July/August 2018
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Imogen Heap Inside the mind of one of the world’s most unique studio talents
Your mixes Our consoles Live depends on us www.yamahaproaudio.com
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P3 JULY/AUGUST 2018 www.psneurope.com FOLLOW US ON Twitter.com/PSNEurope Facebook.com/ProSoundNewsEurope Instagram.com/PSNEurope EDITORIAL Editor: Daniel Gumble daniel.gumble@futurenet.com • +44 (0)203 871 7371
Welcome
Staff Writer: Tara Lepore tara.lepore@futurenet.com • +44 (0)207 354 6021 Content Director: James McKeown james.mckeown@futurenet.com • +44 (0)207 354 6015 Designer: Mandie Johnson mandie.johnson@futurenet.com • +44 (0)207 354 6030 Digital Director: Diane Oliver diane.oliver@futurenet.com • +44 (0)207 354 6019 Production Executive: James Marinos james.marinos@futurenet.com • +44 (0)203 889 4907 ADVERTISING SALES Head of Advertising and Brand Partnerships - Music: Ryan O’Donnell ryan.odonnell@futurenet.com • +44 (0)203 889 4907 Senior Account Manager: Rian Zoll-Khan rian.zoll-khan@futurenet.com MANAGEMENT Chief Operations Officer Aaron Asadi Managing Director/Senior Vice President Christine Shaw Content Director James McKeown Managing Director/Europe Mark Burton Commercial Finance Director Dan Jotcham SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE To subscribe, change your address, or check on your current account status, go to www.psneurope.com/subscribe-to-newsletters-digital-editions faqs or email subs@psneurope.com ARCHIVES Digital editions of the magazine are available to view on ISSUU.com. Recent back issues of the printed edition may be available please contact lwilkie@nbmedia.com for more information. INTERNATIONAL PSNE and its content are available for licensing and syndication re-use. Contact the International department to discuss partnership opportunities and permissions.International Licensing Director Matt Ellis, matt.ellis@futurenet.com Printed by Pensord Press Ltd, NP12 2YA ISSN number 0269-4735 (print) © 2018 Future plc is a member of the Periodical Publishers Association Future PLC, The Emerson Building, 4th Floor, 4-8 Emerson Street, London SE1 9DU All contents © 2018 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any other changes or updates to them. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. If you submit material to us, you warrant that you own the material and/or have the necessary rights/permissions to supply the material and you automatically grant Future and its licensees a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in any/all issues and/or editions of publications, in any format published worldwide and on associated websites, social media channels and associated products. Any material you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents, subcontractors or licensees shall be liable for loss or damage. We assume all unsolicited material is for publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit, amend, adapt all submissions.
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DANIEL GUMBLE Editor
@PSNEurope
A
lot has happened between the past two issues of PSNEurope, not least because the copy you currently hold in your hands is a combined July/August edition, meaning it’s been a couple of months since writing my last opening column. Of course, this time of year is always busy for the pro audio market, particularly for the live sector, as the festival season gathers pace and new outdoor events continue to pop up left, right and centre. We’ve had the launch of brand new East London festival All Points East, while the annual BST Hyde Parks shows have provided some particularly spectacular and memorable nights – Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters and a retiring Paul Simon delivering just two standout shows earlier in July. But for many, the biggest announcement of the past couple of months came just a couple of weeks ago and just as PSNEurope was going to press - when organisers of the ISE show revealed that in 2021 they would be relocating the show from its current home at the Amsterdam RAI to Barcelona’s Gran Via in order to accommodate its ever-growing audience. Over the past five years or so, the show has grown exponentially, expanding way beyond the boundaries of it traditional AV technology following and emerging as arguably the most important international trade gathering on the pro audio calendar. And it’s entirely possible that its move to Spain could enhance this reputation further still. Early reports suggest that next year’s show is already primed to be its biggest yet, so by the time it reaches its new venue in a few years’ time, expectations from new and regular visitors and exhibitors will likely be higher than ever. Plus, beyond the cold, hard figures, a change of scenery and a warmer climate may also go some way to coaxing along any of those still sat on the fence, minimal as that number may be. But back to the business of our July/August edition. Here you will find something of a live special, in which we hear from some of the live sector’s most influential figures on everything from IEMs vs wedges to what the UK’s departure from the EU could mean for the touring market as Brexit looms ever larger on the horizon. Enclosed within this issue, you should also find our annual PSNLive supplement, providing yet more insights into the market and the developments shaping it. Enjoy. n
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In this issue... People P8
Movers and shakers A look at who has moved where over the past month in pro audio
P11 Normal Not Novelty All the highlights from the latest Red Bull Studios London #NormalNotNovelty session
P6 HALL ABOARD
P13 Imogen Heap The multi-talented producer, artist and engineer talks studio techniques, composing and mixing the Harry Potter And The Cursed Child soundtrack and collaborating with the stars
A LOOK INSIDE ADAM HALL’S NEW EXPERIENCE CENTRE
Report P18 IEMs vs wedges We hear from some of the industry’s leading live sound engineers about the latest tech on the market and their mixing preferences P31 Brexit With Brexit looming ever larger, the UK touring market could be in for some big changes. Here, a number of live industry specialists offer their predictions on what life after the EU might look like
Interviews
P22 CAPITAL ONE CAPITAL SOUND’S MARTIN CONNOLLY ON 25 YEARS WITH THE FIRM
P36 A touch of Frost Sound designer Sebastian Frost takes us behind the scenes of Stingpenned stage show The Last Ship and the influence of d&b’s Soundscape on its production
Studio
P52 Benelux spotlight PSNEurope’s Benelux correspondent, Marc Maes, checks the pulse of the territory’s studio sector
P36 Tony Platt The MPG Awards managing director and all-round industry veteran updates us on the organisation’s activities
P48 LIVE AND KICKING UK MUSIC CEO MICHAEL DUGHER ON THE FUTURE OF THE LIVE SECTOR
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Event horizons
Back in June, Adam Hall cut the ribbon on its brand new Experience Centre on the outskirts of Frankfurt, rolling out the red carpet for some 600-plus VIPs from across the event technology industry to take a look inside. Daniel Gumble spoke to Adam Hall Group CEO Alexander Pietschmann about what the new facility means for the company and its ongoing expansion…
I
f you can dream it, you can do it. These are the words that greet you upon entering Adam Hall’s sprawling new Experience Centre on the outskirts of Frankfurt (NeuAnspach, to be precise). The phrase – a quote from Walt Disney – is emblazoned in brightly lit lettering above a display of iconic rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia, in what is effectively a reception area-cum-mini museum. Adorning the walls are electric guitars and amplifiers belonging to all manner of rock’n’roll royalty, as well as artwork and signed lyric sheets from the likes of The Beatles and Rolling Stones. Needless to say, it makes a striking first impression, and one that stands very much apart from the somewhat more corporate aesthetic sometimes associated with such facilities. In many ways, this opening gambit is designed to
make a bold statement as to the work and experiences that Adam Hall and its stable of brands facilitate – that its all-encompassing event technology solutions are truly the nuts and bolts that whirr and grind behind the scenes of so much musical iconography. Indeed, what lies behind the scenes at the centre itself is equally as impressive as the initial spectacle gracing its outward-facing quarters. The centre, the result of over €20 million investment, is spread over two adjacent complexes – the Experience Centre itself and the Logistics Park. Between them, Adam Hall has developed a hub that welcomes business customers and partners to ‘come together’ – a mantra regularly uttered by the firm’s figureheads throughout the launch event – to get up close with its full product catalogue, demo its assortment of technology in a fully equipped onsite venue and talk business with staff.
What’s more, it also houses the training and education hub for the recently launched Adam Hall Academy, which looks to train engineers and audio professionals in its complete range of solutions. So what does the arrival of the Experience Centre mean for Adam Hall and its place on the global event technology solutions landscape? PSNEurope editor Daniel Gumble spoke to Adam Hall Group CEO Alexander Pietschmann to find out…
Just how much of a statement to the rest of the industry is this new Experience Centre? In order to keep pace with today’s fast-moving, hightech driven world, companies require bold courage, constant innovation and high customer-orientation. It also requires passion with a greater purpose. So in addition to building a platform that inspires innovation
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fuelled by customer orientation, the new Adam Hall Experience Centre is an outward expression regarding why we do what we do. It’s our mission to develop event technology solutions to enable more people to realise their creative ideas, amplify emotions and allow people to share great moments together. We believe this philosophy reflects the passion shared throughout the industry as a whole. And because of this, we did not build the Experience Centre for us alone; it’s a place for the industry to come together to share, learn and exchange ideas. It was designed to serve as an open space for inspiration and creativity among industry professionals, customers, partners and employees alike. This greater industry-serving purpose and transparency already makes a statement on its own. When industry professionals come to the Experience Centre, it is our intention that they do not feel like they are visiting another company, but instead we designed the Experience Centere as a place you feel right at home.
What does the new facility mean for Adam Hall and its customers and clients? In a word, transparency. Here customers have the opportunity to see our brands and product portfolio in the permanent showroom upstairs. And by way of the connected auditorium below, customers have the opportunity to experience our event technology as a solutions set. But more than simply see and experience our offering, we want customers to directly interact with our product managers and engineers so they can be a part of shaping the future development of our products and solutions – from pro audio to lighting to stage equipment and industrial parts. This is the best fuel inspiring innovation and hence the reason why we have placed our development department under the same roof.
What kind of impact will the new centre have on Adam Hall’s pro audio business? Focusing on pro products, services and education, which continuously improve real-world human connections and experiences will be key for our future success. The new Experience Centre will play a significant role in enabling direct and personal interactions, as well as open and honest dialogues with our customers and users. From the auditorium, where we can demonstrate products in a solutions environment, to the various new R&D laboratories, including the large anechoic chamber, the Experience Centre is well equipped to ensure we can sustain further growth and continue to bring new innovations and product introductions to the marketplace for a long time to come.
Will the new facility have a knock-on effect on Adam Hall’s presence at trade shows, particularly Prolight+Sound given the close proximity between the locations?
L-R: Alexander-Pietschmann_David-Kirby_Markus Jahnel
Our trade show presence will continue to bear high importance for us. We are a company that strongly values personal relationships and our annual participation in more than 25 trade shows is not something we see decreasing. And with regards to Prolight+Sound, this is our home turf, and we have built solid relationships with our Prolight+Sound colleagues in Frankfurt. Of course, the Experience Centre has only just opened its doors, so we are considering future possibilities at this stage given the proximity and the industry-oriented nature of the centre. We cannot say if and what will transpire at the moment, but with a shared sense of vision and purpose, anything is possible.
Why was now the right time to create this new space? As we have been growing more and more internationally, our focus has been on creating showrooms across the globe, including Barcelona, Singapore, Poland, and New Jersey in the US. Now that we have established a global footprint of customer showrooms internationally, it was time to execute our plans to update the original customer showroom at HQ in NeuAnspach, just outside of Frankfurt. In parallel, we were planning new facilities for our development department. We decided to combine the two in one overarching facility with innovation laboratories and offices for the R&D and product management departments on one side and a grand showroom and auditorium concept for customers and partners on the other side. Having both together in a shared space is a good way to foster ongoing dialogues with customers and keep the direct feedback loop to our engineers in motion. We even took this open exchange idea a step further and offer it as an open place for the industry to share, learn and exchange ideas surrounding
event technology. This is why we call it the Experience Centre and not an innovation centre. Event technology creates experiences and that’s what it’s all about.
Tell us about the Adam Hall Academy and how it will benefit from the new centre? We believe in ongoing education and certified training courses for our employees and for the industry. This is why we also added an educational component to the Experience Centre with the introduction of the Adam Hall Academy. Through partnerships with educational institutions, starting with the German Event Academy (DEAplus), we offer seminars for students and working professionals from all event technology sectors. The range includes certified training courses in areas such as lighting, sound, rigging, video and media technology. The new Experience Us Live section of our website provides more details for anyone interested. During the initial months between now and the end of the year, seminars are primarily offered in German, however we will be slowly expanding with courses also in English.
How much of a focus is training and education for Adam Hall today? The concept was created out of a growing need and desire for our employees, as well as a wish from our customers primarily in the rental and install sectors and from MI retailers and industrial manufacturers. As we all can appreciate, a high-level of expertise and knowledge goes a long way in these professions. The training addresses numerous technical facets from the field and business-related ones as well, including leadership, sales strategy, account management and so on. While our focus will remain on the developing, manufacturing, and distributing of event technology solutions, training and education will become a growing integral part of our business looking forward. n
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Pro audio movers and shakers Stay in the loop with all the latest job appointments and movements in the professional audio business over the past month...
Mark Pascoe appointed as director of sales and marketing at HHB Communications
P
ro audio supplier HHB Communications has appointed Mark Pascoe to director of sales and marketing. Pascoe told PSNEurope: “I hope to bring a fresh perspective to the business, but within the context of what I know to be HHB’s core values; leading the market to identify the brand with the deep and broad knowledge that I know the team here possesses, and leveraging that knowledge and passion to the benefit of all our existing and future partners.” Bringing two decades of professional audio sales and technical and marketing experience, Pascoe will be leading the sales and marketing teams’ efforts for HHB and its post-production division Scrub. Working alongside group sales director Steve Angel and managing director Ian Jones, Mark will be based at HHB’s north-west London headquarters, and will also be found at Scrub’s office in Fitzrovia on a regular basis. After graduating from the University of Surrey’s Tonmeister course in 1998, Pascoe began his career at HHB in broadcast sales, having interned there in 1996 during his studies. Steve Angel commented:
“Mark’s reputation in the industry is exceptional. This appointment brings a fresh new perspective and I look
forward to working closely with him to take our values and service to the next level.”
Yamaha Professional Audio adds to commercial installation solutions team
Lawo appoints VP of sales in America as part of wider company expansion
Axon names Michiel Van Duijvendijk as new CEO to focus future infrastructure
Yamaha Professional Audio has announced two additional appointments to its Commercial Installation Solutions (CIS) team as it continues its expansion. Phil Sanchez, who will be based at the firm’s Buena Park headquarters, has been appointed to the position of market development specialist. Sanchez has held roles most recently with Harman Pro and QSC. “Phil’s knowledge of the commercial audio market will be a great asset to the team,” said Marc Lopez, director of marketing, Commercial Audio products. Tres Cozad has been hired as technical marketing specialist for day-to-day customer support and will be based in Annapolis, Maryland. Prior to joining the team, he served as a technical director for a large, two-campus, faith-based congregation where he managed and designed an AVL package for the 27,000 square foot building’s refurbishment.
AV systems company Lawo is continuing its expansion in the Americas with the appointment of Jeff Smith as vice president of sales in the continent. “We are seeing rapid growth in the Americas based on our ability to deliver full IP broadcast infrastructures,” says Jamie Dunn, Lawo’s head of global sales. “Jeff’s experience and background with these technologies makes him a natural choice to lead our sales organisation there. I am delighted to welcome him to our team.” Smith’s broadcasting career began in 2006 and is highlighted by his success in technical sales roles. He joins Lawo after eight years with Evertz. “I have always had a deep passion for technology and science,” said Smith, “and what Lawo is doing with IP technologies for television and radio contains equal parts of both. This orientation towards innovation is what attracted me to the role.”
Broadcast infrastructure specialist Axon Digital Design has appointed Michiel Van Duijvendijk as its chief executive officer, succeeding Jan Eveleens. Van Duijvendijk brings nearly 20 years of experience in the broadcast industry, being the co-founder of NEP in the Netherlands. He will work closely with Axon’s international team including new chief commercial officer Karel van der Flier. Van Duivendijk said: “Over the next 12 months our strategy is to become much closer to our clients. The team has some phenomenal talent, providing cutting-edge solutions that deliver real competitive advantage to our clients. “I’m thrilled to lead the company as it helps broadcasters and media companies to evolve their services,” he continued, “especially in the adoption of IP infrastructure.”
