenomenally bright parallel beams, incredible spot gobo projections, super-quick movement and smooth CMY weighs 22kg, has a lumen output of 20.375 and a CRI of over 80, while offering zoom ranges from 1.8° to 21° in Beam mode and 3° to 42° in Spot mode.

Additionally, the effects engine has been pre-loaded with 12

be enhanced using the beam shaper to create framing shutter effects and rectangular shapes. The ‘light’ and ‘medium’ frost system to produce wash-style coverage.

A static 14-slot plus open gobo wheel with glass gobos projections and in-air effects, while a second wheel contains replaceable gobos. These can be combined with a variable speed, bi-directional animation wheel that can be used in conjunction with any of the gobos or on their own.

remote adjustable hot-spot appearance of the light source, as well as pre-programmable ‘random’ strobe and pulse effects.

www.robe.cz

Avolites feels the beat

MATCHING THE tempo is a key component at the heart of two software updates for Avolites. The British manufacturer’s Ai v10 and Titan v10.1 offer BPM Sync and BPM Master, respectively.

Alongside BPM Sync, which is targeted at users who perform to music, the Ai v10 upgrade includes a real-time effects generator, Notch, and video sharing feature, Spout. A further addition is projection mapping tool, MeshWarp, which is a combination of Projective Keystone and Grid Warp. The feature reportedly enables users to warp their content to match projection surfaces and joins the likes of auto map and auto blend as part of the manufacturer’s mapping toolkit.

Timeline. According to Avolites, this provides precise control of video in a timecode environment, whilst still allowing live control simultaneously.

Moving on to Titan v10.1, the new functionality as well as many

aforementioned BPM Master reportedly ensures all chases and effects attached to them remain not only at the same tempo, but also in synchronisation with the beat and each other. Effects, including key frame shapes, can now be assigned a number of beats per cycle. In addition, effects can now also be linked

to the group used to make them. In this way, when the number original group can be updated and the effect will then run with all the

A further feature of the Titan v10.1 release, Scene Master mode introduces what is described as ‘a new and more

PR LIGHTING released its year to much acclaim. Not content to rest on its laurels though, the Chinese manufacturer has already built upon its original design beams with tilt control to create a

engines that can be controlled individually or in groups.

which can also be controlled together or independently, produce a white blinder strobe or random strobing effect.

The unit offers 540° pan and 270° tilt with the ability to spin its head a full 360°. The

and WDMX control make up the user interface.

that are reportedly capable of running for 50,000 hours. Its colour temperature is between 2,700K and 10,000K, while power consumption is 600W and it weighs in at 23kg.

The XR 330 Beam and XR 250 Beam also have sequels in the form of the XR 330 Beam II, equipped with the Osram Sirius HRI 330W lamp, and the XR 250 Beam II, which includes a Philips MSD Platinum 11R 250W lamp that emits a laserlike parallel beam. Each features head movement of 540° (pan) and 270° (tilt), as well

as auto position correction and a 3° light angle. Other features include a colour wheel with 13

16 gobos, a rotating gobo wheel with 12 gobos, electronic strobe (0.3 to 20fps), dimmer (0% to 100%, linearly adjustable) and motorised linear focus and zoom functionality.

which is formed from seven 40W independent colour control. The including electronic strobe of 0 to

of the manufacturer’s live palette time feature. The mode allows multiple palettes, playbacks and time information to be executed together, with either a fader or a chosen fade time.

www.avolites.com

25fps, 100% linearly adjustable with Macro, pan movement of 720°, 360° or endless rotation, 270° or endless tilt rotation and angle of 13°. Also featured is display, adjustable brightness and contrast, and a lamp and projector usage time display. Wireless control can be optionally added.

www.pr-lighting.com

Robe MegaPointe

Butterfly II

XR 330 Beam II

Titan v10.1 is available as a free download

XLED 4007 Beam

ETC unlocks its full potential

ETC HAS supposedly unlocked the full potential of its console hardware with the latest Eos software by ending the practice of incremental upgrades. Rather than purchasing a base-level model and choosing from a range of output upgrades, the desk will now be available in two formats: base level or unlocked. If a user wishes to increase a baselevel console’s potential, it’s now a one-time only upgrade to unlock everything. For existing users that have already purchased output upgrades, the manufacturer states

that upon installation of v2.6, any upgraded desk will be expanded to its full potential, even if they had only been partially upgraded beforehand.

In terms of new features, the software allows advanced Element users to take advantage of multiuser control, partitioned control, virtual media server functions, full display controls, new timing functions and more. Furthermore, a show programmed on an Ion or larger desk can now be ‘more

Inspire XT

A big inspiration

CHROMA-Q HAS gone and doubled the brightness of its popular Inspire architectural of Inspire XT. Now capable of outputting 9,500 lumens, the Inspire XT also offers other Inspire range features, such as a fully homogenised beam, theatrical grade DMX dimming and convection cooling.

capable of reproducing whites, soft pastels and bold saturates via its RGBW colour mixing that also provides a CRI of up to 90. DMX-512 control control and pixel mapping to create colour effects and warm amber looks. Furthermore, the

low maintenance and capable of delivering more than 50,000 hours of operation. Flicker-free operation also means that HD cameras can be used without issue.

All versions of Chroma-Q’s with a range of optional accessories for mounting and beam control.

www.chroma-q.com

seamlessly’ transferred to a venue with an Element desk. The software update also adds new display and playback features for all Eos family consoles. Users working in the live table view can now bring up part structures, output level, playback sources or the DMX map via a single button press. Manual timing masters aid live playback options, while the ability to assign Macros to playback

www.etcconnect.com

Fully immersed

In a custom-built theatre four years in the making and featuring some unique technology, La Perle is the latest offering from Franco Dragone to take up residence in Dubai. James Ling takes a seat

AS WE TAKE OUR SEAT AT LA PERLE’ S CUSTOM-BUILT theatre in Al Habtoor City, Pro AVL MEA has been transported. We were in exactly the same spot just a few hours earlier and we

modern industrial feel.

within the space. Every surface is a projector screen and, as the

a theatrical performance. On the one hand, you want it to create a distinct look and feel for the show. But on the other, you don’t want it to be so dominant that it takes away from the performers La Perle, the new show created by the audience in the performance. It is also where some of the La Perle

a camera that picks up where the infrared emitter is so the there is a wall there, it projects the correct content for that wall,

back wall is and what shape the proscenium wall is around the audience.’

This of course requires a great deal of processing, and again La Perle audience split into two sides, a house left and a house right side

audience, it is the lighting that highlights the incredible feats theatre since La Perle

www.laperle.com

La Perle

Sebastian Hammond and Anton Montaut

Custom yolks have been made for the Barco cinema projectors

L-Acoustics Kara cabinets form the main sound system

The Smarter Mixer

ATDM-0604 Digital SmartMixer®

In today’s meeting environments, you need a mixer that not only handles multiple microphones, but can seamlessly integrate other media inputs, as well – and output it all in a well-controlled mix to a variety of endpoints. Audio-Technica’s six-channel ATDM-0604 automatically mixes 6 mic inputs in gate or gain sharing mode, ensuring consistent, high-quality audio output that’s free of feedback, excessive ambient noise, and comb filtering. Featuring intuitive use, local and remote control options, superior echo cancellation and USB audio interface for soft codec applications, the ATDM-0604 gives you the power and flexibility to mix with extreme intelligence.

Find out more at eu.audio-technica.com.

Centre of debate

WITH THE SUN GLINTING OFF ITS CURVED GLASS AND golden steel façade, the new council chamber for the City of Johannesburg is a striking sight. Set against the straight lines of the modernist architecture that surrounds it in the Braamfontein district of the city, the 38m tall calabash-shaped building provides a welcome focal point for the regeneration of this area. Designed by South African architects, studioMAS, the new council chamber draws on the circular forms of the Setswana lekgotla and the Roman forum. Add to this a stoa walkway around the chamber that takes its inspiration from the architecture of Ancient Greece and the marriage of traditional African meetings and the origins of classical democracy is complete.

Although the architecture and concepts behind the building draw from the past, inside the two-storey debating chamber it is clear that modern technology is at its core. The job of installing of international IT specialist and systems integrator, Dimension Data. It was tasked with providing the council with a state-of-theart A/V solution that could serve its daily needs, while also living Building Council of South Africa.

To do this, the integrator turned to the combined talents of various players in the local market. Distributors including Electrosonic and TID were brought in on the design and supply side, while acoustic consultant Andre Nieuwstadt was enlisted to ensure the chamber’s audio solution was intelligible for all in attendance. The result is something the integrator describes as the most advanced parliamentary system it has installed. And as Pro AVL MEA explores the building from top to toe, it is clear to see why.

Standing under the city crest that marks the centre of immediately catch the eye. Two 8m wide x 4m high HD screens ensures that everyone seated around the whole chamber can see proceedings clearly. The feed comes from a selection of a Panasonic AW-RP50. The live feed is mixed via a pair of Blackmagic Design Atem 1M/E Production Studio 4K with the associated Atem 1M/E broadcast panel. Further visual

processing equipment from Extron and Axitech completes this portion of the solution.

