Pro Sound News Europe January 2012 Digital Edition

Page 1

January 2012 £4 €7 www.prosoundnewseurope.com

The business of professional audio EXCLUSIVE

AES turns corner Financial filings suggest notes of optimism following society’s cost-cutting strategy Mel Lambert Following two years of lacklustre financial performance in a downturn economy, the Audio Engineering Society last year posted a small but significant surplus of income over expenses, a trend that is predicted to continue for several years. The news comes at the end of a turbulent 2011 for the AES, including calls for a fresh commercial strategy for the society’s operations. The decision was taken mid-year not to renew its contract with executive director (ED) Roger Furness, who left the post on 31 December after 17 years of service. “We need to adjust to reality and find another production model,” AES president Jan Abildgaard Pedersen acknowledges in an exclusive interview with PSNE. “We reduced the size of the London AES Conventions, knowing that the interest from exhibitors was down from previous years; we needed a different plan and to look at new business opportunities. The Budapest Convention in April will offer smaller and medium-sized companies the ability to show off current R&D programmes. And if the response [from exhibitors] is there we can always

move into larger halls at the Budapest Congress & World Trade Center.” Recent US government filings (required for all non-profit corporations such as the AES) show that while income from member subscriptions, the journal, conferences and conventions dropped slightly in 2010 to $3.1 million (compared to $3.3 million in 2009), expenses were dramatically reduced to close to $3.1 million ($4.0 million in 2009) resulting in a modest $35,000 profit. In contrast, during 2008 and 2009 the society suffered losses of $506,000 and $655,000, respectively. Within Europe, the cost of regional conventions has fallen dramatically. The AES financial filing shows a cost of $1.14 million for 2008’s Amsterdam Convention, $787,000 for 2009’s Munich Convention and $167k for 2010’s London convention. “The RAI Center in Amsterdam was expensive,” Abildgaard Pedersen concedes. “For the London Conventions in 2010 and 2011 we opted for a smaller venue – Budapest follows that continuing trend.” “We looked at every aspect of the society’s operations,” Furness explains, “to determine how we could cut costs without it showing to the outside world.

Jan Abildgaard Pedersen, AES president

While that [strategy] included opting for a smaller venue for the London conventions – we went from a $30,000 loss for Munich in 2009, to a profit of around $30,000 for London in 2010 – we also looked at reducing costs for the US conventions. We also reduced the office costs in New York and Brussels

by renegotiating the lease for the AES HQ in Manhattan, as well as other savings across the board. “And AES membership is at an all-time high; in 2010 we saw an increase of around 20%.” The society also saw a 10% increase in the sale of AES publications. As 2010’s non-profit filing illustrates, major expense reductions were made in Salaries, down to $873,000 for 2010 compared to $902k in 2009, plus Office ($208k from $234,000), Occupancy ($116,000 from $238,000), Conventions ($1.0 million from $1.6 million) and Others ($70,000 from $118,000). Additional savings were made in Information Technology, Travel and European Office expenses. “It’s a matter of trying to do good housekeeping,” the outgoing ED offers. “We looked for cost reduction wherever possible. It is too early to predict results for 2011, but we expect to at least break even; for 2012 I’m predicting that the society will make a profit larger than we saw for 2010.” “Our conventions are unique,” Abildgaard Pedersen concludes. “The AES is the only real society that focuses solely on audio technologies. We have received a lot of positive reactions to our plans for the Budapest Convention in April. It will be a flexible show, with space for small as well as larger companies that want to take demo rooms. We have gold in our hands; the opportunity is there to move forward with good results.” Speaking in mid-December, Abildgaard Pedersen said: “We expect to name a new executive director by the end of the year.” At press time, the status of Furness as executive director Emeritus had still to be decided. Q www.aes.org

EXCLUSIVE

UNITED KINGDOM Allen & Heath will launch a new digital desk at NAMM 2012. GLD is billed as a userfriendly, scalable and cost-effective (under £7,000 for a basic package) digital mixing system, borrowing elements from the successful iLive series. At the heart of the set-up, the GLD-80 mixer provides 48 input processing channels, eight stereo FX returns using iLive's FX emulations, 30 configurable buses, 20 mix processing channels, and enough DSP power for full processing “without compromise”. The clue is in the name: think GL console, (D)igital. “We really want to service the market which has been fabulous for us with the GL series for over 15 years – and is still going, in fact,” confirms sales and marketing manager Debbie Maxted. “Many of our GL customers, who are predominantly small rental companies, houses of worship and live venues, are considering going digital but haven’t been able to afford quality digital solutions till this. We’ve been able to port across lots of the iLive technology, like the FX, and the basics of how you mix on it, as this has been so successful at the higher end of the market.” Maxted revealed that around 5,000 iLive systems (modular and fixed format) have been sold worldwide since the 2007 launch. Q

AED gets silly for Sennheiser International dry-hire company AED Rent has made a substantial investment in Sennheiser inear and wireless microphone systems, PSNE can reveal. The package includes 108 channels of 2000 series equipment for in-ear monitoring, and 120 channels of 3000 and 5000 series wireless microphones. The deal will allow AED Rent, which has subsidiaries in the Netherlands, UK, France and Germany, to offer the brand throughout Europe.

+ Marc Maes has the full story on p20

+ Preview special, PSNE @ NAMM, starts on p23

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news & contents

January 2012 www.prosoundnewseurope.com

UNITED KINGDOM

DiGiCo boosted with £50m investment Manufacturer secures input from ISIS Equity Partners, writes David Davies Five years after an expansion drive supported by Matrix Equity Partners, DiGiCo has initiated the next stage of its development by securing secondary investment of nearly £50 million (€60 million) from ISIS Equity Partners. The announcement comes as the UK-based manufacturer prepares to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the D5 Live – the iconic live sound console which served as a primary catalyst for DiGiCo’s worldwide growth and remains a flagship of the digital audio revolution. Matrix is continuing its association with DiGiCo, although it has reduced its investment size in the business. “As [Matrix partner] Bob Henry said, they love the company and believe in the future vision,” DiGiCo CEO James Gordon tells PSNE. “We wanted to keep Matrix included as they have been very good partners.” Both Matrix and ISIS have non-executive directors on the board, but are not taking a management role. “Basically, it’s a standard private equity arrangement – they find a company and management they believe in, and invest money in the business plan. [From a DiGiCo perspective], it allows us to remain independent and take the company in the direction we believe it should be going in,” says Gordon, who describes the ISIS investment as a “fantastic opportunity for DiGiCo to build further on the achievements of the past five years”. Denise Emmanuel, investment director at ISIS, commented: “DiGiCo is a fantastic example of an entrepreneurial company and

4 Series

NAMM special 23 Educational sessions focus on pro audio 24 Allen & Heath GLD, Steve Vai honoured 27 Studiomaster, JoeCo, Rycote and TC 28 Yamaha, Riedel, Roland and Cadac

News Second investment boost for DiGiCo Neodymium costs: 18 Sound speaks out

Technology 6

New products

8

Product review AEA KU4 ribbon microphone

Studio 10 11 12 14

SAE London extension officially opened SSL desk opens up Secret Garden Perfect Analog: tape is back (again) STUDIO BOOKINGS listing

Broadcast Fit and feisty: James Gordon (left) and fellow DiGiCo directors

management team that is able to deliver growth even in a difficult environment. The combination of leading technology and exports makes DiGiCo a prime example of just the type of business that private equity should be investing in.” Q www.digico.org

ISE plans greatest ever audio presence A total of 256 audio companies are set to exhibit at the 2012 edition of ISE, representing a new high-water mark for the sector at the annual AV and systems integration trade show. Set to draw more than 750 exhibitors overall, ISE 2012 will take place at the Amsterdam RAI from 31 January to 2 February. Attendance expectations for the show are considerable after a 2011 edition that attracted 34,870 visitors – up 22% on the previous year. Audio is playing a major part in driving this growth, as illustrated by this year’s expansion into Hall 7. Approximately half of the companies in this area are drawn from the pro-audio sector, and are either new to the show or expanding their presence. As well as having the opportunity to see a multitude of new products on the showfloor, attendees will be able to benefit from training

In this issue...

3 4

NETHERLANDS

David Davies

sessions organised by InfoComm. Further underlining the centrality of audio to the show, PAMA (Professional Audio Manufacturers Alliance) will, for the first time, hold its initial European gathering of the year at ISE. “PAMA schedules meetings to coincide with trade shows that have strong exhibitor support from the PAMA membership,” Wilbert tells PSNE. “Because ISE has a significant pro-audio component and is early in the year, it made sense for PAMA to convene a meeting at ISE.” A PAMA panel will also participate in a session on the future of audio networking during the pre-show InfoComm Future Trends Summit on 30 January. Q

16 17 18 19

TVBE launches Fast Turnaround TV conference Calrec Audio makes first sale Artemis into Europe 80 Hertz boost north-west media facilities Halo Post continues to upgrade and expand

Live 20 31 32 33 34 35 36

AED Rent makes massive investment in Sennheiser Wigwam boost Optocore stock for Coldplay tour Midas PRO9 on the road with Evanescence TiMax takes to the stage in Germany Final celebration for Antwerp Youth Capital Clair Bros: being greener LIVE EVENTS listing

Installation 37 38 39 40

Brighton bars invest in audio First Stagetracker FX installed in Sweden Former church adds digital cinema to its offering ISE 2012 PREVIEW

Business 42 Test and measurement: keeping up standards 46 Nightclub audio: staying up all night

www.iseurope.org

Back pages

+ For a full ISE preview turn to page 40

48 Hither & Dither 50 Interview: Clive Green, Cadac co-founder

DP448 Audio Management System

Loudspeakers, meet the Management. Designed to meet the needs of the largest and most complex sound systems, the DP448 provides a no-compromise solution to audio management, with multiple I/O (inc. digital), 24-bit/96kHz converters and masses of DSP power for complete flexibility. Ready to show your system who’s boss? Visit www.xta.co.uk to find out more.

www.xta.co.uk

3

Picture by John Tuffen

4 news & welcome

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012 ITALY

Polar extremes Giacomo Previ, head of sales at Italian loudspeaker manufacturer 18 Sound, talks practical ways of dealing with the volatile price of neodymium. Paul Watson gets the point

Editor’s comment Dave Robinson

HAPPY 2012 EVERYONE! I hope you had a great Christmas break and a spectacular New Year celebration. As usual, the pro-audio industry hits the ground running on the exhibition front. In a few weeks we have the ISE show in Amsterdam. The organiser promises more audio content than ever, and hurrah for that we say. Our preview is on page 40. Soon after this there’s Broadcast Video Expo – and after the success of the Manchester debut in November, the BVE team will have high hopes for the mid-Feb Olympia event. But before all this, there’s NAMM in mid-January. You will notice we’re running a NAMM preview with a difference: in fact, an eight-page ‘mini-mag’. The NAMM committee are pushing the pro-audio angle like never before, and we wholly support that. Specifically, they want the Anaheim show to appeal to foreign visitors and exhibitors. So, what you will find in PSNE @ NAMM is not just a round-up of forthcoming products. Instead, we’ve asked Joe Lamond, CEO, to tell us what makes NAMM compelling for the proaudio community; and why non-US businesses should be heading there. In keeping with that theme, we asked only companies that are (ostensibly) non-US based to send us preview material; and we invited respondents to tell us why they go to NAMM, and to comment on their export business in general. PSNE @ NAMM starts on p23. Sontronics’s Trevor Coley sums up NAMM for me I think, as I sit here on a miserable day in London: “Did I mention the sunshine?” Q

In the past year, the price of neodymium (or neo) has caused much concern in all areas of the proaudio world (check out Gez Kahan’s feature in the June issue of PSNE for the full low-down). In short, this rare earth, which is predominantly mined in China, is important to production of the magnetic material in virtually all of today’s lightweight loudspeakers. To summarise Gez’s coverage, by the back end of 2010, the situation had reached fever point. The price of neo had been steadily rising due to China’s decision to whack up its taxes on rare earth exports (REE) and sharply reduce its export quotas. As activity in the East began to get heated, prices really got crazy: between January and July 2011, the price of neo had risen by a massive 300%. So, the question is, where are we now, and how are businesses being affected? On a recent visit to 18 Sound in Reggio Emilia, Italy, PSNE asked head of sales Giacomo Previ to comment. “The problem is,” says Previ, “you are not able to predict the cost of a magnet in the next six months. There’s a lot of guesswork, though we expect that in that time the price will be stable. But that’s not in our control; it’s down to the Chinese government, basically.” It certainly is. Previ confirms that today, the neo export price is fluctuating around $250 (€192)/kg after hitting a $400/kg peak in July, and that in 2010, before the increases, it was about $100/kg. So today’s is still a whacking 150% increase. However, what’s more concerning, surely, is the sharp increase in the price of dysprosium, another rare earth, also extracted predominantly in China, and very much part of the neo issue. “The reality is that the neo magnets are made from neodymium mixed with dysprosium,” Previ explains. Dysprosium has one of the highest magnetic strengths of all the elements; hence substituting a small amount of the neodymium with dysprosium increases magnetic coercitivity. In other words, you get a better magnet. But when it comes to rare earth metals, dysprosium is even more, well, rare. “Just 1g of dysprosium costs a fortune. Put it

Giacomo Previ: unstable times

this way: the export price in 2010 was $220/kg; and now, it’s $1,900.” That’s a staggering statistic, for sure, so what are manufacturers supposed to do to battle this kind of price hike and market volatility? “Various companies are already trying to use neodymium magnet speakers only when they really need to; on compression drivers, very light speakers, and line array systems, where weight and size is very important. They’re going back to using ceramic magnets wherever possible: where they have space

inside the box or where weight isn’t an issue. Today, that’s the main story; there is nothing more to it.” So does this mean that the pro-audio industry is going to have to come up with some kind of paradigm shift? And if a shortage of neodymium magnets arises, which is certainly a possibility, do we kiss goodbye to the plethora of discreet little boxes with their state-of-the-art compression drivers? “We’re not in that situation, no, but it’s certainly not easy at all, ” he opines. “Containing pricing was impossible in 2011, of course, because the cost of rare earths was absolutely crazy, but because the price has stabilised to a certain degree now, we hope to be back in control in 2012; prices will be higher, sure, but at least we know how much higher now. We have to be equipped in this climate. It’s manageable, but it’s not just a neo issue; it’s a typical problem of rare-earth material speculation.” Could it not be argued though, that it’s difficult to imagine manufacturers remaining profitable in an industry where small has absolutely proven itself to be the new big, when one of the key ingredients that made that possible in the first place might already be out of reach? And who’s to say the price won’t shoot up again? “If you asked me the same question whether we’re going to have problems with regard to the manufacture of lightweight speaker systems and line arrays in, say, next May or June, and we’re still in the dark, so to speak, then I would say maybe,” he says. “This kind of volatility in the market will be more effective in the long term due to the economic situation; everything is correlated. The oscillations in financing worldwide are completely relevant to this issue, from one side of the world to the other.” On a positive note, 18 Sound is continuing to sell well in China and its business is expanding; Previ is encouraged that the Chinese market is recognising this. Considering China is one of the only growing economies left in the world today, that can’t be a bad thing. Q www.eighteensound.com

UNITED KINGDOM Martin Audio’s MLA makes its debut at the Royal Albert Hall, and that must call for a celebration! Sound rental company RG Jones has been producing sound reinforcement infrastructure for the Raymond Gubbay Classical Spectaculars at the RAH since 1993. This year, FOH engineer Simon Honywill had the opportunity to specify the acclaimed Multi-Cellular Loudspeaker Array for a venue which is notoriously tricky to control. With a programme featuring the ‘greatest hits’ from the classical canon, Honywill reports that the MLA’s performance was “even beyond his expectations” as it dealt with the Hall’s reflective architecture. “We’ve made a massive leap forward with the MLA,” he says. “The results were remarkable.” Q

www.rgjones.co.uk

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6 technology

New products

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

Nigel Lord compiles this months list of hot new products

ALTO PROFESSIONAL

DAV ELECTRONICS

Tourmax

Summing Mixer and BG4 MkII

What is it? A range of passive speakers and subwoofers designed for sound reinforcement applications. Details Tourmax SX112, SX115 (pictured) and SX215 passive loudspeakers incorporate 12”, 15” and 2 x 15” lowfrequency drivers (respectively) plus 1” neodyminium highfrequency units. Coverage is 90° (H) x 60° (V) using elliptical waveguides, and power handling for the three models is 200W, 300W and 500W (continuous). Frequency response is quoted at 65Hz-20kHz for the SX112, extending down to 55Hz for the SX115 and SX215 models. The trapezoidal design of the enclosures is said to significantly decrease the resonance in the cabinet and features recessed handles, full-length metal grills and a black textured finish said to be scratch and dent resistant. The Tourmax SXSUB15 and SXSUB18 are passive subwoofer systems housing 15” and 18” low-frequency drivers – both fitted with 3” voice coils and capable of up to 400W (continuous) power handling. The frequency range and crossover of the SXSUB18 and SXSUB15 have been specifically tailored to provide smooth, low-end sound reproproduction in the 35Hz-200Hz range. Both models are housed in rugged, compact, 18mm Baltic birch plywood enclosures with durable metal handles and a black painted finish.

What is it? A pair of studio outboard units based on early Decca designs. Details Modelled on outboard units used in the legendary Broadhurst Gardens studio in West Hampstead, the DAV Summing Mixer is a passive device offering 32 inputs on four DB25 connectors and stereo outputs on XLR. Using an existing stereo preamp, it’s possible to connect DAW outputs into the inputs of the DAV Summing Mixer and its outputs to the pre to maintain its qualities within the mix. DAV has also unveiled a revised version of the famed Decca heritage BG4 limiter/compressor. The BG4 MkII (pictured) is a 1U rackmount stereo design without the switches and filters of the original unit which customer feedback suggested were little used. And another thing… The new BG4 MkII is available for around half the price of the previous version. www.kmraudio.com

PEAVEY

nTouch Series What is it? A pair of digital interfaces offering touchscreen interactive remote control of audio systems designed in MediaMatrix NWare software for the NION platform. Details The nTouch 180 and nTouch 60 feature full-colour, resistive touchscreen panels measuring (respectively) 7” and 2.4” diagonally, and used to display and control projects hosted on a MediaMatrix NION or nControl processor. Based on an Intel Atom N270 CPU, the nTouch 180 controller runs an embedded version of NWare Kiosk software for NION – the control arm of NWare system design software. System designers can program nTouch in NWare and then control an audio project designed in NWare from a remote location. Once the nTouch is programmed, it runs independently of external computers and connects to a NION or nControl via Ethernet network. The nTouch 60 works in conjunction with nControl to provide the same functionality as the nTouch 180 in a smaller format. It communicates directly with nControl or NION processors over Ethernet or via EIA-485 network. Power is provided over Ethernet or via 12V-48V DC supply and the unit mounts via standard NEMA (1-gang). The OLED screen is said to deliver “extremely high-quality” graphics, with both models operated by hand or stylus and offering easy connection and installation. Options include surface, panel, flush and general VESA mounting. And another thing… The nTouch 180 is powered by 12V DC supply and is software upgradeable via USB stick.

And another thing… The Tourmax range also includes the active SXM112A speaker, suitable for use as a wedge monitor on stage, but also pole-mountable for applications such as side fill, drum or keyboard monitor and as a main speaker in smaller setups. www.altoproaudio.com

www.peavey-eu.com

SHURE

SRH1440, SRH1840 What is it? Open-back studio headphone designs for critical mastering, monitoring and ‘audiophile’ applications.

CAMCO

D-Power Series What is it? A range of six two-channel models from Camco’s D-Power series suitable for live sound, installation and theatre applications. Details The D7/D4/D3/D2 models utilise a hybrid Class H amplifier engine with power outputs ranging from 1,000W up to 3,300W per channel, while the D05 and D1 versions employ Camco’s new UMAC Class D technology, delivering 250W and 500W per channel, respectively. All models are said to offer smooth and responsive handling throughout the power range, benefiting from the latest advances in SMPS technology and light weight across a broad range of professional applications. Frequency response across the entire range is quoted as 20Hz-20kHz (+/-0.2dB) and THD+N at <0.01% (typical). A-weighted signal-to-noise ratio is >113dB (D05, D1), 115dB (DP2, DP3, DP4) and 110dB (DP7). All models can feed 4-, 8- and 16-ohm loads and the Class H models can also operate down to 2 ohms. Peak limiting circuitry is included across the range (three-step switchable on the Class H models) – as is the broad range of protection features which include inrush-current limitation, power on/off transients, temperature, output DC and ‘intelligent’ fuse protection. LEDs are included for power on, signal, protect, clip and output current indication.

Details Said to offer exceptionally natural sound, wide stereo imaging and increased depth of field, SRH1440 and SRH1840 (pictured) headphones are designed to provide reference monitoring comparable to that of nearfield speakers. An open-back, circumaural design incorporating 40mm neodymium drivers allows sound to move more freely and with minimal distortion. The SRH1440 is suited to recording applications delivering full-range audio with extended bass and features detachable dual-exit cables with gold-plated MMCX connectors. The flagship SRH1840 model incorporates individually matched drivers said to offer smooth, extended highs and accurate bass with optimised impedance allowing direct connection to a wide range of portable audio devices. And another thing… Both the SRH1440 and SRH1840 models are supplied with a comprehensive selection of accessories such as cables, adapters, a spare pair of velour earpads plus a metal storage case. www.shuredistribution.co.uk

VICOUSTIC

ViTUNE What is it? An acoustic measurement software application. Details ViTUNE is designed to help audio professionals and hi-fi enthusiasts ‘tune’ rooms without the need for specialist training. Based on a simple traffic light indication system, room measurement is carried out in four steps: configuring the sound card, testing the signal level, entering the room dimensions and simply clicking ‘Go’. The software also includes an advanced section showing results for full frequency response, smoothed frequency, impulse response, reverb time and energy time curve. A choice of two products are offered for fixing reverberation time problems and controlling first reflections. ViTUNE also indicates the exact frequency to which Vari Bass – Vicoustic’s portable stand-alone bass trap – should be tuned.

And another thing… All the amplifiers in the range can be operated in bridge mode for significantly increased power output into 8-16 ohm loads and 2-16 ohm loads (Class H models).

And another thing… ViTUNE is currently available free of charge on the Windows platform. A Mac version is due for release later in the year.

www.camcoaudio.com

www.vicoustic.com

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8 technology

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

AEA KU4 ribbon microphone Ribbon mics have recently experienced a resurgence in popularity. Audio Engineering Associate’s KU4 leaves Russ Hepworth-Sawyer speechless after reviewing his history notes Price and Availability £4,270 (₏3,234) Distributed by Affinity Audio Phone: +44 1923 365 400 www.affinityaudio.com

the rear of the microphone and in the KU4 it works very effectively providing an attenuation of 12dB at 180Ëš.