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L-R: Jade Avia (host), Shy One, Amy Becker, Lil C, Jossy Mitsu
Going underground Last month’s Red Bull Studios #NormalNotNovelty outing saw a stellar line-up of panellists gather to ruminate on the subject of underground radio and the opportunities it offers engineers, DJs and all manner of other audio professionals. Emma Finamore sent back this report…
J
une’s #NormalNotNovelty workshop took the form of a panel discussion, which featured a formidable all-female line up of DJs, selectors and presenters – Shy One, Amy Becker, Lil C and Jossy Mitsu – as well as the evening’s host, radio presenter, DJ, music manager and influencer, Jade Avia. All have worked on stations like Balamii, Rinse, NTS, Reprezent and Radar, and have a connection to the discussion’s theme – the future of underground radio. The event was also part of Locked In Locked On: a photography and multimedia exhibition at Platform LDN, Carnaby Street, exploring the role pirate radio has played in pushing UK music forward, displaying images of key players like Wiley and Dizzee Rascal when they were starting out at East London pirate stations. The audience was made up of DJs, presenters, music managers, label professionals and radio pluggers, as well as engineers, business managers, and academics – highlighting the reach and importance of underground radio. Like the panel, the audience was also all female. The panel first discussed how the lack of money in underground radio is what helps maintain its integrity. Shy One emphasised how – first and foremost – playing
and seeking out great music should be a hobby and that those involved in underground radio should always have other ways of making a living. Lil C agreed that people shouldn’t go into it expecting to make money: it’s a passion project. This was demonstrated by the fact that all the panellists had either lived at home rent-free while starting out on underground radio, or had other jobs to make ends meet. The future of underground radio is definitely not big profits. Another topic was the importance of collaboration: underground radio will always be about pulling together with like-minded people to create something great, whether that’s finding mates that can produce a show for you (many of the panellists had done DJing, presenting and producing all at the same time for their own shows and found it was too much to handle) or teaming up on projects and teaching each other vital skills like mixing and technical know-how. The panel also focussed on what keeps underground radio unique and alive. Becker emphasised the importance of the freedom this form of radio gives presenters to come up with segments and themes, like
her own ‘Wake & Bake’ show – in which guests would, well, wake and bake before an often more candid than the average interview. Mitsu – originally from Birmingham and whose speciality is killer mixes of garage, grime and jungle, and who’s performed on the same bill as the likes of Slimzee and Mike Skinner – stressed the importance of underground radio DJs getting hold of dubplates. Shy One added that freedom from playlists and a genuine knowledge (and access to) emerging artists is what sets this form of radio apart. Playing unreleased tracks from producers and music that people can’t hear anywhere else is what keeps listeners coming back for more, and it’s part of what makes underground radio future-proof. During a lively Q&A session, one member of the audience (an academic who’d come all the way from the USA) asked why underground radio was so important to them, if money and fame aren’t part of the deal. The panel agreed that building something away from the mainstream was important, as well as liberation from corporate greed and total artistic freedom. At the heart of the bright future of underground radio, it seems, is an absolute love of music. n
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All photos: Tadej Vindiš
A kind of magic A Harry Potter And The Cursed Child soundtrack album, an upcoming world tour, a wealth of tech inventions, an MPG Award win, numerous collaborations with rock and pop royalty and a host of imminent top secret projects in the pipeline, 2018 has been a busy year for the multi-talented Imogen Heap, as Daniel Gumble finds out…
O Imogen Heap performs in the onsite barn/venue at The Roundhouse at
n March 1 of this year, the great and good from the professional audio industry gathered in a blizzard-beaten London for the annual MPG Awards, where artist, producer, Grammy award-winning engineer, composer, tech innovator, music industry campaigner, inventor – anything else? – Imogen Heap was honoured with the coveted 2018 Inspiration Award. Though the capital was still very much gripped by the icy grasp of ‘The Beast From The East’, the warmth and admiration directed towards this most beguiling of talents was palpable. Fast forward approximately three months and
PSNEurope is sitting with Heap in the grounds of her family home-cum-studio, The Roundhouse, in the leafiest reaches of Essex on a glorious summer’s day, reminiscing on her award presentation. “I’m still a little confused,” she laughs. “I wasn’t sure if I was being awarded for the general stuff I do in the music industry or stuff I’ve done in the studio. Either way it’s nice to be recognised by people in the industry who care about what they do and know their craft.” It’s easy to see where her confusion comes from, given the extensive array of credits that decorate her CV. Each of those aforementioned labels, plus a whole
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Inspirational: Imogen Heap
lot more to boot, have been used to describe Heap over the past 20-plus years. A precocious musical talent from the point that she was first able to hold an instrument, she has recorded an array of solo albums – including one with Guy Sigsworth as electro duo Frou Frou – invented her very own musical instrument in the form of Mi.Mu gloves, which create music through movement and gestures, has served on the board of directors for the FAC (Featured Artists Coalition), campaigned vociferously to spread the word of Blackchain technology, collaborated with Taylor Swift and provided the music for West End and Broadway behemoth Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, which was finally released as an album earlier this year. Her relationship with music has always been based on experimentation and doing what comes naturally, rather than following in the footsteps of others. It’s an approach that has helped her carve out an identity all her own, not to mention a unique proclivity for exploring technology and its musical potential years before the term ‘bedroom producer’ had even been conceived. “My first interaction with music was playing it rather than listening to it,” she says. “We have a piano here in the house, which I learned on. I was always aware of the idea that – not that I realised it at the time – basically it’s code. That’s what I ended up doing on my Atari computer in my room at boarding school at the age of 12 - that was around about 1990. At home I also played clarinet and cello and we had a tape-to-tape cassette recorder, where I figured out if I press record on one
while I press play on the other one it would record over it. I remember doing that and beatboxing over the top really badly. I must have been about six. I loved playing and recording instruments. I studied theory as well and I was starting to write for a quartet and a choir. I can’t imagine how I did it now because I was only 12.” It was during Heap’s years at boarding school where her talent for producing beats and creating complex compositions and arrangements began to reveal itself. “When I discovered this Atari computer it was really exciting because I didn’t have to write stuff out; I could just play it into a computer and it would play it back to me, and I could layer it up,” she explains. “I had to read a lot of stuff I didn’t understand in a manual because no one knew how to use the system, but I would spend hours making these really bad, long pseudo orchestral electronic things. At about 15 I went to the BRIT School and when I saw they had a studio and all these computer set ups it was so exciting. I started to use a 24” reel-to-reel and a big analogue desk where I learned about mixing and engineering, plugging in mics and mic patterns. I would stay there for hours figuring out Cubase and how it all worked, recording demos. I didn’t really want to be a singer; I just enjoyed the process of making a song. Then my manager heard a demo I made. It was pretty cheesy but he liked it and asked if I had any more songs and put me in the studio with Nik Kershaw when I was about 17. He taught me that songs don’t have to be eight minutes-long and have 20 sections!” Over the course of the next couple of years, Heap
would find herself in the studio alongside a variety of different producers and engineers, absorbing as much knowledge as she could and experimenting with all manner of gear and recording techniques. One of the producers she came across was Guy Sigsworth, with whom she would later form electro duo Frou Frou. Before that, however, Sigsworth, along with David Kahne and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, would assume coproduction credits on Heap’s 1998 debut iMegaphone. “Guy was the first producer I’d seen using crazy samplers and creating amazing beats,” she elaborates. “He had his own sound, which I loved, but I felt his production voice was too strong for me at the time. I loved what he did but I felt it wasn’t really me. We could have become Frou Frou back then but I felt I needed to grow, and I like being hands-on in the studio, whereas at that time I would have been sat there watching his back. But I was really inspired by him and I looked more into that type of programming and my sound changed a bit.” Despite laying the foundations for her collaborative relationships with Sigsworth, the making of iMegaphone proved to be tumultuous experience for Heap. The process took her to studios on both sides of the Atlantic, with the assortment of producers and engineers her label was pairing her with providing an extensive education not usually so readily available to a fledgling artist. She was also exposed to the harsh realities of the music business. “That was the first time I had an engineer, somebody programming drums, mixing etc and I was just getting in the way. I learned a lot but I felt like it was me and them in the studio. Dave [Stewart] would come in and make some suggestions and then leave us to it. He always had lots of projects on the go, It felt like I was producing that record but it wasn’t recognised. But Dave really did bring it from beginning to end. “Then the label bosses came in to hear the record. We had this party all ready to go afterwards, but I could tell Dave was a bit itchy. At then end they just said, OK, we’ll talk to you on Monday Dave, and walked straight out. I was like, Is that good? Dave said, That’s not good. It turns out they wanted a piano album, because they’d occasionally seen me playing piano, but I was having lots of fun recording squeaky chairs and having a crazy time. Everything went quiet for a long time and it wasn’t a very nice period. I started thinking about going back to school or university. “Many months later, after a late night and a terrible hangover, I decided I had to finish the record. So I rang my manager and said, Find me tons of tapes of producers, I’m going to find someone to finish it. I listened to about 50 and then came across two songs I loved by the same producer [Kahne]. One was by Soul Coughing called Super Bon Bon, which was a hip-hop, funky thing, and the other was a track by Sublime called What I Got. It had some real bite to it. So I went into the studio with him and we finished the record. And I really loved working with him.”
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Taylor Swift and the ‘sound of the world’ Following the completion of iMegaphone, Heap embarked upon a number of eclectic projects. Frou Frou’s Details landed in 2002, while her second solo record Speak For Yourself came in 2005. This was followed by 2009’s Ellipse, for which Heap won a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non Classical, and 2011’s Sparks, whereby she worked to a schedule of recording one track over a two-week period every three months. The album also featured a track created solely with her Mi.Mu musical gloves. In between albums, she was commissioned to produce music for a number of extra curricular projects, including music for TV and films such as Six Feet Under, and The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. According to Heap, this diversity of working methods and projects has forced her to continually adapt her working methods, rather than cultivate a signature technique. “Pretty much every song I’ve written has either been commissioned or is about a specific project,” she suggests. “There’s always a hook into why I’m doing something. After Ellipse – that was the last record where I sat down and tried to write songs about how I was feeling and looking into myself – it’s been about starting a project of some kind and making music as a direct result of that. The production and method of songwriting intentionally changes each time. For example, I love working with found sounds. I went to Tanzania - for a film project that didn’t end up happening
- and bought some work with; I thought binaural mics she’d turn up with that I stuck on 10 people but it my head and was just her and just recorded the a guitar. It was sounds around incredible that me. It was the first in just a day we time I thought about pretty much came recording outside and up with everything and not in the studio. It was it ended up on this huge The Hideaway (circled) and The Roundhouse (top) like, There’s the sound of record. I tried as much as I the world!” could to go into her world, and I Heap’s open-minded approach has think we made a lovely thing together.” attracted admiring glances from an array of musical Heap continues: “All the productions I’ve done for heavyweights. Among those who have cited her as other people have happened really quickly. When she an influence and/or called upon her services are Jeff came here [The Roundhouse], I knew we only had six Beck, Ariana Grande, Britney Spears, deadmau5, Nitin hours. She played this idea and it was really beautiful, Sawhney and, arguably the biggest pop star on the so I said, Let’s just go and start making it downstairs in planet, Taylor Swift, with whom she co-wrote and the studio. We figured out the tempo and the key and I produced the track Clean on her 2014 juggernaut 1989. started to pull sounds in and got a basic beat going, and For Heap, it proved to be a “magical encounter”. I was just listening out for her. If she liked something “My manger heard Taylor wanted to work with I would do more of it, if she didn’t I’d do less. I played me, so he got some tickets for him and his daughter some percussion and the mbira, which she really liked. to see her, met her, and asked if she would like to do After about two hours I had a basic backing track. Then something,” Heap explains. “She said yes and that she she finished off the lyrics while I played around with was in London for a few days and had one day free. So some ideas, and it was basically finished. I recorded her he called me while I was in Iceland doing a photo shoot before dinner, she took two takes and was done.” and said, Taylor Swift wants to do a song with you on Sunday. I was like, I’m not prepared, I don’t have time! Harry Potter And The Cursed Child He said, It doesn’t matter, just do it! She was great to This year saw the album release of the Harry Potter
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And The Cursed Child soundtrack. The West End, and more recently Broadway, production has been breaking records and drawing rapturous acclaim from Potter fans and critics since opening in 2016. Comprised of music composed by Heap and featuring snippets of tracks from across her back catalogue, the show’s audio element has been widely celebrated, providing a spellbinding sonic identity to complement its iconic aesthetic. It also proved to be a project unlike anything she had ever worked on. “A few years ago I got a call from my friend Steven Hoggett, who said he was working on a production where they were really into my music and he was temping loads of my stuff. He asked if I was happy for him to carry on and I said, Yeah, what is it? He just said, It’s about a boy with a scar… So eventually I went into a meeting with them and they were testing out some material and played some music of mine. They were trying to get the look of the Dementors and were using a piece of music I’d written and it really fitted. There was this clear magic between these two worlds. Then they asked if I would make the music for the play. It took a long time to hit me just how a big a deal it was, but from then on I went into production and rehearsals, and Stephen, who knows my music really well, was picking things out, knowing which songs would work in each part. We started getting together all the stems from the past 15 years, which is quite a big job. We set up everything in Ableton so I could work really quickly. It really tested me because I’d never worked that fast or under that much pressure. Sometimes we had nothing, so I’d have to make something from scratch and make it in five minutes. But it was so much fun.” Prior to her involvement with the production, Heap was only vaguely familiar with the Harry Potter phenomenon; something she believes brought a freshness and spontaneity to the soundtrack. “I had seen a couple of the films, but I hadn’t read any of the books,” she says. “The good thing was that they didn’t want me to make a soundtrack like any of the films. This was a whole other beast. It’s not like the films, it’s not like the books - it’s a play. That was part of the reason they got me involved; I hadn’t done anything like it before and they wanted something truly original. Obviously we’d been watching it on and off for months, but when the audience came in for the first time that was really exciting. You’re one step removed, you can’t change anything. I was really amazed at what we did in such a short space of time. It was really fascinating to see the process of theatre and how everyone is at the top of their game – the lighting guys were amazing, the projection guys were incredible, and I was in awe of the sound designer, Gareth Fry.”
The Hideaway Heap’s family home, The Roundhouse, and the studio that lies within – dubbed The Hideaway – is also the subject of a major project she is currently undertaking.
In residence: Imogen Heap
With a world tour scheduled to kick off in September, Heap is keen to ensure that the facility doesn’t remain idle in her absence. At the time of our conversation, she is planning to rent it out as a residential studio. And it’s hard to imagine it’d be short of takers. An imposing yet beautiful structure, The Roundhouse emerges from its lush surroundings and looms over the countryside like a lighthouse over the sea. Vast, floor-to-ceiling windows line the circumference of each of its three floors above ground level, washing every nook and cranny of the house with natural light. For Heap, it has long served as an idyllic retreat. “I built the studio here with a company called WSDG who did the acoustic modelling and designed on spec where everything would be,” she tells us. “It took us a year, then we made Ellipse here. It’s great, I’ve got a studio that’s all mine and I don’t have to pack anything up! So I was using loads of analogue synths and anything else that was available to hand. I always use just the one mic though – the Neumann TLM 103 and the Avalon 737. Then it’s just Pro Tools. I always mix inside the box. As my time became more and more shrunk I would just use whatever I had to hand, normally that’s just a laptop and some basic plugins. The next time I make an album I’d really like to do what I’m going to be doing on my upcoming tour, which is lots of collaborations. I’ll have my laptop kit and I’d like to collaborate with people all over the world. I feel like the next album will be based on lots of people sending me beats and me building stuff around it. I’d love to explore what Imogen Heap sounds like in the context of a banging house track.” Despite her preference for mixing in the box, Heap has kitted out the studio with a new desk to keep any potential clients appeased.
