PSNE August 2014 digital by Future PLC

PSNEUROPE He’s not the Messiah… p58

AUGUST 2014

www.psneurope.com

THE BUSINESS OF PROFESSIONAL AUDIO

Fading into the future How technology is transforming the digital mixing desk p40

Directivity? Done deal! Mini line arrays p48 Software startup augments studio skills

Out of town with p18

IBC preview

p16

Cenzo Townshend

p20

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welcome Photo: Jake Young

EDITOR’S COMMENT

“The Games brought a tangibly magical vibe to Glasgow”

NOT SO MUCH of the sport this month, after ﬁlling our boots (trainers, plimsolls, tennis shoes...) last month. However, I did manage to steal away for a few days to see Glasgow in all its glory. The Commonwealth Games certainly brought a tangibly magical vibe to the city. And although I wasn’t lucky enough to get tickets to an event, I watched from behind street barriers as the road racers set off on 31 July. Wandering up towards Merchants Square shortly afterwards, I bumped into none other than Paul Keating outside a pizzeria. That’ll be Delta Sound doing what they do best in the Scottish stadiums then. (And L-Acoustics K2 boxes in abundance, we believe.) Glasgow was great, but Barcelona was better. The clever young caballeros at Aratechlabs invited me over to see their nifty approach to setting up and checking microphones. And Arapolarmic – yes, a bit of a mouthful, admittedly – is a refreshing and daring software product. A lot of work has gone into perfecting an ‘augmented reality’ approach to working in the studio, and, as I describe on p18, there is a real ‘Oooh!’ moment when the application engages. I encourage anyone who works regularly with different types of mic to get in touch with them, and see if you experience that joy of discovery too. Finally, what to say about Monty Python at the O2? Very much what I expected – good bits, mediocre bits, brilliant bits. Anyway, I’m thrilled we cornered Python producer Andre Jacquemin for the back page – and Phil Ward had a ball speaking to him. He didn’t always want to be a producer... he wanted to be... [Snip!] Dave Robinson Twitter: @psneurope

IN THIS ISSUE... BUSINESS 4 DiGiCo joins A&H and Calrec in Electra’s audio portfolio 5 HRA Loudspeakers’ new British audio heritage 6 Pro Sound Awards: The ﬁnalists in their own words 8 Industry appointments 10 Events and expos 12 PSNTraining 14 New products 16 Show preview: IBC2014

STUDIO 18 Aratechlabs augments mic placement with Arapolarmic 19 Central London’s ﬁrst Atmos-equipped mixing stage 20 Cenzo Townshend on his new Decoy studio

BROADCAST 24 MXL Microphones goes back to school 26 VRT celebrates 100 years with new studio conﬁg 28 BBC local radio contemplates a virtual future

LIVE 30 32 35 36 40

Indochine shines at the Stade de France Capital and Martin Audio return to Hyde Park Cadac CDC eight’s Italian Job On the road with Simon Honywill, part two Feature: Digital live consoles

INSTALL 44 A new look for Community 46 Bose joins the Buffalos at Ghelamco Arena 48 Feature: Baby line arrays

BACK PAGES 53 54

Hither & dither Industry talk: Andre Jacquemin, Redwood Studios

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business UNITED KINGDOM

DiGiCo joins Allen & Heath and Calrec in Electra’s pro-audio portfolio The three companies have formed a new professional audio group, with DiGiCo’s James Gordon serving as group CEO. Dave Robinson reports DIGICO, CALREC and Allen & Heath have formed a new professional audio group, with DiGiCo’s James Gordon serving as group CEO. The alliance follows a substantial investment in DiGiCo by Electra Partners, the private equity firm that acquired Calrec in March 2014 and Allen & Heath in June 2013. Electra’s gaining of a majority shareholding in DiGiCo’s digital console business marks the partial exit of former investor ISIS Equity Partners, which will retain a small part of its original stake. ISIS says it has returned double the original investment to its clients in the move. DiGiCo and Electra Partners have spent 18 months working on the deal, it has been revealed. London-based Electra now boasts a portfolio which can seek to grow its marketshare of digital mixer sales in broadcast, installation, DJ and live/touring sound sectors. There was no ‘group name’ announced for the alliance at the time of writing. James Gordon said in a statement: “We have bold plans for the group, but it is

imperative that each company maintains its own independence and style. None of these brands needs to trade off each other’s technology or reputation.” Gordon confirmed that there would be a strategy “to share technology and resource across the group and allow some interconnectivity across the product lines”. “The combined R&D teams are about to enter a new world of possibilities and we intend to take full advantage of their resource, passion and experience,” he said. “It’s an amazing opportunity for us, and just maybe the whole British pro audio industry.” Glenn Rogers, managing director of Allen & Heath, added: “The creation of the group [...] is an impressive combination. It will certainly add new momentum to what Allen & Heath and Calrec had already planned for the future.” Henry Goodman, Calrec’s sales and marketing director, comments: “This exciting formation gives Calrec new opportunities for swifter development of a host of ideas we have been wanting to bring

to the market. We will have a vast pool of engineers to share new ideas for the industry and target them specifically to each brand’s needs.” Charles Elkington, investment partner at Electra Partners, says: “We have worked hard over the last 18 months to bring together these three successful businesses. We look forward to working

An original D5 Live console, the desk which launched the DiGiCo brand back in 2002

with James Gordon and his team to grow the group, while also preserving the distinctive brand identity and excellent customer relationships of each business.” The new set-up also sees the total departure of Mobeus Equity Partners from the financial framework. Mobeus invested £4.6m to support the

original management buyout of DiGiCo in 2007 and achieved a partial realisation in December 2011 through a £50m secondary buyout to ISIS Equity Partners. Mobeus has returned over five and a half multiples of its initial investment to its clients over the period, a sum in excess of £25m in cash. Q www.electrapartners.com

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business

For the latest news www.psneurope.com UNITED KINGDOM

A new British audio heritage HRA Loudspeakers sales manager Steve Williams talks Jon Chapple through the concept behind the UK startup DOES THE world really need another loudspeaker manufacturer? Steve Williams, sales manager at HRA Loudspeakers, thinks so. “The answer is yes – bringing new ideas and competition keeps the industry fresh,” he tells PSNEurope. Which is certainly true – but in an increasingly crowded marketplace, can this fledgling British brand make its voice heard? HRA’s first unique selling point is its speakers’ compactness and light weight – targeted directly at the evermore youthful sound techs who’ll be lugging them around. The R&D team come from a variety of backgrounds, ranging from live touring and system design to university-based acousticians, notes Williams. “With the market currently changing [and] techs getting younger and unable to drive large trucks, we decided to look at developing products that are lightweight and use all neodymium drivers – at a cost.” Secondly, all HRA units incorporate built-in amplification and DSP, “allow[ing] for a consistent sound wherever you get our speakers from [and] companies to cross-hire equipment freely and know how to use it.” But despite the all-in-one nature

of its products, Williams is quick to point out that HRA – standing for High Resolution Audio – doesn’t do lo-fi: “As we’ve said before, we went out to develop products that sound as hi-fi as possible but still deliver high volumes.” “As with most companies out there today, products get developed and then dumbed down to fit in a price bracket [or] feasible profit margin,” he continues. “However, we are determined to keep our products true and consistent.” And thirdly – and perhaps most importantly – HRA is proudly and unashamedly British. From the ‘British audio heritage’ banner on its website to a commitment to keeping manufacturing operations in the UK, HRA wears the union flag like a badge of honour, positioning itself as the latest company to carry the torch for quality, traditional British-made loudspeakers. “We feel [our Britishness] means a lot in the industry,” Williams explains. “With most of our competition seeking cheaper manufacturing in the Far East, we remain [in Britain] and will not change,” he promises. “We will continue to use locally sourced components wherever we can [and] to build our products here in the heart of

the UK. It doesn’t matter what line of manufacturing you’re in, the British flag still means a lot – and we and we aim to keep it there.” At least initially, HRA is choosing to focus on studio monitors and column designs and “shy[ing] away from the line array side of our industry,” with Williams noting that “these are usually very rider-specific and would not warrant our time and investment”. “Our range of products at the moment is more tailored for small-to-medium rental and AV companies,” he comments, “but we have some bigger products to follow very soon – [including a] large tour rig for venues of around 6,000 people capacity that weighs in at less than 700kg for the whole system.” HRA is currently selfdistributing; and while Williams “[doesn’t] expect companies to distribute our products at this early stage”, he adds: “We are constantly talking to [distributors] and, should the right deal come up [...] we will go down that road.” Former hire company owner Williams is confident in the fledgling brand. “We have just taken the keys for another unit here in Wednesbury [in the West Midlands] which will house our demo facility,” he explains, “so

Steve Williams with the full HRA Loudspeakers range

if people wish to visit us and hear the products, they can pop across and see us. We’re also taking products to people’s locations so they can listen to them at their own convenience.” HRA officially launched on 31 March. Clients so far include the Confederation of British

Industry; West Bromwich Albion FC (for a permanent installation); and Press Red Rentals, which says it “expects to be placing an order very shortly”. The company will also exhibiting at BPM/PRO in Birmingham in September. Q www.hra-loudspeakers.co.uk

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business EUROPE

WITH, AT THE time of writing, just over seven weeks to go until the big night, excitement is building for the Pro Sound Awards – and nowhere more so than among the 56 finalists announced so far. “Myself, Ed Downham, Simon Carroll, Steve Single, Steve Browell and all the team at Wave are really proud to have reached the finals of the Pro Sound Awards,” Johnnie Burn, of London-based Wave Studios – shortlisted in the Best Sound in Post-Production category for Under the Skin – tells PSNEurope. “Peer judgment is such a huge honour, and to be nominated amongst such esteemed company raised a big cheer too.” Sound design on Under the Skin – which stars Scarlett Johansson as an alien seductress who preys on Scottish men – was created over the course of a year by Burn, who was also nominated for Outstanding Achievement at the British Independent Film Awards for his work on the movie. “Helping Jonathan Glazer make Under the Skin was a pretty amazing and memorable journey.” On his nomination, Mike Wheeler, operations director of EM Acoustics – a Best Permanent Installation Project finalist for the Sound by Design

Engineer of the Year ﬁnalist Dave Kay with Del Amitri’s Justin Currie

Photo: Michael Cusick

Pro Sound Awards 2014: They’re next month!

Capital Sound is nominated for Best Tour Sound Production for British Summer Time Hyde Park 2013

The launch of Powersoft’s X Series is shortlisted for the Best Marketing Initiative

YOUR TWEETS @Yasmin_Natasha1 (Metropolis) Thrilled to be nominated in the top 4 studios along with @AssaultBattery; @SnapStudiosUK; @astarstudios

upgrade of the speaker system in the Royal Albert Hall, London, with EM’s HALO Compact line array – adds: “It is a great honour to be a finalist for the Pro Sound Awards. “It has been very gratifying to see the hard work that went into developing the HALO Compact acknowledged by its selection for a venue as magnificent as the Royal Albert Hall.” The Sound by Design team are shortlisted in no less than two categories

for the Royal Albert Hall install: Best Permanent Installation Project and Install Team of the Year. For a full list of finalists, see last month’s PSNEurope or the Pro Sound Awards or PSNEurope websites. The winners of the prestigious Grand Prix, Lifetime Achievement and Rising Star awards will be revealed at a later date! Q www.prosoundawards.com

@molinare_post So excited that Molinare’s @MasterChefUK audio team have been nominated at the @PSNEurope #ProSoundAwards Yippee! #fingerscrossed @deffobenno (Andy Bensley, Source Distribution) Chuffed for us to be nominated for-BEST TEMPORARY INSTALLATION PROJECT: @ SourceDist/@Genelec (for @_cocknbull); #prosoundawards @PinewoodStudios Pinewood Studios has been nominated for Best Broadcast Facility in this year’s #ProSoundAwards http:// pinewood.me/ProSoundAwards

WORLD

NewBay Connect online content depository is go! LAUNCHING THIS month is Newbay Connect, a digital resource centre for the broadcast, professional AV and pro audio sectors. Free and easy to use, the website provides visitors with a wide range of tools, including white papers, analyst reports, briefings, case studies, business advice, tutorials and web

seminars. All this content provided by manufacturers, service providers, trade associations, industry bodies, think tanks and technology providers – is categorised according to areas of specialisation so that users can find them quickly. Visitors can also set up tailored email alerts so they are

notified whenever there is an update within their area of interest. NewBay’s combination of easy to access resources and a targeted audience enables our partners to initiate

conversations with existing and potential clients accessing their content – as well as giving them the opportunity to demonstrate their thought-leadership credentials and develop qualified sales leads.

NewBay Connect is supported by all the broadcast, pro audio and AV titles in its extensive international portfolio. Q www.newbayconnect.com

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industrymovers

Terry Murphy

Stephanie Halstead

Stuart McKay

Lawo, Schimmel was chairman of the board at a system integration and a service company. He has also previously worked as a sales director for many years. www.lawo.com

Ch-ch-changes at Yamaha Following a period of reorganisation at Yamaha Commercial Audio’s UK operation, the company has announced its new sales and technical support team MIXING LONG-TERM experience with new blood, the team at Yamaha Commercial Audio UK is now headed by Robert Webster, the company’s new divisional director, who has been with Yamaha for 30 years. He will work closely with Karl Christmas, who occupies the new position of sales & marketing manager for the UK and Ireland. Meanwhile, northern and southern UK regional sales will be handled by two new additions. Covering the north of the UK, Stuart McKay joins Yamaha from Audio-Technica distribution, taking over from

Steve Williamson, while Terry Murphy has been appointed to the position of southern UK and Republic of Ireland sales representative. Elsewhere, Wayne Powell continues to provide technical pre-sales support, enduser training and system commissioning, while Dave Dine moves into the newrole of post-sales technical support. Finally, Stephanie Halstead is joined by Max Parish in providing administrative and logistical support to the sales and technical team. yamahacommercialaudio.com

d&b audiotechnik has appointed Amnon Harman as CEO. In this newly created position, Harman will drive the continued success of the company, taking responsibility for the further development and implementation of the company strategy. Prior to joining d&b, Harman was an independent consultant. From 2006 to 2012 he served as chairman of the management board of AUGUSTA Technologie, an international technology company focused on niche markets for optical sensor technology and digital image processing www.dbaudio.com

Ralf Schimmel has been named director of global sales at Lawo. In his new post, he is responsible for the strategic orientation and co-ordination of worldwide sales activities for all products, systems and solutions from the Lawo Group of companies. Prior to joining

Meyer Sound has strengthened its European technical services with the appointment of Oskar Meijer as senior technical support specialist. Meijer has more than 20 years’ experience in the design, configuration and commissioning of complex audio systems, and has worked as a stage technician, ground rigger and project manager. In his new position, Meijer will support Meyer Sound’s European customers in the design and optimisation of loudspeaker and digital audio systems, onsite project commissioning and aftersale customer training. www.meyersound.com

Simon Holley has joined Sennheiser UK’s pro division from Bose UK. As its new commercial sales

manager, Holley will manage Sennheiser UK’s extensive pro audio sales team and “liaise with key accounts and partners in each sector”. “My experience in the pro audio market spans a multitude of market segments and customer and account types,” Holley comments. “I will draw on this experience in leading the Sennheiser pro audio sales team forwards to even greater success.” www.sennheiser.co.uk

Martin Audio has appointed Luke Ireland as its new managing director, with immediate effect. Ireland has a masters in business administration and a 24-year career spanning multiple sectors of technology, IT and media. In 2010 he secured the role of managing director (EMEA/ ROW) for consumer electronics manufacturer Binatone, while more recently he has been working as a consultant to businesses seeking to change manufacturing procedures. At press time, Martin Audio announced that Andy Duffield has taken the position of APAC account manager, whilst Roland Morcom has replaced the long serving Martin Kelly as EMEA account manager, who retired at the end of July (see page 53). www.martin-audio.com

10 l August 2014

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expos&events

For more events news www.psneurope.com/events

EDITORIAL PLANNER

SPOTLIGHT PRO 13–15 September Birmingham, UK www.visitpro.co.uk

SEPTEMBER Networking and AVB

Registration for the inaugural PRO audio and lighting show is now open. Registration is complimentary for all industry professionals, including technicians, designers, installers, distributors and manufacturers. Trade visitors will also have exclusive access to the event during a “trade/VIP preview hour” from 10am on both Sunday 14 and Monday 15 September. According to the marketing director of event organiser Marked Events, Eddie Short, “[t]here is a great buzz around PRO – the industry is talking and there is a genuine feeling that PRO will represent the industry in a modern and forward-thinking way.”