The lighting side of the project was handled by Electrosonic.

installed to ensure council meetings can take place after dark.

by a Helvar control system.

The lighting continues outside where over 300m of Electron

distributed Artnet/DMX network. This provides an RGB-based colour changing wrap around the entire building, adding to its character at night.

While the visuals grab the attention, discourse is the main function of the debating chamber. As such, each council delegate has their own customised Bosch DCN conferencing solution. Each of the 361 named seats in the chamber feature a

James Ling

15-inch touchscreen for paperless meetings. A Bosch electronic voting module ensures votes are counted quickly and accurately, for log-on and authentications via customised integration between the council’s software application and the Bosch voting module. Bosch custom 700mm gooseneck microphones act people sometimes forget to activate their microphones. To ensure that these comments are on the record, a further 12 beyerdynamic Classis BM 33 W boundary mics have been installed around the debating chamber for ambient recording. one of the unique elements of South African culture. There are

them. At Johannesburg City Council, this means that Dimension Data installed three Bosch audio expanders together with Bosch simultaneous translation software providing the required quantity of audio outputs to cater for the 11 languages. This is available to each of the delegate positions as well as each of the 150 press and public seats in the gallery.

The new council building

Bose ceiling speakers cover the stoa walkway around the chamber

The big screens ensure everyone can see what’s taking place

beyerdynamic Classis BM 33 W boundary mics have been installed around the debating chamber for ambient recording

The translation itself takes place in six booths tucked off in the corridor behind the main chamber. Rather than having a window out to view proceedings, pairs of translators and their Bosch DCN systems get the visual feed via a Samsung monitor to provide the translated commentary to those in attendance. In the corridors alongside these booths, further videoconferencing rooms with large Samsung screens and AMC Baltic PowerBox 5B speakers ensure that remote meetings can take place.

The A/V equipment list for the project is staggering in its breadth, but perhaps the most creative use of technology comes with the council’s main PA. While the 24 Bose Freespace DS 16FW ceiling speakers providing BGM in the stoa walkway are a common site, the combination of loudspeakers providing vocal reinforcement in the main chamber is certainly out of the ordinary.

Here the TID team in combination with Andre Nieuwstadt have looked at the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of speaker types to create the optimum sound in what could have been an acoustically challenging space. A good example of this can be seen with the pair of Bose RoomMatch RMU208 speakers installed under the main screens on the front dispersion characteristics and the unique quirks of the cabinets, the speakers have been positioned in such a way that their

In a more unorthodox use of technology, the company opted for a solution more commonly found in stadia to provide the main PA. Underneath the central screen, a Bose LT9702WR longthrow cabinet and three LT9402WR long-throw cabinets have supplemented around the lower level with the manufacturer’s FreeSpace FS3IIW and FS3SIIW ceiling speakers to cover under the balcony.

With much of the public gallery and press area outside of the coverage zone from this main system, a secondary solution of Bose RoomMatch RMU108 cabinets has been installed to provide reinforcement here. In order to preserve sightlines, these acoustic cloud, ensuring members of the public can clearly hear proceedings in the least obtrusive way.

Power for the solution is via Bose PM8250N, PM4250N and

handled by three Biamp TesiraForte AVB AI DSPs combined with a pair of the manufacturer’s EX-OUT mic/line expanders. While the Bosch conferencing solution handles the debate in the chamber, the council also requested a wireless mic solution. To meet this need, TID once again turned to beyerdynamic supplying handheld and lavaliere options from the manufacturer’s TouringGear and Opus 910 families, in addition to gooseneck condenser mics from the Classis family.

While many designers would not think to use these very result is a solution that meets all the vocal reproduction needs of the space, while also adding a certain element of musicality. It certainly meets the council’s original brief and should ensure that the voice of democracy is heard clearly in the city.

www.dimensiondata.com

www.electrosonic.co.za

www.joburg.org.za

www.studiomas.co.za

www.tid-sa.com

Bose longthrow speakers have been installed as the main system

The council’s paperless Bosch system allows for electronic voting

Bose, Biamp, TASCAM, beyerdynamic and AMX gear in the rack

Ringing the bell

The new PA solution at Manarat Sharjah Private School provides Projection House with its largest Ohm reference project to date. James Cooke heads back to the classroom

LOCATED IN THE HEART OF SHARJAH AND ESTABLISHED in 1983, Manarat Sharjah Private School is one of the Emirate’s most venerable educational establishments. The school follows an Arabic curriculum for both boys and girls, and houses more than 2,000 students from kindergarten up to grade 12. With this number of children on campus, clear communication is essential and, to ensure that this need is met, Manarat Sharjah recently upgraded its campus-wide PA system.

The job of designing and installing the new solution fell to Projection House with the systems integrator choosing to combine products from QSC and Ohm. ‘It is a PA and BGM solution with the main requirement being for the school bells,’ explains Liju Raju Varghese, audio engineer at Projection House.

speakers for the school bell and it sounds very nice. We have used QSC’s Q-Sys to control and zone the system. Each class has a period bell and it’s running through the speakers. It is working very well.’

As Pro AVL MEA walks down the corridor serving the kindergarten area, the system springs into life making a highly intelligible announcement in Arabic. ‘From my experience as an audio guy, once it was installed I was surprised by the sound from the CL-0T,’ smiles Mr Varghese. ‘They are very small but the SPL is very high and they sound nice.’

Away from the ceiling solution covering the corridors and classrooms, the outdoor assembly areas have also received a new solution based on Ohm speakers. ‘In the three assembly areas for the children, we put AS-8 speakers,’ recalls Mr Varghese. ‘Each area has 14 speakers. The AS-8 is an environmental speaker, so they are weatherised for outdoor use. It is a full-range speaker and working well.

‘These also sound the bell and play announcements from the principal’s room, reception area, admin area and from the security desk to announce to the children if somebody’s parent is coming for them,’ he continues. ‘All of these zones are interconnected and it’s working very well.’

While the Ohm solution provides the output, the school’s input and control is handled by Q-Sys. ‘The announcements are made

using the Core 110F. Q-Sys provides the brains and all the other systems are relying on it. The Ohm system provides the clarity.’ Staying with QSC, Projection House also used the manufacturer’s K series speakers to cover the school’s auditorium.

The installation process itself took six days and was done while

ease of programming the system made this possible,’ says Mr Varghese. ‘The main challenge was the cable pulling because everything was already built and we had to run all of the cables. We used Belden cables for the project.’

With its new system in and working, the school is very pleased with the results. ‘Everything is perfect, they are professional people indeed,’ says Najeeb Mousa Asad, IT manager at Manarat Sharjah Private School. ‘They have distributed the speakers in the proper way so the sound is very clear for the

play area and doesn’t disturb people outside the campus. We have another school next to us and people in villas, and we only need our students to hear the announcements and they have accomplished this. Added to this, the Ohm ceiling speaker system sounds very nice.’

While the end result has clearly been important for the school, integrator. ‘Projection House is the best company that I have dealt with,’ states Mr Asad. ‘Everything is working smoothly and the after-sales service has been great. They are really supporting these people. They have given us some nice ideas.

‘Our management is very happy with everything,’ continues the their upcoming projects.’

The success of the project and the strong relationship it has helped to build means that Mr Varghese is positive about installing similar solutions in the future. ‘It is a big project, and ‘Now we are expecting more. It is important to have this kind of reference.’

As the school bell sounds through the corridors of Manarat Sharjah Private School once more, Pro AVL MEA

This may not be the most glamorous use of this type of technology, but its importance cannot be underestimated.

www.manaratalsharjah.com

www.ohm.co.uk

www.projectionhouse.ae

Q-Sys controls the systemNajeeb Mousa Asad from Manarat Sharjah Private School with Ohm’s Kaushal Garg and Liju Raju Varghese from Projection House

QSC paging mics allow annoucements to be made from various positions

AS-8 speakers have been installed outside

The speakers have been distributed to keep the sound inside the play areas

Wherever you may roam

Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre

SITTING AT THE TOP OF MALL OF THE EMIRATES, DUCTAC has long been known as an artistic outlet and resource for Dubai’s creative community. While its labyrinth-like interior boasts a range of dance studios and rehearsal spaces, it is the events at the Kilachand Studio and Centrepoint Theatre that always capture the attention. The venue’s main spaces have been well-equipped for the type of performances that they host, but a recent investment in Sennheiser’s wireless products has ensured that much more of DUCTAC can be used as a performance space.

mic systems that can either serve two different spaces, or be combined for larger events. The smaller case features four EW-300 systems with both SKM-300 handhelds and SK-300 bodypacks. The RF for these is routed through an ASA-1 antenna splitter and A-2003 antennas. Meanwhile, the larger second case uses the same products to form a seven-way system.