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Wes Dooley, a passionate recording engineer, is the man behind Audio Engineering Associates (AEA). His true love is for the now defunct RCA line, but that dedication extends to all ribbon mics (he runs the sole Coles 4038 service centre outside of the UK). Dooley’s upbringing and experiences, such as serving as assistant engineer for the likes of US legend Wally Heider, provided him with an insight into the use of the ribbon microphone and a respect that has served him well over many decades. AEA began servicing RCA microphones after they ceased production in 1976. Many years later Dooley and colleagues realised that they had been manufacturing replacement parts so much for their mics that they could actually go, as Dooley says “100% spare parts�. Enter AEA’s foray into microphone manufacture. The KU4 large-diaphragm ribbon microphone is, as AEA states a ‘contemporary realisation of the RCA KU3A’. The KU3A derives from a long line of RCA ribbon microphones developed in the 1930s mostly for film recording. The RCA 44 and later 77 became worldwide classics, but it was the KU3A that endured in the film studios and, of course, recording studios. The KU3 combined the original sound of the warm RCA 44 with a new unidirectional polar pattern enabled by a lobe to the rear of the ribbon leading down to an acoustic ‘labyrinth’ within the lower case of the microphone. The labyrinth acted a little like an absorber for those signals coming from

AEA’s ‘contemporary realisation’ is simply staggering in terms of stature and therefore weight. To assist, AEA can provide a snug nylon carry case with plenty of rigid foam to protect it along with a fantastic cloth bag. The KU4’s proportions are near-enough identical to its original, but with some new design features. On the original KU3A an XLR socket used to jut out at a curious angle from the bottom of the mic housing. This has been replaced by a strain relief and fixed, high-quality, braided cable. I’m sure some might prefer the XLR functionality to have remained. The yoke stand is of a better design too. Putting the KU4 through its paces, I realised I was holding a microphone which simply reproduces the sound in front of it. On classical guitar the KU4 was extremely honest to my ears in my trusted mic positions where a condenser would sit. However, exploring possibilities soon found a sweet spot where the tone of the guitar and position of the microphone were in harmony providing a warm and exceptional capture. Despite the modern manufacturing methods available, you still need to handle this ribbon mic with care – the ribbon can snap with large gusts of air movement. AEA does provide the parts so that ribbons can be replaced if necessary. Placing the KU4 gingerly up to a guitar amp provided a fantastic array of opportunities. I would have loved to have tried a stereo pair as overheads, but given the rarity of these units in the UK, that would be pushing it! Even in mono the KU4 works wonderfully as an ambient mic. However the KU4 shines on vocals whether spoken (RCA’s heritage of sound stages) or singing capture in the studio. Vocal takes were silky, detailed and un-hyped by today’s standards. To some this might seem out of

character in modern music recording, but this can pay dividends when balancing a mix together later. The warmth provided by the KU4 just might stop you fumbling around for a valve emulator plug-in. Overall this is a mic that displays no pretence. What you capture is what you get. There’s very little hype or overriding ‘colour’ to impose upon your recording other than ribbon warmth. Comparing the KU4 with the flood of new ribbons on the market, you quickly appreciate the RCA heritage and RCA sound that has endured for generations and thanks to Wes Dooley will continue for many more to come. Q

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS f Frequency response ‘below 30Hz to above 20kHz’ (plots show response to 40kHz)

f Maximum SPL: 140+dB SPL above 200Hz for 1%

third harmonic f Output sensitivity: 2.8 mV/Pa into unloaded circuit f Output impedance: 300 ohms nominal f Super cardioid pattern

PROS AND CONS

Pros f Excellent sound – rich, even and lacks usual

proximity effect f Super cardioid polar pattern makes this very functional f Useable, highly protective and lightweight carry case accessory

Cons f Some might prefer the XLR socket to have stayed on the mic housing f It weighs over 2kg so make sure you have a sturdy mic stand f As with early models, care needs to be taken not to snap the ribbon!

Keeping control of high performance systems is often a complicated undertaking. No matter how large or complex the sound system however, the new LM 44 from Lake will drive it with absolute precision, and minimum effort. LM 44 is a powerful, compact, full-featured digital audio system processor with peerless credentials. The LM 44 provides four analog input and four analog outputs, in addition to 8-in/8-out AES3 and 4-in/8-out DanteTM #! " !# & + ## ! # # "# # # *" ) " * + $! # " " ! # ( $ # & ! # " $ " ' #! ' $ "("# " "& # ! ! % #" " !# ! # ! "("# " # "# # $ #! " "" $ ! " "

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www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

fstudio news f KMR Audio has announced the availability of a proprietary moving fader automation system for the API 1608 recording console. Featuring Automated Mute and Solo switches and unlimited Fader Groups with two dedicated Group Masters, the API Automation Package retrofits easily to existing 1608 consoles. Other features of the self-contained, save-to-SD memory card system include unlimited Mix Restore points and DAW control with unity gain audio bypass. www.apiaudio.com www.kmraudio.com

f Mastering engineer Mandy Parnell took a trusty ‘box of tricks’ – including her Prism Sound Orpheus FireWire Computer Interface and the latest SADiE 6 software – when she went to Iceland recently to work on Björk’s groundbreaking new album, Biophilia. Invited onto the project during its closing stages after the experimental singer/songwriter had concluded she was unhappy with some previous mastering sessions in New York, Parnell worked out of a Pro Toolsequipped studio belonging to mix engineer Addi 800. www.prismsound.com www.sadie.com

f Production of the latest film

UNITED KINGDOM

Expanded SAE is go Major investment for London creative teaching college The School of Audio Engineering (SAE) London’s new Bankstock studio complex was officially opened in November. As reported previously, £4 million (€4.8 million) has been invested by the School in 14 interconnected studios (five live rooms and nine control rooms, designed and specified by Munro Acoustics) in a building near the Regent’s Canal and just a short walk from the main Dalston base. SAE London is now the largest audio engineering educational campus in the UK. Welcoming colleagues, associates and students to the facility, Professor Zbys Klich, MD and CEO of SAE Institute United Kingdom, commented: “SAE London has a simple strategic vision: to be the world leader in private higher education in creative media technologies. We started in 1976 with a small college, about 20 students, in Sydney – it was the vision of a man called Tom Misner . At the end of 2010, the SAE had 9,000 students in over 50 campuses in 23 countries around the world. That’s one hell of a story! “What is it that makes SAE special? I’ve tried to distill the essence of it, and in my view it is simply this: the

Picture by Oz Owen

SOUNDBITES

(L-R) Andrew Levi, UKTI; Luca Barassi, SAE Institute London College manager and project manager; MD and CEO Professor Zbys Klich

marriage of technical mastery with creative artistry.” Prof Klich thanked the efforts of Middlesex University, including Terry Butland the deputy vice chancellor, who have collaborated with SAE to develop programmes and accreditation.

from acclaimed British director Terence Davies, The Deep Blue Sea, drew on the expertise of LipSync Productions and LipSync Post. Audio-mixing a scene in which a crowd performs in a London Underground station during an air raid was a particular highlight of the project, as rerecording mixer Robert Farr recalled: “It was a great scene for the sound mix as we had wonderful reverb from the tunnel, the echo of the singing, and the low rumble of bombs dropping in the distance.”

He went on to reveal the reasons why SAE owner Navitas endorsed the move of the SAE HQ from Byron Bay (“And why would you leave 32 degrees in Byron Bay…?”) to Oxford, UK. A major fact, said Klich, was because of the “enormous encouragement

and support” the institute received from the British government, particularly the department of trade and investment. Andrew Levi, managing director of the UKTI, standing in for universities and science minister MP David Willetts, accepted the compliment and responded: “This is a great step and we are really pleased to be involved.” Munro Acoustics used the latest construction techniques to achieve maximum isolation at the ecofriendly facilities. For instance, the windows between studios are installed with internal triple glazing to prevent sound leakage between live and control rooms. Luca Barassi, manager for the site, said: “The first thing we did [during the project] was to build a test studio for noise assessment; it was a room within a room – you could say it was a £25,000 soundcheck. It passed with flying colours and is now the drum recording booth.” Andy Munro added: “What I like most is that Bankstock really feels like a serious studio complex rather than an institutional building – and they always make me feel uneasy.” Q www.munro.co.uk www.sae.org

BELGIUM

Meet the designer calls for follow-up Marc Maes

www.lipsyncpost.co.uk

f PowerFX has announced the introduction of cloud-based sound library services. Taking out either a ‘Pro Sound Effects Account’ (£109/€128 per year) or ‘Pro Loops & Samples Account’ (£144 per year) allows the user to gain instant access to more than 20,000 sounds in a searchable online database. “For sound users today, it’s not about owning; it’s about having access and simple licence to use just what you need, when you need it,” said PowerFX CEO Bil Bryant, who expects the service to resonate with producers working in multiple locations.

designer Dave Feise (pictured). Q

www.powerfx.com/library-access

www.sounddevices.com

UNITED KINGDOM Sound effects for one of the year’s most anticipated video games, Portal 2, were captured with the use of a Sound Devices 788T digital audio recorder.

The first ‘Meet the designer’ workshop, organised by pro-audio distributor iDeal Audio attracted some 40 studio owners and engineers. Under the banner ‘Meet the designer’, Matthias Aerts, managing director of iDeal Audio invited Michael Deming, president and founder of CharterOak to the Depot venue in Leuven. Deming took the opportunity to present the SCL-1 processor, the PEQ-1 Program Analyser and the brand’s line of microphones.

“The attendance was beyond our expectations,” enthuses Aerts. “Michael Deming, from his background as producer, impressed the audience with his expertise and product knowledge, explaining how the CharterOak microphones are designed and their applications.” Inspired by the success of the workshop, Aerts wants to continue the series of Meet the designer masterclasses – next is a workshop on digital clocking hosted by Grimm Audio’s Eelco Grimm at MotorMusic studios later this month. Q www.idealaudio.be

In order to record effects for the game, the Valve Software audio team utilised three main set-ups with the 788T, including an Aquarian Audio hydrophone, a Schoeps M-S set-up with the Schoeps CMIT 5U as the mid mic and CMC68 as the figure eight, and a Core Sound TetraMic. The M-S setup and the TetraMic were in Rycote windscreens and, though usually mounted on a boom pole, were used instead as handhelds and also on a regular mic stand. All of these were run straight into the mic inputs on the 788T, while usually recording at 24/96. Effects captured with the 788T ran the gamut from water balloons in the Valve garage to whale song in Hawaii. “The 788T has worked flawlessly since day one,” said Valve Software lead sound

Michael Deming journeyed from Connecticut to host the demo

studio 11

January 2012 www.prosoundnewseurope.com

SOUNDBITE

NORWAY

SSL desk opens up Secret Garden Nigel Lord Sanden Studio – a division of Norwegian company Sanden Media – recently installed an SSL AWS 948 console/integrated controller as a major upgrade for its Studio A. The AWS 948 replaces an Avid C24 controller to take advantage of the console’s combination signature SuperAnalogue sound quality and DAW control for streamlining production workflow. “We have been interested in attaining an AWS for many years, but when the 948 came out, we made the decision to go for it,� said chief engineer, Roald Raasberg. “When we moved to a dedicated controller from an analogue console, we were happy at first, but felt like we were missing something by going all digital. We wanted to go back to an all-analogue signal path, but also

needed to have fast switchover capabilities between sessions and a way to control Pro Tools.� The first project for the AWS was the Norwegian-Irish group Secret Garden. “When we played back the session mixes we had created and spread it out over 48 channels through the AWS, the sound was overwhelmingly good and very revealing,� stated Raasberg who turned off many plug-ins and EQ settings from the Pro Tools tracks and relied on the AWS’s EQ and sound quality to set a new benchmark for the sessions. Q www.solidstatelogic.com

f Bournemouth University has

been named as the first UK accredited SADiE Training Establishment. Pete Nash, Prism Sound and SADiE’s broadcast consultant, is in charge of the accreditation process. “We established the scheme to give recognition to those training facilities that are offering exemplary standards in terms of technical and creative awareness of SADiE. By having accreditation, Bournemouth students can prove they have been trained to a very high standard and thoroughly understand the SADiE editing equipment they are likely to encounter in the real world.� www.sadie.com

Playback through the AWS was “overwhelmingly good�

Imagem’s Iain Roberton, Alex Black, general manager and (front) engineer Taz Mattar with the MM27s

UNITED KINGDOM

Imagem steps up with KMR’s Barefoot kit Nigel Lord Pro audio specialist KMR Audio has supplied a pair of Barefoot MM27 monitors to London-based music library Imagem Production Music – the largest independent production music publisher in the UK. “We release 40 to 50 albums a year and needed a pair of monitors that could be used for mixing and mastering the huge range of music,� explains studio manager, Iain Roberton. “KMR were great. The demo units were in huge demand and the waiting list for production units is insane but they managed to squeeze in two demos at short notice and secured us a pair.� The Barefoot MM27s are part of a studio upgrade which includes new plug-ins by Waves, TC and Abbey Road plus a shared storage system. Designed to break down the barriers between nearfield, mastering and main monitors, the compact and powerful enclosures are said to be exceptionally neutral in critical listening applications. “We were blown away by the Barefoots,� adds Roberton. “The clarity of the low frequencies, the solidity of the stereo image and the detail at low levels are astonishing – scary even. They’re really the best near/midfield monitors I’ve ever heard.� Q www.barefootsound.com www.kmraudio.com

More Info Scan with your smartphone for full details of our digital mixing consoles

12 studio FRANCE

Perfectly formed Adrien Rodriguez hopes his new business venture will aid the propagation of the apparent rediscovery of analogue tape in the recording sector. Dave Robinson captured the conversation “I am passionate about sound and I know what I want to do with the machines.� Adrien Rodriguez of Perfect Analog explains his philosophy and modus operandi in a simple sentence. The Frenchman was speaking exclusively to PSNE in London after a visit to the Music Production Show at Emirates Stadium and subsequent appointments with studios and pro-audio parties around the capital. Rodriguez’s immediate goal is simple. In his warehouse 100km south of Lyon, near Valence, he has around a dozen fully restored Studer 48-track tape machines (models A80, A820, A800 MkII) awaiting purchase from high-end studios. “What I’ve done is take the bestsounding tape recorders and refurbished them as new, which is quite a job: changing capacitors, aligning and tuning them to Studer’s specification, measuring and checking them and pro-

f

ducing a tape recorder that sounds like a new machine.� Let’s be clear here: Rodriguez is doing this without any kind of approval from a Studer representative – as Studer no longer makes analogue recorders there is no one from who to seek consent. “I have done this on my own, for personal reasons, believing that there is still some interest in these machines for certain uses,� he says. “I thought it would be interesting to buy the best machines – where I know the service history, or that they have been well looked after – and then to refurbish them so everything is running as it should. Analogue gear is interesting if it’s working perfectly; if it’s not, then it is just a museum piece.� The recorders have been acquired from a number of sources over the past four years, including from Rak Studios, Swiss Radio, and London’s Town House when that facility closed in 2008.

Sometimes, he says, he played a “gambling gameâ€?. “I would enter a studio with a full wallet, talk to the owner and make them an offer there and then. Rodriguez was literally renting transport in France and driving it 1,400km to the UK. “And I don’t know whether I’m going to go home with a machine or not‌â€? He has found some studio owners and engineers to be “hard-headedâ€? about their precious technology. Having paid a six-figure sum 20 years ago for a new Studer, they expect to receive ÂŁ10,000 for parting with the item now. “That’s not going to happen,â€? he says firmly. Having acquired a dozen or so of the historic pieces over several years, Rodriguez has assembled a small network of technical experts to aid with their restoration – though, he adds, it was tough finding engineers with the right skills. “I did a lot of the soldering myself because I like it!â€? Four years after this enthusiastic Frenchman started his quest, the time

Adrien Rodriguez and his lovingly-restored Studer machines

has come to make some money. “In different parts of the world, people have started talking about tape recorders again. These machines still have an ideological power – you see the wheels turning, it has a character that clicking on a mouse does not.â€? He’s made his first sale to Australia, but, now the business is online properly, it’s time to shift the other units. The arrival of Endless Analog’s CLASP is contributing to the renewed interest with tape, admits Rodriguez. For the uninitiated, Chris Estes’ clever box of tricks routes all your audio to tape, then lines it up with sample accuracy in you digital audio workstation, in real-time. In short, CLASP (ÂŁ6,000 from KMR in the UK) integrates the tape machines into the DAW workflow, without fuss. “It’s an easy idea done in a simple way,â€? says Rodriguez. “So anyone who knows nothing about tape can use tape, with their DAW, easily. Before CLASP it was a lot more complicated.â€?

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Could Rodriguez make his scheme successful without CLASP? “Yes, because when I started this business, I did not know about it. But CLASP is making people talk about tape, and that’s all good publicity for me. “CLASP makes me think I’m not alone,� he ponders. “If we create product that sounds really great, then people are willing to pay money for it. That’s why I am selling my tape machines in the same state of mind as if they were new equipment. Everything has been measured, proved, checked, photographed; the buyer receives full documentation of how it works, inside and outside. That’s why I’m called Perfect Analog!� Does he and Endless Analog have a ‘deal’ in place? “No, we have a philosophy deal! My mind and Chris Estes’ mind are working the same way: if we push for excellence, it will work; if we go halfway, make something that’s not good enough, then people aren’t going to buy it.� Q www.perfectanalog.com

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INTRODUCING...

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or Michael Mitchell at +1 631 673 3199, mjmitchell@broadcast-media.tv for further details on how you can promote your business and network with key decision-makers at this unique TVBEurope event

14 studio bookings

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

Studio bookings

If you want your web address to be included in the magazine AND in the digital edition of Pro Sound News Europe for just £50 a year, please email Lianne on Lianne.Davey@intentmedia.co.uk for an order form

The Studio Bookings listing is a free service. All information is provided by the companies listed and PSNE cannot be held responsible for any factual errors. To be included in the listings, please contact Lianne Davey, studio bookings editor, on +44 20 7226 7246, or email Lianne.Davey@intentmedia.co.uk ARTIST

PROJECT

CLIENT

PRODUCER

ENGINEER

CD

EAR

F.Groihs

+43 2236 53006 R Cejka

AUSTRIA Hit Fabrik Dynamic Globe Andrei Lugovski

Album

Universal

Hamilton

+32 477 603 105 Hamilton

Studio La Chapelle HK& Les Saltimbanks

Album

Rare Productions

LH Chambat

+32 485 106 979 LH Chambat

Album Mobile Hits

Max

Irhoj

DENMARK +45 563 81986 Irhoj

FRANCE Studio Pickup Salade de Bruits

EP

Salade de Bruits

+33 2 50 65 45 92 Legoupil

Cheenne

GERMANY www.ballsaal-studios.com Artist

Ballsaal KLASS

Tracks

YASHA

Tracks

Four Music

The Krauts

Lois Lane

Tracks

Artist

Poltrock

Bauer Melidonie Orchestra Fulvio Sigurta Trio Frank Dupre

Filmscore Album Album

+49 171 9733190 BlackPete/ Schattenberg BlackPete/ Schattenberg BlackPete/ Schattenberg

Tavassol

www.bauerstudios.de Dittrich Dittrich CAM Jazz Basso Erdmann Entertainment Erdmann

www.remoterecording.net Peter Brandt Remote Recording GmbH We Will Rock You Fandango Berlin Musical Cast China National Winland Christmas Winland Symphony Orchestra Gala Beijing

+49 7141 22680 Heck Wohllenben Heck +49 212 254 1225 Raff Brandt

Landwehr Thran

Remote Taxi GmbH Various

Energy Stars for Free

Feschfilm

Energy Switzerland

Potato Musics Mastering M.In

Album Mastering

Markus Ferdinand

M.in

Live Recording

OMMA

Kerasidou

+49 212 2541225 Brandt-Raff

+49 176 83 03 23 97 Schiel

GREECE Athens Megaron Kostas Hatzis

+30 21 072 82857 N Espialidis

HUNGARY Digital Pro Viki Soundmasters Varous

Album Voiceovers

HAE Viasat Europe

Cserep Erdelyi

+36 1 383 2481 Matok +36 1454 0200 Erdelyi

ICELAND Tonaljos Bo Halladors

Tracks

Sena

Bo

+354 892 9000 Tempo

ITALY Advice Music Studio Universo Parallelo

PROJECT

CLIENT

PRODUCER

ENGINEER

Forces Motrices Mama Rosin

Recording

Voodoo Rhythm

Mama Rosin

+41 22 800 3280 Weber

Sunhill Project Studio Henri Glovelier

Album Mix & Mast

Artist

Heitz

+41 56 631 0353 Schwitter

Karaer Karaer

+44 20 7254 1133 Karaer Karaer

UK

BELGIUM

Irhoj Various

ARTIST SWITZERLAND

CD

Advice Music – Edel

Artesuono Bobo Stenson Trio

Album

ECM

Fonoprint Samuele Bersani

CD

Fuori Classifica

Imputlevel Studio Massino De Mattia Quartet

New Album

Maxsound Vibe Studios Terrae Motus Enzo Avitabile

Album Film

Officine Meccaniche Amor Fou

Mixing Session

A.Boi

+39 02 4580336 A Boi

Eicher

+39 0432 570754 Amerio +39 51 585 254 Casillo +39 0422 893 080 Zambenedetti

www.maxsound.it Artist Nobilli Dazzle Communications Attolino

+39 081 509 0607 Carola Carola

Abbot Street Studios Ebru Gercek Abru Gundes

Album Album

Air Will Young

Rec & Mix

Magic FM

+44 20 7794 0660 Bailey

Air Mastering Antonio Forcione

Mastering

Naim Records

+44 20 7794 0623 Staff

Angelic Mumford & Sons

Tracking

Entertainment One Music

+44 20 7232 0008 Lawrence

Artillery Studios Julia Biel

Album Mix

Hopper

Assault & Battery 1 The Heathers

Mixing

Milestone Management

+44 20 7232 0008 Dingel

Assault & Battery 2 Kirsty Bertarelli

Tracking

KB Recordings S.A

+44 20 7232 0008 Heelis

Axis Buried from Below

EP

Buried from Below

Elliss

+44 130 276 9676 Elliss

Deep Michael Ambrose

Album

DM Ltd

Rose

+44 20 8964 8256 Rose/Jennings

Eastpoint Studio Dappy

Tracking

All Around the World

+44 20 7323 0008 Frampton

Engine Room To Kill a King

Mixing

EMI

+44 20 7232 0008 Morris

Foel Conan

Album

Burning World Records

Garden Camille O’Sullivan

Mixing

Gemini The B Goodes

Mixing

NA

Phil B Good

+44 1473 272756 Grueber

Glasstone Productions Electronic Deer

Album Mastering

Glasstone Records

Brooker

+44 7973 730 161 Brooker

Greystoke Zoheb

Album

Espreeso Songs Ltd

Whitmore

+44 20 8998 5529 Craigie

Konk Franz Ferdinand

Recording

Domino

Lightship95 She Makes War

Single

Musicbox Syience

Tracking

EMI Publishing US

Parlour Studios Deathronic Karybdis

Album Album

Artist Artist

Haynes Russell

+44 1536 517 377 Haynes RR

Pierce Room Bertine Olly Murs & The Muppets

Singles Mix X Factor Production

EMI Norway Epic/Disney

Ball NA

+44 20 8563 1234 Fitzmaurice Fitzmaurice

Pool Motor Cycle Display Team

Tracking

Condon

Rak Rumer

Album

Warners

Rumer/Jenny

+44 20 7586 2012 Foster/Atkinson

Island

Fromreide

+44 20 8870 4036 Fromreide

Script Cullam

+44 20 7326 9450 Jimbo Cameli

www.abbotstreetstudios.co.uk Play Ground MNE

Biel/Rahman

Fielding

+44 20 7377 6826 Clark

+44 1938 810758 Fielding +44 20 7232 0008 Bryan

+44 20 8340 7873 Lott +44 20 7232 0008 Hearman +44 20 7232 0008 Daniel

+44 20 7232 0008 Gimeno Lavin

NZ

Fou

+39 2 891 59458 Cupertino

Raezor Amy Winehouse

Concert Mixes

Pink House Hotrio Special Guest Fabion Boltro CD Audio

Rara Records

F. Sardella

+39 335 5973004 F. Sardella

Studiottanta Centola-Margitella

Sphere Script Phildell

Recording Recording

CM Guitar Duo

CM-SFR

Sofa Sound Wretch32 & Balistiq

Tracking

+356 21 574 833 D Vella D Vella

Spatial Audio Errollyn Wallen Robert Hartshorne

www.spatial-audio.co.uk One Night (BBC Drama) Errollyn Wallen Macdonald’s Vid Camp Hartshorne