Training, part 1: studio/broadcast IBC preview, part 2 PLASA London preview, part 1

“We are really pleased with how PRO has been received by brands,” adds Marked sales director Mark Walsh. “Take up has been really good so far, with over sixty brands being represented – and we are securing more each week.” Marked Events is currently offering exhibitors the opportunity to present free seminars on “generic topics related to the industry”. Interested parties should email lindsay@markedevents.co.uk for more information. Both PSNEurope and Audio Pro International are media partners of PRO – a sister event of BPM, the DJ and electronic music production event (pictured) – and Martin Audio was conﬁrmed as a headline sponsor in April. Conﬁrmed exhibitors include Martin Audio, Nexo, Polar Audio, Bose, Flare Audio, Void Acoustics, LMC Audio Systems and Audio-Technica. www.visitpro.co.uk

OCTOBER The modern conference Training, part 2: live IBC review PLASA London preview, part 2

NOVEMBER Headphones Small and midscale touring kit AES review

EVENTS Your complete calendar of expos and conferences for the months ahead V Festival 16–17 August Chelmsford, UK, and Weston-under-Lizard, UK www.vfestival.com

PRO 13–15 September Birmingham, UK www.visitpro.co.uk

InfoComm MEA 12–16 October Dubai, UAE www.infocomm-mea.com

Creamﬁelds 22–24 August Daresbury, UK www.creamﬁelds.com

Pro Sound Awards 25 September London, UK www.prosoundawards.com

TVBAwards 23 October Hilton London Wembley www.tvb-awards.com

Leeds/Reading Festival 22–24 August Leeds and Reading, UK www.leedsfestival.com www.readingfestival.com

PEVE Entertainment Business Futures 30 September–1 October London, UK www.ihs.com

PLASA Focus Brussels 3–4 November Brussels, Belgium www.plasafocus.com/brussels

Mysteryland 23 August Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands www.mysteryland.nl

PLASA London 5–8 October London, UK www.plasashow.com

Iceland Airwaves 5–9 November Reykjavik, Iceland www.icelandairwaves.is

10th Mediagroup Pro Audio Seminar 7–10 October Moscow, Russia www.stagetec.com

28th Tonmeistertagung 20–23 November Cologne, Germany www.tonmeister.de

137th AES Convention 9–12 October Los Angeles, US www.aes.org

PLASA Focus Glasgow 2–3 December Glasgow, UK www.plasafocus.com/glasgow

Bestival 4–7 September Isle of Wight, UK www.bestival.net Berlin Festival 5–7 September Berlin, Germany www.berlinfestival.de

InfoComm MEA 12–16 October Dubai, UAE www.infocomm-mea.com

Laundry Day 6 September Antwerp, Belgium www.laundryday.be

IBC2014 11–16 September Amsterdam, Netherlands www.ibc.org

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PSNTraining UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Dubai’s MGI to bridge broadcast–IT gap

Shure wireless workshop ﬁnds good reception

By Dave Robinson

UAE-BASED systems integrator Media Group International (MGI) launches its new Training Academy next month, September. With a series of courses led by Joe MacQuarrie, an official ACSR Trainer formerly at Avid Technology Europe, MGI aims to help broadcast professionals “bridge the gap between traditional broadcast infrastructure and IT”. “As an Award-winning company with long-standing relationships with many of the industry’s key manufacturers and a deep understanding of broadcast and IT infrastructures, MGI is ideally placed to deliver the highly specialised training courses that our industry needs.” says MGI’s managing director, John Aslett. “Technology is advancing at a rapid pace and broadcasters who stay on top of these changes stand to benefit enormously, both in terms of time saved and creativity unleashed.” Based in Studio City, the MGI Training Academy incorporates classroom facilities, a student lounge, a central apparatus room, a visualisation, pre-build, testing and acceptance area for projects, and two multi-use conference/training rooms that can be used for breakout workflow discussions or additional classroom exercises.

SHURE DISTRIBUTION UK says it hosted another successful session for its SAEAN (Shure Academy European Audio Network) training initiative last month. The workshop, part of RF specialist Tuomo Tolonen’s Wireless Mastered series, took place at the Emirates Stadium in North London and was said to be “full to capacity”. Attendees at the July event were given a grounding in the operation and capabilities of modern wireless microphone technology with speciﬁc reference to Shure’s latest product offerings. Tips included how to get the most from the constrained wireless spectrum following the ‘Digital Dividend’ (the government’s 2012 auction of the UK RF spectrum, widely covered in PSNEurope), plus how to use laptop and phonebased applications to remotely manage wireless networks, from ENG operations using a couple of transmitters and receivers to complex systems for large events. Reactions from those present is reported as very positive. “Very, very good. Very in-depth description and explanation of the RF wilderness!” commented Tom Oakes of Amber Sound. Ian Barnard of Stage Sound Services added: “It’s excellent. Everyone should do it!” “This was the biggest and best

The Academy’s schedule of day and evening courses will encompass Project Related Technical Training for existing customers and public courses. Bespoke workﬂow design, training and consultancy are also included in MGI’s holistic approach, with courses provided either at the Academy or on location at a customer’s facility. The Academy is also working with the International Association of Broadcast Manufacturers (IABM) to deliver its foundational courses, as well as offering authorised training for many different manufacturers in the broadcast industry. Q www.mgi.tv

Revolabs announces enhanced training academy portal By Jon Chapple AUDIO COMMUNICATIONS specialist Revolabs launched its redesigned Academy training programme at the end of last month, a free, interactive online learning portal that the company says provides users with a “better understanding of audio fundamentals, measurement and performance, and proper use and installation of Revolabs products”. Revolabs was acquired by Yamaha in March of this year. The online curriculum complements

Revolabs’ training and certification tour of 20 cities in the US, taking place from August to October. Open and free to all current Revolabs customers – including resellers, consultants, distributors and end users – the Revolabs Academy provides an interactive learning experience that guides users through a series of lessons covering the principles of audio, echo cancellation, microphone placement, product integration, configuration settings, repair procedures, maintaining RF stability and avoiding interference. Users earn four CTS (Certified Technology Specialist) credits upon successful completion of the course, which can be applied to InfoComm RU credits for CTS, CTS-D, or CTS-I certifications. Q www.revolabs.com/support/ training

Wireless Mastered yet,” said Shure Distibution’s Tuomo Tolonen. “We’ve been delighted with the strong uptake on all of our training events, but this session surpassed our expectations. As you might expect, we are looking to build on this success by returning to Emirates later in the year, and we hope to announce dates shortly for a session at a similar venue in the North of England.” Shure launched its training academy in Germany in 2012, and in the UK at last year’s PLASA show in October. Q www.shure-academy.co.uk www.shuredistribution.co.uk

DIARY 2–4 September

Wigwam Acoustics: Smaart training Where: SSE Audio Group, Redditch, UK

Notes: Run by Rational Acoustics, the course will cover “Smaart fundamentals, Smaart applications and an advanced user class” www.sseaudiogroup.com/events

9 September ISCE: Introduction to sound Where: Jurys Inn London Watford, UK

Notes: Learning “how to have a better understanding of what happens to sound after it leaves the loudspeakers” www.isce.org.uk

9–11 September Martin Audio: MLA M-Tech training Where: Millenium Studios, Bedfordshire, UK

Notes: Covering everything required to operate MLA, including an in-depth training module by Martin Audio’s worldwide support team

THE ESSENTIALS: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FOUR DIAPHRAGMS

www.isce.org.uk

5–9 October By Aston Fearon, freelance sound engineer

Media Group International: Cisco

ALTHOUGH our role as sound engineers focuses heavily on using the latest advancements in digital technology, it is all with the aim to mould, shape and deliver the invisible artefact that we know and sense as sound to our audiences. The fact that we are effecting this unseen medium which has real, measurable (but complex) results is obviously what lends to the engineering half of our title. Like heat and light, sound changes as it passes through varying mediums before reaching its destination (the listener), and as sound engineers our job is to understand and implement the

Where: MGI Training Academy,

networking boot camp

Studio City, Dubai, UAE

Notes: The course will be led by MGI’s Jim White, a Cisco Certiﬁed physics and mechanics of these crucial points along its path. By crucial points here, I am talking about the role of each diaphragm: each piece of membrane-like material well-suited for oscillating backwards and forwards affecting the air around it – and the basis of all physics for sound reinforcement... Read the full article at www.psneurope.com/training

Instructor www.mgi.tv

A range of commercial packages are available: Contact advertising manager, Ryan O’Donnell, +44 (0) 20 7354 6000, ryan.odonnell@intentmedia.co.uk

14 l August 2014

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technologynew products Jon Chapple compiles this month’s list of hot new products DIGIGRID

DLS What is it? An all-in-one processing and networking hub that bridges Pro Tools and SoundGrid. Details: With a built-in SoundGrid DSP server, network switch and two DigiLink ports providing up to 64 digital inputs and outputs, DiGiGrid DLS is designed to allow the user to take “full advantage” of their existing Pro Tools system with its “unequalled” processing power.

And another thing: The DLS’s impressively low latency clocks in at just 0.8 milliseconds (that’s less than a thousandth of a second). www.digigrid.net

RØDE

PRESONUS

AUDIOBOX iTWO

NT-USB What is it? A studio-grade microphone with a digital USB interface. Details: Fully compatible with Windows, Mac OS and iPad, the NT-USB is a versatile side-address microphone ideal for recording both musical performances and spoken applications like podcasting and voiceovers. And another thing: The mic includes a pop ﬁlter which ﬁts onto the base of the mic, minimising plosives (harsh “B”, “T” or “P” sounds) during singing or speech. www.rodemic.com

What is it? A starter studio recording kit for mobile or home studios.

diaphragm condenser microphone, Nimbit Free account and all necessary cables.

Details: The system combines a USB bus-powered interface for Mac, Windows and iPad (with Studio One Artist DAW software), Capture Duo recording software, monitoring headphones, large-

And another thing: The mic includes a pop ﬁlter which ﬁts onto the base of the mic, minimising plosives (harsh “B”, “T” or “P” sounds) during singing or speech. www.presonus.com

ZAOR

Send info on new product releases to: jon.chapple@intentmedia.co.uk

STANDARD AUDIO

MAREA

STRETCH

What is it? Studio furniture inspired by the PreSonus Live series and Behringer’s X32.

What is it? A “truly unique” multi-band dymanics module which Standard says can “inject life and depth in an engaging way that EQ and compression alone cannot replicate”.

Details: The MAREA has space for controllers; digital mixers; six rack units’ worth of outboard gear; two large screens; and a laptop, iPad or other accessory in its compact 158 cm by 110 cm work space. And another thing: Zaor says cable management “is always a major concern” for its design team, so has included room for all necessary wires and “passages in all the right places”. www.poe-music.com

Details: The Stretch takes its inspiration from noise reduction units from the 1970s and ‘80s, and allows the user to use four separate frequency bands conﬁgured in seven different combinations accessible via the ﬁlter/compression push-button. And another thing: A mix control also allows for parallel processing by reinjecting the unprocessed signal back in and varying the levels. www.kmraudio.com

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showpreview

IBC

When? 11–16 September

NETHERLANDS

IBC2014 Key pro-audio news ahead of the European show, courtesy of Jon Chapple and Michael Burns THE INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING Convention is upon us once again. For six days in September, we’ll be seeing the great and the good of the broadcast world – including the staff of PSNEurope – descend upon the RAI convention centre in Amsterdam for more launches, demos and general hobnobbing than you can shake an antenna at. As always, make sure you stay tuned to the PSNEurope website, Twitter and Facebook during the event for all the latest updates as they happen – but here’s a preview to whet your appetites until then... A licence-free wireless system offering uncompressed

DK Technologies T7

audio transmission, high RF performance and 128-bit AES standard encryption is making its debut at IBC. Harman’s AKG DMSTetrad digital wireless microphone system features an integrated four-channel mixer and antenna front mount kit. With 24bit, 48kHz audio coding, it provides uncompressed studioquality transmission and a linear frequency response for high vocal and instrumental performances. Two sets are available: the DMSTetrad Vocal Set, including the DHTTetrad P5, and the DMSTetrad Performer Set, including the DPTTetrad together with a C111 L earhook microphone and the MKG L

instrument cable. The DK-Technologies T7 audio, loudness and logging meter has been boosted by adding loudness automation. Based on SMPTE timecode, this can instantly recalculate the integrated loudness value up to four hours back in time. The company says the enhancement, free of charge to existing and future DK T7 users, would save audio engineers from having to re-run programme material to hit their loudness target value. “Every engineer working with broadcast audio knows that hitting the loudness measure bullseye can be a very tedious and time consuming process,” says Uffe Kjems, DK-Technologies’ product marketing director. “Loudness automation adds a cool and practical feature to the DK T7 – at no additional cost.” GatesAir’s Maxiva UHF series comprises the ULXT liquidcooled model, for medium-tohigh power broadcasts, and the UAXT air-cooled model for low-to-medium power requirements. The broadband amplifier design increases power density in both models, reducing transmitter footprints and rack space requirements by up to 75 per cent, the company says. GatesAir adds that this design also simplifies maintenance, as it offers modularity, lighter weights

and fewer parts. The entrance of Hall 8 is apparently the place to hear announcements of major new advancements in broadcast audio technology at IBC 2014. HHB and audio post subsidiary Scrub have been joined by co-exhibitors Dynaudio, Mogami, Roland and TC Electronic. The latter is launching several new additions to its production and broadcast product ranges. The reseller advised that, with

Wheatstone Dimension Three

the DPP’s file-based delivery target of 1 October imminent, compliance with the EBU R128 loudness standard is an extremely relevant subject for IBC visitors. Accordingly HHB is exhibiting the latest loudness metering and correction technologies in hardware and software for acquisition, production and transmission, from manufacturers including TC Electronic, Wohler, Dolby and Nugen Audio. “With the perfect position at the entrance to Hall 8, the HHB Stand is not just a magnet to see the latest and greatest audio technology but also the perfect meeting point to catchup with fellow professionals,” says HHB director of sales Martin O’Donnell. “Everyone is welcome and refreshing cold beverages await.” New DAB combiners, bandpass filters and mask filters are being showcased at IBC by Jampro. The company describes its RCCC-DT4-DAB filters and combiners as extremely stable and easy-to-tune units that meet all the requirements of the Eureka 147 specification, while RF System Series RCEDXXX-DAB reflective bandpass filters are designed to provide high mask performance for low and medium power DAB transmitters. The RCBC-D06-DAB bandpass filter features invar tuning rods to create temperature stability and high-Q aluminium cavities, and the JVD dipole side-mounted

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IBC

JBL 3 Series antenna is designed for vertical polarisation, with a galvanised and stainless steel construction that is intended for many years of performance, even in the harshest environments. The 3 Series studio monitors, the first studio monitor line to incorporate JBL’s patentpending Image Control Waveguide, will been introduced at IBC. Harman’s JBL Professional 3 Series features two models: the