‘Both of these systems have the option to use headset mics or our small lavalier mic, the MKE-1,’ furthers Sennheiser Middle East’s Ryan Burr. ‘This can be worn as a lapel mic for presentation or hidden in costumes or wigs for dramatic productions. The antenna distribution system allows for both cases to be interlinked to become a single large 11-way system when required, still using only one pair of antennas. They

also contain network capability for connecting to the Wireless Systems Manager (WSM) software for monitoring and control. Everything is routed into a wireless router so they can run the WSM on a tablet and do walk tests and things like that, which is a very clever use of the technology.’

As you would expect with this kind of solution, it has already been put to use for a number of theatrical productions. ‘We have mostly used the wireless mics for stage plays and musicals,’ recalls Philip Fortaleza, head of audio at DUCTAC. ‘We chose the MKE-1 because it is a tiny microphone that is easy to use for the actors and can be easily hidden. The sound quality is also excellent. The productions are happy with the quality of the sound, it always provides them with what they are expecting.’

At the other end of the signal chain, DUCTAC has also invested in a further wireless solution. ‘They have purchased a pair of LSP-500 portable loudspeakers with EM-300 receivers inside for use in pop-up events,’ says Mr Burr.

We chose the LSP-500 because it is easy to set up for things like opening exhibitions at the arts centre,’ adds Mr Fortaleza. ‘It is easy to setup because you don’t need any cables to run, you just make the set up with the wireless router and then connect to everything. It is controlled by iPad so you can move around the area to make sure everything is correct. Sound wise, it’s good for speech. It is battery operated and it is reliable.’

While individually important, it is the combination of the wireless systems that allows the technical team at DUCTAC to now host an event literally anywhere in the complex. ‘The main reason was to become neat and clean,’ says Anthony Manalo, head of technical at DUCTAC. ‘For example, the arts centre and the gallery are all white, so it needs to be neat and clean

aesthetics and audio quality.’

‘There are several performance spaces here so the fact that they can move around, as well as the LSPs being as portable as they are, keeps these guys from having to run cables everywhere and from having to permanently install and uninstall things,’ says Mr Burr. ‘The portable speakers can be used with any of the transmitters from the wireless cases or with an SKP-300 plugon transmitter and MEG-14-40 gooseneck mic that they have connected to a portable lectern.

‘Because the systems are portable, most of the antenna setups are on stands,’ continues Mr Burr. ‘I have done some training on WSM with Philip, so he is au fait with using this software for doing frequency scanning. Because the software allows you to do walk tests, if in the course of a walk test you identify areas where you are getting dropouts, then you can simply move the antennas around in order to make sure that those areas are being covered correctly.’

The portable nature of DUCTAC’s new solution has succeeded in broadening the area of the complex that can offer sound reinforcement, ensuring that it can continue to grow the way it serves its community.

www.sennheiser.com

The new portable solution at

(DUCTAC) is giving the community arts centre the freedom to host events in any space it wants. James Ling out more

DUCTAC’s new wireless solutions

DUCTAC has purchased a pair of LSP500 portable loudspeakers

Sennheiser’s Ryan Burr with DUCTAC’s Philip Fortaleza and Anthony Manalo

The wireless mic systems are in customised flight cases

Neat cabling inside the rack

PROCOM exclusive distributor for:

The new Jam

Mango Jam studio has re-opened in Dubai with an expanded footprint offering its Damian Calderbank

is a minimum seating capacity for every room, so we worked to those things.’

When it came to the acoustic design, the 21dB team used different techniques to ensure each studio provided a different completely dead, so it’s very interesting to see them work there because it has a very distinct sound to it.

‘There is a live end, dead end room which has one side

THE GLORY DAYS OF RECORDING STUDIOS HAVE LONG since passed, but there is still money to be made in these spaces. While music production has largely moved into the home and project studio environment, commercial recording for TV adverts and radio spots is still in demand.

Dubai’s Mango Jam studio has built its reputation on this type of business, and its success is there for all to see. With the increasing demand for its services, the Mango Jam team decided the time was right to move to a larger facility, previously worked with local acoustic consultant, 21dB, on the acoustic treatment for its three studio facilities, so quickly ‘We looked at the space and worked out the right designs for it,’ recalls Ramy Estephan, director at 21dB. ‘The client had a few things in mind that he wanted to have in the new

creates that dead end and live end. The room is not very big, but speakers and the listener, and everything is diffused at the back. There are three other rooms, a control room that has a vocal vocal booths. Basically there is a live room and vocal booths inside the live room and the two rooms share that.’

dead end room for the studios was down to 21dB’s designs as the Mango Jam team trusted its acoustic consultants the dimensions and shapes of the rooms,’ explains Mr Estephan. ‘That is the case for any recording studio, we take care of the design. From the very beginning we prepare the plans, all the small details, the BOQ for all the material and method statements from the contractors to ensure the work follows the plan. Then once we get to the construction stage we are involved from the very beginning. We’re not there

Focal monitors came with the studio when it moved

All of the studios have Sessiondesk furniture

Studios 2 and 3 share a vocal booth

every day, but we are supervising regularly to make sure the construction work is going as planned. With studios, your weakest link, so one mistake here can compromise everything. You can build a million dollar studio, but one mistake and it’s all gone.’

As this was an upgrade project, much of the equipment moved from the old Mango Jam. ‘They shifted a lot of their gear from the old place to the new place but they got new Genelec 8040 speakers,’ says Mr Estephan. ‘The Genelec 8040 is the most popular speaker out there. There have been plenty of innovations from Genelec, but still the most requests we see are for the 8040 with a 7040 or 7050 subwoofer depending on the size of the room. For the RZ room they have Focal speakers, CMS 65s that they brought over for their 5.1 and they have the CMS subwoofer as well.

‘They also bought a lot of Dangerous Music equipment for monitoring in 5.1 and stereo and they bought a few preamps,’ he continues. ‘All of the rooms have Sessiondesk furniture, which are studio desks for engineers. They bought all of the furniture and the acoustic treatment was of course new for this space, but most of the equipment they reused from the

old facility. Now the intention is for them to start expanding their equipment portfolio in the next couple of months.’ In terms of control, it is the nature of the work Mango Jam does that has determined the mix equipment. ‘They are using Logic X to mix,’ says Mr Estephan. ‘They use outboard gear, but they don’t use any desks. Most of the work that they do is for commercials for radio and TV. The bands here in Dubai do not provide the majority of the work, so there isn’t necessarily the incentive to buy a big desk. Also, the work comes in in the morning and has to be out that night or you have a day or two at most. So there isn’t that luxury to sit behind a desk and start tweaking things to get the perfect sound. If it’s 95% there, it’s good.’

completed with the acoustic consultant coming back in to do a there at the commissioning stage to do measurements, like RT measurements, to make sure that the frequencies were quite

create has actually been built and to make sure that it is all working properly,’ furthers Mr Estephan. ‘Then we created a report and sent it to the client with a few observations for them to adjust based on the engineer’s operation and how they work.’

has been positive for Mango Jam. ‘I’m happy with how it sounds,’ he states. ‘Some of the rooms were a compromise operations because they need to create radio spots and, while you need acoustic treatment, the shape of the room doesn’t matter for that kind of project.’

More importantly, he believes it has provided an improved environment for the studio’s engineers. ‘For them it was a huge upgrade because they went from sharing three studios to now every engineer has their own studio. The spaces are on the smaller side but they sound great and work very well. The engineers are so happy with their mixes now, they are much happier than they were before.’

www.21db.org

Genelec monitors were a new purchase for the expanded space

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Best in class

Northwestern University in Qatar has created a technical infrastructure that

WITH SIX STUDIO SPACES, FOUR CONTROL ROOMS, more than 25 postproduction suites and a couple of computer editing labs, Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) has the kind of facilities that many broadcasters dream of. Add to this a technical infrastructure that is right on the cutting edge and you can see why there is so much interest in this multi-year project. Yet this is not a commercial broadcast operation and there is no output. All of this investment has been for the

production and digital media at NU-Q. ‘No one has ever made this kind of investment or gone to this level of complexity and professional standards in a university. We did a lot of research when we were designing this space. We went to a lot of universities around the world and picked from the best, added our own and we have a state-of-the-art facility with the latest

the right technology has taken time. You want to make the decisions at the very last possible second so that you are on the

job to balance the desire for the latest technology with the

example of this in action. ‘Our newsrooms are fully automated

great. We can run the desk fully from the automation panel as it

the broadcast studios and any of those spaces can also be recording studios because they are all high-spec sound stages.

can then route any of those studios that are plugged in to the infrastructure and then we are using the MADI cards to pull it into the Avid world for the postproduction.

