PSNEUROPE NOVEMBER 2013
Waite: your turn! p54
www.psneurope.com
THE BUSINESS OF PROFESSIONAL AUDIO
Lawo loves Laura
Mixing Ms Mvula at Rock en Seine p40
AES NYC product news
OB truckfest!
p16
PLASA p19 & 24
show news
p29
L-Acoustics K2 system to reach new heights p30
From L-ACOUSTICS, comes the classic KIVA Modular Line Source accompanied by the brand new SB15m LF extension. KIVA boasts an impressive track record of performances in classical music, special events and theatres, consistently delivering clear, precise and incredibly intelligible sound. Credentials include long throw capability, extensive vertical coverage capable of matching any audience geometry and smooth and controlled horizontal directivity pattern. As for its new SB15m companion subwoofer, nicknamed the bass , it brings in the rock with its extended operating bandwidth which stretches KIVA s response to 40Hz and an LF impact that brings down the house. A must-hear in 2013. More at www.l-acoustics.com
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November 2013 l 03
welcome Photo: Jake Young
EDITOR’S COMMENT
“We all know that if everyone set up camp in Costa Coffee, there would be no exhibition”
Cover picture: Mercury nominee Laura Mvula at Rock en Seine, Paris, August 2013 Photo: Helen Aitchison
PLASA LONDON, then. How was it for you? “We got busier and busier, as people were staying longer,” FBT’s Mark Parkhouse told me. “I want to sell loudspeakers to small-to-medium hire companies, and there were lots of them visiting. “We loved the attention. I’m sure others like us – Shure, Martin Audio, KV2 – did too.” Unencumbered by the usual rivals, undoubtedly they did. Pioneer had a perfect opportunity to launch its club system, Avid to show off its S3L console for the first time – because there were few competing products on show. PLASA London, then: good for those who gave it a chance. And, from the conversations I was having in the café and on the terrace, a good show for the brands which could still meet clients, but were emancipated from the cost of exhibiting. Of course, all this didn’t stop people complaining: “Not enough audio!” ...Sigh. We all know that if everyone set up camp in Costa Coffee, there would be no exhibition. We should not be relying on certain brands to prop up the show for the rest of the industry. And while there’s no single solution to restoring the show to former glories, PLASA must get the big box and big console makers into those ExCeL halls. I asked Martin Audio’s James King, still relatively new to this industry, what he’d do if he was in charge. “I’d tell potential exhibitors, ‘Take a booth, and we’ll fly over the five customers you really want to see.’” Chris Toulmin, head of events for the show, said in the PLASA summary press release, “…we have more work to do – in certain areas of the exhibition…” Perhaps put in a call to the travel agent, Chris? Dave Robinson (twitter:@psneurope)
IN THIS ISSUE... NEWS Funktion-One victorious in trademark case Apex Audio NV declared bankrupt Industry appointments Diary of events and expos New product round-up
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STUDIO Paul Epworth buys ‘The Church’ Craig Silvey’s Toast; all new Jungle SSL and API at AES NYC The Loft Studios, Newcastle New truck for Norway’s NRK
14 15 16 18 19
BROADCAST 20 Specs in place for file-based TV broadcast 22 Megahertz bought by OKNO-TV 23 Audionics in liquidation 24 Feature: Building the perfect OB truck LIVE 29 Shure Distribution UK’s new business model 30 All hail the forthcoming L-Acoustics K2 32 Pearce Hire profiled; VUE in Europe 35 Ellie Goulding on tour 36 Music touring worth £2.2bn to UK 37 Nexo STM at the Stade de France 38 Brit Row Training out of the blocks 40 Lawo at Rock en Seine 42 Feature: Built to last! Compact speakers INSTALL Duran Audio bought by Harman BPM launches PRO show for 2014 ETA Sound takes the double
46 48 50
BACK PAGES Hither & Dither Interview: Rusty Waite, EAW
65 66
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For the latest news www.psneurope.com
news UNITED KINGDOM/CHINA
Battle won for Funktion-One Hope for brands with trademark disputes as loudspeaker maker wins exhaustive fight with Chinese vendor By Dave Robinson AFTER A lengthy, costly and complex dispute, loudspeaker manufacturer Funktion-One has finally won an important trademark case relating to the use of its name and company logo in China. The case follows the preemptive registration of the Funktion-One name and logo by Wu Meiling in March 2005.
Smiles all round: Tony and Ann Andrews, (pictured at the Pro Sound Awards), have just won their lengthy dispute with a disreputable Chinese merchant The British company, under representation from Wilkinson & Grist, challenged the move and
won – vindicating the time, costs and resources that have been absorbed by the long process.
The People’s Republic of China’s trademark law prohibits pre-emptive registration of a trademark that is already in use by another person, in respect of identical or similar goods that have gained a certain level of influence in the country. Funktion-One’s case focused on the international reputation it has grown since it was formed by John Newsham and Tony Andrews in 1992 and its prominence in China. Funktion-One’s evidence included its participation in international and local exhibitions, features in international and local trade magazines (including PSNEurope) and records of the professional awards that the company has won. Specific
correspondences from Chinese companies expressing strong interest in doing business with Funktion-One added to the compelling argument. Following the successful opposition of Wu’s mark, Funktion-One also succeeded in securing registration of its own Funktion-One mark in China. Reflecting on the triumph, Funktion-One’s Ann Andrews said: “It’s a huge relief.” “China is a very important market for us. Obviously, we’d prefer not to face threats to our trademarks and copyrights, but we fought and won, so we’re very pleased about that. Our representatives, Wilkinson & Grist, have been brilliant, professional and diligent throughout. As have the trade press, PLASA and Prolight + Sound. We’d like to thank them for their support. “Hopefully this sends out a positive message to the industry.”I www.funktion-one.com
UNITED KINGDOM
2013 APRS Sound Fellows announced By Erica Basnicki HOSTED BY Sir George and Lady Martin, the seventh annual APRS Sound Fellowship Awards Lunch will take place at the Roof Gardens, Kensington on Tuesday 19 November. APRS Sound Fellows are recognised for their ‘significant contribution to the art, science or business of sound recording’.