+34 627 151117

Square Lana Del Rey

Mixing

Polydor

+44 20 7232 0008 Dobie

Strongroom Natty

Filming/Recording

Atlantic Records

+44 20 7426 5100 Morley

Wolf Face

Mastering

Ojotu

+44 20 7733 8088 Brethes

Yard Yasmin & Andrea Martin

Tracking

Ministry of Sound

+44 20 7232 0008 Downing

Album

+39 141 928174 M. Visentin

MALTA Temple Carl Carlton Brikkuni

Album Album

SPV Artis

D Vella/various D Vella/Artist

SPAIN Sonic Vista Cyril Waterjuice

www.spherestudios.com Phonogenic Decca www.miloco.co.uk Ministry of Sound

+44 20 7232 0008 Knapper Wallen Hartshorne

+44 7802 657258 O’Riordan O’Riordan

Mastering

SWEDEN Roasting House OPA! Hurricane Love

Album Album

Universal/RHR Client

+46 40 937678 M Svensson/A Theander M Svensson M Twedberg M Twedberg

Soundtrade Ska N Ska

Album Recording

Band

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tickets now on sale Café de Paris – February 16th 2012 The MPG Awards ceremony will see the UK music industry coming together in one room to celebrate with the shortlisted candidates and sponsor companies. Starting with a welcome reception, the awards ceremony will be hosted by BBC 6 Music’s Nemone Metaxes. After the awards presentation will be the after party till 1am. There will be a limited amount of tables available on the night to sell and individual seats on these will be sold on a first come first served basis. Awards Only tickets will be available this year offering you the chance to see the awards ceremony and join in the after party. To book your ticket visit www.mpgawards.co.uk/tickets.html or contact karen@bubblesqueak.co.uk Sponsorship and advertising opportunities are also available. Information on the MPG Awards can be found at

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16 broadcast

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

fbroadcast news SOUNDBITES f Lawo recently hosted the latest of its Digital Workflow workshops at Rastatt in Germany. ‘Integrated and innovative – from the mixing console to the microphone’ was a free seminar led by experts from Sennheiser, Neumann and Innovason who presented the latest product developments and explained their role in the digital workflow. The workshop offered sound engineers and Tonmeisters the opportunity to try digital microphones and mixing consoles in small groups and included lectures on Neumann products and Innovason’s Eclipse GT digital console. www.lawo.de

f A leading Belgian broadcaster

has taken delivery of nine Bel Digital Audio 7150 digital audio synchronisation delays. The units are now installed in VMMa’s line centre to sync the audio from its ISDN codecs with incoming images. “We bought this model because it can be set to deliver long delays and has a choice of presets for different delay lengths,” explained VMMa’s Chris Wolters. www.beldigital.com

f Audio features prominently in

the shortlist for Best Post Production House in next year’s Broadcast Awards. All companies selected for the award have established sound departments that have been active in audio-for-picture work this year. Halo Post Production (see p19), Bristol-based Films@59 and Deluxe 142 are among the nominees; Deluxe 142’s recent work includes comedy series Miranda and Episodes and the drama Any Human Heart. The 2012 Broadcast Awards take place on 2 February at the Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane in London. www.broadcastawards.co.uk

f Sky News Radio (SNR) has invested in a Logitek Remora digital audio mixing console, purchased via UK distributor Preco, for its Millbank studio in Westminster. SNR delivers news to over 300 commercial stations, with more than 34 million listeners tuning into its bulletins every week. “We wanted something straightforward and easy to operate when interviewing,” explains SNR technician, Derek Cole. “We will be using the Remora with a Netia newsroom system, allowing London-based reporters to produce and edit material and send this as a completed file to our studio in Osterley.” www.logitekaudio.com

UNITED KINGDOM

Fast Turnaround TV sweeps into London TVBEurope’s new conference to be held on 13 March 2012 at Soho Hotel The first Fast Turnaround TV conference will examine the technologies and workflows behind big live/ as-live productions and is set to be chaired by John Ive, currently director of business development & technology at the IABM. Fast Turnaround TV is hosted by Pro Sound News Europe’s sister title TVBEurope, which has previously managed high-calibre conferences tackling leading-edge issues such as 3D Masters and IT Broadcast Workflow. Ive is a consultant and technologist at IveTech and formerly director of strategic planning at Sony Broadcast. His experience spans senior management, technology, operations, marketing, training and research and development. Fast Turnaround TV addresses the mounting battle to hold onto viewers, where large live and as-

live productions (sports, shows, political and cultural events, etc) are becoming the cornerstones of a broadcaster’s schedule. “Watercooler TV pretty much equates to Fast Turnaround TV – highpressure shows with complex collaborative workflows, where the potential for chaos or catastrophe is never far away,” says Fergal Ringrose, editor of TVBEurope and the IBC Daily. “These are now more important than ever for broadcasters, production companies, facilities houses and equipment vendors, as the traditional TV audience continues to fragment and evolve. “Fast Turnaround TV is a unique TVBEurope conference that addresses the new realities of staging and profiting from big ‘event’ television productions.” Q www.fastturnaroundtv.com

John Ive has experience across many sectors of professional broadcasting

UNITED KINGDOM

Munro designs new dubbing suite for BBC Cymru Wales David Davies Roath Lock – BBC Cymru Wales’ newly opened studios in the Porth Teigr area of Cardiff Bay (formerly Roath Basin) – has been provided with a new dubbing suite designed by Munro Acoustics. The infrastructure is built around a DFC Gemini console from AMS Neve – a desk that is used in several other BBC dubbing theatres. The console features 16 faders, providing four layers and six banks, yielding some 384 channels of audio. The new suite will provide dubbing facilities for two programmes produced by BBC Wales: Pobol y Cwm and Casualty. The Munro design was completed by local construction teams. Munro acoustic director Andy Munro commented: “It is now possible to achieve cinema quality sound and video in the new high-definition formats, which has created a demand for very high-quality post-production facilities, and it’s great to work with BBC Wales to help build this level of development.”

TVM now boats three UPM-1s

IRELAND

Upmixer hat-trick for SoundField David Davies

flagship BBC dramas including Doctor Who and Upstairs Downstairs. Q

County Cork-based OB facilities company Television Mobile (TVM) Ltd has purchased three SoundField UPM-1 stereo-to-5.1 upmix processors for use in two of its five-strong OB truck fleet. TVM already has a SoundField DSF2 digital microphone system in one OB vehicle, and one of the UPMs will be deployed in this facility to upmix VTR output and sound effects in stereo to 5.1. The other two UPM-1s will be sited in another TVM OB vehicle, where they will be used to upmix VTR sound/effects and the output of the stereo mic pair which captures crowd ambience. Looking ahead, TVM head of sound Pat Keogh remarked that the aim is “to get everything into 5.1 now. We currently have a new truck being built which will come into service in February, and that will have a SoundField DSF-2 mic system and a UPM-1 from the outset.” Q

www.munro.co.uk

www.soundfield.co.uk

The new suite will provide dubbing facilities for casualty

Occupying some 170,000sqft, Roath Lock includes a total of nine studios and will provide a permanent home to

broadcast 17

January 2012 www.prosoundnewseurope.com ITALY

Calrec hits the bullseye with Artemis in Italy

APPOINTMENTS

Kevin Hilton Calrec Audio has made its first sale of an Artemis console into Europe. The deal with commercial outside broadcast company Telerecord is also the first time the manufacturer has sold into Italy and marks another step in its efforts to expand beyond its core UK and US markets. The Artemis Beam desk, with 340 channel processing paths, has been installed in a multiple camera HD OB trailer, which is due to go into operation early in the new year. Telerecord was founded in 1976 and works for leading broadcasters and production companies in Italy, including Infront Sports and Media, Sky, Mediaset and RAI. It began working in HD in 2004 and 3D in 2007. The sale of the console was arranged through Calrec’s Italian distributor, Aret. Calrec’s sales manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Chas Rowden, says Europe is “a very logical area of expansion” for the company. Rowden feels that by adopting FPGA circuits and fixed point architecture for its new generation of console, Calrec has a def-

f Frank Eischet is the latest

addition to the core team of Germany’s Riedel. Eischet – who joins in the role of chief financial officer – is able to call on 10 years of senior management experience. He succeeds Uwe Bingel, who is leaving the company to pursue a new career path. www.riedel.net

f Mike Grieve has joined TSL as

sales director. He moves from Quantel following a long career in broadcast technology which also included Filmlight and Autodesk. www.tsl.co.uk Calrec’s sales manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa, Chas Rowden, with Alessandro Asti of Aret

inite advantage over its competitors, many of which are still using SHARC (Super Harvard Architecture SingleChip Computer) technology. Although many large-scale European broadcast centres are being

planned, Rowden says such opportunities for equipment sales come round only every five to eight years due to the level of investment and planning involved. Rowden has developed relationships with “every

major state broadcaster in Europe” and believes that, as with Telerecord, there are also opportunities for single sales into OB and national broadcast stations. Q www.calrec.com

18 broadcast

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

UNITED KINGDOM

80 Hertz at the Sharp end As the north-west of England continues to experience a media boom, Kevin Hilton paid a visit to new Manchester-based post-production and music facility 80 Hertz Most of the focus on media facilities in the UK this year has centred on the north-west of England – and Salford in particular. But city neighbour Manchester is having its own audio, film and TV studio expansion through The Sharp Project. A central part of this is post-production and music facility 80 Hertz. Building a new audio post-production house in today’s uncertain economic times takes a lot of belief. Building a new music recording studio with a big orchestral room could be an even bigger leap of faith. 80 Hertz studios has both – and is out of London into the bargain. But it is in Greater Manchester, which already has a healthy TV, radio and music scene and is now seeing massive growth in these sectors that could seriously challenge the English capital. Much of this is due to MediaCityUK (MCUK), the broadcast and film development at Salford Quays that is now home to the BBC, among others. But in Manchester itself The Sharp Project has created another centre for media creation and production. 80 Hertz was the first business to negotiate a lease and move into The Sharp Project. The music and post studio was set up by engineer and producer George Atkins, a graduate of Manchester University with a BA (honours) in music, business and IT. After graduating Atkins spent a year looking for a job but eventually decided that working for himself rather than for someone else on “a pittance” was a better prospect. He set up 80 Hertz and worked with indie band Keith and then Lilly Allen. This brought in more work but in 2008 the new owners of the building where he was based decided to redevelop it into offices, leaving him,

advantage of what’s coming up to MediaCity, because we want to get some synergy with them.” The 5.1 dubbing theatre is based round an Avid (Digidesign) C24 desk working with Pro Tools 10 HD, which is the main digital recording format, although the facility is what Atkins describes as “cross-compatible”, with Nuendo 5.5 and Logic Studio 9 also available. Monitoring of 5.1 is on Rogers LS5/8s, with an ADAM rig also available. Pictures for audio-to-video work are from a digital HD projector.

f

reflected in it being able to accept FireWire inputs, so a client can bring in a laptop and use the desk as an interface. A counterpoint to this high-tech capability is a Studer A810 reel-to-reel tape machine. The main loudspeaker monitors are Westlake BBSM 12s, plus Yamaha LS10s and ADAM A7xs for near field monitoring. A major feature of 80 Hertz is the connectivity and communication. Networking is over Cat6A circuits; a key part of it is the headphone network,

“We’ve built it to have everything, we hope, that we could want now and possibly five years in the future. The ethos was to build a recording studio with the best live room in Manchester and also have a post-production arm to take advantage of what’s coming up to MediaCity ”

George Atkins opted to go it alone rather than work for a “pittance” for someone else

he says, “with a load of gear and some clients but no studio”. While freelancing at Blueprint Studios Atkins heard about The Sharp Project, which was conceived by Manchester City Council as a “digital content production complex” and is based to the north-east of the city centre in the former UK logistical warehouse for consumer electronics manufacturer Sharp.

Building work on the new 80 Hertz began in August 2010 and was finished by late April this year, with final touches like patchbay termination and system testing after that. “We’ve built it to have everything, we hope, that we could want now and possibly five years in the future,” Atkins says. “The ethos was to build a recording studio with the best live room in Manchester and also have a post-production arm to take

ADR can also be carried in both the voice booth behind the re-recording suite and the voice-over area off the recording studio. On the other side of the music control room is the centrepiece of 80 Hertz, a huge 1,000sqft (93sqm) live room, which Atkins says can accommodate between 30 and 40 players. This also houses a drum room and an amp cabinet, while the control room is big enough for musicians to play in, with space for old-fashioned synths as well as guitars. The mixing console is a custom 24-fader Neve Genesys, which Atkins describes as “very multi-purpose”. This is

which not only allows people in different studios/control rooms and voice booths to hear what is going on but they also have control over eight channels of monitoring feeds through independent, personal mixers. While attention might be more towards the shinning, if dull, buildings down at MediaCityUK and the facilities inside, George Atkins feels it will reach capacity and is confident that 80 Hertz – and The Sharp Project as a whole – will not only pick up the slack but attract business in its own right. A tale of two cities indeed. Q www.80hertz.com www.thesharpproject.co.uk

broadcast 19

January 2012 www.prosoundnewseurope.com UNITED KINGDOM

Halo has dramatic intentions Halo Post Production took over the closed dubbing suites of Pepper Post in Noel Street, Soho during September. Kevin Hilton looks at the background to the expansion and how the company is upgrading the studios to cater for today’s market The UK post-production sector is a strange beast. It continues to suffer the vagaries of the economic situation – broadcasting and advertising budgets in particular – and while there have been some highprofile causalities over the past few years, many of the remaining companies are investing and growing. While high definition (HD), digital intermediate (DI) and now stereoscopic 3D (S3D) have been behind the majority of high-profile installations and new builds in the past few years, the trend is moving in favour of audio. Halo Post Production has also made a strong statement of intent by taking over the lease of the Noel Street sound facilities vacated by Pepper Post, which were shut down, along with video and DI suites at Greek Street by parent group Future Films in June. Founded by chief executive and dubbing mixer John Rogerson in 2004 as an audio-only house, Halo already had four sound studios split between premises on Margaret Street and Great Portland Street. Halo’s managing director Jo Beighton says the company had already been booking for “expansion space” and was “quite far along” in the process when the Pepper Post rooms came on the market. “I would say audio is our strongest draw in terms of why clients choose to come to us,” Beighton comments, “and the rest of the facilities have been built around that.” She adds that both Rogerson and head of sound Danny Finn winning RTS best sound awards for non-drama and entertainment in recent years – including for Richard Hammond’s Invisible Worlds in 200910 – helped “carve quite a niche in factual programme production where people required extensive sound design on top of straightforward mixing”.

f

Studio 1 offers the potential for Halo to widen its client base into film and drama

the big room here puts us in a unique position,” she observes. David Turner, previously head of sound at Pepper and before that a Videosonics staffer for 18 years, has been appointed director of film postproduction to help bring in this new work. Another recent arrival is Roger Beck, formerly chief executive at Technicolor Creative Serves, who is overseeing the integration of Noel Street with Halo’s existing facilities in his role as chief operating officer. Part of this has seen Noel Street connected to the other buildings over a dark fibre network. Beck says there has been “a lot to do”, including upgrading the infrastructure at Noel Street. Three of the four studios are being completely reequipped. The AMS Neve Libra console in Studio 3 has been removed; Beck explains the aim is to get a features licence for the room, which was traditionally used for mixing trailers and commercials. “This will give us more flexibility,” he comments. Danny Finn adds that “the onset of Pro Tools 10 allows us to do all the mix-

“Audio is our strongest draw in terms of why clients choose to come to us and the rest of the facilities have been built around that” The facilities at Noel Street comprise offline cutting rooms, grading areas and four audio suites. Three are reasonably sized and used for broadcast mixing and ADR but it is Studio 1, the 8.3m-wide, 12.1m-long, 4.35m-high re-recording theatre, that was regarded by industry observers as the major selling point and the reason why the premises would not be closed forever. Beighton says the company was looking to widen its client base into film and drama, and Studio 1 offers the potential to do that. “We’re also in a much smaller market, with only three studios of the necessary size for cinema and drama work available in Soho [Goldcrest, De Lane Lea and Halo], so

ing within the box, using floating points”, although Studio 3 will have a 24-fader D-Control. Another requirement for Halo was being able to do any job in any of its audio suites, whether at Noel Street or the other buildings, allowing operators to move between them and know that everything would load up and work. This calls for a consistency, Finn explains, which did not include the existing Libra, although outboard gear that is already in use will stay as theatrical clients often insist on this. Studio 2 previously had only infrastructure connections, allowing customers to bring in preferred equipment. It now also has a 24-fader D-Control, while Studio 4 features an eight-fader model that will be used for

prep, pre-mixing and voice-overs but, says Finn, with the capacity for expansion where necessary. Corresponding changes are being made to the biggest room at Margaret Street, Theatre 2, which is having a 40fader D-Command installed for factual and drama TV work. A new departure at Margaret Street is feature ADR. Finn says that in the past Halo only did this kind of work for projects it was already mixing but now the facility is looking to attract sessions on a stand-alone basis. Noel Street’s big Studio 1 has not had any substantial changes since Halo took over but software upgrades have been made to the AMS Neve DFC Gemini console to accommodate 7.1. This change was the first to be made so that that the Aardman/Sony festive release Arthur Christmas, which went into cinema last week, could be mixed in the big room. Q www.halopost.tv

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20 live

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

flive news SOUNDBITES f For the 18th consecutive year Entec Sound & Light will supply technical production for the Bootleg Beatles UK tour. The touring PA is a d&b Q Series line array, mixed with a Yamaha PM5D-RH. Monitor engineer Simon Lutkin (Yamaha M7CL console) is said to be “keeping with the period feel of the performance” by using wedges (d&b M2s) and wired mics (Shure SM57s and 58s). Many of the backline elements also date back to 1960s. www.entec-soundandlight.com

f Roland Systems Group

products are currently travelling the country with Toyah Willcox who kicked off the final leg of her From Sheep Farming To Anthem 2011 tour at the beginning of October in Southampton. Paul Nicholson who runs Salisburybased Midas ProSound and Red Square Audio specified the Roland M-300 Live Mixing Console for the tour together with the Digital Snake and S-1608 stage unit running both FOH and monitor mixes. www.rolandsg.co.uk

f The 78-year-old blues legend

John Mayall recently completed a 25-date UK tour with a pair of Yamaha digital consoles. FOH sound was mixed on a Yamaha M7CL-48, with an LS9-32 at the monitor position. “I’ve used the M7CL before and I liked it, so I was happy to specify it for this tour,” said Claude Taylor, Mayall’s manager and backline tech. “You have all the advantages of a digital console, but I have to mix the show on the fly because of John’s unorthodox style of grabbing the microphone and singing through the harmonica. You’re riding the faders every song. It’s the way John’s operated for decades and you have to react quickly, but the M7CL is very good for mixing like that.” www.yamahaproaudio.com

f MC2 Audio has announced

shipping of its E100 amplifier, previewed at last year’s Prolight + Sound and on show at PLASA in September. The flagship of the successful E series amplifiers, the E100 is currently the company’s most powerful four-channel amplifier and also the first proprietary Class D switched mode model to be developed by MC2. Designed to run cool even in difficult working environments, the E100 delivers in excess of 2,500W into 4 ohms (all channels driven) from a 2U, 11.8kg chassis. www.mc2-audio.co.uk

BELGIUM

Massive Sennheiser deal for AED Rent In what is said to be one of the biggest investments in Sennheiser wireless systems this year, AED Rent is eyeing those professional AV companies involved in the international touring market, notes Marc Maes In order to keep pace with increasing demand for wireless systems and to replace part of its current RF inventory, international dry-hire company AED Rent has decided to invest in a substantial number of Sennheiser in-ear and wireless microphone systems. The deal will also allow AED Rent, which has subsidiaries in the Netherlands, UK, France and Germany, to offer the brand throughout Europe. The Sennheiser equipment includes 108 channels of 2000 series for in-ear monitoring, and 120 channels of 3000 and 5000 series wireless microphones – 60 EM3732 dual channel receivers, 84 SKM5200 handheld transmitter and 60 SK5212 pocket transmitters. “In view of the expected problems and shortage of frequencies we opted for the broad spectrum EM3732 series,” explains Koen Conaerts, sound engineer and account manager with AED Rent. “We know that in certain countries our clients will be facing new rules – the revolutionary thing about Sennheiser is that the system operates many systems on a limited bandwidth. The unique auto-scanning system allows our clients to work in most European countries. And then there is the Sennheiser frequency-finder website and app as a useful tool.”

AED’s Koen Conaerts (left) and Piet Verstraete (right) with Hans de Hertogh (pro-audio business area manager Sennheiser Belux)

“AED Rent’s choice of Sennheiser is to be seen as a strategic international deal,” adds Hans Kortenhorst, managing director, Sennheiser Benelux. “We’re extremely happy that AED Rent will be using our brand on a wide international scale through their clients, and boost Sennheiser’s presence in the domain of professional audio. The professionalism, modern and innovative vision of AED Rent on the audio rental business gave us an extra reason to close an European partnership.”

Conaerts says the Sennheiser investment will strengthen AED Rent’s position as a leading dry-hire company in Europe. “We’re looking at the international tours with our UK subsidiary – that’s why we opted for the top range series in Sennheiser. Simultaneously we want to increase our service towards clients catering for the broadcast and theatre business, where Sennheiser traditionally has a strong and well-respected footprint.” The fact that AED Rent was able to conclude a partnership with Sennheiser,

going beyond the regular ‘buy and sell’, was also crucial. “The support of Sennheiser, especially in view of the forthcoming adaptations of RF legislation in different countries, is essential. We greatly appreciate their commitment towards us,” explains Piet Verstraete, sound engineer and account manager with AED Rent. Kortenhorst adds that a true partnership starting with such a commitment requires optimal service and support – in addition to agreements allowing specific elements of service and maintenance carried out in AED Rent’s workshops, “AED Rent’s engineers will be trained to provide ‘first level user support’”, concludes Kortenhorst. With rapidly increasing rental demand for wireless in-ear systems and orders for wireless microphone systems having tripled, AED Rent is looking forward to offer the new Sennheiser systems to the pro rental AV companies. At press time, Pro Sound News Europe learned that AED Rent have planned a significant investment in JBL equipment – the deal will be made public during the upcoming NAMM trade show (19 January). Q www.aedrent.com www.sennheiser.be

FRANCE Drumming up a storm in Paris: Rolling Stone Charlie Watts made use of Bose’s new RoomMatch progressive directivity array during his own band’s recent performance at the legendary St Germain Theatre as part of L’Estival. The system deployed at St Germain included four module arrays to left and right, supplemented by six bass modules. Designed for use separately and in conjunction with the PowerMatch PM8500 amplifier, RoomMatch features proprietary Bose technologies said to facilitate unprecedented scalability and configurability. Envisaged applications for the system run the gamut from gymnasiums to concert halls and arts centres. Look out for coverage of permanent RoomMatch installs in a future issue of PSNE. Q

www.bose.co.uk

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SHOW PREVIEW

PSNE @ NAMM

Eight-page special on what the Anaheim show offers professional audio customers

NAMM pushes pro audio

Hands On Training Zone more vital then ever, says organiser Dave Robinson The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) has reinforced its increasing commitment to

pro-audio brands with the announcement of a full educational session schedule for the Hands On Training (H.O.T.) Zone during

NAMM will be held at the Anaheim Convention Centre, 19-22 January

the 19-22 January event. The sessions will focus on the pro-audio sector, in addition to entertainment technology and music business operations segments. Joe Lamond, NAMM president and CEO, tells PSNE: “The NAMM Show brings together the most important pro-audio buyers and thought leaders from around the world, and the top pro-audio manufacturers don’t want to miss out on that opportunity. Pro audio and live sound is one of the fastest growing segments in the industry and NAMM is committed to bringing valuable content such as the H.O.T. Zone sessions, which this year will include workshops from the National Sound Con tractors Association, and events such as the TEC Awards to these important attendees. “Also, recent changes in retailing have led many NAMM retail members to get into the pro-audio space including selling and installing church sounds systems,

Joe Lamond: “The NAMM Show brings together the most important pro-audio buyers and thought leaders from around the world” so we’re really seeing the lines blurring between MI and pro audio.” The H.O.T. Zone, on level 2 of the Convention Center, presents a wealth of learning opportunities for professionals in the recording, live sound, DJ, house of worship, commercial

systems integrators, and stage and lighting industries. Industry partners, publishers, organisations and associations will offer special training workshops, master classes, clinics, mini-conferences and networking opportunities during the show. Lamond went on to underline what non-US based companies, particularly those from Europe, stand to gain from travelling to the show. “The NAMM Show brings together the entire music products supply chain – buyers, sellers, distributors, reps and even top artists – all in one place. NAMM is the world’s show and the place where the most new products are launched. And while there are many shows that industry prof essionals around the world feel obligated to attend, the combination of good business, learning and networking opportunities as well as a great show vibe together with that great Southern California weather during the third week in January make the NAMM Show the one they want to attend.”