LSR305, a five-inch powered studio monitor, and the LSR308, an eight-inch powered studio monitor. The LSR305 boasts a response of 43Hz to 24 kHz and a peak SPL of 108dB, while the LSR308 features a response of 37Hz to 24 kHz and a peak SPL of 112dB. The monitors also feature Class D amplifiers, a long-throw woofer and a damped woven composite tweeter. IBC plays host to the launch of a brand-new audio mixing console on Friday September 12. The new member of the Lawo product family, which the company claims boasts high performance, a new face and an advanced feature set, is set to extend Lawo’s application range and round up the company’s product portfolio. Also on show is the new crystal radio console. This entrylevel mixer offers a redesigned user surface in a slim chassis and a new ergonomic

handrest. The redesigned crystal base unit features power supply redundancy and optimised expansion slots for easy addition of I/O cards. An updated range of 3G monitors, enhanced with integrated audio loudness logging and V-Chip decoding features, are being showcased at IBC by Plura Broadcast. Plura says the new softwaredefined features for its SFP-3G and PRM-3G monitors will aid quality control across broadcast and production workflows without adding complexity or increasing form factor. The company currently offers standard live monitoring of

Lawo crystal

showpreview digital audio loudness LFKS levels, but will introduce new timeline-centric features that allow broadcasters to quickly review and troubleshoot fluctuations in audio loudness over a given time period. The new Studer Vista X digital mixing console is being unveiled at IBC, based around the CPU-based Infinity processing engine. The Vista X retains Studer’s patented Vistonics and FaderGlow user interface, but provides control of 800 or more audio DSP channels and more than 5,000 inputs and outputs. At the heart of the system is the Infinity DSP core, which uses CPU-based processors to provide large numbers of DSP channels for high-resolution audio processing and mixing. Studer claims that this is the first time that more than 800 audio channels have

been processed in a single CPUbased board. Until now, most audio DSP has used SHARC or FPGA chips. A large-format audio mixing desk/console featuring IP networking in addition to TDM connectivity will be showcased by Wheatstone. The new Dimension Three TV audio mixing desk offers I/O layering and profiling of channels into any configuration on the surface. Mixing, I/O and processing all take place in a separate network rack unit, with any channel able to connect to any audio source, using any preferred audio format at any time, including HD/SDI, AES, MADI, AoIP, analogue or TDM. Q www.akg.com www.dk-technologies.com www.gatesair.com www.hhb.co.uk www.jampro.com www.jblpro.com www.lawo.com www.plurabroadcast.com www.studer.ch www.wheatstone.com

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Studio SOUNDBITES The Gus Dudgeon Foundation (GDF)/Joint Audio Media Education Support (JAMES) postgraduate summer course concluded on 19 July, with nine students under the tutelage of Romesh Dodangoda producing a track for Welsh rock group Caesars Rome. “It was an honour to be asked to lead this year’s Gus Dudgeon summer course,” comments Dodangoda, “and it was a pleasure to share my experiences with the very talented students.” Listen to the GDF/JAMES students’ rough mix of Earth from Space by Caesars Rome at the PSNEurope website. www.gusdudgeon.org www.jamesonline.org.uk Award-winning FOH engineer Ben Hammond has opened a new studio, the Vegas Rooms, in the renowned Chairworks studios in Leeds, UK, with an Allen & Heath GS-R24 studio console as the centrepiece. Hammond has long used Allen & Heath’s iLive digital mixing system for touring for a number of years, and says the GS-R24 was the “obvious choice” for his studio console. “Sonically, the GS-R24 is familiar, the preamps sound fantastic and the EQ is amazing,” he says. “It’s a great sounding console.” www.allen-heath.com Warsaw-based Dreamsound has become Poland’s first postproduction facility licensed to produce film soundtracks using the Dolby Atmos surround sound system. According to Dreamsound co-owner Kacper Habisiak, “JBL speakers are the standard in Polish cinemas,” so the post house chose a system comprising JBL ScreenArray loudspeakers and Crown DSi and XLS DriveCore Series amplifiers for its new 280sqft screening room. www.dreamsound.pl DPA Microphones d:screet 4060 miniature mics captured Scarlett Johansson’s performance in the film Lucy, released on 25 July. Costume designer Olivier Beriot devised a way of attaching the 4060s to Johansson’s main costume: “Scarlett’s main costume was a white, half-translucent T-shirt, so we used a white d:screet 4060 microphone [...] inserted into its seam by the dressmaker.” www.dpamicrophones.com www.lucymovie.com

SPAIN

Aratechlabs augments microphone placement skills A new software aid enables quick and easy checking of the polar patterns of a range of popular mics. And in a rather innovative way, Dave Robinson discovers ARATECHLABS, a Spanish technology startup, on 28 July launched its flagship product, the Arapolarmic audio tool. “I don’t want to call it an ‘app’, because it is much more serious than that,” explains Michel (Mike) Guerra, Aratechlabs COO. However you label it, Arapolarmic is a clever piece of software for tablets that uses ‘augmented reality’ to monitor the directivity of microphones. It will be available for under 100 euros and is aimed at sound engineers, teaching establishments and home recordists. Here’s how it works. Arapolarmic ships with a library of polar patterns for around 50 popular microphones. Let’s say an engineer wishes to record with a microphone, ‘X’. The engineer selects X from the software’s database, then, using the iPad’s camera, lines up a graphical representation of X with the real-time image of X. When the two synchronise – the team called it ‘arating’ – then POFF! A representation of the polar pattern appears on-screen, tracking the image of X as you shift your viewpoint around the sound source. The Arapolarmic tool, then,

supplies easy-to-read data on the positioning and directivity of a microphone. Colours of the graphics can be changed to best suit the viewing environment, and the mic’s response at key frequency bands across the spectrum can also be displayed. Quickly, using an iPad and a little practice, an engineer can deploy his mics for optimum use relative to a source, be it a drum head, a vocalist, a guitar amp, whatever. Workhorse mics, or, say, a regularly used combination of drum mics, can be saved in a ‘favourites’ menu. “Monitoring the directivity allows you to enhance the decision-making process and adjust your microphones, before you start recording or playing live,” says Guerra. Aratechlabs’ CIO Francesc Ticó came up with the concept for Arapolarmic in 2011, but it wasn’t until 2013 when the core team (Ticó alongside CEO Lluis Ticó, CTO Daniel Seix and COO Guerra) started serious development on the project. In order to test and satisfy the needs of different segments of the audio community, the startup signed agreements with various partners. Hence, on the website, you will see logos from the likes of the Music

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studio

For the latest studio news www.psneurope.com/studio Lan recording studio, El Terrat TV production company, Microfusa teaching school (where PSNEurope saw the application in action) and more. Some capital from the project has been injected by ENISA, a Spanish public body investing in innovative startups. “This is the focus of our efforts: to launch a product that represents the spirit of the company. What does that mean? We don’t sell hardware: we want to add value to the hardware that is already in the market,” explains Guerra. Arapolarmic is currently only iPad-ready, but Android and iPhone versions are coming. The second, though more academic, function of the technology should not be underestimated: suddenly, an Arapolarmic-loaded iPad becomes a repository of all the technical data you need for the microphones supported. “You don’t need the internet to use it – the information is already built-in, ” as Guerra puts it. Some of this data is unique to Arapolarmic, has it has not been published before. For instance, polar patterns of AEA Ribbon

mics (R84 and R92) have been provided by the manufacturer solely for inclusion it in Arapolarmic. Patterns for Violet Designs’ Amethyst and The Finger were especially measured by the team at the anechoic chamber in the University of Barcelona and in the Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) in Madrid too. Aratechlabs took the prototype application to Frankfurt in March this year, and, during back-to-back meetings with microphone manufacturers, says Guerra, the response was nearly always the same. First, the recognition and understanding of the need for such a tool – for home users learning to set up microphones, for experienced engineers who want to check out the polar patterns of unfamiliar kit, for teaching establishments who want a practical aid in the classroom. And the second response: the “oh, that’s cool!” moment when they saw the augmented reality of the templates and the camera image kick in. Or as Guerra put it, “when they saw the magic”. The

CIO and COO: Aratechlabs’ Francesc Ticó and Mike Guerra (L–R)

POFF! moment, in fact. The company has just released the first ‘how to use’ tutorial videos online, in English and Spanish. Local PA hire firms Twincam and Sounders, and broadcast specialist Magical Media Lleida have helped out in creating and producing the tutorials.

Meanwhile, user guides for the software are planned in a total of ten languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Brazilian-Portuguese (…and Catalan!). The launch library includes microphone models from AEA, Audix, Audio-Technica, Beyerdynamic, ElectroVoice, Lewitt, Mojave Audio, Oktava, Schoeps, Royer Labs, Telefunken Elektroakustik and Violet Design. There are of course significant omissions from that list, but the team are confident that other

names will come on board with time. After all, they recently found a site (recordinghacks. com/microphones) listing around 1,500 microphones, discontinued and currently available, in the marketplace. Signing them all up is going to lead to a lot of pattern plotting and programming, but little time for that great Spanish tradition, the siesta… Arapolarmic is available to download now from the Apple App Store. Q www.aratechlabs.com

UNITED KINGDOM DE LANE LEA studios has installed Dolby Atmos in its largest mixing stage, becoming the first facility in central London to offer the surround sound technology. Stage one at the Soho, London, post-production house was equipped with Atmos following a threeweek installation process. Helen Alexander, director of operations and business development at De Lane Lea,

comments: “Here at Warner Bros De Lane Lea, we pride ourselves on being able to offer the best possible talent, facilities and equipment in the world of sound postproduction. To that end, we’re delighted that we are now the home of Soho’s first Dolby Atmos-equipped mixing stage, which is already being enjoyed by our current clients.” www.wbsound.com/london www.dolby.com

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studio UNITED KINGDOM

Goodbye city, hello country Award-winning mix engineer Cenzo Townshend has sought to capture a little of the magic of classic US studios like LA’s Fairfax and Sound City with his newly expanded rural facility, Decoy, writes David Davies LOCATED A STONE’S throw from the Sutton Hoo burial ship – widely viewed as the most important Anglo-Saxon site in the UK – Woodbridge’s credentials as a place of special historic interest have never been in any doubt. But, in general, the picturesque Suffolk coastal town hasn’t exactly been regarded as a hotbed of rock’n’roll activity. Delve a little deeper, however, and your perceptions will be overturned. For a start, it’s the birthplace of the most consistently innovative producer of his generation: one Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste

de la Salle Eno. It has also, for many years, provided a home and working base to multiMPG Award-winning mix engineer Cenzo Townshend, whose numerous clients have included Graham Coxon, Franz Ferdinand, U2, Snow Patrol and The Maccabees. Ten years ago, Townshend was a resident engineer at London’s Olympic studios. One Christmas, he found himself making cards and crackers at his children’s school with another Woodbridge resident who, by an extraordinary coincidence, turned out to be none other than David Bell – MD of leading

studio acoustic design company White Mark. “We discussed the studios where I had worked, and David pointed out that he had actually designed quite a few of them!” recalls Townshend. This chance meeting was the starting point for a collaboration that, several years later, resulted in the creation of Townshend’s own home-based mix room, known as Decoy. Built around a 56-channel SSL 6000G console, the wellequipped space also features a 64-channel Pro Tools system, a wealth of vintage outboard (Neve modules, Pultec EQs, EMI compressors, Bricasti

Cenzo Townshend

reverbs) and Focal SM9s, ATC SCM100s and Yamaha NS10s for monitoring. “The mix room was working out really well, but I noticed that on a lot of projects coming through the recording wasn’t quite finished,” he says. “There was this need for a room where the bands could overdub whilst I was mixing. So that was the starting point for this recent expansion… although it’s ended up being a much bigger project than that!” OF LIVE ROOMSAND LOGS Townshend isn’t exaggerating: over the last two years, the

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studio

The vocal booth at Decoy barn-based complex has grown in scope to encompass a 66sqm control room, 42sqm live room and 15sqm live booth (primarily for vocals); the existing mix room has remained essentially unaltered. Throughout the project, Townshend has been consistently informed by a desire “to capture some of the magic of old American studios like Sound City and Fairfax… that kind of feel. But above all, I

simply wanted to be able to have great records made here.” With a wealth of post and broadcast clients alongside ‘classic’ music studio clients including Hit Factory Criteria Miami and Real World, White Mark was again an obvious candidate to deliver the acoustic design. As David Bell recalls, some of the most specific challenges resulted from Townshend’s overall aesthetic

concept for the studio. “In the large live room, Cenzo had a strong stylistic idea to install a log pile into one of the walls to emphasise the rural nature of the environment,” he says. “Given the large picture windows that bring the great views into the studio, there was the likelihood that you would be confronting quite a serious flutter problem, so what we did was acoustically treat the area around the 4m diameter circle reserved for the logs, then purchase kiln-dried logs of 2-3 inches each in diameter. We had them cut into different lengths to produce a random series of flat surfaces to act as a diffuser… or ‘logfuser’, as we’ve dubbed it. It’s an innovative approach, but if you look at our live rooms in general, it is consistent with our emphasis on specially designed diffusers.” As with the mix space, the new control room is generously stocked with classic outboard from the likes of Pultec, dbx and Neve, but is based around

an Audient ASP8024 console that Townshend has owned “for quite a while… I used to take it out and install it in houses to record bands”. The monitoring inventory, meanwhile, includes Tannoy SRM 10Bs, KRK 9000Bs, Yamaha NS10s and some PMCs, too, “so people have a real choice of what they want to use”. TAKING TEA WITH ENO Blessed with some exquisitely bucolic views of the Suffolk countryside but close to bars, restaurants and a direct rail service to London Liverpool Street, the expanded Decoy would seem to be well-placed to take advantage of the recent growth in private residential facilities. But Townshend isn’t under any illusions about the wider studio market, and, although he plans to manage the hiring-out of the studios with his own team at first, he does not rule out tapping external help should it be required.