This year’s recipients include songwriter Jeff Beck, former Livingston Studios owner Jerry Boys, EMI and Chrysalis A&R man Chris Briggs, AMS Neve founder Mark Crabtree, Lansdowne and CTS Studios owner Adrian Kerridge, legendary recording engineer Phil Ramone and producer/ composer Nile Rodgers.
Giving the keynote address by way of proposing the Harewood Toast this year – named after Earl of Harewood, the founding president of the APRS – is Fran Nevrkla, OBE and chairman of PPL. Platinum sponsors for this year’s industry lunch include RØDE, API and Universal Audio, who are joining the group for the first time. Focusrite will
once again take up its spot as wine sponsor for the seventh year running. Tickets for the lunch can be booked on the APRS website or via email: admin@aprs.co.uk or phone APRS head office on +44 (0)1803 868600. Special discounts are available for APRS and other trade body members. I www.aprs.co.uk
Fran Nevrkla will propose this year’s Harewood Toast
November 2013 l 05
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news BENELUX/FRANCE
Apex Audio files for bankruptcy Leading manufacturer and distributor based in Belgium calls in administrator, much to surprise of clients. Dave Robinson and Marc Maes report APEX AUDIO NV, the Belgium-based manufacturing, distribution and solutions company of 22 years’ standing, filed for bankruptcy with the Hasselt Court on Thursday, 17 October. Company director Paul van Hees, when asked, has confirmed the situation but declined to comment further. The administrator for Apex has been named as Bussers Patrick (bussers.adv@ skynet.be). All concerned parties are requested to contact him by 17 November. Apex Audio was formed in 1991 by van Hees and Eddy Bergers (formerly of electrical giant Philips), and the company’s first product was the PE-133 equaliser. The most recent design was the Intelli-X2 48 192kHz processor. Apex, based in Beringen-Paal to the north-east of Brussels, comprised three subsidiaries, (Apex BeLux, Apex Holland and Apex France), employing around 18 staff. Renaud Schoonbroodt, R&D director since 2000, had already left the business before the filing. Rik Hoerée, sales & technical director at Apex BeLux and Apex France, left the company one year ago for a post at Riedel.
Apex was a distributor of many brands across several sectors, including DHD, AVT, Coda, DiGiCo, Genelec, Mogami, Riedel and Sonifex. “I have known Paul for 25 years, when he was sales manager with EML sales. I’ve witnessed the company’s growth from a close distance,”
comments sound engineer Patrick Demoustier. “I heard the news on my 50th birthday and it was very emotional – a business icon is at an end…” he concludes. “Nobody saw this coming,” comments Jo Van den Wijngaerde – CEO of rental house Soundfield, and one of
Paul van Hees (left) and Renaud Schoonbroodt outside the Apex HQ on the occasion of the anniversary of the company’s 20th anniversary in 2011
the leading DiGiCo users in Belgium. “We recently had meetings about upgrading and expansion of our DiGiCo inventory. We still have equipment in Apex’s repair workshop and are talking to the administrator to retrieve it.” Soundfield was the first to use the SD5 console in Belgium – the company currently has six DiGiCo desks for rental. Van den Wijngaerde says he had the impression that Apex was a
healthy company despite the economic crisis. “We were all surprised…” Pieter Begard, managing director of Studio Haifax, echoes his peer. “At this stage we’re preparing a major project involving quite some new Coda kit – 24 new cabinets and monitors – with Apex playing a crucial role,” says Begard. “We now must see how to continue with Coda directly and give us the support Apex would.” Studio Haifax also uses three DiGiCo consoles and Apex products for rental assignments. “You could say that a considerable part of our business is based on Apex,” adds Begard. “Nobody expected this.” I www.apex-audio.be
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industrymovers Ronni Guggenheim has joined Barix as CEO replacing company founder Johannes G Rietschel who will become executive chairman and CTO. Guggenheim has previously held management roles with Minicom Digital Signage, ComQi and neXius. www.barix.com Metropolis Studios has appointed Nina Jackson to manage its recording studios and engineer roster. Jackson has over 20 years of experience in the music industry covering everything from music engineering and publishing to studio/tour booking and festival production. www.thisismetropolis.com
Mark Davidson fills first Focusrite RedNet role
provider VDC Trading as international sales manager. In this new role he will be responsible for the management and development of the international markets for the Van Damme range of professional grade AV cables. Pucello joins VDC with more than a decade of international sales experience in the wire and cable industry. www.vdctrading.com Lisa Schmitt has taken up the position of marketing assistant at Salzbrenner Stagetec Mediagroup. She will assist marketing director Anja Korn and interface between the company’s headquarters and its
manager and specialised in digital consoles, DSP and loudspeaker systems. Prior to that he worked for dbTechnologies UK and Amber Sound. www.cuk-audio.com TC Group has announced the appointment of Fred Speckeen to the role of global business manager for Dynaudio Professional. In this new position based at TC Group Americas HQ in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, he will be responsible for driving all aspects of the Dynaudio Professional brand. He brings more than 20 years of industry experience to the role. www.tcgroup.tc
Ronni Guggenheim Barix
Nina Jackson Metropolis Studios
David Morbey D&M Pro
Stefano Pucello VDC Trading
Lisa Schmitt Salzbrenner Stagetec Mediagroup
Rich Soper CUK Audio
Fred Speckeen TC Group
Elliot Whyte Prism Sound
Appointment is in response to strong sales and high interest in the audio networking system FOLLOWING WIDESPREAD interest in Focusrite’s RedNet Dantebased Ethernet audio networking system, and in the wake of a year which has seen sales of the brand expand by over 60%, Focusrite has announced the appointment of Mark Davidson to the position of business manager for RedNet the first appointment specific to the nascent technology. Davidson has a strong background in both professional audio and data networking sales and marketing, having worked at Optocore, Clear-Com and Riedel. “Audio networking is emerging as a major theme in professional audio. There’s an extensive market for RedNet in a whole range of markets from live performance to fixed installations,” said Davidson.