“We’ve rented this place out in the past and the one complaint we had was that we didn’t have a desk – because I didn’t need one – so I did some research and went round to Matthew Herbert’s studio to see a Rupert Neve 5088 and fell in love with it. It’s not a full module, it’s a 16-track. It has a loads of nice mics, we’ve got the latest Pro Tools setup, we’ve got Focal speakers and some Dynaudio monitors.” During the mixing of the Harry Potter record, Heap also stumbled upon a piece of kit that has since become central to her set-up at the Hideaway. “Every single record until the Harry Potter record I was just using the sound of my studio,” she notes. “There was a big bump in the low end, so you think the bass is louder than it really is. So when it goes off for mastering, it’s like, Where’s the bass? We fixed that by working with a company called Sonarworks, which has a plugin where, with a mic, you sweep the studio and it calibrates according to the room and compensates for the curves. The difference is immense.” As we part ways, Heap informs us that later today she will be starting work on a track for another substantial project, which for now must remain under wraps. On top of that, rehearsals for her September tour are also well underway, while some more music tech developments are also in the pipeline. It seems her capacity for multi-tasking truly knows no bounds. “I’m in a great position in my life where I can do whatever I want however I want to do it and nobody is expecting anything of me,” she concludes. “I’m sure a lot of people would like another Hide And Seek, but there is no point in having another Hide And Seek. I feel like I have created a few little gems that maybe a lot of people haven’t yet heard that I’m really proud of. I feel very lucky.” n
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Andy McDonnell
IEMs vs wedges For several years now, live performers have been moving increasingly towards IEMs (in-ear monitors) and away from the trusty wedge when it comes to monitoring their mix onstage. Here, Andy Coules speaks to a number of the industry’s top engineers and musicians to get their take on the subject and to find out what each of these monitoring methods has to offer…
A
nyone involved in live performance, be they a musician or an engineer, must surely have noticed the trend towards the increased use of in-ear monitors (IEMs) over recent years. As the technology has gotten cheaper, its use has become more widespread, filtering down to every level of the industry. The consensus seems to be that IEMs are superior, as they eliminate the risk of feedback, allow us to reduce stage volume levels and enable us to deliver tailored mixes directly to the individual musicians (including clicks and cues). But is this trend truly a positive one? Have we switched one set of drawbacks for a different set? Prior to the harnessing of electricity, musical ensembles performed acoustically - everyone could hear themselves and those around them, the conductor kept everyone in time and controlled the overall dynamics of the mix. The first electric public address systems started appearing at the beginning of the 20th century and, as their name suggests, were
predominantly used to amplify the human voice to address large crowds. But they soon found regular use elevating singers above the level of their backing bands. When solid state electronics made bigger amplifiers possible in the 1950s, singers started to struggle not just to be heard but also to hear themselves and thus stay in tune; some kind of fold back was clearly required. The earliest stage monitors typically involved speaker columns pointed inwards towards the singer, which carried a copy of the FOH mix (similar to the modern use of side fill). At some point someone hit upon the idea of cutting the corner off a speaker cabinet, enabling them to place it on the stage pointing up at the artist and thus the wedge monitor was born. FOH engineers of the day were not at all happy with this development. Mick Kluczynski (sound man for Pink Floyd) observed in 1972 that once wedge monitors appeared they “spread like a virus” and he suddenly found himself competing nightly with a secondary rear facing sound system. The irony here is that in trying
to deal with the increasing levels of live performance, the solution introduced even more noise, which had the ability to bounce around and adversely affect the intelligibility of the mix. Then, in the 1980s, FOH engineer Chrys Lindop started experimenting with in-ear monitoring and developed a basic wireless system by combining a low powered FM transmitter (designed for community radio) with a pocket FM receiver, a multi-band limiter and a set of Sony Walkman earbuds. He used this set-up with Stevie Wonder at one of his Wembley Stadium concerts to deliver his monitor mix directly to his ears and enable him to move about freely. This set-up had the added advantage that his minder could guide his movements by talking directly to him. Lindop then joined forces with electrical engineer Martin Noah to form Garwood Communications, which went on to produce the first commercially available in-ear system in 1987, known as the Radio Station. Lindop then came up with the idea of stripping down a set of Walkman earbud drivers and
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embedding them in a custom shell fashioned from an impression of the user’s ear and thus the modern in-ear monitor was born. Aside from the obvious advantages of eliminating the risk of feedback and reducing stage volume, IEMs also overcame the physical limitations of working on big stages with wedges. Artists were no longer restricted to standing in the sweet spot where their monitors focused and could roam freely about the stage without having to worry about the timing delays, which could quickly make it impossible to perform. It’s no coincidence that the age of IEMs coincides with the age of increasingly sprawling and elaborate arena and stadium shows. To find out if the trend towards IEMs is truly the golden age of stage monitoring, PSNEurope spoke to a number of people about their views on the subject. Participants included composer/producer/multiinstrumentalist Andy McDonnel (Petite Noir, Scott Walker, Mount Kimbie, Martin Creed), session musician/ musical director/producer Ben Chetwood (Little Boots, Rudimental, Delilah, Damian Lazarus), trumpet player Joe Auckland (Madness, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, The Horne Section), drummer/percussionist/ backing vocalist Mez Clough (Van Morrison, Madness, Mez and the Fezzes), monitor engineer Mikey Gibbard (Simple Minds, Cat Stevens, Stone Roses) and production manager (and lapsed monitor engineer)
Pete Abbott (Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa, MIA). Here, we ask them what they and the artists they’ve worked with prefer... Andy McDonnel: I used to love wedges but as IEMs Joe Auckland have improved and my interest in ear preservation has increased, I now prefer IEMs, although the experience differs depending on what instrument I’m playing. I found bass an easy one to be on ears due to the clean and compressed signal, but when playing saxophone I struggle with tone due to the IEMs resonating with my jaw and the instrument, but I appreciated the monitoring of the instrument as sax can get lost on stage with wedges. Ben Chetwood: I regularly use IEMs but I’m on the fence as to whether I prefer them to wedges. IEMs are clearer and great for vocals but the good ones are expensive and you need a decent monitor engineer to get the best out of them. Joe Auckland: I use both but I probably have a slight
Ben Chetwood
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Mikey Gibbard
preference for wedges, as long as the onstage volume isn’t too loud. For brass players IEMs take a lot of getting used to; if they’re moulded you tend to hear a lot of what’s happening in your mouth, which is tricky, hence my preference for wedges. Having used IEMs for several years I’ve gotten used to them and there are definite benefits - consistency of your sound night after night being the main one I would say. Mez Clough: Wedges, for me. I’m old fashioned. I can see the obvious benefits of IEMs and have had a mainly
positive experience using them. The only downside for me is I feel a sense of detachment and a slight degree of isolation from the other band members onstage (as well as the audience). Given the choice, I think I would always opt for an old-school wedge, as I like the raw sound of the band and enjoy being able to hear the audience. Mikey Gibbard: I prefer IEMs for sure - you have so much more control for the artists - but nothing beats the vibe of a great sounding wedge.
Pete Abbott: It’s completely artist dependent. I have worked with musicians who, although they prefer the mix of IEMs, will always choose wedges for the visceral thrill they bring. Back when wedges were the only available option, musicians and monitor engineers were never expected to bring along their own monitor speakers, but the rise of IEMs has promoted an interesting shift in the ownership of the monitoring equipment. PSNEurope asked everyone if they felt they now needed to provide their own ear buds. Joe Auckland: I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect you to provide your own if you require custom moulds. I think artists should offer generics if they’ve chosen to go for in-ears over wedges. That said, if you work mostly with one artist it’s a nice gesture from them. Pete Abbott: Yes, unless the artist wants to use a specific match. Andy McDonnel: It depends. If someone is doing a sizeable tour with a signed artist and they’re touring with a silent stage then the artist/label should cover it, especially if there is no option for said musician to go on wedges. However, it helps for session musicians who are picking up occasional sessions or festivals to have their own. Mez Clough: Yes - they’re part of your working kit really, in my opinion. Mikey Gibbard: 100% yes, it’s part of your job now and they should be part of your tools. Ben Chetwood: Yes, but if you lose them you may have to use generic ones which don’t offer as much protection (this happened to me on tour and I developed tinnitus!) Also your ears continue growing so you may have to buy new ones every few years. n
Mez Clough
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Capital gold: Martin Connolly
Raising Capital This year sees Capital Sound’s senior project manager, Martin Connolly, celebrate his 25th year with the London-based touring company. Daniel Gumble finds him in a reflective mood, as he looks back on a quarter of a century in the live sound and touring market and explains how a journey of personal self discovery set him on the path to a career in pro audio…
W
e find Martin Connolly in the midst of one of the busiest periods on the Capital Sound calendar when we catch up with him to discuss his 25th year with the company. The south London-based touring operation has just drawn the curtain on the inaugural All Points East festival, which ran over two weekends (six days in total) at east London’s Victoria Park and featured such world-beating acts as The National, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Bjork, LCD Soundsystem, Patti Smith, St Vincent, Beck, Lorde and The XX among many
more. On top of that, preparations for the – at time of going to press - upcoming British Summer Time Hyde Park shows, featuring the likes of The Cure, Paul Simon, Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and Bruno Mars have began in earnest. However, while each of these city-based summertime festivals fall under the microscope during PSNEurope’s conversation with Connolly, it is the arrival of his 25th anniversary with the firm that provides the basis for our discussion. For Connolly, the personal and professional strands of his relationship with music, and particularly the touring
industry, are profoundly intertwined. Indeed, despite entering his teenage years at a time when free gigs and festivals were commonplace across the country – free shows from the likes of the Rolling Stones and Hawkwind were among those that would fuel Connolly’s growing passion for music – his roots in live music and the world of pro audio can be traced back to an altogether more personal place. At the age of 18, the tragic death of his twin brother Brian in a motorcycle accident prompted Connolly to quit his day job working for the council and set about discovering more about the
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In bloom: Blossoms onstage at APE
life of his late sibling. His decision to do so marked the beginning of a career that would not only take him on a personal journey of self-discovery, but would eventually single him out as one of the touring industry’s most influential figures. After spending several years on the road as a live sound engineer, his move into the realm of rental services some quarter of a century ago has seen him lead Capital Sound through some of the most significant technological changes in the sector’s history, while steadily growing the business and cementing its place as one of the touring market’s most influential players. Here, Connolly speaks to PSNEurope editor Daniel Gumble about the events that shaped him during his formative years, his Capital Sound highlights and what Brexit means for the future of touring…
Tell us about your entry to the world of live sound and touring. Like all kids I was into music, and at the age of 15 I was at Hyde Park when the Rolling Stones played there but I missed their set. I remember listening to Alexis Korner, but as we all know, because it was a free festival it got pretty uncomfortable, certainly for a young lad. So me and my friend left. But from that point on I was into going to see music. In those days there were all these free festivals. Some friends of my brothers were in a band, so at the tender age of 18 I went to see them. They
OF COURSE, EVERYBODY TO A MAN, WHEN THEY TALK ABOUT LIVE AID, WILL SAY, WHAT ABOUT PAUL MCCARTNEY LOSING HIS VOCAL? WELL, THE TRUE STORY IS THAT THERE WERE TWO CHANNELS - FOR THE PIANO AND ONE VOCAL MIC - AND THEY GOT PATCHED TO TWO SEPARATE MIXING CONSOLES. IT WAS JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS
MARTIN CONNOLLY
used to rehearse every weekend in a cottage in Kent, so I went to see them for a weekend and ended up staying for six months! Most of the band were on the dole. They realised they needed a PA, which they bought from ESE (Eric Snowball Electronics). I operated it for the three shows they did, and when that came to its natural end, after we were kicked out of the cottage for not looking after the garden, they decided to buy a better PA, and that came from [legendary speaker designer] Malcolm
Hill. That gave me and introduction to Malcolm and I’d already had the introduction to Eric Snowball. Malcom was building PAs and ESE was not only running PAs but they had the country and western market and a bit of the Motown market sewn up through the promoters they were working with.
So what was your route from that point to your joining Capital? Did you know from that point on that you wanted a career in touring? It was a difficult time, having lost my twin brother at the age of 18. It was one of those self-finding missions; several guys in a band I knew were friends of his as he was the musical one out of the two of us. I thought I would go and see these guys and maybe I would find a bit more out about my brother, because at the age of 18 I didn’t really know him – as he’d gone to a different school to me. I was a bit unsettled by his passing away and I was between jobs. I’d quit my job working for Bromley Council in the wages office, so I was in limbo. A lot of people of my age that got into the industry have similar stories – they had friends in bands or they weren’t happy in their 9-5 job. It was like a breath of fresh air, you weren’t clocking in and out every day, and it felt like a rosy business to be moving into. I never had any thoughts about whether or not this path would lead me into my 60s, you never thought that far ahead. ESE offered me work so it was a logical route to take, they
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Mix master: Connolly mixing Gary Moore supporting Rush in 1984
needed someone just to plug some boxes in, and they were doing shows with people like Chuck Berry. That led me into more professional shows. I got a call to go to the Sunday Palladium, a matinee variety performance (two shows, afternoon and evening), which was the first professional show I was asked to mix. I was taking over from an engineer who was leaving and I was told he would help me through the first show and I’d then do the second one. As I arrived he just said, Here’s the mixer, I’ve got a plane to catch. See ya!
How did you get through that? Well, I survived. All those acts would do a 10-week tour with a week in 10 different venues, so I continued, and I continued to do other work with ESE. And through a strange coincidence, the guy I replaced at ESE turned up to pick up a PA for a country and western act he was doing, and he said he was looking for a powerful sound system for a band he was working with. I asked if he’d been to see Malcolm Hill. He went to have a listen to that PA, told Malcolm he liked what he heard, but that he wanted eight times as much, which Malcolm managed to get built, and that was for AC/DC. That was how AC/ DC got introduced to Malcolm Hill, and eventually I
ended up working with them as their monitor engineer.
How did you get into the rental business from being an engineer?
What was it like being on the road and mixing monitors for AC/DC?
I got married! I was touring right up until 1985. That year it was with the band Fastway and the drummer (Jerry Shirley) and his wife set a blind date up for me in New York. And that lady I met is still my wife to this day. I’d gone over to America just with shorts and t-shirts, so when they told me about the date I said, That’s ridiculous, I haven’t got anything I can wear to a French restaurant! So the singer leant me his jacket, someone else leant me a black shirt, some jeans and some boots, so I was dressed all in black. And the rest, as they say, is history. Right around that time, Malcolm decided he needed someone to run the rental side of his company. It dovetailed nicely, which came with being in the right place at the right time. Capital Sound’s history has been about that a lot, as life is in general. I did that from 1985, and within four or five months we were involved with Live Aid. Here’s your introduction, the biggest show that’s ever happened in the UK!
It was a very busy time. They would start a tour and it would just roll on and on. We would do 12-week tours of the States and then move on to other territories. That was back in 1978. They never sound-checked. Their attitude was ‘what’s the point in playing in an empty venue?’ The crew would do the sound check and that’s the way it was. It was the early days of touring, not as polished as it is now when it comes to catering and hotels. They just ran a very heavy schedule – not many days off, I can tell you that. They were right on the cusp of success. I started with them in ’78 and then in ’79 they came out with Highway To Hell. That sealed the deal for them, giving the band their first ever headline tour of America. We shipped all the PA from the UK and I flew over, met the gear at JFK and we had to clear it all through customs into an artic. I jumped in the artic and we had to drive it all the way from the east coast to Oakland in time for the first show. We did that in three days. The driver did a great job, but you weren’t governed by the driving laws that exist these days…
How did you manage to pull it off? It was very difficult. [Chief sound engineer] Mike Scarfe was based in America, so he came over. Every employee that worked for [rental firm] Hill Audio was given the
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opportunity to get into the show if they worked on it. Not everybody rose to the occasion, because at the time you didn’t necessarily have people who specialised in stage patching. Fortunately radio mics weren’t as dominant then as they are now, so radio frequencies weren’t too much of a problem. That’s how we got enough crew together to run the show.
Presumably there were still a few hairy moments along the way? Well, I had the best seat in the house because I wasn’t actually there on the day. My situation was that I did all the rehearsals, and on the day of the show me and my wife set up two sun loungers in our living room and watched the whole thing on TV. Of course, everybody to a man, when they talk about Live Aid, will say, What about Paul McCartney losing his vocal? Well, the true story on that is that there were two channels for the piano and one vocal mic and they got patched to two separate mixing consoles. It was just one of those things, especially after such a hard, stressful day. For a show of that size and the complexity of it, for what systems were around at the time it’s amazing that it was pulled off and that that was the only fault. Everyone got through it remarkably well.
In the 25 years that you’ve been with Capital, the industry, and the company itself, have both changed dramatically. How have you been able to negotiate such significant shifts? You have to keep your finger on the pulse and be aware of developments. With all the major sound manufacturers there are developments, whether it’s mixing consoles or loudspeaker systems, and you’ve got to be at the front of them. When line arrays came along, we actually didn’t have one straight away. We first had to get into line array technology because we had a client that requested one. At that point we bought into Meyer Sound because Martin Audio was still developing its line array. When you move into digital networks and digital consoles, you have to be at the cutting edge. You have to be leading the way. You’ve also got to retain your clients. If people didn’t want to use us we wouldn’t be in business. We are a relatively small company; if you look at the other big giants they’ve got hundreds of employees and we’ve got 15. But the products we use, like the MLA system, has opened up different markets for us.
What have been some of the key moments or projects that have helped the company grow over the years? Our first involvement with AEG was very important for us. Our first involvement with Loud Sound was in Victoria Park where we use Martin Audio line array, and they were just very keen to move on to bigger shows. Now we’ve ended up with BST in Hyde Park.
THE TOURING INDUSTRY IS QUITE RESILIENT WHEN IT COMES TO POLITICAL CHANGE. I DON’T THINK THAT THE KNOCK-ON EFFECT OF BREXIT WILL BE ANYWHERE NEAR AS CATASTROPHIC AS SOME PEOPLE ARE PREDICTING. IT’LL BE BUSINESS AS USUAL
MARTIN CONNOLLY
Also, our Progress and Circus shows with Take That fall into that category. They were developmental years for the company and the products and systems we were running. They were very complex shows. The Circus tour was absolutely remarkable. But there are also much smaller shows that were amazing. We did a corporate show for Vodafone with Elton John that was incredible. It was a private party for about 10,000 people!
Talk us through the biggest industry changes that have shaped the business over the past two and a half decades. Digital desks have been a huge jump forward. But saying that, we had an analogue desk out last month. There is still a demand for them. Certain acts insist on them so you have to have them as part of your stock. We have Midas consoles H3000 and XL4s, but you have to maintain those. With digital consoles the landscape on those is moving so fast, every manufacturer is in a race to produce the next generation of consoles. It’s very hard to keep pace with it because of the financial involvement, so as a company you have to set your stall out and say this is the manufacturer or this is the range we think will stand the test of time over the next six or seven years, and hopefully you’re going to be right. With speaker systems, everyone used to think they had a lifespan of 10 years. Digital desks seem to be bearing up very similarly – they aren’t disappearing as fast we thought they would and the investment is a lot, so they have to last a long time.
Since you joined the company, the number of live outdoor events and festivals that take place every years has grown substantially. Does that have a positive knock-on effect for the company? It’s two-fold. There are so many festivals now that a lot of acts look at the festival market and may do a shorter tour. The festival season starts at the end of May and doesn’t end until September, so if you’re a band that has the opportunity to play loads of festivals between those months you’re going to take them. You’ll probably make
more money because you don’t have to pay for a sound or lighting system; you’re just going to take your control equipment. And it’s not going to slow down. There is a huge appetite for live shows at the moment, and you never see a show being cancelled because they can’t get the equipment or people aren’t buying tickets. If any shows do fall by the wayside it’s probably because they are on a sticky wicket when it comes to selling tickets. But shows that are attracting around 25,000-30,000 people – if they are in cities – stand a very good chance of doing good business.
Do city festivals present different challenges to traditional festival settings? They do in the UK. We do festivals in Hungary (Sziget, Bolt and Balaton) with no noise limits. They are running the system at 106-108dB, but in the UK it is generally whatever the local authorities deem the limit. It tends to be 75dB from a designated ‘sensitive point’. You can have a site that is 10 miles away from a sensitive point and you can be way under the limit, but if someone can hear it they can phone up and complain. That’s the issue. Local councils will set the limit, we will adhere to it, but people can hear it so there are still complaints. And then the council has to be seen to respond, so even though you’re under the limit, when the promoter applies for the licence again next year, the sound company will possibly be asked if they can improve upon offsite spill. That’s where MLA comes into its own.