“Rates are being driven down all the time, and it is worrying,” he admits. “But we are at a price point that is very competitive for what we are and the services we supply, let alone the amount of great equipment we have.” For Townshend, there is surely a pleasing circularity to the launch of his own fully fledged studio in Woodbridge – the very town where, more than 30 years ago, he approached the aforementioned Eno about a job at his own private studio. “He sat me down, gave me a cup of tea, and explained very nicely why he didn’t really have a job to give me,” laughs Townshend, who nonetheless recalls a tour of Eno’s “weird and wonderful studio… the tape machine was in the closet!” The layout of his own facility might be a little more conventional, but Townshend is clearly poised and ready to put Woodbridge on the professional studio map once and for all. Q www.decoysound.org www.whitemark.com

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broadcast SOUNDBITES Canford has been announced as the sole UK broadcast distributor of the new Fischer FiberOptic Series of optical connectors. Available in either two-fibre (FO2) or four-fibre (FO4) configurations, FiberOptic Series cables are suitable for pointto-point audio, data or camera connection use in environments such as studio floors, touring, rental and outside broadcasts. www.canford.co.uk Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg (rbb) broadcast the 2014 German Film Awards (Deutscher Filmpreis) ceremony using a CEDAR DNS 8 Live noise suppressor to reduce ambient noise and reverb in the main programme sound. According to rbb, the DNS 8 Live “increased the presence and transparency of the transmission” from the Tempodrom in Berlin, “so that both clarity and intelligibility were improved”. www.cedaraudio.com Music licensing company PPL reports that it has distributed £114 million in its annual June payment for the calendar year 2013. This is the largest amount the company has paid out in its 80-year history – a 9% growth on the previous year’s payment. PPL, which works on behalf of over 90,000 record companies and performers to license music played in public and broadcast (TV, radio and online), will on this occasion be making payments against almost half a million tracks to approximately 3,000 recording rights holders and almost 22,000 members. www.ppluk.com Arqiva has formed a consortium with the Bauer and UTV (Ulster Television) media groups to jointly bid for the UK’s second commercial digital radio multiplex. The new national DAB network is intended to create at least 10 more digital radio stations nationwide, with up to 30 per cent of the multiplex’s capacity available for services wanting to use DAB+. Commenting on the bid, Steve Holebrook, MD of terrestrial broadcast at Arqiva, says: “Radio’s future is undoubtedly digital, and we are delighted to be working with Bauer and UTV to bid for the second national DAB multiplex licence, which will help to realise that digital future.” www.arqiva.com

WORLD

MXL Mics goes back to school for inspiration Kevin Hilton ﬁnds out how MXL’s new Mobile Media series delivers big sound in a small package BROADCAST AND VIDEO production technology evolves over the years to keep pace with emerging operational techniques. The microphone market has seen some of the most dramatic changes, as engineers and broadcasters have demanded ever more discreet but effective mics. The growing use of digital SLR cameras and smartphones by programme-makers – from young YouTubers to independent film directors to mainstream TV – has created both a new way of working and a challenge to mic manufacturers to provide good quality sound at an affordable price in a small package. Among the companies actively addressing this emerging market is MXL Microphones, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary with the introduction of a range of mics compatible with mobile phones and tablets. The Mobile Media (MM) series was launched at the NAMM Show in January, and is part of MXL’s efforts to not just tap into a new user base but also expand and extend its existing range to cover a broad sweep of applications. Not that Perry Goldstein, director of sales and marketing for MXL Microphones, thinks that manufacturers are necessarily the best arbiters of how and for what their products will be used. “It’s never really good to judge a product in that way,” he says. “No matter what people think something will be used for, they will be partly right but mostly wrong. The market decides.” MXL was established by Leonard Marshall, founder

San Francisco singer-songwriter Marlon Simpson on stage with his MXL Live Series microphone

“[Young people are] all looking for something to connect with their phones so they [can] record and do conference calls. This is a young crowd that recognises they need better audio” Perry Goldstein, director of sales and marketing, MXL Microphones of Marshall Electronics, the producer of LCD monitors and racks, Mogami cables and connectors and digital signage systems. His ambition was to create a good studio condenser mic at an affordable price, with the ultimate aim – which might have seemed overly ambitious back in 1994 – of taking on the dominance of Neumann but for a quarter of the price. “He was probably thinking that it would be mostly musicians that would buy

something like that, but there was also demand in broadcasting from people doing voiceover work,” Goldstein says. The 2001 condenser mic established MXL in the market and led to a range of condensers and tube mics for both the MI sector and broadcast. The company also moved into live sound and field recording, more recently diversifying with USB devices and web conferencing systems. That diversification has continued with its products

for mobile recording. Over the last few years, DSLR cameras have reached a level of picture quality and pricing that they are being used by aspiring, semiprofessional and professional film- and programme-makers. The weak point was the onboard sound, but mic manufacturers stepped in with small shotgun mics to sit in the flash hot shoe. MXL is part of this with the FR-310 electret condenser, but Goldstein observes that equal, if not greater, demand for better

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broadcast

For the latest studio news www.psneurope.com/broadcast audio to go with pictures is coming from those using their iPhones or Android devices to produce films and TV shows. “Once upon a time, you had phones that could take pictures, but while there are professional cameras out there as well, people are discovering they can shoot a movie on their iPhone 5,” he says. “These are now competing with point-andshoot cameras and professionals are using them. These devices create stunning video; however, the audio recording capability is limited. So, we [had] a target market in mind and created a full line of mics that plug into the 3.5mm mini jack, which makes them compatible with most phones and tablets, regardless of operating system.” To make the MM Series more attractive to the professional sector, MXL has worked on the impedance of the shotgun, wireless and boundary mics in the range, so that they work at mic level. This, Goldstein says, is attractive to potential users

but he admits that, initially, he and his colleague misjudged who some of them might be. The somewhat surprising truth was revealed at the end of June in Anaheim during VidCon, billed as the event for people who love online video. “We thought it would be 20to 30-somethings, like college students and so on,” Goldstein comments. “But there were seven- to 16-year-olds looking for something to connect with their phones so they could record and do conference calls. This is a young crowd that recognises they need better audio. And they’re aspirational – they’re starting with phones but many either also had DSLRs or were planning to move up to them.” Another sector where smartphones are becoming widely used is radio reporting, and MXL is looking towards this for ongoing expansion. Among products for radio, as well as other sectors, will be a re-working of a previous MXL product – but the new four-mic

Mini Mixer will, Goldstein says, be the size of an iPhone and offer both electret audio and USB capability. Concluding that the key is being able to offer something the competition can’t, Goldstein returns to MXL’s experience at

VidCon as part of its current inspiration: “What we learned there was the real users are the children. There were 14-year olds who have their own IPTV channels, selling advertising and everything. We have to start thinking about the future

The MM (Mobile Media) series of mics was launched at the NAMM Show in January, and is part of the veteran manufacturer’s efforts to tap into a new userbase

and who our market is, which looks like being these children who are just starting out. I’m just astounded at their level of professionalism and we have to tell this generation growing up who we are.” Q www.mxlmics.com

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broadcast BELGIUM

VRT celebrates 100 years of radio with new studio conﬁguration

One of the new Radio 2 studios demonstrating its ‘box-in-the-box’ design, ﬂying over the entrance hall

On the centennial of the ﬁrst radio broadcast in Belgium, listeners were invited to a guided tour in two new on-air studios installed within VRT’s Radio 2 regional stations, reports Marc Maes TO CELEBRATE the centennial of the first radio broadcast in Belgium, the country’s Dutch-language public broadcaster, VRT, launched a major refurbishment of two studios belonging to its Radio 2 station, the most popular in Flanders. The assignment was carried out by the VRT project and support team, with Amptec taking on cabling and the technical integration. Both studios – Radio 2 West Flanders, based in Kortrijk (Courtray), and Radio 2 Limburg, in Hasselt – date from 2003; as does the radio production landscape. The first major change was moving the ground floor on-air studio, located in the station’s entrance hall, to the upper floor, allowing direct visual contact with the local editorial team. The ground floor room will be further used as production studio, for programmes with a live audience or events. The technical configuration will consist of a basic mobile studio set-up, allowing maximal flexibility and interaction, and will be operational after summer. The idea is to integrate it in the building’s DHD audio environment, either as a standalone unit or mobile, flightcased kit. The former control rooms in Kortrijk and Hasselt will further serve as a remote studio for the broadcaster’s news service,

with a high-quality audio link to the main news studio and TV cameras in Brussels. The new on-air studio philosophy is for as a ‘boxin-the-box’ room, with lots of natural daylight and a wide open space over the public entrance downstairs. “The basic idea with our new studios was to have minimal technical equipment in the studio,” explains Wim Ermens, studio project engineer with VRT radio. “We go for the ‘clean studio’ principle, concentrating on the presenter’s job in a self-op environment.” In addition to the standard configuration of Neumann U 89 microphones, Genelec 8240 monitors and Fostex 6301 advance listening speakers, the new Radio 2 studios are equipped with DHD 52/MX consoles. “The new DHD XC core copes with more distributed I/O and is better suited to serve the whole radio building: the technical room, the on-air studio, the recording and editing booths and the editorial desks,” Ermens says. Programming and configuration of the DHD consoles has been realised by VRT support, while desk layout has been kept clean, using the DHD touchscreens for more in-depth audio console operations. The two studios were also the first VRT networks to be equipped with the new Dalet+

playout system. “Dalet+ establishes a link to the I-news newsroom system allowing our presenters to work from paperless desks,” continues Ermens. “The system displays also offer a new rundown for news items, allowing the [pre-]production of news bulletins by the station’s local editorial team.” A new AVT TH6 telephone hybrid system and the latest AVT AC1 codecs complete the studio set-up. The VRT project team also rethought the microphone chain. A Dan Dugan E3 microphone mixer automatically decides, based on smart algorithms, which microphone faders should be opened: the presenter opens the microphone group fader, and the intelligent microphone management system takes it from there. DHD has been programmed by VRT so that other microphone configurations like, for example, the talk show host being on a separate fader, are possible. The microphone signal is then channelled from the Dugan to an analogue Empirical Labs Distressor EL8-X before it returns to the DHD MX 52. “Dan Dugan [Sound Design]’s equipment is becoming a popular tool in radio studios […] in Flanders,” says Bart Lamberigts, project manager broadcast with Amptec. “The combination of the DDE3 and

the EL8-X has become VRT[’s] standard.” The choice for DHD as a successor for the Klotz-Vadis consoles was inspired by the user-friendliness of DHD as a distribution system, linking up the different elements via Cat-6 cables. “The big difference with the technology used 10 years ago – where the presenter’s console already acted as remote

control for a central core – is that today, all physical in/outs are distributable and scalable,” continues Lamberigts. “The system has evolved from card frames to smaller rack-mountable units. Where, in the past, a presenter position with four microphones and two headsets required six audio cables, we now bring one Cat-6 cable under the presenter’s

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broadcast “The basic idea is to have minimal technical equipment in the new studios… We go for a ‘clean studio’ principle” Wim Ermens, studio project engineer, VRT Radio desk and connect it – like other patches for local codecs, reverbs (like the TC M2000), monitor outputs and headphone connections. All via Cat 6 to the main core, and all using the sole structured cabling and patchpanels through the building.”

The new studio rack and (below) voice booth set-ups

As part of the same refurbishment, Radio 2 has also renewed the station’s recording and editing booths and production studio, and based it on the same DHD platform and Dalet+ system. Q

www.vrt.be www.amptec.be www.avt-nbg.de www.dalet.com www.dandugan.com www.dhd-audio.de www.empiricallabs.com

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broadcast UNITED KINGDOM

BBC local radio contemplates virtual future BBC Radio Northampton has become the ﬁrst in what could become a full network of virtual local radio (ViLoR), discovers Kevin Hilton LOCAL RADIO has always had the image of being parochial and a little behind the times. Which is unfair, because this sometimes marginalised, but important, area of broadcasting is often underfunded but has produced presenters, journalists and engineers who have gone on to greater things in national broadcasting. But in the UK, this cosy little backwater is being used as the proving ground for a new approach to technical presentation and distribution that could change the way studios are built and operated. On 3 July, BBC Radio Northampton became the first in what could become a full network of virtual local radio (ViLoR). BBC local radio was launched in 1967 with Radio Leicester, and, since then, the network has built up to cover major cities, towns or whole counties around the UK. There are now 40 stations with studios and equipment of varying ages, 39 of which have been deemed to need a technological upgrade. The ViLoR project was created to deal with the scale of this task, which, using traditional radio equipment, would cost a huge amount of money and take a long time to complete. The plan is to maintain each station’s localness, with on-air and production equipment in the studios that presenters and journalists will find familiar, but centralise all storage, streaming, mixing and processing of data in virtual local radio centres (VLRCs). The basis of this is IP technology, supported by modern digital broadcast equipment, connected using analogue interfaces and widely available IT hardware. The project was conceived by Geoff Woolf, technology development manager for BBC English regions, who explains that the priority was to retain technical

capabilities at each local station so the production and news teams were able to work as usual. “With ViLoR, the studios are equipped with control surfaces and software which instead of controlling a stack of equipment in the station’s racks room now controls a stack of resilient kit in two geographically diverse VLRCs,” he says. “By doing so, kit which until now was replicated for every station can be shared across all stations.” For most people the term ‘virtual radio’ would usually mean a station running with all mixing, editing, source routing and playout functions carried out in software on computers with little, if any, hardware. Woolf says ViLoR is virtual in the sense that it is a “radio station operating in a cloud”. This is, he explains, achieved in four ways: centralisation of the majority of the broadcast technology, including the kit used to support real-time services for the studio such as audio mixing and phones; replacing nearly all the base-band audio (whether analogue or AES3 serial digital) with IP streams operating on the BBC’s enterprise IT network; using IP-based software working on commodity IT hardware to provide operational capability instead of the conventional approach of specialist broadcast hardware-based systems; and, once all that has been achieved, “hardware virtualisation techniques” are used to consolidate the number of physical servers required to provide the required capability. Atos, the BBC’s technology partner, is providing the wide area network, with the various operating platforms and SANs in the VLRCs; one of which is in the Mailbox Centre in Birmingham, the other in London. Woolf acknowledges that centralisation inherently introduces latency as the audio

BBC Radio Northampton’s John Griff (left) and Joe Pignatiello

signals travel between the studio and the VLRCs, but he has developed techniques to deal with this. To ensure ViLoR has enough bandwidth, it is connected over the BBC’s private packet data network, which is used by the broadcasters facilities worldwide. BBC Radio Northampton was used as the test bed for ViLoR in 2012. One studio was

ViLoR could change the way studios are built and operated, reducing the time it takes to re-equip a station from 6-8 months to around eight weeks re-equipped with an Axia digital console, Glensound Electronics analogue interfaces, Scisys (VCS) automation and Broadcast Bionic’s PhoneBOX call handling system, which controls all contributions (not just phones), contribution routing and social media management. This has now been installed over the whole station, and will be the standard format for subsequent installations; BBC Radios Suffolk and Essex and Three Counties Radio, covering Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, are to follow over the next nine months. The BBC sees the benefits of ViLoR as: reducing the time

it takes to re-equip a station from six to eight months to approximately eight weeks; improved audio quality, because it remains in the same format through the production and broadcast processes; better communication with the audience through social media; and the ability to share material between stations in different parts of the country. Woolf comments that ViLoRbased “pop-up studios” would “significantly enhance the BBC’s outside broadcast capabilities” because all that would be needed at the OB venue would be the control surfaces and PCs running the control software. “To do

this with ViLoR as developed to date will require the secure extension of the BBC’s private IT network to the OB venue,” he says. “Not an impossible task, but one that requires an element of pre-planning. It will be a relatively modest amount of development for ViLoR to operate securely over the internet but this development work is not in the current plan.” The BBC says it will monitor the progress of the first four ViLoR radio stations and make any necessary improvements or changes before deciding whether to bring virtual technology to other parts of the network. Q www.bbc.co.uk

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McBusted at 102dBa on Sunday 6 July

live SOUNDBITES Amadeus provided sound reinforment for the third Palais en Jazz event at the Château de Compiègne, northern France, on 28–29 June. The festival featured Amadeus’s PMX, DIVA and MAESTRO speaker systems – with an SSL digital console and Sonic Emotion’s Sonic Wave I ‘3D sound’ processor – delivering the music of jazz artists Thomas Dutronc and Michel Legrand to an outdoor audience in the grounds of the former imperial palace. www.amadeusaudio.fr A 40-strong jury from the Design Centre of North Rhine-Westphalia has bestowed a Red Dot Design Award for product design on d&b audiotechnik’s ﬂagship D80 ampliﬁer. The award-winning D80 will be on display to the general public for four weeks before it moves to a permanent exhibition at the Red Dot Design Museum, Essen. www.dbaudio.com Roland Systems Group has announced the launch of the Live Event Hire Programme, a new initiative designed to “promote the growing network of UK rental companies supplying Roland professional audio and video products for hire”. “The aim of the Live Event Hire Programme is primarily to help raise market awareness of the service providers in the rental market by giving prospective clients a clear picture of which companies have which products available for immediate hire, explains business development manager Chris Webster, “and, of course, making it easy to for them to get in contact by following a link from the RSG website.” rolandsystemsgroup.co.uk Robbie Williams spent much of April, May and June on tour throughout Europe promoting his latest album, Swings Both Ways with a package of Sennheiser microphones and in-ear monitors. The British singer’s audio system was supplied by Britannia Row Productions, and included 10 channels of Sennheiser SKM 5200 series handheld microphones with MD 5235 capsules and 22 channels of 2000 series in-ear monitors. www.allen-heath.com

