PSNE December 2013 digital edition

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PSNEUROPE DECEMBER 2013

THE BUSINESS OF PROFESSIONAL AUDIO

www.psneurope.com

So self control

Big time for Peter Gabriel as he takes his SSL Live consoles on the road

Tin Pan Rally!

Ready for RedNet Review in Gothenburg

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of 2013

BVE North

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New studio for London’s Denmark Street p21

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WST® technology is now packaged in two enclosures perfectly arrayable into a constant curvature line source L-ACOUSTICS L-ACOUSTICS C Treat r pairr, first. And as your appetite with no destructive interference typical of trapezoidal cabinets. Treat yourself to just one pair, for coverage grows, you can come back for seconds, thirds, or more, adding slice by slice, until you re sound-full. Serve your audience -ACOUSTICS C sonic signature and rider friendliness. The icing: the price is tailored to medium-sized productions. the legendary L L-ACOUSTICS We say you can. Give it a taste at www.l-acoustics.com www w.l-acoustics.com .

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December 2013 l 03

welcome Photo: Jake Young

EDITOR’S COMMENT

“Those French, they know how to run a civilised festival, I can tell you”

ANOTHER YEAR nearly done, and time for one of those ‘Highlights of 2013’ editorials. (Well, what were you expecting? Another rant about the pub?)

David Davies has focused his analytical eye on our editorial pages and delivered his account of the last 12 months or so. Of course, in a busy year, there are many, many stories that could be told – so apologies in advance if your news wasn’t the right ‘fit’.

For me, there have been many highs – and a few lows. Certainly, seeing the Live console first-hand at SSL HQ back in March, and then witnessing Peter Gabriel employ three of the beasts on his recent tour, gave me a great sense of satisfaction (and relief!).

Similarly, watching the Lawo desk in action at Rock en Seine in the summer was a thrill. (Those French, they know how to run a civilised festival, I can tell you.

Laura Mvula live? Just magical.)

Kraftwerk at the Tate in February was a night to remember (and they liked the March ‘Boing’ cover, I was later informed – YES!). Meeting Flare Audio’s Davies Roberts in June was a revelation; as was sitting with Guy Fletcher and Glyn Johns at the APRS lunch just recently (and the eye-opening conversation I had with Glyn will have to remain off the page, I’m afraid).

The lows would include hearing that Apex and Audionics were no more – in the same week. That certain studios which have graced these pages in the past are closing or are up for sale. And that I can’t grow much of a moustache.

But! A New Year full of promise beckons. Let’s see what 2014 brings us. And have a fantastic Christmas.

Dave Robinson Twitter: @psneurope

IN THIS ISSUE...

NEWS MADI is coming to Cat-5: EXCLUSIVE Peter Janis’ 12 Days of Christmas Industry appointments Calendar of events and expos New products

4 5 12 14 16

Review of 2013 A look back at an eventful 12 months STUDIO Malcolm Toft’s Ocean Audio Denmark Street Studios opens Strongroom and AIR update Eddie Kramer at Metropolis Feature: BIG studio monitors

20 21 22 24 26

BROADCAST 30 BVE North report 31 Lawo bring knowhow to video 33 Sonifex and Canford grow production LIVE Peter Gabriel on the road with SSL Live Turbosound to relocate Pablo Alborán on tour with Adamson Wireless opera in LA’s Union Station

36 38 42 44

INSTALL Audinate launches training TC Group combo install in Hoxton RedNet in Gothenburg Feature: Sochi 2014 preview

46 48 50 52

BACK PAGES Hither & Dither Interview: Christian Poulsen, DPA

57 58

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www.psneurope.com

For the latest news www.psneurope.com

news EUROPE

MADI coming to Cat-5 in 2014 The New Year will bring an extension to the MADI communications standard that allows it to deliver 64 channels via Cat-5 cable, PSNEurope can exclusively reveal. David Davies speaks to the prime mover behind the extension, Optocore visionary Marc Brunke AS THE 20-year-old MADI point-to-point communications technology continues to experience a renaissance across live and broadcast, PSNEurope has learnt that the AES standard that underpins MADI is to be extended to include CAT5 cable.

First documented in AES101991, and subsequently updated in 2003 and 2008, the MADI standard currently supports a maximum of 64 bi-directional channels over coaxial or fibre optic cable. Now, in an extension that is set to be published in the early months of 2014, the standard will also accommodate delivery over the ever-ubiquitous Cat-5.

Several key developments instigated by Optocore founder and technical director Marc Brunke have fed into the new standard extension: the development of a 64-channel Cat-5 link for Optocore in 2004, and then a further Cat-5 connection capable of carrying audio 100m in 2008. The decision to employ an Ethernet PHY chip was particularly fundamental.

“The ‘trick’ was to realise than an Ethernet PHY can not only transmit Ethernet packages, but any package, including a MADI one,” says Brunke.

Marc Brunke

“The ‘trick’ was to realise than an Ethernet PHY can not only transmit Ethernet packages, but any package, including a MADI one” Marc Brunke, Optocore

With 50,000 Cat-5 nodes sold from Brunke’s licensees to date, it was but a small jump for him to initiate it as a regular extension to the AES10 standard – “a gift to the industry,” as he puts it – in mid-2012. “It remains true to the original idea of MADI in that it remains a simple-to-use interface, and since MADI was always piggybacking on Ethernet PHYs – the BNC and fibre versions also use the same chips as Ethernet does – it fits completely with the ideas of the founding fathers of MADI when the standard first emerged during the last century,” he says.

Currently the subject of a public consultation, the new AES10 extension is expected to be published in its final version in early 2014. For Brunke, it will be the culmination of a decade of work aimed at making MADI more versatile and cost-effective to implement. And it is the price benefits of the new extension that Brunke expects to be particularly alluring. “Coax and fibre optic MADI can get expensive to implement, so I think this new update will make MADI even more accessible,” he concludes. www.optocore.com

“I think I should take this up professionally,” joked Jeff Beck UNITED KINGDOM

Jeff Beck joins the Sound Fellows THE 7TH ANNUAL APRS Sound Fellowship Awards Lunch took place on 19 November, recognising individuals who made a “significant contribution to the art, science or business of sound recording”. This year’s recipients were guitarist/songwriter Jeff Beck, Livingston Studios’ Jerry Boys, EMI/Chrysalis A&R man Chris Briggs, AMS Neve founder Mark Crabtree, Landsdowne and CTS studio owner Adrian Kerridge and producer/composer Nile Rodgers. Legendary recording engineer and producer Phil Ramone was also honoured posthumously. The Harewood Toast was given by PPL chairman Fran Nevrkla, OBE. A highlight of this year’s gathering was Briggs, who brought the house down with his reminiscence of days in the studio with the Sex Pistols producer Bill Price. “I remember Bill describing ‘second harmonic distortion’ – I didn’t understand a fucking word,” he said with perfect comic timing. www.aprs.co.uk

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seasonalbusiness

Less red tape, more red ribbons says Peter

PSNEurope asked the president of studio gadget specialist Radial Engineering what he’d like his true love to send him this festive season...

DAY 1: LESS RED TAPE Tremendous time, effort and expense is required by everyone when we move goods across borders. Protectionism, taxation and other forms of barriers make it difficult to do business and the end result is higher prices for consumers and less money in the hands of producers. We should be doing everything we can to promote free trade (not free-er trade for me) so that we can all benefit.

DAY 2: STANDARDS THAT ARE ACTUALLY STANDARD Way back in the 1990s, we anticipated fibre-optics would completely take over audio and render our custom cable division obsolete. Immunity to RF, no more ground loops, 24-bit 96kHz sampling... perfect audio for all.

Although we made great strides, we soon came to the conclusion that if a Yamaha console cannot speak with a DiGiCo, analogue splitters would still survive.

Twenty years later, we are still wishing for a universal standard!

DAY 3: MORE INDEPENDENT DEALERS Creativity and innovation comes from those that are excited about being in the business.

This often begins on the retail sales floor where guys like me started in this business. With the trend away from person-toperson communication, to

Peter meets Santa (or is it producer Bruce Swedien?)

“I would love to have a top artist record and perform one of the many songs I have penned...” Wouldn’t we all, Peter...

online ordering at-the-best-price practices, we are heading towards a ‘vanilla only’ future. My wish is for more small independent shops to rise to the occasion.

DAY 4: FAIR TAXATION With internet shopping comes tax evasion. We can blame the Romans for inventing both tax and evasion – they have been doing it for 2000 years. But when a far-off jurisdiction can beat the local competitor by avoiding tax, it makes it impossible for the local company to thrive. A fair playing field for all our customers is another wish.

DAY 5: AN UNDERSTANDING OF ACOUSTICS How many times do you see folks putting in bigger PA systems or more speakers into a gymnasium in an effort to improve intelligibility when the room has so much echo, it is functionally useless? How I wish that the audio community would stop with the madness and actually pay attention to the room acoustics. Putting up acoustic panels is actually easier than installing speakers! And it will produce better results.

DAY 6: SOUND QUALITY It always amazes me that folks will spend huge amounts of dollars, Euros and Yen to buy a great car with an awesome surround system and then listen to audio through a terrible hi-fi

or low quality ear-buds. With such amazing technology at hand, better sound should be at the top of the agenda!

DAY 7: RECORD ONE OF MY SONGS I would love to have a top artist record and perform one of the many songs I have penned, but never had the time to promote.

I got into the business playing piano at the age of seven and have had a guitar or keyboard to hand almost every day since then. How about enough time away from the office to record a few of them and send them off to see what happens?

DAY 8: STOP THE WORLD FOR 24 HOURS It seems that these days, we are so busy that we do not take the time to smell the roses. So please Santa, how about a switch that lets me shut everything down until I get caught up?

DAY 9: GOOD ONLINE MAGAZINES [AHEM… – ED] I would love to see quality online magazines that had well researched articles written by professionals. Today, it seems the majority of what is being published are stories written

by PR companies pushing a particular brand of speaker, console or wireless system. If PR articles are to rule the world, then they should all be about direct boxes because everyone knows

If only real Christmas trees came with DIs... that a good DI is more important than anything else! Well – right up there with beer.

DAY 10: RTFM! OK, this may be far-fetched, but another wish would be to have people actually read the owner’s manual before they send us an email on how to use a given widget. Way back in the 1980s, Rane set itself apart by writing superb owner’s manuals that both informed and educated.

At Radial, we do our best to do the same. Please Santa, give spectacles and initiative to all to read these documents!

DAY 11: WORKING WITH MOTIVATED STAFF I remember going into a music shop north of Chicago where the guy behind the counter that I was

speaking with was playing chess online during my presentation.

I recently had a meeting in Texas where the person in front of me took 15 phone calls during the 45 minutes we were there. Suffice to say, manufacturers and reps take great pride in visiting customers and getting attention and respect is truly appreciated.

DAY 12: A USEFUL CHRISTMAS TREE Instead of the old tired globes, tinsel and lights I would like to see Radial DI boxes and Reampers hanging from the tree instead. With all the colours we have, it will make for a fabulous looking tree! Best part is after the celebration, the DIs could be used for the New Year’s Eve gig! www.radialeng.com

Photo: © Gilead Limor

Peter Janis’ 12 Days of Christmas

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reviewoftheyear

Storm and the studio From the restructuring of one of London’s leading studio operators, to the further strengthening-by-acquisition of proaudio’s most powerful player, 2013 has hardly been a year lacking incident. David Davies takes a themed look back at some of the defining moments The Great Oak Stage stood firm for Capital Sound and the debut of the Martin Audio MLA in London’s Hyde Park this summer. But in other tree-related news...

“[The restructure] was a watershed moment for us, and obviously it’s not something that you enter into lightly… but it has enabled us to refocus and drive the business forward” Gerry Gallacher, Metropolis of Metropolis’s expanded events programme, the new Bunker screening facility, and an eponymously-titled record label.

The flourishing of new post facilities has been one of the real success stories of the studio

Restructured but still in tune: Metropolis

world during recent years. The pattern continued in 2013, although not without some turbulence. In August, BBC inhouse paper Ariel reported that BBC Studios and Post Production (S&PP) was to leave its post facility in Charlotte Street, central London, in January, only a year after it took up residence. Meanwhile, it was practical considerations – namely the upcoming loss of a lease on long-standing premises in Dean Street – that encouraged Jungle Post to refocus on its audio roots at its other premises in Wardour Street.

Elsewhere in the industry, some star players further consolidated their market share through acquisition. Underlining its continued diversification into

BRANCHING OUT IN SHOREDITCH Strongroom Studios was struck a blow in the early hours of 28 October: the high winds that battered the UK uprooted the eucalyptus tree, planted 30 years ago by managing director Richard Boote’s own hand. “It has afforded Strongroom protection from the the education market, September saw music production specialist PreSonus purchase the assets of music notation software developer Notion Music. A few weeks later, MediorNet developer Riedel asserted the scope of its influence in the networking domain by acquiring mobile streaming company Code One – a move that gave Riedel a

eyes of the neighbours for three decades and will be much missed,” said studio manager Phil Sisson.

“We may use some of the timber to create a sculpture or perhaps a bench, so any would-be woodworkers are invited to submit their proposals!” portfolio of WAN-focused solutions, as well as technology for distributing video, audio and data via mobile networks.

A little over five years since it was acquired by D&M Holdings, Cornwall-based audio mixing manufacturer Allen & Heath changed hands once again mid-year, this time to private equity firm Electra

MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS… AND MORE Nearly five years after the allconsuming Downturn, the European economy remains becalmed at best, so it was surely inevitable that the recent pattern of consolidation would continue this year. Even so, 2013 was particularly eventful for changes at a corporate level, with the recording studio and post sectors among those evincing further signs of upheaval.

London’s network of major recording spaces has shrunk considerably in recent years, so June’s news that one of the capital’s biggest beasts, Metropolis, was to embark upon a process of restructuring couldn’t help but prompt anxiety in some quarters. But having transferred its assets to holding company Metropolis London Music and secured the support of three new investors, the studio complex has emerged newly re-emboldened.

“It was a watershed moment for us, and obviously it’s not something that you enter into lightly,” reflects Gerry Gallacher, marketing director at Metropolis. “But although we are still working through the administration process, it has enabled us to refocus the business – particularly with regard to the studios and mastering – and drive it forward.” A renewed emphasis on US clients has resulted in an uptake of business originating Stateside, while Gallacher is also enthusiastic about the potential

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reviewoftheyear Harman’s Blake Augsburger

Andreas Hildebrand (left) and Ralf Michl of ALC NetworX at NAB 2013

“The investment [by Electra Partners] has already seen the expansion of the R&D team to help accelerate new product introductions” Glenn Rogers, Allen & Heath never crystallised. So it’s business as usual.”

The same message was radiating from AIR in mid-November. (For the full story, see page 22.)

Responding to the pressures of an industry that is changing more rapidly than ever before has also prompted a glut of striking new partnerships. The result of long discussion between loudspeaker manufacturer APG and Italian amplifier maker Powersoft was the launch of a range of APG-branded amps at Prolight + Sound 2013. DiGiCo and Waves Audio, meanwhile, said they were seeking to accommodate higher trackcounts and more demanding applications with their range of DiGiGrid hardware and processing solutions.

NETWORKING: EVOLUTION, NOT REVOLUTION Bored of hearing/reading about the ‘networking revolution’?

A sense of fatigue would be understandable at the sheer weight of discussion about protocols, standards and ‘real world applications’ these past few years. But fullyfledged networking is coming whether we like it or not, and 2013 was again rich in related developments.

The AVB (Audio/Video Bridging) movement that promotes media transport and

interoperability through standards developed by the IEEE AVB Task Group of the IEEE 802.1 standards committee took several decisive steps forward. With a complete package of standards for the pro-AV market now complete, AVB-promoting organisation the AVnu Alliance announced the initiation of bridge and endpoint certification for pro-audio devices. New AVnu member Axon demonstrated AVB video at key trade shows, while BMW became the organisation’s first European car maker.

“Our membership now stands at 65,” says AVnu Alliance president/chairman and Harman VP research & innovation for the Corporate Technology Group, Rick Kreifeldt. “AVB is evolving to increasingly broad areas of automotive, CE and

industrial controls. From an AVnu perspective, we will have our first wave of certified products and will be opening up certifications in the other areas mentioned. Expect a lot of activity in professional video as we see that ecosystem growing quickly.”

While we may have several years to wait before AVB becomes a daily default, Audinate’s Dante – a media networking technology sometimes regarded as a stepping stone to AVB – continues to assert its market dominance. Just in time for IBC, Audinate announced that Studio Technologies had become the 100th Dante OEM partner – the adoption of Dante among AV manufacturers having doubled in the

A&H Qu-16 compact digital mixer

previous year alone. At press time, CEO Lee Ellison revealed this number had grown again: “This past year we’ve seen amazing growth with respect to OEMs – we expected about 90, and it’s 120 – but also with the number of products that have been deployed that have Dante.

We’ve shipped over 4 million channels of Dante into the market since July 2013; in the last 12 months, about 20+ OEMs have been developing solutions around our Ultimo I/O board.

“We began by focusing on robust, reliable, high performance but easy to use solution.

The next level, and what we’ve done over the last 12 months, is to build out into health and network monitoring – performance and statistical information.”

Simultaneously, another networking technology, Ravenna, has continued to rise in profile as an alternative solution, particularly in the broadcast market. Lawo, Genelec and Neumann are among the companies to have expressed support for the technology, which has in some quarters been perceived as a ‘European answer’ to AVB. Most recently, Digigram announced that it would be implementing Ravenna across its full product line, kicking things off with the introduction of a new soundcard.