WEB >> www.namm.org

University education and a hearty breakfast NAMM will be hosting its usual timetable of social events and ‘NAMM University’ sessions during the January show. Each day of the NAMM Show starts with an educational Breakfast Session held at the Hilton Anaheim Hotel’s Pacific Ballroom, providing attendees with a free hot breakfast and an informative presentation on strategies and techniques that can help to strengthen their business. Attendees will enjoy musical artists, special guests and speakers. The NAMM Show kicks off on Thursday 19 January at 8am with a show favourite – Breakfast of Champions – featuring NAMM president and CEO Joe Lamond as he welcomes the industry and a group of industry ‘champions’ for a series of up-close and personal discussions about the current state and future of the music industry. Attendees are encouraged to listen in on the thoughts of these vision-

aries and hear their views on today’s challenges and possibilities. The NAMM University sessions start on Thursday at 10:30am and will be held every 30 minutes at the Idea Center on the NAMM Show floor, Booth 5501 in Hall B. The professional development sessions are designed to offer valuable insight about current business trends and practices to attendees throughout the duration of the NAMM Show. A total of 43 sessions are being held this year on a wide range of topics in industry segments such as technology, music lesson programs, sales, retail ideas, marketing, retail operations and finance. Idea Center presenters include NAMM Top 100 Dealers and industry experts. Thursday’s NAMM University sessions include ‘Making the Most of Your Store’s Staff ’ presented by Rand and Cindy Cook of The Candyman Strings & Things, winners of the Wanna Play Dealer and

Best Use of Social Media award categories in NAMM’s Top 100 Dealers Awards. That day will also feature ‘Meet the Music Store Stars: Marketing Secrets of a Successful Retail Store’ moderated by Jen Lowe of Boom Boom Percussion, with Paul Decker, Levi Kujala and Dustin Tucker of Music Villa. Friday’s Breakfast Session will be on the topic of ‘Real-Time Marketing & PR: How to Instantly Engage Your Market, Connect with Customers, and Create Products that Grow Your Business Now’, featuring David Meerman Scott, marketing strategist and bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR and Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead. Friday’s other sessions will include ‘Tune In to the Voice that Counts: Insights On CustomerDriven Innovation’, moderated by Steve Schwandner of Seeldeas, Inc, with Gregg Gammon and Jodi Smith of Buddy Roger’s Music.

NAMM University sessions have become increasingly popular The Breakfast Session on Saturday will highlight ‘The Top 10 Web Marketing Trends for 2012’, presented by John Arnold, marketing author and columnist at entrepreneur.com. Saturday’s NAMM U sessions will feature Danny Rocks of the Company Rocks and Scott Robertson, APR, NAMM’s director of marketing and communications, moderating a panel of industry retail professionals and sparking discussion on ‘How to Ignite Your Business in Five Minutes or Less’. In addition, a double session will be held on ‘How to Implement Your Social Media Strategy’ moderated by Danny Rocks

and a panel of retail experts, and a special interactive Q&A double session will feature ‘Financial Questions Every Music Retailer’s Afraid to Ask’, presented by Alan Friedman, CPA partner, and Daniel Jobe and Shaun Conrad of Freidman, Kannenberg & Company, P.C. Sunday’s Breakfast Session is a NAMM Show tradition and features ‘Best In Show – The Year’s Hottest Products’. Join Frank Alkyer, publisher of Music Inc and a panel of industry experts who search every aisle at the show for the best products, ideas and trends, and will select their top finds in a number of categories.

SHOW PREVIEW

Allen & Heath going for gold with GLD Dave Robinson Allen & Heath will unveil GLD, a user-friendly, cost-effective and scalable live digital mixing sys tem, conceptually based on the succ essful digital iLive series, at NAMM 2012. A standard GLD 32-input system offers 28 XLR mic inputs with plug-and-play I/O expanders allowing easy expansion up to 48 inputs (44 XLR mic inputs). At the heart of the system is the GLD-80 mixer, providing 48 input processing channels, eight stereo FX returns fed by iLive’s FX emulations, 30 configurable buses, 20 mix processing channels, and DSP

and mixes to fader strips. There are 20 fader strips in four layers, each with a motorised fader, a channel LCD display which can be named and colour-coded, plus a rotary control for direct access to gain, pan and aux/FX sends. There’s plenty of I/O too: four XLR mic/line inputs, four XLR line outs, four RCA inputs, four RCA outputs, and digital outputs in SPDIF and AES3 formats. The GLD-80 connects to a range of plug-and-play I/O racks to ‘build’ 28, 36 or 44 mic input systems. A primary AR2412 rack (24 XLR inputs, 12 XLR outs) and up to two AR84 expander racks (eight XLR inputs, four XLR

The basic package (GLD-80 mixer and AR2412 rack) will cost you less than £7,000

GLD has the ability to record and playback a stereo signal on a USB memory stick. Standard iLive audio I/O option cards for Dante, MADI, EtherSound and Allen & Heath’s ACE protocols can be fitted and will be available soon, allowing multichannel record/playback, FOH/ monitor splits, and connection to A&H iLive systems, which can easily be configured using GLD’s extensive soft-patching. “Designing a system which is suitable for both the professional engineer and occasional user has been a priority. With GLD, our aim was to take much of the complexity out of digital mixing, opening up the tremendous benefits of digital technology to a wider group of customers, such as the rental companies, houses of worship and live venues where our GL series analogue mixers have been working so successfully for years,” comments A&H MD, Glenn Rogers. “GLD offers high-quality processing and stunning sonic performance. Key to the system is GLD’s remote plugand-play I/O audio racks for flexible, easy set-up system building.”

Graphical 21cm-wide touchscreen

AR2412 rack: 24 XLR inputs, 12 XLR outputs power to provide full processing “without compromise”. GLD-80 has an analogue-style channel processing control section complemented by a graphical 21cmwide touchscreen. A fully-customisable drag-and-drop layout allows quick and easy assignment of inputs

outs each) can be connected over 120m Cat5 runs using A&H’s dSNAKE protocol. (dSNAKE provides control to the remote preamp, and all mic preamps are scene recallable.) AR2412 also includes a connection for personal monitoring systems.

+ In other news, Audio-Technica Ltd has announced it has entered into an agreement with Allen & Heath Ltd to act as the exclusive distributor for the mixer manufacturer in the UK. The strategic move mirrors a similar arrangement in Germany, where AudioTechnica has been an Allen & Heath distributor since 2005, seeing a significant

growth in sales over the last six years in the territory. Audio-Technica takes over from current distributor JHS with effect from 1 February 2012 and will

be responsible for sales, technical support and service for both existing and new customers. WEB >> www.allen-heath.com

“Winter NAMM has been a hugely important date in the Sontronics calendar, ever since we launched the brand there in January 2005,” says Sontronics’ MD and designer Trevor Coley, from behind his Saturn condenser (2010 NAMM debut). “Obviously it gives us the chance to announce new products at the same time as showcasing our existing (ever-growing!) range, giving visitors the chance to see, feel and hear our mics. It’s also a great opportunity to catch up with our various distribution agents, Sontronics stockists and press contacts from around the world, as well as chewing the fat with our friends in the industry and checking out all their new gear. And who can resist a beer in the Californian sunshine? NAMM — wouldn’t miss it for the world! Did I mention the sunshine?” WEB >> www.sontronics .com

(Picture with apologies to Rene Magritte’s Son of Man)

Steve Vai to receive Les Paul Award at 27th Annual Tech Excellence Awards The Guitar virtuoso, composer and producer Steve Vai will be presented with the prestigious Les Paul Award at the 27th Annual Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards, to be held on Friday 20 January in the Pacific Ballroom of the Hilton Anaheim during the 2012 NAMM Show. Copresented by the TEC Foundation for Excellence in Audio and NAMM, the TEC Awards recognises outstanding achievement in professional audio production and product design.

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The Les Paul Award was established in 1991 to honour musical artists who have had distinguished careers as innovators in the creative application of audio technology. Past recipients include Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Brian Wilson, Peter Gabriel, Lindsey Buckingham, Herbie Hancock, Al Kooper, Steve Miller, Robbie Robertson and others. A student of Joe Satriani at age 12, Steve Vai began his professional music

career working with Frank Zappa, with whom he toured and recorded before launching his solo career. Since his groundbreaking album Passion and Warfare, released in 1990, the brilliance of his musicianship has awed more than just rock fans and has stunned concertgoers worldwide, producing sales of over 15 million records and earning multiple Grammys. Steve Vai has received honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music and Musician’s Institute, and

is also involved with many worthwhile organisations. He founded the record label Favored Nations, for musicians, who in Vai’s words, “have attained the highest performance level on their chosen instruments”. He has also served as a Trustee for the Recording Academy, is on the board of Hollywood Arts, and works closely with his own Make a Noise Foundation, raising money for music education. WEB >> www.tecfoundation.com

Steve Vai

photo Larry DiMarzio

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SHOW PREVIEW

Studiomaster flat out with launches

Studiomaster Horizon 2012 powered mixer New products from Studiomaster (now part of the SoundKing group) at NAMM include the portable Horizon 2012 powered mixer, shown for the first time in the US. The functional design incorporates a shoulder carry strap, removable control cover and a retractable panel to angle the mixer for the best working position; the mixer can be used free standing or rackmounted. All mic/line input channels feature the VMS optical compressor, Studiomaster 3-band EQ, with sweepable mid, and a total of four AUX sends. Sixty millimetre smooth faders, Mute, PFL buttons, and SIGNAL and PEAK LEDs complete the channel strip. A combined stereo and mic input channel effectively adds three more mic channels. Twin onboard FX processors feature real studio quality reverbs and delays. A 2-channel USB audio interface includes

assignable signal source; playback from a computer can be routed to the main MIX output, or to a stereo channel giving access to EQ a n d auxiliaries. The output to the computer can be from the main MIX, to record a performance, or from the DSP effect sends to make use of plug-in FX. Each amplifier channel supplies a colossal 1,000W into 4 ohms using Class G topology; stable into all loads with temperature and shortcircuit protection. Another NAMM debut is the Studiomaster XPX series ultraportable moulded PA cabinet. Active and passive models are available in 12” and 15” driver series and feature “high sound quality” (reports Studiomaster), with neodymium drivers and 3” voice coils, and class D biamplification providing 750W RMS in the active models. Marketing manager Patrick Almond says about the XPX series: “We have been developing the XPX series as a high-quality cabinet featuring great performance and a feature set, which in the passive models will perfectly complement the new Horizon powered mixer and in the active models, supplement the hugely popular current VPX active range.”

Studiomaster is also launching a technologically advanced PA solution in the form of the new Acoustic Image6 (passive) and Acoustic Image6A, (active) large-format NXT driven flat panel PA systems. Investment in state-of-the-art development and manufacturing technologies has improved the reproduction capabilities of flat panel speakers, and enabled the manufacture of the larger scale Acoustic Image6/6A panel (755 x 555 x 86mm) that can “outperform conventional enclosures in small to medium reinforcement applications and multi-speaker installations”, the company claims.

WEB >> www.studiomaster.com

according to Rycote’s figures. Most microphones can be mounted in seconds or removed thanks to the USM’s smartly designed universal four-screw locking system. “ T h e original U S M , launched at Winter NAMM t w o years ago, has been very successful,” explains Rycote’s sales & marketing director Stefano Pucello. “Studio owners who bought them began asking us if there was an even broader version for their favourite super-large-diaphragm mics. And now there is! “NAMM has proven to be the best exhibition in the Americas for reaching the MI and pro audio markets, and it’s no coincidence that all of the models in the InVision USM range have received

JoeCo catches onto an enthusiastic wave JoeCo heads to Anaheim with a full range of analogue and digital BlackBox Recorder models available, plus a show preview that’s still under wraps. Last year, 2011, was highly significant for the UK manufacturer, with the release of the BBR64-MADI that captures up to 64 channels of MADI data, while still retaining the compact 1RU format of the standard BBR versions. JoeCo’s collaboration with Audinate, creators of the awardwinning Dante digital media networking solution, also came to fruition during 2011 with the release of the BBR-Dante, designed to interface to a Dante network. JoeCo will be joined at NAMM 2012 by US/Canadian distributor FullScaleAV. “Exports for JoeCo are very strong and the US and Canada are two of our best markets,” says JoeCo managing director Joe Bull. “The US in particu-

lar seems to be blessed with a positive attitude and real belief in the adage that ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going’. Most of the customers I talk to in the US realise that they have to continue to offer something positive to their customers rather than sitting back and moaning about how things used to be. I find it very refreshing.” On the subject of the NAMM show, Bull adds: “It’s vitally important as it brings together so many professionals and retailers to exchange ideas and seriously consider their businesses and opportunities. It’s very difficult not to be buoyed by the blatant enthusiasm that most of the attendees exude and this often makes a very refreshing change from the more downbeat attitudes at other trade shows around the world. It’s also nice to catch some winter sun, even if it’s only on the way into the convention centre every morning!” WEB >> www.joeco.co.uk

TC Electronic promotes interoperability Studiomaster Acoustic Image6/6A flat panel PA

Rycote’s advises of new InVision

Rycote, the UK-based manufacturer of microphone windshields and shockmount systems, is launching a new version of its InVision Universal Studio Mount microphone suspension at this year’s Winter NAMM show. The existing InVision USM can be used to mount microphones from 18 to 55mm in diameter, and thus accommodates most studio recording microphones, but the new InVision VB will hold the broadest large-diaphragm models from 55mm to 68mm, such as the Neumann M149 and M150, the sE Gemini 5 and G3500, the Røde Classic II, and the BLUE Microphones Kiwi and Mouse, as well as design classics like the original Neumann U47. The InVision VB offers the same durable design as the original InVision USM, based on Rycote’s patented and “virtually indestructible” W-shaped Lyre mounts, and provides the same protection from unwanted vibrations as the original InVision USM, reducing noise further by up to 12dB when compared to traditional elasticated mounts,

Launched in 2011, the BBR64-MADI captures up to 64 channels of MADI data

their global launches at NAMM since 2009.” The US, and, more broadly speaking, the Americas as a whole, account for 25% of Rycote’s global sales. And despite the current international climate, export sales there have remained strong, reports the company, due in part to its expansion over the past three years into new sales areas – MI, pro audio, videography a n d DSLR A broader shockmount for bigger mics

camera micro phone accessories – going beyond the company’s traditional strongholds in the location audio and broadcast recording markets. WEB >> www.rycoteinvision.com

TC has confirmed that its cross-platform LM6 Radar Loudness Meter, scheduled for launch December 2011, will also support Avid’s new AAX plugin format. The upgraded device will be on show at NAMM. Avid presented a new plug-in format for Pro Tools 10: AAX (Avid Audio eXtension) back in October at the AES Convention. One of the most reported frequently asked questions for third-party plug-in developers soon afterwards was how soon they would be able to support this new format. “TC is proud to announce that its LM6 Radar Loudness Meter, which was also revealed at AES, will in fact support the new AAX format right form the start,” says TC’s Kim Bang. With the introduction of the new LM6 Radar Loudness Meter plug-in, audio professionals using Media Composer, Final Cut Pro, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Nuendo, Wavelab, Cubase and other DAWS on a Mac or PC can benefit from having direct access to this meter which covers all mono, stereo and 5.1 productions. The user interface of the LM6 plug-in is similar to TC radar meters for other platforms. Users familiar with the radar will therefore be able to move seamlessly between platforms, says TC. LM6 shows loudness history in a single, easy-to-read, radar-like view.

LM6, now updated for AAX Each radar revolution can span from one minute to 24 hours. Two numbers may be selected for display below the radar, for instance Loudness Range and Program Loudness, while all measurements are retained on the Stats page. Loudness history and other key information can be logged as a standard formatted text file that may accompany a program for proof of delivery spec compliance. LM6 employs a fully synchronous, high-headroom design in order to also display true-peak warnings and truepeak bar graphs correctly; and it conforms with all of the major broadcast standards based on Leq(K) – e.g. ITU BS.1770-2, ATSC A/85 and EBU R128 (August 2011 update). The LM6 Radar Loudness Meter plug-in is available for DAW platforms supporting Audio Units, RTAS or VST plug-in formats – and as of December, AAX. WEB >> www.tcelectronic.com

PSNE@NAMM

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SHOW PREVIEW

Yamaha soups-up a classic Virtual Circuitry Modelling technology and improved head amps with onboard 24-bit/96kHz A-D and D-A converters are among the features of the upgraded Yamaha 01V96i digital mixing console, on show at NAMM. This update of the classic desk acknowledges the burgeoning demand for multi-track recording in live sound applications with the incorporation of 96kHz, 16-in/16out USB 2.0 audio streaming. The new facility provides full, single connection integration with every major ASIO and Core Audio DAW software; the latest version of Steinberg’s Cubase AI recording/editing/mixing software is bundled with the mixer.

Kazunori Kobayashi, general manager of Yamaha’s Pro Audio Division, said: “With this new console we are delighted to support a broader range of applications with a fully integrated, comprehensive system that meets the growing needs and requirements of our customers.” Yamaha will celebrate 25 years of digital mixing next year. “While the DMP7 was the first digital mixer launched in 1987, it was actually the arrival of the Programmable Mixer (ProMix) 01 in 1995 that revolutionised the way we make music/record music forever,” says Chris Irvine, Yamaha-Kemble (UK)’s Music Production specialist. “The power of

Yamaha continues to develop its long line of compact digital mixers

this rack mountable unit was unbelievable at the time. Now those specifications seem like a given: motorised faders, scene memories, MIDI automation, built-in FX processors and dynamics control, selected channel technology, compact and affordable…” The arrival of the 01V in 1995 more than doubled the capabilities its predecessor. “This trend has continued and every time seen the basic principle of the desk pushed beyond expectation,” adds Irvine. “The use of MiniYGDAI (MY for short; or Yamaha General Digital Audio Interface in full) cards has allowed 01V96 (and beyond) to be incorporated into pretty much any system of any format ... they are versatile to say the least!” He goes on to highlight the employment of VCM in the desk, allowing a series of additional effects which recreate the actual circuits of the original analogue inspirations. WEB >> uk.yamaha.com

Riedel arrives for networking Cadac develops diverse channels Riedel Communications of Germany premieres a suite of AVB (Audio-Video Bridging) products for the Artist digital matrix intercom platform, and presents MediorNet Compact to the US markets at NAMM 2012. Speaking about Riedel’s presence at NAMM, Nils Quak, marketing and communications, says: “The US market is one of the largest in the world. Besides great opportunities this does also mean that some of the most exciting projects, events and installations are realised here. We at Riedel love new challenges and finding new solutions for events, installation and broadcast applications, so the US is a really exciting and interesting market for us.” He adds: “The NAMM show is probably one of the largest exhibitions regarding audio. It’s a great place to meet clients and customers and to have a look at upcoming developments within this industry. It’s a really inspiring exhibition and it would be a shame to miss it.” Riedel’s new AVB product line provides a real-time communication solution fulfilling the demands of professional intercom users. Based on official IEEE next generation Ethernet standards like 802.1Qav, P802.1Qat and P802.1AS, AVB allows risk-free

The new Riedel AVB networking product line utilisation of AVB-compliant facility or enterprise LAN infrastructure for intercom applications. This allows for new approaches in system and facility design providing significant savings in infrastructure investments. The Riedel suite of AVB products includes the AVB-108 G2 Client Card as well as the Connect AVB and Connect AVBx8 panel interfaces. The AVB-108 G2 card is a regular Artist client card to be used inside the Artist mainframe. It converts eight Artist matrix ports into AVB and vice versa. The AVB-108 G2 client card communicates either with other AVB-108 G2 client cards in another Artist systems, e.g. for trunking, or with Riedel’s Connect AVB and Connect AVBx8 panel interfaces.

MediorNet Compact – shown in the US for the first time – is the cost effective and easy-to-use entry into the Riedel MediorNet world of integrated media signal distribution and processing. It provides the flexibility of a true real-time media network, including integrated signal processing, at the cost of simple multiplexing pointto-point products. With a network bandwidth of 50Gbit/s MediorNet Compact provides enough capacity for bidirectional transport of 12 HDSDI signals, dozens of MADI streams or GBit-Ethernet signals and hundreds of audio channels or intercom ports – useful for streamlining the infrastructure of mobile, studio and live event applications. WEB >> www.riedel.net

Cadac will be exhibiting at NAMM 2012 with a view to establishing new distribution channels for its new product line, across the full range of pro-audio markets. The Cadac team is being led by sales development manager Vincenzo Borrelli: “With the new product line-up of analogue and digital consoles, we are addressing all forms of live and fixed installation applications, well beyond Cadac’s traditional theatre sound sector. The development of new and diverse distribution channels, both in the US and throughout the world, is a major priority, and our primary objective at NAMM. “People might be surprised to see Cadac at NAMM but the new console range of the LIVE1, CDC Four,

Vincenzo Borelli with the CDC Four CDC Eight and S-Type, is a unique offering in terms of unsurpassable quality and value, and live sound production – both sound touring and fixed installation – are the major target markets.” WEB >> www.cadac-sound.com

Roland Systems Group: “NAMM is ideal platform”

Roland will focus on web streaming with the UR-3

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“The NAMM Show has always been a focal point of the tradeshow calendar and product launch schedule for Roland,” says Peter Heath, business development director, Roland (UK). “As a global company, the US market is key for both Roland and Roland Systems Group in terms of sales figures but also for input into new product development, market feedback, trends and competitor activity. The sheer size of NAMM as well as the diversity and the large numbers of visitors we get to our booth give us a perfect showcase for

the capability of our products in music, audio and video.” In 2012, the company will be focusing on an additional element – web streaming – with the new VR-3 AV Mixer and VC-30HD video converter, both of which have built-in streaming capability. “We always have a great live setup on the booth to demonstrate the full range – from personal monitors, to video mixers, to audio recorders – as well as the musical instruments because it’s important to us that the visitors are able to

‘play’ with the products but we also want to emphasise the integration of our products.” Heath goes on to say: “NAMM provides the ideal platform for Roland as an international company to meet and to share ideas but also, essentially, to do the same with our global distributors, dealers and end users. The progression of NAMM towards including more professional audio and video content means it has become more relevant to the company as a whole.” WEB >> www.rolandsg.co.uk

DD6 horizontal coverage at ear height

MINIMUM SIZE, MAXIMUM VERSATILITY Whilst many small speakers are fixed-use and relegated to the background, our new ultra-compact DD6™ is different. Its Differential Dispersion™ technology delivers a more consistent SPL and frequency response over the audience than speakers with a conventional X° × Y° coverage pattern. And its multi-angle enclosure, rotatable horn and multiple mounting options maximise on-the-fly flexibility. Re-configuration from vertical to horizontal format is tool-free, quick and easy. Add input switching that enables drive from one of two sources, and the DD6 is the only ultra-compact speaker you need. For more information, visit www.martin-audio.com

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Differential Dispersion™ s Tool-free configuration s Maximum versatility All information is Copyright © 2012 Martin Audio Ltd. Martin Audio is a registered trademark of Martin Audio Limited in the UK, US and other countries.

live 31

January 2012 www.prosoundnewseurope.com

EUROPE

Optocore system heralds audio ‘paradise’ for Coldplay Wigwam Hire enhances Optocore stock before taking to the road on Coldplay’s latest Mylo Xyloto tour, writes David Davies No stranger to the larger ‘sheds’, Coldplay initiated a lengthy schedule of arena and stadium shows in early December. Once again, the Chris Martin-fronted band is touring in the company of Wigwam Hire. Containing the singles Paradise and Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall, Coldplay’s fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto, was co-produced by Markus Dravs – recipient of the 2011 MPG Producer of the Year and Brit Awards’ Best Producer trophies. In readiness for the Coldplay dates, Wigwam recently enhanced its Optocore-based ‘OptoRack’ data returns system with an additional five Optocore DD32R-FX digital interfaces – one for each of the five amp racks being deployed, which are all connected by fibre. The Optocore technology is being used in conjunction with more than 100 d&b D12 amplifiers. “On the Coldplay tour the DD32RFX units will provide the ability to run 96KHz AES audio via the FOH system EQ in the form of an XTA 548 – right through to the d&b D12 amps, which

Drummer Will Champion is using five DP30 periscope mics for snares and toms

process AES audio at 96KHz,” said Wigwam’s digital specialist, Alex Hadjigeorgiou. “[...] This truly is a digital system – from the preamp on the DiGiCo SD stage box right through to the amplifier, with only a single A-D and D-A conversion across the entire system, which will keep latency to the absolute minimum.”