UNITED KINGDOM

Capital, Martin Audio deliver an even louder British Summer Time By reducing the low and low-mid frequency band, Martin Audio achieved an increase of 2–3dB in max FOH levels on last year’s groundbreaking BST Hyde Park event, writes Jon Chapple AFTER DEMONSTRATING at last year’s British Summer Time festival that Hyde Park in London could be protected from noise leakage into surrounding areas using a Martin Audio MLA solution, festival promoter AEG Live adopted an updated version of the 2013 solution for this year’s concerts. According to Martin Audio’s R&D director, Jason Baird, the company was “determined that new optimisations would enable [us] to eke out as much as an additional 3dB at front of house without increasing offsite pollution”. As a result, 102dBa was achieved for McBusted (pictured onstage), with 73dBa recorded offsite – comfortably within the maximum allowable 75dBa – while both Tom Jones and Black Sabbath nudged 103dBa. Baird explains that Martin Audio’s research had begun begun three months earlier, and the concept “tested and proven” on the Glastonbury Festival

delay rig the week before (25–29 June). “We conducted the propagation tests based on what we learnt last time around,” he says. “One of the key offsite measurement points identified […] at Hyde Park was on top of flats in the nearby Upper Brook Street in Mayfair. “When I visited the property last year, I was able to look at the complete spectrum of the signal. You could hear there was only LF and low-mid that was contributing to the A-weight measurements, and we realised that if we could reduce that frequency band we could have a better differential.” He describes these early tests – and the additional increase of 2–3dB in max FOH levels over the previous year by– as “encouraging and significant”. For the main PA, Capital Sound deployed two hangs of 16 MLA and one MLD Downfill per side, with 12 MLA and one MLD Downfill for the sidefills. The sub array consisted of 21 MLX in a broadside cardioid array, and a further 11

(L–R) Martin Audio’s Jason Baird and Chris Pyne with Ian Colville of Capital Sound

enclosures back facing. “Headliners at Hyde Park are now performing at levels well in excess of 100dB, which was unthinkable only two years ago,” concludes AEG Live event director Jim King. “Capital and Martin have done an excellent job, and the system data and know-how about the

site is there for visiting FOH engineers to get the very best levels and sound coverage for their artists.” The 10-day Barclaycard British Summer Time Hyde Park festival took place from Friday 4 to Sunday 13 July. Q www.capital-sound.co.uk www.martin-audio.com

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live It’s a long way down from the Stade de France’s level 3 FRANCE

Indochine shines at Stade de France

Lagoona speciﬁed an Adamson Energia sound reinforcement system, driven by Lab.gruppen racks and supported by DiGiCo and Soundcraft desks, for the Black City Tour FRENCH NEW wave band Indochine have been drawing record crowds to their latest European tour, Black City. The largest event to date took place at the Stade de France at the end of July. Indochine, who have sold over 10 million records since their formation in 1981 – making them one of the most successful French bands of all time – performed two shows and drew more than 110,000 fans to the French national stadium, situated just north of Paris in Saint-Denis. Nicolas Sirkis, the frontman and lead singer for Indochine, assisted in the creation of a sound, lighting and video show – and Philippe Dubich, the band’s sound engineer, specified the Adamson Energia sound reinforcement system. Saint-Denis-based Lagoona, a full production company that provides sound, lighting and video for major tours and festivals in Europe, has worked with Indochine for the last five years. The Black City Tour was no exception, with Lagoona providing full production services for the tour, including the recent Stade de France dates. “We have been Adamson supporters since the early days,”

explains Gilles Bedon, managing director of Lagoona. “We started with the system 200, then later with the Y10, Y18 and SpekTrix. Now we finally have the E15 and E12, which are truly revolutionary.” DV2, Adamson’s distributor in France, worked closed with the Lagoona team and Dubich to design the Stade de France system. “The new Blueprint AV software from Adamson helped substantially with the system design,” says Julien Poirot, DV2 system tech. “We created a 3D model of the stadium and placed the arrays for optimum coverage. It was a very large space with a large seating area, but setting it up in Blueprint made it a much more manageable job.” With the stage situated at the north end of the stadium, Poirot was tasked with designing a system that would cover the field seating, as well as 80 per cent of the stadium seating (seating located behind the stage was not used for the concert). Ultimately, he utilised more than 200 Adamson line array enclosures (140 E15 plus 66 E12), along with 48 Adamson T21 and 12 DV2 MDC3 subwoofers. Adamson Metrix and SpekTrix boxes stepped up with front fill duties.

“I was extremely impressed with how accurate the Blueprint AV software was,” adds Poirot. “I was pleasantly surprised by its precision, as well as the reliability of the intelligibility calculation.” The main PA consisted of left and right hangs of 24 E15 and four SpekTrix line array enclosures. 24 T21 subwoofers stacked 12 high, back to back, were located under each array for dynamic low-end presence. Four stacks made up of four Metrix line array enclosures and two Metrix subs were situated ground level, in front of the stage, to handle front fill. The main PA provided sound to most of the field and lower-level stadium seating. To bolster the lower level and first balcony stadium seating to the left and right of the stage, Poirot put together two outfill line arrays, this time comprised of 24 E15 line array enclosures each. Left, centre and right delay towers were constructed 75 yards from the stage to reinforce coverage of the field and main level seating at the back of the stadium. The left and right delay towers were both equipped with line arrays comprised of twentytwo E15s. The ground stacked centre delay was made up of six

200+

Adamson line array enclosures deployed at the Stade de France

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live The view from front of house

10m

The number of Indochine albums sold

“The [Energia] system is rock solid… it would be wonderful if every tour could go as well as this has” Julien Poirot, system tech with DV2

The ever-diligent Indochine checking sound coverage

E12s and 12 MDC3 subs. With these systems in place, the field, lower and second level seating areas were blanketed with sound. However, coverage of the second balcony was still not complete. With the goal of providing the same audio experience to every seat in the house, Poirot designed a roof delay system for the upper balcony seats. Six smaller line arrays – four with nine E12s and two with six E12s – were hung from the lip of the stadium roof. The distributed ring of line arrays completed the system, enveloping the stadium in smooth, seamless sound reinforcement. “I really did not expect to have such consistency with the PA system in a venue of this size,” comments Dubich. “It was awesome at all levels.” The sound reinforcement system was driven by racks of Lab.gruppen PLM 20000Q (78) and 10000Q (22) amplifiers with Lake processing. The racks, situated near the arrays they powered, were also equipped with Lake digital audio system processors; a total of nine LM 44 and seven LM 26 units were in use. “The Lab.gruppen amps

deliver a very punchy sound that we really like,” Poirot says. Dubich manned a DiGiCo SD7 at front of house for Indochine, while a DiGiCo SD10 was also on hand for the opening acts. Monitor engineer Cedric Pontieux had two Soundcraft Vi6 digital consoles at his disposal for all monitor operations. Dubich notes that he chose the SD7 not only for its audio quality but also because of the flexibility it provides with routing, desk organization, dynamics and EQ. The SD7 is also loaded with a Waves Soundgrid, which provides “infinite” plug-in options. “Phillippe uses a multiband compressor, dynamic EQs and DeEsser on all channels,” adds Bedon. “With all of the plugins controlled directly on the touch screen, it is an incredibly powerful desk with unlimited possibilities.” Dubich’s outboard gear rack is loaded with a Lexicon 960L digital effects system, TC Electronic M6000 (effects) and a DiGiCo SD Mini Rack. After Stade de France, Indochine began to wrap up the Black City Tour with final

show dates in Colmar, Argeles, London and Carhaix. “It has been an amazing tour,” concludes Poirot. “We have been fortunate to play in incredible venues to thousands of loyal fans. The system is rock solid. The team of people we are working with is more than impressive. It would be

wonderful if every tour could go as well as this has.” Q www.adamsonsystems.com www.digico.biz www.dv2.fr www.labgruppen.com www.lagoona.fr www.indo.fr www.soundcraft.com

EUROPE THE BROILERS, the German oi! band who rank among the most successful punk acts in continental Europe, celebrated the 20th anniversary of their founding with a 16-date, multi-country tour, Broilers Noir Live, backed by kit from Electro-Voice, PSNEurope can exclusively reveal.

For the tour’s larger venues, system technician Rüdiger Nürnberg deployed the X-Line system as the main PA – with XLC components supplying side fill or delay – while mediumsized locations “were the exclusive preserve of the XLC [line array]”. www.electrovoice.com

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Sig. Antonacci on stage

live

Stefano De Maio (left) and Damiano Pinazza at the CDC eight

ITALY

BA + CDC AS WELL as multi-platinum sales for several of his 13 successful studio albums, top Italian singer/songwriter Biagio Antonacci can also be counted on for high-impact live events, such as his two recent shows at the Arena della Vittoria in Bari and Milan’s San Siro stadium – for which his long-standing FOH engineer, Stefano De Maio, helmed a CDC eight-32, Cadac’s flagship digital live sound console, on its first outing for a large live event in Italy. De Maio has worked with Antonacci for 25 years – initially as his sound engineer, then, from 1998, also as his artistic co-producer. In 2007, he doffed his producer’s hat, but has continued on live FOH duty. Although this was his first outing with a digital console, De Maio had already used a Cadac J-Type console, provided by Italian rental firm Agorà, on the artist’s tours for years. He explains: “During the two-week rehearsals in the

run-up to the shows, I was tied up with solving the countless problems involved in organising such large events – so I actually raised the faders for the first time at the rehearsals on the day before the Bari show, and the same was the case at San Siro!” After the two shows, De Maio had no doubts as to which of the desk’s features impressed him most: “Apart from the excellent sound, which is essential, how many digital consoles let you do a good mix in what is virtually a ‘plug and play’ situation? I raised the faders, got the balance – just dialled in the high pass filters on the mic amps – and, with very little EQ or processing, it was up and running!” According to Damiano Pinazza of Italian Cadac distributor Audio Network Technology, “the Italian market has reacted very well to the products. There‘s ongoing growth and the situation is very positive, particularly in the

Photo: Lorenzo Ortolani

Italian pop star Biagio Antonacci used Cadac’s flagship digital console for two stadium shows, writes Mike Clark

Cadac CDC in control rental sector – without doubt the must receptive area of the Italian market as far as Cadac is concerned – even although we’ve just finished the first stage of a very high profile install project. The features of the CDC eight that have struck potential users most have been its great sound, which everyone takes for granted, but was objectively confirmed at our demos and A/B tests with other brands’ desks. “Everybody has also found it extremely easy to use. For example, veteran sound engineer Piero Bravin had never seen the CDC eight, but [...] just an hour after sitting down at the console, recorded a perfect first take of a

symphonic orchestra, and after less than three hours’ work was running solo. He said it was kid’s play to use...” With Antonacci, Stefan used a CDC eight-32 console, with two main touch screens, each with a 16-fader section, and a central section with the master LCR fader and three other shorter faders for local monitors, headphones and local wedge control. As well as the lighting and video set-up, L’Aquila’s Agorà (audio contractor for the Sochi Olympics ceremonies), fielded an impressive L-Acoustics audio rig for the shows – the main system’s two hangs each featured six K1 subs and 18

K1s, with each of the two side hangs comprising 16 K1s. Infills were 6x6 KUDO, front fills 20 dV-DOSC, and no less than 60 SB28 subs were ground-installed three-up around the set’s central stage. There were also 10 delay hangs, each with six V-DOSC and six dV-DOSC. De Maio asked Agorà if he could use the Cadac CDC console for the two events… and the company willingly gave its OK. Summing up his experience with the CDC eight32, De Maio enthused: “This is definitely one of today’s top digital consoles!” Q www.agoraaq.it www.audionetwork.it www.cadac-sound.com

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live

On the road 2014

part two

Exclusively for PSNEurope, renowned FOH engineer Simon Honywill’s account of his sonic summer continues – and it’s been as posh, eclectic and just plain muddy as he was expecting WELL, I SURVIVED. Having put myself up for a potential public lynching in the yard at Worthy Farm, it seems I was right to persuade Glastonbury Festival that a change of PA system was needed on the Pyramid Stage… and that PA system is Martin Audio’s remarkable MLA. It did not disappoint – in any way whatsoever. A change of PA system usually comes about as a result of a change of supply company, but not so this time. RG Jones has supplied the Pyramid Stage for seven years now, and so it was that they brought together a system so totally absorbing for all, no matter where they were in the field, that I would defy anybody to step forward and say they could get a better result whilst still maintaining the peace with the local authority. Anybody that disagrees can step outside, now. MLA’s radical technology allowed general levels of around 103/104dBa at front of house – a significant increase on past years of around 4–5dBa. With a volume profile of 6dB from the mosh pit to the back of the field, some 300 metres away, this made for an altogether much more involving audience experience; a fact supported by the number of punters squashed up against the FOH barrier who actually said so.

Elbow’s Guy Garvey shows his appreciation for MLA at Glastonbury

Sonically, the system was simply immense – there is no other word to describe it. The few engineers who walked the field prior to their gigs commented on how unprecedented was the evenness of coverage, and when it came to actually mixing, much fun was had by all. Rarely have I encountered such a totally relaxed FOH at Glastonbury. Tribute must be paid to everybody on the RG Jones team, who provided slick, tight, stress-free service worthy of the world’s greatest festival stage. All of this meant that I could relax, to the extent that I spent Saturday with my wife, youngest son and his bewildered mate doing the festival – we had only made it as far as the outer reaches of the camp sites when he pronounced that this was already the best day of his life! Great as it was to indulge the family and share the festival together, I soon started to consider the impact of what sound engineers do (or don’t do) on the experience for the punters. What led me to this was sheer disappointment, I am sad to say, and if there is one message I have, it’s this: come down from your ivory towers and get amongst it with the people you are there to serve. I experienced everything from the sublime to the crashingly awful, not necessarily in the places you would expect. All praise to the guy mixing Irish trad band Dervish on the Avalon Stage: the place was absolutely rocking (with the help of an excellent band of musicians, of course). But there were plenty of brilliant bands for whom both the system set-up and/ or the mix did anything but get people rocking. I was left wondering if some people had actually ever left FOH at all to listen to the system off-axis, so totally uninvolving was it compared to ‘power alley’ down the centre. One system (on a major stage) sounded completely un-tuned to me – fortunately, the engineer for the act we witnessed sussed this pretty quickly and ended up with a great result, all credit due, but that’s not the way to approach it. Get out there – get wet, get muddy and listen! Glastonbury was massive, certainly; muddy, naturally; but unsurpassable in its size, eclecticism and communal joy. From Pilton it was on to another iconic festival. I started mixing Chris Rea in 1996, when he was asked to play at Ferrari’s 50th birthday party in Modena. (How

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live ux in Montre breakfast t a w ie v The could I refuse?) That was soon followed by an invite to the legendary Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, a pervading memory even now. If you haven’t been there, you should forget about any traditional definitions of the word ‘festival’. The location, on the Lake Geneva shoreline, is exquisite, and for two weeks the festival takes over the waterfront. In the Auditorium Stravinski, the schedule is relaxed and the festival crew are equally so, resulting in the kind of working atmosphere that makes these one-off shows a joy. Equipment sponsorship from DiGiCo, Meyer Sound and Waves also helps! Getting the chance to go back there again with Chris was a privilege, but first there were some rehearsals to be had. Longcross Studios in Surrey is straight out of a BBC Blake’s 7 set from the 1970s. It was apparently a tank testing facility for the MoD, which might explain some of the extraordinary architecture. The room we were using (Nº116) had all the acoustic qualities of a shipping container. With the strange markings remaining from its past inhabitants, it’s a wonder any of us didn’t suffer from rapid hair loss. Oh, hang on…