“In addition to the obvious larger-scale markets, I think there are a significant number of niche applications for this technology. I want to identify those areas and develop them alongside the mainstream applications.” Damian Hawley, Focusrite’s sales director, is similarly enthusiastic about Davidson’s appointment. “Mark brings exactly the combination of skills we need to progress the already impressive success of this new line,” he said. “RedNet represents the high end of our professional audio market. It brings together all our skills, old and new – in analogue and digital design, mic preamps, digital conversion and now networking – and takes them to new heights. The RedNet line has extraordinary potential, and Mark will be central to realising our ambitions in this area.” www.focusrite.com
As part of its organisational restructure, D&M Pro has named Mark Perrins president, while David Morbey becomes global product marketing manager. Morbey joined the company in 2005 as general manager while Morbey was previously European product marketing manager. He will now be responsible for product planning for the company’s entire portfolio of products. www.d-mpro.com Stefano Pucello has joined AV cables and solutions
15 branches around Germany and abroad. www.stagetec.com Rich Soper has joined CUK Audio as brand manager, live sound, with responsibility for sales and support of Cadac, Clair Bros, Cordial, db Technologies, Outline, Pivitec and Powersoft. Soper has a background as a front of house engineer, working on tours, cruise liners and live events. He joins CUK Audio from Yamaha Commercial Audio where he held the position of regional
Prism Sound has boosted its Test and Measurement department with the appointment of Elliott Whyte to the position of junior applications engineer. Whyte recently graduated from Birmingham City University with a first class honours degree in Music Technology. During his second year at university he began building his own audio equipment and secured a work placement with Technical Earth Ltd where he worked with Prism Sound’s dScope Series III audio analyser. www.prismsound.com
linear large-scale sound reinforcement system
Powerful. Linear. With tremendous headroom. Hear what people are saying at meyersound.com/leo
8 l November 2013
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For more events news visit www.psneurope.com/events
expos&events BVE NORTH
EDITORIAL PLANNER
12-13 November Leeds, UK www.bvenorth.co.uk
DECEMBER 2013
SPOTLIGHT
BVE NORTH is the leading broadcast and production technology event in the north of England (and the only event of its kind outside London), and attracts over 100 industryleading exhibitors. It is held within the impressive former Manchester Central railway station and is part of the The Manchester Central Complex, formerly GMEX). A highlight of the show will undoubtedly be the ‘Big Stories Small Cameras – the power of handheld shooting’ session with Phil Coates. The director cameraman (right) will share his experiences of capturing the action and recording quality audio with small handheld camcorders from a range of landmark productions filmed for the BBC, Discovery and Channel 5 and for the forthcoming documentary feature, Ice Lab North Pole. (Coates is pictured relaxing between takes in, cough, tropical climes…)
f Studio monitors What’s selling in the nearfield – and further a field. The tweaky world of speakers in studios f Sport in 2014: a preview Looking ahead to the World Cup, the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and more f Review of 2013 A corker of a year, or one we’d rather forget? At least we had a
EVENTS Your complete calendar of expos and conferences for the months ahead
summer this time around... Deadline: 19 November
Viscom & Digital Signage World 7-9 November Frankfurt, Germany www.viscom-messe.com
2014 NAMM Show 23-26 January Anaheim, US www.namm.org
BVE 25-27 February London, UK www.bvexpo.com
NAB 5-10 April Las Vegas, US www.nabshow.com
LDI/Live Design 18-24 November Orlando, US www.ldishow.com
MIDEM 2014 25-28 January Cannes, France www.midem.com
ISCEx 2014 5 March Milton Keynes, UK www.isce.org.uk
LLB 23-25 April Stockholm, Sweden www.llb.se
JTSE 26-27 November Paris, France www.jtse.fr
BETT 30 January-2 February London, UK www.bettshow.com
CeBIT 11-15 March Hanover, Germany www.cebit.de
PLASA Focus 30 April-1 May Leeds, UK www.plasafocus.com
2014
Integrated Systems Europe 2014 4-6 February Amsterdam, Netherlands www.iseurope.org
Prolight + Sound 12-15 March Frankfurt, Germany www.prolight-sound.com
ABTT 11-12 June London, UK www.abttheatreshow.co.uk
International CES 7-10 January 2014 Las Vegas, US www.cesweb.org
SIEL 10-14 February Paris, France www.siel-expo.com
CABSAT 2014 23-25 March Dubai, UAE www.cabsat.com
InfoComm 2014 14-20 June Las Vegas,, US www.infocommshow.org
Distribution: 29 November
JANUARY 2014 f Test & Measurement It’s all about precision f Cables + Connectors Something VERY SPECIAL and out of the ordinary is planned for this most humble of features... f ISE preview Make your plan for Amsterdam... f NAMM preview ...and what to find in Anaheim Deadline: 12 December Distribution: 6 January
TG 1000 DIGITAL WIRELESS SYSTEM –––––– PROFESSIONAL AUDIO PRODUCTS MADE IN GERMANY
Safe long-term Investment Offering a bandwidth 470–789 MHz, TG 1000 is a safe long-term investment.
2.1 ms Total Latency TG 1000 features a total latency of only 2.1 ms, which is trend-setting for digital wireless systems.
www.beyerdynamic.com/tg1000 beyerdynamic GmbH & Co. KG Theresienstr. 8 . 74072 Heilbronn . Germany . Phone +49 7131 617-0 . Fax +49 7131 617-224 . info@beyerdynamic.de
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technologynew products PSNEurope compiles this month’s list of hot new products DPA
Podium Microphones What is it? Two new microphones based on the d:dicate range. Details: DPA’s new podium microphones combine the modular capsules from its d:dicate Recording
Microphones with any of the company’s newly introduced modular active booms and modular active cables. The directional gooseneck microphones use interference tubes and pre-polarised backplates to ensure speech intelligibility.
And another thing: The product was initially designed for the Nobel Prize Organisation, which needed a dedicated podium solution for its 2012 Peace Prize presentation. www.dpamicrophones.com
SONNOX/FRAUNHOFER
CODEC TOOLBOX What is it? A collaboration between plug-in developer Sonnox and MP3 creator Fraunhofer IIS, which offers real-time codec auditioning, metadata editing and batch encoding.
DIGICO
SD5B What is it? A broadcast application specific extension to the SD5.
allows easy access to single or multiple users.