‘Evertz, which is our main video structure, is also connected management system, which is the Evertz Magnum system,

will be the envy of broadcasters around the world. James Ling reports

Geoffrey Cannaby, director, production and digital media at NU-Q

The recently completed newsroom is fully automated

Calrec Artemis Light consoles are at the heart of the operation

www.calrec.com

www.qatar.northwestern.edu

Robotic cameras in the newsroom

Avid consoles have been combined with the Calrecs using MADI and the Hydra network

A Grass Valley Ignite automation system controls the studio

The engine room at NU-Q

Looking to the future

The lessons learnt over its 30-year history have shaped the way NMK approaches the distribution business. It is drawing on all of these experiences as it plans for the long-term future, as James Ling discovers

equipped huddle rooms, while downstairs there is a large area given over to training as well as the warehouse. The role of a distributor has changed over NMK’s 30 years in business and

‘The role has changed from box moving to being a valueadded, service-oriented business,’ offers Mr Kyvernitis. ‘We have become a one-stop solutions provider for all A/V needs.’ This, he believes, is the key to success in the current marketplace. ‘Customers in today’s market want a solution. Manufacturers are offering an end-to-end solution. In order for the gaps and to develop solutions for our clients to sell.’ While being able to offer a complete solution is a powerful starting point for the distributor, the value-added essence of the role means that there is further work that has to be done around this. One major aspect that NMK has pioneered comes from industry education.

‘It’s the age of rapidly evolving technology – the only way to stay in the game is to invest in consistent professional development,’ states Mr Kyvernitis. ‘In the audiovisual realm, professional development is especially crucial to stay on top of the frequent installation, design and equipment updates. Due to advances in IT infrastructure in the A/V market, education and constantly learning is highly integral and we are proud that almost all of our clients are proactive in taking initiatives to learn new innovations in the industry.

‘The educational events we host are meant to advance the education of individuals in the A/V industry,’ he continues. ‘We knowledge and engagement with the latest technologies. We plan our roadshows to be fun, interactive, inspirational and memorable, which is why we have had tremendous success over the last few years.’

Of course, this industry education isn’t just for NMK’s clients, it is also an important exercise for its staff. ‘We are aiming to make NMK a company of experts,’ says Mr Kyvernitis. ‘We believe that putting our employees through regular coursework,

conferences and training sessions can keep their information elsewhere and give them excellent networking opportunities as well as the proper ammunition they need to sell.’ Investing in staff this way is one of the factors Mr Kyvernitis believes to be behind the distributor’s success. ‘We owe more than 50% of our success to the dedication and conviction of our employees who share NMK’s vision to be the leading distributor and service provider in the Middle East. We shall continue to invest in people so that we can retain our human resources to build ownership and loyalty.’ anniversary, it would be very easy to just look back and important is looking at what is happening in the market now and planning to continue its success into the future.

‘The market is in a very strange position,’ says Mr Kyvernitis. ‘Some manufacturers are leaving the region, closing their operation and shifting into a distribution model. Other manufacturers are starting their operation here hoping to

develop the market. The reality is manufacturers need to peaks and dips.’

Looking to the future, Mr Kyvernitis believes there could be further challenges for the regional industry. ‘There are many opportunities as a company that we need to address in the years to come. I call it post-2020. Looking at previous expos, you can see a real massive decline right after any expo has taken place. We are planning for beyond 2020 and focusing on a mid- to long-term plan so that the company exists and has relevance for years to come.’

Central to this plan is NMK’s digital presence. ‘We will always be consistent with our professional standards, we have a formula that works but, to move forward with the changing nature of business, we are heavily investing in enriching our digital presence and are “going digital” in many areas to deliver the best results,’ reveals Mr Kyvernitis.

the next generation of professionals to come to the forefront and help to drive the company forward. ‘We have a strong and enthusiastic team that have a long-term expansion plan,’ says Mr Kyvernitis. ‘This plan will be done strategically without losing the core values I have embedded into NMK to make the company the success it is today.

‘Hopefully, I have instilled all my years of experience and teachings to the team that will be taking control of the company,’ he continues. ‘My goal is to have them think the way I do with a modern touch. The team have many new ideas and innovations that the new generation who entered the company brought forward.’

It has been 30 years of hard work that has brought the and long-term plans ready to take it forward in a changing anniversaries to celebrate in the years to come.

www.nmkelectronics.com

The Silicon Oasis warehouse

Well-equipped huddle spaces allow NMK to practise what it preaches

Education is a key strategy for NMK

NMK’s busy office

A letter from America

Dan Daley discovers some of the new mega rehearsal studios popping up across the US

LET ME START BY SAYING THAT, WHATEVER

Donald Trump did since we last spoke, no matter how idiotic, clueless or tasteless it was, Letter From America apologises. Rest assured, we are working diligently on a solution. Now then, on to business. While recording studios have been the focus of music production for the better part of the last century, there has been an ongoing and massive shift in recent years. Capital expenditures are now being poured into rehearsal facilities instead. In Nashville, already the home of some of the country’s largest and best-equipped rehearsal studios, most notably the national chain SIR and Soundcheck’s huge hangars on the Cumberland River, the Chicago-based Fort Knox Studios has opened an iteration of itself in a cavernous former warehouse near the airport with a US$7.2 million price tag on the real estate alone. Along with a few other large facilities – one of which is owned by one of Dolly Parton’s companies – Nashville is shrewdly shedding its reputation as the rehearsal studio capital of the country for the role of ground zero for most of the major tours that will criss-cross North America each year.

Even bigger is the seemingly remote Rock Lititz, a US$21.8 million project in rural Pennsylvania, whose main production/ rehearsal space is over 9,000m2, including a 30m-tall ceiling to accommodate the largest trusses, with another 15,800m2 allocated to related production activities, including a 975m2 room used for back-up band or dance rehearsals. A planned second phase will have a 76,200m2 and facilities for nearly two dozen support companies. A hotel is also in the planning stages, accommodating the extended families of the dozens of artists, musicians, technicians, programmers and other specialties needed to put on the kind of touring spectacles that have become the new revenue generator for a music industry whose recordings no longer make enough money to live on.

The shift in the music industry’s fortunes has favoured live performances decidedly over record sales – the industry lost nearly 40% of its revenues over the past 15 years, as per the IFPI, while the Top 100 Tours of North America in 2016 grossed a record US$3.34 billion, according to Pollstar. That’s up 7% over last

A letter from Europe

As Big Ben falls silent for four years, Phil Ward looks at alternatives

QUIZ TIME: IMAGINE YOU’RE STUCK AT

on the UK Government Citizen Test is ‘Who British history?’ – to which the answer is not, no matter how much you’d like it to be, Elton John. The next question is multiple-choice: ‘Big Ben’ is (a) the clock tower at the northern end of the Palace of Westminster, (b) the clock in regularly chime therein?

While you’re thinking about that, consider the consternation that would grip the UK if the bells at the top of that famous tower stopped ringing. Like the ravens at the Tower of London, the absence of these totems must surely harbinger the end of civilisation, or at least the grave threat of Tottenham

it’s actually happening. The bells are being silenced to allow a workforce to carry out

maintenance on them and on the tower itself, and with good reason. Close proximity to a 13,760Kg bronze clanger being thumped by a 204Kg hammer is considered something of a health and safety issue.

So the broadcasters who routinely use these sonorous signposts to preface key news bulletins must, gasp, use recordings

think they do anyway, but no; since 1923, the BBC has had a microphone (or two) in place at the top of the clock tower permanently connected to its studios to transmit the chimes live, often referred to, in a spirited burst of onomatopoeia, as ‘the bongs’. On

or the announcement that a royal baby has successfully completed potty training, the connection is reinforced by codecs, preamps and other paraphernalia to ensure no interruption of the signal – and, therefore, to

year’s US$3.12 billion. In addition, the average ticket price also hit record levels at US$76.55 each, up 3%, or US$2.30, over 2015. What’s back to the touring artists and their support, which is a vast improvement over the 15% or so that standard recording contracts have historically allocated as the artists’ share.

Not surprisingly then, rehearsal studios, which were once largely reviled by musicians and touring techs alike for their dinginess and dodginess, are rapidly becoming more like the palaces of music recording’s heydays. When you are hosting rehearsals for tours of artists including Taylor Swift, Usher, Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj, as Rock Lititz reportedly did over the last year or so, you have to empty the ashtrays regularly, to say the least.

The largest of the new mega rehearsal facilities are also recreating the mothership model of some of the biggest recording studios of an earlier era, with the rehearsal facility acting as a magnet and hub for ancillary support businesses. For instance, Tour Supply, which will rent everything from gaffer tape to synchronised backing track playback systems,

has outposts in both Soundcheck and Rock Lititz, while Sound Marketing, a national pro

the same time, the leading rehearsal studios are also becoming showcases for the latest in PA systems and live sound consoles, where them out as they make their touring technology decisions.

tectonic shift from recorded to live music as the main revenue source for the music

these facilities will have to be ‘part of a coming Fort Knox MD, Kent Nielsen, outlined it to me. Musicians will be self-contained artistic and commercial entities, looking to these new rehearsal agoras to provide a menu of services they can choose from as they pick their way through a landscape no longer paved by the machinery of major record labels. It will be – pun very much intended – quite a show to watch.

stem bloody rebellion.

doubled up: the crucial Focusrite 7 preamps; Sonifex’s Redbox RB-DA6 distribution

even the UPS units. An ISDN connection was backed up by a British Telecom microwave link that dodged all the regional switching points between Westminster, BT Tower, the BBC and a VIP party at the newly built Millennium

bells have stopped, obviously. During previous renovations, the last of which was in 1976, radio broadcasting has resorted to a number of alternatives, including similar chimes from St Paul’s Cathedral and the electronic time signal generated by the Royal Greenwich Observatory, still used by the BBC – six short counting down to the hour. So even if London

can’t bong it can still pip, which is reassuring. There is another option, nowadays. And it makes perfect sense, when you think about manufacturer Martin Audio, has written to

hangs or stacks of the company’s Multicellular Line Array (MLA) elements at the top of the tower in order to replicate the bells with computer-controlled playback of their prerecorded chimes; the key point being that the much-touted rear rejection of the enclosures would protect the workforce behind them while projecting adequately out front. Whether just stick to the original recording remains unclear. As I write, there has been no reply from Parliament.