Longcross Studios – Grand Designs, anybody? From the luxurious surroundings of Montreux it was back to the UK for another ‘festival’ that doesn’t conform to the stereotype. Here, instead of tents, there are gazebos. VW campers are replaced by Rolls-Royces; wellies and hot pants by evening dress and bow ties. Where else but Henley Festival, where even the crew wear black-tie. For Henley, I was back with RG Jones, audio providers for the festival since 1985 – I know because I’ve been at nearly all of them since then. But this time, instead of my usual place at FOH, I was system engineering. Until recently, the festival line up was perceived as upmarket, featuring classical and world music on the unique Floating Stage. As a live mix engineer, I cut my teeth on orchestral music, and Henley was a regular opportunity to get some practice in. After initial experiments with more popular genres, however, the festival committee realised that there was money to be made in opening up to a less exclusive audience, and recent years have seen Madness, Sting and, this year, Bryan Ferry step up to the mic. As a result, there’s little for me to do, so this year I went in as system engineer for the Floating Stage to work with Damo Dyer at FOH. The Floating Stage system Crew catering at Henley. design is a bit quirky, due to Complimentary Rolls-Royces not pictured

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live the very shallow but wide site that stretches along the bank of the Thames. The main system consisted of four hangs of eightdeep MLA Compact supported by two arrays of MLX subs and a series MLA Mini fills. The extraordinary abilities of this system were put to full use, with different optimisations for seated or standing audiences and the cabinets in the lower half of the main arrays utilised to cover up under the rim of the tiered grandstand seating. Bonkers, really. I don’t do much system engineering (I’m usually fortunate enough to rely on the likes of Mark Edwards, who is much quicker than me in every respect – he’s younger for a start), and especially not when wearing a dinner jacket, but the timing of it went a long way to supporting my thoughts on approaching mixing at festivals and the things I was ranting about earlier. Having established that my mate Nick Warren was happy at

Joss Stone at Henley Festival Photo: Sophie McCurdy

FOH, I spent the majority of Bryan Ferry’s set walking the audience. Wearing black tie as I was, remaining inconspicuous was easy – apart from when I was out there with a wireless tablet. I enjoyed toying with the

audience’s possible perceptions of what it was I was doing: taking pre-orders for dinner at Roux, perhaps, or counting captains of industry. At Henley, people are so polite that a gentle ‘excuse

me’ and a smile is all it takes to get to the front to have a listen to the infills. Had I been wearing roadie uniform I doubt they would have been so accommodating, however! Henley is undoubtedly a

unique event. The range of entertainment to be had varies wildly from the mainstream to the mad – this year’s fireworks spectacular was accompanied by two blokes in chainmail suits fighting with lightning whilst standing on pillars over the water, for instance. It has been in the past as much of a mudfest as Glastonbury, although it must be said that it lacks that special agricultural aroma – in fact, I would suggest that the mud at Henley smells slightly of very expensive perfume. So, that’s my summer ’14 so far. There’s more, for sure, with shows at Audley End House and Glastonbury Abbey to come, and then some welcome time with the family before what looks like a very busy run into Christmas with more Chris Rea and Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds. There are only 155 days to Christmas at the time of writing, so best spend some time stepping off those ivory towers! Q www.simonhonywill.com

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live

Kenny Kaiser mixing FOH for The Killers with SSL Live

Less is Moore

Phil Ward considers the technology cycles behind the digital live console HERE’S HOW reliable Moore’s law is: for the last four decades, several authoritative sources have given it a further 10 years from the point of prediction. In other words, it’s about as accurate as British weather forecasts and as secure a deadline as the ones proposed by druids preparing for the end of the world at Stonehenge, clutching their crystals. Now there’s talk of molecular chip production and ‘quantum tunnelling’ so, to use a profoundly unscientific turn of phrase, God knows. The dance of the DSPs could go on forever. Nevertheless, this year marks a high watermark for digital mixing at both ends of the scale. The MI industry now

has some breathtaking baubles. Mackie’s 8-channel DL806 has just recorded a 25% price cut, pushing digital control out to the iPad generation as never before, while the StageScape M20d from Line6 secures absolute confidence in a live mix even if front-of-house duties have been entrusted to Sonic the Hedgehog. At the high end, even stronger lines are being drawn in the sand. MIND THE APP Now at Cacac, brand development manager Richard Ferriday acknowledges the pocket revolution but sets his own boundaries, especially with the professional user in mind. “It almost seems there’s been a

race to get to the smallest control surface,” he says. “We’ve already reached the point where the mixer can be an iPad with an audio interface connected to it. There are also iPhone apps, so we’re not that far from seeing an iPhone dock as a multi-channel audio device. The only issue is that, when the user interface gets down to a certain size it becomes inoperable. The physical size of the UI has a limit – and the

iPad is probably it. I’ve looked at some of the iPhone GUIs and they’re just too small, in my opinion.” At Yamaha Commercial Audio, PA application engineering manager Andy Cooper describes the evolution of the company’s latest statement on diminutive digital, and finds the daisy-chain principle perfectly suited to modern demands. “Since 1987 there’s

“We’re starting to get a lot more installation applications, which will emphasise more centralised control, system-tech management and remote cueing” Sean Karpowicz, Soundcraft

ONES TO WATCH Two brands with matchless broadcast heritage are now bringing that experience to the live market. From SSL, the Live console is gaining steady traction with artists including Michael McDonald and The Killers – and according to head of marketing Dan Duffel, there’s more to come. “Clearly this has been a huge effort and investment, and we’re a company that knows how to play the long game,” he says. “It’s inevitable that we’ll want to bring other products to this marketplace, and what form they’ll take depends on our customers. There are several directions the platform can go, and it’s expandable: more capacity is one of our demands, and output formats are on the increase in very complex environments. We especially have our eye on the growth of live broadcast next to live production.” Meanwhile, German pioneer Lawo has ingested the Eclipse platform developed at Innovason by

been an average of one new digital mixer every year from Yamaha,” he points out. “2014 has seen the release of QL1 and QL5, dubbed as the ‘quintessential’ compact consoles. They offer a premium quality, all-in-one solution for small to medium scale live sound, corporate speech events and installations, and allow sound professionals, who perhaps need to compromise on

visionary designer Hervé de Caro, now product manager for Lawo’s burgeoning live range. Public relations manager Wolfgang Huber (pictured right) says that the merger of Eclipse and Lawo product development needs to be as universal as possible. “The characteristics of the next generation must serve a wide variety of applications,” he says, “spanning broadcast, which is Lawo’s heritage, and live – which is Hervé’s. We’ve noticed that more and more of ‘mc2 world’ is being asked for in the live market, especially theatre, opera houses and classical venues. If any two things are paramount it’s reliability and redundancy: events are becoming much larger – with more sponsors, who expect no failure at all! And if you’re mixing every member of the orchestra, plus giving them all IEM, the DSP power must increase. “In general, these are broadcast features – entering the live market.”

www.lawo.de www.solid-state-logic.com

space and/or budget, to make no compromise in terms of sound quality, networking features and processing capability. That’s why they share so much DNA with the CL series, which in turn have inherited much from the PMxD bloodline. “In smaller venues the mixer will rarely be placed in an ideal location. However, using the built-in Dante network connection, remote I/O units can be discretely placed in the necessary locations and the StageMix iPad app can be used to mix the event while mingling with the audience. Engineers for live music performances will appreciate the eight racks – 16 channels – of 31-band GEQ, eight stereo effects units and eight additional Premium racks

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The Avid S3L system

CHEAP PLUGS The “cheaper and better” curve continues at Allen & Heath, where product manager Léon Phillips explains the rationale behind the Qu-32, launched at InfoComm. “It provides 32

Allen & Heath’s Qu-32

faders, harking back to analogue interfaces, corresponding to 32 XLR mic-pre inputs,” he says. “Users still like a fader for everything, as opposed to layers and banks. Throughout the Qu series, every input is visible. Most operators will find it very easy, while of course our other ranges remain as configurable as you like: iLive or GLD is the choice for more experienced users. Q32 scarcely needs help files and user guides, and hardly ever comes up on forums. People just plug it in and use it.” Responsibility at Soundcraft for the Vi and more compact Si ranges is divided between Andy Brown and Sean Karpowicz, respectively, whose ranges are expanding to fill every sensible gap in the market. The Vi3000 was heralded as an ‘academylevel’ workhorse, meaning the mid-range rock and pop circuit – a niche once dominated by Soundcraft and now very much back on its agenda. “We haven’t had anything in that market position for a while,” admits Brown. The Vi3000 is how that kind of console should be made today and, yes – I would still describe it as compact. There’s

no extra DSP rack, for example.” There is a limit to this priceband plugging, though. “You don’t want to create a confusing product range with so many in it that nobody knows what the differences are,” Brown adds. “Overall you want it to settle into rational crossover points covering the various budgets that customers have. You don’t need to do that to a micro level.” “We’re starting to get a lot more installation applications,” adds Karpowicz, “which will emphasise more centralised control, systemtech management and remote cueing. On the touring side, the demand is for segregated, localised control and things like gain tracking. So the consoles increasingly have to address diametrically opposed needs…” Once diametrically opposite, live sound and recording are now frequently interchangeable. Nowhere is this better expressed than in the ranges offered by Louisiana-based PreSonus, now sporting a new generation of its proprietary Active Integration (AI) technology. Wesley Elianna Smith is product manager at PreSonus Audio Electronics:

Jesse Benﬁeld, monitors for Don Williams with a PreSonus StudioLive

First with StudioLive 24:4:2 and then moving to the 32:4:2:AI, our criteria were not only met but exceeded. Not only did the PreSonus desk deliver the qualities we were looking for but it also enabled us to capture many live performances with it versatility.” And with Ace Baker, at FOH for guitar maestro Joe Satriani, the sentiment continues: “Besides running sound for Satch’s live shows, I believe that I also have a huge responsibility to future generations to record every note that I can,” he states. “How many once-in-a lifetime performances have been left to vanish into thin air? Imagine if they‘d been able to multitrack every single Hendrix show or every single Stevie Ray Vaughn show… The SL32 gives me an incredibly easy option – it’s affordable, it’s roadworthy, and it sounds great.”

Richard Ferriday, Cadac

CAPTIVE AUDIENCE Avid, of course, pioneered the integration of recording when the home of Pro Tools added a live desk portfolio. According to Derk Hagedorn, manager for Avid Live Sound Systems and Artist Series controllers, the S3L is now the state of this particular art. “The S3L is perfectly designed to meet the requirements of touring,” he states. “It’s comprised of a highperformance HDX-powered processing engine running

“Core processing is no longer about channels and busses, which are outmoded analogue concepts. It’s about scaleable networks, with nodes” James Gordon, DiGiCo “We’ve overcome previous limitations,” she says. “It’s now on the same platform as the Studio One DAW, completing full integration; FireWire 400 bandwidth has improved; and we’ve added networking so you don’t need a computer as the intermediary between your mixer and your remote devices. StudioLive mixers now share the same DSP as Studio One. All capture and play is now synchronised and automated.” Word is spreading. Here’s Gus Laux, tour manager for country legend Don Williams: “In considering a monitor console for Mr Williams, four things were important to us: the preamp stage; sonic quality; dependability; and price point.

industry standard AAX plug-ins, scalable remote I/O, up to 64 inputs, and a compact control surface. A fault-tolerant Gigabit Ethernet network connects all devices and uses the open Ethernet AVB and EUCON standards for maximum performance and flexibility. “Avid S3L also offers unmatched Pro Tools recording and playback for show archiving and Virtual Soundcheck – simply by connecting a laptop to the system’s Ethernet AVB network to record and playback up to 64 tracks of audio. When used together, Pro Tools and the S3L deliver tightly integrated recording and mixing control of live productions. As they’re run on the Avid MediaCentral

that include the highly regarded Rupert Neve Designs Portico EQ and compressor. Theatre engineers will make good use of the 27 output busses with input-to-matrix routing, and the advanced Scene management settings. “For systems that need two or more consoles, the ‘port-to-port’ and gain compensation features allow the QL’s own inputs to be used as a stagebox for the other consoles, with no sacrifice over control. Placing a large touchscreen with a dedicated ‘touch and turn’ knob on the surface speeds up workflow and means hands and eyes do not need to move far – and the channel name displays provide high visibility at wide angles and in the open air. These highlights show that QL consoles are designed to be a pleasure to work with, all day long, regardless of the size and scale of the event.”

live

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live Platform, users benefit from unparalleled integration between these and other Avid products and services to connect artists with their audiences in more powerful and efficient ways.” Artists recently to tour with the S3L include Massive Attack, Primal Scream and the Happy Mondays. DiGiCo MD James Gordon underscores the Surrey-based manufacturer’s unique proposals. “Core processing is no longer about channels and busses, which are outmoded analogue concepts,” he says. “It’s about scaleable networks, with nodes. Also, for rental companies to get return on investment by servicing multiple applications with the same hardware, we’ve created frames that can switch between FOH, monitors, broadcast and theatre. The relevant features can simply be turned on and off. We start with the 12-fader SD11, processing up to 40 channels, and scale up from there. I think you can trip over yourself to fill all the gaps. Better to make a range

that offers greater flexibility and access to a wider market place.” TO INFINITY AND BEYOND As live and broadcast productions converge, a demand is emerging counter to the one that suggests that the only future format for these desks is a compact one. If you can get more channels and busses than before in smaller-than-ever packages, how many can you get in a large format? Sound designer Gareth Owen is already asking that question… “The fact that I had to customize two Profiles [for I Can’t Sing!] to join them together – and the fact that they don’t do it inherently – speaks volumes,” he says. “Can you get two modern consoles to work together exactly as one console, and can you do it reliably? I’ve had a lot of experience of networks falling over when you add more desks. I know you can have mirrored consoles, one as master and one as slave, but that’s not the same as one desk

being a true extension of the other.” Owen’s point is that the economics of recent desk production have seen large, flagship platforms pave the way for more lucrative mass-market spin-offs. Scalability, it seems, is more often downward, and if you want to double your console power you have to cascade. But in design terms, the challenges of the control surface can only multiply with the resources hidden beneath it. As DSP power grows, so do the options for access. While DiGiCo’s adoption of the fibreoptic ring is a completely new processing-intense architecture, the advanced DSP landscape has also been addressed this year by both Studer and Midas – with other brands no doubt watching those atomic chip sets very closely. The largest DSP engines to date – Infinity and Neutron – are from Studer and Midas, respectively. “There are 800 channels in the Infinity core,”

says Vista product manager Roger Heiniger, “which dramatically expands the capabilities of one console. The Thalia theatre in Hamburg, for example, is handling all the speaker management for the venue on the auxiliaries of one Vista 9, as well as the usual high channel requirements. The configurability is in the DSP engine, as well as the console.” “We use CPU-based technology,” adds Andrew Hills, Studer’s director of product strategy, “and that gives you the possibility to change the way the DSP is glued together. Most large channel-count offers use FPGAs – SHARC chips don’t scale up quite so well – but even FPGAs tend to be delivered in a fixed configuration. In their flexibility, CPUs suit Vistonics very well.” “PRO X takes the architecture of the Midas PRO Series control surface,” says Graham Rowlands, Music Group’s VP of global sales, professional division, “and adds the ‘grunt’ of

the new Neutron DSP – which can be located anywhere. We’ve taken the original PRO Series surface and replaced the master controllers, scan processor and added a new middle section for even easier access to your AUX and matrix busses. Essentially the PRO X, which can simultaneously deliver up to 168 inputs and 99 outputs plus 24 effects and inserts, is still only driving less than 70% of that DSP. There’s another card slot, should we want to go further.” And, with CADAC switching to Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), so multiplies the minutiae of competition. Maybe one day we’ll need a bit of quantum tunnelling after all. Q www.allen-heath.com www.avid.com www.cadac-sound.com www.digico.biz www.midasconsoles.com www.presonus.com www.soundcraft.com www.studer.ch www.yamahacommercialaudio.com