Microphone specialist Earthworks is among the other brands to be found on Coldplay’s latest road-trek. UK distributor Unity Audio recently facilitated an extensive audition for Coldplay FOH engineer Dan Green, as a result of which drummer Will Champion is using SR40MPs (matched pair) for overheads, SR30HC for kick and

hi-hat, and five DP30 periscope mics for snares and toms. Green also specified several SR40V handheld condenser mics for backing vocals and an M30 measurement mic for PA system analysis. Red TX has also been in Coldplay’s orbit lately, capturing the broadcast audio for Coldplay’s recent album launch at the Plaza de Toros Stadium in Madrid. The concert was mixed onboard new Red TX truck Red II by Tim Summerhayes, who provided a live stereo audio feed to the Visions mobile, which captured the video in HD and provided onward broadcast to YouTube. Summerhayes – who also recorded the show in 5.1 surround for subsequent DVD release – commented: “It was a challenge because we had very limited rehearsal time, but we worked closely with Coldplay’s production team of Dan Green and Rick Simpson, and between us we kept everyone smiling.” Q www.earthworksaudio.com www.optocore.com www.red-tx.com www.unityaudio.co.uk

Picture by Richard Minter

UNITED KINGDOM

Entec and d&b are Warriors for Good sound David Davies Entec provided sound and lighting for a special performance by The Good The Bad and The Queen (GBQ), which helped to mark the launch of Greenpeace’s new flagship vessel, Rainbow Warrior III. Featuring bassist Paul Simonon, guitarist Simon Tong and drummer Tony Allen, GBQ is just one of many projects to be fronted by Damon ‘does he ever sleep?’ Albarn. The band used the Rainbow Warrior III’s helipad deck – at the stern of the vessel – as a stage, with an array of five

d&b J-8 line array speakers flown off the crane positioned in front of the stage area. Two J-Subs were stacked on the deck, while two E12s were used as fills for the guests aboard the ship. Band monitoring included M4s and a pair of Q-Subs. The performance was mixed onboard with a Yamaha M7CL console by Dave Guerin, while engineering colleague Matt Butcher tweaked the mix by radio from the public viewing area on the South Bank. Q www.dbaudio.com www.entec-soundandlight.com

UNITED KINGDOM Newly bequiffed, singer/guitarist Alex Turner and the rest of the Arctic Monkeys are enjoying their greatest period of popularity since first rising to prominence in 2006. Currently touring fourth studio album Suck It and See, the Monkeys are making extensive use of Sennheiser technology. The monitoring set-up features eight stereo mixes via G3 in-ears, while Turner, bassist Nick O’Malley and drummer Matt Helders have e 935, e 945 and e 904 microphones, respectively, for vocal duties. FOH engineer Matthew Kettle, who has extensive experience of Sennheiser mics, remarked: “The mics are getting well used and abused – and are all still going strong.” Q The performance took place on Rainbow Warrior III

www.sennheiser.co.uk

32 live APPOINTMENTS f Delta Sound has announced

the appointments of Emma Gallagher and Lee Dennison as directors. Gallagher, who previously held the position of SBD general manager and has been with the company for the past 11 years, will take on the role of business development and client relations. Dennison, who has worked with sister company Delta for over six years, will bring his experience in technical delivery to his new role, helping to raise the level of technical expertise within the project management team. www.soundbydesign.net

f Following six years at XTA, Richard Fleming (pictured, above) has been promoted to the role of application and support manager at the company. He has 20 years of R&D experience, including time at Klark Teknik and Laney/HH Amplification. In his new role he will continue to demonstrate products to customers and deal with technical queries.

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012 WORLD

Midas PRO9 system on Evanescence tour Nigel Lord FOH engineer Eddie Mapp has opted for a Midas PRO9 live audio system for the Evanescence world tour, currently heading across Europe. Mapp had previously relied on a Midas XL4 before switching to digital desks a few years ago. “Why did I make the change? Tone, feel and most importantly, audio quality. I’ve had some great shows on other digital desks but nothing sounds and feels like the PRO9 does.” Citing EQ as one of the features that won him over, Mapp continues: “Another thing I’ve noticed after bouncing from festivals to theatres on a variety of PA systems is how sonically huge the entire mix sounds. It reacts in a way

that I haven’t felt since the XL4. Some desks seem to get a little choked up when they’re pushed too hard, but this keeps on going and going.” The Kooks’ FOH engineer Russ Tite is another Midas PRO convert having chosen a PRO6 live audio system for the band’s 2011 European tour: “I’d been using another brand of digital desk, but this summer I was rocking up to festivals and using an H3000 or XL4, and found I loved it again – it sounded like a console should,” he says. “We were almost going to take an XL4, but you can’t really fit one on a tour like this, so I decided to try the PRO6 and it sounds incredible.” Q Evanescence FOH Eddie Map with the Midas PRO9

www.midasconsoles.com

UNITED KINGDOM ADLIB’s audio division supplied an L-Acoustics K1 sound system for the Specials’ recent string of live shows, which follows the legendary ska band’s 30th anniversary tour during 2009. The K1s were used for the main hangs (eight a side), plus three KARA downfills per side for the theatre venues. At the Ricoh Arena

www.xta.co.uk

in Coventry and Alexandra Palace in

f Pro Audio Systems has

London, ADLIB added six V-DOSC delays a

announced the addition of Vangelis Satrazanidis to its technical staff. A 24-year veteran of manufacturer AMS Neve, Satrazanidis’ skills include hardware and software testing, audio installation and service engineering. He has worked on digital audio mixing consoles for film, music and television all over the world, including projects for the BBC, Warner Brothers & Widget Post USA.

side (just behind the FOH position) four

www.pasystems.co.uk

f Studiomaster and Carlsbro have announced the appointment of Ben Millson as regional sales manager across both brands. Millson comes from AVSL Group where he was UK south-east regional field sales manager, with responsibility for MI, DJ and pro-audio brands. Prior to this he was with Adam Hall for five years, where he oversaw development of the LD Systems brand in the UK. www.carlsbro.com www.studiomaster.com

SB28s a side on the floor plus a selection of ARCs and dV-DOSC cabinets used for frontfills. For sidefills two ARCS boxes per side were flown to provide the best coverage in both vertical and horizontal planes, complemented by two SB28 subs per side. All the L-Acoustics elements were driven by LA8 amplifiers. Q

www.adlibsolutions.co.uk

UNITED KINGDOM

EMP’s 25th anniversary bash for goth legends ‘The Mish’ Erica Basnicki Artist and tour management specialist Extreme Music Production (EMP) has staged one of the biggest goth events in recent history, in celebration of 10 years in business. The Mission 25th Anniversary shows took place last October/November and culminated in a sold-out show at London’s O2 Brixton Academy. The goal was to recreate both the look and the sound of the band from the 1980s. “We found the original ‘Mish’ stage set from 1989, which was in a warehouse gathering dust at Entec Lighting, who supplied lights for the tour,” explains EMP founder George Allen.

“The ‘pagan lady’ backdrop design was also stored in a draw at Hangman drapes. Again, it was reconstructed from old drawings to mimic the original set from 1989.” The sound team included FOH engineer Mikey Osman behind a Midas Heritage 2000 desk, as well as a Yamaha M7CL support console. Monitor engineer Matt Coton worked with DiGiCo’s SD8 desk and an L-Acoustics V-DOSC/ARCS PA, supplied by BCS Audio. The key to the band’s classic ’80s sound was plenty of reverb and delays on the main vocals, with FX units by TC Electronic, Lexicon, Yamaha and Eventide contributing to the mix. The Brixton show comprised a team of over 40 crew members, and was released as a live CD recorded by EMI. Metal Hammer Magazine named it the busiest show at Brixton ever – nearly 5,000 fans were in attendance. Q www.themissionuk.com

EMP staged a show which was one of the “busiest that O2 Brixton has ever seen”

www.xtrememusic.co.uk

live 33

January 2012 www.prosoundnewseurope.com UNITED KINGDOM

ML Execs swells inventory with d&b J Series David Davies

The TiMax2 SoundHub and Tracker system was used on an outdoor staging of Die Zauberfloete

GERMANY

TiMax reveals the Magic of the Flute Nigel Lord German live event company Neumann & Mueller has augmented its rental inventory with a TiMax2 SoundHub audio show control matrix and TiMax Tracker performer tracking system. The purchase followed a 12-month period of extensive evaluation that culminated in an acclaimed outdoor staging of Die Zauberfloete (The Magic Flute) at Erfurt’s Domstufen Festspiele event. The

TiMax2 fed an assortment of d&b linearray and trapezoidal enclosures, with main left/right hangs and outfills made up of Q1s, Q7s and Q10s. Across the front of the stage three concealed Q7s took on the dual role of frontfills and first-wavefront reference anchor speakers with further Q7s hidden in graphics panels about 15m upstage. One further anchor was located about 40m deep upstage and comprised a d&b T10 compact

Leading event production specialist ML Executives has expanded its audio hire department with the purchase of a d&b audiotechnik J Series loudspeaker system. Acquired with the assistance of Azule Finance, the new investment comprises 36 J Series loudspeakers with D12 amps. Neil White, project manager at ML Executives, commented: “Adding the d&b J Series to our existing stock of L-Acoustics and EAW systems gives us access in-house to three of the leading loudspeaker brands. Until now we’ve been hiring in this system but recently took the decision to purchase the d&b J Series. We’ve worked with Azule Finance on a number of occasions before and its unique understanding of the live production industry meant they immediately understood the business value of this investment. Thanks to its quick competitive finance solution, we got this speaker system on our books ready for the busy 2012 touring season.” Q

www.azule.co.uk www.mlexecutives.com

line-array system concealed inside a weather station prop. A row of d&b E0 nearfill delays were mounted on the handrail half-way up the audience seating and six TiMax Tracker TT Sensors were located around the periphery of the stage mapping the huge performance area in three-dimensions to an accuracy of 15cm. Q www.dbaudio.com www.neumannmueller.com

WORLD

Fleet Foxes not so ‘helpless’ with Royer R-121 ribbons David Davies Two Royer Labs R-121 ribbon microphones form an integral part of the current touring set-up of Seattle-based alt-folk band Fleet Foxes. Currently touring in support of second studio album Helplessness Blues, Fleet Foxes uses one R-121 on a 1966 Fender Super Reverb for the acoustic playing of band leader Robin Pecknold. The other mic is positioned in front of a 1965 Fender Vibrolux that is used for acoustic and electric guitars, as well as mandolin. FOH engineer Jared Hankins discovered Royer ribbons during his time as a music production and engineering student at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. “In working with the Royers, I quickly came to discover their warm, natural sound quality,” said

UNITED KINGDOM Still warranting the description ‘effortlessly cool’ at the age of 66, Bryan Ferry has been using AudioTechnica microphones for shows in support of his 13th solo studio album, Olympia. A long-time AudioTechnica user, Ferry favours the AT4055 cardioid condenser mic – the latest version of which is the AE5400. According to product manager Des Jabir, the AT4055 is the ideal complement to Ferry’s deep, low-register vocal delivery as well as his harmonica playing. The singer, said Jabir, loves “the feel of [the Royer Labs mics are part of Fleet Foxes touring set-up

AT4055s], the look of them and the way they sound. I think [he] owns

Hankins. “I particularly like using them to mic guitar amps because they exhibit a very clean, flat sound with a

depth of field that sits beautifully in the mix.”Q www.royerlabs.com

about seven.”

Q

www.eu.audio-technica.com

34 live

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

BELGIUM

A sunny combination of sound systems A free event combining five stages and bright sunny weather was the setting for the closure of the European Youth Capital project in Antwerp, writes Marc Maes On Sunday, 30 November some 13,000 people gathered at Antwerp’s Spoor Noord site to celebrate the end of Antwerp being European Youth Capital; over 20 bands, stand-up comedians and DJs performed on five stages between 14.00 and 20.00hrs. And, as for the opening event, sound and light company Stage Unit was assigned by the event production team

f

to supply outdoor and indoor sound reinforcement and lights. “Before everything, I’d like to say we’ve had great luck with the weather conditions, both during building and throughout the event itself,” says Karl Van Noyen, project manager with Stage Unit. Stage Unit opted for a combination of Meyer Sound, Outline and Martin Audio FOH systems. For the main

open-air stage, which hosted the Antwerp Gispy Ska Orchestra, The Hickey Underworld and headliners Zap Mama, Van Noyen put in place a Meyer Galileo loudspeaker management system, Soundcraft MH3 analogue desk as FOH and a DiGiCo D1 on monitors. “We had rehearsals on Saturday and we managed to save time with the D1 where we could fix the settings for later recall use,” he says. “The main system

Meyer Sound, Outline and Martin Audio FOH systems were used for the main open-air stage, which hosted the Antwerp Gispy Ska Orchestra

consisted of eight Martin Compact line array sets and six stacked Martin Audio (WS218X) subs per side, which was more than enough to cover the site – allowing the public in the back to enjoy a drink and have a chat.” Alongside the main stage, a small podium for the closing ceremony’s bagpipe players was equipped with four Meyer Sound 650-P subs and four MSL-4 cabinets. Meyer Sound cabinets were also used for the outdoor DJ sets on the Urban Talent stage under the old railway bridge. “Two PSW enclosures in combination with two MSL-4 did the job, in combination with Outline active monitors,” continues Van Noyen. “For the Urban Stage and the Top Notch hip-hop stage we also provided the DJ equipment consisting of DJM 800, CDJ 1000 and CDJ 2000 players – no turntables this time, due to the short change-over times between artists.” The Theater De Luxe tent hosted the Musical Talent Stage, offering opportunities for local artists. A Yamaha PM1000 16-channel console was used for FOH mixing in combination with an Outline Kangaroo powered set consisting of two KV152A subs and two KV1201-2P active tops. “A second tent featured the standup comedy stage, where we opted for a Yamaha LS9 digital desk and Kangaroo subs and top sets, used for speech and intermission music,” says Van Noyen.

Finally, a former train shed was transformed into a huge event hall where some 500 kids attended shows by Vroink and Jan De Smet, followed by the hip hop act Top Notch. Sound was provided via six Meyer MSL-4, three DSC-4 and three 700 subs per side, controlled by a Meyer Galileo loudspeaker management system, with a Soundcraft MH3 as FOH and another DiGiCo D1 on monitors. “The hall has a capacity of 20,000, but due to security regulations only 3,000 people were allowed – we had to adapt the acoustics with curtains,” Van Noyen explains. Stage Unit’s crew during the event numbered 14 people – building and loading was effected by a crew of 24. “Like the opening job in Antwerp Central station (see PSNE August), serving so many stages is not a piece of cake, but it worked out well,” laughs Van Noyen. “The only minor problems we had was the use of wireless frequencies – the Belgian Telecom officials returned home from a job at the Sportpaleis and paid a visit to the festival – we had to adjust some of the wireless frequencies. Also the environmental services of the Antwerp Province attended the event, which indeed was staged close to the city centre – with an average of 93dB we received no complaints.” Q www.aeyc2011.be www.stage-unit.com

Eight Martin Compact line array sets and six stacked WS218X subs per side covered the site

live 35

January 2012 www.prosoundnewseurope.com EUROPE

On tour with green power At this year’s AES Convention, several leading-edge manufacturers revealed that, while sizeable live events can never be green in the absolute sense, saving energy is more pertinent then ever. Paul Watson was in attendance “How can this be green?â€? smiles Clair Bros’ Jim Meyer, pointing to a slide of U2’s controversial 2009 360Âş tour, which, of course, reportedly boasted the largest ever touring sound system. And it’s a good question. Cast your minds back two years and you might remember the U2 ‘claw’ – the centrepiece of the band’s set – which held a staggering 368 Clair cabinets around its perimeter, as well as accommodating 170 amplifiers and a further 96 subwoofer cabinets. Clearly, that production was never going to appear economically-friendly in any way! For the record, 11 trucks were used on that tour just for audio, and the total count [for some of the biggest shows] was an eye-popping 190. But Meyer makes some valid points about Clair’s dedication to the environment, which starts at its headquarters in Pennsylvania, US. “We’re doing all we can to make our facility as green as possible. For example, we have fluorescent lighting with motion sensors installed everywhere so lights aren’t ever left on, and we use biodegradable materials wherever possible – even our knives and forks in the canteen are biodegradable,â€? Meyer explains. “Also, our waste provider generates one single stream of recycling so everything goes into one bin and gets sorted out at the facility by them, and we’re now looking into the possibilities of a solar-powered roof.â€? OK Jim, that’s all well and good – but what about these astronomical speaker systems and the multitude of trucks that are guzzling petrol on a daily basis, polluting our green and pleasant land? “The two main factors in transport are size and weight,â€? he states. “Decreasing weight is huge, and the more we decrease, the less fuel is required for transport.â€? Clair, Meyer reveals, has an employee dedicated to figuring out optimum truck efficiency using CAD drawings. From the amps to the speakers, and the consoles to the cables, everything is meticulously planned pre-show, so no room is wasted. “In the mid-90s, point source boxes and analogue consoles were the norm for a typical arena sound system, and that took up two trucks,â€? he explains. “Now, with the transition to digital, there’s far less need for extra rack units, and as a result, we’ve seen a huge reduction in size and power consumption. So, for a typical hockey arena, we’re now talking just one truck and a little bit; our target, of course, is to get everything into one.â€? And it’s not just about the speakers, but the transducers themselves, according to Meyer. Neodymium, he says, has allowed Clair to dramatically reduce the weight of its cabinets.

f

U2’s 360º production boasted the largest ever touring sound system

Lab.gruppen’s plot of “audio bursts� from a Marilyn Manson tour

Âşâ€œIt means the design can be more efficient in terms of getting the magnet into selectively modern CAD designs, allowing you to position the materials in just the right way for efficient thermal dissipation,â€? he says. “And that comes with the increased power handling in the individual speaker, which means you can use less of them to reach the same SPL.â€? This makes sense, although the uncertainty of neodymium’s price and indeed availability come 2012 has raised eyebrows across the industry in recent months. But that’s a whole other subject matter, of course. PSNE has tackled sustainability issues a few times in the past, and extensively in its inaugural SustainabilityAV conference (held in conjunction with IE), which took place in December 2010. One of the topics covered at SustainabilityAV was bio-diesel, an environmentally-friendly fuel type; and interestingly, Meyer reveals that bio-diesel has fast become the touring ‘buzz word’, as a string of major artists have put more pressure on manufacturers to use it.

“Sheryl Crow is a good example,� he says. “She always wants everything as green as possible. She has bio-diesel transported to the site to keep to schedule, as logistics don’t allow the trucks to traipse across town in search of the sole bio-diesel station in the area; but this is becoming far more common nowadays, and I believe it will increase a lot.� And the green element goes beyond audio, it seems. Meyer says some tours now have a green committee which literally monitors the greenness of a tour. Power companies are also now required, in some cases, to provide bio generators, and it’s more common now for venue staff to have their own recycle buckets on site in a bid to stay as green as they can. Amplification is another area in which Clair believes it has become much more efficient. “We use Lab.gruppen PLM 20000Q amplifiers for our newer stack racks; our older ones contained Crown two-channel amps,� he says. “The new racks are 30% lighter and 50% taller; that’s about twice the volume, but the depth is still the same.

