Africa - Regional Round Up

REGIONAL ROUND UP 47

Director of Bilateral Cooperation, John Mogashoa; Marketing & PR, Bongi Ramalepe; Backstage Academy Founder & Chairman, Adrian Brooks; The Director General of the Department of Arts and Culture, Vusumuzi Mkhize; Backstage Academy Vice Principal, Rachel Nicholson; President of the South African Roadies Association’s Freddie Nyathela; Backstage Academy Marketing & Commercial Director, Jack Scarr.

SOUTH AFRICAN GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS BACKSTAGE ACADEMY STYLE TRAINING INITIATIVE

For over a decade, Backstage Academy has been working with the South African Roadies Association (SARA) to explore the creation of a training initiative for the live events industry in South Africa. The ultimate goal of this collaboration is to establish a live events training institution based on the Backstage Academy model to provide the young people of South Africa with the skills and opportunities needed for the successful and continuing growth of the live events sector on the African continent.

In March 2019, this journey took a major step forward as Backstage Academy welcomed a VIP delegation of South African dignitaries from the Department of Culture and Arts to their campus at Production Park in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Led by Vusumuzi Mkhize, The Director General of the Department of Arts and Culture, the delegation spent 4 days in the UK visiting Production Park and meeting with key

stakeholders to gain an understanding of how Backstage Academy was formed and developed into the institution it is today.

The visit marked a huge milestone on this ambitious journey and secured the agreement of the South African government to throw their support behind SARA and Backstage Academy. This resulted in an agreement to create a Memorandum of Understanding between the two organisations to drive the creation of a training initiative throughout South Africa focused on the live events industry.

Mkhize commented: “The Department of Arts and Culture in South Africa is excited that Backstage Academy and SARA have come on board to journey with us. This project to drive live events training is of enormous importance to our country to bridge the skills gap in the sector. The Public Private Partnership will help the south African Government to achieve this objective and

create job opportunities for the youth.” Adrian Brooks, Founder and Chairman of Backstage Academy, commented: “We are delighted to be in this position at long last. Mkhize has confirmed that the government of South Africa will give their backing to the establishment of a Backstage Academy style inclusive training initiative to benefit aspiring live events professionals across South Africa and the wider African continent.

“The initiative will be delivered by the industry, for the industry, and is a proud example of the use of the 3C’s - collaboration cooperation and competition - to drive up the skills levels and opportunities for all of the people in Africa. An agreement was made that a joint statement should be made between the parties to broadcast this terrific news.” www.backstage-academy.co.uk www.saroadies.co.za

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48

REGIONAL ROUND UP

GEARHOUSE RAISES ITS GAME

GEARHOUSE BECOMES L-ACOUSTICS LARGEST SUPPLIER IN SOUTH AFRICA FOLLOWING RECENT INVESTMENT

Live events supplier Gearhouse has invested in additional L-Acoustics K2 and KS28 L-Acoustics cabinets, 36 LA12x amplified controllers in LA- RAKII and 8 P1 AVB audio processors, making it the largest L-Acoustics certified provider in the region.

The move boosts the company’s ability to service even the most ambitious national events - making it the first company on the continent to meet the new KX Standard for its large format systems. In December 2018, this new capability was put into service at the massive Global Citizen Festival in the 90,000 capacity FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.

Gearhouse South Africa has been growing rapidly for a number of years, taking an increasingly dominant role in major South African live events. The Global Citizen Festival is part of the Global Citizen organisation which aims to end extreme poverty, and Gearhouse’s participation in the event marked a significant shift for the company. Gearhouse took on overall management of the audio side, including liaising with artist management for a raft of mostly local talent supporting some of the world’s biggest acts, including Beyoncé, JAY-Z, Ed Sheeran, and Pharrell Williams.

Gearhouse divides its L-Acoustics stock between its three main offices - Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban. With the most recent investment, that stock now consists of 48 K1 and 48 K2, 24 Kara, 12 ARCS II, 66 dV-DOSC, 48 V-DOSC, and 36 Kudo. The stock of subwoofers now runs to 16 K1SB, 24 dV-SUB, 24 KS28, 64 SB28, and 16 SB18. There are also 52 115XT HiQ stage monitors, plus LA8 and LA12X amplified controllers, and 8 of the latest P1 AVB audio processors.

The Global Citizen Festival required a substantial proportion of those resources and made full use of Gearhouse’s additional inventory, as delay tower deployment had to be limited to protect the irrigation and drainage systems under the FNB stadium’s playing surface. Gearhouse Head of Audio, Lewellyn Reinecke explained: “We would really prefer to have four delay towers but, because of the restrictions, it’s two hangs plus one on a V tower. At the front we’ve previously

used 14 K1 main hangs and then 15 or 16 V-DOSC for the out-hangs, but our increased stock means that we can now use K1 across the board.”

The FNB Stadium has five distinct seating levels, and level five, which starts at around 40 metres from the ground and goes up to about 60m, is normally treated by Gearhouse as a completely separate venue “that gets its own transportation, logistics, and crew,” explained Reinecke. “Up there, you walk about a kilometre just to go around it once.”