In June you provided the audio system for the first All Points East festival in London. What was the response like to those shows? The promoter, production team, everyone was very happy. It couldn’t have gone any better. We are familiar with Victoria Park because we’d been doing Field Day there – that was the first London park we were asked to do sound for – the LED Festival – and that was through Loud Sound. As the years have progressed we’ve made changes to the sub design; we maybe don’t put in as many boxes as some others would because we feel there’s no need. Capital will look at every single site independently. We won’t just say, This is what we put in for festivals. APE was highly successful and we’re looking at future years for that project.
What are your predictions for the future of touring and what Brexit might mean for the live sound market? If we all end up having to do carnets we’ll be very upset, even though we still have to do them for Switzerland and America, so I don’t think Brexit will affect our industry too much. The industry is quite resilient when it comes to political change. I don’t think the knock-on effect will be anywhere near as catastrophic as some people are predicting. It’ll be business as usual. n
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L-R: Alex Penn, Eddie Thomas and John Penn of SSE Audio
‘The best possible fit’: Bose and SSE upgrade O2 Arena Phil Ward headed to the capital to check out the O2 Arena’s major audio upgrade with Bose and the SSE Audio Group…
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SE Audio Group’s involvement in the upgrade to the O2 Arena’s PA/VA system owes much to the company’s acquisition of ETA Sound in 2012. At that point ETA relocated from Wales to SSE’s Midlands HQ, and founder Eddie Thomas became a prime mover in SSE’s expansion into the design and installation of large-scale PA/VA. Indeed, his association with the O2 stretches right back to its beginnings as The Millennium Dome, making it familiar territory. He was therefore a natural choice for the refurbishment commission, and has made decisions that not only confirm SSE as a leading independent installer but which also cement Bose Professional as a major force in the European market, as elsewhere in the world. In particular, the marriage of ShowMatch DeltaQ line array, Crown amplification and QSC Audio’s Q-Sys digital audio platform makes a bold statement in a highly competitive field. As well as requiring a solution to span both PA and VA, the huge bowl of the O2 plays host to an extraordinary range of events both in the round and as a proscenium arch. Consequently Thomas’ design uses a ring of eight hangs of eight DeltaQ elements each suspended above the arena on a circular truss, as well as four delay hangs of eight cabinets each to penetrate further into the O2’s cavernous higher recesses. Six hangs of four Bose RMS218 subs, also from the
ShowMatch range, complete the picture. However, the first phase of the project was to upgrade the network. “It had been a standard network with two core servers and switches,” explains Thomas. “We installed a D-Link network driven by two Q-Sys Core 3100i processors, and after that we upgraded all the amplification to Crown DCi-DAs using the 4|1250 and 8|600 models.” With this backbone in place, attention turned to the centre cluster, sub bass cabinets and production delays at Level 4. “Bose were most accommodating and allowed us to look closely at the technology,” says Thomas, “including what was just around the corner for the market. We originally considered RoomMatch, but as we knew ShowMatch was coming out we could see it would be an even better fit – and as soon as we heard it that was confirmed.” SSE’s maturity as a systems integrator is proven by this project. “The three main dimensions of the arena audio installation come from three different manufacturers,” Thomas continues, “and we’ve glued them together. The Q-Sys is running Dante audio as well as Q-LAN for control data, and with Harman we developed a software plug-in that allows us to place Crown amplifiers on the Q-Sys network. From that we can take all of the control data from the amps, display it on the page and act on that information. It’s a now a standard product available from Harman, in fact.
“The choice of Crown reflects the relationship with AEG, the venue owner, but also the amenity of Bose in making sure the tunings used in the ShowMatch speakers worked in the Crown amps just as well as they do in their own. We did adopt Bose PM8500 amplifiers for the subs, meanwhile.” Andy Rigler, UK sales manager for Bose Professional, is completely satisfied that there is no technical compromise pertaining to this unique aggregation of brands. “The first thing,” he says, “is that it has to be technically the best possible fit for the client. This a PA/ VA system so it has to comply with all the requirements to ensure safety and reliability and to match our products with Eddie’s design. We’re confident with our speakers and, to a great extent, we are amplifier agnostic – especially with ShowMatch, which is designed as a rental product as well as an installation product. We have preferences, but we know that someone with Eddie’s skills will produce what we want to hear through our loudspeakers.” After three years, there’s still “a few more years” in the project according to Thomas, to complete concourse loudspeakers, backstage and more. “This exact integration has never been done before – but that’s one of my traits!” he adds. “I never like to follow where everyone else is going, I like to do my own thing and develop the solution” n
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(L-R): Steve Levine, 2017 winner Loïc Gaillard, Tony Platt and Jon Thornton
Sound of the future On July 27, the annual MPG LIPA Prize will be awarded to an up-and-coming studio professional from The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts’s Sound Technology degree programme. Since its launch in 2010, it’s brought significant benefits to graduates at the start of their career. Daniel Gumble hears from some of its previous winners to see where they are now….
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ince its launch back in 2010, the MPG LIPA Prize has provided students on Liverpool Institute For Performing Arts’s Sound Technology degree programme with a major opportunity to further their budding studio careers. Bestowed upon a student deemed to show great promise, the prize enables each year’s winner to gain invaluable experience in some of the UK’s top studios alongside some of the world’s leading record producers and engineers, including the likes of Mark Ronson and Mandy Parnell. Any costs incurred along the way are covered by a cash prize from the PPL of £500. The prize was initially conceived by MPG Awards managing director Tony Platt and MPG chairman and acclaimed producer Steve Levine to help graduates on the path to a career in audio beyond their studies. “Steve Levine and I are both Companions of LIPA - and honoured to be so - and when we were at the graduation ceremony we discussed what extra things we could do for the LIPA students on the Music Tech course,” Platt tells PSNEurope. “The obvious idea was to expand the mentoring options for them. After further discussions with Jon Thornton [head of the sound technology programme] we decided that offering a prize for the best graduate would be a viable idea and this led to the idea that we could ask various members of MPG to get involved. “Of course, in my capacity as MPG Awards managing director, I am in an ideal position to make these approaches. What I hadn’t bargained for is the level of willingness from the award winners to take part.”
According to Thornton, the MPG LIPA prize provides “significant” benefits. “Our overarching purpose at LIPA is to create graduates who can find sustained employment in their field of work,” he tells PSNEurope. “So we start working with them from their first day with us, to not only develop their skills and knowledge, but also to start developing skills and strategies that encourage an entrepreneurial and proactive approach to developing their careers. Hopefully we embed this so tightly that the first year out [of a three-year degree] is almost like a fourth year. The opportunities afforded by the MPG prize can often act as real rocket fuel for this fourth year.” To find out just how big an impact the prize has had on its recipients’ careers so far, PSNEurope heard from some of its previous winners…
How did the prize impact your career? One of the best things was seeing how people work. For instance, witnessing Steve Levine (at his studio in Liverpool), Olga Fitzroy (at AIR Studios in London) and Catherine Marks (at Assault & Battery in London) prepare and set up their sessions, albeit quite different kinds of sessions, to be both effective and creative in their workflow. Visiting AMS Neve in Burnley was also an eye opener in terms of providing a look at the people developing the technology that engineers, musicians and producers use every day. Most of all, the prize allowed me to gain insight on how different parts of the industry operate and interact with each other, such as a glance at what the role of a major label is in the current music climate.
Tell us a bit about your career in audio so far.
What projects are you currently working on? And what are your career ambitions for 2018 and beyond?
During the last semester at LIPA, I partnered up with Viljar Losnegård (a graduate from the music course at LIPA) and built a small production suite/studio as part of Whiteroom Studios in Asker, Norway. Gradually more and more time went into production and songwriting with and for artists, rather than the more technical recording and mixing, and now I find myself doing both equally.
These days I do a lot of different projects, like composing music for commercials and companies, recording and mixing bands, and doing writing sessions with various artists and songwriters in all sorts of genres and projects in Norway and abroad. Lately I’ve spent more time on writing sessions and working with artists and bands more closely on a song from scratch. I think you can learn a lot from being in a room with people you don’t necessarily know that well, with a common goal of experimenting your way to, hopefully, something new and exciting.
Sivert Hjeltnes Hagtvet, 2016 winner
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Chris Pawlusek, 2013 winner Tell us a bit about your career in audio so far. My first experience in a commercial studio was when I was 17 and had the opportunity to sit in on some sessions at Far Heath Studios in Northamptonshire. From there I was hooked and was lucky enough to continue gaining experience over the next few years from the owner and head engineer Angus Wallace. Soon after I graduated from LIPA in 2013, I landed a job at a production music company called West One Music in London, where I’m currently the mixing and recording engineer. Through working here I’ve engineered on lots of interesting recording sessions, including for sessions at Abbey Road Studio 2 and Real World.
often overlooked importance of professional etiquette. Notable highlights include spending a day at AIR on a strings recording session – sitting in for a couple of days with Charlie Andrew was fascinating. Finally, spending time with Matt Colton at Alchemy Mastering, who is immensely knowledgeable, was a great experience. What I learned from sitting in with him has really helped improve my mixing skills. Subsequently, he now masters some of the projects that I mix.
at a Liverpool-based recording studio called The Motor Museum. This studio, having seen the birth of a multitude of amazing records by artists that I’ve always loved and admired (Bring Me The Horizon, The 1975, Arctic Monkeys), was the perfect place for me to gain some insights about the reality of the music industry. After a couple of months, I was offered the position of in-house engineer at The Motor Museum, which is what I am currently doing.
What are your ambitions for 2018 and beyond? I’d love to continue what I’m doing in terms of gaining as much exposure and experience in various genres of music as possible, as it helps keep me fresh and excited about recording, production and mixing. A long term goal of mine would be to eventually be based in the US, even if it was for a short stint.
How did the LIPA MPG prize impact your career as a whole? The prize most definitely had a big impact on my career. First and foremost, the confidence boost that came with it made it a lot easier for me to get out there and find clients early on. Secondly, some of the artists that I’ve worked with seemed reassured by the fact that I had won the prestigious award and might have been a little more hesitant to work with me otherwise. n www.mpg.org.uk
Loic Gaillard, 2017 winner How did the LIPA MPG prize impact your career?
Tell us a bit about your career in audio so far.
The LIPA MPG Prize was fantastic for me in that it has earned me lots of really valuable experience from the people and sessions that I’ve shadowed. This has been anything from technical advice and tips, to the
After leaving LIPA a year ago, my plan was to work as a freelance producer/engineer and offer my services to bands and musicians. In an attempt to give my CV more credibility, I applied for some work experience
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Iisalmen Sanomat archive
The Sonic Reference since 1978. Four decades ago we set out on a mission to help our customers fulfil their dreams by offering them the most truthful sound reproduction possible. Along the way we‘ve constantly been inspired, helped and encouraged by our employees, our users and our partners. So in our anniversary year we’d like to thank every single member of the global Genelec Family – past, present ... and future. Here’s to the next 40 years.
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Brexit strategies The dense cloud of uncertainty surrounding the UK’s impeding departure from the EU is currently showing little sign of lifting, particularly with regards to its implications for the pro audio touring market. Here, Andy Coules asks some of the industry’s top live professionals to shed a little light on what life after Brexit could look like for artists on the road and what the biggest challenges facing the live sector are likely to be in the months and years to come...
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t the time of writing we are roughly half way through the two-year negotiating period of the process that will take the UK out of the European Union. The process started with the triggering of article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon last March and will proceed through to March 29, 2019 (aka Brexit Day) when the UK will cease to be a member of the EU. There will then follow a 21-month transition period during which all political, legal and economic ties will be realigned to the new arrangement culminating on December 31, 2020. While it may look like we have just under a year to hammer out all the details, the EU’s chief negotiator has stated that negotiations must be completed by the end of October
this year to give the 27 member countries time to sign off on the deal. So far provisional agreements have been reached on the three key “divorce issues”: How much the UK owes the EU, what happens to EU citizens living in the UK and UK citizens in the EU and what happens to the Northern Irish border. We have yet to establish what our future relationship will be with the EU, the current government position is to seek an end to free movement of people into the UK, to remove EU imposed legislation and to be able to trade freely across the EU with minimal or non-existent tariffs. We now know that during the transition period, free movement of UK and EU nationals will continue and
the UK will be able to strike new trade deals (which will come into effect on January 1, 2021), while still being party to existing EU trade deals. For those hoping for a halt to proceedings or the prospect of a second referendum both options look unlikely, the government and the opposition are in agreement that Brexit will happen, although opinions differ widely within both groups on exactly what shape it will take. The key issues of our continued membership of the customs union and what exactly will happen to the Northern Irish border are likely to be sticking points, the former represents a “soft” option which many believe goes against the mandate of the referendum and the latter endangers the sustained peace enshrined
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in the Good Friday Agreement (which recently celebrated its 20th birthday). Economically there is no clear sign of the doom and gloom that many prophesised in the wake of the EU referendum - the Pound did slump badly but has rallied reasonably well against the Dollar and the Euro. However, the fall in the Pound has pushed up prices and caused problems. UK growth in the first quarter of 2018 fell to 0.1% - the lowest it’s been since 2012 - driven down by a decrease in construction output and a slow down of manufacturing. Of all the aspects of Brexit, an end to the freedom of movement of EU citizens into the UK is one of the few absolutes, being as it was a key issue upon which the referendum was fought. This will in turn trigger an end to the freedom of movement of UK citizens into the EU, which may mean visas will be required to travel into and around Europe. Whether we remain in the customs union is unclear at this time, but if we leave that too then carnets will be required. Carnets are temporary import documents, which remove the need for customs declarations at border points and obviate the need for the bond deposits in the country of temporary importation. Both carnets and visas are nothing new to touring acts and their crews; they’re currently required by most of the countries outside of the EU. The only issue might be that they will introduce additional costs and administration, which could deter smaller acts from travelling to Europe or the kind of quick hop visits (for festivals or promotion) that are currently taken for granted by so many. Everyone seems to agree that there’s likely to be an increase in expenses and administration for acts planning to visit Europe. Larger touring acts should be able to take this in their stride, with minimal disruption whereas smaller acts will be hit harder which might push already stretched budgets to breaking point making European trips no longer viable. The spectre of increased taxation and an end to freedom of movement is also likely to hit UK-based freelancers as the work shifts to EU citizens who will experience none of these problems. This in turn could have an impact on UK hire companies, whose prices may go up as a result, making EU based companies a more attractive prospect for pan-European tours. While there is a fair amount of uncertainty and prophecies of doom, it is pleasing to see a strand of optimism emerging from the conversation. At the end of the day gigs and festivals will still happen and UK acts will continue to be sought after around the world. The demand for live music has never been so high and long may it continue. In the meantime, to try to gain a better grasp of the implications of Brexit on touring and the live sound sector, PSNEurope spoke to a number of touring engineers and live audio professionals to see what they believe the future holds beyond Brexit...
if we as UK citizens can no longer benefit from freedom of movement.
How confident are you are that the Brexit negotiating team will be taking into account the needs of the music industry?
Tour manager, FOH engineer and director of Track 21 Touring. Previous clients include Rag N Bone Man, The Hoosiers, Kelvin Jones and Freya Ridings
I don’t believe they’re taking into account the needs of many industries and people. Even though our industry is worth £4bn to the UK economy, I have little confidence that we will have much of a voice (or say) in any negotiations. Over the course of the last 45 years since Britain has been a member of the EU, many large sectors, such as science and technology, manufacturing and finance have become so entwined with our European neighbours that the impossible task of ‘picking us out’ of Europe will inevitably see their issues solved before ours.
What kind of impact will Brexit have on the touring community?
Do you remember what touring was like before the EU or the Euro was established?
I fear Brexit will have quite a big impact on touring and our industry. While big budget touring will survive without significant harm, entry-level tours will face a whole new set of challenges which could potentially price them out of touring abroad. For me in particular, I can foresee a loss of work with US acts touring the UK and EU. I’ve worked for quite a few US artists looking after their EU tours in the past, and there’s a strong chance these jobs will start going to other EU nationals
Touring further east of Europe and in the USA and Canada, for example, shows what’s possibly in store. One of the main reasons new artists have to wait until they have significant momentum behind them before they can consider touring the US is the cost of visas and immigration. All we can really do is wait to see what deal is struck and then adapt and change accordingly. Either way, I can see the accountants and immigration specialists getting a spike in business.
Aaron Sayers
How confident are you are that the Brexit negotiating team will be taking into account the needs of the music industry?
Rich Burt FOH engineer and tour manager who has toured with a wide array of acts, including Anna Calvi, Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit and Blaenavon
What kind of impact will Brexit have on the touring community? One of the joys of being in the EU was being able to travel and work across the Eurozone without a visa or gear carnet. If that changes we’ll probably have a bit more of a faff at some crossing points and many more wasted days sat in visa appointments. Certainly there will be more admin for tour managers, although at least cargo companies and visa agencies will see an upturn in business.
They seem to have very little realistic idea of what they’re asking for and appear to acquiesce at the first sign of a hurdle. If they can’t even manage to get the macro bits of the Brexit deal they want I hold out little hope they’ll pull through on anything else. Maybe in the hurry to sign it all off they’ll overlook the music industry and leave plenty of loopholes for us to play with. All we can do is make a lot of noise about the positive effects of the music industry (tourism, population well being etc) along with our concerns and hope that we’re heard in the storm.