This would make Big Ben the largest BWAV

The four-day AES@NAMM Pro Sound Symposium offers a unique, high-end education and training program, targeted at professionals working in live sound, recording and audio for the performing arts. AES@NAMM will be held in the Anaheim Hilton Hotel, next door to a brand-new ACC North Hall, showcasing some of the biggest names in pro-audio.

Th Crossroads of Music, Sound and The Music Begins Here

IBC 2017

ALTHOUGH IBC’S ROOTS CAN BE TRACED TO THAT YEAR when Sergeant Pepper

Sennheiser Middle

Mig Cardamone took residence in the Future Zone to promote VR Ambeo

Clockwise: A record crowd attended IBC 2017; Dejero’s Bill Nardi highlighting Gateway; Canford Audio’s ‘touch and feel’ display encouraged visitors to compare the 9.2mm SMPTE fibre cables; In addition to the new mc296 console, Lawo promoted Kick 2.0 on their booth; The calm before the crowds on the Switchcraft booth; XDCAM air; Røde Microphone’s Ryan Burke was kept busy promoting the Reporter and the latest VideoMic+

Education on the show floor from Adobe

Aten showcased a control room environment with its 4K KVM over IP Matrix

Ross Video

East’s

Anas Hantash from Imagine Communications

Yamaha’s Andy Cooper and the Dante-enabled TF3 console

at the cloud. Cisco has been working with some other people in this industry on cloud-based systems so they are a natural partner for us to be talking to, so it will be interesting to see what kind of feedback we get on our tech demo.’

One of the reasons for the importance of IP at IBC 2017 was following the same standard, so it looks more stable right now,’ explained Anthony Chan from SAM

is why we put the OB truck here to show that it is not just in a demo lab.’

established, but we’re not there yet for real-world complex Axon management is the key. But I believe that by the time we meet again next year, a lot of progress will have been made.’ Away from IP, the other major talking point at IBC 2017 was HDR. A practical example of this kind of technology in action could be found on the Dolby stand, where the manufacturer was presenting a case study on the use of Dolby Vision for the ‘A lot of our conversations at the show revolve around HDR,’ said Wolfgang Lempp from FilmLight. ‘How do you deal with those multiple deliverables in a meaningful way at the mastering stage? IBC gives us the opportunity to have those conversations with a lot of people. We have seen a lot of people

come to us for advice and we are happy to give it to them.’ Atomos’ Dan Chung. ‘I

one. When the iPhone X ships, every other competing phone will have HDR (some of them already do have). We’re not going to put it back in the box. We are getting it whether we like it or not.’

‘We’ve seen some slight twists in standards within the HDR space,’ furthered AJA

will simply accept all these standards and it is up to us in the production chain to deal with what those particular standards need, but ultimately they all look pretty much the same, and generally the issue is metadata control.’

teamed up with partners to extend their reach and highlight understand the whole picture and they are not just looking for a vendor, they are driving the industry,’ said Anas Hantash from Imagine Communications

them to design things together and then build it. It’s really interconnected. On our booth you will see a lot of stickers on the wall about the partnerships with Cisco, EditShare and EVS. We need to talk to each other to provide the best solution that the customer wants.’

While these are technologies for the present, the Future Zone

8K living room were joined by demonstrations of VR technology. ‘We have a location in the Future Zone that has a lot of our newer technologies, so things such as the VR mic to show how

is doing when it comes to VR,’ explained Sennheiser’s Ryan Burr. ‘By having an active stand there, we are trying to educate people that they can have 3D audio as well as 3D video and, at that point, it becomes a multi-sensory experience.’

Away from the technology, one thing that was clear from many IBC stands was the impact changing content creators has had

L to R: Stagetec showcased its Router Interface AES67 (RIF67) expansion board as well as the Avatus IP console; Telos Alliance’s Jerome Gamery highlighting interoperability from the Axia IP-Tablet to the IP Showcase using AoIP and Livewire+ AES6; Schoeps’ Florian Gundert highlighted the latest ORTF-3D ambisonics innovation

Calrec’s Anthony Harrison and DiGiCo’s Tim Shaxton demonstrate interoperability

Anthony Chan from SAM Argosy’s Chris Smeeton

on the industry. No longer are companies catering to large-scale broadcasters, many are instead preferring to highlight solutions aimed at the one-man-band broadcaster – a move not dissimilar to what the recording industry experienced with the rise of the home studio. But this brings with it additional problems that manufacturers are still seeking answers for, such as the role that open standards – which often take a lot of time to decide on –play in a market where technological advances are on overdrive.

Many microphone manufacturers such as DPA Microphones with its d:vice MMA-A Digital Audio Interface realise that the growing legions of podcasters and reporters spell bigger business for their technologies. Røde

audience when it developed affordable products such as the VideoMic. This year, VideoMic Pro+ was launched on the HHB booth with upgraded features.

‘We are seeing the content creators here,’ stated Karl Winkler from Lectrosonics, which was highlighting the Dante Duet

digital wireless monitor (IEM) system. ‘There have been plenty of people talking about systems that are much lower cost and asking what we do that is like that, and once we start explaining category of people that have been doing it long enough and have come up from a prosumer beginning and are now looking for their third or fourth generation of product and they understand. The people who are really looking for quality understand that there is that next level and it begins to cost more.’

But this shift was only part of the changing demographic that made up the record crowd. Exhibitors were also seeing different types of client coming to the show looking for solutions in new areas. ‘There are now a lot of traditional audio integrators that are specing out recording studios with our cameras to turn them into video-enabled podcast rooms, or for recording their performances directly as additional content to release with the audio as well,’ noted Marshall Electronics’ Jackson Root.

‘There are some really interesting new applications.’

‘The audience is broadening,’ added Roger Henderson from TSL Systems. ‘There are a lot of people that once upon a time wouldn’t have come here. You get that market that is not the traditional broadcasters but, because the sophistication and price point of equipment now is such, you have this bigger market that has begun to appear, consisting of people who are creating high-quality programming for advertising or training purposes but can’t manage the facilities themselves. We have met half a dozen major corporate customers who are building facilities and need support services; any one of those would justify us being here and they are ones that we hadn’t come across before.’

‘High-quality audio and video is moving out of the high-end broadcast side and into the more mid-stream,’ added Robert Stopford from Megahertz. ‘Technology is making the quality more available across the board now and blurring the edges.

We’re doing conferencing centres for banks that are HD. Content creators are now literally anyone.’

‘We get new leads here,’ said Arnaud Elnecave from Dalet ‘Europe is a really big territory for us and most of our meetings are prescheduled, with 90% of them being existing customers that are upgrading. We have some new prospects that come chat. Even though we are big in Europe, there are still a lot of broadcasters and media operations who don’t know us.’

‘We’re talking to everyone from universities to broadcasters to either the consolidated versions of post houses or the spin-off versions of post houses,’ said James McKenna from Facilis ‘The industry right now is on this consolidation spin-off cycle. need to enhance their shared storage environment and we’re We’re seeing the visual effects guys, we’re seeing a lot of

‘It would be wrong to characterise IBC as a pure broadcast show,’ stated Colin Farquhar from Exterity. ‘We have a lot of broadcast customers and they have always come along. corporate application set. We’ve always had customers who’ve come here who have had different application needs. There are a lot of corporate end users and corporate channel guys.’ While there was certainly a change in the audience, one group that still came out in force was the international distribution community. ‘What’s been good is the spread of distributors here,’ said Bel Digital’s Craig Lovell who was based on the Canford stand. ‘Obviously, there’s the European side of things but it stretches all the way to China on one side and Brazil on the other. The show is having a very global reach.’