Gearhouse uses between 16 and 19 hangs of 6 elements for level 5. “We prefer to use Kara for that, because they are lighter and are very powerefficient, taking just one LA8 or LA12X for a hang of 6,” said Reinecke. “That’s important because the venue doesn’t allow us to use its power in the roof, so we have to run power all the way from the generators.”

Reinecke noted that the company has benefited by using the new L-Acoustics P1 AVB

audio processors, which incorporate an EQ station with delay and dynamics processing, and AVB, AES/EBU and analogue audio bridging: “The feedback that I have received from the crew has been phenomenal. The AVB works with all the LA12X amplified controllers and we are able to monitor the whole system. It is quite an amazing thing to see.”

Overall, Reinecke says that the new K Series stock has brought new opportunity to Gearhouse and has made a big difference in the field. “The new stock and the improved coverage has helped us a lot,” he said. “It means we can get on with our main jobs, without having to worry about how we reach every part of the biggest venues - and the KS28 is a lot lower and louder...

“Having such a complete system makes a big difference. It’s given us a lot of headroom to play around with, which is to the benefit of the audience, and the engineers.” www.gearhouse.co.za

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REGIONAL ROUND UP 49

SSL APPOINTS SURGESOUND FOR LIVE SOUND IN SOUTH AFRICA

RESPECTED SOUTH AFRICAN LIVE SOUND DISTRIBUTOR TAKES ON THE SSL LIVE SERIES.

Solid State Logic have announced Surgesound as its new live market partner in South Africa. With a roster of impressive projects and clients, the team at Surgesound have been providing high-end live solutions for tours, concerts, churches and venues across the region.

“Surgesound represents some of the world’s leading professional audio equipment, so when we wanted to add mixing consoles to our portfolio, there was no question as to which brand we wanted,” commented Andrew Rowan, Managing Director of Surgesound. “Apart from SSL’s outstanding reputation on product and sonic quality, they also have excellent support and service and that was extremely important to us. We pride ourselves on our reputation for training and service, so this makes an excellent fit.”

Jonathan Attard, SSL Area Sales Manage, is convinced the company has now found the ideal partner to develop new business in the region. “Our live range fits perfectly with the other brands managed by Surgesound,” he added. “Moreover, they have the field experience and technical know how to make any client feel at ease. This is why Surgesound was clearly the right partner for us in South Africa.” www.surgesound.co.za

Brand Ambassador, Jacques Mostert; Managing Director, Andrew Rowan; Technical Director, Ruan Joubert.

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50REGIONAL ROUND UP

Lawrence Sefojane, Lebogang Phahlamohlaka, Kagiso Moima Wa Masimini and Sipho Nkosi.

KARA ALL THE WAY FOR BLACKMOTION PRODUCTION

BLACKMOTION PRODUCTIONS, INVESTS IN BRAND NEW L-ACOUSTICS KARA, VIA DWR DISTRIBUTION.

The modular line source array system was initially used by Blackmotion Production in the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s event, Is’thunzi Sabafazi - translated to Dignity of a Woman - hosted at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto campus. The event celebrated women and spoke out against the systemic injustices that many women face, featuring key speeches by several high profile women, including Oprah Winfrey.

The system was further used again at the Nelson Mandela Tribute to honour the former president and his legacy, five years after his passing. The event was headlined by the internationally acclaimed author and activist Chimamanda Adichie Ngozi.

L-Acoustics Kara also proved to be spectacular at a festival in Limpopo, the Florence Palms Beach Party, where the audience was close to 20,000 people, and were also used in the corporate environment for the Nedbank Retail Leadership Conference event hosted at MAD GIANT at 1 Fox.

Kagiso Moima Wa Masimini, President and founder of Blackmotion Production, fondly recalled his days as a student at the Tshwane University of Technology. “Interestingly, I wanted to be a sound guy, but lighting always underpinned my interest in the industry. I’ve bought different audio brands over the years, but I now realise that I’ve shot myself in the foot by not investing in a proper audio system from the word go.”

Of course, it takes a while for an upand-coming company to make a calculated investment into professional gear, and it’s with great excitement that Kagiso now has 18 L-Acoustics Kara and 12 SB18 subwoofers, purchased from DWR Distribution.

“This is a definite leap of faith right here, and a huge jump from what we have been doing!” said Kagiso. “It places us on a new playing field. There is a network of five technical suppliers who I’ve been talking to already, all of whom are passionate users. This has been a long time coming and proves the fact that hard work,

consistency and continuously investing in the business can reap results. Most importantly, it’s about having great relationships with suppliers. I am very grateful that there is a great affinity between DWR and Blackmotion.”

Having used the L-Acoustics Kara, Kagiso said: “The system is beyond amazing, its ability to throw the distance and keep the audio clarity. For me the system’s precision, articulation and clarity are reassuringly too dope!”

For the team at DWR, it has been phenomenal to watch Blackmotion Production continually deliver excellent service over the years. “The Kara, a well-balanced box capable of doing both large and small events, is perfectly suited for Kagiso’s current market and for Blackmotion Production’s continuous growth,” said Jaco Beukes of DWR. “L-Acoustics is a worldclass product, and a good financial decision. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for this vibrant and dynamic company!” www.dwrdistribution.co.za

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