Jim Meyer, Clair Bros

Add to this four-and-a-half times the number of channels and the fact that each one has more power and an integrated crossover – so there’s no need for a separate drive rack – and this generates a huge reduction in volume and weight.� In the UK, Julie’s Bicycle (JB) is continuing to make ground in this area, recently recruiting AEG Live and its sister company, Kilimanjiro Live; the NEC Group; and Artichoke, a specialist outdoor event production company, which worked with JB on the Lumiere light festival in Durham to help quantify the event’s carbon impacts. So, although the nature of major live events and concerts suggests they will never be particularly kind to our blue planet, it’s good to know that at least some manufacturers are picking up on it. Lab.gruppen and Powersoft both have green objectives in place; and Clair, arguably the biggest supplier of touring sound kit in the world, looks to be leading the way. Q www.aes.org www.clairsystems.com www.labgruppen.com

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36 live events

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

The Live Events listing is a free service. All information is provided by the companies listed and PSNE cannot be help responsible for any factual errors. To be included in the listings, please email Linda Frost at livesound@frostshome.co.uk

BAND

COUNTRY MIXERS

AUDIO PLUS Varsity Ski Festival

France

BOEREMA ENGINEERING Breakfree Fesival Holland Eric Vaarzon Morel Tour Holland R&B 90’s Live Tour Holland Trinity Autumn Tour Holland Musica Argentina Tour Holland Christmas Tour Holland

ENGINEER

AMP

SPEAKERS

DiGiCo SD8, Yamaha M7CL M O’Neill

MC2 Audio

+44 1206 369966 Funktion One

M7CL, DiGiCo SD8 Yamaha, Yamaha DiGiCo SD8, DiGiCo SD8 M7CL, M7CL Yamaha, Yamaha Midas PRO2, PRO2

T Boerema A Meijer A Meijer T Boerema A Meijer T Boerema

Delta d&b d&b MB audiosystems d&b Delta

+31 59 9671 164 Delta d&b d&b MB audiosystems d&b Delta

J Perpick P Ramsay A King R Pope

L-Acoustics/LA48 d&b D12/L-Acoustics d&b D12 d&b D12/LA8/LA48

+44 20 8877 3949 V-DOSC/L-Acoustics d&b M2/L-Acoustics d&b M2 L-Acoustics K1

M Cifelli

Yamaha Y5/Outline T9 Turbosound 450

D Lombardi B Bartlett K Newton

– Outline T9/T11 L-Acoustics LA8

– Outline GTO/Butterfly K1/V-DOSC

BRITANNIA ROW Bryan Adams Kasabian High Flying Birds Jamiroquai

Europe/UK Europe UK Europe

T4 Stars

UK

Will Young Young Voices Duran Duran

UK UK Europe

–, – Midas XL8, Midas PRO6 Midas PRO6, Midas PRO6 Midas XL8, XL8 / DiGiCo SD8 Yamaha PM5/LS9, PM5/LS9 DiGiCo SD8, DiGiCo SD8 Digidesign Profile, Profile Digidesign Profile, Profile

CAPITAL SOUND HIRE Ocean Colour Scene UK Stereophonics UK Fatboy Slim UK Imelda May Ireland Whitesnake UK

DiGiCo D5, Soundcraft Vi6 Digidesign Profile, Profile DiGiCo SD11, – DiGiCo SD7, Yamaha M7CL DiGiCo D5, DiGiCo SD8

H Schopman D Roden T Donovan T Gilligan B Johnson

Martin Audio – Martin Audio Martin Audio Martin Audio

+44 20 8944 6777 Martin Audio W8LC – Martin Audio W8LC Martin Audio W8LC Martin Audio W8LC

CONCEPT AUDIO LTD Star* UK Tour Rick Parfitt Jnr Band Saviours Of Soul Hooray For Hollywood Emirates Key Of Life

UK UK UK Monaco Dublin UK

Yamaha LS9/32, LS9/32 Soundcraft GB8, – Yamaha LS9/32, LS9/32 DiGiCo SD8, Yamaha PM5D Yamaha PM5D, PM5D A&H i-Live T112, i-Live T112

S Staunton M Gumbrell S Staunton D Schurer D Schurer D Schurer

EV Martin Audio EV Lab.gruppen Lab.gruppen QSC

+44 12 43827915 EV Tour X Martin Audio EV Tour X L-Acoustics L-Acoustics EAW

CRAFTMAN Jazz Jamboree

Poland

T Dudar

–

+48 22 849 1878 Meyer Sound

Jill Scott

Poland

T Dudar

–

JBL VerTec

Montserrat Caballe

Poland

Soundcraft Vi6, Soundcraft Vi4 Soundcraft Vi6, Soundcraft Vi4 Soundcraft Vi6, Soundcraft Vi4

T Dudar

–

Meyer Sound

DELTA SOUND INC (UK) LTD X-Factor Finals UK International Horseshow UK British Military Tournament UK New Years Eve On Thames UK Britain’s Got Talent UK EARS & EYES AB Sarah Dawn Finer

F Jackson

K Array/Lab.gruppen

+44 20 8339 3800 K Array/EM Acoustic

M Sawyer P Wright S Lutley F Jackson

L-Acoustics L-Acoustics L-Acoustics K Array/L-Acoustics

dV-DOSC KUDO KUDO K Array/KUDO

Skuggan

d&b audiotechnik

+46 70 593 23 30 d&b audiotechnik

Fatboy Slim has Come a Long Way with Britannia Row

BAND

COUNTRY MIXERS

AMP

SPEAKERS

PUXLEY LTD Show of Hands

UK

Midas PRO2C, DiGiCo SD9 C Puxley

d&b D12

+44 1392 364900 d&b Q

PRODUCTION HOUSE The Darkness Mrs Brown’s Boys IRFU Van Morrison Flash Harry & Ulster Orch

Ireland Ireland Ireland Ireland Ireland

Profile, Profile Profile, Profile Profile, – H3000, PRO9 PRO9/D-Show, Profile

– – Gillespie J Willis W Lewis

Lab.gruppen Lab.gruppen Lab.gruppen Lab.gruppen Meyer Sound

+44 28 9079 8999 dV-DOSC dV-DOSC ARCS V-DOSC MILO

Q AUDIO AB Anna Ternheim Petter Lisa Ekdahl

Europe Sweden Europe

AH T-80, – AH T-80, – AH R72, –

L Nyberg M Chandra L Nyberg

– – –

– – –

RENTAL PRO SRA Marie Rottrova Tour Nazareth Cechamor Christmas Tour Aneta Langerova Tour Musical Hair

Czech Czech Czech Czech Czech

InnovaSon Eclipse, M7CL A&H ML4000, A&H GL4800 –, – Yamaha LS9, – Innovason SY48, –

P Vojta L Foniok M Chlapec P Vojta M Janicek

Camco Vortex 6 Camco Vortex 6 Camco Vortex 6 Camco Vortex 6 Camco Vortex 6

+42 06 0522 8905 Nexo GEO T/CD18 Nexo Alpha Nexo GEO S8/CD18 Nexo GEO S8/RS15 Nexo Alpha

Yamaha M7CL-48, –

S Groeneveld

LA8

Yamaha PM3500-48, M7CL-48 Mackie CFX12 MkII, – Yamaha PM3500-48, M7CL48 Mackie CFX12 MkII, – Mackie CFX12 MkII, –

P v Baasbank

LA8

S Groeneveld P v Baasbank

LA LA8

P v Pelt S Groeneveld

LA LA

+31 78 6742 919 L-Acoustics KUDO/ SB218 L-Acoustics KUDO/ SB218 L-Acoustics 112P L-Acoustics KUDO/ SB218 L-Acoustics 112P L-Acoustics 112P

Mathias Persson d&b audiotechnik

d&b audiotechnik

ELECTROTECH SOLUTIONS SL Second Spain Revolver Spain Nach Spain M-Clan Spain

Yamaha M7CL, M7CL DiGiCo D1, DiGiCo D1 Yamaha M7CL, M7CL Yamaha M7CL, M7CL

– M Sena V Cano Shipley

Amcron – – –

+34 96 122 0357 Martin Audio W8C Meyer Sound MICA Lynx Lynx

EXCESS BV Rosmalen Blues Loeff Claeys Verbeke Timeless Outdoor

Holland

Pieters Vermeer De Visser

Crown I-Tech Crown I-Tech Crown I-Tech

+31 10 2012 111 JBL VRX JBL VRX JBL SRX

Xnoizz Flevo Festival

Soundcraft MH3, MH2 Soundcraft MH3, MH2 DiGiCo, Soundcraft MH2

Fashion Show Spijkenisse Festival

Holland Holland

PM5D-RH, Vi6 –, Profile/PM5D-RH PM5D-RH, PM5D-RH –, Profile/PM5D-RH/Vi6 DiGiCo SD8, DiGiCo SD8 –, PM5D-RH/Vi6

C Barton D Vidal R Tombs A Gregory S Panos D Vidal

QSC QSC QSC QSC QSC QSC

+44 20 7609 9818 EAW/Clair Clair EAW EAW/Clair/Radian EAW Clair/QSC

Auto Trek Arrival Sinterklaas

Holland Holland

Sweden

Holland Holland Holland

JOHN HENRY’S LTD BBC4 Easy Christmas UK BBC R1 Festive Festival UK BBC Christmas TOTP UK BBC 2 Later Hootenanny UK Magic FM Will Young UK Sky Arts Jo Whiley UK

ENGINEER

+46 70 7271 007

Digidesign Profile, DiGiCo SD9 Digidesign Profile, –

Microsoft

Sweden

–, Yamaha PM5D/ DiGiCo SD7 Yamaha PM5D, – DiGiCo D5, DiGiCo SD7 DiGiCo D5, – DiGiCo SD8, –

If you want your web address to be included in the magazine AND in the digital edition of Pro Sound News Europe for just £50 a year, please email Lianne on lianne.davey@intentmedia.co.uk for an order form Picture by Hamish Brown

Live events

RIDER AUDIO AND MEDIA Beats 010 Holland

SELV GELUIDSTECHNIEK Tricycle Belgium Haiti Event Belgium Gala Flanenca Belgium MixTuur Belgium Anoo Belgium

APB, APB Midas, Soundcraft Midas, Soundcraft Midas, Soundcraft Midas, Soundcraft

Vleugels+Deboes Vleugels+Deboes Vleugels+Deboes Vleugels+Deboes Vleugels+Deboes

Coda Audio Coda Audio Coda Audio Coda Audio Coda Audio

+32 16 4433 33 Coda Audio Coda Audio Coda Audio Coda Audio Coda Audio

SKAN PA HIRE LTD Celtic Thunder Def Leppard James Morrison Sun Millies Awards Snow Patrol

PM5D/DSP5D, Vi6 Sound Image, – PM5D, Profile SD8, – XL4, D-Show

S MacInnes R McHugh N Ingram M Dineley M Carolan

LA8 D12 D12 Axys D12

+44 16 3552 1010 dV-DOSC d&b J d&b J Axys 808 d&b J

DiGiCo SD8, Yamaha M7 DiGiCo SD10, Yamaha M7CL Yamaha M7CL, DiGiCo SD10 Yamaha M7CL, – Yamaha M7CL, – DiGiCo SD9, –

C Coxhead S King R McNeal J Lynch R Biddulph S King

d&b d&b d&b d&b Crown L-Acoustics

+44 18 9543 2995 d&b d&b d&b d&b EV L-Acoustics

Vi6, M7CL

K Birtwhistle

d&b D12

+44 11 3277 0952 d&b C4/B2

MAC SOUND White Christmas The Musical Peter Pan The Musical The Nutcracker Jack & The Beanstalk Adventures of Robin Hood

UK

Midas, –

C Rawling

QSC

+44 16 1969 8311 Martin Audio Line Array

UK UK UK UK

DiGiCo, – Midas, Midas Yamaha, – A&H, –

T Whittingham C Rawling G Holder L Windsor

QSC QSC QSC QSC

Martin Audio Line Array Martin Audio Line Array Martin Audio Martin Audio

MAR AUDIO Lisa Ekdahl Pernilla Andersson Anna Ternheim

Europe Sweden Europe

–, AH iLive R-77 –, AH iLive T-80 –, DiGiCo SD8-24

L Nyberg L Nyberg L Nyberg

– – –

– – –

Yamaha LS9, LS9 Midas Venice, Midas Venice Yamaha 02R/96, 02R/96 Midas Venice, –

– –

– –

+34 91 3801 010 Meyer Sound Meyer Sound

SYSTEM SOUND UK LTD Peugeot UK Serco Awards UK Citroen UK Reuters Awards UK Google Belgium Reckitt Benckiser S Africa

– –

Camco Camco

Nexo Nexo

YORKSHIRE AUDIO Roy Wood

US UK UK UK Europe

+46 70 7271 007

MILAN ACOUSTICA Rafaela Carrasco Spain London Symphony Orch Spain Voix Humaine Spain Orquesta Santa Cecilia Spain

UK

installation 37

January 2012 www.prosoundnewseurope.com

finstallation news SOUNDBITES

UNITED KINGDOM

Brighton bars invest in audio Hed Kandi continues its association with Martin Audio, while The Haunt installs Soundcraft console, writes David Davies Installation company MSL has selected Martin Audio as its preferred loudspeaker brand for the new Hed Kandi Bar flagship venue in Brighton, while The Haunt, situated opposite Brighton Pier, has carried out a major audio upgrade to extend its scope from playback-only to become a flexible, 350capacity circuit venue. Hed Kandi – which is part of the Ministry of Sound Group, a long-time user of Martin Audio products – has opted for a solution that features 15 wallmounted AQ8 (8in LF + 1in HF) fullrange enclosures throughout the ground-floor space. A low-frequency extension is delivered by four floorstanding AQ212s (2 x 12in) and a single AQ210 (2 x 10in) sub-bass enclosure. Elsewhere, the reception spaces, outside facade and the Shooter Bar feature four C4.8T ceiling enclosures, while an AQ112 sub. System

Hed Kandi has followed the Ministry of Sound Group in its choice of Martin Audio

management is provided by a BSS Soundweb London BLU-100, used in conjunction with a pair of BLU-BOB expansion extenders and remote BLU-3/BLU-8 control panels.

Explaining the choice of loudspeaker brand, MSL project manager Bradley Watson remarked: “Martin Audio was recommended because it’s a proven product, with longevity and reliability,

and [the operators] were happy to go down that route. Although it’s not a nightclub it needs nightclub-type levels – and they were very comfortable with the brand.” High-quality audio was also the main consideration at The Haunt where the technical team opted to specify a Soundcraft Vi1 digital console, purchased from dealer Crystal Pro Audio and installed by experienced local production and installation company C3 Productions. Regarding the specification of the Vi1, George Ridal, operations manager at C3 Productions, commented: “We wanted to offer the venue something superior to other mid-range, smallformat digital desks. It also needed to be a product aimed at visiting engineers and be something they would recognise.” In addition to the Soundcraft console and a new house PA, the venue has recently invested in expertise, with technical manager Andy Goodwin arriving at the club to work alongside live manager Ade Dovey. Q

Tannoy CVS speakers are installed throughout the venue

LATVIA

Tannoy CVS for Riga Gan Bei restaurant David Davies The latest addition to the Gan Bei restaurant chain, located in the Galleria Riga shopping centre in the Latvian capital, features Tannoy CVS and DVS speakers. The provision of a sleek, ultramodern audio system for the new venue, Gan Bei City, was the challenge issued to sound specialists Unique Ltd. “The new restaurant has a total area of 300sqm and has a high-class interior, so the owners were keen not to spoil that with the intrusions of an installed audio system,” explained Unique CEO Rihards Rubenis. “In essence, they wanted the loudspeakers to be virtually invisible, but at the same time deliver high quality, high SPL sound coverage.”

For total coverage in the restaurant hall, Rubenis decided on eight CVS 8 loudspeakers, supplemented by four CMS 801sub devices to provide the additional lower-end presence required of a flexible system. These are used in conjunction with an APart PM7400MKII preamplifier, Champ4 amplifiers and a PC1000R CD/SD card player. “Tannoy CVS 8 speakers together with CMS SUB was the perfect combination,” said Rubenis. “The sound is clear, powerful and with a reserve on power.” Gan Bei City also has an outdoor terrace, and for this area Rubenis chose four DVS 6 speakers from Tannoy’s range. Q

f The recently opened Erdgas

Sportpark stadium, home of German football club Hallescher FC, boasts an ElectroVoice/Dynacord sound reinforcement system. The setup includes 28 EVF-1152S/99-PIB loudspeakers systems from EV, six EVID 4.2 and two EVID 6.2. The system is driven by five Dynacord DSA 8805 power amplifiers. A P64 digital audio matrix manager from Dynacord provides the overall control. www.dynacord.com www.electro-voice.com

f Systems integrator Techno Q

any of the connection points to satisfy the demands of any given production. In addition to the Eclipse GT, the control room has been equipped with two computers loaded with recording and playback software. These are using the Auvitran AV3rd EtherSound/ASIO bridge. The recording studio workstation has a direct connection to the network and is able to capture sound from on stage or from ambient mics in the auditorium. “We put our long experience of working with EtherSound and Innovason to very good use in this installation, and I am pleased to report that everything works absolutely perfectly,” said MUSICDATA MD Tomas Ourednicek. Q www.innovason.com

www.tannoy.com www.unique.lv

www.scandecsystemer.no

www.soundtech.co.uk

Complex Innovason/ES install for Czech theatre The J.K. Tyl Theatre in the Czech Republic city of Plzen (Pilsen) has been equipped with a new Innovason Eclipse GT console and an EtherSound network. Innovason distributor MUSICDATA selected cable from German manufacturer Sommer Cable as the backbone of the system, with an AVM500-ES EtherSound network matrix from Auvitran enabling star as well as daisychain connections. The AVM500 is connected to the control room via optical fibre, resulting in a flexible network which enables high-quality audio signal transfer from seven different locations. Technicians can move any of the Innovason SR-16 16-in/16-out stage boxes to

www.l-acoustics.com

www.martin-audio.com

CZECH REPUBLIC

David Davies

f Norwegian distributor Scandec Systemer has supplied and installed an L-Acoustics KARA WST line source system in the Norwegian National Theatre, Oslo. The new system consists of seven KARA cabinets flown with two SB18 subs per side, with a centre array of 10 KIVA speakers. Power comes from LA4 and LA8 amplified controllers.

An Eclipse console and Sommer Cable backbone prove a good partnership in Pilsen

has installed a grand total of 135 customised Danish Interpretation Systems (DIS) microphone units in an auditorium at Qatar University. The silver CM/DM 6580F units feature three buttons for voting, chip card reader, channel selector, 3.5mm headphone socket and more. In addition, a nearby press room features a CDS 4000 system with one chairman and five delegate units. www.dis.cc

f Powersoft has supplied new K3 and M50Q amplifiers for the Music Hall at Worspede, near Bremen in northern Germany. The 550-capacity ballroom, built in 1870, has been host to first-rate concerts normally reserved for major cities, including such as John Mayall, Al di Meola, Manfred Mann, Robert Cray and Steve Lukather. Sound system manager Joerg Mohr explains that not only were they looking for amplifiers with exceptional sound quality, “but also for something that was going to be technically future-proof. For that reason we needed something with internal DSP functionality, as well as remote control and monitoring capabilities. Powersoft amps fitted the bill perfectly.” www.powersoft-audio.com

38 installation

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

SWEDEN

Malmö motion detection TTA system takes to the stage at Swedish Opera House refurbishment amid a number of technology firsts, writes Dave Robinson The Malmö Opera House in southern Sweden is a most imposing building. Designed by renowned Swedish architect Sigurd Lewerentz with colleagues Erik Lallerstedt and David Hellden, the structure, which was completed in 1944, is considered a masterpiece of functionalist architecture. Forbidding and severe from the outside, once inside, the foyer offers a complete contrast with clean lines, bright, open spaces and elegant marble staircases. The auditorium was built along equally grandiose lines with a maximum seating capacity of 1,511 and one of the biggest stages in Europe: 25m wide, 25m high and a total area of 600sqm. In a word, huge. Malmö Opera House has been in the process of upgrading its audio system for some time now, with a large part of the work being done this summer. While some may have been sunning themselves on faraway beaches, technicians from Swedish systems contractor and distribution company, ARVA Trading, were working up a sweat installing a Stagetracker FX real-time performer tracking system from TTA; the first of its kind to be installed in Sweden. In fact, the Opera House has been clocking up a number of “firsts” to its name; as well as the Stagetracker FX system, it also boasts the world’s first installation of Sony’s DWX digital wireless system (used in conjunction with DPA radio mics), installed by ARVA 18 months ago. “Our system is now digital throughout – as well as the Stagetracker system, we also had a DiGiCo SD7 console and a full Optocore optical fibre network installed this summer,” confirms head of sound, Bengt Frienholt. “The difference it has made has been remarkable, not just in terms of sound quality but also to our workflow. The system is far more flexible, easier to use and we have

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The Malmö Opera House was designed by Swedish architect Sigurd Lewerentz with colleagues Erik Lallerstedt and David Hellden

Head of sound Bengt Frienholt (left) and sound engineer Jonas Johansson

more control than ever before. The biggest challenge was getting used to all the new equipment in just four weeks of rehearsals before the premiere of Les Misérables!” So what prompted the investment in the Stagetracker system, then? “I’ve been looking at audio tracking technology for a long time,” says Frienholt. “Ever since we have been using amplification on live productions, the challenge for sound designers has been to

bring the sound back down onto the stage so that the audience perceives that the voices are indeed emanating from the actors themselves and not from the sound system somewhere over their heads! In our case, this is even more of an issue given that we have such a huge stage and therefore the distance between the actors and the loudspeakers is quite considerable. Unfortunately, the systems that were available at the time were simply not workable – too expensive, far too difficult to implement, and unreliable. Until, that is, TTA developed its Stagetracker FX system. It’s very easy to use and furthermore, it is delivered with a fully integrated version of QLab’s show control software.” The Stagetracker FX system uses a combination of hardware and software to track the positions of performers on stage and apply these positions to their microphone signals automatically

and in real time. Previously this was a long and difficult procedure that demanded complex calculations for an often unnatural-sounding result. TTA’s Flemming Sørensen explains: “The V4 Tracking Engine software has changed all that – it does all the difficult stuff for you. Once the Radio Eye has been installed above the stage, all you need to do is enter the height of the Eye from the stage floor. All the other parameters such as tilt angle and offset from centre stage position are calculated automatically.” The Radio Eye detects the positions of the Turbo Tags, small, lightweight RF devices worn by the performers. Each tag must be entered into the matrix-managing V4 Tracking Engine (a one-time only process) which produces audio localisation and tracking. The Malmö Opera House currently has 16 tags and is looking to upgrade to 32 in the New Year.

According to ARVA Trading’s technical manager, Ronny Sjöstrand, the TTA Stagetracker FX is the “missing link” in the sound system. “You can make any improvements you like to a sound system – improve the network, upgrade the PA system etc – but at the end of the day, it’s still only a loudspeaker system stuck up in the roof ! The bit that is missing is the relationship between the PA and the performer on stage, and that is what TTA provides. It’s about giving the performer back his voice so that it sounds as if it is coming from him (or her), even if it is amplified. However, this element has been sacrificed up to now because it was technically very difficult and expensive to achieve. However, I’m glad to say that the TTA system has changed all that and finally made performer tracking and localisation accessible to everyone.” Opera House sound engineer Jonas Johansson, who uses the system every day on Les Misérables, is in full agreement. “It’s straightforward to implement and very effective. The integration with QLab is a real bonus and adds value to both systems. We also use Stagetracker for effects, and we’ve even used it on conferences to bring the voice down to the speaker. Now we’ve got it, I don’t see why we wouldn’t use it on everything! Audiences have had a great response to the new system and have reported a direct, audible difference and an improvement to their opera experience, which is great news for us.” Q www.tta-sound.com

The TTA system is the “missing link” between the PA and the performers

SPAIN

High-quality sound in the round at La Esfera David Davies Multipurpose live entertainment facility La Esfera (The Sphere) in Alcobendas, north of Madrid, has been equipped with a new audio system featuring Yamaha and Nexo technology. Versatility and the need for the FOH multicore to be routed around the edge of the auditorium were among the chief priorities confronting equipment supplier and installer Milan Acústica. The configuration

ultimately chosen by Milan Acústica was an EtherSound-based system comprising a Yamaha M7CL-48ES mixing console with six AD8HR remote mic preamps, an NAI48-ES network interface, and two DA824 digital-analogue converters. The loudspeaker system features six Nexo GEO-Ss per side, augmented by PS8 and PS10 frontfills installed on the lighting truss and four PS15 sidefills. Jacinto López of Yamaha Music Europe Ibérica remarked: “A Nexo

NX242 speaker processor controls the system, meaning that the M7CL-48ES EtherSound output is fed straight to the system, without going through any unnecessary A-D/D-A conversion. This ensures that the audio quality is as high as it possibly can be. “The system has achieved the best possible audio quality for the available budget and all users of it have been very impressed at how the sound at La Esfera has improved.” Q www.yamahacommercialaudio.com

New Nexo and Yamaha kit has improved the sound quality at the venue

installation 39

January 2012 www.prosoundnewseurope.com UNITED KINGDOM

smaller loudspeakers – and I’d just heard the answer. Sennheiser agreed to demo a system at the theatre immediately and it performed beautifully. Dave Wooster, who has been FOH operator for such names as Gary Moore and Leona Lewis, but who now works for Sennheiser, and I then redesigned the Trinity system around K-array.� The system comprises KK200 main arrays coupled with single 18� subwoofer either side, along with four KT20 ‘Tornadoes’ – small 2� single drivers in little bullet-shaped loudspeakers – along each side wall coupled with KU36 compact surround subbass speakers. A pair of KK100 1m-long line source arrays provide the rear surround component. The final touch is a separate, portable K-array system, half of which can be configured in a 2m-high column plus subwoofer as the centre speech speaker for digital cinema. It can also be used as a portable system for comedy evenings or jazz events in the foyer. The main system’s K-array Class D amp modules are located in the control room drive rack, the networkable units incorporating full DSP for remote monitoring. The Stage Electrics commissioning team set up the DiGiCo’s system alignment and output processing with presets for cinema, musical theatre, straight plays, jazz and other types of events. Gosney adds: “We had shown our demo SD9 to [Trinity Theatre head technician] Simon Diaper who loved it, partly because it’s so easy to use and so logically set out, but particularly because of the sound quality, which is noiseless really, it’s beautiful. And that’s the system: a DiGiCo going into the K-array amps into the K-array speakers, and it’s that simple. I’m all for keeping sound systems as simple as possible. Keep the signal path as clean as you can and don’t complicate it with too much nonsense in between.� Q

Perfect fit for digital Trinity Tunbridge Wells venue given state-ofthe-art makeover for digital cinema and more, writes Dave Robinson Located in the heart of one of south-east England’s most elegant towns is a venue whose long history is matched by the enthusiasm of its management for contemporary technology. Built in the mid-19th century as the railway revolution brought prosperity, a burgeoning population and a building boom across the Home Counties, the Holy Trinity was Tunbridge Wells’ first parish church. After its final religious service in 1972 its Grade 1 listed status ensured safety from demolition, and by 1975 a public petition had secured permission from the Church Commissioners to produce a plan for community or public use. An appeal committee raised £50,000 (₏58,000) and five years later it reopened as The Trinity Theatre arts centre complete with a raked-seating auditorium: growing popularity soon saw an art gallery, licensed bar and computerised box office added. Its latest upgrade sees the venerable space take on the very modern mantle of digital cinema, although a cursory gaze at the vaulted balconies, plush stage tabs and comfy seats reveals little. Only on closer inspection does it turn out to be the UK’s first digital cinema to employ the unique K-array system, its mid/high hangs barely visible against the tabs, complemented by minuscule surroundsound satellite loudspeakers discretely located around the auditorium. Supplied and installed by Stage Electrics, the system, powered by bespoke K-array Class D high power density amplifiers with

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integral DSP, is controlled direct from a DiGiCo SD9 console. “This was my first project after I joined Stage Electrics,â€? observes business development manager for audio James Gosney. “Stage Electrics is doing bigger and bigger sound installations including the installation and supply of equipment to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre last year. As a consequence of being asked to design and supply high-end audio systems, they have been expanding their audio team with people experienced in sound system design and installation, which is precisely my background.â€? Coming from a family also deeply immersed in theatre, he says: “I immediately fell in love with the building. For the past 20 years I’ve been mostly involved in designing systems for big churches, so for me it was a perfect combination of the two: a theatre in a church‌ with a bar; it doesn’t get much better.â€? K-array’s inclusion, as Gosney tells it, was pure serendipity. “The brief was for a multipurpose theatre system, one that would work for all the types of events that go on here, like jazz evenings, musical theatre, straight plays, opera, local amateur dramatic groups, pretty much everything – and on top of that, 7.1 digital cinema, with its specific Dolby processing requirements.â€? He adds: “I’d started with a conventional theatre system design using 12-inch-and-horn type boxes with subs, and smaller surround boxes. A few days before this was due to be signed off I heard K-array for the first time and was utterly blown away by their sound and

A DiGiCo SD9 sits at the mix position, and nothing else by way of outboard

The former church now boasts a K-array PA system fitted by Stage Electrics

by how compact and discreet they were, and fascinated by the technology itself – it struck me how good a fit they would be for the Trinity.