Do you remember what touring was like before the EU or the Euro was established? I’ve heard stories of terrifying amounts of different currencies in cash. Despite other concerns about the Euro as a currency, it’s certainly been a boon for touring. Like it or not, we’re going to have to adapt. It will likely be more costly for everyone involved but gigs will still happen and punters will still go to shows. Record label EU promo strategies might be affected, but maybe there’ll be some unforeseen positive outcome too.
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Tim Holehouse A prolific songwriter, performer and self-confessed “road dog with a guitar and whiskey soaked voice” who always seems to be on tour somewhere in the world
What kind of impact will Brexit have on the touring community? I don’t think anyone knows what will happen. Are we going to have to get work visas? How will they work, will it be per tour or per year? Will merchandise be taxed like it is in Switzerland (where you have to declare stock or risk a fine)? No information has really been provided. How will it work for mainland acts coming to the UK? It all seems very muddy.
How confident are you are that the Brexit negotiating team will be taking into account the needs of the music industry? Currently, I have no confidence in the whole mess
WE HAD A GREAT THING WITH THE EU - FREE TRAVEL AND TRADE AND PEOPLE WORKING TOGETHER
TIM HOLEHOUSE
whatsoever, and seeing as our job is deemed as very much a last thought, I don’t suspect we’ll get anything.
Do you remember what touring was like before the EU or the Euro was established? We had a great thing with the EU free travel and trade and people working together. OK, it wasn’t perfect, but still better than the selfish alternative we seem to be heading for.
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evidence and no reason why that will change postBrexit, although we may return to carnets for every border. Where it may have an impact on the individual crew members is the potential for local taxing policies - that may become more prevalent throughout the European countries toward UK workers. These already exist in France and elsewhere and I could see this becoming a minefield of bureaucracy for the individual freelancers. This could also have an impact on what supply companies have to do with their systems techs’ wages when travelling from the UK.
Pete Hosier Production manager, lighting and show designer and director of Big Ant Productions, whose clients include Madness, The Libertines, Spiritualized, The Divine Comedy and Kodaline
What kind of impact will Brexit have on the touring community? On the ground and in regards to day-to-day logistics or putting a show on and in respect of the crew, I don’t know if Brexit will have any major impact. The main thing that held up touring parties in the past was borders between every country and there is no
Steve Baker Having been in the music business since 1972, Baker started out as a roadie for the likes of Peter Frampton, Genesis, Procul Harum, Peter Gabriel and Frank Zappa, before becoming tour manager for OMD, which lead to artist and label management for Naive Records, Working Week, Gilles Peterson, Galliano and Afro Celt Sound System (to name a few). Currently he’s the worldwide tour manager for Rickie Lee Jones
What kind of impact will Brexit have on the touring community?
majority of our work is outside their jurisdiction.
Do you remember what touring was like before the EU or the Euro was established?
I think that in the past the music industry has been ignored as such a huge export from this country, but this is no longer the case. As with many of the creative arts, such as TV, film, design and technology, the UK is a recognised major player throughout the world. The arts in the UK are in the top five industries financially both internally and as an export, so I believe the powers that be have to take this into account. The only problem is the decisions that are being made that will affect us are not going to be made by people in the UK, as the
The main difference is the borders and carnets for every country, the varying currencies in each country was a minor inconvenience but to be honest I actually miss that part. I never wanted every single high street in the world to look the same just so I didn’t have to change a few Francs into Deutschmarks to get a coffee. What I do know is that the world is not run by governments - banks rule the world and all they care about is figures and profits, so if they see that this industry is making lots of income you can bet your bottom Dollar/Pound/Euro they will want some of it, so the main thing I think we will be hit with is higher taxation as we travel around Europe. One thing is for sure, people will still want to go to concerts and watch bands play live. When the whole digital download world came into play we thought the end was nigh but it actually had the opposite effect on the live market. If the taxing laws for travelling UK artists get out of hand then that could be a huge stumbling block. It’s a case of wait and see... or get a job in a bank!
Some countries have visa/work permit requirements for overseas personnel (i.e. US and Canadian citizens) so there are already obstacles in place in some countries, such as France. The same applies for withholding taxes, most countries apply some form of taxation and production accounting as a requirement. So overall I doubt this will change very much. If when outside of the EU we are required to have visas and have to stop at borders this could get tricky and time consuming and lead to ever more bureaucracy obtaining the correct paperwork to travel. Regarding equipment, will we need carnets again to enter and leave all countries? That would be a royal pain.
IT WAS A PAIN IN THE ARSE USING CARNETS AND OBTAINING VISAS/WORK PERMITS, PARTICULARLY FOR SMALL BANDS DOING SHORT STINTS IN AND OUT OF THE COUNTRY. THE BIGGER TOURS REQUIRED MORE ADMINISTRATION AND THIS WILL ALWAYS BE THE CASE
How confident are you are that the Brexit negotiating team will be taking into account the needs of the music industry?
How confident are you are that the Brexit negotiating team will be taking into account the needs of the music industry? I don’t think they care a hoot! Even though ‘music tourism’ generates about £4bn each year.
Do you remember what touring was like before the EU or the Euro was established? It was a pain in the arse using carnets and obtaining visas/work permits, particularly for small bands doing short stints in and out of the country. The bigger tours required more administration and this will always be the case. In those days, everything was last minute with
STEVE BAKER
short lead up time and everything was pretty chaotic. These days we have long lead up times and, as long as the relevant government departments can cope, it should be OK. Although I don’t know why I’m being so optimistic, any government involvement is a pain in the arse! To be honest, we are a resilient lot. If it means more paperwork then so be it. We’ve coped for decades with various changes and there are great companies set up to deal with immigration and customs importation/carnets etc. So we will survive and it will probably generate more employment. n
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A Sting in the tale The Last Ship, a new piece of musical theatre penned by Sting and collaborator Lorne Campbell, who wrote the book the production is based on and also directs the show, opened earlier this year for a tour of the UK and Ireland. Sound designer Sebastian Frost tells PSNEurope about the significant influence of d&b audiotechnik’s Soundscape on the show…
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ince opening at Newcastle’s Northern Stage back in March, The Last Ship has been garnering acclaim across the board. Based on the new book by Lorne Campbell (the original book was written by John Logan and Brian Yorkey), the show features music and lyrics from Sting, which draw on the artist’s personal experiences to tell the story of two childhood sweethearts set to the backdrop of the collapse of the shipbuilding industry. The production itself is equally revealing. Sound designer Sebastian Frost has engaged with Soundscape, d&b audiotechnik’s signal processing technology (with two optional software modules: En Scene, a sound object positioning tool; and En Space, which allows designers to add room emulation of reverberation signatures particular to any given space, real or imagined) and harnessed it to his own vision of how musical drama should be experienced. “d&b had a quiet word in my ear about Soundscape 18 months ago”, said Frost. “Then at the invitation of Wigwam I went to hear a demo in Hall 14 at d&b HQ in Backnang about a year ago. The experience was inspirational because the main thing you want from any system is for it not to restrict you in anyway. Currently there is a great deal of chatter in audio circles about creating immersive experiences or 3D sound environments, that’s not what’s happening here. What I heard was much more than simple panning or delay of
sound; you were not just placing sound objects in specific places. This was a more scientific approach; the creation of a sound field within which the creative possibilities appear unrestricted.” Recognising the demands of musical theatre, d&b arranged an appropriate demonstration. “The Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham is a typical multi-level theatre, whereas Hall 14 was a full 360-degree environment,” Frost continued. “Having the opportunity to play around and see if we could combine Soundscape with a more conventional proscenium-style deployed system was ideal. What was immediately apparent was that as I went into the theatre it had the same effect I’d heard in Backnang; that the sound field is opened-up to the entire audience.” Beyond his own endeavour to open the sound field to the entire audience, The Last Ship presented Frost with a second justification for implementing Soundscape. “When I sat with The Last Ship designers, 59 Productions, and director Lorne Campbell there was one aspect of Northern Stage that affected everything. The stage is wide and not so high. They wanted a clean line to stage so they could use full height and width to accommodate large scale scenic video projection. Typically, they would have used a line array system, but that wasn’t a realistic option with the projection - the intrusion of line arrays was unacceptable. That’s when I saw how Soundscape would be a perfect alternative.”
As well as installation of multiple loudspeakers throughout the auditorium, the technical parameters of Soundscape require a horizontal array of discrete sound sources across the top of the stage. While these can be line arrays, its also practical to use point-source loudspeakers, which is where Frost saw the advantage, as Northern Stage’s production manager Chris Durant observed: “We have six d&b V10P on the proscenium, each laid horizontal with the horn rotated to present the 110 degrees wide dispersion. Six Y10 are down the room on the delay line, and there are 12 front fills. The subs are tucked away up on a bridge above the audience. We would normally struggle here with loudspeaker positions with relationship to lighting positions and sightlines, and in this case, we have scenic projection to consider. But nothing intrudes. At most there are the E8 front fills across the stage, but that’s it.” One of Frost’s more imaginative uses of Soundscape was to create phantom loudspeakers using the zoning function within En Space, creating the auditory illusion that a loudspeaker is radiating sound from a position where no loudspeaker exists. With direct support from d&b, Stage Sound Services, the contracted audio supplier, took Frost’s design concept, made the Array Calc assessment of the auditorium and installed the system with Frost’s production engineer Owen Lewis assisted by Durant’s house team. “The system went in quickly and easily and
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Sebastian Frost: Soundscape offers ‘unrestricted possibilities’
sounded good the moment we turned it on.” said Frost. “This proved advantageous, as with Soundscape EQ works in a different way; thinking about how boxes work together in a traditional design makes no sense. Because it sounded good from the off we were able to experiment and play around with the creative elements. Having the freedom to put the band where you want proved highly advantageous; here they were physically positioned off stage left, but for most of the show I have most of the instruments placed around the stage as a whole. When you consider how the band’s physical position will alter venue to venue, being able to do that is fantastic. And it is great for the audience as they have a sense of the soundscape, the positioning of all the sound information as you have determined you want it to be heard. This idea that you are within a sound field presents a different listening experience for the audience. Normally if you sit in the front rows close to the front fills what you hear is a simple mono source; tilt
your head to one side and you hear the same thing from another speaker close by. Not with this system. Relative to where you happen to sit each loudspeaker is delivering something subtly different, but as a listener you are completely unaware; tilt your head to one side or the other and the loudspeakers are completely undiscernible.” Frost continued: “There are thousands of positioning cues, maybe 10 times as many as an average musical. Without the 4.2 beta version of QLab managing that would just not have been possible. The analogy with lighting holds; I had to say to the actors, ‘your positions on stage are really important, we do need you in the same place at the same time.’ However, we don’t want to straight jacket the actors and once Joe [Sound No.1] had comfortably passed the point where he felt he needed to have his head in the book, he found instead he could keep his attention on the actors and cue to them – so they had some freedom.”
Ship ahoy: The cast of The Last Ship
Frost also used the En Space function to great effect, most noticeably for an intimate scene between two actors placed within a video projected medieval stone built chapel, producing a distinct reverberation that appeared to emanate from that space on stage. He also added subtle hints of ‘location’ reverberation to voices appropriate to the projected surroundings. Joe Green, who programmed all those cues into the desk, agreed with Frost’s analogy: “You spend more time watching the actors on stage to be sure they are where they should be. The cast get it, the blocking is no longer just visual: it’s no longer the case that if you miss your mark you will be stood in the dark, miss your mark and you won’t be in your sound. That’s helped by the fact that the cast hear themselves as the audience do, its self-monitoring. They are not subjected to hearing a power-alley come back at them from the room. In terms of programming the show, it’s about the same as any musical; the challenge is for [Newman]. As the tour moves arounde his gig is about updating cues, especially when entrance points change.” Newman was unconcerned: “For set-up, you will spend less time listening and setting the delays - that process of moving around the auditorium trying to blend the transitions between different elements of the system – than you would with a conventional PA. Instead you will spend a bit more time at load-in actually getting it set accurately in the positions plotted in ArrayCalc.” “That is true of all system design,” said Frost. “But getting it right in ArrayCalc means that when Soundscape is ported into R1 and then to the system we have little to do. Normally with something like the coupling of the low-mids, you look at one box and it produces a certain result. Look at the whole horizontal array and when you measure it you get another result, and then you have to go back and work through them till the system responds as you want. With Soundscape, once it was in that all became straightforward. The audience don’t necessarily know what has happened, but everyone comes out saying the voices are fantastic. It has changed the possibilities of sound design throughout the genre.” n
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Brock ‘n’ roll: Field Day’s new south London home
JULY/AUGUST 2018
Playing the Field How do you approach setting up audio for a well-established city festival in an all-new location? That’s the situation live event specialist Capital Sound found itself in this year, as Field Day moved south of the river to Brockwell Park for the first time. In its new leafy south London setting, controlling offsite noise levels was the biggest challenge, as Tara Lepore found out...
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n the second day of this year’s Field Day festival, many day trippers were keen to catch the final performance of the night by electronic experimentalist Four Tet. The only problem was, of the 28,000 people attending day two of the festival, the musician was billed to play in an 8,000-capacity tent. Rightly putting safety first and foremost, the performance in The Barn was cancelled by organisers at the last minute, leaving some fans slightly downhearted as they made for the Tube home. Overcrowding wasn’t the only hiccup the 12th edition of Field Day encountered at south London’s Brockwell Park, after more than a decade held north of the river. In fact, issues relating to the local council and opposing residents meant that licensing agreements weren’t totally finalised until late March, leaving just
two months to get organised before the event on June 1-2. But teething problems aren’t unusual when a city festival moves sites, and Field Day’s task to downsize to Brockwell Park also came with a tricky brief on the audio side of things. Field Day had previously been held in Victoria Park since its launch in 2007, an 86-hectare site and regular host to live music events in east London. Moving Field Day to Brockwell Park this year found the organisers dealing with a site notably smaller in size, cutting the space by more than a third to squeeze into a 50-hectare space (limits to crowd capacity were slashed by 5,000 too, from 40,000 to 35,000). But why all the moving around? Announced in October 2017, international events firm AEG’s win in securing Victoria Park on an open tender for the next five years (for the brand new
10-day event All Points East) meant Field Day had to move on. As such, Capital Sound decided to treat it as an all-new project. “The noise pollution at Brockwell Park is the same as other tricky sites such as Clapham Common,” Capital Sound’s general manager Paul Timmins tells PSNEurope. “As far as London sites go, the noise is very very close to the park. You’ve got the perimeter of the park, a road and then people’s houses. We were aware of that when we went into negotiations on the new site – it was always going to be pretty challenging.” Capital Sound worked with a new production team for Field Day 2018 in its all-new setting. Known for its work on Manchester’s Warehouse Project and Parklife festival, event production specialist Ground Control (headed up by production manager Tommy Sheals-
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Barrett) hired in extra help from noise consultant Three Spires to produce the noise management plan and deal with associated licensing. Because Three Spires felt the sensitivity of dealing with noise management was so great (given the south London park’s leafy residential setting), it additionally brought in the expertise of noise modelling specialist F1 Acoustics to look at the site and predict what levels Capital Sound’s FOH team would need to be using. F1 then inputted sound data through a simulation model to figure out how those proposed levels would affect offsite noise. Timmins continues: “When that data came back initially, the levels they suggested were quite low, and as a company that wasn’t something we wanted to put our name to. So, we did more work on it with Martin Audio, planning some different system designs and soon got the noise modelling to a point that wasn’t fantastically good, but it was acceptable. We probably got to 94 to 95 dBa at FOH over 15 minutes, and as a company, we generally like to see that closer to our target of 98 dBA. “But, after some more work, we managed to achieve 98 on the main stage throughout the day, hitting 99 or 100 each evening for the headliners. That was a really big achievement, for us and everyone else involved. “Everyone wanted to get the best possible outcome from a site that was notoriously tricky,” Timmins adds. Before this year’s Field Day, Capital Sound hadn’t
worked on a live music event in Brockwell Park for almost 20 years. Timmins elaborates: “Back then it was a really tricky site. It was considered a nightmare to work in there because of the noise pollution and close proximity to the nearby houses. Whereas now we have the PA systems and tools to get those better levels onsite.” Some of those PA systems were - unsurprisingly - Martin Audio’s MLAs, which Capital Sound uses regularly for live events, particularly city-based shows where noise levels can make or break a festival: levels too quiet are unlikely to get a great reception from the
THE ORGANISERS CAME TO US TO DISCUSS THINGS LIKE THE STAGE LAYOUTS, MODELLING AND DESIGN WORK AND I DON’T THINK BROCKWELL PARK’S EVER SEEN THAT SORT OF [NOISE] LEVEL FOR A MUSIC SHOW
PAUL TIMMINS
crowd, but veer too loud and the local council might be less than keen to invite you back the following year. “For about five years now, since we started doing [British Summer Time at] Hyde Park, we’ve very much stood behind Martin Audio to provide the tools that make us able to do these tricky sites when it comes down to noise pollution.” This year, Capital Sound designed the audio on all seven of Field Day’s stages, the first year it has done so. Capital Sound had a 23-person crew across seven stages, with proceedings jointly headed up by crew bosses Amy Newton-Smith and Jonny Buck, who had responsibility for the main stage. Martin Audio MLAs were used on the two biggest stages: the outdoor Eat Your Own Ears and in The Barn tent. d&b V systems were used on the smallest stages, and Outline’s new Superfly array was used on the mid-sized stage along with its larger C12 model, making Outline one of four brands that Capital is now regularly using as a speaker system. Timmins concludes our chat by praising the collaborative approach from the festival organisers. “It was a great success. The organisers came to us to discuss things like the stage layouts, modelling and design work and I don’t think Brockwell Park’s ever seen that sort of [noise] level for a music show. I think the success was all down to good planning.” www.capital-sound.co.uk
Martin Audio MLAs featured on the two biggest stages
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Catfish and the Bottlemen
Eastern promise In May and June of this year, the inaugural All Points East festival was held over two weekends in east London’s Victoria Park. Daniel Gumble dropped in on the event’s closing night to see how the audio system delivered by Capital Sound and Martin Audio fared and what some of the engineers working with the PA made of its performance…
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ver the weekends of May 25-27 and June 1-3, East London’s Victoria Park provided the setting for the all-new All Points East festival. The two weekend line-ups boasted a stellar array of stars from the world of rock and pop. Gracing the stage over the first weekend were headline performances from LCD Soundsystem, The xx and Bjork, while Catfish and the Bottlemen, The National and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds brought proceedings to a close one week later. Production company LarMac Live called upon the services of Capital Sound to handle the complex audio requirements. Capital Sound’s senior project manager, Martin Connolly, and his crew decided to kit out the main stage with Martin Audio’s MLA system, hanging 13 enclosures and an MLD Downfill each side, with 14 MLX subwoofers in a spaced array to accommodate the various stage thrusts. Providing front-fills were a number of Martin Audio DD12s, mounted on top of the subs, described by Capital as its ‘regular go-to solution’. Three delay positions consisted of two masts of MLA Compact enclosures (respectively six and 12) and a third delay of 12 W8LM Mini Line Array elements.