Details: The SD5 fits directly into the shoes of the D5, but benefits from the advancements made possible by DiGiCo’s proprietary Stealth Digital Processing and floating point Super FPGA technology. As with the SD5, the SD5B’s worksurface is a low noise, heat dissipation worksurface benefiting from Hidden-til-lit (HTL) technology. Its five full colour TFT LCD screens, three of which are touch sensitive, have a new configuration that
And another thing: As standard, the SD5 comes with a 2GB fibre optic system, which is capable of running 448 channels of I/O at 96kHz, plus 56 console-toconsole tie lines, allowing connection to up to 14 of the SD variant racks. There are three redundant MADI ports and local I/O includes eight microphone inputs, eight line outputs and eight AES I/O (mono). www.digico.biz
Details: Codec Toolbox is comprised of two applications: the Toolbox Plug-In, for real-time mix auditioning through various codecs; and the Toolbox Manager, for encoding and adding metadata. A ‘clip safe’ function ensures clean encoded files, as the software auto-compensates for any overs during the encode process. And another thing: Codec Toolbox will cost just £35 (around €30). www.sonnox.com
TS 100, TS 200 What is it? Two full-range additions to the Vertical Array loudspeaker family.
full-range loudspeaker boasts power handling of 300W/RMS. Its high sound pressure and precisely controlled dispersion make it ideal for applications such as in mobile use as a medium sized FOH.
SC4XX What is it? A four-way active monitor series. Details: The SC4xx series features two models: the SC407, 6.5” powered studio monitor; and the SC408, 8” powered studio monitor (pictured). Both models are equipped with a pair of SilverCone woofers and a midrange unit with glass fibre coated diaphragm in honeycomb structure. The SC4xx series utilises EVE Audio’s proprietary AMT
DYNACORD
Details: The TS 100 two-way, fullrange box boasts power handling of 150W/RMS and is designed for a multitude of applications, including clubs and restaurants, hotels and for supplying frontfill in theatres. It weighs just 7.1kg. The TS 200 two-way,
EVE AUDIO
And another thing: Linear-phase FIR (Finite Impulse Response) presets and presets for conventional digital controllers are available for both systems. www.dynacord.com
(Air Motion Transformer) technology with a bigger magnet system to deliver transparency and delicate treble with virtually no distortion, even at high output levels. And another thing: The SC407 boasts a response of 35Hz to 21kHz and a peak SPL of 116dB, while the SC408 features a response of 32Hz to 21kHz and a peak SPL of 118dB. www.novadistribution.co.uk
A success story continues TS 200 AND PS 312 AS AN ULTRA-COMPACT SYSTEM
Vertical Array Systems The loudspeaker cabinets of the Vertical Array series satisfy the highest standards in terms of excellent sound providing extremely high sound pressure levels and optimal versatility. Whether used for small family parties or a big gala reception – the Vertical Array Systems stand for best sound entertainment with minimum effort. Premium quality of sound achieved by high-quality speaker parts and crossover design.
www.dynacord.com
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technologynew products TUBE-TECH
MP2A What is it? A 19”, 2U 2-channel premium microphone preamp/DI. PHOENIX AUDIO
NICERIZER JUNIOR What is it? A 16-input and four-output Class A discrete active summing mixer and amplifier, based on the Nicerizer 16 mk2. Details: Designed to offer high-quality analogue summing to clients where
sonic quality is imperative the Nicerizer Junior has 16 inputs containing 16 Class A discrete input buffer amps, four outputs containing DSOP2 Class A discrete output amps and four custom wound transformers. Each channel has panning with
EARTHWORKS
And another thing: A high impedance setting makes the MP2A ideal for use with ribbon microphones. www.tubetech.com
And another thing: The product was on show at last month’s AES Convention in New York. www.phoenixaudio.net
SONIFEX
521 ZDT What is it? Preamp for 500 series racks. Details: Based on the ZDT Preamp technology designed by David Blackmer, the 521 brings the standards of the ZDT Zero Distortion Preamplifiers to the convenient 500 series format, providing a pristine amplification option to the 500 series rack. The solid state device features switchable phantom power, polarity invert, and peak amplitude clip detection. The transformerless output stage is designed to drive long cable runs without loss of quality. Transparent gain is switchable from 5dB to 60dB in 5dB steps.
detented/stepped control and an 8dB level boost.
Details: The MP2A boasts a switchable +48 V phantom power, selectable microphone impedance (600/1,200/2,400 ohms), phase reverse switch, low-cut filter (20Hz/40Hz/off) as well as a switchable -20dB pad. The input
gain is adjustable from +10dB to +70dB (coarse by 10dB steps, fine by 2dB steps). UK distributor Bigger Boat claims the MP2A delivers “a rich, full-bodied sound” of a quality “that places it among the very best mic preamps on the planet”.
CM-AESB3, CM-AESX3, CM-MS3 What is it? Three transformer-based passive splitter products.
And another thing: It’s the first time Earthworks has produced a 500 series preamp.
Details: The CM-AESB3 is a passive ‘one-to-three’ splitter designed to split a single AES3ID digital audio source to up to three destinations, using female BNC connectors. The CM-AESX3 is similarly a passive one-to-three splitter used to create multiple AES3 digital audio signals from a single source, using Neutrik XLR connectors. The CM-MS3 can split a single
microphone or line source to up to three destinations, using Neutrik XLR connectors. It uses high-quality audio transformers that are capable of accepting input levels up to +18dBu, making the splitter useful
in both microphone and line level splitting applications. And another thing:The units are housed in aluminium and require no power to operate. www.sonifex.co.uk
Mixing to the power of Ten: The DiGiCo SD Ten provides a potent new blend of features, performance and flexibility which, when coupled with the exceptional sonic clarity, redefines what’s possible with a ‘mid-price’ digital console. It’s all here. Taking its cues from the acclaimed SD7, the SD Ten includes the power and purity of Stealth Digital Processing™, the smoothness, accuracy and dynamic range of the latest generation Super FPGA technology with floating point processing and an application-specific feature set that’s tailored to both front-of-house and monitor mixing. And when you’re working with large numbers of inputs and outputs, the SD Ten will readily accommodate, offering 96 channels with full processing, 12 of which are Flexi Channels, 48 assignable busses which offer multiple configurations, plus a stereo or LCR master buss and a 16 x 16 output matrix. Want to know more - mouse on over to www.digico.biz/sd10
SD-Rack. The world’s first intelligent I/O rack with Multiple Synchronous I/O, offering up to 448 physical I/Os on a redundant loop at 96kHz.