“The original system design still involved black boxes in a beautiful building and I’d been trying to think whether we could do this with much

www.stage-electrics.co.uk www.trinitytheatre.net

Introducing the X Factor ""#-0' & "#+" & ' 1" " + '( " & " #) '$ & ' " #+ ( & ' #)( (# & ' " + & ' #! " ' " ,( " & ( #" ) #" "(& TM & * & ( "# # - + ( '! &( " + " ( ' "' " " ) %) (- " & ) - ( #) ( #)( )" ( #" (- "+ " " + & ' "( & ( ' &)$$ "0' ) (& & (#)& #" !$ 1 ( #" "(# ( $ " ( #&! # ( " + "( & * " & - 1 "( !$ 1 &

TM !# ) * & " ) ')$ & #& (- " ' $#+ & #, '' * #& ' $#+ & & ' * &' ( ( & ( * "( ( ( . (#&/ Learn more at tannoy.com.

Visit our stand at Hall 5 Stand 5R92, Amsterdam RAI, 31 Jan - 2 Feb 2012

IDEEA

TM

40 show preview

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

NETHERLANDS

Bright future for ISE The ISE Daily team looks ahead to Integrated Systems Europe 2012, set to be bigger and better than ever In 2012, ISE will occupy 11 of the 12 halls in Amsterdam’s RAI Centre. A few months ago ISE signed a new five-year deal with the RAI, ensuring that the show will stay in Amsterdam until at least 2016. Hall 8 – one of the biggest halls in the complex – will be available to ISE from 2013, and there is further potential for expansion in temporary pavilion structures. Coming back to the 2012 event, Mike Blackman, managing director of Integrated Systems Events, is in buoyant mood. “We still believe we are on track to host the biggest-ever ISE,” he says. “Our footprint at the RAI will be 10-15% larger than in 2011, which is the kind of growth you associate with a booming economy.” New for 2012 is the Dynamic Events conference. This is aimed at the use of lighting, sound, video technology and staging in large-scale entertainment and sporting environments. The inaugural conference will focus on international ceremonies – particularly the opening and closing ceremonies of major sporting events – that attract a global TV audience. Keynote speaker is Ric Birch, who has an impressive track record in the industry that spans nearly 30 years. On Monday 30 January, Gerhard Schulz, senior VP Central Europe for Ingram Micro, will give ISE’s first-ever Keynote Address unveiling his vision for how the electronic systems integration community can respond to the challenges posed by the transition from analogue to digital. Meanwhile, on the showfloor, the Ray-On 100 column loudspeaker is one of the highlights of Active Audio’s presence at ISE 2012. The 1m-high column speaker can be mounted vertically and, therefore,

f

Right here, right now: see the VFM109 stage monitor on the EAW stand

very close to the wall. Yielding a consistent sound with strong directivity, the Ray-On 100’s design is based around the Active Audio-patented DGRC (Digital and Geometric Radiation Control) principle, which specifies a combination of electronic and geometric line arrays whereby the loudspeakers are mounted by group on a stepped structure. The wavefront is shaped and controlled by both the geometric positioning of the loudspeakers, and a specific filter for each step. Designed for sound reinforcement of speech and music, the Ray-On 100 offers easy set-up and is available in two versions: low impedance and 100V. Cloud Electronics will exhibit two additions to its PM range of Zone Paging Microphones. The PM4-SA and PM8-SA feature identical functions to the existing PM4 and PM8, but introduce Spot Announcement capabilities to the range, giving users access to prerecorded announcements, adverts, stings, alarm sound or even warnings from the push of a button or fired by remote contact closure switches from a timer, PIR or similar device. The microphones can hold up to four (PM4-SA) or eight (PM8-SA) prerecorded messages, of any length. These are stored internally on a standard SD memory card in the base of the unit. Up to four (PM4-SA) or eight (PM8-SA) pre-announcement chimes can also be stored on the card. Community Professional Loudspeakers is showing its new surfacemount loudspeaker models, the DS-Series, which is an expansion on its existing ceiling-mount Distributed Design Series. This new range comprises several high-output, low-profile models that deliver high-quality audio and intelligibility. The 5” DS5 is a two-way compact system, designed for installations where space is a premium, and the 8” DS8 provides higher SPL and sensitivity, plus greater bass extension. The 8” DS8SUB subwoofer has been created to complement both full-range models, pro viding extended low-frequency performance. Each model is also equipped with built-in autoformers that enable full output with 70V or 100V distribution lines, and Community’s Infin-A-Ball multiangle wall mounting bracket, which is prewired with a Euroblock connector to conceal wiring. The KF200NT loudspeaker module will be on EAW’s stand. Oriented towards applications including corporate AV, performing arts venues and houses of worship, the module

With the use of an additional exhibition hall at the RAI a keynote from Gerhard Schulz and a full conference programme, ISE 2012 is on course to be the biggest yet

The DS-Series will be in show on Community Professional’s stand

consists of a single 10” woofer with 2.5” voice coil and a coaxial mid-high driver consisting of 8” cone MF with 2” voice coil. Also included are a 1.75” voice coil compression driver (HF) and a ‘perfectly matched’ 1,500W Close Coupled amplifier. Also on show is the MicroWedge8 (MW8) and MicroWedge10 (MW10), which constitute a small-format continuation of the popular EAW MicroWedge Series of stage monitors. Three space-sensitive models from the EAW VF Series of passive speakers – the VFR69 6” two-way full-range loudspeaker, the VFR89 8” two-way full-range loudspeaker, and the VFM109 10” two-way stage monitor – will also be at ISE 2012.

Systems integrators visiting the show are to be given the opportunity to hone their audio skills with Genelec. The audio technology developer will run sessions on its stand throughout ISE, allowing integrators to get handson with products and see demos of acoustic simulation software for the fixed installation market. Delegates will have a chance to get up close with the 4000 Series active loudspeakers, as well as receiving an overview of different applications and basic guidelines for room acoustics and loudspeaker placement. Course attendance is free; all attendees will be entered into a prize draw to receive a 6000A – TUBE, Genelec’s limited edition take on the desktop loudspeaker.

To pre-register for a free ISE Audio Installation Session, email markus.kahelin@genelec.com. Greensound Technology is presenting three products from its new line of glass speakers. It claims that they deliver a superior harmonic and high-fidelity sound through a combination of specially engineered glass and a base structure. The Serac speaker with Bravura subwoofer is Greensound’s top-end glass speaker product. The Serac stands at 1.66m high and weighs 112kg; it is available in a stereo or 4.1 surround set. The Orbis speaker with Circa subwoofer is the next model down, and is a more compact design, but still with topquality performance in mind, while the Luno speaker with Cube subwoofer is the smallest of the three systems, yet still stands over 1m high and weighs 36kg. Lab.gruppen’s new install-centric amplifier range, the E Series, will also be in Amsterdam. Said to boast “amazingly low power consumption” that should reduce the total cost of ownership below that of conventional designs, this 1U platform also offers ample power reserves, and is Energy Star 2.1 compliant. The company is also joining Lake to exhibit the PLM Series (which incorporates Lake Processing technology) alongside LM 44, Lake’s brand new digital audio processor. Parent company TC Group, meanwhile, is launching a new Applications Engineering and Training group, headed by Graham Hendry (formerly director of business development for Tannoy). Exhibitor Listen Technologies is featuring its line of wireless listening products and technologies that the company says offer diversity of use for auditory assistance, language interpretation, tour groups, audio description, and multichannel audio distribution. The FM Wireless Listening line of products includes a Stationary Transmitter (LT-800-863) a Portable Transmitter (LT-700-863) and two Display Receivers (LR-400-863 and LR-500-863). Key features include an LCD display for easy to reference channels, battery status, and programming information; a frequency range of 863865MHz; and a transmission range of up to up to 122m (400ft) for the stationary transmitter and 60.9m line of site for the portable transmitter. The LT-800-863 Stationary Transmitter benefits from a 70dB signal-tonoise ratio, and its support of both balanced and unbalanced inputs allows virtually any source to be connected. The LR-500 Programmable Display Receiver, which is powered by AA batteries, has channel selector buttons located on the front of the unit. It has channel seek capability and is compatible with mono or stereo headsets. The LR-400 Portable Display FM Receiver is a lower cost digital display receiver. Said to be simple to set-up, install, manage and use, the products are certified for use in all

show preview 41

A Legend, Reborn

Vintage Fairchild sound in a road-ready hardware unit Dual mono, linked, and lateral vertical stereo modes Lab.gruppen’s new E Series amplifier range offers “amazingly low power consumption”

State-of-the-art 24-bit converters European countries and come with a limited lifetime warranty. Panphonics Sound Shower directional speakers are designed to deliver high-quality, focused audio to a desired area, without disturbing the surroundings. They are widely used in a range of applications including museums, banks, retail stores, airports and so on. Panphonics says that the speakers reproduce clear voice sounds even at a low volume, making it easy for the listener to hear and understand the audio message even in a noisy environment. Several speakers can be placed close to each other and, even then, different audio messages do not disturb each other due to the speakers’ high directivity. Sound Shower directional speakers are available in 60 x 60cm and 120 x 20cm in black or white, but custom sizes and colours are available. All units include a plug-and-play speaker with built-in amplifier, power supply, and installation/hanging kit. The Polar Audio team will be attending the ISE 2012 show in force and will have representatives on each of its distributed brands stands. Polar Audio brands exhibiting at the event include Biamp, beyerdynamic, Aviom, Cue Systems, Australian Monitor and Novosonar. Highlights of the show will include new touchscreen technology from Cue Systems, presentations from Biamp on its Tesira range and innovative AVB technology. Biamp Tesira is the first truly scalable network using AVB. It supports 420 x 420 channels of digitally matrixed audio with flexible I/O configurations. Unlike other DSP-based media systems, Tesira is an enterprisewide solution made up of network modules that share and boost performance. SKB is showing its new 3RR series Removable Rack: slide out shock racks, available in seven sizes, ranging from 3U up to 14U, and specifically designed for the military and industrial markets. The new series features a ‘positive lock’ inner frame latch (patent pending), which the manufacture claims will provide improved shock and vibration isolation versus its competition. All MIL-STD 810G testing has now been completed, and the standard 3RR case features a 2” deep front lid, 5” deep rear lid with wheels, lid hangars, a slide out inner rack, PRV, coupling straps, stainless steel hardware, and eight comfort grip spring-loaded handles.

Genelec’s 4000 Series offers a host of integrator-friendly features

Tannoy’s new VLS (Vertical Line Source) passive column range has a sleek curvilinear architectural profile designed for install applications. It comes in three models using proven transducer technology adapted from Tannoy’s award-winning QFlex steerable column range. Also new are Tannoy’s VX Series and VXP Series, the latter featuring Lab.gruppen’s new IDEEA (Intelli-Drive Energy Efficient Amplifier) power module. These new passive and selfpowered loudspeakers build on the success of the V Series, with an expanded line up that includes twin driver configurations and new Q-Centric Waveguide transducer technology for optimal tonal clarity. It has added to its range of QFlex digital beamsteering array loudspeakers with a new set of enhancements that offer improved functionality and superior capabilities for integration within large-scale PA/VA applications. ISE visitors looking for microphones will want to check out the booth of Universal Champion Electroacoustic Technology Company. The company’s extensive line up of products includes earset, headset, low noise RF, USB, dynamic, condenser, lavalier, boundary, drum, mini shotgun condenser, gooseneck and wireless microphones, together with a range of microphone accessories. Q

Jack Joseph Puig (John Mayer, U2, Lady Gaga)

www.iseurope.org

www.waves.com The LT-800-863 Stationary Transmitter from Listen has a range of 122m

42 technology feature

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

WORLD

Measuring the importance of test and measurement At first glance test and measurement might not be the most exciting of technology areas but people would soon know if it were not there. Kevin Hilton tests the waters of a behind-the-scenes, but ever-important, market Digital technology has changed the world – but not as much as was thought in its early days. Back then there was the misconception in professional audio and broadcasting that because everything was in the form of digits the quality would be consistent and there would be less to go wrong, making the test and measurement (T&M) process unnecessary. In the same way that compact discs were realised not to be indestructible, this proposition was quickly shown to be fallacious. Even if people did not fully believe T&M would become a thing of the past, as Richard Brooking, video marketing manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Tektronix, says, they probably hoped it would be the case. But, he explains, the reality is that

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Brüel & Kjær equipment is being used to test consumer products such as headphones

equipment and the material passed through it needs to be absolutely right before it comes into the digital domain, otherwise there will be problems that will take a lot of time, effort and money to put right. Tektronix produces the two main categories of T&M gear; four-fifths of its business is in the oscilloscopes and spectrum analysers used by manufacturers to make products – including loudspeakers, microphones and recorders – while the remaining one-fifth comprises the vectorscopes, rasterizers, waveform monitors and, now, software devices that are used for quality control of broadcast material. Talking about the importance of T&M during the programme making and delivery process, Brooking says: “All digital does is carry the content.

If the video is illegal and doesn’t meet technical standards or the audio is too loud or too soft or down on one leg, that is going to cause problems either during post or on transmission, so it has to be correct from the start.” He adds that T&M also plays a part in TV play-out, with devices that detect any faults, such as audio drop out, during transmission. Audio Precision (AP) specialises in both T&M equipment that is used in the development and manufacturing process and sound. Tom Kite, AP’s vice president of engineering, comments that T&M still has an important role to play in today’s digital and, increasingly, file-based world because, as digital interfaces become more complicated, with more emphasis on protocol, the test equipment needs to provide access not just to the audio but also to the

Broadcast goes professional The

is now the

Institute of Professional Sound If you work in audio, sound us out at www.ips.org.uk Book now for our Training Weekend (4/5th Feb 2012 at NFTS) where we are covering OB's and comms for the Olympics, live music & PA sound with several live bands, stages and mixers. Details on the website. Join up and get a discount.

January 2012 www.prosoundnewseurope.com

technology feature 43

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Despite the prevalence of digital technology, T&M processes are still in demand

“We expect continued demand for multiple methodologies – both hardware and software – to ensure that content and the equipment utilised to prepare that content, whether real time using hardware or file-based using software, meets established standards and practices� metadata and protocol elements of the interface. “There is also still a need to verify that the audio is correctly handled,� he adds. “Digital systems can clip, have poor response, truncate words and have poor sample rate conversion and so on. And all digital systems ultimately interface to analogue somewhere. There are plenty of opportunities for the audio to be degraded.�

field failure are severe. In the case of moving parts like loudspeakers and microphones, the test burden has not changed appreciably in the past few decades.� Ask most people to picture a T&M device and the image would most likely be of a box with a meter or graphical display that sits on a workbench or in a rack room. Conversely, because of the

Wohler’s AMP2-16V-3G audio monitor

Manufacturing techniques are now more automated than before, relying on computers to control the different parameters. But, says Kite, this has not made test machines in the R&D lab or on the production line obsolete: “There is still a need to verify correct operation, because errors can always occur; parts can be bad, solder joints can be dry and so on. Particularly for manufacturers of pro equipment and automotive electronics, it is vital that 100% of devices be tested for correct operation, because the consequences of DOA or an early

reach of digital and computer technologies, there is the thought that most testing and measuring can be done these days using software. Terry Allford, business development and channel manager for EMEA at Wohler, says both scenarios are true but have their specific place and applications. “T&M has a clear purpose and place of importance in guaranteeing quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE) for consumers,� he comments. “In the same way that multiple delivery platforms are proliferating, we

expect continued demand for multiple methodologies – both hardware and software – to ensure that content and the equipment utilised to prepare that content, whether real-time using hardware or file-based using software, meets established standards and practices.�

New processes Rob France, senior manager of product marketing with Dolby Laboratories’ Broadcast Audio Solutions division, observes that test equipment has changed as new processes have developed. But while more reliable manufacturing procedures have allowed more complex products to be produced, he says, ensuring that they do not develop defects is vital. On the other side of T&M, it is also crucial to ensure reliability in broadcast or event production, France continues. “T&M continues to have a key part to play in ensuring a reliable broadcast or content creation platform,� he says. “With the changes to today’s digital and file-based operations the required T&M capability has changed but it still has an important role to play. T&M capability is now more about file conformance, IP and Ethernet testing and ensuring appropriate profiles and standards are being adhered to. Systems acceptance testing and debugging issues will still require a more traditional approach to T&M.� f

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technology feature 45

January 2012 www.prosoundnewseurope.com

f Hamlet is a T&M company that also

works primarily on the programme production side, allowing technicians to test material from the camera through post and, in some circumstances, up to transmission. Although its products concentrate on video, company director Steve Nunney says audio is part of the measuring operation as much as the picture. “The requirement is to assess the essence of a piece of material,” he says, “the audio and video and, now, the data wrapper. It doesn’t matter what the means of transmission is – cable or the internet or anything else – the need is to ensure that the content is A-OK. Loudness is becoming a prerequisite and that’s nothing to do with how the sound was originated, it’s about the effect of the audio.” Nunney agrees that digital technology brought the hope of T&M no longer being required but says instead it made for a different set of problems. “We’ve now got file-based working,” he explains, “and while software can be written to test and measure parameters as part of that, you still need a T&M expert looking after it who understands

the nuances of the subject and what to look for.” Digital has given the world a range of new products and technologies. Those with the highest profile right now are handheld devices like smartphones and tablets. On the face of it these are consumer products – and in The 9K Series MonitorScope and DigiScope from Hamlet some cases are almost fashion accessories – but of good quality sound, especially as they have made inroads into broadmore people are listening on headcasting and pro audio. A practical examphones or earphones. Because of this ple of this is reporters on BBC Radio 5 one of the big names in T&M, Danish Live are now using the Technica Del company Brüel & Kjær, is seeing Arte LUCI LIVE system, a sophisticated demand for its equipment from manuapp that turns computers, smartphones facturers of handheld units. or tablets into a mini broadcast centre. “It’s opened up a whole new T&M To be considered for this kind of market,” comments Julian Simpson, use, equipment has to satisfy profesmarketing group manager for sional specifications. Even on a conBrüel & Kjær Sound and Vibration sumer level there is more expectation Measurement. “We’re using our core

technologies, such as high-quality measuring microphones and the dummy head and torso simulation set-up, to test these systems. As well as products like tablets and smartphones we’re also involved with companies like HewlettPackard, which is producing laptops with very good quality loudspeakers. Sound is more personal these days and it has to be good quality. But how the test and measurement, the fundamental physics, is done is the same as for the other areas we work in.”

Varied market T&M is a niche market but accommodates a surprisingly large number of manufacturers, from big corp orations like Tektronix, Rohde & Schwarz and Harris to smaller specialists like Hamlet, Loudsoft, which recently introduced the Fine R+D acoustic measuring system, Neutrik with its range of test equipment and BPR, developer of the Smartlips range for lipsyncing. The BPR products are distributed

Tektronix’s Richard Brooking says he spends a lot of time talking to users in Western Europe, which is at the forefront of developing new techniques and procedures. “I have a production background and so can take what the customers are saying they need and report back to my colleagues in the US working on new versions of the equipment,” he comments. “Software is making the upgrade process easier, so if people are saying they want to download something that works with the EBU loudness spec, that can be done. If the customer has a specific requirement they want to be able to tell us about it and then a few months later have that feature in a firmware drop.” Steve Nunney at Hamlet agrees that providing the latest measurement parameters, such as loudness, is essential but says users in his target market, the broadcast production sector, have to be able to use the technology in a creative way, rather than being constrained by the technicalities. In terms of general R&D Nunney says each company watches what the others are doing and also sees how the market is changing. “Years ago the broadcast industry was led by the video tape machine manufacturers,” he says. “Now the majority of cameras are file-based. Products are changing all the time and we have to be aware of that.” As for the future, Nunney sees stereoscopic 3D as the next big thing.

“It doesn’t matter what the means of transmission is – cable or the internet or anything else – the need is to ensure that the content is A-OK” by Canford, which also manufactures its own T&M gear, the EMO loudspeaker cable tester line. American microphone designer Audix Corp oration has moved into the field with the TM1 Plus kit, which includes the TM1 measurement microphone, for fine-tuning PA systems. Part of staying ahead of the competition is staying ahead of the technological curve and having a sense of where T&M might be going next. The fundamentals of doing this, as most of the companies see it, are talking to the industry to see what is needed and then investing in the R&D to make these requests a reality. “Manufacturers can stay ahead of the curve by listening to the end user, understanding what they are trying to achieve and helping them to realise their goals,” responds Terry Allford at Wohler. “We also feel that it’s important to work closely with early adopters of new technology – those that are happy to engage with a manufacturer. Through this two-way communication, both the manu facturer and end user can learn and benefit from the collaboration. Sometimes T&M methods must adapt to specific environments and we’ve found that the refinements we make for one customer often prove valuable to others, so we use those features within new solutions, making them available to the wider market while benefiting both parties.”