The second stage featured 10 MLA and an MLD Downfill on each flank, with 11 MLX in a broadside sub array. Six W8LM provided front fill and a further six formed the delay mast. Like any city-based festival, one of the key audio concerns is noise pollution and its impact on local
SPEAKING FROM EXPERIENCE OF WORKING WITH ARTISTS WHO LIKE A FULL MIX ONSTAGE, I FIND IT ALL STARTS FROM THE SOURCE. AMPLIFIERS, DRUM KITS ETC ALL NEED TO BE WELL BALANCED AND SOUNDING GREAT BEFORE YOU START TO EVEN PUSH MORE SOUND THROUGH THE MONITORS MATT LEWIS
residents. Yet the extensive planning that went into the production, not to mention Capital Sound’s familiarity with such environments – the company also handles the annual British Summer Time Hyde Park shows - ensured that no issues were encountered. And according to Matt Crosbie, FOH engineer for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, who delivered one of the most sonically dynamic and complex sets of the festival, the PA system delivered on all fronts, describing it as “fantastic, with all the headroom required for a Nick Cave show”. As is traditional for Cave, all FOH mixing was handled using analogue technology, including a Midas H3000, extensive DBX compression and a variety of effects, such as a Lexicon PCM 70 and Yamaha Rev 7. Meanwhile, for Matt Lewis, Capital Sound’s monitors engineer tech, preparation for the festival was no different to any other. Over the course of both weekends, Lewis worked on the event’s second stage, mixing monitors for various acts, including: Mashrou Leila, Stefflon Don, Popcaan, The Magic Gang, Rostam, Amber Run, Bo Ningen, Richard Strange and The Black Lips. “[Preparing for All Points East] was no different to
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Making a Point: Blossoms on stage in Victoria Park
any other festival, meticulous planning goes in before the weekend so that we can accommodate every artist’s requirements across each day, Lewis told PSNEurope. “When it comes to actually mixing on the day, you approach it like any other gig, making sure to communicate effectively with the musicians onstage so they are happy, relaxed and know you are there to help them. Festivals can be a stressful environment for musicians at the best of times. “Speaking from experience of working with artists who like a full mix onstage, I find it all starts from the source. Amplifiers, drum kits etc all need to be well balanced and sounding great before you start to even push more sound through the monitors. It makes your life a lot easier and from there you can start to create a great sounding stage. If an artist is using IEMs, it’s about understanding the musician’s expectations and what kind of mix they would like to hear, as everyone is different. As always, communication is key.” The system Lewis used for mixing monitors on the second stage was comprised of a Yamaha CL5 on monitors with a Rio 3224 and Rio1608 stage racks. Ten mixes of d&b M2s were available running off D80 amplifiers, with ground stacked side fills consisting of two L-Acoustics Arcs on top of two Martin WS218X subs per side. Meanwhile, eight Shure PSM1000s provided in-ear monitoring. For Lewis, the set up was a complete success,
THE YAMAHA CONSOLES ARE NOTORIOUS FOR THEIR STABILITY, WHICH MADE THEM A GREAT CHOICE FOR ALL POINTS EAST. D&B M2S ARE THE BEST SOUNDING FLOOR WEDGE IN MY OPINION, SO I WAS NEVER EXPECTING ANY ISSUES THERE MATT LEWIS especially in light of the diverse nature of the performers across the two weekends. “Everything was great, we had no issues over the two weekends,” Lewis commented. “The Yamaha consoles are notorious for their stability in particular, which make them a great choice here. d&b M2s are the best sounding floor wedge in my opinion so I was never expecting any issues there” He continued: “When you have a lot of different instrumentation onstage, it usually means there a lot of open microphones too. If you are using wedges, this can
be tricky and the foremost important thing is to make sure nothing will feedback but still sounds natural to the player. Using minimal monitoring is a good place to start, and then slowly building up the stage sound until everyone is happy and can hear things clearly.“ In spite of the festival’s close proximity to nearby residential areas, as well as the eclectic range of performers passing through its gates, Lewis concludes that the biggest challenges across the event were the commonplace issues of working to strict deadlines and keeping proceedings flowing as smoothly as possible. “Festivals are always challenging for everyone involved due to the very nature of the event,” said Lewis. “Multiple touring crews have limited time and space to get set for their show, with some having to achieve the same results in two hours they would normally require up to six hours for on a standard gig. That brings its own challenges, but ultimately is very rewarding.” He continued: “Feedback across both weekends was very positive in general. I had some nice feedback from some of the artists I mixed too. But, as stated before, festivals can be really stressful environments and it doesn’t take much to upset the flow of the event. Thankfully everything went to plan and touring artists were left with a good experience.” You can read our interview on Martin Connolly’s 25 years with Capital Sound on P23.
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P45 JULY/AUGUST 2018
Carl Cox at FSTVL
Mixing FSTVL sound
We are FSTVL is a UK dance festival held at Damyn’s Hall Aerodrome in Essex, powered by a who’s who of manufacturers in the pro audio world. Nitelites supplied the audio consoles and PA for the three main arenas, as Simon Duff reports...
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ver the last five years, We are FSTVL has established itself as one of the mainstays of a new generation of EDM festivals. Drum and bass, grime, house and techno of all shapes and sizes with showstopping DJ headliners are the main ingredients held over the May Bank Holiday (May 25-28). Carl Cox, Andy C, Sub Focus, Todd Terry and Erik Prydz were among those who topped the bill for 2018 to a sold out audience of 40,000 on each day. In 2017, Nitelites provided PA for all stages at FSTVL. In 2018, they opted to provide audio for the three main arena venues, called Terminal 1, Techno Warehouse and the Bass Jam Stage. constructed for the event. L-Acoustics and RCF PA as well as Digico and Yamaha consoles formed the backbone of the audio production. Tom Geoghegan was project manager for Nitelites and responsible for system design, having worked on FSTVL for the past three years. Geoghegan started his sound engineering career at Adlib, where he qualified in L-Acoustics’ Soundvision, then worked on high profile tours and events for a number of years before embarking on a career as a freelancer. He now works full-time for Nitelites. Nitelites, since its formation in 1983 by Jamie Moore,
has gained an enviable reputation in the audio and lighting industry, becoming one of the UK’s leading production companies, serving a number of sectors. Currently it is providing audio for tours including Rag N Bone Man, Catfish And The Bottlemen and James Bay. The company also provides solutions to a host of leading music and art festivals, as well as numerous corporate clients. The company’s audio partners include L-Acoustics, d&b audiotechnik, Digico, RCF, Martin, Sennheiser and Lake. In the console department, Digico SD7s and SD9s, Yamaha PM5Ds, M7s, Profiles, as well as a Midas Heritage, are available. Explaining some of the main challenges in approaching FSTVL, Geoghegan said: “All of the main PA systems here have been driven by the specific requirements of the artists performing here. In the main arena, Techno Warehouse, where Carl Cox is playing, Carl and his sound engineer have specified exactly what they want. So our system design has followed that without fail. They sent us a L-Acoustics Soundvision plot last year, with an update in March, that we had to provide for. That included specific placements of where the hangs will go, exactly what will be in the hang, positioning of subs, right down to the amps they wanted.
“It’s the best of both worlds really,” Geoghegan adds. “On one side I have got what I want and on the other side Carl’s people are happy.”
EDM gear The Techno Warehouse audio line-up made for a classic EDM main arena. Onstage DJ kit, as across the entire site, was supplied by Studio Care, the Liverpool-based EDM rental specialists. For Cox’s set, a straightforward L/R output from Studio Care mixers was provided to FOH, plus a local DJ L/R booth feed for monitor. Audio signals were routed from a stage box splitter into a Yamaha PM5D console mixing at FOH, running at 96kHz and provided the monitor mix stage feed. Geoghegan explained the thinking behind choosing the PM5D: “In the EDM world, I have worked with a lot of sound engineers and DJs who prefer the old school analogue Yamaha but running on 96kHz. In terms of the analogue desks that are digital, they still like the clean sound it provides. For engineers it is so easy to access the two banks of 24 faders. Sure, it’s an old desk, but it is still on so many EDM riders. I know that no guest engineers will have any issues with it.” For PA at the Techno Warehouse, a L/R output
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from the PM5D was sent via AES into one of Nitelites’ standard Lake Drive systems, with analogue back up, then routed AES into a total of 28 L-Acoustics LA12X amps. The main L/R loudspeaker hang consisted of 12 L-Acoustics K2 per side and six K1 SB subs per side, and ground subs comprised eights stacks of two L-Acoustics KS28s. Enthusing about the L-Acoustics range, Geoghegan comments: “They provide such a range of products and when you come to use them in different combinations they all gel together and voice easily, so you know for a fact that if you are using Kara and Arcs, or K1 and K2, or indeed any combination of L-Acoustics, that as long as you have done the research it is going to work and be really true. It’s going to sound amazing straight out of the box.” At the Terminal 1 stage, where leading drum and bass DJ Andy C headlined on the Saturday, a similar DJ set up to Techno Warehouse was deployed. Three L/R DJ setups were the order of the day, enabling seamless swap overs, line check and sufficient set up time. Output wise from stage, a total of six L/R outputs and six monitor feeds went to FOH. Also onstage, four channels of wireless Sennheiser mics were used, and four sets of in-ear monitors were available for acts that had requested them. On the console front, a pair of Digico SD9s were utilised, one for FOH mix, one for monitors, with a Digico D2 stage rack positioned on stage. The L/R loudspeaker hang comprised of L-Acoustics K1, eight per side, with K1SB subs, six per side flown behind the K1. Further down the room - some two thirds of the way - were hangs of K2, four per side, then just behind FOH control, two hangs of nine KARA used for delays, all run by 36 L-Acoustics LA12X amps. Mixing FOH was Graham Orchard, while Lee Draycott mixed monitors, with
Bass Jam Stage
going to get tied up in knots. But in actual fact it is so straightforward to move things around and to use the matrix facilities.” As for compression on the SD9s and PM5 D, Geoghegan was impressed with the multi-band compression facilities on both consoles. “We use the multi band compressors on all the input channels and nothing on the outputs,” he said. “It’s all DJs here, so we don’t have to really mix too much into the L/R outputs. And, of course, the amps all have system limiters, so we really don’t have to worry about the outputs.”
Noise measurement Tom Geoghegan
engineer Ryan Howe working alongside both. Nitelties was also responsible for the Bass Jam Stage, which was headlined by Lethal Bizzle, Bugzy Malone and Pendulum, all of which performed DJ sets. An RCF PA system was specified for the stage using 12-metre V towers. Fourteen RCF TTL 55 line array boxes were combined with eight stacks of two RCF subs placed at front of stage, and six RCF HCDL used for lip fill. Four delay positions were used with six RCF TTL 33 deployed on each, flown off a circular structure in the middle of the field. A single Digico SD9, positioned behind the stage, mixed both FOH and monitors, with Lee Fitzpatrick and Greg Thompson engineering the mixes along with James Baxter Jones. “The SD9 is a really flexible desk,” adds Geoghegan. “Routing-wise you can pretty much put anything where you want it. There are so many times that I have found myself working on other consoles and thought that if it was an SD9 the job would be really easy to do. A lot of people worry about that flexibility, thinking that they are
Vanguardia, a leading UK acoustics consultancy, was employed by the festival organisers to monitor noise levels, both on and offsite. “I have to say that our communication and levels of cooperation with Vanguardia has been terrific and improved immensely over the last couple of years,” said Geoghegan. “We work very closely with them and worked on what we can improve on in terms of system design to maximise level on site and to keep it offsite. Vanguardia has its own onstage measurement and can monitor those remotely off site, with three of their staff working onsite taking measurements.” Geoghegan concludes with praise for both manufacturers and his staff: “For Nitelites this year, what I have noticed is the massive respect I have for the entire crew and the work that they have put in. They really have smashed it. I am hugely appreciative of their work. To be part of something as special as FSTVL is something to be proud of for Nitelites. Into the future the audio growth of the company has a lot to do with working with L-Acoustics and Digico and becoming a part of their ever expanding cultures.” n www.nitelites.co.uk
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Evolving with you. With a sleek new user interface, a generously expanded switching bandwidth and higher RF output power for the 500 Series, and new multi-channel functionality for the 100 Series, G4 delivers high-quality, reliable audio for musical performances, houses of worship, and theaters. www.sennheiser.com/g4
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Fighting talk Since his appointment as chief executive of music industry trade body UK Music just over a year ago, Michael Dugher has been banging the drum for the importance of the live music industry to the nation’s economy. Daniel Gumble met up with the former Labour MP to discuss the biggest challenges facing the sector and the work that is being done to preserve it…
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little over 12 months ago, Michael Dugher, former Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Labour MP for the seat of Barnsley East, called time on a career in Westminster spanning two decades to take on the role of chief executive at music industry trade association UK Music. Replacing the outgoing Jo Dipple, he could scarcely have arrived at a more pivotal time, with the shadow of Brexit looming large on the horizon and posing all manner of questions over the future of the touring market. If the nation’s impending departure from the EU wasn’t enough to be dealing with, the rapidly rising number of grassroots venue closures across the country was in urgent need of stemming. Last year, the Music Venue Trust estimated that a staggering 35% of UK music venues had closed over the past 10 years, many of which had been forced out of business due to, frankly, ludicrous planning regulations which allow new property developers to set up shop within earshot of pre-existing venues and then inflict the costly burden of noise restriction measures upon them. In a bid to curb the vast volume of venue closures, Dugher and UK Music spearheaded the much publicised Agent Of Change campaign, which, with the backing of several major recording artists, politicians and music industry executives, received public support from the government in January of this year. To ensure the extensive publicity surrounding Agent Of Change doesn’t run out of steam and that real change is implemented, Dugher has been working with London mayor Sadiq Khan and the capital’s first ever night czar, Amy Lamé, who was appointed to help preserve and nurture the capital’s night time economy. Here, PSNEurope editor Daniel Gumble pays Dugher a visit at UK Music’s London HQ to find out how he’s finding the job one year in and what the future holds for live music in the UK… What are the key challenges facing live music? The issue that has dominated everything has obviously been Brexit. We’ve worked really hard not just in terms of the IP agenda and the protections we currently enjoy from the EU, but also [to protect] the the ability of UK acts to tour EU states without the beaurocracy and costs that could happen with new visa arrangements.
Banging the drum: Michael Dugher
We work closely with the migration advisory committee at the Home Office, with ministers, MPs and others to really push that. That is connected to the second issue, which is that we have to constantly be making the case about the importance of the live sector. It’s worth over £1 billion to our economy, according to our last Wish You Were Here Report. It brings enjoyment to millions and it’s economic contribution is something we’ve got to be banging the drum about to people who make decisions, whether they are in Whitehall and Westminster or whether they are these new city region mayors or local authorities. We must get across the importance of the live sector and the need to protect it, nurture it and strengthen it for the future.
How difficult is it to get that message across? There is a growing awareness of the contribution the sector makes. Things like the select committee inquiry into the live music sector is an opportunity to really fly the flag. I’ve found that people are receptive to that and they love live music, so there is a lot of affection, but the point is turning that affection into action. The recent campaign on grassroots venues and planning laws are good examples. We really had to turn up the volume on that campaign, and we got a result. So in terms of solid achievements, at the start of this year we got the announcement from the government [that developers building new homes near music venues should be responsible for addressing noise issues] in England
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and in Scotland. In effect, we changed the law twice in a couple of months. I was a member of the legislature for seven years and I’m fairly sure I didn’t change the law twice in a couple of months while I was there. It shows the role UK Music can play in bringing people together and in raising the profile, whether it’s in the media or in parliament. We need people of influence to deliver results for us, and I hope on the live side that we’ve seen some evidence of that in the time that I’ve been here.