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For the latest studio news www.psneurope.com/installation

installation

SOUNDBITES

ATEÏS France has been commissioned by RATP, the operator of the Paris Métro, to design and supply a public address/voice alarm system for an extensive refurbishment of Châtelet–Les Halles, the largest underground railway station in the world. The refurbishment – which began in late 2012 and is due to be completed in 2016 – has three aims: to “improve accessibility, increase the standard of service and passenger comfort and make improvements to fire safety and evacuation arrangements”. www.ateis-europe.com Hot on the heels of its overhaul of the Constant Vanden Stock football stadium in Anderlech, Belgium, Nexo has outfitted the 15,700-capacity La Pontaise Olympic Stadium in Lausanne, Switzerland, with GEO S12 line array modules. La Pontaise, built in the 1950s, required an upgrade its 30-year-old sound system in time for the international Athletissima athletics meet in July and to comply with the requirements of the FC Lausanne-Sport football club, which plays its home games at the ground. www.nexo-sa.com Eight Sennheiser LSP 500 PRO loudspeakers welcomed home the German national football team on 15 July following their 1–0 victory over Argentina in the FIFA World Cup final on 13 July. The PA system, supplied by Bärlin Team Eventdesign, broadcast the welcome addresses at Berlin Tegel Airport as the players were mobbed by a throng of waiting fans, journalists and airport staff. www.sennheiser.com

Community spirit

Arena da Amazônia in Brazil, part of Community’s presence at the FIFA World Cup in June and July

Following the unveiling of Community Professional Loudspeakers’ new brand identity at InfoComm in June, Phil Ward assesses its European and global implications IT’S A CLASSIC trajectory. Late ’60s America. The counterculture. Flashing lights and long hair. Touring with Jefferson Airplane. Making better speakers than were available. Building up a touring brand to rival JBL, Electro-Voice and Altec. This was Community Professional Loudspeakers founder Bruce Howze’s entrance to the world manufacturing stage. Over time, the long hair turns grey and Howze becomes one of the small army of pro-audio éminence grises who seem able to turn their experience to every decade, no matter what. Now the wheel turns again and, whether this wheel’s on fire or not, it’s still bang on course. Howze is now President. For him, the whole nature of the business has changed since he began it. “In 1968, pro audio was a few manufacturers, numerous small tour sound companies and related garage operations,” he says. “In the intervening 46 years, it’s evolved into a real industry. Fortunately, during that evolution it has still retained

its charm – it’s just as much fun now as it was then.” Steve Johnson took over as CEO a year ago; previous CEO Timothy Dorwart had passed away in July, just at the beginning of several innovations – and, as in all successful dynasties, a ready and appropriate successor was soon found. It’s now Johnson’s mission to roll out the new agenda. Internally the business is conceived as embracing three application groups: outdoor, distributed, and engineered. “We have been pigeonholed as an outdoor specialist, which is fine, but we do so much more,” points out Johnson. Reinventing itself in response to “changing customer needs, global market forces and technical advances in the industry”, according to corporate statements, a new era beckons for Community with the arrival of Steve Johnson complemented by the appointment of British veteran Max Lindsay-Johnson as international sales manager. Taking these criteria one by one, Johnson explains the company’s

responses in more detail. “We have speakers out there that were installed 20 years ago and still work fine, but our customers’ tastes and expectations have changed in that time. We’ve revisited classic designs like the R Series and added higher performance offshoots, if you will. They still offer the same pattern control, long-distance throw and such, but they do it more musically – and that comes down to people’s expectations. They’re no longer satisfied just to sit in a stadium following what the announcer is saying – our products have always excelled at that. They also now want to hear highquality music between plays, and that’s what our new products additionally deliver.” This is exactly how the installation business has been such fertile ground for brands with credible audio heritage, presenting countless environments in which those who know how can deliver a higher level of performance. As for global market forces, Johnson singles out competition first and foremost. “It never

Steve Johnson, Community Pro CEO sleeps,” he says. “It used to be indigenous to your own country, but nowadays it’s global. Not only are the existing brands manufactured everywhere, but new brands crop up in places you’ve never heard of, ready to take their slice of market share. Like anyone, Community cannot rest on its laurels. It’s important not only to maintain the awareness of your

Photo: Daniel Fi

TC Group has appointed Fairlight as the exclusive distributor of Tannoy, Lab. gruppen and Lake products for the Netherlands. The deal will see the Bemmel-based Fairlight become the primary contact for all three brands in the country. www.fairlight.nl

WORLD

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installation

Max Lindsay-Johnson, int’l sales manager heritage but also to increase its relevance. “Sure, we used to be big in both touring and MI but, quite naturally, we haven’t made a carpeted speaker in years! We made a conscious effort to evolve away from that. Other manufacturers are now better-suited to making the lowest-cost options, but that’s not us. We have installers with very specific needs, and they will reward us with a purchase if we meet those needs.” It’s also relevant that a brand once associated with touring is now applying that experience to installation, a market once associated with more primitive solutions. It’s happened to plenty of other big names, and the world of station platforms, funfairs and malls has only benefited. Technical advances in this direction can be freely assumed, of course, and Johnson begins with the impact of DSP. “Even at a basic level, DSP will be involved today,” he says, “to respond to the needs of the room, for example, or to get the most out of the transducers. For many years, we perfected the transducer-level, out-of-the-box performance with no enhancements, but now we need to make sure that performance is guaranteed whether it’s our processor or someone else’s. I believe we are brand-agnostic when it comes to processing: anything that an installer or consultant wishes to use, we’ll provide the necessary presets. It is a total system solution, and if we provide only certain components of that system we need to be a part of it and satisfy the demands of the whole situation.” The proprietary offer is dSPEC, optimised for Community landscapes (if not every large-scale possibility). More powerful generations are on the way, currently under the R&D tarpaulin, while the ageless art of electro-acoustic voicing remains a house speciality. “Most of my career

has been with transducer companies,” Johnson continues, reflecting on time with Shure, Bosch and Harman. “With Shure we were taking sound and turning it into electricity; here we’re taking electricity and turning it into sound. I really think that’s where the magic happens.” The new brand identity also wishes to express “fresh and contemporary industrial design,” as reflected in the industrially chic I Series unveiled at InfoComm – another indicator, Johnson believes, of changing customer expectations. “The look of technology can be what first intrigues people, especially since the iPod,” he says. “The first thing you encounter is the physical, and that can win or lose interest. The brand has to really communicate what it stands for, and to appeal to an everbroader audience – perhaps audio has to escape its esoteric trappings and step into the limelight a little more. To survive today, you have to draw people’s attention.” Also with experience at Harman, but more recently at a pre-Harman Duran Audio, Max Lindsay-Johnson is now leading the charge “globalise” the brand by prioritising the time zone defined by Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). “We’ve set up a warehouse and fulfilment centre in the Netherlands, so we now hold stock within Europe,” he reveals, “and I’m now making the most of my network of consultants and other decisionmakers, plus my knowledge of the whole infrastructure. Manufacturing is divided between the US and China, depending on the status of the product. Our facility in China is majority owned by Bruce, who is regularly there ensuring it operates to the same standards as the US.” European partners need to know their stuff, Lindsay-Johnson insists. “You’ve got to back the right horse,” he says, “and they have to be technically very adept. More than half of what they have to do is project-based, rather than simply reselling boxes, so there has to be a degree of expertise that, actually, isn’t very common. Our choices of distributor tend to made around that ability, rather than size, turnover or anything else. It’s about being able to offer extended support.” This is a prized value at Community. In 2003, recently retired VP John Wiggins and director of technical services Dave Howden established the company’s technical applications group – known as the TAG Team – to follow through each sale with assiduous care. Now, that ministry needs to extend into Europe effectively, and Lindsay-Johnson, for one, is relishing the prospect. “It’s a serious technical resource,” he says, “and extremely efficient. This region will get to know them a lot better.” Q www.communitypro.com

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installation BELGIUM

Where the Buffalos home

The Ghelamco Arena is Belgium’s newest football stadium. AV integrator Play was assigned to install a massive Bose speaker inventory in the impressive building, reports Marc Maes FOOTBALL TEAM KAA Gent – aka the Buffalos – initiated plans to build a brand new stadium six years ago – the country’s first new outdoor sports arena in 34 years, with a capacity of just under 17,000 spectators. The construction started in 2011, and, at press time, the building is close to completion, becoming a multiplex site: around the green football rectangle, the arena includes sports facilities, a spa, restaurants, VIP skyboxes and more. From day one, AV specialist Play was part of the project, the company’s reputation in the field of installation and integration of audio and video playing a key role in the assignment. “Both the principal/promoter of Ghelamco and the team management were convinced of the importance of installing a reliable and efficient sound system in the new stadium,” says Dirk Verhellen, CEO of Play. “The government imposed the installation of a fixed audio system, and included parameters such as speech intelligibility, mains autonomy and redundancy, evacuation reliability… and not only for the 17,000 capacity stadium, but also for the corridors, bars and surrounding offices and stores.”

The resulting design, which took some time to be ratified, is best described as ‘a compromise between the FIFA regulations and common sense’. With Bose being a brand partner since the Play’s 1988 formation, and Bose’s proven track record for similar stadium installations, Verhellen’s choice was obvious. “Over the years, we have established a firm partnership, not only because of the quality of the equipment but also on what goes beyond the speaker enclosures: research and support in projects, design and commercial back-up. We’ve been driving this road together,” he says. Bose came into the project in the earliest stage of design – the Bose Modeler software proved to be very useful to carry out research and simulate speaker configurations in the various locations in the stadium. “The whole research was essential in the process and allowed us to calculate the investment,” adds Verhellen. The Bose configuration in the Ghelamco building is a mix of low-impedance and 100V speakers. “We had anticipated a potential output loss because of the distances in the stadium, and carried

“Over the years, we have established a ﬁrm partnership with Bose – not only because of the quality of the equipment but also on what goes beyond the speaker enclosures” Dirk Verhellen, CEO, Play out the calculations to deliver the necessary output power,” continues Lieven Verzele, sales support engineer with Play. “In the arena, we use two different types of the LT speaker range. The upper speakers, LT 9702 WRs, are flown at a height of 39 metres, with their position and dispersion angle based on Bose’s research and elements such as the number of seats, the stands and materials used.” In total, Play installed 32 LT 9702 WR top speakers and 32 MB24 WR sub speakers in the stadium arena, offering a total output power of 64kW. “But it’s more than a public address system,” comments Verhellen. “This is all about living the football perception, with a DJ, music and atmosphere… An extra feature is that we have Sennheiser MKH 416 series shotgun microphones in the ceiling capturing the audience

and stadium sound, which is then routed to the various locations inside the building.” The remainder of the building is equipped with 64 Bose 802 cabinet speakers in the corridors and public entrance halls, and 308 Bose FreeSpace Plus ceiling speakers in the skyboxes, restaurants, bars and toilets. “The whole sound system is powered by four racks in each corner of the building,” continues Verzele. “The racks are interconnected via an intelligent fibre-optic ring network throughout the stadium allowing full access to each individual rack. Each amprack contains six Bose PM8500 eight-channel amplifiers, serving both the football arena and the peripheral areas. The eight channels steer a variety of speaker combinations – the building is divided into 18 areas, individually controllable by a central PC. A Bose

Lieven Verzele at the Ghelamco Arena

ControlSpace ESP PC monitors the condition of the speakers, temperature and output levels.” A Cloud console and Sennheiser 3000 series microphone complete the configuration. With the construction of the Ghelamco Arena entering its final stage, Play looks forward to its first season of football – in addition to sporting events, the company, as a partner of AA Gent, has also been named official supplier of additional audio and video equipment for all events in the stadium. “The Ghelamco Arena is new and hip – every company wants to be here, and the wide range of events make a nice shop window for what we do at Play.” Q www.bose.com/pro www.playbiz.be

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installation WORLD

Baby (line array) knows best Martin Audio with its MLA Mini… Meyer Sound with LYON… leading manufacturers (and not just those beginning with an ‘M’) are adding ever more compact systems to their line array ranges. David Davies ponders the practical and economic beneﬁts of the miniaturisation trend IT ISN’T necessary to go rifling through George Osborne’s battered red box to know that we live in straitened times. Across the board, overheads are under pressure and the call is for projects to be achieved at lower cost and with reduced labour. Pro audio and, in particular, live sound are certainly no exceptions to the rule; something that the recent edition of annual PSNEurope spin-off publication PSNLive underlined quite firmly. So it stands to reason that cost efficiency is one of the factors underlining the explosion in availability of smaller, ‘baby’ line array systems. But so too are their innate flexibility – allowing them to be deployed for a wide variety of projects – and their impressive power outputs, frequently allowing jobs to be completed with a relatively small number of boxes. Martin Audio is among the manufacturers to have joined the fray, proffering its MLA Mini system. Marketing director James King says that the mini line array is “definitely a genuine trend. While mini line arrays have been an important part of the line array toolkit for some years, they are seeing ever-increasing use because they are incredibly versatile and have a much smaller footprint than their mid-size and full-size siblings. ‘Smaller, lighter and more powerful’ is a continuing thrust behind all loudspeaker system development – and a well-designed mini line array is a good example of this.” But just as with largerformat arrays, there is a school of thought that insists these mini systems should not be regarded as a panacea for all ills. Francesco Simeoni, senior loudspeaker system designer for Outline, whose smallest line array is the EIDOS 265, remarks: “I would like to emphasise that use of the so-called mini-arrays is appropriate only in determined

The Adlib-supplied CODA ViRAY system on tour with comedian Jack Whitehall

contexts (necessity for coverage, throw and elevated dynamics), when for other types of venues it is still recommended to use the traditional classic ‘point source’ systems [due to] several reasons such as [practicality], functionality and economy. “A line array system, whether it is big or small, is a complex system requiring more competence and is more difficult

to handle [with] respect to a point source system. That is why its deployment should be evaluated from case to case.” RELIABILITY AND ROI Notwithstanding such reservations, there is the overriding impression that, for rental companies in particular, a good compact system is a solid investment – and one that

is unlikely to spend much time languishing on a warehouse shelf. Not only can it be used as a system in its own right, it can also augment larger-format arrays in large concert halls and theatres in, for example, side- or frontfill capacity. James King notes: “Scalability and flexibility mean that the range of applications is huge – from four boxes

HIVE MIND The Hive Partnership and its AV rental division, London Speaker Hire (LSH), recently purchased four pole-mountable Martin Audio Mini enclosures (plus MSX mini sub power plant) to cover each side of the stage. Since the investment, they have deployed the system for a number of live applications that have repeatedly underlined the practicality and cost beneﬁts of compact systems. “Where you would traditionally need to use a ﬂown line array in certain smaller venues, nearly all current

systems are so large that they are impractical,” says LSH director Grant Turner (pictured right). “With the MLA Mini we are spoilt for choice. The compact footprint means we can have a two-man set-up on certain events whereas we would have needed double that. This in itself is an immediate cost-saving towards ROI.” Live projects at which LSH has deployed the system include a twoday creative trade show at London’s County Hall, Le Book, where bands performed in the Rotunda in front of

an audience of approximately 500. There was considerable praise from acts appearing at the event, with video DJ mashup group The Video Geeks subsequently asking to hire the system itself. “The [group] loved the MLA Mini [...]and commented in particular on the amount of low-end,” says Turner. The Le Book event has been shortlisted in the Pro Sound Awards 2014 Best Tour Sound Production category. www.martin-audio.com

pole-mounted above a sub for corporate events, through to small-medium scale live music venues, West End theatres and then up to 16-box arrays in concert halls. A ‘mini’ line array is the natural sidefill and frontfill system for the main arrays in larger venues, and can also be specified for HoW and stadium installations. No other speaker category comes close to