Although broadcasters are still working out what this means for audio, Hamlet has added a new display to its VidScope software-based T&M system, which could be used for ‘3D sound’. This represents the different frequencies in a signal as colours, showing high and low levels. “It’s almost 3D in that sense and is designed for analysis,” Nunney says. Simpson at Brüel & Kjær observes that providing tools for different ways of working, as well as technical innovation, is a major consideration today. “We’re seeing a lot of integration using software-based production chains in broadcasting, as well as R&D work by manufacturers,” he explains. “So we’ve ensured that an output on our stand-alone systems can be used to interface with software operations.” With technology adapting and developing in both the professional and consumer markets, checking that the equipment works as it should and the material it carries is as it should be is ever more important. Because of this test and measurement kit will not be disappearing any time soon. As Simpson says: “T&M is used everywhere now. The market is increasing, not decreasing.” Q www.ap.com www.bksv.co.uk www.canford.co.uk www.dolby.com www.hamlet.co.uk www.tek.com www.wohler.com

46 business feature

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

WORLD

A healthy dose of unreality Clubbing is all about putting the real world on hold for a few hours. And that, finds Gez Kahan, means clubs are still investing in providing a better experience Any business is ultimately based on the equivalent of bums on seats (although in the case of nightclubs, it’s more likely to be bums on bar stools, feet on floors and chilled out bodies on sofas). Of course funding plays a part too – you need cash to pay your way while the business grows and you need to splash out a bit on making your offering attractive – but in the end, return on investment will only come from turnover, and profitable turnover at that. That nice balance between investment, cash flow and profitability is hard enough to achieve in an economic boom, let alone when times (and lines of credit) are tight and competition is fierce. And the risks – for an investor – become higher. In most industries, that would dampen investment. People would cut costs, cut margins and cut corners where possible, and play a low-risk game until things started looking up. Fortunately for pro audio, club owners tend to be inherent risk-takers. Perhaps they’re so rich that a multimillion pound investment in a venue is a mere bagatelle. Maybe they’re more flamboyant than your average property dealer or business angel, and their nightclubs are an extension of their personalities. More likely, though, is that they’re aware that nightclubbing is a form of escapism, and – especially when times are tight – cutting back on the experience would represent the greatest possible risk to their bottom line. And so scarcely a week of economic gloom goes by without counter-intuitive news of some new venue opening, extravagantly themed in homage to imagined good times gone by. But glitz and opulence alone are not enough. “Clubbers now expect better dance PA systems,” says Mark Flanagan, communications manager at Tannoy/ Lab.gruppen. “Today’s electronic music is increasingly demanding on systems – more detailed, complex rhythms and sonic textures and more physical bass presence all demand club systems that can deliver greater fidelity and clarity at

f

Power to the people?

The opening and closing parties in the outside car park at Space Ibiza require full concert touring systems

Peavey’s Digitool MX was chosen for the Embassy Beach Club in the Algarve

“It is shocking that architects and interior designers can design a club venue and give no thought to the fact that there will be tens of thousands of watts of sound in the space” very high SPL. Even ‘mainstream’ techno and conventional dance music tends to be more complex and sonically demanding than it was a decade ago.”

Room service Better speakers are obviously part of the requirement, but so is acoustic design. “We have always had an understanding and concern about the acoustic prop-

November). “All the clubs having been upping their game,” says Andy Kayall, the club’s in-house sound engineer, and DC10 is no exception. A couple of years ago it chopped in its unbranded main room system for a Void Acoustics rig – while also undertaking comprehensive acoustic treatment to the roof.

erties of a given venue,” says Funktion One’s Tony Andrews. “It is shocking that architects and interior designers can design a club venue and give no thought to the fact that there will be tens of thousands of watts of sound in the space.” Shocking, but it happens. Andrews, whose firm, as well as manufacturing and supplying systems, offers advice

on acoustics and necessary treatment, has long bemoaned what once appeared to be an endemic lack of forethought at the early planning stage. But the message finally appears to be getting through. “What we are experiencing recently is that venue owners are much more willing to accept our advice in this area,” he says. “It has not been unusual to find ourselves liaising with interior designers and architects to mitigate a bad sound experience before the sound system is actually turned on.” One club where Funktion One’s expertise has long been in demand is Space, Ibiza, whose F1/MC2/XTA audio refit PSNE covered in November.

“There are several areas or clubs within the Space, Ibiza club,” explains Andrews. “All of these have different requirements. The opening and closing parties in the outside car park require full concert touring systems; the main Discoteca has a powerful iconic custom designed system; the Premier Etage has a distributed system giving more of a cocktail bar feel; and the Terrace and Red Box required a traditional dance club system.“ Underpinning each of those designs was the desire to deliver better sound. “This upgrade was all about the audio quality,” commented the installer, David Cole of Pro Audio London. It was the same story for DC10, (also in Ibiza and also featured in PSNE

Although that might look like a textbook example of market forces at work – increased competition driving improvements in the offering to the consumer – there are other factors at work. While it’s true that the clubbers, having installed better systems at home and in their cars, and being used to better audio at live gigs, might have higher expectations these days, business has rarely kowtowed to them. And to some extent, the public’s uncomplaining acceptance of compressed audio from MP3s shoots the argument in the foot anyway. Scott Gledhill, Meyer Sound’s sales manager for much of Europe, advances an alternative theory. “Systems need to be more rider friendly, just as live systems have had to be for years, because of DJs being headline names. They are clearly putting pressure on club owners and asking for better systems. The organisers don’t really take much notice of the public, but the club owners need to get something that all DJs will accept.” The end result, however, is the same – standards have risen. That applies as much, if not more, to the front end as to the speakers. “‘Trends’ [as distinct from a general improvement in output quality] are happening at the control end with Native instruments Traktor, Serato Scratch etc,” says Jerry Gilbert, a respected industry commentator. That, as previously noted by Flanagan, has led to increased musical complexity and a need for increased clarity. It has also encouraged makers of mixers to up their offerings, both in terms of quality and functionality. “Our new Xone:DB4 and Xone:DB2 digital mixers,” says Allen & Heath’s Xone product specialist, Greg Ibbotson, “offer onboard studio quality effects, trimodal EQ on a per channel basis, MIDI functionality, and a soundcard interface to PC, all of which reduce dependency on the laptop screen and promote creativity.” Alongside those, the company has recently launched the Xone:K2, a slimline professional DJ MIDI Controller, which Ibbotson describes as “perfect for use with leading DJ software such as Traktor Pro and Ableton, but which also integrates with other requirements, so for example it can also be used to control lights or VJ software.” It’s not just the DJ and the mixer that have to be flexible. The same applies to the club as a whole. Take Pulse (also known as Bankside Vaults), for example. Built into interlinked arches beside Blackfriars Bridge in central London, it naturally forms four spaces, the main one equipped with a performance stage and able to accommodate more than 2,000 people.

business feature 47

January 2012 www.prosoundnewseurope.com

The club decided it needed to resite the performance stage along the long wall for its recent Soul Heaven event, featuring a host of DJs with Masters At Work’s Kenny ‘Dope’ Gonzalez topping the bill. VibaSound – whose Hugh Sadlier had installed the original Nexo Geo S12 double-hang arrangement supplemented by eight RS15 subs – reconfigured and augmented the systems into clusters of three S12s flown in the corners plus two pairs either side of the DJ console, while a dozen RS15 subs were ground-stacked along the edge of the dancefloor area.

A nightspot in Tunisia

The Circus Night Club, located on the top floor of the Royal Tulip Hotel in Almaty, Kazakhstan

Picture by JTonytkSmith Photography

Clubbing may be a synonym for all-night dancing, but ‘nightclub’ has traditionally had a more general meaning, with food, drink and general entertainment being equally important elements. That calls for even more flexibility in the design of the audio system. That’s particularly true of nightclubs within hotels, which will change throughout the day from meeting area to lounge bar and then gradually morph into a latenight watering-hole and disco. An example is Le Madison at the Maison Blanche hotel in Tunis. It combines French-influenced opulence with the service ethic of a top hotel, but still needs to compete with dedicated clubbing clubs. The room recently invested in a brand new reinforcement system, choosing Dynacord D8W speakers for their compactness as well as sonic performance, along with Dynacord subs, amps, processing and mixing. Regular guests, reports Manel Khammouma of the installer, ADB, immediately commented on the improvement in sound quality. Similarly the Peavey installation at the Embassy Beach Club in the Algarve, Portugal, needed to cater for more than just dancing. Owned by Iron Maiden’s bassist, Steve Harris, it draws inspiration from Embassy London in Mayfair (coowned by Iron Maiden’s management), and had the same installer, Ian Dunn.

London’s Pulse has installed a Nexo GEO system

“Today’s electronic music is increasingly demanding on systems – more detailed, complex rhythms and sonic textures and more physical bass presence all demand club systems that can deliver greater fidelity and clarity at very high SPL” Like the London club, where the system has to be adaptable between dance (where speakers surround the floor) and live performance (a typical stereo FOH configuration), the Algarve club called for several zones covering bar, stage and DJ areas. All of which should have been simple – except that there was no opportunity for a site visit before the install. Peavey’s PA specialist, Virgil Lund had to design the system remotely with just a photograph of a rough sketch as his guide. “As we couldn’t communicate directly with the end users, we needed the system design to have a large degree of versatility to allow for any conceivable alteration to the room layout or zone configuration,” says Lund. His solution was to use Peavey’s Digitool MX – a fully programmable processing and

control system – to provide a menu of in/out options, with the ability to update with a new project file should revisions be required at a later date.

Let’s get this clear “Modern electronic music demands more than ever when it comes to clarity and definition,” says Flanagan. “It’s no longer a case of straightforward 4/4 and mashed up sound. Distortion must be kept at minimum.” This is especially important since listeners in clubs are typically much closer to the sound source than in live music applications. And that proximity equally puts a premium on aesthetics as well as compactness. “Achieving the desired SPL levels and full-range performance in very compact form is the key,” he says. “That minimises impact in what is often a

limited space. Tannoy’s VQ is one of the smallest format boxes able to achieve that level of sustained acoustic performance. A single VQ 60 can easily match or rival a four-box line array hang – which is often impractical in a club situation. Plus, owners are looking for something iconic that doesn’t detract from the style of the club interior. In the same way that other manu fac turers have a recognisable styling, Tannoy’s VQ, with a deep coned horn and twin angled 12” LF array, has a similar unique appearance.” “JBL has long been involved with the dance club market, supplying components for custom systems in top clubs worldwide since the early 1970s,” comments Jon Sager, senior manager, installed sound, for JBL Professional. “Later we designed custom systems like Dance3 and Dance5, while more recently club designers have used VerTec, VRX Series and many other JBL systems.” But Harman sees it as an important and growing sector, Sager says, hence the release last year of eight new loudspeaker models specifically for the dance club market. “The Marquis Dance Club line of speakers is designed with high fashion and high performance in mind and they deliver

Le Madison in Tunis recently invested in a Dynacord system

both at the highest possible level of fidelity. We believe this already strong market segment is growing and there are a number of opportunities for this new product line in clubs of all sizes everywhere in the world.” Meyer, by contrast, doesn’t have a dedicated ‘club speaker’ range. “We make neutral systems, thereby catering for all kinds of music, says Scott Gledhill, noting that, “there are definitely more multiple-room venues. The club needs a variety of options to draw the public – big-name DJs, other nights for live music and so on. Multipurpose systems fit in with the trends for live performance plus functions etc as well as pure dance nights. “We don’t specifically tune our systems for club use – instead we make sure there’s plenty of headroom. Our big seller is the JM1P (along with the UPQ series) together with the 700HP 2x 18 sub. These are trapezoidal, threeway speakers, designed to be flown, and they are sonically linear… input equals ouput.” There are two selling points he picks out. One is “ear fatigue – or rather the lack of it. With Meyer’s systems, the audience doesn’t experience com pression and attenuation” meaning the clubber will come back because he

didn’t end up with a 12-hour headache after his night out. The other gets to the heart of why people go clubbing in the first place. Oh, sure they go to dance, and for that you need to “feel the sound in your chest. But the guy must still be able to flirt with the girl. So you have to demo it, you have to talk to your customer with the system up high. For that you don’t need to design a ‘club speaker’ – just give them headroom.” The world outside is struggling to keep afloat, but the club market still appears to be buoyant. There are, however, warning signs. There may be bums on seats, and escapism may still rule, but realism isn’t so far behind. Attendance looks stable but there’s anecdotal evidence that spend per punter is down. So there’s work there for the pro-audio installer – but expect margins to be just as tight as in the real world. Q www.allen-heath.com www.dynacord.com www.funktion-one.com www.jblpro.com www.labgruppen.com www.mc2-audio.co.uk www.meyersound.com www.nexo.fr www.peavey-eu.com www.tannoy.com www.voidaudio.com

48 hither & dither EXPOS & EVENTS 2012 2012 International CES 10-13 January Las Vegas, US

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

Hither & winners The world through the tinselly, sparkly, glittery eyes of PSNE Please send all contributions for possible publication to david.robinson@intentmedia.co.uk

www.cesweb.org

BETT 11-14 January London, UK www.bettshow.com

CUE2012 16-18 January Rotterdam, Netherlands www.cue2012.nl

NAMM Show 19-22 January Anaheim, US www.namm.org

MIDEM 28 Jan-1 Feb Cannes, France www.midem.org

Victors at the 5th Pop! The Question Christmas quiz was clinched by the ‘Tits Fineline Media finance hit the Soho Bar just before Christmas to toast clients

McGee’ team, representing Snapper Records. The Academy Music Group event

and friends. (L-R) Jon Fry, of broadcast technology and services supplier CVP;

raised over £2,000 for the Teenage Cancer Trust, was hosted by presenter Iain Lee

Duncan Payne, Fineline; Darren Simpson, CVP; Gareth Wilding, Fineline; David

(centre back with the winners) and attended by the likes of Live Nation, NME, Sony

Everitt, Arri GB; and Michael Groom, CVP

Music and EMI. The PSNE/Music Week team managed a respectable joint third

This year’s JCA Media/Distributor Pub Quiz was won by Fremantle Media,

What, more drinking? This time it’s the Azule Finance team (L-R) Peter Savage,

pictured here with the JCA management. The TVBEurope team? Second!

Rebecca Price and Gavin Scott getting in the party swing at the Phoenix Arts Club

Integrated Systems Europe 31 Jan-2 Feb Amsterdam, Netherlands www.iseurope.org

BVE 14-16 February London, UK www.broadcastvideoexpo.co.uk

CABSAT MENA 28 Feb-1Mar Dubai, UAE www.cabsat.com

The ARC Show 29 Feb-1 March London, UK www.thearcshow.com

45th AES Conference 1-4 March Helsinki, Finland www.aes.org

Digital Signage Expo 6-9 March Los Angeles, US www.digitalsignageexpo.net

CeBIT 6-10 March Hannover, Germany www.cebit.de

2012 Media Summit 7-8 March New York, US www.media-summit.com

Pro Sound News Europe www.prosoundnewseurope.com vol 27 no 1 January 2012 Editor: Dave Robinson, david.robinson@intentmedia.co.uk Managing Editor: Joanne Ruddock, jo.ruddock@intentmedia.co.uk Head of Design and Production: Adam Butler Editorial Production Manager: Dawn Boultwood European Correspondents: Mike Clark (Italy), Marc Maes (Belgium/Holland), Phil Ward (UK), Mel Lambert (USA) UK Contributors: David Davies, Simon Duff, Jim Evans, Lin Frost, Kevin Hilton, Gez Kahan, Nigel Lord, Rob Speight, Francis Rumsey, Paul Watson, Russ Hepworth-Sawyer, Phil Harding, Ken Blair, Marnix Bosman, Charlotte Wilson, Franck Ermould Digital Content Manager: Tim Frost, tim.frost@intentmedia.co.uk Sales Manager: General Nick, nick.beck@intentmedia.co.uk Accounts Manager: Stephen O’Sullivan, stephen.osullivan@intentmedia.co.uk Classified Sales Executive: Call the team! Senior Production Executive: Alistair Taylor Studio Bookings Editor: Lianne Davey Publisher: Steve Connolly, steve.connolly@intentmedia.co.uk Managing Director: Stuart Dinsey Editorial and Advertising offices: Pro Sound News Europe, Intent Media London, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road London, N1 8LN. Editorial and sales: +44 20 7226 7246 Press releases to: psnenews@intentmedia.co.uk NO CIRCULATION AND SUBSCRIPTIONS ENQUIRIES TO THIS OFFICE. Circulation and Subscription enquiries: Intent Media, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough, LE16 9EF, UK. Subscriptions: Tel: +44 (0)1858 438786 Subscribe online at www.subscription.co.uk/cc/pm/mag1 Pro Sound News Europe is published 12 times a year by Intent Media London, 1st Floor, Suncourt House,

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50 interview

www.prosoundnewseurope.com January 2012

Silver shadows and golden years Picture by James Cumpsty, courtesy HHB Communications

Clive Green

You left Cadac in 2001; do you keep up with developments? “Well, I’ve just heard that Bob Thomas has left, and of course I know that it’s now under Chinese ownership. But to be honest it’s changed so far beyond recognition that it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to even try to interpret what has happened in that time.”

they were ruddy expensive – and it had to have a patchbay, with as much wiring as a studio desk. These were the A-Type desks, and despite the very British provenance the first two orders came from New York. It was Martin again, working on Broadway and basically selling the concept. At one point later we had consoles on 70% of Broadway shows.”

You created the company, and led it for over three decades. What do you see when you look back on that period now? “My abiding memories are to do with our success in the theatre industry. That’s how the company really made its name. In fact it was the first one to take mixing consoles for that market seriously. It was [sound designer] Martin Levan who approached us; he was the sound engineer at Morgan Studios, where Andrew Lloyd Webber recorded. Andrew asked Martin to improve the sound quality of one of his London musicals, and since we had a recording console at Morgan he turned to us.”

Is that how the exports picked up? “Of course; shows like Phantom went on tour. They would open in London, then New York, LA, San Francisco… then a bus and truck tour around the country. Another production would open in Toronto, then various venues around Europe, Australia and Japan – all specifying the same mixing console. We didn’t need distributors; we sold consoles direct to the sound hire companies, and they were responsible for the after-sales service.”

What were the different requirements of the console that emerged? “The existing theatre consoles were pretty puny, and the sound quality wasn’t up to studio standards. The first desk we built, for Little Shop Of Horrors, was much larger, although the spec dictated that the front-to-back dimension couldn’t be deeper than a row of seats! One row was taken out by the console, and another by the

Interview by Phil Ward

f

Among the Sound Fellowships awarded at the annual APRS luncheon in London in November, one stood out as an acknowledgement of the technical achievement of a classic British brand: Cadac, co-founded by retired eminence grise Clive Green, contributed to the recording studio revolution of the late ’60s and went on both to transform and dominate live sound mixing in the theatre. A key figure in the APRS from 1970 to 1991, Green’s legacy now enriches industry heritage just like the famous marque on his latterday passion: the continuing maintenance of a vintage Rolls-Royce from 1937. So how does it feel to be a Sound Fellow? “Wonderful, what a marvellous occasion. Do you know, there was once an APRS exhibition where they hold the luncheon [The Roof Gardens in Kensington, west London]; I remember carrying stuff up there from Derry Street. I was hoping everyone would have name badges, like the exhibitions, but I needn’t have worried. It was great to see so many familiar faces.” Not many people ‘retire’ from pro audio; it’s a lifetime thing for them… “I reached 65, and I have a great many interests besides designing and building mixing consoles

– especially the Rolls, which I’ve had since 1973. It’s taken us as far as Lake Como and back…” How did the creation of Cadac reflect the studio industry of the time? “I started at Olympic in 1963, when it was still in the West End. I used to wear a white coat! The maximum was four tracks, on Ampex tape recorders. But when we moved to Barnes, in January 1967, our chief technical engineer Richard Swettenham designed a mixing console for the huge new studio, big enough for a full symphony orchestra. I moved on to Lansdowne Studios, run by Adrian Kerridge, but I could see the need for a new generation of desks. When we turned Lansdowne’s reception area into a larger control room I got the opportunity to build a desk for it, and word got out. It was a small community of technical innovators and bright businessmen. “Morgan Studios opened, with Terry Brown from Olympic days and Barry Morgan, and they asked me for the plans so that they could build their own version of my console. Adrian and I asked: if it goes wrong, who’s responsible? So we formed a separate company to build the console for Morgan, very much to protect our interests really, and that’s how Cadac came into being.”

When did you first begin to investigate going digital? “About seven years before I left, although development didn’t start in earnest until about two years before I left, because the analogue models were doing so well. The big advantage of digital is that the operator can set the controls and later recall them, but I don’t perceive any audible benefits. It equals the sound, but it doesn’t improve it. At the time when I left the industry, for peace of mind I’d

“[Cadac] has changed so far beyond recognition that it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to even try to interpret what has happened in that time” operator. Autograph Sound bought the console and leased it to the production company, and Andrew Bruce did tell me how surprised he was not to have any teething troubles. It worked perfectly straight away. Then Martin Levan did Starlight Express, which also required a specially built desk from us: this one had to be L-shaped to fit the theatre. They had to build a skating rink around the back, of course. So we built the frame first, tested that on site, and the modules were put in later. “There was no interference, and it sounded just as I would expect a desk of ours to sound at Lansdowne, for example. After that I could accept that a theatre desk could be as good as a studio desk. Andrew was especially pleased with the sound in that theatre. The desk remained for a long, long time – until they closed the show – and in the meantime we built a standard range of desks for this application. Andrew specified that all connectors must be military standard –

still ask for analogue. If digital went wrong, your chances of fixing it in a hurry were very small indeed, although that’s changing now. Our J-Type, the most successful model, was computer-controlled but it was analogue circuitry. The computer took care of remembering the cues, especially muting actors’ mics as they went off stage, but it was all stored on a PC. The desk remained supremely analogue!”

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Does it surprise you that musical theatre is still so popular in this age of digital entertainment? “Well, it’s the perfect form of escapism. I remember the last recession, in the early ’90s, when we were very worried that the West End might go into the doldrums. But it seemed people were still happy to fork out to go to the theatre, even though they were cutting back elsewhere. That seems to be the case still, and I’m very glad that it is.” Q

Advertiser index Advertiser

Page No

Advertiser

Page No

AKG

9

Fast Turnaround TV

13

Lake

ASL Intercom

4

Full Fat Audio

48

Martin Audio

Page No 8 29

Sennheiser

31, 33, 35 26

Avid

IFC

HK Audio

12

Midas

Sommer Cable

43

Cadac

34

Institute of Professional Sound

42

MIPRO

15

Soundcraft

11

Canford Audio

21

Integrated Systems Europe

MPG

15

Tannoy

39

Celestion

19

JBL

22

P.Audio

Waves Audio

41

JTS Professional

17

QSC Audio

25

XTA

Kaltman Creations

30

Radial Systems Engineering

IBC

Yamaha Commercial Audio

DPA Faital Pro

5 18

7

OBC

Riedel Communications

Page No

44, 45

3 FC

Now... affordable everyone Digital Goes Midas Goes Compact • 56 mic/line inputs • 64 input channels • 27 sample-synchronous phase-coherent buses • 6 multi-channel FX Engines • 28 KT DN370 31-band GEQ’s • 6 POPulation groups • 8 VCA groups • 192 MCA groups • Daylight-viewable full colour TFT display screen • Midas latency compensation system

midasconsoles.com © 2011 MUSIC Group IP Ltd. Technical specifications and appearances are subject to change without notice and accuracy is not guaranteed. MIDAS and KLARK TEKNIK are part of the MUSIC Group (music-group.com).

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