Andreas Hildebrand, senior

Partners. Reflecting on a year that also saw the company launch the Qu-16 compact digital mixer, A&H MD Glenn Rogers tells PSNEurope that the new relationship with Electra Partners has “enabled A&H to focus again on the development of key new products and introduced some new ideas and opportunities, which will allow A&H to enter a new phase of growth. The investment has already seen the expansion of the R&D team to help accelerate new product introductions. We have an excellent catalogue of existing products, and with a number of exciting prospects in development the future looks good for A&H.” Book-ending the year were two significant acquisitions for global entertainment technology giant Harman. In February, the group completed its purchase of lighting company Martin Professional in a move that appeared to underline a pattern of convergence between AV disciplines. Then, in October, Harman snapped up Duran Audio, the Dutch-based beamsteering specialist and install market mainstay.

Looking back on an eventful 12 months, Harman Professional Division president Blake Augsburger tells PSNEurope that the Martin deal “broadened Harman’s portfolio of professional AV technologies and allowed us to take our strategy of being a one-stop solutions provider of powerful, cohesive systems with a single point of access and accountability. The Duran Audio acquisition enabled us to strengthen our electro-acoustic offerings to the core systems integration market, but also provided a valuable on-ramp for EN54 compliance, [as well as] access to new verticals we did not previously address.”

In a year that might reasonably warrant the epithet ‘unsettled’, at least one major manufacturer confirmed that it was not looking for a new home. Still riding high on the success of its groundbreaking Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array (MLA) technology, Martin Audio had been the subject of rumours about its future ownership during 2012.

But speaking to PSNEurope editor Dave Robinson in October this year, MD Anthony Taylor sought to put the record straight: “We’re not actively out there saying, ‘please buy us’.

There was some interest but it

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reviewoftheyear Antony David at the launch of the SSL Live

PRO SOUND AWARDS

product manager at Ravenna developer ALC NetworX, confirms that 2013 was a significant year for the technology: alongside the demonstration of commercially available Ravenna-enabled products at NAB, Hildebrand draws attention to the publication of the AES67 standard (formerly X192), with which Ravenna is fully compliant. “Currently, 25 companies have entered into a Ravenna partnership, with MTS, WorldCast Systems and Archwave added in 2013,” he says. Looking ahead, Hildebrand expects to see “the deployment of Ravenna-enabled products into major key projects” soon, and highlights plans for a “manufacturer-independent management layer” to manage and administrate all Ravenna devices/ streams in a selected network area.

But for all the undoubted progress in making networking more accessible to the wider world, the results of this year’s industry survey by annual PSNEurope special publication PSNLive couldn’t help but give cause for pause.

Only 64% of engineers canvassed expected networking to have a substantial impact on their daily lives over the next two-to-three years – a drop of 8% from the previous year.

Simultaneously, the percentage of those in the group that we might label the ‘hardcore cynics’ rose by 12%. Somewhere, somehow, the educational effort isn’t quite doing the trick…

CONSOLE COMPETITION INTENSIFIES From the Soundcraft Vi1 to the Midas PRO series, the recent-years trend in favour of miniaturisation is undeniable.

Priced competitively, smallerformat consoles have brought multiple benefits to road-warriors and install customers alike.

Simultaneously, manufacturers have sought to address the need for multi-functionality by introducing new features – most imaginatively in the form of Soundcraft’s DMX lighting control-enabled Si Performer.

Speaking of Soundcraft, the Harman brand made one of the year’s most significant additions to the compact console offer in the form of the Si Expression range.

Each model in the three-product range offers a capacity of up to 66 inputs to mix by connecting any Soundcraft stagebox, including the newly launched Mini Stagebox 16 and 32.

Elsewhere in the console firmament, other manufacturers consolidated their presence in existing markets – and even ventured forth into new ones.

From Calrec, the live broadcast-

SEPTEMBER 2013 marked the launch of the Pro Sound Awards at London’s Ministry of Sound nightclub. Regarded by many of those attending as a resounding success, the Awards recognised achievement across and contribution to the pro-audio landscape, in the disciplines of studio, broadcast, live sound and installed sound. Andy Munro received a lifetime achievement trophy for his services to studio design, and the BEIRG founders picked up the Grand Prix for their efforts in managing and preserving the radio spectrum in changing and turbulent times.

Winners pictured here (clockwise from top right) are Andy Munro, Riedel’s Nick Williams, Conrad Fletcher and the Mixbus Audio team, engineer Toby Alington, British Grove’s David Stewart and Sennheiser’s Mark Saunders (right) with event host Alistair Williams. oriented Callisto is designed for those broadcast professionals not requiring as many resources as users of the company’s Apollo and Artemis consoles. Another

Lawo mc 256 console put through its paces at Rock en Seine

broadcast market stalwart, Solid State Logic, surprised Prolight + Sound visitors by announcing its entry into the live audio market with the appropriately-named SSL Live console. Shipping got underway in late September, with the first three consoles to hit the road accompanying Britannia Row on Peter Gabriel’s So-revisiting tour (see page 36).

“The first tour has completed with the Peter Gabriel production team putting [the SSL Live] firmly through its paces and affirming that it passed without a single major problem,” says SSL MD Antony David.

“Commercial tours are just getting underway in France, Italy and Mexico, while we are now in the closing stages of developing a global reseller partner network which includes some of our longstanding partners and some new ones. We have doubled production to keep in step with the significant demand and the order book for Q1 next year is already filling up.”

In France, Lawo flexed its Innovason-honed live-sound muscles and spent the summer touring, road-testing an mc256 console – built for broadcast – at music festivals.

Intelligence gathered may well

feed into a launch into that market for the German giant.

Watch this space…

Apart from the steady flow of new product elsewhere, the console market witnessed a flurry of major league personnel transfer ‘action’. In particular, several former ‘star strikers’ at Midas Klark Teknik (MKT) moved on to positions at other console makers. In May, SSL announced that Jason Kelly, formerly product manager at MKT, was to become product manager for its new Live console.

A few months later, Cadac confirmed the appointment of two former MKT staffers, James Godbehear and Richard ‘Fez’ Ferriday, to take respective responsibility for brand marketing and brand development.

So that was the year that was.

The wave of refocusing and downsizing confirms that it’s still tough out there – but it certainly isn’t stagnant, as is the case in so many other professional market sectors.

With the flow of new product at a greater intensity than at any time since the 2008-10 economic cycle, pro-audio is more than holding its own against the pressures of the prevailing climate. Roll on 2014!

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Mixing in widescreen

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industrymovers

All change at Adamson Oliver takes on director of marketing role, which Schlockwerder steps up for European business development BROCK ADAMSON of Adamson Systems has announced the promotion of James Oliver to the position of director of marketing and sales. In his new role, Oliver

Molinare has appointed Andy Purkiss as general manager of operations to lead the ongoing development of services and ensure that the business continues to evolve in line with changing client needs.

He will maintain the company’s servicing and technical output across both film and broadcast projects. “I’m very excited to join such a renowned post production house that employs some of the best talent in the industry,” comments Purkiss. www.molinare.co.uk Barix has promoted Frank Frederiksen to COO following a successful 15 months as vice president of product marketing and strategy. In his new role he will continue to oversee product management whilst working to improve company operations, with an emphasis on logistics, manufacturing and meeting customer demand. “I look forward to establishing a stronger link between defining products and bringing them to market,” says Frederiksen. www.barix.com Media City UK-based media services provider dock10 has appointed renowned sound mixer Mark Briscoe to the newly created role of head of audio. In addition, Jon Nunn has joined the facility as post producer. Mark Briscoe has an impressive body of work built up over 17 years at ITV, whilst Jon Nunn started his career as a runner nearly 15 years ago, working his way up to post production co-ordinator. “This opportunity is one of the most exciting developments in my career,” comments Briscoe. Nunn added, “dock10 has quickly become established as one of the major players in post production, so to be a part of their team is a

will be responsible for the growth of Adamson’s sales worldwide, with focus on the growing North American market. These efforts will include defining global brand

strategy, offering tour and application support, spearheading product training programmes as well as overseeing all marketing efforts.

“James brings a unique skill set to the table that spans beyond pro audio. This move will help the company continue to expand sales and

marketing efforts around the world,” says Adamson.

At the same time the Adamson Europe GmbH offices has promoted Martin Schlockwerder to marketing and business development/ Europe. “I am looking forward to promoting the sonic excellence of Adamson products all over Europe,” says Schlockwerder, “It is an exciting time to be working with Adamson Systems.” www.adamsonsystems.com

Andy Purkiss Molinare

Frank Frederiksen Barix

Mark Briscoe Media City UK

Jon Nunn Media City UK

Pablo Espinosa Meyer Sound

Nick Pemberton Sennheiser UK

Malcolm Robinson Broadcast Networks

Dan Orton L-Acoustics

John White QSC

Steve Clinkscale Proel International

fantastic opportunity for me.” www.dock10.co.uk Meyer Sound has named Pablo Espinosa as the company’s chief loudspeaker designer, adding to his current role of vice president of research and development. In this new position, he will oversee the company’s loudspeaker development, alongside longterm conceptual planning for the full loudspeaker line-up.

“Meyer Sound has built a reputation of innovation and exemplified a long-term approach to serving the industry,” says Espinosa. www.meyersound.com The Music Group has announced the appointment of Nick Bellis as customer support within the Music Group Professional Division. Bellis has 25 years of

experience as a respected FOH and monitor sound engineer and system tech with pro audio rental company Adlib Audio, working on major concerts across the UK, Europe and North America. “This is a fabulous time to be part of the Music Group’s bright future,” says Bellis. www.music-group.com Sennheiser UK has appointed Nick Pemberton to the new role of market development manager.

Pemberton will work closely with product and accounts managers to create opportunities, launch new products and maximise opportunities for the Sennheiser and Neumann brands. Initially focusing on the broadcast, theatre and integrated system markets, he will also be training internal team members to develop and maintain product

and market knowledge. www.sennheiser.co.uk Broadcast Networks has strengthened its management team by naming Malcolm Robinson as director of media and broadcast solutions.

He joins the company from Sony PSE where, as general manager for live production solutions, he was responsible for the design and build of more than 200 OB vehicles and studios. www.bcnet.co.uk L-Acoustics has appointed Dan Orton to the post of application engineer for the UK and Ireland, bolstering its commitment to the fixed installation of touring market. Based in the UK, Orton is tasked with providing support for both consultants and UK LAcoustics systems integrators. www.l-acoustics.com

At QSC, John White, PhD has been appointed to vice president, research and development. White has served as vice president of engineering at THX, the cinema technology company founded by filmmaker George Lucas, where he led the company’s transformation from a test certification company to a product development firm. Prior to THX, he was director of engineering at Avid. www.qsc.com Proel International has appointed Steve Clinkscale as sales agent for Scotland. Based in Melrose on the Scottish borders, Clinkscale will be responsible for expanding and developing Proel sales in Scotland as well as promoting the distributed lines of CORT Guitars, JTS Microphones, Acus Amplification, B&C loudspeakers and Livewire cables. www.proel.co.uk

www.dbaudio.com

No more setting up setups: d&b is d&b.

Chivas Stadium, Guadalajara, Mexico

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They say d&b loudspeakers can only be driven by d&b amplifiers. A fact that guarantees not only a constant reproducible sound quality everywhere and every time, but that also facilitates a relatively significant efficiency. Whatever: d&b as usual.

PSNE Dec P14 Events 22/11/2013 16:40 Page 14

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For more events news visit www.psneurope.com/events

expos&events

EDITORIAL PLANNER

SPOTLIGHT THE NAMM SHOW 23-26 January Anaheim, California www.namm.org

JANUARY 2014 f Test & Measurement It’s all about precision

THIS YEAR sees The NAMM Foundation presenting the annual TEC Awards event for the first time after the foundation formally entered into an agreement to become part of the National Association of Music Merchants in May of this year.

The Awards, which honour outstanding achievement in audio technology and production, were founded in 1985 and have been held at the NAMM Show since 2011, with NAMM as the presenting sponsor.

NAMM and The TEC Awards will also induct two new members to its Hall of Fame, including audio engineer and sound researcher John Meyer, co-founder and CEO of Meyer Sound.

Pictured right, talented folk sisters SHEL were a highlight on the DPA booth at last year’s NAMM and will be back for 2014.

f Cables + Connectors Something VERY SPECIAL and out of the ordinary is planned for this most humble of features... f ISE preview Make your plan for Amsterdam... f NAMM preview ...and what to find in Anaheim Deadline: 12 December Distribution: 6 January

EVENTS Your complete calendar of expos and conferences for the months ahead

FEBRUARY

International CES 7-10 January 2014 Las Vegas, US www.cesweb.org

BRIT Awards 2014 19 February London, UK www.brits.co.uk

CABSAT 2014 23-25 March Dubai, UAE www.cabsat.com

f Live Mics

2014 NAMM Show 23-26 January Anaheim, US www.namm.org

BVE 25-27 February London, UK www.bvexpo.com

NAB 5-10 April Las Vegas, US www.nabshow.com

f Audio for Gaming

MIDEM 2014 25-28 January Cannes, France www.midem.com

56th GRAMMY Awards 26 January Los Angeles, California www.grammy.com

ISCEx 2014 5 March Milton Keynes, UK www.isce.org.uk

LLB 23-25 April Stockholm, Sweden www.llb.se

BETT 30 January-2 February London, UK www.bettshow.com

SIEL 10-14 February Paris, France www.siel-expo.com

CeBIT 11-15 March Hanover, Germany www.cebit.de

136th AES Convention 26-29 April Berlin, Germany www.aeg.org

Integrated Systems Europe 2014 4-6 February Amsterdam, Netherlands www.iseurope.org

Music Producers Guild Awards 13 February London, UK www.mpgawards.com

Prolight + Sound 12-15 March Frankfurt, Germany www.prolight-sound.com

PLASA Focus 30 April-1 May Leeds, UK www.plasafocus.com

Building rugged microphones that still deliver on sonic quality Another visit to this burgeoning corner of the recording industry f Prolight + Sound preview 1 Frankfurt comes earlier in 2014: time to start planning your trip Deadline: 22 January Distribution: 6 February

MARCH f Classic Kit f Airports! f Prolight + Sound preview 2

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PSNE Dec P16 Products DR 22/11/2013 12:41 Page 16

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technologynew products Mark Haldon compiles this month’s list of hot new products SOUND DEVICES

633 What is it? A compact six-input mixer with integrated 10-track recorder.

Details: Unique in a portable mixer, the 633 is equipped with a four-way power supply, which allows for multiple, simultaneous

power sources including external DC on a Hirose 4-pin locking (12-18 V), two removable and independent L-type Lithium-ion batteries and internal AA battery powering (six-AA).

The unit detects when power sources are removed and seamlessly transitions to an available power source.

And another thing: The integrated recorder features six inputs, with three high-bandwidth mic/line XLR inputs complete with phantom power, high-pass filter, input limiter and variable pan. www.sounddevices.com

MAAG

EQ4 What is it? An EQ plug-in for UAD Platform and Apollo audio interfaces.

Details: Based on the classic NTI EQ3, the Maag EQ4 is a plug-in designed to provide transparency and top-end presence while maintaining a true, natural sound.

MERGING TECHNOLOGIES

Details: The AD8D and AD8DP offer additional analogue output after the mic pre-amplifiers. The standard AD8D replaces that AD8 and allows PCM recordings up to 192kHz, whilst the premium AD8DP replaces the AD8P card that allows extreme recording resolutions of

And another thing: The plug-in boasts a five-position Air Band control, a reported major component to the vocal mix chain on Madonna’s Ray of Light and Celine Dion’s Taking Chances. www.brainworx-music.de

COMMUNITY

AD8D, AD8DP What is it? New mic/line input cards for Horus.

Designed in conjuncture with Brainworx, the EQ4 features a powerful Sub control tool for low-end sculpting, a 160Hz band to reduce unwanted resonance and a 2.5kHz band for controlling the bite of vocals or emphasising the aggression of heavy guitar sounds.

DXD at 352.8kHz and all variants of DSD up to 11.2MHz. The cards also feature eight transparent Mergingdesigned pre-amplifiers and remote/local switch to line level on a per channel basis.

And another thing: Each card is completely remote accessible for all parameter changes. www.merging.com

DP8 PENDANT LOUDSPEAKER What is it? A two-way full range coaxial conical loudspeaker.

Details: The DP8 is an 8-inch coaxial loudspeaker with a tapered style, providing highly-intelligible and great musical sound quality for restaurants and hotels amongst other establishments. It features Distributed Design Series’ unique

Uniform Voicing, which means users experience uniformly high-quality sound in all spaces regardless of the loudspeaker type chosen.

And another thing: With its weather resistant enclosure, grill and components, the DP8 can also be used outdoors in covered locations. www.communitypro.com

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TG 1000 DIGITAL WIRELESS SYSTEM –––––– PROFESSIONAL AUDIO PRODUCTS MADE IN GERMANY

Safe long-term Investment Offering a bandwidth 470–789 MHz, TG 1000 is a safe long-term investment.

2.1 ms Total Latency TG 1000 features a total latency of only 2.1 ms, which is trend-setting for digital wireless systems.

Visit us: Booth 6464

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technologynew products DAV ELECTRONICS

BG503 500-SERIES EQ

RØDE

M5 MICROPHONE What is it? A compact condenser microphone.