RTW’s Andreas Tweitmann scales up the new PD Dante Riedel’s Cameron O’Neill was kept busy promoting the Bolero intercom platform

Panasonic allowed technicians to get a closer feel of its cameras

Zylight’s Charlie Collias

Lectrosonics’ Karl Winkler with the Duet system

Dr David Hanson with his creations Sophia and Professor Einstein highlighted the role AI could have in broadcast

Audio Limited’s Kishore Patel with the newly launched A10 wireless microphone system

AJA highlighted its HDR solutions

Audio AG’s Christian Latzelsperger with the new Ferrofish lineup

The Ravenna Alliance promoted its ST2110 interoperability

‘All my dealers have come by to see the Zylight

Digigram

– Gateway and the AVT have created new platforms and

AEQ showcased a range of mixing, automation and talk show solutions in addition to intercoms

2017 Dates: 14 – 19 September

2018 Dates: 13 – 18 September

Venue: RAI Centre, Amsterdam

Total exhibitors: 1,700+

Attendance: 57,669

Contact: show.ibc.org

Sost from Netia Jutel

Day five sunshine broke up the showers at the RAI

Broaman’s Marc Brunke and Tine Helmle with the new Repeat8-Nano

Wheatstone was kept busy promoting WheatNet-IP interoperability with its Blade-3 digital console platform

Gitex 2017

Gitex Technology Week attracted a small number of players

ATTRACTING AROUND 150,000 VISITORS, GITEX IS

years, there was also an A/V element to the show in the form of InfoComm MEA, but two years on from that separation and there are still a number of audio and A/V manufacturers who take who they wouldn’t see at the region’s traditional shows. Filling all the halls of Dubai’s World Trade Centre, Gitex attracts companies to printer manufacturers and drone demonstrations

‘It’s a new thing for us,’ said Vanessa El Mir from Avid. ‘There’s no broadcast here, there’s no media but we’re here as a partner of Microsoft and we’re showing our asset management system

who come here that do this, but it has been interesting to see

We are meeting people who are outside the media industry that ‘The show is good actually,’ added Bali Reddy from Yamaha are in the UC space as well, so that is bringing a lot of traction from people.’

industry exhibitors had on show.

‘When you look at all our audio solutions, they are all networked today,’ reasoned Chicco Hiranandani from Shure

MEA. ‘Our showcase has the cables showing, which may

responsible for the decisions on what products go into these rooms, whether it is a meeting room, boardroom or classroom?

It’s more and more becoming the IT leader and this is the to know the brand but we’re making these small, day-to-day

bringing to the market with Tesira and TesiraLux,’ noted Biamp’s integrators and consultants on what AVB brings to the table in terms of functionality, ease of use and performance. We are

had some good contacts,’ said Hugues Coffy from S2CEB. ‘If one of those leads to something then it will be worthwhile. I’m seeing people who I wouldn’t see at a traditional show. I’m sure I will be back next year.’

of Peerless-AV and Epson

deal on site so it has been entirely worthwhile.’

While Gitex attracts the likes of Panasonic, LG, Rohde & Schwarz, Exterity and Motorola

it offers to exhibitors from our industry. Visitors to the show are solutions they can offer will often mean that new and different contacts are made and future business becomes more likely.

2017 Dates: 8 – 12 October

2018 Dates: 14 – 18 October

Venue: World Trade Centre, Dubai

Total exhibitors: 4,473

Attendance: 147,133

Contact: www.gitex.com

Almost 150,000 people attended Gitex 2017

Shure MEA’s Chicco Hiranandani

Panasonic attracted a variety of customers to its stand

Biamp’s Ahmed Sabra and Dave Nazir

LG had an elaborate stand highlighting its range of digital signage solutions

Melinda Von Horvath from Peerless-AV on the Almoe Digital Solutions booth

Yamaha UC’s Bali Reddy

Hugues Coffy from S2CEBMotorola’s James Smith on the Minerva booth

Vanessa El Mir from Avid

Prolight + Sound Middle East 2017

Following a challenging debut in 2016, Prolight + Sound Middle East returned with plenty of questions to answer. Was it able to prove its doubters wrong?

Powersoft Midas TW Audio ChamSys Dataton

Lavoce

Light Middle East and PL+S took place in separate buildings

Bosch’s Klaus Seitz with the EV Evolve 50 Procom’s Raja Harfouche

Powersoft makes you happy

Avid’s Robb Allan hosted popular training on the NMK booth

SES’ Mark Cooper did business on the booth

Robe with its partners Mag:cfx, MDG and Arkaos

The seminar programme was a big draw for many

because we have two new brands – Elation and SGM – and we wanted to send a message to the market about this,’ said Elie Khairallah from Venuetech. ‘I honestly was not expecting much from the exhibition, we know the market and we know the trend of exhibitions today.’

‘We are happy to be here. We have three new products that from Bosch attention and we’ve sold quite a few already here at the show. Customers are happy with the price performance ratio they are getting and distributors that came here from various countries have ordered as they want to demo it to their dealers in their countries. I think the region needs a show and that we need to support it, otherwise there is no professional audio show for the mobile sector.’

While the majority of the 28 exhibitors were local distributors, there were some manufacturers that decided to support the right, involving more manufacturers directly, not because they are stealing the business from local distributors, it’s because they can support the local distributors more,’ said FBT’s Roberto Mataloni on the manufacturer’s constantly busy booth.

‘They can see more people coming from different parts, not just the UAE or GCC but also from Africa, India, Pakistan, Turkey –we’ve seen people we don’t see anywhere else, especially from Africa. It needs to be more international and it needs to have more manufacturers, but it also needs to be better organised

‘It’s good to be in a trade show. It is a social event where everybody can meet and we can be aligned with what’s going on in the market,’ said Procom’s Raja Harfouche on a booth displaying equipment from the likes of Avolites, DAS Audio, K-array and Eurotruss. ‘We hope that it will attract more exhibitors from outside the UAE – that’s the challenge to make it more international. They need incentives. There are no low-quality exhibitors, so that’s positive.’

However, it was not all positive for the organiser. There were

some general feelings of disappointment from some of the with many expecting to have a few more neighbours to talk to. Equally, with Light Middle East taking place in separate halls, there was less of a chance for visitors to that show to stumble

The largest concern came from the antisocial behaviour of some of the exhibitors. ‘We decided to come this time because Robe ‘We saw the people we wanted to see plus we saw a few new people. From our point of view the booth was worth having. The most annoying thing is the sound people in the same hall. Every because we are spending money but we cannot do business because we get the noise all the time. I don’t know why they are not controlling it.’

‘They really should segregate something,’ agreed Mark Cooper from SES. ‘There are stands where you can’t see anything because of the light spilling from one stand to the next and there is one stand down the bottom end which is in complete darkness, it’s just ridiculous. Clearly they need to do something about the sound as well.’

new challenge will be to build on this foundation and improve

2017 Dates: 17 – 19 October

2018 Dates: TBC

Venue: World Trade Centre, Dubai

Total exhibitors: 28

Attendance: 2,200

Contact: www.prolightsoundme.com

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FBT’s Luigi Paoloni and Roberto Mataloni Jan Tarakji from ProLab

Avolites desks on show

MX-1616-HDBT-H2X

SW-0501-HDBT

TX-SW-IW-0201

Small and smart

WHEN AUDAC TOOK THE WRAPS OFF ITS LATEST SUBWOOFER development back at Prolight + Sound earlier in the year, you could’ve been forgiven for pondering just how effective such a small cabinet could be.

After all, despite some clever trickery, the laws governing acoustics aren’t malleable to a designer’s whim – no matter how much they wish. In this regard, Noba certainly pushes the boundaries of what seems possible.

So what was the rationale behind developing such a compact subwoofer? Audac marketing manager, Tom Van de Sande, and lead product manager, Stijn Vandebosch, explain to Pro AVL MEA, that while they feel aesthetics is the key to breaking the market Noba is destined for, the development process behind the subwoofer went far beyond that.

‘We were already building up a really nice range of compact speakers, such as models with 2-inch drivers that also had a very small housing,’ recalls Mr Van de Sande. ‘With that in mind, we wanted to develop a subwoofer that would not only be easy to hide – or at least easy to implement in any application – but that would also be a speaker that you would want to show off. Because of this, we have designed it in such a way that users can hang it from any surface. You can easily mount it to a wall or ceiling, but it’s also small enough it underneath a desk or chair. It’s an incredibly versatile product.’

Achieving these aims for Noba has kept Mr Vandebosch and his team busy for the last three years and resulted in a complete return to the drawing board in terms of traditional designs and materials. ‘The size was, of course, a major obstacle,’ continues Mr Van de Sande. ‘Unfortunately, it’s not

really small subwoofer” if you also don’t want to compromise on the sound experience. If this was the case, all manufacturers would be making very compact models. We had to search for a way to overcome this, which we were able to do by using a lot of new materials. Mechanically, it’s the biggest project we’ve ever built, and that’s because it is completely made from aluminium.’