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installation Meyer Sound LYON continues its busy festival season at Mayday (below and above right)

JBL line arrrays at Soka University’s Performing Arts Centre in California, US

a ‘mini’ in terms of its reach and scope.” Coda Audio is another manufacturer that continues to make headway with its compact ranges, recently adding the TiRAY to stand alongside the successful ViRAY system. “With ViRAY, the aim was essentially to make a compact line array that could perform to a very high level,” recalls Coda’s international sales director, Paul Ward. “Not to do arenas as such, but capable of servicing large theatres – a Hammersmith Apollo kind of size – on its own. But we also saw scope for the integration of these compact systems with larger format line arrays, handling sidehang, underhang and frontfill duties.” And so it has proven, with one of ViRAY’s early adopters, UK-based rental company Adlib Audio, recognising the system for precisely this kind of duality (see also the Andy Dockerty interview in last month’s PSNEurope). “They already owned a large Coda LA12 line array system and were looking for something to augment it in terms of downfill, sidefill and event stage crossfill,” notes Ward. “The ViRAY has allowed them to put together these kind of systems for everything from opera to heavy metal… as well as facilitating stand-alone deployments for large theatre applications.” Adamson Systems

Engineering notes a similar spread of applications for its compact Metrix product. “The system is geared towards reproducing anything from speech to medium SPL material including jazz, folk and light rock in small- to mid-size venues – although it has been known to ‘rock’ with bands that could be classified as ‘metal’,” says Adamson’s director of marketing & sales, James Oliver. “It is also ideal for side, front or balcony fill for larger installations; it complements the Adamson SpekTrix system nicely.” Equally practical considerations pertaining to size and weight also conspire to render such systems a solid purchase. “In touring, truck space and trussing constraints are increasingly a concern for customers,” says Luke Jenks, director of product management at Meyer Sound, whose latest compact line array is the selfpowered LYON system. “And in large spectacle shows, sound is sharing precious weight quota with more and more sophisticated lighting and video equipment.” For a rental market pushed towards increased diversification by economic and competitive pressures, guaranteeing ROI (return on investment) is harder than ever. In this context, a mini line array – alongside a compact digital console – would seem to

“‘Smaller, lighter and more powerful’ is a continuing thrust behind all loudspeaker system development – and a well-designed mini line array is a good example of this” James King, Martin Audio be the closest thing to a dead cert as exists. No wonder, then, that both product types have consistently ranked among the top priorities for investment in consecutive editions of PSNLive. NEW USERS, NEW APPLICATIONS It stands to reason that these systems have also proven to be dependable bankers for manufacturers attempting to ride the changes. But their ability to accommodate a variety of applications – not all of which have been completely foreseen – has also had more subtle repercussions in terms of general brand profile. There is the suggestion, too, that compact systems can fulfil a ‘gateway’ function to broader product ranges, including largerformat arrays. JBL is an old hand at compact line arrays, having introduced such milestones as the single 8” full-range, two-way VRX928LA in 2007 and the dual 6.5” fullrange, three-way VT4886 in

2010. “Once JBL introduced more compact line array systems, we found there were potentially many new users due to size and the more cost-effective price point,” says JBL Professional’s SR manager market development – installed sound, Jon Sager. “There are a number of facilities around the world that do not require high sound pressure performance levels; the systems are only used for speech and background music. In those facilities, there is often a desire to utilise line array technology to balance front to back SPL, and to achieve wide coverage from a single source.” For Martin Audio, the MLA Mini has provided another way for rental companies and install customers to experience the benefits of its MLA (MultiCellular Loudspeaker Array) technology, which has won any number of plaudits since debuting in its large-format version at InfoComm in 2010. Compact systems like MLA Mini “open the opportunity for rental companies to buy into

the multi-cellular revolution at a significantly reduced cost, or are suited to venues for permanent install that either due to size or cost could not consider its bigger brothers,” says King. Meanwhile, Meyer Sound’s LYON – which incorporates the technology of the LEO family in a lighter and more compact package – is bringing the US loudspeaker to new audiences, including those currently revelling in what we might label the ‘second wave of rave’. “LYON is having an extremely busy festival season,” confirms Jenks, “and together with the potent 1100-LFC [Low Frequency Control element] it’s raising the profile of Meyer Sound across all live music applications, particularly European electronic dance music [at events such as the] Soenda EDM Festival in the Netherlands and Mayday in Germany.” DAS Audio has also experienced a general broadening of its reach thanks to a four-strong compact line array offer that includes Aero

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installation 8A, Aero 12A, Event 208A and Event 210A. “These new products have led to [us] being able to address different sectors of the product and provide solutions for our clients and, therefore, increased sales. Products like our Aero 12A, the Aero 8A’s bigger sibling, have sold over 10,000 units worldwide,” reveals marketing director Roberto Giner. POINTS OF DIFFERENCE The burgeoning availability of mini line arrays necessarily compels manufacturers to seek out greater points of difference to retain their competitive edge. Logically enough, then, many were at pains to highlight specific USPs during their conversations with PSNEurope. Martin Audio’s MLA Mini sales pitch, for example, naturally revolves around the MLA technology, whereby “the user specifies exactly what SPL and frequency responses is required throughout the audience, and DISPLAY 2.1 intelligent software controls each individual LF and HF cell in the array to produce that result,” says King. Elsewhere, the “system linearity and ability to translate audio signals accurately” of Meyer Sound’s LYON mean that “sports arenas and retail environments can now be assured that any pre-produced materials mixed in a studio will translate accurately when reproduced to a large audience,” notes Jenks. Giner highlights the “hassle-free, very portable” characteristics of DAS’s Aero 8A compact line array, while JBL’s Sager draws attention to the “very user-friendly and extremely easy to deploy” rigging hardware of products like the JBL VRX928LA. And while the directivity capabilities of Outline’s EIDOS 265 make it suitable for a host of small/medium venues, Ward says that Coda has consistently paid attention to the “weight of the box, ease of rigging, the groundstack-ability of the box using the same fly hardware… I think we have really zeroed in on the

DAS Audio Aero onstage at Provident Bank Park stadium, New York

“We believe you have to get the product working to the best of its ability […] then apply DSP technology to enhance the performance – as opposed to using DSP to make the performance” Paul Ward, Coda Audio details, providing the customer with a very flexible tool.” As for where very compact systems go from here… Well, there will be more or less emphasis on DSP control depending on who you believe – definitely less if you favour Ward’s argument, which states there has been too much focus on DSP to obtain results: “We believe you have to get the product working to the best of its ability from a transducer level, then apply DSP technology to enhance the performance – as opposed to using DSP technology to make the performance.” Sager, meanwhile, believes that “it

is likely we will see more complex selfpowered systems capable of steering and elaborate tuning to meet specific performance needs”. Whatever happens, though, it’s clear that the mini line array has a vibrant future. This baby is not just alive – it’s alive and kicking. Q www.adamsonsystems.com www.codaaudio.com www.dasaudio.com www.jblpro.com www.martin-audio.com www.meyersound.com www.outlinearray.com

A ﬂown Coda Audio ViRAY

CONTACTS

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Editor Dave Robinson david.robinson@intentmedia.co.uk

hither&dither

Deputy Editor Jon Chapple jon.chapple@intentmedia.co.uk Managing Editor Jo Ruddock jo.ruddock@intentmedia.co.uk Advertising Manager Ryan O’Donnell ryan.odonnell@intentmedia.co.uk Commercial Manager Darrell Carter darrell.carter@intentmedia.co.uk Sales Executive Rian Zoll-Khan rian.zoll-khan@intentmedia.co.uk

Hither and Osadia Strange headgear abounds. And not just Martin Kelly’s hat

Graphic Designer Jat Garcha jat.garcha@intentmedia.co.uk Production Executive Jason Dowie jason.dowie@intentmedia.co.uk Digital Content Manager Tim Frost tim.frost@intentmedia.co.uk Ofﬁce Manager Lianne Davey lianne.davey@intentmedia.co.uk Correspondents: Mike Clark (Italy), Marc Maes (Belgium/ Holland), Phil Ward (UK) Contributors: David Davies, Kevin Hilton, Tom Carpenter PSNEurope Intent Media London, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London, N1 8LN. Editorial: +44 20 7354 6002 Sales: +44 20 7354 6000

Now, while I said I had a lot of respect for Andy Dockerty’s PA hire company last month, I wouldn’t quite go this far… (spotted in Glasgow)

“The response is THIS wide….” The Aratechlabs team insisted the editor pose for an ‘Augmented Reality’ pic with their new software. No, really they did

Press releases to: psnenews@intentmedia.co.uk Subscribe by email to: psne.subscriptions@c-cms.com Subscriptions Tel: +44 1580 883848

PSNEurope is published 12 times a year by Intent Media London, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London N1 8LN, England. © Intent Media, 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the copyright owners. The contents of PSNEurope are subject to reproduction in information storage and retrieval systems. Intent Media is now the Data Controller under the Data Protection Act 1998 in respect of your personal data. Intent Media London will only use your data for the purposes originally notiﬁed and your rights under the Data Protection Act 1998 are not affected by this change. PSNEurope is published once a month. The publishers reserve the right to refuse subscription applications considered inappropriate and to restrict the number of free copies sent to a company or organisation. 2014 subscription rates for non-industry/non-European readers are: UK, £39/€62; Europe, £54/€86; other countries, US$106/170. CIRCULATION AND SUBSCRIPTION Intent Media, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough, LE16 7BR, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1858 438786 . Refunds on cancelled subscriptions will only be provided at the publisher’s discretion, unless speciﬁcally guaranteed within the terms of the subscription offer. Intent Media may pass suitable reader addresses to other relevant suppliers. If you do not wish to receive sales information from other companies, please write to Circulations and Subscriptions, Intent Media, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough, LE16 7BR, UK. ISSN: 0269-4735 (print); 2052-238X (digital). Printing by Pensord Press, Tram Road, Pontlanfraith, Blackwood NP12 2YA

Also spotted in Glasgow as part of Festival 2014, this unusual set-up (and we don’t mean the Venice F24). Osadia are a Barcelona act that combine street theatre with artistic hairdressing of audience volunteers. A trip to Supercuts will never be the same again…

After 23 years at Martin Audio, one of the company’s most loyal and familiar employees, Martin Kelly, has retired. At his surprise leaving party in July, staff fed him ‘loudspeaker’ cake and adorned him in a Slovakian outﬁt, courtesy of distributor Rock Centrum. Cheers, Martin!

Please send all contributions for possible publication to david.robinson@intentmedia.co.uk

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industrytalk

The giant Redwood… As the Monty Python team complete their (allegedly) last-ever live shows at London’s O2 Arena, veteran Python sound designer and record producer Andre Jacquemin talks to Phil Ward

LONDON’S REDWOOD STUDIOS is a successful and versatile soundtrack and postproduction centre with a long list of satisfied customers in music, film, television, radio and commercials. But its defining client is the Monty Python’s Flying Circus franchise, if you can call it that, with an association that not only spawned the facility in the first place but also continues to give it a unique edge. For over 40 years the quantum leaps of imagination at the heart of the Python comedy style have been tracked, edited and amplified in every medium, including live on stage, by the Redwood gestalt – masterminded by founder Andre Jacquemin. This Python show is a labyrinth of DSP. How has digital changed your modus operandi? It’s easier and quicker, but you don’t save any time because you have more time to mess about! The early Python stuff was done on 4-track, with a lot of no-going-back bouncing down. Cinema sound has benefited especially, but it’s still based on the quality of the acting and writing. Even digital films fail… I like to work as organically as possible, using mics and a mixing desk rather than a computer. I’ll do a basic mix on Pro Tools, but turn to the faders

and knobs for a more refined and subtle finish. Is Redwood networked to the rest of Soho? No, we’re fairly self-contained. There’s file access from room to room: there’s an edit room upstairs where Terry Jones’ son Bill runs a production company with Ben Timlett – called Bill & Ben – where we can access their Avid and Final Cut Pro systems. But principally we’re standalone and independent. How much live work do you do? This run at The O2 was the first live production of this complexity since I did the Python shows at Drury Lane. I did do the Hollywood Bowl, but mainly supervising and firing in the cue effects from tape. What was the biggest challenge for The O2? Cleaning up the animation soundtracks, which were primitive mixes in mono with no stems. People want the originals, so we reinforced some of the sound effects on separate tracks and used iZotope’s range of plug-ins, including the RX audio repair software, to enhance the dialogue and music. That was a key element to get it at least to broadcast standard. It was a busy time, because we’ve also been working on

the new album Monty Python Sings (Again) which has new material as well as remasters. John Du Prez, MD for this show and long-standing collaborator with Eric [Idle], has been programming the tracks at home and bringing them into Redwood where we’ve added the vocals and other overdubs.

and also engineered and helped me with the early Python albums. He’d worked with The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, you name it… he was one of those guys who can stick a microphone somewhere and it just sounds beautiful. It was a simpler world, before digital I/Os and sample rates.

You seem to span every possible medium… Terry Gilliam always describes me as ‘the hardest man to sell into Hollywood’ because I do everything myself, whereas they expect a team of 20 engineers in various sound departments. They don’t believe one person can actually do the music, the sound effects, the Foley, the dialogue, the soundscapes… the whole lot. But that’s what I’ve done with Python. We’ve done albums, cinema, radio, television and theatre… such a broad spectrum. It’s obviously different to producing a pop band. I was brought up on voiceovers for commercials, rather than music, and it seems to have helped – although I was playing in a band at the time I joined [John Gale’s space-age sound lab for TV commercials] Studio G in Wardour Street. I had a great teacher, Alan Bailey, who joined Studio G from the renowned Radio Luxembourg

40-odd years with the Pythons. How did it start? Accident. I met Mike Palin while I was working at Studio G and did a voice-over demo for a friend of his – dialogue, FX, library music. I remember it was very funny material, but I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t have much time to watch TV in those days; I was always working! The penny dropped later when John Cleese walked into a meeting – I thought, “shit, these are Oxbridge graduates, and I was lucky to get out of school with a swimming certificate”… But Mike was impressed with the demo, gave me a pile of scripts and I began planning the second album. By the time we were cutting the third album, at Apple in Savile Row, Mike overheard me discussing the idea of getting my own place with my writing partner Dave Howman – later to co-write Every Sperm Is Sacred and the Brian Song with me. A few days later Mike

invited me to dinner, wrote me a cheque and said, “Build your studio.” He’s been a director ever since, and has always taken a particular interest in the recording business and the recording process. And it has evolved as you’d expect… Yes, but we’re rock’n’roll compared to the boutique Soho scene. We’ll handle whatever comes through the door. At the moment I’m doing a documentary with Terry Jones, there’s a movie starting in September, and a ‘rockumentary’ – if you will – about the band Kiss. It’s a real mish-mash.My daughter Jamie was recording in Soho with her former band Duchess with the producerwriter Printz Board, who’s involved with the Black Eyed Peas and will.i.am stuff, and they ran out of studio time doing some vocals. She asked if they could come in to continue the vocals and I said, sure. What’s interesting – if you’re thinking about current recording practices – is that, while we were doing that session, Printz turned round to me and said: “You know, Andre, it’s really good to work with somebody who knows what they’re doing…” Q www.redwoodstudios.co.uk