Details: Inspired by the company’s flagship small diaphragm NT5, the M5 features a ½-inch cardioid electret condenser capsule and is available in acoustically matched pairs. The matched pairs have been selected to ensure a variation of no more than 1dB

What is it? A 500-series EQ module.

sensitivity between microphones and a premium foiled certificate is supplied to verify the authenticity of the pair.

And another thing: The M5 is finished with RØDE’s proprietary ceramic coating, which offers a sleek black matte finish and is supplied with WS5 windshields and RM5 stand mounts. www.rodemic.com

KLOTZ

KMK CABLES What is it? New KMK cables with ultra-light connectors.

STEINBERG

UR44 What is it? A USB 2.0 audio and MIDI interface with six inputs and four outputs.

Details: The UR44 offers latencyfree monitoring with DSP-powered REV-X reverb and the Sweet Spot Morphing Channel Strip in Cubase, or any other DAW software via the included dspMixFx application.

With up to 192kHz and 24-bit audio

quality, MIDI input/output, Class-A D-PRE microphone pre-amps and class-compliant mode for iPad use, the unit is a portable production studio with ample connectivity choices.

And another thing: The UR44 will be available from January 2014 with a suggested retail price of €349. www.steinberg.net

Details: The impact-resistant Klotz connectors on the KMK cables are made from a highquality composite exclusively

by Neutrik and are 40% lighter when compared to the M1FM1N microphone cable. The KMK is also particularly flexible, rugged, low in diameter and offers excellent signal transmission due to its high conductor cross-section and good screening.

And another thing: Every connector is hand soldered and can be opened and marked with coloured rings to improve clarity. www.klotz-ais.com

Details: Inspired by the DAV Electronics BG3 mastering EQ, this single-slot module is a high-quality three-band EQ with tonal shaping capabilities.

Both low and high frequency bands use a Shelf curve with +/-8dB and stepped frequencies ranging from 12.5Hz to 400Hz for the LF

band and from 2kHz to 32kHz for the HF band. The Mid band uses a resonant design with its bandwidth narrowing when reaching the extremes of its +/-12dB of gain.

And another thing: With +27dBu of available headroom before clipping, it will work perfectly in modern studio setups. www.davelectronics.com

TELEFUNKEN

M80-SH, M81-SH What is it? Two new versions of the M80 and M81 dynamic microphones specifically for drum applications.

Details: The M80-SH (pictured) was created for use on snare drum and vocal applications, where a lower profile microphone with right angle XLR cable is needed. A tight cardioid polar pattern and a frequency response displaying a subtle rise in the high end results in a microphone suitable for snare drum, vocals or instruments on stage or in the studio.

The M81-SH builds off the strength of the M80 but retains the same minimal proximity effect, superior feedback rejection and an articulate mid-range. However, the top end is

pulled back a bit, yielding a flatter overall frequency response.

And another thing: Both products come with a leather microphone bag and 5m SGMC-5 XLR cable with right-angle female XLR. www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com

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Studio SOUNDBITES Solid State Logic has announced that Paul Savage has upgraded his Chem 19 Studios with an AWS 948 Controller. The studios have played host to artists including Calvin Harris and Deacon Blue. Savage claims the AWS has already helped “drive his commercial success”. www.solid-state-logic.com Acclaimed engineer David Bottrill has been using Radial Engineering’s new Cherry Picker and Gold Digger units, which the maker claims will increase efficiency in the studio, for his latest project in Vancouver. Bottrill, who spent nine years working in Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studio, says, “We used [them] to select mics and preamps. So easy to use!” www.radialeng.com iZotopehas released a new digital guide entitled Audio Repair with RX 3: Tools, Tips, and Techniques. The reference guide, available free of charge in the iTunes store and through iZotope’s website, outlines the most common types of audio problems in recordings. www.izotope.com

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

UNITED KINGDOM

Ocean Audio surfaces Former Trident man Malcolm Toft continues to ride a wave of engineering success with a new company and a raft of new products, writes Erica Basnicki “WE’VE ACHIEVED a lot in the first year,” says Malcolm Toft of his latest venture.

Known in the industry as the man behind the venerable Trident A-Range and Series 80 consoles, Toft formed Ocean Audio in January 2013 after numerous years consulting for Trident parent company PMI Audio Group.

“I basically decided I wanted to be back in control of my own destiny if you like,” said Toft, and with that the company launched two 500 Series modules (an EQ and mic pre) followed by The Ark 516, the first analogue recording console designed to support 40 individual 500 Series modules.

“We launched it at the Frankfurt music show and it was really well received,” said

Toft (right) and producer Tony Visconti at AES in October Toft. “In fact we had a whole load of other manufacturers looking over it to see what it was about. Since then it’s started to grow in interest and we’ve actually sold a few consoles so far, so it’s all quite exciting.”

Each of The Ark’s 16 input channels provides two slots for 500 Series modules and a fully modular input channel with independent line and monitor

inputs, six aux sends and bussing to groups and master outputs.

Toft’s design philosophy for The Ark was to make it as transparent as possible, with the flavour of the sound coming from the 500 Series modules “That’s what really excites me about The Ark. You’re no longer down to people saying ‘what does the console sound like? What does the EQ sound

like?’ It sounds like whatever EQ you want to put in it.”

The console began shipping in July and according to Toft the reaction has “exceeded expectations. We were always hoping that The Ark would catch people’s imagination – and it really seems to have done – and we’ve been very gratified by the response that it’s had and by how quickly the word has spread.”

A sub-£12k pricetag puts The Ark at a fairly reasonable pricepoint, though Toft does acknowledge that adding 16 channels of 500 Series mic pres and EQs can drive that up.

To that end, he says that Ocean Audio is “considering doing a lower-cost mic preamp and EQ so people can populate The Ark with our modules, without it costing too much to have a fullyequipped console. They will probably be our next products.”

Beyond that, Toft won’t say.

“We’ve got our eyes on the marketplace and all I can say is watch this space, and look on the website from time to time, and I’m sure you’ll some see exciting things happening.” www.oceanaudio.co.uk

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Control room 1 at Denmark Street Studios, now part of central London’s ongoing musical history

studionews

Street dreams are made of this

London’s Tin Pan Alley has a new recording studio, ready to raise Denmark Street’s reverie-inducing profile, writes Erica Basnicki IT FIRST opened its doors to the musicians of central London nearly 60 years ago. The Small Faces and Paul McCartney recorded there and Manfred Mann once owned the place.

EMI Publishing had a recording studio there, Acid Jazz Records a headquarters and, later, Tin Pan Alley Studios set up shop at the address. This month, ahead of an ambitious rejuvenation of London’s famous musical epicentre, 22 Denmark Street has once again reopened its doors as Denmark Street Studios.

The studio is owned by engineer/producer Guy Katsav (The View, Laura Marling, David Guetta), who subsequently brought former Metropolis Studios sales manager Elliot Shand and producer/engineer Itay Kashti into the fold. Since opening, the studio has already seen the likes of Ninja Tunes’ Roses Gabor, former Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt and UK grime star Skepta cross the threshold into the subterranean studio.

“The first time I came (to Denmark Street) was in the early ’90s, I still remember it was one of the reasons why I moved to London,” said Katsav. “Over the years I’ve seen the whole area and street decay, music-wise, so to try and flip it bring it back again and inject some energy back into the street… I think people are getting excited around here. We’ve already had a lot of people from the shops come and play, which is fantastic.”

Katsav, who had previously spent 10 years at (currently for sale) Soho Recording Studios, was searching for a bigger space after his success with The View, Groove Armada and others.

“By a complete fluke I remembered there was a studio here. I found the owner, we came here and instantly I said ‘I’m taking it’. It was instant.”

Shortly after Katsav called Shand, whom he had met earlier this year.

“I was at Metropolis and (Guy) called me up and said ‘Would you

Guy Katsav sits in front of the 1906 Blüthner grand piano, left behind by previous tenants

be interested in a recording studio in Denmark Street?’,” said Shand.

“My bags were packed in the next five minutes. “ The trio took over the space in August of this year and immediately set to work on the daunting task of getting the space back into working order, after being closed for some time.

In Shand’s own words, the studio “smelled like a lake” when they first moved in. Katsav elaborates: “The amount of rubbish that we took out of here was insane. And I’m talking about rubbish that had been here since the ’80s, maybe even the ’70s. The state of it was scary, but I could see the potential. You walk in and you can feel the history.”

Some of that history was also left behind, including an antique violin now hanging on the wall, a closet full of magnetic tape (and no, they haven’t listened to them yet) and a 1906 Blüthner grand piano, now restored to its original glory and sitting proudly in the studio’s main live room.

The refurbished Studio 1 centres around two consoles: an AMEK BC2 and a Sony DMXR100 and a selection of outboard gear by SSL, TubeTech, GML, Universal Audio and more. Monitoring options include Yamaha, Genelec, Focal, JBL and Celestion.

Around the corner are Studios 2 and 3, both “in the box” production rooms. The former is

All photos: Dunja Opalko

UNITED KINGDOM

the home of Down and Left, a production company backed by duo Gypsy Hill (DJ Kobayashi and Herbert Newbert) – and the latter a room occupied by producer Rui Da Silva, responsible for the 2001 house anthem Touch Me. “We haven’t needed to push too hard so far, it’s building momentum just on its own,” said Shand.

And it will likely continue that way, as a recently-approved plan to rejuvenate the street – including new shops, venues and even a hotel – has just received approval by Camden Council.

As reported in PSNEurope sister publication MI Pro, Laurence Kirschel, the developer responsible for the plans, said: “The development will invest in local shops and not only safeguard, but reinvigorate the area’s fantastic music and cultural scene.”

Work is expected to begin on the project in 2014. In the meantime, Katsav is working on his own future plans, including broadening the business into multimedia production and, perhaps a Denmark Street festival sometime in the future.

But for now, there’s no rush.

“It’s like making a record,” said Katsav. “You can’t force things. If you allow things to evolve in a natural way, people will want to be a part of it.” www.denmarkstreetstudios.com

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“I’m not actively trying to sell it...

AIR is still a viable business and makes a profit” Richard Boote

studioreport UNITED KINGDOM

Strongroom strengthens, rethinks AIR Studios sale STRONGROOM STUDIOS has created a new tracking and mixing room for producer Danton Supple (Natalie Imbruglia, Ian Brown), as the famous east London complex embarks on re-establishing its role as a “music hub”. Owner of Strongroom and chairman of the AIR Entertainment Group has also revealed the realignment of his operations, while confirming that AIR Studios is “off the market”.

Located in Strongroom 4, Supple’s room is centred on an ex-BBC Bush House Calrec Q-Series console. A range of classic outboard has been integrated with a Pro Tools high definition system, while the whole studio has been rewired

by Langdale Technical

Photo: Mike Banks, recordproduction.com

The London facility has created a new mixing room for producer Danton Supple. Meanwhile, group chairman Richard Boote says he is not actively seeking a buyer for AIR Studios, writes Dave Robinson

Strongroom Studios Consulting’s Bill Ward.

Phil Selway, the Radiohead drummer, was one of the first to use the room in recent weeks for work on his second solo album.

Danton Supple – managed by 140dB, which also handles

Flood and Ben Hillier – was an assistant at Strongroom in the 1980s and says: “It’s great to be back, the place has a fantastic vibe.”

The new role for Strongroom 4 is just one of several recent

happenings in the AIR/ Strongroom orbit.

When PSNEurope last spoke to chairman Richard Boote in May 2012, he revealed that AIR was up for sale, but not for the purpose of being “turned into flats”. Speaking with the title in November, Boote says the famous north London facility will stay in the fold.

“I’m not actively trying to sell it,” says Boote, “[But] it’s as much for sale as anything is for sale,” he says. “AIR is still a viable business and makes a profit.”

“A year and a half ago it was very near to being sold – for development,” he reveals. “But we made the decision to sell it to someone who wanted to keep it as a studio.

“I’m not fighting developers off all the time but they are always there in the background.

If a buyer came a long who had the finances to secure it from [those] developers, I would sell AIR because it would be better.”

Ideally, an investor with sufficient cash could “swipe aside anyone who is trying to develop it”. But that buyer has failed to emerge.

While there have been six or so interested parties, no single applicant has ticked all the right boxes. Hence, no sale.

But there has been activity elsewhere. In the last 18 months Boote has moved his family home to Portugal. The weekly commute is now more ‘easyJet’ than ‘Oyster card’.

His business partner of over two years, media lawyer and CEO Paul Woolf, has taken a more hands-on role in the day-to-day, allowing the group chairman to step back and see the bigger picture.

Part of that has involved a restructuring of the AIR/ Strongroom portfolio in recent months, with dividing lines marking out obvious geographies. AIR Studios, AIR Mastering and AIR Management are now run under one strand from the Belsize Park campus; while Strongroom, the Strongroom Bar & Kitchen and AIR Post Production form a separate strand, (all components of the AIR Entertainment Group) in Shoreditch. “Demerging has been very healthy for both businesses,” says Boote.

While AIR continues to attract film and production companies or those seeking a bigger live recording space,

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studionews Strongroom will push a profile as a music hub – the purpose for which it first gained a reputation many years ago.

Danton Supple’s room is the first stage in this process.

Strongroom 2 will also be vacated and the equipment relocated to AIR Post just down the road, so that “someone can move in for the longer term”.

The building of two additional audio dubbing suites at the post facility is also on the schedule.

Strongroom has taken on the lease of an adjacent building so a party wall can be knocked through, extending the bar space by around a third. Access from Rivington Street is planned (“which gives us a little more presence”) in addition to the familiar Curtain Road tunnel approach.

“Strongroom will be more of a hub – and AIR is benefiting too,” affirms Boote. A chart of Oscar-winning films he saw recently revealed that AIR had been involved in the soundtracks of nine of the top 20, he notes.

The SSL and Neve rooms are busy, as is AIR Mastering: “Ray Staff is remastering stuff he first mastered 30 years ago!

“AIR is a fantastic studio and a viable business; it still has a future because of the unique services it offers,” Boote concludes. “And I’m happy with the way the business is going.” www.strongroom.com www.airentgroup.com

UNITED KINGDOM

Eve SC407 monitors arrive in the UK

By Erica Basnicki

NORTH LONDON-BASED music technology education supplier Academia has installed Eve Audio SC407 monitors at Northampton University – the first installation of the new range in the UK, taking place just two weeks after the monitors landed at Nova Distribution headquarters.

The university’s Popular Music degree is headed by Gordon Okafor-Ross, who has spent the past month testdriving monitor speakers with his students.

The final monitor shootout was between the Eve Audio SC407, Adam Audio S3H-X and Focal Twin 6.

Northampton University students are the first in the UK to use the SC407 monitors “After rotating the universal mid/tweeter plate 90˚ from horizontal to vertical the Eve SC407 monitors really came together in our control room. The bass is tight, the mids are clear and the top end is very detailed. The Eves

overall feel more forensic and mixes developed on them sound great on other systems,” said Okafor-Ross.

“In a university environment, unlike a commercial studio, you must be prepared for students to make mistakes and the classic is

switching on phantom power with a microphone channel open.

I was really worried about the costs of regularly replacing fragile AMT drivers, however the Eves have a DSP protection circuit built into the input stage rather than limiting the amplifiers on other types of loudspeaker, they also helpfully flash to warn when you are close to overloading the speakers, which makes my heart beat a little more comfortably when handing the studio over to unsupervised students. Couple this with the bass extension and the uncompromising sound quality and we’ve found our perfect midfield monitors.” www.eve-audio.com www.nova-distribution.co.uk

UNITED STATES UNIVERSAL MASTERINGStudios in Los Angeles has replaced its stock of mastering and production systems with SADiE Series 6 workstations.

In total, three mastering rooms and four production rooms have been equipped with the new SADiE 6 systems, each running native but in a SADiE blue box. Universal Mastering Studios has also installed four Prism Sound Lyra 2 audio interfaces in its production rooms

and added a Prism Sound multichannel modular ADA-8XR A-D/D-A converter in each of its three mastering studios. The studio has also added the mastering version of Manley Massive Passive EQ and a Crane Song Avocett monitor controller. www.prismsound.com www.sadie.com www.universalmastering.com

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studionews “Jimi was just so easy to work with because he knew what he wanted”: Kramer remembers Hendrix with obvious affection

SOUNDBITES Plusdrums, a new ‘remote drum session’ service, has been launched by Music Week’s Rob Baker and his father Nick, offering a new way to drop live acoustic drum tracks into any musical project. Users can upload their brief, alongside their music and let the dedicated team handle the rest. Rob says, “It’s common sense to see collaborations taking place between two parties from other sides of the globe and that’s where we see Plusdrums in the long term.” www.plusdrums.com Pro-audio specialist Synthax Audio UK has announced that it will distribute Ferrofish products in the UK. The German-based company offers a range of digital to analogue converters with a number of features including routing, wordclock and synchronisation. The available units include the Ferrofish A16 MK-II and A16 AE as well as the B4000+, which is a standalone sound module that produces authentic organ sounds. All Ferrofish products are available through Synthax Audio UK authorised dealers. www.synthax.co.uk White Mark Ltd has won a major international concept design competition to reconstruct and modernise the recording studios and control rooms at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Poland. The university encouraged entries from acoustic and architectural companies from around the world.