With The Beatles: Michael Dugher outside The Cavern Club
Just how difficult is it to get the government to take notice of your concerns regarding Brexit? Most people in the industry would rather [Brexit] wasn’t happening, but it is. What Brexit looks like, God only knows. I think the government is no clearer to knowing and there is no consensus among themselves over pretty fundamental issues like the customs union or freedom of movement. It’s important to make sure the music industry isn’t in denial about this. It’s happening, it creates a big challenge and we’ve got to meet that challenge and engage with people on it. The approach we’ve taken with the government is to understand that Brexit is all–consuming for them and we are in a queue with a whole bunch of interest groups wanting to protect our bit of the world. We’ve tried to make sure our voice is as loud as anyone else’s, if not louder, and that our concerns are front and centre in the minds of the people who will be negotiating these things on our behalf. What are you doing not just to help grassroots venues survive, but also to help them prosper? Agent Of Change became an iconic issue for the whole music industry, but there is so much more out there in terms of having an impact on grassroots venues than just the planning laws. We’ve made reccomendations before the budget was announced and before the spring statement about business rates, so we’re trying to get a handle on this nonsense where a football stadium in one borough can get a discount on its business rates and a grassroots venue down the road can get three-figure percentage increases. We’ve called for the government to bring forward its review of business rates, and that’s an issue we need to step up on. Making the case for the grassroots venues is vital. The global stars dominate the headlines when they play packed out stadia in front of vast crowds, but they all started somewhere and you cannot overstate the importance of grassroots music venues in the ecosystem that supports that industry. So whenever we do our big top line figures ‘£4.5 billion contribution to the economy; £1 billion from the live music sector’ that is because you’ve got this community of grassroots venues all over the country. And making sure they are opening their doors to a wider community with organisations like Attitude Is Everything to further improve the sector is really important. How hopeful are you for the future of live music in the UK in light of the large number of venue closures?
It’s an on-going battle. The victories on Agent Of Change show the impact we can have, but this is a war without end. We’ve spent a lot of time working really hard on a regional strategy. If you look at a lot of the progress we’ve made in London, that’s come out of having a music board and having the night czar under the auspices of the London mayor. We’ve got several more city region mayors now, so we’ve had intense conversations with those and announced jointly with the Mayor of the Liverpool city region that they would have a music board in Merseyside. And we’re working really closely in Greater Manchester with Andy Burnham about how we can protect the music scene there. We’re hoping to work with him to come up with proposals of which a music board and night czar may well feature. In Sheffield they have very recently had a city region mayor (Dan Jarvis) and there is no reason why we can’t bring people together to protect grassroots venues in South Yorkshire. We were in Bristol recently where there has been lots of threats of closures and we’ve been working with the city region mayor and local MPs. We’ll go to any corner of the country and make that case. What have you made of the London mayor’s approach towards live music and the appointment of Amy Lamé as night czar? They’ve been ahead of the game. We hosted a big event with [Sadiq Khan] at SXSW so it’s something
he is personally committed to. He understands the importance of live music to the London economy and he wants to provide greater opportunities in London for people in music, as well as protecting everything he’s got in the form of the most successful venue in the world - The O2 and its fantastic grassroots venues. The London regional music board has given us something that UK Music can take on the road to show the other city regions what we can achieve. Overall, how have you found the job so far? I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. We’ve got a really good team who are incredibly able and enthusiastic. I work with quite a diverse board, lots of organisations. Occasionally they aren’t all on the same page about every issue, but the list of issues that unites everyone is a very long list. I remember going to my first board meeting and someone said, How are you going to manage it there? Sometimes you’ve got different individuals and egos diametrically opposed to one another. I said, I was in the shadow cabinet for five years - the politics of the music industry compared with the politics of politics is pretty straightforward! I wanted UK Music to be a bit more aggressive, to be feared as well as loved by policy makers. I want them to understand we won’t shy away from fighting hard for our industry. I enjoy that fight. And I feel that one year in we are only just starting. n
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Ed Kinsella
‘Our biggest launch yet’: Inside EM Acoustics’ Halo-A Back in July, EM Acoustics hosted a demonstration of its new large format line array, the HALO-A, which has been described by the company as its biggest launch to date in the sound reinforcement sector Daniel Gumble spoke to operations director, Mike Wheeler, and technical director, Ed Kinsella, to find out how they plan to take on the loudspeaker market…
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ondon’s LH2 Studios provided the setting for EM Acoustics’s HALO-A live demo sessions in July of this year, as a host of engineers and live sound professionals turned out to see the firm’s latest innovation in action. Essentially, the HALO-A (the A stands for Arena) is a scaled up version of the compact HALO-C, designed for arena-sized touring applications, as well as large format fixed installations. Both systems were on show at the LH2 sessions, allowing attendees to compare the two side-by-side. However, unlike the HALO-C, which features an AMT plane-wave drive unit, the HALO-A utilises compression drivers on account of the higher SPL required for large-scale applications. It also uses a proprietary patent-pending emulation manifold, which has been engineered to combine the energy of four 3.4” (86mm) diaphragm, 1.4” (36mm) exit compression drivers into
a plane-wave array. According to EM Acoustics, this assembly offers a significant moving area for the high frequency section, and ‘twice the headroom of other comparable systems’. “The comments that came back to us time and again over the course of the two days were that people were genuinely gripped by the system’s effortless power and headroom, clearly demonstrating that that HALO-A is force to be reckoned with in terms of output,” commented operations director Mike Wheeler following the two sessions. So, how does the company plan on tackling what is already a highly competitive loudspeaker market? And what are the company’s immediate plans for the HALO-A system? EM Acoustics technical director, Ed Kinsella, and Wheeler explain…
Was it always your intention to upscale the series from theatres to arenas? Mike Wheeler: Yes, it was always our intention to expand the system into a larger format – though to be honest going straight from HALO Compact to the Arena system wasn’t entirely planned – more a step born from circumstance and opportunity.
What does HALO-A have to offer the arena sound reinforcement market? Ed Kinsella: We wanted to bring the EM Acoustics sound to the large format - a considerable challenge. Essentially keeping a warm, musical character while still maintaining headroom even under the very harshest conditions. Furthermore, we wanted to continue seeking simplicity for the user - removing rather than adding
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complexity where possible. We want to bring what we have learned and the advances in technology to as many people as possible.
Mike Wheeler
How will you go about establishing the series in what is a highly competitive market? Ed Kinsella: This is of course a huge challenge, as we know that that everything is strongly rider-driven in this sector of the market. However, we also know that in this industry, people buy people and concepts before products. We need to engage with as many engineers as possible and try to convey why we think what we are doing matters and might be useful to them, if we can achieve that, the product will, as always, speak for itself.
How challenging was the development process? Mike Wheeler: It was very challenging indeed. There are so many good products available today and the bar is higher than ever. Originally, the intention was to use an AMT high frequency device like with HALO-C. However after a great deal of effort and experimentation, we could not produce a device with sufficient headroom for us to be comfortable with, considering what we wanted this system to be capable of in terms of output SPL. As such, Ed turned his attention to alternatives, and the concept of the high frequency manifold design that developed into the core of HALO-A was born. It actually started life as a sketch on a bar napkin when Ed was on holiday in Tokyo…. Ed Kinsella: Aside from the high frequencies, there are a huge number of other challenges to overcome – and a great deal of time was spent on the parallax effects at the crossover point and the associated off-axis performance. We have made full use of the burgeoning FIR technology to make some of these advances possible while the cabinet itself sticks to simple solid principles of good physics and exemplary materials and build quality, it is also predicated on, and driven by, the very latest thinking in DSP control. For us, the ‘old and new’ have always worked hand-in-glove.
What are the biggest opportunities for EM Acoustics with HALO-A? Mike Wheeler: It’s no surprise that this is a huge event for us – many engineers who have used HALO-C have expressed a strong desire to get their hands on a larger system were we ever to do one – and having this system available moves us into a whole new market sector that we have never touched before. The big opportunity here, of course, is the significant potential for raised profile and brand exposure in what could be described as the more “rock & roll” side of the pro audio industry.
Are there any key territories and/or specific types of application you are targeting?
Mike Wheeler: The UK and US are of course key markets as so much of the world looks to them to see what might be new and interesting. But that said, the appeal of high quality sound is universal so we seek opportunities worldwide
Just how big a launch is this for EM Acoustics? Mike Wheeler: This is the biggest event EM Acoustics has held to date – and that reflects the scale of the product launch itself, which is of vital importance to us. Releasing a product that has the capability to handle any scale of event has always been something that we have wanted to do, and we fully intend to let this system show the industry exactly what we are capable of.
We had people flying in from all over the world to attend this event, and we knew that it would be a great couple of days.
What are your plans for the product for the rest of the year? Are there any upcoming events/ installs utilising the HALO-A you can tell us about at the moment? Mike Wheeler: We certainly plan on doing more events like this, as there are so many people in the industry and we want to see as many of them as possible and show them the system. There are a few possibilities in the pipeline where HALO-A might well appear, so keep an eye on our website and social media for news on this. n
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Studio spotlight Carefully considered investments are the order of the day, finds Marc Maes, as he delves into the Benelux studio business…
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ittle less than a decade after the worldwide financial collapse, studio owners and producers in the low countries have been starting to stabilise their situation. By carefully selecting unique assignments and scoping out the shrewdest of purchases, many facilities have been able to find their feet and are making their business viable once again. The recording and production sectors in Belgium and the Netherlands are, generally speaking, in pretty good shape, but each studio has its own view on whether or not to invest in new equipment. In the past, a big console and high-quality recording gear attracted clients to major studios. And while that is still the case for some, for others it’s a matter of minimalism and cost efficiency over vintage (expensive) analogue gear. Last year, and within a radius of 100 kilometers, one studio decided to invest in a brand new Rupert Neve 5088 console, another said goodbye to its 9000 SSL desk, while a third brought in an SSL Duality console illustrating how individual studio owners are adopting different approaches to their businesses. Some 15 years ago, Mark Derksen decided to stop renting out his Markant Studio to commercial clients, which had amassed an impressive client list including Simply Red and Coldplay, to name a couple. Today, with
his Netherlands-based company Mark 1 Pro Audio, he specialises in ‘maintenance, refurbishment and (de-) commissioning of professional audio equipment’ across the continent. “Business is booming,” Derkesen tells PSNEurope. “Studios are still prepared to invest [in high-end gear] – we’ve recently installed an SSL 4048 in Chris Webb’s studio in Milton Keynes and another SSL 4032E in Drop Records studio in Paris.” With two number-one albums for Katherine Jenkins in the UK, and an exclusive worldwide deal with Universal/Decca publishing, producer and songwriter Patrick Hamilton uses his Globe Recording Studios mostly for his own productions. “Today, commercial clients account for some 10% of the business, but we get more and more mixing assignments,” Hamilton says, adding that he recently sold his SSL 4064G of Globe Studio B and replaced it with a fully digital set-up. “That studio is my creative hub where I’ve installed equipment like an SSL Alphalink AX converter, the new Crane Song Avocet monitor controller and a Mac Pro to work with Logic and Pro Tools and an inventory of vintage synths. With an SSL 4048E, used for live recording and mixing in Studio 1, I combine the best of both worlds.” At time of PSNEurope going to press, Hamilton is
on the look out for vintage analogue modular synths and outboard gear: “I have the plugins but I’m looking for the real things to stand out as a studio,” he notes. “When everybody suffered from the recession, I decided to invest, and made the right choice. Today, my 2018 agenda is booked up solid - the UK chart successes, multiple No.1 singles and gold and platinum albums around the world opened up lots of doors.” Three years ago, Raygun Music Sound Radio opened its brand new studio facility - a spacious multiplex on a 500 m² floor in Brussels. Raygun specialises in composing and recording music for commercials and film scores and holds a leading position in Belgium with growing international acclaim. “Of course, we continue to invest,” says Peter Baert, managing partner and composer with Raygun Music Sound Radio. “At this very moment we are planning to improve the connectivity between our Avid-based studios by implementing Dante, and we have opened a new editing studio with ProTools HD 2018.4 with room for an extra engineer to handle mixes, editing and corrections. And we just purchased our second Freespace Pro II binaural microphone.” Baert sees a significant challenge to his business in the form of advertising agencies like FamousGrey, BBDO and TBWA setting up voice recording studios
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themselves. “It has an Peter Baert, Raygun Studio impact on the ‘regular’ studio business – but we have many other clients for which we compose, write and produce radio commercials.” For Baert, the future lies in being the “creative challenger”, shifting more towards content and creativity than merely “being a studio”. “That’s how we make the difference: by combining high quality recordings with a cosy atmosphere.” With adequate sound control and outstanding acoustics as key elements, Galaxy Studios continues to invest in new rooms and equipment while also upgrading its existing recording, mixing, mastering and post-production offering. “Today we are building five new mixing and control rooms and a pre-dub stage for film,” said Wilfried van Baelen, CEO of Galaxy Group. “Another innovative and not small investment we made is that the whole group’s infrastructure has been switched to green energy. “Talking about new business, we have gone into samples recording in the Auro-3D format, with George Massenburg having worked for months at Galaxy Studios. Another new model is our orchestral scoring
sessions, which we can do now live over the internet in Auro-3D by using our own developed streaming technology. This allows studios to make recordings from their control room with renowned Galaxy Symphonic Orchestra in the famous acoustics of the Galaxy Hall”. In Mechelen, Hype Studio is somewhat the odd one out in the recording business. Founded in 1990, the facility is managed as a non-profit organisation, investing all revenues in the three studios, live-concerts and talent-spotting sessions. “Our latest addition is an SSL Duality SE 72 channel console,” explains Jan Volckaert, owner and studio manager. “Hype has organically evolved from a Soundcraft console over a DDA DCM 232 and SSL 4000 and SSL 9000 J- desk to the Duality mixing engine. It was the next logical step rather than part of a long term business plan – but I’m convinced this will bring us into the coming decades.” Hype Studio’s forte lies in the fact that its full range of studio capabilities is complemented with a 120m² live room. “Our in-house venue has a capacity of 100 people,”
continues Volckaert. “Bands can either use it for rehearsals or live concerts. Recently, we’ve installed an Allen & Heath D-Live S7000 system with a CDM 64 rack and a Waves V3 card. The set-up also serves our monthly new talent nights and singer-songwriter concerts – artists can take their live recording home.” At present, Volckaert and his colleagues are actively seeking a countryside recording location for music bootcamps “where artists come to focus on song material and recording, with mixing done on the Duality afterwards”. Commenting on the key trends dictating the studio sector in the region, Volckaert adds: “Budgets are under pressure and bands want to take financial control of the recording process. We have different projects to make our studio economically viable: high-end pre-production rehearsals, concerts, live recordings and academy workshops. Hype is run by a like-minded team with a passion for music and audio,” explains Volckaert, who combines Hype with a job as part-time audio lecturer at the Brussels Narafi institute (Luca School of Arts). While many of the region’s studio owners are adapting to the changes brought about by restrictive budgets and industry-wide financial cutbacks, Sammy Merayah, owner of Merayah Studios and award winning
Mark Derksen, Mark 1 Pro Audio
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Sammy Merayah, Merayah Studios
composer, producer, remixer and arranger, believes that the sector as we know it could be about to change beyond recognition. “Personally, I think the music business is about to collapse,” says Merayah. “When people talk about music, they think of it as ‘free entertainment’. For people working in the music industry, being creative and versatile is key to keep the business viable.” Merayah’s first releases date back from 1997, having enjoyed major collaborations and remix jobs with high profile DJs and artists, such as Wolfpack, Flo Rida, Akon, Coolio, Jason Derulo, Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike, Missy Elliott, Chris Brown, Buscemi, and Hooverphonic. “I want to keep control over the full chain, from composing, recording, mixing and mastering and publishing,” reveals Merayah. “With recording budgets under pressure, diversifying is crucial. We get many requests for recording assignments but you cannot expect to hire a professional studio and staff on a shoestring budget.” Merayah recently invested in KII Audio Three monitors (“The only honest speakers on the market, extremely powerful and a pristine sound- what you hear is what you get!”) and became the world’s first electronic music producer working with a full set-up of Yamaha’s Nuage digital workstation, along with three Faderbays and one Masterbay.
WITH BUDGETS UNDER PRESSURE, DIVERSIFYING IS CRUCIAL. WE GET MANY REQUESTS FOR RECORDING PROJECTS BUT YOU CAN’T EXPECT TO HIRE A PROFESSIONAL STUDIO ON A SHOESTRING BUDGET
SAMMY MERAYAH
“The Nuage system was initially for postproduction, but is now embraced by composers and recording studios,” enthuses Merayah. “The powerful features of the system, such as its quick and intuitive workflow, are key reasons for this investment.” In Breda, home base of his colleagues DJ Tiësto and Hardwell, Daan Romers (aka DJ Dannic) is opening his brand new Dannic Studio. The launch follows the signing of his record company, Fonk Recordings, with leading dance label Spinnin’ Records. The studio and company offices were built in an ancient factory, designed to Romer’s needs and with Okke van Bergen’s KB|MF as building consultants.