‘Typically we would use 18mm-thick wood for a wooden enclosure, and that limits the minimum size of the cabinet considerably,’ continues Mr Vandebosch. ‘Instead, Noba is constructed from 4mm-thick, high-grade, slightly curved aluminium, which means we gain a lot of extra volume inside.

looking cabinet, but, on the other hand, the curvature also driver inside that is delivering quite a bit of punch, so it’s vital

to make sure that the design is very strong and solid if what you’re essentially working with is just a sheet of tin. This was

That in itself brings some manufacturing challenges, as the company extrudes every aluminium shell from a single piece of metal. Despite Noba’s minuscule dimensions, the Belgian manufacturer has also still impressively managed to pack the 8-inch driver, all of the necessary power components and full DSP inside the housing, all the while retaining a footprint smaller than many full-range models. ‘After working on the enclosure design, we still had a number of other challenges to overcome,’ adds the marketing manager. ‘We’ve also used many different materials on the inside. The end pieces, for example, are made of composite ABS and they need to be completely tight – not just air tight, but also air pressure tight. Furthermore, we also felt that gaining an EnergyStar rating would be very important for this market. Many retailers and businesses don’t power down their systems at the end of the day, and once turned on it could be left like that for the rest of its lifecycle.

of the cabinet – which is very small and compact and it’s also covered up and just conventionally cooled, something that the aluminium construction helps with greatly. There is no forced cooling, meaning there is no ventilator and no unwanted sound, and also no maintenance because the unit is completely sealed. No dust can get inside.’

Audac’s newest compact subwoofer presented many unfamiliar challenges to the Belgian manufacturer, discovers Simon Luckhurst

The cabinet can be floor, wall or ceiling mountedLead product manager, Stijn Vandebosch, with marketing manager, Tom Van de Sande

According to Mr Vandebosch, acoustically, the curved surface of Noba also aids effective sound distribution as well as providing rigidity. ‘This is one of the reasons that we designed it this way; it uses its surface area to emit sound. So if you’re mounting it, it’s coupling to that surface and using it to spread sound further throughout its environment.’

While the aluminium chassis offers a distinct weight

‘Obviously you’re always trying to limit weight, but at the that will allow our customers to install Noba against the ceiling – designed in such a way that you can attach the bracket to the ceiling and just click in the subwoofer. Once

you’ve done that, it ends up mounted on one side but you can install your cables, load your preset and, once you swivel it upwards, it is properly installed with all of the cables hidden.

‘Just this bracket alone and the size of the cabinet is why we see such a huge market for the product – these days you have a lot of retail stores that basically just have concrete ceilings,’ he furthers. ‘So they just put in ventilation and then they like to keep that kind of industrial look. Noba is particularly handy in situations like this – often shops are using all of the wall space to hang clothes or mirrors or whatever, so you can’t hang anything off the walls,

to the market after three years of hard work. The theme that keeps emerging during our conversation is that they don’t consider Noba to be just another small, active subwoofer, but that the feature set they’ve – make it a complete retail solution. Add in the integration

of Audac’s WaveDynamics technology and the subwoofer turns smart, speaking to its neighbours in the system to automatically set everything up.

‘Once you have preloaded the cabinet with settings that can be downloaded from our website, Noba automatically knows which speaker you have connected

plug them in,’ says Mr Van de Sande. ‘For me, this is what makes it not just an active subwoofer but a complete solution – a new solution for all of our other very compact speakers as well.’

Pro AVL MEA’s initial impression was one of awe at the size of Noba. The manufacturer has enjoyed a similarly overwhelming response from others lucky enough to have

‘Our slogan has always been “hearing is believing”. Since product and give people a chance to hear it for themselves,’ shares Mr Van de Sande the marketing manager. ‘At the same time, we’re keen to show off the inside and how we’ve made it, because we are very proud of what we’ve achieved. So we’re showing the driver itself and the aluminium structure that we’ve built inside. It’s been beautifully designed, we’re using you feel it in your hand you start to realise.

distributor meeting, showing them the end result and the processes that we’ve gone through to get there. The application range is so huge and that seems to be really resonating a lot with our partners. In fact, the problem now is making sure we have enough availability to meet our preorders.’

www.audac.eu

A cross-section of the 8-inch driver within Noba

A peek under the cover at Noba’s inner workings

Augmented audio

AUDIO IS AT A MOMENT IN TIME WHEN MANY IDEAS AND thoughts about producing next-generation sound are converging. As with countless advancements in entertainment,

The concept is simple: ambisonics captures the entire possible. Ambisonic audio production was introduced in the

increase the ambisonic order, the results will be higher spatial

Consider a concept where the audio elements reside in the

burdened sound mixers who have to produce in both stereo and surround sound.

production, because ambisonic audio is applicable to well as VR audio production. well to produce binaural audio, which is critical to the the creative sound designer. Just as a director or producer uses producers want to highlight.

using ambisonic production techniques that should represent production and live capture.

experiencing as opposed to the cocoon-like VR experience.

advanced to the point that twice as much audio can be delivered over the same bitstream as previous codecs. However, nothing comes without a cost. Greater but raw ambisonics is channel and data

Dennis Baxter

The ambisonics extention in Nugen Audio’s Halo Upmix

A virtual Dennis Baxter

Ambeo Smart Surround is the first consumer product with Sennheiser’s 3D technology

What I am suggesting is that you put down the goggles and enjoy ‘augmented audio’.

Augmented reality is currently widely perceived to be a goggle experience, but, after little thought, I can see how it actually offers interesting entertainment potential completely complementary to the live or screen experience. Just as personal second screens and event screens are powerful tools in the entertainment experience, the augmented audio experience is perfect for consumers, producers and marketers.

Augmented audio is as simple as ear buds and a smartphone, and the potential for augmented audio spans every aspect of entertainment because of this handheld ambisonic audio because of headtracking and high-quality sonic rendering of binaural sound.

Broadcast entertainment has traditionally suffered from poor sound reproduction, particularly with surround sound. This argument supports why many producers conclude that there is little point of up-scaled audio production and the inference will certainly be heard again with the implementation of immersive sound for the home environment. Speakers and acoustics will never be perfect, but audio augmentation over ear receptors could solve many problems – including speech clarity. Not only can augmented audio reality deliver better clarity and detail to the live sound experience, but it also delivers enhancements such as commentary and translations as well as personal sound from athletes and coaches. Augmented live production as a supplement to in-venue presentations. Augmented audio can be creatively used in a variety of possibilities, including live music, drama and theatre, not only to supplement the PA audio but also to customise the mix.

The audience is armed with a Wi-Fi-enabled streaming device and earbuds.

Augmented audio streams can be interactive, allowing the listeners to select alternative commentators, coaches delivered to their handheld device. Augmented audio in the real world can heighten the experience with enhanced audio

VR is headphone-based, AR uses some sort of closeeared delivery – earbuds or headphones – however, neither methods are interrupted by room acoustics. The challenge for audio producers has always been speaker reproduction useful for rendering realistic, high-quality audio to virtually any speaker format.

Ambisonic audio production is nothing new but clearly is a paradigm shift in the contemplation and production of audio

expansion of the original concept to higher-order ambisonics along with the development of powerful production tools. Audio production tools have typically been compressors, dynamic controllers and equalisation, but spatialisation of audio has continued to develop past reverberation and room simulation.

Ambisonic audio production is powerful and unique in the

Not only does ambisonic audio production offer unlimited reproduction possibilities, but ambisonics also offers unique spatialisation characteristics with the ability to easily and dynamically image sound completely around and above the listener.

There are similarities in the application of 3D audio and the sound design of immersive sound for VR/AR headphone reproduction and speaker listening using ambisonic production practices. The ambisonic sound design uses natural capture, processing and mixing of the audio components to create an ambisonic sound foundation.

For example, a well-placed, high-density array microphone can go a long way to providing a stable immersive sonic foundation to build on, but ambisonics is so powerful it can generate an

It is amazing to me that you can also use individual microphones at spatially separated arbitrary locations and use the capture from all of these microphones to derive the foundation using mono and stereo stems can be processed dimensional sound scene when played back over speakers. Mixing mono, stereo and array microphones is a familiar be used for an immersive sound production, truly making audio producer.

Immersive audio is an interesting feature of next-generation audio production but people want options for consumption and the challenge is how to produce and manage a wide range of audio experiences and formats as quickly and cheaply as possible. Cheaply also means minimising the amount of data being transferred.

forms of immersive audio – both headphone-based VR and speaker playback for essentially all formats, from 2.0 to 9.1 to 22.2.

Qualcomm’s ‘mezzanine coding’, reducing ambisonics to six channels plus a control track and leaving the audio producer nine additional channels for alternative audio content.

Multiple-spaced microphones create an ambisonics soundfield

A prototype Audio-Technica ambisonic microphone

The right blend

Dejero’s Bill Nardi discusses blending cellular and satellite

REPORTERS COVERING A BREAKING NEWS STORY IN very remote or heavily populated parts of the world face an increasing variety of challenges when trying to send video content back to the studio ahead of the competition. Mobile available to them, yet congestion and location are the two biggest obstacles to bandwidth availability and to the ability of SNG trucks remain a critical component for large news events and mission critical shots. At one time, satellite was the only remote locations. Once the truck had a view of the right part of the sky, a high-quality signal could be sent securely. But this is changing, with broadcasters now regularly using cellular technology to send video signals over the same wireless networks used for voice and data communications. Ease of use and minimal equipment requirements mean that cellular networks have enabled local TV stations to cover news events that they might have otherwise not been able to cover. Mobile teams must therefore make crucial decisions about which video transport asset to deploy to achieve the best result availability, working around the limitations of the assets they have chosen. The choice between satellite- or microwaveand can present as a trade-off between transmission reliability,

Occasionally, due to congestion or location, there isn’t quite enough bandwidth on the local cellular network to transmit high-quality video. In breaking news scenarios, everyone using a mobile phone is consuming much of the data available from the closest cell towers, especially with the advent of services like Facebook Live. The news crews then arrive and tie up more of

the precious remaining cellular bandwidth.