“Winning the competition was a great achievement and one we are very proud of, but the bigger challenge will come when we start designing for construction,” says Alan Cundell, director of White Mark. www.whitemark.com Audient recently reached a significant milestone by selling 500 ASP8024 consoles. The ASP8024 has been in production since the company was founded in 1997 by Gareth Davies and David Dearden. “Although the design has evolved over the years, the fact that sales of the ASP8024 and its variants continue to show year on year growth stands testament to just how right David Dearden and the Audient team got the original design,” says Davies. www.audient.com

GERMANY

‘Experience Kramer’ as Metropolis ups the ante

A fascinating masterclass delivered by revered engineer Eddie Kramer provided the chance to get up close and personal with a clutch of Jimi Hendrix multi-tracks.

David Davies battled through a little crosstown traffic (sorry) to be there THE CREATION of a permanent screening room, The Bunker, and an eponymouslynamed record label confirm London studio group Metropolis’ intention to diversify six months after announcing a major restructuring effort and the arrival of three new investors.

Another new string to its bow is a nascent events programme that, in late November, brought legendary producer/engineer Eddie Kramer to Studio A for a series of masterclass events promoted by The Guardian.

Now a sprightly 71, Kramer’s credentials are in no doubt and include numerous classic album list perennials, among them Traffic’s self-titled second album, The Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet and Led Zeppelin II. But is for his association with Jimi Hendrix that he is most celebrated; not only did he record every album issued during the guitarist’s lifetime, he has also helmed many of the posthumous releases and continues to work on archival projects with trustees Experience Hendrix.

Taking an illustrated sortie through his own life in music,

“We recorded quickly! There was none of this buggering about with Pro Tools for a year…”

Eddie Kramer Kramer began by tracing his transition from South Africanborn aspirant classical pianist to London-based aspirant engineer working on recordings as divergent as The Kinks’ You Really Got Me and Petula Clark’s Downtown. Talent and good fortune then placed him at Olympic Studios for the second half of the 1960s – an undisputed golden era both for Olympic and the London studio scene in general.

Not surprisingly, Kramer’s affection for this period is profound and enduring. By contemporary standards, the technology might have been fairly formative, but was consistently pushed to its limits (and beyond)

by creative ambition. Kramer chuckled as he recalled Hendrix’s enthusiastic reaction to his first encounter with stereo phasing (“I want that on everything!”) and the years of whirlwind sessions that frequently saw rock classics captured in a matter of hours; the boldly innovative Purple Haze, for example, was put to tape in just two four-hour sessions.

“We recorded quicky!” exclaimed Kramer, who certainly wasn’t averse to cutting a rug to various classics he’d engineered as they played back through Studio A’s PMC BB5

speakers. “There was none of this buggering around with Pro Tools for a year…”

The final main section of the masterclass saw Kramer open up the multitracks to three Hendrix classics – Castles Made of Sand, Purple Haze and Axis: Bold as Love highlight Little Wing, the last-named a Kramer favourite and one of Hendrix’s purest examples of songcraft.

Speaking to PSNEurope in advance of the Kramer sessions, Metropolis marketing director Gerry Gallacher agrees that the masterclasses represent a further diversification for the Chiswick studio group. “It is a lot more consumer-facing than what we are known for, but we realised that we have all these connections and it really made sense to try and do something interesting with them,” he says. “So the idea with the masterclasses is to offer a peek behind the scenes for the real fans and a chance for them to hear about the studio techniques employed back in the day.”

Not that Gallacher has a quota to fill, mind you. “We will run these sessions as and when we have a great name who is available to do this, and has done some public-facing stuff before.

In that regard, Eddie was a great name with which to start.”

The fact that Metropolis is now turning more keenly to the wider world will also help to underline a sense of resurgence since the dramatic events of mid-year [see Review of 2013, page 6, for more comment on this]. With a new screening room and record label ready to roll-out, and studio bookings at a generally healthy level, Gallacher confirms that the mood in the Metropolis camp is currently positive: “We’re already seeing the fruits of our refocusing efforts – particularly from US-based clients – so yes, we’re upbeat as we go into 2014.” www.thisismetropolis.com

Second Kramer rolls back the years (and the faders) to revisit some classic Hendrix multitracks

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studionews UNITED KINGDOM

First SSL Sigma for Romesh Dodangoda

By Mark Haldon ROMESH DODANGODA has become the first UK producer to install the new SSL Sigma in his Long Wave Studio. Romesh has worked with bands such as Funeral for a Friend, Motörhead, Kids in Glass Houses and Bullet for my Valentine using SSL equipment and recently took Producer Romesh Dodangoda with the UK’s first SSL Sigma unit delivery of an SSL SSL reports that Romesh also has Sigma remote-controlled analogue SSL Alpha Link converters as his summing unit.

DAW I/O. The producer explains how Dodangoda says, “The first time I plugged it in, I noticed straight away he is integrating Sigma into his mixing workflow, saying, “I am using it pretty the depth it added to the mix. I could hear a much deeper sound, especially much as a straight summing unit. I generally submix down to 12 stereo groups in the low end. We’ve just finished an album and using Sigma definitely and then put these through Sigma.” www.romeshdodangoda.com made a positive difference to how it’s www.solidstatelogic.com turned out.”

UNITED STATES/UNITED KINGDOM

TO MARK its success at the 2013 Technical Grammys, Royer Labs has created a limited edition version of its award-winning R-121 ribbon microphone. Each microphone is plated in pure platinum and comes with a certificate of authenticity, personally signed

by David Royer, as well as a pair of white cotton handling gloves. Royer Lab’s UK

distributor Funky Junk anticipates plenty of interest in the limited edition models.

“With only 200 available worldwide, these microphones are destined to become a collector’s item,” says Mark Thompson, managing director of Funky Junk. www.proaudioeurope.com www.royerlabs.com

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studiofeature PMC speakers (and the ubiquitous NS10Ms) in Spirit Studio, Manchester

Main

adaptors Digital room correction has transformed the nearfield monitor.

Is the main monitor next, asks Phil Ward

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM goes like this: studios have downsized, if not disappeared; nearfield monitors have proliferated, balancing casually on the chassis of a desk; and monitoring has become a more mobile pastime. In due course, the manufacturers have had to exploit new generations of DSP to offer compact solutions the chief goal of which is to overcome room inconsistencies.

Main monitors, as a result, have been consigned to luxury projects and a regrettably neglected corner of the portfolio – monuments to a lost, golden age with a business case increasingly difficult to prove.

Well, maybe. Recent developments suggest that main monitors are far from the dinosaurs assumed by the digital recording hegemony, and may in fact present new opportunities, in the

right hands, to combine the best of a valuable electro-acoustic heritage with today’s itinerant studio fodder. Even, or especially, where mixing platforms have lost the shelf space to park the beady-eyed nearfields, main monitors could still have a role to play beyond the ancien régime of facilities.

CONTROL ISSUES Latterly, of course, many makes old and new have used software control as a marketing hook. If production is going to be more acoustically arbitrary, what better than to adapt the monitoring to your space and, furthermore, anywhere else.

Denmark’s Dynaudio Acoustics was very early out of that block with the Air series in 2001, still a point-and-click player and distributed by the TC Group – whose Tannoy marque itself joined the party for a while with the iDP control software for both the Precision and Ellipse ranges.

The Klein & Hummel brand became fully absorbed into Neumann as the KH range, and quickly combined active nearfields with the pioneering O 500 C Digital Active Main Monitor. Even more conservative, the current O 410 active midfield boasts JBL M2 monitors launched, at NAMM this year a heritage dating back to

1967 and K+H’s OY, while limited controls “adapt the monitor’s response to compensate for the loudspeaker’s environment”.

Where next digitally for Neumann should make interesting reading, but the biggest monitoring statement in years from JBL came last January. With the LSR concept now well established as a solution beyond the test chamber, in tandem with the MSC1 hardware controller and patented Room Mode Correction software, NAMM saw the launch of the much larger M2 Master Reference Monitor.

“We saw an opportunity,” reveals Peter Chaikin, director of recording & broadcast at JBL Professional, “especially given our long heritage in main monitors – designed by guys like Mark Gander who are still here!

Everything in the chain has reached a ‘no apology’ level of excellent audio quality, but studio monitors have not evolved at the same pace. If you have the infrastructure – and a broad range of places still do – you need a progression like the M2. We’ve spent a lot of time on the interface between the speaker and the room, and we can now apply that to the unique experience you get from a large system. It was left behind when so much of the industry abandoned the purpose-built room, so the M2 takes all of our experience, together with all of our new-found knowledge of room-speaker interaction, and takes main monitoring the next level – the level it deserves.”

KRK’s ERGO (Enhanced Room Geometry Optimization) has now been around for five years, a FireWire adjunct to desktop recording and bursting

with 3D room analysis and correction algorithms. But Dan Bruck of the Stanton Group insists that the technology inside the monitoring system, whatever the speaker size, is an ally to the traditional skills of acoustic treatment, not a replacement for it.

“Whatever we can do to improve the acoustics of our rooms – whether it’s new studio construction or making an existing space as close to ‘correct’ as possible – should be done,” he says. “Using traditional methods such as bass traps or foam is a great start, but adding digital correction can get you that much closer to a perfect room and a perfect mix. With digital correction in the ERGO – no matter how much correction the room requires – you are only modifying what needs fixing. So, there is no predetermined limit on how much digital room correction is appropriate. Remember, KRK monitors are neutral; the room is not. ERGO produces the best mix for a given room, a mix that will translate better to other listening environments since it was mixed in a ‘perfect’ room.”

Dynaudio M3XE, the “ultimate main monitoring solution” It was a quantum leap when Finnish mainstay Genelec embraced digital control some seven years ago. The 8000 series was already a desktop solution, but only added DSP in 2006 when the company had perfected a proprietary algorithm. With fully automatic calibration, the range is quite naturally accompanied by the software package Genelec Loudspeaker Manager for Small Environments but, according to marketing & public relations director Lars-Olof Janflod, main monitors for somewhat larger environments remain on the statute book.

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studiofeature

“India is a busy market, thanks to Bollywood,” he reports, “as are private home theatres. And there is a place for some DSP in large monitors, because you can build filters in the digital domain that you cannot build in the analogue domain. There might be less call for room correction, as these are typically monitors you put in once, but even ‘treated’ rooms have problems unfortunately. So far, the largest monitor we do with some DSP control is the 1238A launched at IBC – which qualifies for Dolby Surround

approval. Broadcast, post and music could all benefit from some DSP in main monitors, but the demand only occurs when you demonstrate the possibilities.”

THE MODERN CONESERVATIVE PARTY Some brands seem unlikely to incorporate DSP at all, whatever the size of the monitor.

Australia’s Event monitors use active nearfield technology, but according to director of engineering Marcelo Vercelli the laws of physics present an

Main monitors have been consigned to a luxury project and a regrettably neglected corner of the portfolio – monuments to a lost, golden age, with a business case increasingly difficult to prove. Well, maybe.

insurmountable barrier to digital’s insidious progress.

“Audio DSP has dramatically improved over the last decade but there are certain characteristics belonging to analogue that DSP has a very hard time keeping up with,” he says. “First is in the realm of dynamics, where only the fastest of sampling rates can begin to approach the reproduction quality of a well-designed analogue front-end.

“Yes, DSP offers amazing power and flexibility when it comes to the measured signal, providing flat frequency response and almost perfect phase. But it also interpolates the audio signal when it can’t keep up with high-level dynamics found in vocals, guitars or cymbals. It then has to put the ones and zeroes back together again in order to construct an analogue waveform. In our opinion, only analogue can be made to sound and measure correctly and deliver uncompromising performance.”

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studiofeature Electro-acoustics remains first and foremost an electro-mechanical enterprise: Event’s new 2030 is the company’s first three-way studio monitoring system, featuring three discrete drivers, a new wave guide assembly and a 3.5-inch cone transducer with a pressed pulp and polypropylene cone.

UNITED IN THEIR FIELD In the UK, three brands would argue that main monitors never really went away. While they have embraced self-powered nearfield – Quested’s S and V series cover both midfield and nearfield, passive and active, PMC’s desktops are active and digitally amplified by third party partner Flying Mole and ATC has its dedicated Amp Pack – the emphasis remains on electroacoustic ‘purity’.

The other buzzword is ‘neutrality’. Quested’s electronics concern amplification, not digital control, with special dispensation from the corporate partnership with UK power pioneer MC2.

And while the largest passive monitor HQ210 whispers of DSP upgrades, they concern only crossover control and amp channels. Similarly, PMC stresses ‘transparency’ and ‘neutral balance’ with no recourse to software: the IB2S-A model has ‘DSP control’, but only for crossovers and time alignment to the drivers.

At the top of the range are the BB5 XBD-Actives, used in highly demanding recording, mixing and mastering applications. “We keep a close eye on trends in speaker design, and we’ve noticed that there’s something of a gap at the large-scale active end of the market,” comments Oliver Thomas, R&D project manager

(aboat PMC. “The current products at that level from the major players are all getting somewhat long in the tooth, most of them don’t have digital inputs and they don’t really make use of any of the recent innovations in speaker design techniques. For example, they don’t offer much in the way of resolution, compared to what can now be attained with good Class D amp design and DSP-aided crossover management.

“This led us to create a new design project which we’re now calling the 4X10; it incorporates some of the recent transmission line design advances we’ve made with our IB2 midfields and the twotwo nearfields, and benefits from the detailed driver performance analyses we’ve been undertaking in collaboration with the UK’s National Physical Laboratory, using laser techniques to model the driver output. These have enabled us to make some very fine changes to our new designs which have squeezed that critical extra few percent of performance out of them.

“The other aspect we thought was a bit lacking is excitement,” opines Thomas. “A lot of the larger monitors on the market today are either very ‘vibey’ monitors that make things sound good when you’re tracking but aren’t very reliable, or pure reference tools that aren’t much fun to work with. We’ve noticed that a lot of engineers will track with one monitor, and then mix or master with another. The 4X10 is designed to do both jobs.

“This project isn’t designed to replace our BB5 monitor – that remains as our flagship for professionals who prefer a pure analogue approach. But in this day and age, we felt the market

ROCK SOLID IN GREECE Kostas Kalimeris is often referred to as ‘the’ guy in Greek studio circles, with an Athens studio and several Eurovision Song Contests under his engineering belt. Now of course we can add Black Rock Studios (above) on the island of Santorini to his industry

dowry, and its classic inventory of SSL J Series, Genelec 1035B monitors and outboard racks filled with Neve, GML, Manley, Avalon and Focusrite.

With typical honesty, Kalimeris admits that the main monitors saw far less action the nearfields during his first

Amadeus monitors at Studio de la Chine, Paris

Genelec 1238A, launched at IBC2013 could benefit from a modern, large-scale, high-resolution monitor with digital and analogue inputs. We couldn’t find one, so we built the 4X10!

Metropolis Studios seem to agree with us, as they’re now putting the 4X10 through its paces in their new recording room.”

ATC’s R&D guru Ben Lilly pulls no punches at all. “Our current philosophy hasn’t changed really over the past 30 two years of business – but that, he says with some satisfaction, has all changed.

“This last year the main monitors have absolutely come into their own, making me really happy with the investment!

We’ve had several clients book the facility – including the French band Kassav and the German rapper Sido – expressly to use the 1035Bs, which I knew I wanted for this studio from my long experience of Genelecs in Athens, Paris and elsewhere.

“Going active with the monitors provides enough electronics, which was Genelec’s great contribution. If you’ve got the room right – and ours was designed by Recording Architecture – DSP does not figure in the monitoring at all.” www.blackrock-studios.com

years,” he says. “Every product starts with a set of transducers engineered by ourselves to have a very linear frequency response free from high Q resonances, smooth roll-off and low distortion components. This helps to make system design simpler and results, we think, in a more accurate system.

Obviously the amplifiers driving the transducers also have to be of the highest performance, and in this area we haven’t found any reason to stray from the Class A/B designs we’ve been using for some time. We feel efficient digital amplifiers have their place, but not in highperformance, full range studio monitoring systems.”

MAIN STREAM The sense of a heritage to be protected is not confined to the UK. “The philosophy of PSI Audio can be compared to Swiss watch designers,” said former PSI international sales manager Marc Chablaix of his native monitor brand, while in India Ashoke Mukherjee regards the SM series of studio monitors from the portfolio of loudspeaker manufacturer Sonodyne as the result of “studying in detail the effect of cabinet vibration” rather than “push-button solutions”.

Two frontiers might create new avenues into digital control, however. Firstly, custom jobs – where the bespoke solution becomes a new norm. “We worked many times with African artist Youssou N’Dour, to develop specific high-power monitoring systems for his Dakar recording studios,” says Michel Deluc, director of R&D at French companyAmadeus. “These systems were then adopted by several Paris studios, and there are many innovating projects to come.”

And secondly, corporate synergy. Given the obvious

dynamics within the TC Group, it might almost be difficult for distributed monitor brand Dynaudio Professional to avoid DSP: the “ultimate main monitoring solution” M3XE already takes the exquisite driver and cabinet technology of Dynaudio and unites it with signal processing and amplification from stablemates Lab.gruppen and Lake. The 3-way monolith has two Lab.gruppen PLM10000Q amplifiers on board along with Lake active crossover processing, suggesting another space to watch.

But for now the watchword is caution, best espoused by Roland Stenz, founder of Berlin-based Eve Audio. “All our models have DSP inside, but we really want them to behave like a traditional analogue studio monitor,” he says. “So we don’t have any room correction or presets; the DSP is used for the filtering, specifically to simulate analogue filtering. It provides very exact volume control, for example: one dB means one dB! The tolerances are as precise as any normal potentiometer. Room correction only deals effectively with low frequencies, anyway: if you programme some correction for the tweeter section, you can’t usually move your head more than a couple of centimetres.”