DiGiCo UK Ltd. Unit 10 Silverglade Business Park, Leatherhead Road, Chessington, Surrey KT9 2QL. Tel: +44 (0) 1372 845600
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Studio SOUNDBITES London-based mastering engineer and Black Saloon Studios founder Mandy Parnell has acquired a Lyra 2 audio interface from Prism Sound. The unit has already been used on remixes for Bjork, The xx, Hejira, Medieval Baebes’ Of Kings & Angels and Johann Johannsson’s soundtrack for the film Prisoners. “Prism Sound products play an integral part in helping me to achieve what my customers want,” said Parnell. www.prismsound.com Universal Music has launched its High Fidelity Pure Audio range of audio products that use Blu-ray technology to deliver what the company calls “the ultimate listening experience to the user”. Users have a choice of several different sound formats including PCM, Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio at 2.0 and 5.1 surround sound. Artists with releases already on the format include Bob Marley, Nirvana and The Rolling Stones. www.universalmusic.com Production sound mixer Ian Sands has won the Best Sound BAFTA Cymru award for his work on the 2012 film The Gospel of Us. “I have worked on many films and TV shows but this project was certainly a challenge,” he said. The production sound team also included dubbing mixer, Emyr Morris, minstrel recordists Jules Davies, Dafydd Pierce and Nick Stewart. Post production was undertaken by Dia Shell and Ellie Russell. www.bafta.org Solid State Logic’s Sigma remote controlled analogue mix engine is now shipping. Using proprietary MDAC control technology first featured in the company’s Duality and AWS studio consoles, Sigma’s 100% analogue summing engine can be driven by automation data created within a user’s DAW of choice. Sigma features 16 flexible input channels, which can be individually switched between being mono or stereo for up to 32 channels at mixdown. www.solid-state-logic.com
For the latest studio news www.psneurope.com/studio
Multi-award winning producer and songwriter Paul Epworth
UNITED KINGDOM
Miloco and WSDG restore Church
“I bought the studios as my own personal recording space and at one stage – with the problems in the wider music business – it looked like the chance of selling it on as a working studio were close to zero. I know Paul has lots of plans and I wish him and the studio the very best.” Epworth said: “David approached me as a last call to see if he could keep the building as a studio rather than let it go to residential. I was equally as keen to keep a piece of London recording history running and we finally completed the exchange at the start of October.
“It’s a fantastic place and I intend to refurbish the studio to make it a viable commercial business. I hope we can keep it as a recording studio for the next 10-20 years with a bit of luck.” Epworth has engaged the services of the Walters-Storyk Design Group of New York to redesign the studios, with Miloco Builds carrying out the construction. When the studio complex reopens next year, it will be managed and booked by Miloco. “Paul has been looking for the perfect studio for a while and he has now bought a studio with a great heritage and with his vision, it is going to become one of the most impressive studio complexes in London,” Miloco managing director Nick Young revealed to PSNEurope. “WSDG has built some breathtaking studios around the world and we are looking forward to working on this exciting project and to help Paul’s vision become reality.” The Church Studios has attracted a vast array of artists over its two-decade history, including Bob Dylan, Radiohead and My Bloody Valentine. A blog at the studios’ website will document the transformation of the site. I www.thechurchstudios.com
industry that has arguably been neglected up until we launched.” The judging panel includes David Arnold (composer, Quantum of Solace, Casino Royale) Mark Roalfe (chairman and executive creative director, RKCR/Y&R) and game developers from Rocksteady, Funcom and Guerrilla Games among others. The nomination period closes on 30 November. Winning entries will be honoured at a ceremony on 27 February 2014, in London. I www.masawards.com
The Noisettes perform at 2013’s awards
Prayers answered: the Church will continue as a studio By Dave Robinson PAUL EPWORTH has bought the Church Studios in north London from musician David Gray. The studios will be run by the Miloco Group, following a redesign by the Walters-Storyk Design Group. The Adele co-writer and Brit-winning producer’s move has saved the historic Crouch Hill building from being converted into flats, a proposal that was put forward by Gray following his conclusion that its role as a recording space was “obsolete”. These plans were opposed by former owner Dave Stewart (who set up the studio there in the
1990s) as well as by local residents, as reported by PSNEurope in August of last year. Gray bought the studios, housed in a converted church, from the Eurythmics star in 2004 and went on to record three studio albums there – Life In Slow Motion, Draw The Line and Foundling. “I’m delighted to be handing on this wonderful building in the knowledge that it will remain a vital part of London’s ongoing music heritage,” said Gray. “I am just putting the finishing touches to what will be the fourth studio album I have recorded at The Church and it remains a very inspiring place.