Cell networks can get congested, satellite vans face physical and environmental restrictions on-location, and sending content over the networks sometimes doesn’t go to plan. So, what if there was a way to deliver the required bandwidth, no matter

Bill Nardi

typical internet access from single cellular connections such as

In these scenarios, the answer lies in the adoption of technology that leverages ultra-broadband connectivity, created by blending multiple transmission paths including cellular, satellite, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and so on.

Dejero’s patented CellSat technology uses network blending to overcome these challenges. It provides broadcasters with a connectivity solution that automatically blends cellular and Ku-band IP satellite from Intelsat for live coverage from remote locations.

Taking this approach means that mobile news crews can broadcast live from virtually anywhere. If cellular connections were to deteriorate, it will automatically blend in satellite connectivity as a back-up to the cellular network, boosting bandwidth for the live shot.

and the Intelsat Ku-band IP satellite connection in real-time, the Dejero algorithm dynamically and intelligently manages the delivering the IP packets to the playout destination.

If we look beyond the single connection to distribute live video, this kind of technology allows content to be streamed live from the location across all available IP network connections. That might be Wi-Fi or Ethernet if available, or multiple cellular links as well as Ku-band IP satellite connections. The packetised video and audio is sent out over whatever IP transport path is available, analysing the characteristics of all the available connections and blending the networks to provide the best path for delivering the IP packets to the playout destination.

Dejero Gateway in-vehicle

One of the advantages of network blending is an immediacy for broadcasters. This kind of technology has the ability to communicate with the broadcaster’s auto-acquire system to simplify the satellite connection process. As such, news crews do not have to schedule satellite time, which saves them valuable set-up time and removes the constraint of broadcasting within a set period.

Network blending delivers the required bandwidth to its users no matter what the external environment presents, taking the best attributes of both transmission paths – cellular and satellite IP – and fusing them into one. There should be no loss of connectivity when it switches between cellular and satellite and are connected to, because it happens automatically, so they can get on with their primary job of capturing the action. Crews can focus on setting up quickly and sending the live shot back to the broadcast facility.

Most satellite vehicles with existing Ka-band or Ku-band satellite equipment can be upgraded for compatibility with network blending. As an example, a Newtec Dialog IP modem, solution, which includes Dejero transmission and receiving becomes freely available to boost bandwidth when needed. To technology as part of the Newtec Dialog platform. Mx-DMA demand, while avoiding fragmentation of the space segment. To set up a network blending solution, the broadcaster can equip a vehicle with either a mobile transmitter or a rackmounted encoder – compatible cellular antennas and IP satellite modems – while satellite terminal equipment can be added at the broadcast facility and a receiver can reconstruct the blending, the solution is managed from a browser through

a cloud-based management system, which allows users to remotely control equipment, monitor live feeds, route content to the desired broadcast facility and view performance data and billing reports.

A network blended architecture should be designed so that live pictures and sound are sent over whatever data bandwidth is available and delivered to whichever location or locations the broadcaster requires. As such, the system should be as applicable for live links between continents as it is across town.

INDUSTRY DRIVERS

A brand new series of unique and insightful video interviews created by the Pro AVL Central team

Anything that offers greater capacity provides opportunities for improved video quality and performance.

Network blending offers a new level of reliability by automatically combining cellular connectivity from multiple mobile network carriers with on-demand satellite connectivity, allowing broadcasters to get high-quality video transmitted in challenging network conditions.

www.dejero.com

Blending cellular and satelite signals can assist remote news teams 1/2

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How will AES@NAMM

AES@NAMM represents a new alliance to enhance the educational opportunities open to audio professionals. But what can NAMM Show visitors expect from this partnership?

TRADE SHOW EDUCATION CAN BE A DIFFICULT subject. On the one hand, it can actively attract visitors to travel great distances to attend a show. But on the other, it can then pull them off the show large amount of money to put their products in front of them. It seems like an impossible situation, yet for many of the world’s most successful events, a balance has been struck that does its utmost to offer the best of both worlds.

‘While new technology and products drive any industry, continuing education and training, and getting better at practising one’s craft, is essential for growth,’ states NAMM CEO, Joe Lamond. ‘We have always believed this to be true, and it seems to

of industry members. The vast ecosystem of music and sound depends on a growing number of industry professionals to make it all work and, with that, the opportunity to learn.’ With long-running educational initiatives such as NAMM U and TEC Tracks pulling in visitors from right around the world, the NAMM show has proven that it can strike the right balance. Yet for the 2018 edition of the Anaheim show, it is looking to enhance these educational offerings further by forming an alliance with one of the industry’s other venerable educators, the Audio Engineering Society (AES). The result of this partnership is a new educational offering for visitors to the show – AES@NAMM.

‘AES@NAMM was a natural evolution of a long relationship with a similar desire: to continue to enhance our industries

a larger trend of audio and MI convergence, the concept of “crossroads” as a means to complete the signal chain, so to speak, made sense to our groups. With the integration of AES@ NAMM, the organisation will bring nearly 300 sessions and its

top brands making new product announcements, demoing their gear and gathering the tribe.’

For the AES too, this was a natural partnership. ‘NAMM has proven itself to be an ideal “gathering of the tribes” for a broad range of individuals interested in music, and how musical instruments and performers relate to audiences through the medium of sound,’ notes David Scheirman, AES presidentelect. ‘The Audio Engineering Society’s focus is all about the boundary interface between professional audio applications and the professional user communities (for both live and recorded sound) who apply audio science and technology to help support and advance how audio is used in our daily lives. This effort creates a natural synergy to help those communities share with each other, and communicate best practices.’ While the organisations are agreed that their purposes align, can the same be said for the membership each group attracts? Mr Lamond certainly thinks so. ‘It seems to me that the connections are very deep. Taking my own work history as installs, toured and recorded both as a rock drummer and later as a production manager, and attended both the NAMM and AES gatherings in the process. I suspect there are many like me who have worn many hats on their industry journey. The thread that tied it all together was music, and that common bond is what makes the NAMM show so unique. We see great opportunity in further cross pollination of ideas between NAMM and AES members.’

While the partnership itself certainly grabs the headlines, for visitors to the show is the most important factor. ‘AES brings a rich legacy in audio education to NAMM U’s offerings,’ he reasons. ‘In particular, AES@NAMM will get deep into hands-on and technical education for audio professionals, and in an ‘As NAMM embarks on a new initiative to serve the interests of the professional audio community, and increasingly sees value in providing content and learning opportunities for those

AES to provide a gathering place and a programme that is relevant and of interest to our members,’ agrees Mr Scheirman. ‘This is especially true for those of our members located in the Western USA, and internationally as well.’

itself? ‘While AES@NAMM will include a number of stimulating and informative presentations, ranging from traditional AES technical paper presentations to current-event-based panel sessions, the programme is built around much more than that,’ furthers Mr Scheirman. ‘A unique series of hands-on learning and training sessions will enable attendees to gain

systems, wireless technology platforms and system convention or other gathering has ever brought this type of learning opportunity under one roof, in real-time, at a major industry gathering. It’s a new format that will appeal to working studio and sound reinforcement professionals, aspiring audio industry technicians and system operators and sound system enthusiasts of all types.’

Of course, this raises that familiar challenge again of ensuring that the people who are attracted to the event

‘We believe that many of our attendees are hungry to learn and grow, and providing these educational opportunities, most of them for free, is one of the most important things any association can do for its members,’ says Mr Lamond. ‘It is an investment of time for our attendees that perhaps pays the greatest dividend in all of their futures. It is a challenge but we believe our attendees can have their cake and eat it too. Advance planning and careful prioritisation is essential, and the NAMM Show app is a wonderful tool for this, but I’m not going to lie, our guests do not get much sleep the week of NAMM.’

and chaotic,’ adds Mr Scheirman. ‘The challenge at such events has always been to integrate formal, value-based education sessions in the same time and place as a

the needs of a learning-oriented show attendee with a booth-visiting tradeshow visitor. AES@NAMM will leverage an industry gathering represented by the NAMM show, while simultaneously creating a more focused, learning-appropriate environment away from the crowds and distractions typically

NAMM has been an important event for the international pro audio community for years and, in truth, many people make the pilgrimage to Anaheim from Asia, Africa and the Middle East every January. It would seem this partnership will add to the

As Mr Lamond concludes: ‘The opportunity is to connect with peers and engage in high-level educational opportunities set

www.aes.org

www.namm.org

NAMM CEO Joe Lamond