The SC408 4-way 8-inch active is currently Eve Audio’s largest model, a midfield rather than a main, so it defines the state of the market very well: overall, the reach of DSP is limited by the very challenges that main monitors seek to address. www.amadeus-audio.com www.dynaudioprofessional.com www.eve-audio.com www.eventelectronics.com www.genelec.com www.jblpro.com www.krksys.com www.neumann.com www.pmc-speakers.com www.psiaudio.com www.quested.com www.sonodyne.com

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For the latest broadcast news www.psneurope.com/broadcast

broadcast SOUNDBITES UK broadcast facilities and uplink supplier SIS LIVE is to move out of the outside broadcast market by March 2014. SIS’s decision to withdraw was taken after a strategic review, prompted by the BBC not renewing its sports contract with SIS LIVE. Responding to email questions, SIS LIVE said it “was not commenting on the future of our stock, or on our efforts to find a buyer for the business” as it is “ an internal business matter still under consideration”. www.sislive.tv Genelec has appointed MidiWare Srlas its new Italian distributor.

MidiWare will be responsible for Genelec monitoring product distribution and dealer support in the region, following a mutual parting of ways with long term partner Leading Technology Srl. Genelec’s international sales manager, Jarmo Masko, says, “MidiWare has a dynamic team that is focused on achieving results for their wide network of dealers and business partners.” www.genelec.com www.midiware.com Calrec Audiosupplied an Artemis Beam console that handled surroundsound routing for a full-scale, live to air production of Mozart’s opera The Abduction From the Seraglio in two hangars at Salzburg Airport, for an event the host broadcaster called, “Austria’s most complex, prestigious and important audio event in 2013.”

Calrec’s EMEA sales manager, Chas Rowden said, “It was exciting to be a part of this ambitious and one-of-akind production.” www.calrec.com SAV has been appointed as Trilogy Communications’ exclusive distributor in France. Trilogy’s director of business development, Mark Ellis said: “SAV is wellrespected in the markets it serves and has a long-standing reputation.” SAV president Audry Sales added, “Trilogy is well-known for its innovative, high quality, communications and master reference products as well as firstclass service and we are delighted to represent their interests in France.” www.sav.tv

UNITED KINGDOM

BVE North: smaller but “quality footfall” The third Broadcast Video Expo took place in Manchester during November.

While questions remain unanswered about the show’s long-term future, audio made a strong showing on this occasion, as Kevin Hilton reports BVE NORTH returned to the Manchester Central exhibition centre from 12-13 November in reduced circumstances compared to previous outings.

The first show in 2011, a spinoff from the longer established London audio and video technology event, was an unexpected success and led to a larger expo with more exhibitors the following year.

This year’s BVE North took up approximately half the main space of Manchester Central by comparison with the 2012 event. Among the notable absentees were Avid, HHB and Sony, which gave the opportunity for visitors to see companies and technologies that might otherwise be overshadowed by big names and the march of 4k.

Audio made a strong showing with a number of UK firsts.

The new Nagra Seven two-channel recorder was seen for the first time as a full production model on the Sennheiser stand. The Seven has been designed as the successor to the Nagra LB, ARES-C and ARES-BB+ recorders, and fills a gap in the market. “No one build a high-quality 2-track recorder any more,” Audio Technology Switzerland/Nagra Audio sales director John Owens told PSNEurope at the expo.

“So we did.”

Hardware options include 3G and Wi-Fi, SMPTE/EBU timecode and ISDN. It weighs 800g, inclusive of batteries: “It runs on eight AAs,” adds Owens, demonstrating the machine on the booth of UK distributor Sennheiser. “Hang it off your shoulder and away you go.”

Sennheiser itself had a number of introductions, including the HD 25 Pro broadcast headphones,

Neutrik’s John Perry with the Xirium wireless system coverage, concerts and news gathering.

Centre stage at Glensound was the recently launched GS-GC5 USB commentators’ unit, featuring Luci Live IP coding. Marketing manager Marc Wilson said units were now in full production, with one sale already made to a “commentary control manager in Germany”.

John Owens with the Nagra Seven recorder Glensound also announced its alliance described as an “alternative” with Dante – see page 46 for to the HD 25 and having a more on that. “different design”. The HD 25 Wireless technology remains a was also shown with noise key tool in broadcasting, despite reduction technology, developed the restrictions imposed by the in collaboration with UK sell-off of the analogue TV company LimitEar, aimed at band for the introduction of camera operators and DJs, 4G mobile phone technology. both of whom work in loud Neutrik is targeting the general environments. The Esfera 5.1 radio sector with its Xirium mic, launched at IBC, got its digital wireless audio network. debut UK public showing; Sales executive John Perry has business development specialist a broad knowledge of this Alan March said its “obvious technological area from his time applications” were sports with Shure Distribution UK and

is keen to point out that Xirium “is not a radio mic system.”

Comprising a base station and either ‘touring’ or remote transmitters and receivers, Xirium was, Perry says, designed to “increase the channel count” while also providing sufficient bandwidth. It offers four to eight channels over a wireless LAN in the 5GHz band, with 48kHz sampling and 24-bit resolution.

Raycom extended its wireless offering, showing the latest version of its base station, the RTB-6211 D (for digital) base station. Designed in-house, the unit features two Kenwood transceivers with Raycom control. Also highlighted for BVE North was the recently introduced Wisycom in-ear monitoring system, now being used by both BT Sport and BBC News.

Additions to the Sonifex range were the RB-MS4XS quad three-way passive mic splitter and the CM-BH4W four-wire headphone amp belt pack unit. Among distributed products was the DaySequerra iLC2St dual stereo loudness controller, featuring the Neural algorithm.

JoeCo previewed a 24-channel recorder with in-built mic pre-amps, which managing director Joe Bull hopes to release during the first quarter of 2014. The 1U rack system has been designed to, says Bull, meet “popular demand” for a package that takes up less space due to the integrated mic pres.

Like other exhibitors, Bull had been concerned by the smaller size of the show but was impressed by the “quality of the footfall”. The show organiser has reported attendance figures of 1,581, and while BVE North is planned to go ahead again next year, dates are yet to be set.

BVE South will take place at ExCeL in London on 25-27 February 2014. www.bvenorth.co.uk

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Lawo meets the twain of audio and video The trend for video companies moving into audio continues, but it’s a two-way street in which console manufacturer Lawo is exploiting its experience in IP to produce video matrix and processing units, writes Kevin Hilton DIVERSIFICATION CAN be a tricky move in any business.

Companies often want to maximise their potential for making profit by expanding beyond the core that established them and move into other markets. At the same time they don’t want to dilute or even jeopardise what it was that made them successful in the first place.

In audio over the years, manufacturers have moved on from modules and processors to full consoles or tape recorders, with varying degrees of success.

This is partly because in the days of analogue starting a new product line, with all the attendant production processes and building of components, was costly and time-consuming.

The digital age has made the transition somewhat easier, first through the implementation of solid-state technology and now by using IT techniques.

There’s still no guarantee that parallel expansion will work, though. Even for successful and long-established companies, launching a new range of products outside its existing lines can almost be like starting all over again.

German manufacturer Lawo is well known for its mixing consoles and has built up strong user bases in both the live TV and radio markets. Recently it surprised the industry by producing an audio editor – again for radio – and, announced at IBC2013, an IP-based networked commentary system.

But Lawo took what would be thought to be an even grander change in direction two years ago when it introduced the V__pro8 video processor. This eightchannel digital unit was intended as a “glue” device, connecting different video formats and, according to its promotional material, closing the gap between video and audio.

The V__pro8 has now been joined by the V__link4, described as an “all-in-one-box solution for video-over-IP contribution”.

The growing V__line range is designed by former Grass Valley

R&D engineers working with Lawo. “These guys aren’t kids,” comments Andreas Hilmer, Lawo’s director of marketing and communications, adding that “this is serious video”, presumably in case anyone does doubt the audio company’s commitment to the new venture.

Hilmer acknowledges that Lawo has taken “a huge step” to pursue the further integration of audio and video. “We are more known as an audio company,” he says, “but as both audio and video go in an IP direction we are looking at both.” Hilmer adds that a key element in the coming together of sound and pictures – at least in terms of carrying it round facilities and between locations – is the now standard use of embedded audio with video.

Where the V__pro8 is an 8 x 8 video matrix and a 384 x 384 audio matrix, the V__link4 takes some of those feature sets and combines them with Video over IP coding, test functions and general processing. On the video side it has four 3G/HD/SD/ SD-SDI inputs and outputs, as well as two 10Gb and four 1Gb Ethernet ports. All video is encoded using the IP layer 3 standard. For audio the V__link4 has connections for both MADI and Ravenna, the Audio over IP format developed by Lawo’s associated company, ALC NetworX. It offers two surround to stereo downmixers for each of its embedders and a Dolby E aligner, together with quadsplit, multiviewer, waveform and vectorscope display.

Lawo sees the V__link4 as particularly suited to remote live TV production, getting low latency, good quality video from locations to studio centres. It is also seen as useful for carrying video from stage boxes in venues to outside broadcast trucks.

Hilmer says these need to be carried out over managed networks to ensure reliability and adequate bandwidth but that this is where the broadcast market appears to be heading for both audio and video.

“There is no real cabling any more,” he concludes, “so there is a lot of streaming being used so that people can connect from anywhere to a network between various devices. It’s very convenient.”

Video and audio continue

The V__link4 is the latest in Lawo’s line video processing units, designed by former Grass Valley R&D engineers to have very specific requirements in terms of transmission and processing but with IP and IT technologies narrowing the gap between them perhaps more

manufacturers will be taking the lead of companies like Lawo and make products for both disciplines. www.lawo.de

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broadcastnews RUSSIA

TTC Ostankino upgrades with Calrec

By Erica Basnicki CALREC AUDIO made a major sale to Television Technical Center Ostankino (TTC), the largest television studio facility and broadcast production company in Russia.

TTC has purchased four Apollo consoles and four Artemis Light consoles to date as part of a two-year project to upgrade all 11 studios in its Moscow facility.

TTC chose Calrec consoles for its facility overhaul after leading Russian subscription channel NTV-PLUS — which

Calrec continues to make inroads into the Russian market

is in the same building as TTC — adopted Calrec for its own operations.

The consoles have been supplied and are being installed

by Russian system integrator OKNO-TV. Four consoles are in use now, and the remaining four will be commissioned soon.

“Because we often hire them out to other production companies, our refurbished studios must be reliable, flexible, and able to handle the most complex and diverse programming,” said Roman Katrovsky, sound specialist from OKNO-TV.

“The Calrec consoles will give us the ability to connect desks within a studio or cross-connect with other studios for full redundancy and added reliability. Also, as Russia transitions to HD, some programs will be produced in 5.1, some in stereo, and some in both. With these consoles, we’ll be able to change configurations instantly to suit the requirements for different programs. Such features significantly lower downtime and setup time, which saves money.” www.calrec.com

UNITED KINGDOM

NTFS training relaunches with BBC Training will cover record-mix and boom work for drama, multi-camera studio production and location recording on documentaries

By Kevin Hilton THE NATIONAL Film and Television School (NFTS) has relaunched its Sound Recording for Film and Television course in collaboration with the BBC Academy. Under the arrangement students will be guaranteed work placement with the BBC and trained to

work with audio on drama, documentaries and entertainment shows.

From January next year the NFTS’ production sound training courses will be headed

by Fraser Barber, whose 45 TV credits include Silent Witness, The Tunnel, Full Circle with Michael Palin and Little Dorrit. Only eight

UNITED KINGDOM

Sonifex capacity boost

By Dave Robinson UK-BASED BROADCAST equipment specialist Sonifex has recently expanded its production ability following its “best ever year”, reports managing director Marcus Brooke.

Surface-mount manufacturing is the focus, with the addition of another complete assembly line at

the Northamptonshire HQ. Component placement capacity is up by a factor of four.

Brooke says: “2012 was our best year ever with our highest turnover, and at times we were running short of manufacturing space. Since then we’ve taken on another factory unit, relocated our stock warehouse, added another [production] line and

students are accepted for the 15-month full-time course and will now be known as BBC Sound Scholars.

Dr Jon Wardle, director of curriculum and registrar at the NFTS, describes the relaunch as a “rebranding”, adding that the course has been established at the School for “many years”.

He explains that the involvement of the BBC guarantees the Sound Scholars both a work placement during the course and a job on completion. “The BBC will also be advising on the course,” Wardle says.

He added that because the Scholars do nothing else but production sound on the 15month course they would be in a good position to go out into the business “and be successful”. www.nfts.co.uk moved our manufacturing to create more streamlined cells within our current building.

“We’ve had a significant growth in product lines over the last five years which has increased customer demand and driven our sales upward,” he continues. “Having control of the manufacturing process helps to keep our quality high and product lead-times low and the new equipment will mean that we now have increased capacity and output.” www.sonifex.co.uk

Cables can now be ready to ship within 20 minutes UNITED KINGDOM

Production push for Canford

By Erica Basnicki CANFORD IS reporting that it has made significant improvements within its manufacturing facility in order to cope with a growing demand for bespoke cables and other own brand manufactured products.

The first major change was to create a Rapid Response Cable Cell which was developed to allow both custom and non-stock cable assemblies to be quickly produced, reducing customer waiting times. Depending on cable type, cable assemblies can now be produced, packed and ready for shipping within “20 minutes of receiving a picking list”, reports the company.

Similar cells have been introduced for other product

lines that have benefited from increased output and reliability.

The MDU cell has increased average unit production from 21 units to 38 units per cell, per day. Other cells include Tecpro and EMO with further cells currently in the planning phase.

The combined effect of all these changes has not only increased production capacity, but has seen the company’s production scheduling maintain a 100% completion rate for over four months.

“Customers have driven these changes by increasingly relying on Canford as their preferred supplier and it is gratifying to see our hard work pay off,” said John Slider, Canford CEO. www.canford.co.uk

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broadcastnews SOUNDBITES Bel Digital Audio’s 1U 3G audio and video confidence monitors have been purchased by Spanish satellite relay and outside broadcast truck operator Gloway, a subsidiary of Telefonica. The sales were conducted through Bel’s longstanding Spanish distributor AEQ. Eduardo Guerrero, AEQ’s international sales manager said, “We are delighted to work with a company as highly regarded as Gloway to help supply equipment to outfit their trucks.” www.beldigital.com Israel’s third-largest TV studio, Channel 10, selected a Harman StuderVista 9 digital console from Kilim Electronics for its recent upgrade from analogue to digital.

Channel 10 asserts that Studer offers unique advantages including reassurance of back-up and technical support from broadcast specialists from Kilim, led by MD Meir Kilim. “It is very easy to understand, which is critical due to our high technician swap rates. Most of them have only operated analogue consoles until now,” said Kilim. www.harman.com IP audio and control specialist Barix is helping multichannel internet radio broadcaster Soma FM grow its presence in the overthe-air broadcast space, with Soma FM specifying Barix IP Audio solutions for radio stations receiving its programming. Soma owner Rusty Hodge says that Barix helps to minimise cost for his overthe-air radio clients, while providing radio stations with reliable, quality audio streams. www.barix.com

NETHERLANDS

Dutch DAB+ network on course for 2017

By Kevin Hilton THE NETHERLANDS is on course to meet the government’s target for full national digital radio coverage by 2017, with the completion of a countrywide commercial DAB+ transmission network. The infrastructure was designed and built in three months by Broadcast Partners and involves over 30 Harris Broadcast Maxiva VAX transmitters.

The Harris Broadcast Maxiva VAX transmitters have been

equipped with web-hosted control and monitoring carried over IP for the head-end to transmission chain. “The timescale on this project was enormously challenging and Harris Broadcast quickly rose to the occasion to ensure that the transition was a success,” says Robert-jan van der Hoeven of Broadcast Partners. “The complete network is now fully on air and is the first nationwide radio service relying entirely on IP connectivity for the transmission feeds.”

Integral IP/EDI input cards have been installed in the Maxiva VAXs to enable the high-speed carriage of audio over Internet connections rather than more conventional cable circuits.

Public broadcaster NPO has been working with KPN Broadcast Services to extend its DAB+ capabilities. It introduced new digital services in Randstad, Brabant and Gelderland on 14 October and expects to have nationwide coverage by the middle of January next year. www.broadcastpartners.nl

UNITED KINGDOM

You say you want a Revolution…

By Erica Basnicki Broadcast specialist SIS LIVE worked with the Red Bull Music Academy, Channel 4 and YouTube on an ambitious project that saw 30 music gigs from the EDF Energy London Eye broadcast live and streamed online during the recent Revolutions in Sound event.

The London Eye is the largest Ferris wheel in Europe and

Each capsule on the Eye was hosted by club brands such as fabric and Erol Alkan’s Bugged Out!

comprises 32 passenger capsules. A SIS LIVE RouteCase system was used in each capsule to produce the video and audio feeds which were then transmitted to the production unit.

RouteCase, designed, manufactured and sold by SIS LIVE, is a portable and affordable HD live production studio featuring a 4-input vision mixer and 10channel audio mixer, making it

Broadcast Partners are claiming the first nationwide radio distribution system based completely on IP transmitter links ideal for this kind of project where space was at a premium.

As each of these sources was constantly on the move it was impossible to use fibre to transfer the signals, which meant that a comprehensive RF network was employed.