UNITED KINGDOM
Nominations open for Music + Sound Awards THE MUSIC+SOUND Awards is now accepting entries for its third annual celebration of excellence in music and sound design in the media. Anyone involved in the production process from the worlds of gaming, film, TV and
advertising is invited to submit their work. Co-founder Nick Payne said: “Since its inception in 2011, the Music+Sound Awards have grown to become a national and international stamp of excellence, recognising an area of the
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studionews UNITED KINGDOM
Toast’s reputation spreads When Craig Silvey and Miloco created a new mix facility in west London, it didn’t take long for the diary to become jam-packed with work. Crumbs, says Dave Robinson THE RESIDENT of Toast has an itch: a gear itch. “I don’t really need any new tech,” explains Craig Silvey, “but with the creation of a new studio, I’ve gotten the bug again!” Toast is the reincarnation of two studios Silvey has worked in extensively during his busy career; Matt Johnson’s nowdefunct Garden Studios in
Craig Silvey, mixer to the stars
Shoreditch, east London, where he worked between 2009 and 2012, and his original Toast Studios in California. It’s based in a building used by musicians, record producers and songwriters, in a classic Brill Building-style, media hub arrangement, round the corner from Ladbroke Grove. (“And five minutes from my house!” says the American.) When The The’s Johnson closed the Garden at the end of 2012, securing new premises for Silvey’s much sought-after mixing skills – and quickly – was paramount. A connection with Swedish producer Martin Terefe (KT Tunstall, Jamie Cullum) drew Silvey to the new west London location. He transported his collection of vintage outboard gear, including
Toast main room featuring the much-prized 1972 Neve 8026 desk the 1972 Neve 8026 desk he has owned since 1995, into Toast over the Christmas break. As with the Garden, the Miloco Group is managing the bookings at the facility. Toast is split between a large, day-lit control room and a recording booth big enough for overdubs or a drum kit. “Plus Martin’s
big tracking room is upstairs if I need it,” Silvey adds. “It took a while to get used to the acoustics – they were very different to the Garden,” he continues. Miloco subsequently drafted in an acoustician to tune the space, followed by Silvey installing his beloved Boxer T2 monitors there. “Now its closer
UNITED KINGDOM
The all new Jungle look Change isn’t always easy, but sometimes – as Jungle has discovered – being forced to change is a very good thing, writes Erica Basnicki UNEXPECTEDLY TOLD to move out of its Dean Street facility, London post house Jungle has completed a £500,000 refurbishment of its facilities, bringing all its studios under one roof – by knocking through the wall that once separated its offices at 143 and 145 Wardour Street. The overall refurbishment took place over six months – and unfortunately began with the Dean Street building “and then we learned the landlord was turning it into flats,” said studio co-manager Chris Turner. The revamp of the Wardour facility involved the construction of three new studios, including a new
Jungle’s studio co-manager and senior sound designer Chris Turner
7.1 Dolby cinema studio, for a total of 10. From a technical standpoint Jungle continued its almost 20-year relationship with Fairlight, upgrading all its studios to EVO mixing consoles with Fairlight’s Xynergi DAW. “We’ve had (Fairlight systems) since 1994, the original MX2s,” said Jungle’s technical manager Patrick James. “We’re not trying to be different, we’re not trying to fight the trend,” added Turner. “The great thing about it is that if we want to change something, or there’s something we want to build into it or configure it differently, we just write them an email and they do it. If I had Pro Tools, I’m not even sure who I would write to.” It is very obvious that speed and flexibility are very important to Jungle’s workflow. The inaugural project in the
Technical manager Patrick James 7.1 Dolby cinema studio was Sony Mobile’s ‘Best Of You’ spot, requiring mixes for several territories – “basically, the world”, said Turner – meaning several loudness standards to conform to. Nugen’s VislM-H loudness meter ticked those all-important adaptability boxes: “We use it on every job we do,” said Turner. “We do have all the other boxes that have ever been invented, but when they update the software, you have to wait until they get it over to you, then you have to update the box.
to the Garden’s sound. Maybe even better.” Since the official launch in July, Silvey says he’s been “as busy as I want to be”, with the likes of Goldfrapp, Arcade Fire, The National and old friends The Horrors all dropping in for mix sessions. Recent projects include work for Rae Morrison, a new signing to Atlantic, and a solo album by Hamilton Leithauser, frontman of indie band The Walkmen. “A good portion of my sound comes from the Neve desk, so it was good to get that back in place and working here,” he remarks. “The mix buss has a certain sound – it’s beefier than later models.” Asked to highlight three other pieces of ‘go-to’ kit in his extensive collection, Silvey highlights a Thermionic Culture Phoenix compressor, original Helios 69 modules from Chris Blackwell’s Island Studios, and an Ibanez AD202 analogue delay (“you can pick them up for 200 quid”). But there’s still that itch to scratch… “I’ve been contemplating more API modules,” he reveals, “and a major Pro Tools upgrade. I haven’t had to upgrade so far. I’m still on version 8!” I www.miloco.co.uk/studios/toast This, I just change the settings and I’m away.” Each studio is technically identical and fully networked, with James currently applying the same consistency to the monitoring with Genelec active speakers. “At the moment we’ve got a little bit of a mixture,” he said. “We’ve got some M&Ks, some older Questeds. Putting the GLM software all the way through makes it that much easier to move between rooms because they sound so much closer at that point.” A forced eviction is never a welcomed event, but its evident Jungle has used the external pressure to its advantage: “We had no choice, our hands were tied, but it’s given us the opportunity to make some great studios here,” said Turner. “We’ve always had good communication as a company: everyone works in a set way and anyone can pick up anyone else’s job and just get on with it, it’s easy. But physically just being in one place makes life so much easier.” I www.thejunglegroup.co.uk
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studionews SOUNDBITES Engineer/producer Bruce Botnick has purchased three JBLM2 master reference monitors for use as left/centre/right speakers in his studio. Botnick first encountered the M2 at the 2012 AES Convention, when it was still in the development stage. “I heard these loudspeakers in a less-than-ideal environment and they still sounded amazing,” he said. www.jbl.com Synthax Audio UK is introducing a five-year warranty on all RME audio products purchased from authorised UK dealers. The warranty applies when customers register online within 30 days of purchase, and excludes accessories. Dave West, sales and marketing manager at Synthax Audio said: “We wanted to demonstrate the products’ excellent track record and offer our clients absolute confidence in RME.” www.synthax.co.uk Focal Press has published Digital Audio Editing, a guidebook to sound production. Written by Simon Langford, it offers guidance to readers on simple corrective editing, like cutting, copying, and pasting, and more complex creative editing, such as beat mapping and time-stretching. It is intended to help with tasks such as comping vocal tracks, restoring old recording, working with film dialogue or sound effects, and creating remixes.
UNITED KINGDOM/UNITED STATES
SSL’s Matrix, reloaded By Erica Basnicki SOLID STATE Logic launched an updated version of its Matrix console – the Matrix2 – at the 135th AES Convention in New York. The new version incorporates feedback from customers and provides a collection of new features, including an upgrade to the console’s integrated software controlled patching of analogue channel inserts. Hardware device inserts can now be loaded directly from the console hardware controls, with a new interface that facilitates loading individual processors,
Dan Duffell is all smiles at the debut of Matrix 2 A/B comparison of different processors and building processor chains.
Additionally, the A-FADA (Analogue Fader Accesses DAW Automation) summing
UNITED STATES
API drops The Box By Erica Basnicki API USED the occasion of the 135th AES Convention to launch The Box project analogue console, designed for audio professionals with project
or home studios who require a smaller format console with a “big console sound”. The Box features the same circuitry, performance and “API sound” as the company’s Vision, Legacy Plus and 1608 consoles.
