SLAM DUNK

Germany’s klar&deutlich supplied a complete CODA Audio system for an important Bundesliga basketball event, as Headliner recently discovered…

Currently sitting comfortably in the play-off positions of the easyCredit German Basketball Bundesliga (BBL), BG Göttingen occasionally has to play its fixtures away from its regular Sparkassen Arena home. This was recently the case when the team relocated to the multi-purpose 3700-capacity Lokhalle Göttingen, for a fixture against MLP Academics from Heidelberg.

Preparing the venue for a top-flight televised basketball game requires a great deal of planning and hard work. Strict regulations are laid down by the game’s governing body, particularly in respect of the court surface, spectator seating, lighting and audio provision. Bovenden-based specialist klar&deutlich Veranstaltungstechnik was engaged to supply a sound system for the event, and chose CODA Audio to meet the brief.

Managing director at klar&deutlich, Jannik Nyga, describes the challenge: “We definitely had our work cut out! The BBL demands the most exacting standards in every respect. Lighting, in particular, plays a huge part in the setup - excellent lighting is necessary not just because of the fast-paced sporting action but also because of the television broadcast. The consequence of this is that much of the roof load is taken up with lots of lights. That doesn’t leave much room for pro audio systems.

“Because sound systems haven’t been so heavily regulated by the BBL, there have been occasions in the past where poor audio has been a problem. We were brought in with an explicit brief from the organizers to provide ‘highest quality audio’. It was essential that viewers could clearly hear the presenter for every announcement.”

According to Nyga, it was the use of a CODA Audio system that was crucial to a successful outcome.

“We only had a maximum of 200-250kg left per loudspeaker flying point, including motor and cables,” he explains. “Under normal circumstances, using another brand, that would not be enough to deliver flawless performance but fortunately our light and powerful CODA systems enabled us to meet the challenge. We were able to hang six ViRAY tops on each of the points.”

As well as providing premium clarity for announcements, the team also had to take account of the intermission sound, which Nyga describes as: “Preferably old-school hip-hop where the bass plays first fiddle! In order to be able to offer this in a powerful way, we originally wanted to hang a bass cluster above the playing area but this couldn’t be realized for various reasons. That’s why we had to go with the four-point system - and it worked like a charm.”

The complete system at Lokhalle Göttingen comprised 24 ViRAY for the main grandstand, 16 N-RAY for the fan grandstand, eight SCV-F Sensor Controlled Subwoofers (four by two flown) and two G712-PRO multifunctional loudspeakers, all powered by five LINUS M-RACK compact fourchannel touring rack amplifiers.

Indoor sports events like these present their own unique challenges, but with CODA Audio at their disposal, the klar&deutlich team met the brief with something to spare.

“The voice presence was absolutely perfect - you understood every word the presenter spoke throughout the whole hall. We were able to go really loud whilst still having absolute feedback security,” Nyga concludes. “It was a pressure job that turned out to be fun - considering that we had to set up the sound reinforcement so quickly and with so much compromise, the hanging and the setting up of the technology was super. One thing that always proves true with CODA Audio is that if you do the groundwork accurately, you don’t have to do much after the fact - it sounds exactly the way it’s supposed to sound.”