“This was the most RF-intensive programme we, or probably anyone, has attempted at a single venue,” explained Pat Blackburn, lead RF communications supervisor. “However JFMG and Ofcom have been extremely helpful… our good relationships with these governing bodies and our expertise in spectrum management have helped make this event possible.” www.sislive.tv

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For the latest live news www.psneurope.com/live

live SOUNDBITES Adlib, the Liverpool based rental specialist, supplied a lighting, sound and trucking package to pop-rock band Lawson’s recent UK tour. The tour included a homecoming show at the Liverpool Echo Arena, where the band welcomed Dr David Lawson, the surgeon who saved the life of lead singer Andy Brown. Adlib where chosen as supplier under the wing of James Sharpe, Andrew Thornton and John Pryer for 24/7 Productions Ltd. www.adlib.co.uk Allen & Heath reports that front of house engineer Giles Stocks has used the new GLD-112 digital desk at a variety of festivals and venues across the UK and Europe for acts including Pulled Apart

By Horses, Zico Chain and Hawk Eyes. Stocks said, “It’s by far the best-sounding console in its price range, it’s a very dynamic board and the CPU is fantastically quick.” www.allen-heath.com Calrec Audio supplied an Artemis Beam console that handled surround-sound routing for a full-scale, live to air production of Mozart’s opera The Abduction From the Seraglio in two hangars at Salzburg Airport, for an event the host broadcaster called, “Austria’s most complex, prestigious and important audio event in 2013.” Calrec’s EMEA sales manager, Chas Rowden said, “It was exciting to be a part of this ambitious and one-of-akind production.” www.calrec.com The Student Union at the Royal Holloway University of London recently purchased a Soundcraft Vi1 desk in order to train more students in FOH audio mixing.

The Student Union hosts around 10 different productions every week, including live music, conferences and trade shows.

“After working with the Vi1 I knew instantly that the user interface was far more straightforward and more intuitive for the crew to learn,” said technical manager Karl Travers. www.soundcraft.com

EUROPE

SSL goes Live as Gabriel heads Back to Front Professing himself ready to hear ‘That Voice Again’, Peter Gabriel has been revisiting one of his most treasured albums, So, with the help of a very contemporary piece of kit – the SSL Live console.

David Davies found out how three of the much-praised desks were incorporated into the PG workflow AN UNEXPECTED foray into the live desk market from a broadcast and recording studio stalwart, Solid State Logic’s SSL Live was surely the console launch of 2013. Now, seven months on from its global introduction at Prolight + Sound, the desk is making its debut accompanying Peter Gabriel on the latest phase of his Back to Front tour.

Anyone familiar with the recent history of SSL will be unsurprised by the association with the Real World founder.

Together with broadcast entrepreneur David Engelke, Gabriel underlined his wellknown passion for technology by purchasing the company in June 2005.

No fewer than three SSL Lives are part of the audio spec for Back to Front, which finds Gabriel performing his classic 1986 album, So, in its entirety, along with other selected favourites and some new material. One desk is situated at FOH, where it is run by Ben Findlay; another is reserved for Gabriel’s in-ear and on-stage monitor mix, handled by longtime studio and live associate Richard ‘Dickie’ Chappell; and a third is on monitors for the rest of the band, operated by Damon ‘Dee’ Miller from tour audio supplier Britannia Row. For Brit Row, audio engineer Josh Lloyd recalls that discussions about using the new SSL desk started at the end of Gabriel’s last, orchestrally-

Dickie Chappell runs the monitor mix for Peter Gabriel alone inclined New Blood tour.

Subsequent to the desk’s enthusiastically-received launch in spring, it was a natural choice for the latest leg of Back to Front, which reunites Gabriel

with his mid-’80s band of Tony Levin (bass), David Rhodes (guitar), David Sancious (keyboards) and Manu Katché (drums), alongside two recent additions on background

vocals, Jennie Abrahamson and Linnea Olsson.

The whole Brit Row team, says Lloyd, has been “really impressed” with the SSL desk, but in particular he singles out for praise “the entire approach to the surface. They have some very new ideas about how you approach mixing. They go for a touchscreen, which a lot of manufacturers do, but it’s very large and capacitive, so it’s highly accurate. It also allows you to pinch the EQ and drag it around; it’s really a very intuitive interface with which to mix.”

As SSL Live console product manager Jason Kelly observes, “each engineer has a very different workflow. So at FOH, the Channel Control Tile containing the small touchscreen is utilised for dynamically changing EQ and adjusting FX send levels, particularly on Gabriel’s vocal mics.” The same channels and VCAs appear on several banks of faders for ease of access, while there are also multiple masters configured “for driving the main PA as well as feeds to press, the video department to control visual effects, and a feed used to create a 24-bit 96kHz stereo mix that is available to purchase after each show.”

For Gabriel’s personal monitors, Chappell tends to mix mainly on VCAs and employs the Query function – which essentially allows the user “to ask a question of an input

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livereport (L-R) Dickie Chappell, Dee Miller and Ben Findlay: they have the touch(screens)

channel, mix bus or VCA to see exactly what it is being sent to or what is being sent to it” – to spill out each VCA when required. “He has a direct copy of Gabriel’s mix but is also able to solo individual channels if required,” notes Kelly.

Praising the level of support delivered by Kelly and SSL colleague Tomos Wise, Chappell says he has been particularly taken by the Query function and the “interactive” nature of EQ adjustment. “The desk has become another musical instrument that I can play in the live situation without thinking how to work [it],” he remarks.

“After a few shows it felt fluid and fun.”

Over in monitor world, Damon Miller set up his desk as 96 inputs with 36 outputs for the band/crew and shot mixes. In what Kelly describes as a “very logical fader layout”, all mix buses are on the upper fade tile, with vocal channels accessed from the faders directly below the main touchscreen and the remainder of the input channels arranged into banks of different instruments on the lower left fader tile. “Mix Select Mode is enabled and this calls whichever mix is selected to the assignable Quick Controls,” says Kelly.

“The instrument and vocal tiles are then operated in flip mode, allowing the aux sends of each channel to be controlled from the faders.”

Afte an intensive rehearsal period in which he created a

More ‘Ground Control’ than FOH during rehearsal

Live. Still, “there’s nothing like taking a console out on a proper tour and seeing what falls off (fortunately nothing!),” says Kelly. “There were no big problems, but with any new desk of this complexity we always expect a few minor issues to be identified as it’s put in front of different engineers and used in different situations. The console software is continually evolving with bug fixes and feature additions, so most of the minor issues we encountered on the tour have already been resolved.”

The 2013 tour reached a pinnacle with two shows at London’s O2 Arena that were filmed in the new Ultra-HD format, 4K, by OB specialist CTV. With Back to Front an undoubted huge hit, Gabriel is already preparing for another round of shows in the spring. Meanwhile, Brit Row managing director Bryan Grant confirms that the SSL Live has already become an important part of its touring arsenal.

“Although they’ve come late to the live console market, SSL’s reputation as a leader in the studio console market has meant that engineers are very interested in checking out the console,” says Grant. “From the results that were achieved on the Peter Gabriel tour, I believe that the SSL Live is already a serious competitor in the touring market.” www.solidstatelogic.com www.britanniarow.com

“The desk has become another musical instrument that I can play in the live situation without thinking about how to work [it]… it’s fluid and fun” Richard ‘Dickie’ Chappell different scene for each song of the change-heavy set, Miller was nonetheless comfortable with the desk by the time Gabriel took the stage for the first show of 2013 – at Denmark’s memorably named Jyske Bank Boxen arena on 28 September.

“The SSL console sounds very precise and clean,” he says.

With several demo consoles currently traversing the globe for presentations and trade show appearances, there has been no shortage of opportunities to garner feedback about the SSL

Beginning in monochrome, the gig eventually explodes with colour

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livenews UNITED KINGDOM

Turbosound transplanted

By Dave Robinson ULI BEHRINGER’S Music Group, the owner of Turbosound, is relocating the loudspeaker brand from its Partridge Green base in Sussex, ahead of the March 2014 expiration of the lease on its existing property. The shift marks a “regeneration” for the company, PSNEurope has learned.

Moving, but not far away: Turbosound manufacturing will remain in the UK, PSNEurope is told

As a result, manufacturing for Turbosound – an unquestionably iconic brand first created in the mid-1970s – will move to premises owned by Music Group in Kidderminster in the UK Midlands, which serves as Midas and Klark Teknik’s UK manufacturing facility and Music Group’s European Care Centre.

Turbo’s research and development activities will relocate to Music Group’s research facility in Manchester.

Existing staff have been offered the opportunity to relocate to the new premises. No further information about possible job losses was available at press time.

Nigel Beaumont, senior vice president, Professional Division, said in a statement, “Our long-term strategy includes the opening of a new acoustic and digital research facility in Manchester, which will allow the seamless integration of Midas and Klark Teknik’s world-class digital technology expertise with Turbosound’s award-winning speaker technology.

“As a result of our massive investment, we are planning to launch the largest range of new Turbosound products in its

history at the upcoming Winter NAMM show.”

Fears that all loudspeaker manufacture might be transferred to the massive Music Group City in China Zhongshan were allayed by marketing manager for the Professional Division, Graeme Taylor. “I can categorically state this is not the end of manufacturing in the UK,” he told PSNEurope. “In fact, it’s more the regeneration of Turbosound, with more investment than it’s had in years.”

Music Group acquired Turbosound from Proel in June 2012, some 30 months after buying Midas Klark Teknik from Bosch. The Group has already invested over $20million in high-tech manufacturing equipment, and a further $4million in a state-of-the art building in Manchester to house the R&D centre. Staffing levels there are reported to have grown from an initial eight to over 60 in less than three years, “and we are continuing to recruit,” said Uli Behringer in a statement.

“This is a new chapter for this iconic speaker brand that was founded over 40 years ago and provided one of the first PA systems for Pink Floyd.”

In related news, PSNEurope has also learned that Costa Lakoumentas has recently left his role as senior vice president of marketing for Music Group. www.turbosound.com

GERMANY

GERMAN RENTAL company Ambion supplied almost 80 speakers from Nexo’s PS Series for this year’s Windsurfer World Cup, a 10-day event held on the North Sea Island of Sylt. Fourteen Nexo PS15-R2 high powered speakers were used indoors, for the tents and mobile venues. Outdoors, 52 x PS10-R2s, together with 12 x Nexo PS8s and four RS15 bass units, covered the beachfront area.

The entire system was powered by NXAMPS. “As a long time Nexo user, we know all about the reliability of its products,” says Ambion’s business liaison manager Stefan Puslat. “Nexo offers the perfect allround tools for the sporting events we put on. The system we provided for the 2013 World Cup Sylt rose to the challenges we faced admirably.” www.ambion.de www.nexo.fr

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livenews UNITED KINGDOM

Traction for Fatboy shoot

By Erica Basnicki

TRACTION SOUND provided the system for Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim’s recent East London 12-hour rave marathon.

The entire event was filmed, and used as the video for the Cook’s latest chart-topper Eat Sleep Rave Repeat.

The song was born out of Cook and production partner Riva Starr’s encounter with Beardyman in a Brooklyn record shop earlier in the year. The famous beatboxer was ranting about a “three-day bender” he had been on, and the resulting conversation was recorded and chopped up into a tune.

With £500 on offer to the last person standing, and a team of medics, referees and DJs to help find the strongest of the dancers, what was also required was a sound system with more stamina than the ravers.

The Traction Sound crew personally oversaw the installation of the system into a challenging warehouse space.

The system comprised two BPS218 Hades infra subs, four BH218 Zeus subs and eight SDS12i Kodiaks, all powered by four Powersoft K10s providing 48k of power in just 4RU. Although there were only 500 dancers, the warehouse

Fatboy Slim and Traction Sound’s Shreddie: similar taste in shirts

could have held four times that amount, so the ‘club’ was set up in the middle of the space, allowing a multi camera crew, lighting and production staff to use the perimeters. The focused dispersion of the SDS horn

SLOVENIA

Renkus-Heinz systems satisfy at Schengenfest

By Mark Haldon TURJAK-BASED CONCERT provider Akustika Pirman supplied its Renkus-Heinz systems across three stages for Slovenia’s largest summer festival, Schengenfest. The three-day event included performances from Skunk Anansie and Triggerfinger alongside a roster of DJs from the US and Europe.

The Main Stage was outfitted with a Renkus-Heinz line array, with 16 VLX3 cabinets and 24 DRS 18-2B subwoofers per side. Five PN102 cabinets provided front fill, with six PN102LA boxes

Schengenfest’s Main Stage equipped with Renkus-Heinz systems per side deployed from the FOH roof. Analogue and digital were represented at FOH, with DiGiCo SD8 and Soundcraft MH-3 48 consoles.

Xilica XP-4080 processors handled system processing

minimised the reverb inherent in such a lively space.

Cook was so impressed with the results that he now uses Traction Sound for events held in his newly acquired Big Beach Café in Hove. www.tractionsound.com with Lab.gruppen amps Stage monitors were also Renkus, including 12 PNX151 wedges, sidefills with DRS18-2B subs and a PNX121 and DRS18 rig for drumfill.

The Electro Stage hosted an ongoing DJ party, equipped with left and right arrays of 12 STXLA/9 cabinets with bass amply covered by 16 DRS18-2B subs. A DiGiCo SD11 console handled FOH mix, with XTA processing and Lab.gruppen amps. At the smaller Beach Stage, the system included a single TRX151T and DRS18 sub per side with PNX121 boxes for monitoring.

Akustika Pirman’s Metod Komatar says, “We use RenkusHeinz systems exclusively because they deliver powerful performance, they are dependable, and they sound great.” www.renkus-heinz.com www.akustika-pirman.si

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livenews SOUNDBITES Outline has created a new website dedicated to iMode; the company’s web-based loudspeaker control platform. The system is designed to be used with an iPad but is also compatible with desktop systems, the iPhone and iPod touch. The new website was created to ensure that users fully understand the technology, providing an easy-toread overview. Outline’s Michele Noselli commented, “We hope that the site’s design, based on this layout, reflects the simplicity at the base of the iMode concept.” www.outlineimode.com Red TX provided the technical facilities to capture the audio at this year’s Barclaycard Mercury Prize.

Red TX brought its Red II music recording truck, designed to cater for 3D and surround sound productions. Mercury Prize executive producer Dan Ford said, “Red TX was [chosen] because the company has a strong reputation for delivering great live sound.” www.redtx.com

UNITED KINGDOM

MLA first at Ally Pally dance night

By Mark Haldon RENTAL HOUSE Capital Sound recently fielded its Martin Audio MLA Multi-cellular Loudspeaker Array for the first time at Alexandria Palace for the Above and Beyond Group Therapy 050 live radio broadcast dance event. The venue is notorious for its challenging acoustics and well-known for producing violent reflections, summed up succinctly by Martin Audio R&D director Jason Baird, who stated, “Just think of a marble and glass shoebox, 40m wide, 16m high and 85m deep.”

Dance music outfit Above and Beyond, alongside event management company Loudsound’s Dan Craig agreed the MLA was the best option for the venue, having worked

Fans revel in the MLA’s Ally Pally debut

successfully during the Field Day and Deadmau5 shows at Hackney’s Victoria Park.

Capital Sound technical manager Ian Colville worked to design the system, with

support from Baird. Colville said, “This time we felt it was time to put our faith in MLA.” For the show the L/R system was rigged with 11 MLA elements per side, with two W8Cs

each side for outfills and eight W8LM as front fills. Having the 14 x MLX subs arranged in a broadside cardioid array allowed system tech Toby Donovan to enter delay times and change dispersion control, using the software to electronically curve the sound into an arc.

The belief of the Capital Sound crew was confirmed

by Donovan, who said, “Such was the coherency and lack of distortion, that everyone I spoke to couldn’t believe we were only running at 98dB.” Capital Sound’s project manager Martin Connolly also reflected positively on the outcome, saying, “Everyone agreed…that we had made absolutely the right choice of PA.” www.capital-sound.co.uk www.martin-audio.com

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livereport EUROPE

Tanto terrific PA house Fluge provides Energia system and more for best selling Latin artist Pablo Alborán’s latest tour IN THREE short years Pablo Alborán has captivated millions of fans throughout Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

With more than one million albums sold, he is the biggest selling artist in Spain and his current album, Tanto, has received three Latin Grammy nominations including Record

of the Year, Album of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

The popular musician has been selling out clubs, theatre and arenas throughout Europe and Latin America. Rental outfit Fluge, headquartered in Madrid with offices in Barcelona and Zaragoza, was

Pablo Alborán has sold over one million albums

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livereport once again brought onboard to provide sound reinforcement and live event production support for his current tour, which consists primarily of venues with seating capacities up to 18,000.

“We started working with Alborán back in 2011 when he was first starting out,” explains Raul Mendez, who has recently taken on a permanent position as Fluge’s head of sound. “His team was always quite happy with the Adamson Y18 line arrays, but when they learned about the new E15 enclosures, they wanted to compare the systems side-by-side. They were amazed with the Energia system.

It quickly became their PA of choice for the current tour.”

The Fluge team designed a main stage system that incorporated left-right flown line arrays, each comprised of 16 Adamson Energia E15 enclosures per side. Their previous main system, the Y18, now served duties as side PA with two 12 deep hangs. Reinforcement for the rear of the venue was bolstered with two more arrays consisting of six Adamson Y10 boxes. Four Meyer MICA and eight M’elodie modules provided frontfill for the first rows in front of the stage. The flexibility of the Adamson E15 system allowed them to adapt the design according to the demands of the different venues on this tour.