The Box: Small format, big sound “The Box offers an easy, turnkey solution for recording and mixing,” said API president
system used in Duality, AWS and the new SSL Sigma rack has been introduced to enable the analogue faders of Matrix2 to be driven by automation data from a user’s DAW. A collection of smaller new features have also been added, including ‘partial TR setup save and import,’ which allows selected parts of the console setup to be saved and imported as setup templates; “automatic dB readout” for Pro Tools users, allowing the scribble strip to automatically display fader values upon touch; modifier key ‘press and hold’ functionality for Cubase/ Nuendo users and new DAW templates for PreSonus Studio One and Ableton Live. Matrix2 will ship in December 2013 priced at £14,749 (€18,487) ex-VAT. I www.solidstatelogic.com
Larry Droppa. “It’s a great option for people who record a few channels at a time, but demand the warmth and punch that a large API console delivers. In addition to four inputs, full centre section control, and 16 channels of API’s famous summing, the icing on the cake is a classic API stereo compressor on the program bus. Now you can truly record and mix… in The Box.” I www.apiaudio.com
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studionews BELGIUM
Serendipitous captures River Scheldt To celebrate 150 years of the abolishment of the River Scheldt toll, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic performed a live rendition of the oratorium De Schelde – the masterpiece was recorded live by Serendipitous, reports Marc Maes IT WAS 150 years ago that the toll (levied by the Dutch) on shipping in the Scheldt was finally abolished, enabling Antwerp to develop into a major international port. In addition to numerous festive events, the Port of Antwerp Authority organised a live performance of classical composer Peter Benoit’s De Schelde. The concert was staged at the Waagnatie port hangar, with The Royal Flemish Philharmonic performing, featuring six solo singers and the Flemish Radio Choir and the (Dutch) Groot Omroepkoor. Motormusic classical division Serendipitous was assigned to record the concert for CD and vinyl release. A crew of three, with chief engineer Steven Maes, had the recording mobile just outside the venue, on the River Scheldt quay.
“For this recording we used 32 microphones altogether,” explains Maes. “We used four Neumann U 87 for the lead singers and a AB stereo microphone system with two Neumann M150. All of the 32 microphones were channelled via Grace Design M802 remotely controlled preamps and then steered via MADI in the Pro Tools HDX recording system. We used a Nuendo digital recorder as back up – standard procedure with live recordings. The acoustics in the port warehouse were not ideal and we used a Bricasti M7 external reverb to smooth the balance between the lead singers, the orchestra and choir – to achieve more depth in the recording.” Maes says Serendipitous, launched some 10 years ago within Motormusic, has grown
The Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra performing “De Schelde” on the quays of the River Scheldt organically into the classical music niche. “With Motormusic having a name and fame in pop and rock music, we have been importing quite some of that technology in the classical world – these influences are omnipresent and decisive in the sound colour.” Gradually, Serendipitous managed to win over the conservatism of the classical music industry – bearing in mind the philosophy of a “natural good sound”, it introduced multitracking while
Serendipitous team: L-R: Steven Maes, recording engineer, Tom Proost, system engineer, Floren Van Stichelen, assistant others were still recording on two tracks. The recording of the live CD and vinyl albums marks the extensive collaboration between Serendipitous and the The Royal
Flemish Philharmonic, with over 20 jobs today – in addition Serendipitous also takes on the practical management of The Royal Flemish Philharmonic Recordings label: recording, mixing and mastering, and distribution is handled by Serendipitous, alongside its own Evil Penguin label. With over 110 recording days in 2012, Serendipitous is making its way, both in Belgium and abroad, where the studio works for labels such as Challenge Classic Pentatone (The Netherlands) and the Plazetto Bru Zane foundation (France). In other news, Motormusic welcomed audio post-production company AgeNT and image production company Filmmore into its fold. “Mechelen is rapidly becoming a real media hub, thanks in part to the Flemish government, which – through Screen Flanders – gives a financial incentive to audiovisual productions spending part of their budget in the Flemish Region,” says Hans Bellens, owner of MotorMusic. I www.motormusic.be www.serendipitous.eu
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“We’ve got one of the best sounding rooms in the region, if not the best”Andrew Archer
studioreport UNITED KINGDOM
Lofty endeavour “There is/a place/in Newcastle. They call/the Loft/Studio...” Erica Basnicki talks to the men who converted the Animals’ former haunt BEFORE THE Animals became one of Tyneside’s best-known rock bands, they recorded an album as the Kon-Tors at Mortonsound studio in Newcastle. Some 50 years later that very studio has been renovated, restored and revamped by music industry veterans, and long-time Newcastle residents, Andrew Archer and John Elliott, reopening as Loft Music Studios. The duo took over the studio last July and invested £60,000 (€71,000) in upgrading the facility, which they will run alongside their existing business, Loft Music: a sync agency with clients including Sony, Disney, Electronic Arts, the BBC and Channel 4. “We had to move out of our old studio because the building was bought and knocked down
Renovation work began as soon as Archer and Elliott took possession last summer, though according to Archer the live rooms themselves were already top-notch. “We’ve got one of the best sounding rooms in the region, if not the best,” he said. “It has amazing acoustics; everybody really likes the drum sound in there. It’s often the case that studios start with the technology, and build the room around it. But we had the opportunity to start with the room, and add in the technology we felt was right for the space afterwards.” In the case of Loft Music Studios, the ‘right technology’ centres around an Allen & Heath GS-24RM console. “Allen & Heath, up until the ’70s, was really focused on big studio consoles and had as good a name as Neve and SSL,” Archer explained. “They’ve got the
Loft Music Studios is the brainchild of John Elliott, left, and Andrew Archer to build a new police station,” said Archer. “We were homeless for a bit and then a friend of a friend said ‘You know there’s this studio being sold in Newcastle.’ Nobody sells a studio; that never happens! We looked at the space and we were just blown away. It’s 185sqm, and it has an office and another production suite at
Live Room 1 at Loft Music Studios the front, so we can run the business along side of it, because you know, studios don’t make a lot of money.” (Laughs).
experience to do it, they’re a British company which we like, and that desk really ticks a lot of boxes for a modern studio.”