“My live DJ sets are on big stages, where the low-end is extremely important – it was essential to reproduce the same sound in the studio,” explains Romers. “KB|MF advised to have custom treated acoustics which are perfectly hidden behind the walls. So the studio sounds great but also feels like home.” Romers relies on Focal SM9 professional monitors and Okke van Bergen suggested he use them as a core element in the new studio. “The low is great now, and the monitors offer a relaxed sound,” adds Romers. With the Dannic studio being fully digital, Romers decided to dispense with analogue gear and faders, instead using a UAD card in his Mac Pro with lots of compressors and EQs. “KB|MF managed to design a really relaxed and acoustically controlled studio so I record my vocals in my control room,” he adds. The daylight studio is decorated with custom wooden diffuser panels – the central production console was tailor made by KB|MF. The new studio will be used for future Fonk Recording productions and for recording Dannic’s radio show. Meanwhile, Heliac Studio is the hub of producer Peter Luts, and the birthplace of plenty of homegrown dance chart hits since the late ‘90s. Today, around 50% of the work that flows through its doors are Luts’s
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Nordoff Robbins
music therapy
As the UK’s largest music therapy charity, Nordoff Robbins is dedicated to changing the lives of vulnerable and isolated people, and helping them improve their wellbeing through the skilled use of music. Music therapy can help a child with autism to communicate, build confidence for someone living with mental health issues, and support those with complex disabilities to reach their potential.
Find out more at www.nordoff-robbins.org.uk PSNE Advert Template 220x290.indd 1
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Peter van Leerdam, High Waves
own productions, the remainder being vocal recording assignments and dance projects. “Many artists produce their music ‘in the box’ – the big challenge is to stand out by your own expertise and the use of your technical assets; mixing in the box will never achieve the results you get with outboard gear,” offers Luts. Over the past two years, Luts found that investing in outboard equipment was an obvious choice. “If you want to play along on an international level, you must follow the lead,” he continues. “Alongside my SSL Matrix I’ve purchased Kii Audio Three monitor speakers, additional Heritage Audio preamps, Cranesong Ibis and Retro Instruments 2A3 DualProgram EQ processors, On The Moon - Spacecraft and my favorite Analogue Tube AT-101.” Luts informs us that he will continue to opt for analogue gear due to the ‘additional depth in mixing and mastering’ that it offers. “I have the impression the market is gaining momentum again, with artists preferring to work in a real studio instead of clicking plugins from a PC.”
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Designed with the recording of backing tracks for live artists as its central purpose, Maasland-based High Waves studio caters for a specific niche in the music business. The studio was founded in 2004 by composer/ producer Peter van Leerdam and has since then been the home for many artists matching their live shows to instrumental recordings. “Thanks to thorough diversification, the studio is viable,” explains van Leerdam. “I combine recording of backing tracks, my core business, with commercial studio assignments, live recordings and going on the road with my combo, Walter.” Van Leerdam’s facility was recently expanded with a brand new recording booth, upgrading the studio’s signal chain. “Usually I record instrumental material to be used simply as backing tracks, but quite often we need to record extra instruments or backing vocals – high quality microphones and preamps are essential, ” Van Leerdam continues. The studio’s most recent investment is an Avalon
VT-737SP tube preamp. “The output of the Avalon is channeled to a MOTU 828 MKII audio interface and, via Firewire, into an custom made production software PC,” explains van Leerdam. ”We have a collection of fine microphones such as the Neumann TLM103 and KM184, AKG C414, D112 and RØDE NT1A, NT5. The microphones are also used during live recordings, in combination with a MOTU 24i/o soundcard and a couple of Focusrite Octo Pre preamps.” Van Leerdam admits that, although business is doing fine, future investments have been put on hold. “As a budget studio I have to be careful where to invest. That’s why I did the acoustic treatment of my listening room myself instead of hiring specialists and buying expensive absorption panels. “Today I see many people being trained to become audio engineers or studio technicians – and they all end up fishing in the same pond,” he concludes. “That’s why you need to be smart, focus on your strengths and invest in those areas to build something for yourself. With that and a little luck you can make it in recording business.” n
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Kalle Hvidt Nielsen
Great Danes
Recognised for its appliance of science and miniature microphones, DPA has become an international brand while maintaining the image of a small Danish developer. Kevin Hilton went to see its production and R&D facilities and reports on the company’s latest developments, both technologically and commercially...
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espite the economic imperative to expand and increase production, the microphone business still manages to maintain many niche sensibilities. Among the companies that appear to have achieved this is Danish Pro Audio (DPA), which continues to be regarded as a specialised, low volume producer of high-quality products with a price tag to match. Much of this still applies but in the last 10 years DPA has been increasing production and expanding its product range. This has in part been made possible through its acquisition by private equity fund The Riverside Company in December 2013. The greater stability and investment also allowed DPA to expand commercially in its crucial overseas sales markets. In December 2017 it bought long-term UK distributor Sound Network and in March this year reorganised its distribution chain in Germany. Kalle Hvidt Nielsen, DPA’s chief executive since September 2016, feels these changes have altered how the company is perceived by those working within it
rather than how it is seen by customers and the market in general. “When you grow as much as we have over the years, you need to develop your internal structure,” he says. “If you’ve got two engineers making new products, they can sit and discuss all the issues and challenges involved between themselves. But if you’re in multiple locations, you need a structure to manage the work, including sales, financing and marketing.” While there has been corporate growth, Nielsen does not think DPA has moved away from its initial selling points of high quality and specialisation. “It’s very dear to our hearts to stick to our original mission and values in terms of not compromising,” he says. “For us it’s not hard to wait three months while working on a product to get an excellent result. As long as we lead the company by relying on the judgement of the specialists and those interacting with the customers, we can still be this close little company that can react to requests fairly rapidly.” Like other current DPA executives, Nielsen has a background in acoustics and technology as well as management. He was previously CEO at both audiophile hi-fi manufacturer Bang & Olufsen and Brüel & Kjær
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Sound & Vibration Measurement. The Brüel & Kjær connection has long been important in the development of DPA. Founded in 1942, B&K was established to produce sound analysers to be used in the design of concert halls and other auditoria. In the late 1950s B&K started producing special microphones to work with its measuring equipment. Despite their very specific application, they were adopted by sound engineers to record classical music. B&K responded to this new usage by developing the 4000 Series specifically for high-end recording work. In 1982 B&K released the 4006 omni-directional condenser mic, coinciding with the establishment of a dedicated pro audio division. Speaking in 1989, company co-founder Dr Per V Brüel said the 4000 Series microphones did not change from their measurement predecessors in terms of technology, only in size. Despite the success of the 4006 and other recording microphones, financial pressures led B&K to eventually close its pro audio operation and concentrate on the core market of measurement and analysis. Two B&K employees - capsule designer Ole Brosted Sorensen, who worked on the 4006 and the cardioid 4011, and marketing executive Morten Støve - thought there was still potential in this market. They set up DPA and established a distribution network to continue marketing the 4000 Series for recording work, which, over time, led to the development of new microphones for different applications. The 4006 continues to be part of the portfolio but has gone through some revisions; the 4006-TL reference standard model appeared in 2005, while the d:dicate 4006A was introduced as part of DPA’s d:dicate range of modular microphone systems in 2011. Conventionally styled instrument, vocal and reporter’s microphones continue to be a part of DPA’s offering but since the mid-1990s it has become more associated with miniature mics for theatre production and TV presentation. The key product in this field was the 4060 omni lavalier model, introduced in 1996. This was followed by a boom-mounted headset version two years later, since when more small mic heads that can be hidden in clothing or on the body and used in conjunction with wireless systems have appeared. As part of its research into how to make ever-smaller microphones but still with good quality sound, DPA began working with Danish hearing aid developer Muphone. This collaboration was taken to its logical conclusion in 2005 when Muphone merged with DPA. “We’ve been pushing the boundaries of what is possible,” says vice president of marketing Anne Berggrein, who has been with DPA for 14 years. “In the beginning we took measurement microphones and turned them into something for the professional market by adding features like phantom power.” Since then, Berggrein adds, DPA has become known for miniaturisation and targeted very specific market areas: “Theatre professionals were asking for
WE’VE BEEN PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT IS POSSIBLE. IN THE BEGINNING WE TOOK MEASUREMENT MICROPHONES AND TURNED THEM INTO SOMETHING FOR THE PROFESSIONAL MARKET BY ADDING FEATURES LIKE PHANTOM POWER
ANNE BERGGREIN
something that could be closer to the sound source. What we have now in the d:screet 4060 is hearing aid technology meeting pro audio. It was a big step for us because now 70 to 80 percent of what we are selling is based on miniature capsules.” As well as lavalier mics such as the 4060 and recording models including the 4006A, DPA offers shotguns, the d:dicate 4017, the d:facto interview mic and instrument mics such as the d:dicate 4090. All these are produced at DPA’s factory in Asnæs on the Danish island of Zealand, some 90 kilometres (55 miles) west of Copenhagen. The majority of components are made here, with the notable exception of the 4006’s capsule, which continues to be bought in from B&K. The factory, despite being a fairly non-descript industrial building, is light and airy inside. It accommodates just over 100 employees, many of whom are women working on the assembly lines and in the quality test areas. Production line manager Finn Mortensen, who is in charge of miniature capsule manufacture, comments that women have the patience to concentrate on assembling such small items, with 90 per cent of their work carried out under microscopes. The bulk of the work is by hand, using tweezers. A welding machine is one of the few pieces of mechanised equipment involved in the process. The length of time it takes to produce a microphone varies from product to product. Mortensen estimates that mics in the d:screet miniature series, which includes the 4060, take between four and five weeks to build. “It takes three days to make the earpiece,” he says. “But it’s like making a fine wine it takes time.” In recent years production has been scaled up, primarily to accommodate production of the CORE amplifier, launched in October 2017. This is promoted as giving a 14dB increase in sensitivity, enabling the mics to go from “a whisper to a scream”. Kalle Hvidt Nielsen says the CORE was part of an ongoing attempt to produce ever better sound: “If the microphone is the determining factor in the audio chain, what makes a good mic? It needs to be small and extremely robust, coping with things like sweat and make-up. It also needs clarity and by updating the amplifier on the miniatures we have made significant improvements.” The existing Legacy amplifier will continue to be produced for at least another 18 months but Nielsen says the CORE becoming popular in a short space of
time came as something of a surprise. “That was the main reason for us to scale up production,” he explains. Asked whether having access to increased funding through the ownership of The Riverside Company, Nielsen replies, “With stronger financial support it’s easier to look a little longer term and maybe put some more investment into something that is good for the company.” The deal to buy DPA from Sorensen, and Støve neither of whom are now involved with the company - was described by The Riverside Company as “seeking add-ons”. Upscaling production can be seen as fulfilling part of that, as can the acquisition of Sound Network. The distribution company was founded by Ralph Dunlop and Pete Wandless to handle several high profile pro audio brands, including Sony and Quested Monitors, as well as DPA, which it has represented for over 21 years and helped push into the important UK theatre market. When Dunlop and Wandless decided to retire, DPA was given the opportunity to buy the company, which it decided was the best move. “We were afraid of what would happen if someone else bought it,” comments Berggrein. Sound Network is now a subsidiary of DPA but has retained its name and continues to represent other companies. DPA has also established its own sales structure in Germany but will continue to work with former distributor Mega Audio, which takes on the role of “master dealer”. In addition to these key European centres, DPA also has a base in Colorado, USA. This makes sense for a manufacturer that sells some 95 per cent of its products outside of its home market. The company’s headquarters are located in Alleroed, 38.8km (24 miles) from Copenhagen and house sales and marketing offices, plus R&D labs - with wind machine and reverberation room - and a demo studio. In recent years DPA has further raised its profile with marketing initiatives including a world tour to promote its various ranges and the Masters Club, described as “a community of working sound engineers who use DPA microphones in their daily work”. But DPA - and Kalle Hvidt Nielsen in particular realises that all this needs to be backed up by products and technologies the customers need. “We are trying to make the perfect mic,” Nielsen concludes. “We need to do better - and I think we are doing quite well - but we need to step up innovation.” n
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Sound and vision
In each issue, we publish the best pro audio pics shared on social media in the past month. From gig pics to get-out selfies, studio shots to product close-ups, the industry’s online community is thriving and we want to share the great work going on. Want to be featured next month? Tag @psneurope on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook or email tlepore@nbmedia.com
Mariana Lopez @Mariana_J_Lopez (sound design lecturer) I was thrilled to get the opportunity to interview @olgafitzroy yesterday! I learnt lots and it was great to see student attendees engage by putting forward questions+asking for advice from Olga. Also, so nice to see students approach her to say how much they looked up to her!
Martin Audio MartinAudioLtd An incredible show from @rogerwaters at @ BSTHydePark. Stunning sound provided by @Capital_Sound & #MLA. What a night! #festivalsound #proaudio
Steph Marziano @StephMarziano (producer, engineer, mixer) If it wasn’t for this place I honestly wouldn’t have a career in music. I’d hate to think of the amount of great records that people will miss out on if @Strongroom Studios is shut down to build some boring office blocks
Miloco Studios @milocostudios Feast your eyes on Switzerland’s Powerplay Studios for today’s #FeatureFriday. Our newest partner studio, we highly recommend spending some time exploring the full complex
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Follow us on Twitter Instagram Facebook @psneurope
@womensaudiomission Girls on the Mic students know how to use Pro Tools and professional audio equipment! #ChangingTheFaceOfSound
@funktiononenl @funktiononeofficial FF6.2 super high quality mixer #funktionone #formulasound #FF6.2 #djmixer
@brendoniustweet (studio manager, Red Bull Studios) Bye bye for the last time #byebyetooleyst @redbullmusicuk #redbullstudioslondon #movingnotclosing
@adamson_systems_engineering #TeamAdamson & Eighth Day Sound Australia Pty. Ltd. are on the ground at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena getting a massive system ready for the 2018 #HillsongConference
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On the record
MPG Awards managing director, Tony Platt, talks to Daniel Gumble about just a few of his many career highlights and updates us on the latest developments in the ongoing evolution of the annual production awards extravaganza...
O
n March 1 of this year, the MPG Awards celebrated its 10th anniversary, and for a studio sector that is said to be facing an everincreasing challenge from easily accessible recording software, the event appeared to be in rather rude health. As ever, the presence of supremely talented studio professionals in the room suggested that such celebrations are not only still a major attraction for the industry’s finest, but that in the face of the so-called ‘bedroom producer’ they are perhaps more important than ever. A huge part of the MPG Awards’ success has been the work conducted by its managing director, Tony Platt. Over the past decade he has helped establish the event as a key fixture on the sector’s calendar. However, in addition to his work on the annual bash, he has enjoyed – and continues to enjoy – a career behind the desk himself, having worked as an engineer and producer for some of the biggest names in music, including Bob Marley, AC/DC and Buddy Guy, to name but a few. PSNEurope interrupted his busy schedule for a chat about upcoming projects and some of the most memorable moments from his career to date…
We understand you’ve been hard at work in the studio. What are you working on? Mostly tying up the ends from two projects I recorded and mixed last year. I have also been recording and mixing some new songs by students at Northampton University to submit to BBC Introducing. I have also been planning a studio at home because, since giving up the studio I shared at Strongroom, I haven’t actually had a base to work from.
You’ve worked with some huge artists over the years. Are there any that stand out as being
particularly memorable? Every album has its high and low points and you have to be careful to avoid attaching extra importance retrospectively. There have certainly been some notable buzzes – playing Back In Black once we had mixed and cut it into the running order, for instance. Then the master take of Foreigner’s Waiting For A Girl Like You, which was one of those magic takes. Of course, several times during Damn Right I Got The Blues with Buddy Guy – such great musicians and so much of it cut live.
Which projects are you most proud of? Obviously the Bob Marley (Catch A Fire and Burnin’) and AC/DC (Highway To Hell, Back In Black and Flick Of The Switch) albums have been at the forefront. The Buddy Guy albums (Damn Right I Got The Blues and Feels Like Rain) are up there too, but I worked on most of the output from the jazz label, Dune Records, for a couple of years and this was very satisfying on many levels. An album I made with Jacqui Dankworth and her father John was a privilege to be involved with – it was the last recording he did before he died. I’m very proud of the albums I made last year with Two Tone Club and Nano Stern because, although the budgets were a challenge, we didn’t let that get in the way of the music and the results benefitted from that.
dream when I started, so many more things are made possible. I have adapted and grown to embrace the good bits and filter out anything that gets in the way.
The MPG Awards celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. How did that feel? It was immensely pleasing to make it to 10 years – I still remember how scary the first one was. The real achievement is the contribution it has made to the UK music production sector. We always intended the outcome to be better recognition for producers and engineers, but the strengthening of the relationship between them and the artists has been a welcome addition. This year the (overdue) recognition of so many more female producers and engineers has been another fantastic development.
What next for the MPG Awards? Probably a bit of consolidation. We are building a solid support from sponsors, but if we were to move to another level we would need a bigger headline sponsor like the ‘other’ awards events. This is something that needs to be managed properly, as the tone and atmosphere of our event is very important and sets us apart from other events. Any changes would need to ensure the integrity of our selection process, which has been the most carefully protected aspect of our event.
How different (if it all) is your studio process now from when you first started out?
What’s next for you?
In basic terms, no different at all. My approach is very artist centric so creating the right environment for them is the most important aspect, and not allowing the session to be compromised by technology, neither too much nor too little. On the other hand, the things that technology enables us to do nowadays weren’t even a
Since leaving Strongroom I have been managed by Charlie Colton at Urchin Management and she is working on a couple of enquiries from very interesting artists. I want to balance my time better and that is where the studio at home comes in. Taking the travel out of my timetable is going to free up so much time. ■
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18/07/2018 17:30
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