Eighteen Adamson Systems T21 subwoofers were also deployed – six were stacked (2 x 3) to the left and right of the stage with three sets (2 x 1) spaced evenly across the front of the stage in a cardioid configuration.

“We set up each venue using Adamson’s Shooter software,” explains Alvaro Ureña Llano, system engineer for the tour.

“The result each time was amazing. It was impressive how well the designs worked in each space – it took very little work to tune the system.”

The E15s are powered by 18 Powersoft K3; K8 amplifiers, rack-mounted and located on either side of the stage below the arrays, powered the E15s. The 1RU, 2-channel K8 amplifiers provide 3,000 watts per channel (at 4 ohms). “The headroom was impressive and they sound really clean,” Llano adds. “The compact size is also a big bonus when on the road.”

Lab.gruppen FP 7000s – 2 × 3,500W at 2 ohms – drive the low end, one amplifier dedicated to each subwoofer.

Overall system processing was brought together by four Dolby Lake Processors – two per side, two for back-up – that shared an identical setup. Llano used the Lake Processors to dial-in and optimise the four main stage PA hangs, subwoofers and delays.

“The set-up was terrific,” FOH engineer Jesus Alcañiz Jimenez adds. “The sound system exhibited deep bass, perfect mids for the vocals and high end frequencies reaching all areas – not matter how large the venue.

The coverage was excellent.”

An 64-channel Avid VENUE Profile digital console handled all of the mix needs at the front of house position, with a DiGiCo SD 10 supplied for monitoring.

The majority of the band, including Alborán, utilised Sennheiser SR 3256 in-ear monitoring systems with Meyer USM floor monitors on stage for the drummer and the bass player.

The production team also records each show with Pro Tools HD3, also located at front-of-house.

“I was extremely impressed with the DiGiCo SD 10,” Juan Bermudo Campuzano, monitor engineer says. “It has the dynamic range needed for in-ears, the processing is amazing and the integration with Waves means you have everything you need right at the console.”

With their Spain dates wrapped up, the tour heads to

Fluge owner Raúl Méndez Escribano (left) and systems tech Alvaro Ureña Llano

The main stage system comprised 16 Adamson Energia E15 enclosures per side Chile next, followed by Mexico.

“This has been another fantastic tour for one of the brightest talents out there,”

concludes Mendez. “Every event has been amazing – fans, music, sound system – we could not ask for more. It is a pleasure to work

with such an amazing musician to put together unforgettable evenings for his fans.” www.fluge.es

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The setting for this unique production was LA’s iconic Union Station, the so-called ‘Last of the Great Railway Stations’ built in the USA

UNITED STATES

Alight here for Invisible Cities moment. A friend from The Industry mentioned having contacts at Sennheiser – one thing led to another, and [the company] quickly jumped into the deep end with us!”

Mixing duties, handled in a back-stage area by Nick Tipp, centred around a 12-fader DiGiCo SD11 digital console that produced a stereo balance

Rod Allen and chief engineer Andrew McHaddad, who designed the managed-antenna system. The latter was made up of a combination of Sennheiser A2003-UHF passive directional antennas and A5000-CP UHF antennas in a four-zone configuration interlinked via 760m of cabling to a MAS-500 Series rack. “A unique complication for the antenna design came because Union Station is in continual use,” McHaddad recalls, “so we needed to strike and then reinstall the antenna systems after each performance.”

For orchestra miking, the sound designer elected to use a variety of Neumann KM 184 and U87 models, in addition to Sennheiser e908 and e914 units.

“The new Digital 9000 eightchannel wireless system was a logical choice for the singers, since it offers uncompressed audio and artifact-free sound with great dynamics,” Gimenez continues. “We used digital channels as the primary RF link, with SK9000 body-pack transmitter and face-worn MKE1 lavaliers on the talent linking to EM9046 receivers at the mix position, plus analogue SK5212 transmitters/EM3732 receivers and SKM lavaliers on opposite cheeks serving as back-ups.” A

“Based on experiences of silent discos and museum tours that use wireless headphones, I began to think of the artistic possibilities for such a system” The technological hub of the event Photo: Dana Ross

SENNHEISER RECENTLY supplied several hundred wireless headphones, IEMs and RF microphones for a unique operatic production that involved vocalists and dancers wandering through the worldfamous Union Station in downtown Los Angeles as the audience participated in a unique collaborative arts event.

“Invisible Cities was an opera without a stage,” explains artistic director Yuval Sharon, speaking at the end of its 22-performance season. The performers and audience were free to journey within the public spaces of the station – famous for its exemplary 1930s period architecture – as they interacted with the rush of departing passengers and greetings from arriving ones. The 70-minute opera was based on Italo Calvino’s 1972 novel Invisible Cities, with music and libretto composed by Christopher Cerrone using fictional conversations between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. The event was co-produced by The Industry and the L.A. Dance Project.

“Every time we go travelling, we’re just searching for something in ourselves we can’t otherwise find,” muses Sharon.

“But our audience did not see sets, as in traditional theatre;

Photo: Bexel/ASG

Union Station in Los Angeles was the setting for an unusual operatic performance – and a wireless one too. Mel Lambert reports

Photo: Bexel/ASG

760

livereport

metre of cabling required (despite wireless nature of performance)

The atmospheric performance is captured here in a rehearsal instead they listened through high-tech wireless headphones.”

“Based on experiences of silent discos and museum tours that use wireless headphones, I began to think of the artistic possibilities

for such a system,” states Martin Gimenez, the opera’s lead sound designer. “The audience could roam freely through the station, pursuing individual characters or creating their own story in the

Martin Gimenez, lead sound designer for the audience, plus additional monitor headphone and IEM mixes – one for the 11-piece orchestra, one for the conductor and another for the wandering performers and dancers.

“Because of the complexity of the production, I used the SD11’s snapshot automation to handle changing EQ and dynamics setups for different scenes,” Tipp says, “in addition to panning, reverb sends, monitor mixes and even reverb-engine patches.”

“The SD11 is an amazing console,” Gimenez enthuses, “with enhanced versatility and user flexibility – and it sounded great!”

To provide extended RF coverage and reception over nearly an acre of public areas, Bexel/ASG handled frequency coordination under the direction of business segment manager

Sennheiser 2000 Series IEM system handled foldback for singers and dancers, using four SR2050 single-channel transmitters and 18 EK2000 receivers with IE4 in-ear units.

Audience members wore Sennheiser RS120 wireless headphones. “Their comfortable open-ear design with easy on/off button made them a perfect choice for this application,” the sound designer concludes. “While our system allowed for an unlimited number of receivers, to ensure a manageable flow through the train station we limited the audience number to 200. For the headphone conceit, we created the entire aural environment from the ground up, so I knew what went to all the headphones would sound exactly the same.” invisiblecitiesopera.com

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NEW

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To confirm your advertising space in any of International: Ian Graham +44 (0)20 7354 6000 ian.graham@intentmedia.co.uk

The Preview Edition is sent to all previous visitors and pre-registered visitors in early January. This offers a unique opportunity to reach visitors with your marketing message ahead of the show.

products, contact the sales team now: International: Les Wood +44 (0)20 7354 6000 les.wood@intentmedia.co.uk

PSNE Dec P46 Install DR 22/11/2013 16:34 Page 46

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

installation SOUNDBITES The Capitol Theatre in the Polish city of Wroclaw has reopened after a multi-million zloti restoration, which includes an extensive Yamaha audio system. Installed by electroacoustic specialists M. Ostrowski, the main auditorium feature two Yamaha CL3 digital consoles at FOH, a CL5 at the monitor position and six R-series I/O units. “The technical staff know Yamaha equipment very well and they trust its stability and reliability,” says application engineer for Yamaha Music Europe, Pawel Zachanowicz. www.yamahaproaudio.com A QSC sound system based on K and KW active loudspeakers has been installed in Le 1700, one of the best après-ski restaurants at Lebanese ski resort Faqra. Six K10 speakers, two K12s, six KW122s and five KW181 subs were installed at Le 1700 over the course of two days. The installation was made possible by Beirut-based QSC distributor Techno Sound.

“The guys at Le 1700 have been very pleased with their choice,” says Pierre Fahed of Techno Sound. www.qsc.com German system integrator Showem, working exclusively with Nexo loudspeakers, has installed a GEO system into the Plaza area of West Park shopping centre, Ingolstadt.

Using NexoSoft acoustic simulation software for system design, SHOWEM designed a permanently-installed L/R system of three Nexo S1210 and one S1230 compact twoway cabs per side. The hangs are suspended 5m above the floor at an 11º angle from the horizontal, controlled with a NX242 Digital TDcontroller and powered by a Camco Vortex 200 and a Vortex 6 amp. “The angle was tricky so we used Nexo’s software,” says Showem CEO Christian Eck, “Most other speakers wouldn’t have stood a chance.” www.showem.de

WORLD

Online training on offer from Audinate New courses explaining principles of digital audio and Dante are now available as Audinate continues to raise its profile, reports Erica Basnicki AUDINATE IS offering a series of specialised networking courses online that can be used for RU credits toward a CTS certification. Presently, two courses are now available: The Principles of Digital Audio and Introduction to IP Networking for AV Systems.

The Principles of Digital Audio covers the encoding and representation of audio in digital formats, how audio is communicated and manipulated in the digital domain and introduces the features and benefits of digital audio networking.

The second new course, Introduction to IP Networking for AV Systems provides a high level informative discussion on the adoption of IP networking and then

Building Dante I/O boards at Audinate HQ

introduces the OSI model and how data travels through network layers and hardware. It concludes with a more focused look at how Dante implements networking standards in the context of transporting media.

“As digital audio networking becomes even more important in today’s large and small scale installations, anyone who doesn’t have an understanding of IT networks and how they work could be losing out on important projects,” said Landon Gentry, manager of global support services at Audinate.

“We believe that these courses will help de-mystify digital audio networking and introduce people on

Landon Gentry: “These courses will help de-mystify networking” how straightforward IT networks really are.”

In related news, Audinate has had a successful November, starting with recognition by the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Australia 2013 programme as one of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in Australia. The programme ranks the 50 fastest growing public or private technology companies, based on percentage revenue growth over two years from 2011 to 2013.

Prior to this, Glensound announced it has chosen to incorporate the Dante networking solution into its next generation of broadcast products at BVE North in Manchester. Glensound’s next generation of Dante compatible products are expected to be launched at NAB 2014. www.audinate.com

AUSTRIA

AKG spaces out

By Erica Basnicki IN SPACE, no one can hear you scream. At mission control, clear communication is of the utmost gravity. As such, when the odyssey of World Space Week took flight in early October, 20 sets of AKG K171 MKII headphones and HSC271 headsets were deployed to help coordinate more than 1,000 events in 80 countries across the world.

World Space Week Mission Control Center was located in the Austrian Space Forum’s mission control room, where the headsets were used for the flight controller consoles, in addition to teleconferences in classrooms worldwide on every continent with the exception of Antarctica.

“Like in any space mission, real or simulated, communication is everything.

Loss of communication is one

of the worst things to happen on a mission, whether it’s a space walk or during a critical experiment,” stated Dr. Gernot Groemer, president, Austrian Space Forum. “The AKG headsets were not only high quality from a manufacturing point of view, but also provided a high degree of ergonomics and crystal clear audio quality for those wearing the sets for hours at a time.”

Throughout 2013, the Austrian Space Forum was on a mission to find a new organisation-wide headset.

The flight directors decided on AKG headsets permanently. www.akg.com

AKG: keeping everyone in… contact [ Erica, you’re fired – Ed]

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Uniting the audience Speech and music that stir the soul.

From the thrill of theatre to the celebration of worship to the inspiration of the auditorium.

It’s all about consistent audience coverage, front to back, whatever the acoustic challenges.

A shared experience they will never forget.

That’s the Martin Audio Experience.

Unite your audience at www.martin-audio.com

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installationreport UNITED KINGDOM

Tannoy sounds tasty in Hoxton Hoxton is one of London’s trendiest boroughs. It comes as no surprise then that the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen is one of the MAMA Group’s most popular live music venues, writes Paul Watson THE HOXTON Square Bar & Kitchen sits just off Old Street in Hoxton Square, and is a multiroom venue: there’s the main bar, a second bar and restaurant area, and then the venue itself, which looks as impressive as it sounds thanks to some state-ofthe art lighting fixtures, courtesy of Utopium Lighting.

Entertainment giant MAMA Group acquired the venue earlier this year and appointed Andy Huffer and his HD Pro Audio team to upgrade the sound system. While the task went from enquiry to completion in three months, the installation for the restaurant, bar and main venue only took five days, reports Huffer.

According to MAMA Group’s head of property, Archie McIntosh, it was a “real bonus” working with people he’s known and trusted for so long.

“This is my first [time], so to speak, with Tannoy; it’s a great company, and I know the guys well. They led me to the waters and I drank, basically, and the reaction from the engineers and punters has been excellent,” he says, referring to Tannoy’s Paul McMullan and Scott Wakelin.

“People used to turn up here and ask to change the rig, but there is no request for that now.”

The PA in the main venue is centred around a pair of Tannoy VQ100s, with low-end reinforcement provided by an accompanying pair of Tannoy VS218DR Bass enclosures.

Monitoring comes courtesy of seven Tannoy VX15HPs (tuned for live use) and one VSX15DR; and the Lab.gruppen contingency includes a PLM10000Q, a PLM20000Q, and eight IPD 2400s.

Furthermore, additional Tannoy and Lab equipment is deployed

The Bar & Kitchen combines live music venue and fashionable restaurant

Guests enjoy the opening night at the stylish refurbished haunt...

…and this is what it looks like in a calmer, daylight moment

in the restaurant and bar area: there are 12 Tannoy DI8DCs and three Lab E 8:2s.

The project is one of the first “integrated installs” for TC Group, combing the new IPD amps with the Tannoy kit.

“I think we have exceeded people’s expectations with Tannoy,” smiles Archie McIntosh. “And there’s an awful lot of badge snobbery, but on a blind test you’d get people coming in here saying ‘Yep, that’s a great sound’.

“The kit is very versatile too – we have club nights at weekends here, and bands during the week, and everything sounds great through it.”

A Behringer X32 is the console of choice at FOH, and

which uses the very best dual concentric driver technology, which results in a very pleasant BGM system with the power to cut through crowd noise on the rowdier bar nights!

“Add to that the fact that the entire venue is driven by Lab.gruppen amplifiers, and it’s clear that he has again guaranteed great sound and proven reliability. In short, it’s a fantastic job.”

Undertaking a project such as this, McIntosh concurs that, while access to state-of-the-art kit is fine, relationships are just as important, perhaps more so.

“With Scott and Paul, you get a real high level of service – you know that if something has failed in there, it will be shipped

system control for the venue is achieved via a Symetrix Solus 8 with ARC-2e wall control – for the restaurant and bar area, a dbx ZonePro 640 does the job.

Tannoy’s Paul McMullan has worked with McIntosh for more than 10 years on various projects, and says focus on providing the best in-house production as possible has always been his absolute top priority.

“Although Hoxton is a lot more intimate than some of Archie’s other projects, this is certainly no exception; the VQ system provides incredible intelligibility with an authoritative low end performance,” he says.

“The cafe and bar area is serviced with our DI series,

overnight to us – it’s that level of service that some companies don’t have the capacity to deliver,” he explains. “There’s a bigger picture with us, but we cater from the grass roots to the very top, and I want people to look at anything I do and say ‘This is going to be great’; it’s the same with the crew and people you’re servicing: if something breaks, tell me and we’ll fix it.

“For people to walk through our doors and say ‘this is a pleasure’ is much harder at this level than further up the ladder, but we’re proud to say we’ve done that and more here in Hoxton.” www.hdproaudio.co.uk http://mamacolive.com/hoxton/ www.tannoy.com

++ Blank template for ad resize 27/11/2013 17:26 Page 6

Drive visitors to your stand drives business to exhibitors’ stands at the show and helps convert business opportunities into solid revenues.

Official Visitor Newsletter, before, during and post show and direct to the inboxes of over 50,000 potential visitors to your stand.

NEW

for 2014 ISE Daily TV: allows exhibitors to showcase their activities in video form

Guaranteed editorial with all advertising packages in the form of a Q&A or opinion piece

To confirm your advertising space in any of International: Ian Graham +44 (0)20 7354 6000 ian.graham@intentmedia.co.uk

The Preview Edition is sent to all previous visitors and pre-registered visitors in early January. This offers a unique opportunity to reach visitors with your marketing message ahead of the show.

products, contact the sales team now: International: Les Wood +44 (0)20 7354 6000 les.wood@intentmedia.co.uk

PSNE Dec P50 Install DXR fin 22/11/2013 16:07 Page 50

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installationnews

“I look forward to doing the next RedNet installation ”Göran Blomgren, AV1

SWEDEN

Composer Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch created a surround sound sensation for the Gothenburg Opera House that relied on Focusrite’s RedNet to realise, writes Erica Basnicki GÖTEBORGSOPERAN IS a modern opera house with spectacular architecture located right at the Gothenburg riverside. In October, the venue hosted the world premiere of the world to darkness and to me, a new creation by renown American contemporary dance choreographer Richard Siegel in his first visit to Sweden.

The music for the piece was composed by Lorenzo Bianchi Hoesch, electronic music researcher from Centre Pompidou, France, professor of multimedia composition at the University of Franche-Comté and also teacher of electroacoustic composition at the Conservatory of Montbeliard in France.

Hoesch used Cycling 74’s Max/MSP for the music, with a spacialisation patch originally developed by the IRCAM technology institute in Paris.

The resulting piece required a 27.2 surround sound system, which Göteborgsoperan’s chief sound engineer Andreas Renhorn was tasked with setting up.

Göteborgsoperan’s chief sound engineer Andreas Renhorn sits by the heart of the 27.2 system

d&b loudspeakers surround the audience with sound in the opera house auditorium

6 hours

The amount of time it took to install the entire 27.2 surround system

Two RedNet 2 units over a Dante network met both distribution and digital conversion requirements “To handle this kind of highly dynamic music and sounds, there was a claim to find equipment able to achieve the highest possible quality of digital conversion,” he says.

After extensive research, he found that two Focusrite RedNet 2 units over a Dante

network met both his distribution and digital conversion requirements.

Renhorn connected a MacBook Pro with QLab software for playback to Audinate’s Dante Virtual Soundcard (DVS), which then connected to the two RedNet 2

units via Cat-6 cable and a NetGear GS716T switch.

“Lorenzo was so impressed how easy it was to situate his laptop at the centre of the auditorium using a 50m Cat-6 cable, since he needed to fine tune the 27.2 sound design from there during the production phase. Also how simple it was to hook-up a second laptop to the same network for recording,” said Renhorn.

Four 25-pin D-sub cables connect from the rear of the RedNet units to the amplifiers – a mix of d&b D6 and D12 –

driving the 27.2 surroundsound system comprising 16 d&b E6 and six d&b E8 speakers in the auditorium, with five d&b Q1s at FOH. The low end was reinforced by two d&b J-SUBs. All speakers and subs were supplied and installed by Gothenburg AV specialists AV1.

“This was one of the fastest and smoothest installations ever for our company,” says AV1’s Göran Blomgren. “In addition to the opera’s front speakers, we installed 22 speakers at all balconies, and with five of them mounted 25m up in the ceiling.

Including speaker cabling and RedNet cabling, all was installed and running in less than six hours! I look forward to doing the next RedNet installation.” www.dbaudio.com www.focusrite.com www.opera.se

UNITED KINGDOM

Masonic move for VDC and F1

By Mark Haldon LONDON’S WEST End welcomes the creation of Mason House, a new and exclusive nightclub with two main rooms set across multiple floors within the vaults of the London Palladium, occupying the space formerly trading as Movida.

Run by nightclub aficionados Marc Merran, Eamonn Mulholland and Jean Philippe Kley, the club has had a

complete refit, including a Funktion-One sound system.

The system includes eight Res 2 horn-loaded compact speakers, three F101 10-inch plus 1-inch two-way speakers, two Resolution 1 two-way speakers and nine subs. The system is also equipped with Funktion-One F60Q and F1002 amps and a Formula Sound custom zonal mixer.

Van Damme cabling from VDC Trading has been used to

power the new sound system and electrical installation was carried out by Medway, which offers a wide range of electrical at installation services.

Senior contracts manager Gary Pike explains, “The club has been completely refigured, with the walls being bare bricks.

It also has the very best of [PA] systems in it.”

Mason House will allow entry exclusively through membership or an invite-only

Mason House: are you on the list? guest list and plans to host some of the most respected DJs from around the world.

www.funktion-one.com www.vdctrading.com facebook.com/masonhouselnd

All Gothenburg Photos: Cecilia Boström, Design by Cia

RedNet in the round in Gothenburg

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installationnews UNITED KINGDOM

By Erica Basnicki ADLIB’S DESIGN and Installations division has supplied a new L-Acoustics FOH system for the Cambridge Corn Exchange – a well-known landmark on the UK touring circuit for many years.

The system design and installation was co-ordinated by Adlib’s John Hughes and the design created by Roger Kirby.

The result was a main left and right PA system comprising seven flown KARA WST speakers which can be hung with or without two SB18 sub-bass units depending on the low frequency requirements for the event.

There are also two SB28 ground stacked sub-bass speakers per side.

The main balcony coverage is dealt with by a centre hang of

Photo : Rob Julian, The Capture Lab

KARA fulfils call at Corn Exchange In addition to the KARA system, Adlib supplied ºwedges and a Midas PRO2 console

five KARAi WSTs. For lip and in-fills there are two 8XTis along the front of the stage and two 12XTis at the edges of the stage either side. For delays another two 8XTis provide under-balcony coverage with three more installed at high level dealing with the extremities of the balcony and back seating rows.

Technical manager Chris Norton commented, “The installation of the KARA system has opened up a wealth of opportunities for us as a venue and there is already an increase in the number of shows opting to use the in house system.” www.adlib.co.uk www.l-acoustics.com

GERMANY A NEW direction is planned for Berlin’s smallest city theatre, the Maxim Gorki.

With a new artistic director, a new company and a new design, new technology has also been implemented, including a Sony DWX digital wireless system, supplied by distributor HL Audio. “ We opted for what our research showed to be the best digital wireless system currently available on the market,” explained Maik Voss, head of the theatre’s sound department. “The Sony DWX Digital Wireless is a powerful, reliable and future-proof microphone system that makes it possible to achieve a new level of quality and versatility during the technical and creative implementation of productions.” www.hlaudio.de www.sony.com

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installationfeature

Sochi 2014

Now, THAT is a bass horn...

is fully

Funktional As Russia prepares for its first Winter Games, an impressive infrastructure is evolving and has led to the development of 11 new sports venues — two of which, Funktion-One has spec’d from the ground up, writes Paul Watson

The MST Horns are positioned high above the bobsleigh run

the latter of which is one of two multiple-venue sites that will be used during the games.

Fourteen MST Horns have been deployed across the 2km downhill Bobsleigh site – in four separate positions. They are grouped in pairs or in fours, and combine individual attributes of 40˚ horizontal and 20˚ vertical dispersion to form horizontal coverage parameters of 80 or 160˚. The MSTs span a frequency range from 150Hz up to 18kHz. Extra reinforcement comes courtesy of 163 Funktion-One F55 compact speakers, 14 AX88 two-way passive mid-high loudspeakers, 18 AX8 speakers and six F118 single 18-inch bass enclosures.

According to Funktion-One, its MST Horns have been designed “specifically for the challenges that stadia and arena

“The point of the big waveguide is to have maximum directivity which leads to improved intelligibility” Tony Andrews, Funktion-One

Horns hanging in the Bolshoy Ice Dome environments present”: due to their size, they are said to deliver high-quality lower frequency dispersion control without recourse to impact

compromising corrective processing techniques.

This, in a nutshell, means in acoustically challenging environments, sound can be focused where it’s needed, without unnecessarily exciting the reverberant space, according to Funktion-One’s founder, Tony Andrews.

“Sound, as humans understand it, is 10 octaves wide; it’s a large bandwidth with the dimension of the frequencies involved being orders of magnitude different in size,” Andrews says. “You can easily achieve high frequency directivity – a horn of only three or four inches will control frequencies above 5kHz, and the waves are tiny, in the region of an inch; whereas bass waves can be 30- or 40-foot long or more, so my objective with the large MST waveguides was to control all the speech frequencies, including the chesty ones.

“If a waveguide is not big enough to control these frequencies then they will diffract off its edges to the point where some of them will be propagating behind the waveguide reflecting back from the roof, arriving some milliseconds after the original – that is a real destroyer of intelligibility because you’re no longer on a nice original singular arrival.

“More sound going directly to the audience area means less excitement of the reverberant field. So, the point of the big waveguide is to have maximum directivity which leads directly to improved intelligibility. It’s just the application of common sense and physics.”

Less than 50km from the Bobsleigh Track, towards the Black Sea, lies the Bolshoy Ice Dome – one of the largest arenas in Sochi. Shaped like a frozen drop of water, its roof is decorated

THINGS ARE certainly hotting up in what will undoubtedly be a teeth-chatteringly cold 22nd Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Everything kicks off on 7 February, and for the following 16 days, 98 events over 15 winter sports will take place. Both the Winter Olympics and Paralympics are managed by the Sochi Organizing Committee (SOC).

The city beat off competition from Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea back in 2007, during the 119th IOC Session in Guatemala City; and this event will be the first Olympics Russia has held since the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Funktion-One has made quite the impact on two of the major Sochi venues: the 12,000capacity Bolshoy Ice Dome and the 2km-long Bobsleigh Track,

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installationfeature

Feeling the vertigo effects yet? with light-emitting diodes that light up in different colours.

Its sound system features 40 Funktion-One MST Horns, which work in pairs:16 groups of two MST Horns with one F221 double 21-inch bass enclosure; and two in each of the four corners of the arena.

A total of 44 Funktion-One Resolution 2SH skeletal speakers are also installed to cover the rear of the upper seating as well as the VIP section.

“We want as little sound as possible on the ice itself,” explains Andrei Kremenchugskiy of Edelweiss Audio, the Russian distributor of Funktion-One who assisted with the projects. “It’s a requirement of the International Ice Hockey Federation and broadcast companies – and we’ve achieved that; there’s real separation between the seating and the playing area.”

As the client wanted to extend the audio infrastructure at the Bobsleigh Track to make it into a full music bandwidth system,

“We want as little sound as possible on the ice itself. It’s a requirement of the International Ice Hockey Federation and broadcast companies –and we’ve achieved that; there’s real separation between the seating and the playing area” Andrei Kremenchugskiy, Edelweiss Audio

Andrews designed a rather ambitious Mega Bass Horn, which is now believed to be the world’s largest commercially available bass horn. Positioned at the bottom of the course, it shoots back up the mountain; and according to Kremenchugskiy, “It’s all around you – you can feel it and hear it; although it’s soft but it still pushes you.”

A number of other pro-audio manufacturers will also be involved in Sochi, of course: Neumann & Muller, for example, will be responsible for the sound, lighting, video and conference systems at the Deutsches Haus hospitality centre; and at the manufacturer’s respective locations in Germany and Eastern Europe, there will be teams of technicians and event specialists on call to support throughout.

L-Acoustics will also have a major presence, providing an array of its loudspeakers to several Sochi events. www.funktion-one.com

++ Blank template for ad resize 27/11/2013 17:43 Page 6

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S4.4 Series

15368. 49 !#!974959*-3.6723 %5. 8,94'468+9,847(38,962905-3./9'2-9736296/89)210,92*9)7180844#9 2-(/&918075$08953, .2+%5.6&96/749+-067 *-3.672394'468+97492%67+748,9*219-489)76/9/53,/80,921905%809+7.&9 812$7. 9/85,48692194)76./9*21 -489)76/9+-47.50973461-+836# 269230'9,28496/89 !#!9.2+89)76/959$51(573 $548+8369%17.8965(&9769749504298 618+80'98.232+7.5096291-3#9 649*2-19./53 38049.539$89-48,907.83.89*18897396/89 &953,959473(089 9$56681'9)7009(7"89'2-92"819 9/2-1492*9 -5076'9%81*21+53.8#

S4.16 Series -067./533809)7180844947+%0'9,28493269(86953'9854781#9 548,9239 15368. 495)51,9)73373(9 ! 9 81784&96/89 !# 9749 ./53380492*962-(/&918075$089 -5076'96/569/549$8839%17.8,96294-7696/8967(/684692*9$-,(864# /749+-067 *-3.672394'468+97492%67+748,9*219-489)76/9/53,/80,&905%809+7.&9 812$7. 9/85,48692194)76./9629-489)76/9+-47.50 73461-+836#9 649/24692*95,,76723509*856-184973.0-,89 492396/8918.87"8194/2)73(9 2)819 3&9 9 85 908"80&9 9 8"80953,9 7"81476' /533809 9219 #9 395,,76723&96/89,7"81476'92%8156723918.87"814 /5"8918519+2-368,953683358953,9"5175$089(573&9 5. 9%0-( 9$5053.8,9 92-6%-6#9

Fully synthesised PLL quartz tuning technology Receiver LED’s show AF peak level and diversity Channel A or B Diversity operation with detachable antennae Professional metal enclosure S4.16 available as ‘Racked ‘n’ Ready’ version in 19� fully-loaded flight case with built-in antennae distribution and power supply NEW S4.16RX2 dual systems now available

Telephone

+44(0)870 74 0987 email: sales@trantec.co.uk web: www.trantec.co.uk

TOA Corporation (UK) Limited HQ3 Unit 2, Hook Rise South, Surbiton, Surrey, KT6 7LD, England Trantec is a part of the TOA Corporation group of companies

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PSNE Dec P57 Hither 22/11/2013 17:49 Page 57

CONTACTS

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December 2013 l 57

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hither&dither

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(L-R) Strongroom’s Phil Sisson with Danton Supple and assistant engineer Marta Salogni baptise the new Strongroom 4 with a beer or two (see story, p22)

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The latest inductees to the APRS Sound Fellowship line up for the camera – but can you spot the accidental interloper? (L-R): Jerry Boys, Mark Crabtree, Adrian Kerridge, Jeff Beck, Larry Droppa and Chris Briggs

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58 l December 2013

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industrytalk

“We began a collaboration with a company that makes microphones for hearing aids – did you know that a third of the world’s hearing aids are made by Danish manufacturers?” Christian Poulsen booths, and a red light went on outside the door during recording or transmission to ensure complete silence. Now the studios are really open, with news and production staff, guests and other people moving about freely – not to mention a live audience for even the most everyday presentations.

Even directional microphones capture sound from all angles, although the off-axis rejection is better than ever. Proximity is the only workable solution: it’s not like the zoom lens on a camera, which eliminates everything outside of the frame so nothing disturbs the required image.

Staying focused Having ushered legendary Swedish camera marque Hasselblad into the digital era, Christian Poulsen is now zooming in on the pro-audio scene at the helm of Denmark’s high end mainstay DPA Microphones. Phil Ward says cheese…

There’s been a sign on the door of DPA Microphones for a while saying ‘Under New Management’, following the departure of familiar figure Morten Støve and a reshuffle of equity holders. CEO and shareholder since 2010, Christian Poulsen brings entrepreneurial flair and considerable technical chops in both sound and picture to the new regime, as the brand with bandwidth explores an unprecedented number of new angles – both business and acoustic – at which to point a microphone.

While respecting the brand’s great heritage, is there a new spirit at the company?

Absolutely. We used to be well-known as the company that inherited the old B&K capsules, but today we’re a miniature capsule specialist in our own right. We still develop and produce those models, but we’ve changed dramatically in response to some key trends in the market.

Which are?

Over the last 15 years we’ve seen an increasing demand for high-quality sound capture in

more and more difficult environments. Amplification is proliferating, especially in musical theatre and opera where there are several competing noise sources such as dancers, adjacent musicians, monitor speakers and so on, and the only way of improving the signal-to-noise ratio is to get the microphones as close to the sound source as possible.

One of the most significant areas where these new challenges are becoming an issue is in television production. Time was when presenters and performers were placed in soundproof

And you’d know all about that…

I founded the first company to make commercially viable digital cameras, which was later bought by Hasselblad. It brought me into contact with Apple developers, Photoshop developers, the whole story.

If you take a picture with your iPhone, you’re using a patent I invented. It certainly brought out the entrepreneur in me!

But at university my Masters’ project in Electronics was to develop a new hearing aid microphone, and that experience has now come full circle.

About eight years ago I was asked to become a board member at DPA, and everything came together. In pro audio, proximity necessitates small microphones but you still have the unrelenting demand for sound quality. That’s what DPA has been all about: the majority of our growth has been generated by taking full advantage of the trend towards intimate miking – which shows no signs of diminishing.

How have you taken advantage?

Fortunately, being a spin-off of B&K, we already knew how to make perfect-sounding microphones. So we began a collaboration with a Danish company that makes the microphones for hearing aids – did you know that a third of the world’s hearing aids are made

by Danish manufacturers? – in order to marry that expertise with ours. Even the smallest B&K capsule was too large, while their specifications had to deliver 1,000Hz to 4,000Hz. We perfected omnidirectional miniatures, and then cardioid and even interference tube models, like a shotgun. They’re at the very cutting edge of what is technically possible at

this size, such as our 4061 omnidirectional miniatures and our 4066 omni and 4088 cardioid headsets.

Presumably this trend is also behind the expansion of instrument mics?

Exactly: the d:vote 4099 range.

Is there a capsule for each instrument, or a specialised mount for each instrument with the same capsule?

It’s a super-neutral microphone with unique directionality, so the same mic gets as close to perfect sound as possible on all instruments. The holders are different, according to shape, size and position, but the capsules are as linear as possible. As soon as you start to tweak the frequency range in a microphone, you get phase and off-axis issues. So if the microphone is designed for relatively noisy conditions, like on stage, you can’t do that.

It’s not like a studio, where the mic can change because the environment is neutral. It’s the other way round. The microphone may be optimised for saxophone, but that won’t suit any off-axis ambience.

Preachers, politicians and presenters: headset or lavalier?

We always say: if you can live with a headset, use that. It offers the best possible sound because it’s always closer to the mouth.

Some people feel uncomfortable, so they use lavalier, and of course some applications have to hide the microphone completely, such as opera and certain characters in stage musicals. Hats, wigs and glasses can be very useful, though.

Our biggest growth has been in headsets, because, I believe, audiences are getting used to sound reinforcement generally.

We have both, available in omni and cardioid versions.

But our biggest breakthrough in the last couple of years has been the handhelds: the d:facto Vocal range. It brings our quality, our linearity into the wireless lead vocal arena, and makes use of new casing for our 19mm 4011 capsule: not a normal cardioid, and not a supercardioid, but highly resistant to feedback.

Unlike DPA, which clearly listens to feedback all the time…

Our customers are always right! www.dpamicrophones.com

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