A collection of over 19 different preamps including Neve, Helios and Malcolm Toft’s new Ocean Audio provide additional flavour, “so if somebody wants to come in and doesn’t want to use the desk at all, they can have a clean path” said Archer, adding that “for big jobs, it’s quite a good utility piece. The quality versus the affordability is excellent for it.” Next to be installed in the studio will be a pair of Focal Twin 6 monitors, which will supplement the studio’s existing of Genelec 8040 and Adam Audio A7 monitors. Since its official opening in June of this year, Loft Music Studio has been fully booked up with work on “big Hollywood movie trailers”, an album project for Global Underground/ Ministry of Sound with Archer and Elliott’s own band Trafik, and recording up-and-coming local bands. It’s Archer’s hope that Loft Music Studios can also help grow the area’s music scene, and perhaps keep local musicians ‘local’ just a little bit longer. “There’s a lot of talent in the north east of England, and a lot of the time people seem to think that they need to go to London to work with great producers, great engineers and great studios. That’s a good thing, of course, but what we want to do is say there is this talent and expertise in the north east, let’s try and keep everyone up here for as long as possible.” I www.loftmusicstudios.co.uk
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studionews NORWAY/NETHERLANDS
New NRK truck for Peace Prize On the occasion of the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian public broadcaster will make use of its brand new audio vehicle – the result of pan-European craftsmanship, reports Marc Maes THE NORWEGIAN state broadcaster Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK) operates 13 radio channels, alongside three TV channels. The broadcaster’s management has decided to upgrade its fleet of mobile audio and video production trucks with a new generation of trucks. The L1 (L for lyd, Norwegian ‘sound’) is the first in the new series and marks an innovative design with three working areas instead of two: in addition to the ‘traditional’ production and control rooms, the L1 also includes a fully insulated machine room. “The new truck will be used for radio, audio for television and straightforward audio recordings,” explains Morten Arnevik, NRK project manager. “We are covering anything from small church concerts to mega festivals and events.” It will be deployed to the Oslo Spektrum Arena on 11 December for the annual Peace Prize Concert which will be attended by 6,000 guests but broadcast to 100 countries.
The truck was designed by Belgian company Projectbuilders and installed by Dutch body repair and coach workshop Akkermans. The nucleus of L1 is a Studer Vista 9 console equipped with the Vista FX engine. In addition, the control room also has a large collection of outboard, both analogue and digital (Distressors, Focusrite Red3, TC D-Two), three Bricasti M7 and TC Electronic 6000 reverbs. Final processing runs through a TC Electronic DB-8. “Multitrack recording is performed on an 128-track Pro Tools with back up on JoeCo Blackbox Recorders, plus two-track recording on the DigaSystem [content management system]. We have a Pro Tools running just for plugins, and use the plug-ins in the Vista,” says Morten Arnevik. “You have your favourite Pro Tools plug-ins under the finger while mixing. With Vista FX, we have already quite some effects, reverb and delay on board with
The new truck will be used for radio, TV and audio recordings
the Lexicons. But somebody may want to use Waves, Sonnox or whatever type of EQ on specific channels; that’s when we have the option to insert any plug-in via MADI with the Pro Tools. This truck will be used for downmixing audio content before broadcast and in that case, extra plug-ins come in handy.” Monitors for the control room are Genelec 8240 for 5.1, and Neumann KH120 for alternative stereo monitoring, tuned via a Trinnov ST-2 room optimiser. “The working positions in the van can be adapted for different assignments,” continues Morten Arnevik. “We have a second
engineer position serving the recording equipment and the playout systems from DigaSystem, Q-Lab and Pro Tools. This working post also features a small Soundcraft Si Expression console, directly connected to the Vista via MADI. A third working spot has been installed in the hallway, operating the computers. Some festivals and events want to stream their event so we also have a fourcamera rig with a flight-cased video-mixer, operated from that same hall production room.” With 16 MADI cards, 156 mic inputs, 64 AES/EBU and 48 analogue channels, the L1 has a vast inventory of in/out channels.
The key issues though, according to Arnevik, are acoustics and sound insulation. “The truck will be used for all kinds of events so we had to ensure a comfortable inside temperature in combination with absolutely soundproof insulation,” says Eddy Brants, designer for Projectbuilders. Brants explains that the extra insulation proved to be a specific challenge. “The outside height of the truck was 30cm lower than with similar trucks – this has to do with the maximal height of bridges in Norway. With the ceiling only offering limited options, we integrated the diffusers and the airco as part of the acoustical design.” The L1 will be based in Trondheim, in the middle of the country and will cover the whole vast territory – the truck has therefore been equipped with essential features such as two sleeping facilities. “This truck will have to last some 15 years from now, so thinking ahead was essential,” underlines Arnevik. “The L1 will replace two or three of the existing mobiles and also serve as control room in venues where NRK has no dedicated control room.” The L1 will see its official first assignment with P3 Gull, a music award show, followed by the Peace Prize concert. I www.nrk.no/informasjon www.projectbuilders.eu
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For the latest broadcast news www.psneurope.com/broadcast
broadcast SOUNDBITES Digigram has announced that its full product line will be powered by Ravenna technology, deepening its existing partnership with ALC NetworX. The LX-IP PCIe sound card is the first Ravenna-enabled product being developed by the company. The LX-IP card was previewed at IBC2013, and a model featuring the full Ravenna technology implementation will be available by Q2 2014. www.digigram.com Gearhouse Broadcast is in the process of building the third of four super OB trucks (HD7) for its Australian fleet, which will feature BCR4 audio confidence monitors from BEL Digital Audio. BEL’s BCR-A1 twochannel stereo analogue monitor, BM-A1-2SHD two-channel audio monitor for 3G/HD and SD SDI and BM-A2-E16SHD 16-channel audio monitor/de-embedder/ Dolby decoder, are also being installed in HD7. www.beldigital.com ESPN provided coverage of The British Open Championship this year, enlisting the help of London-based CTV Outside Broadcasts – who for the first time deployed OMNEO network technology in its 10 OB trucks. “The added flexibility and configuration options that OMNEO contributed were of decisive importance during this event,” said Hamish Greig, CTV’s director of engineering. “It worked perfectly and brought huge gains over previous years.” www.ctvob.co.uk With a product exhibition and a paper on loudness, the Salzbrenner Stagetec Mediagroup will join this year’s Taktons Acoustics and Audio Engineering Conference, which will take place in Novi Sad, Serbia, from 13-16 November. “Be ready for a new era” is the title of the paper about loudness technologies in broadcast that Jean-Paul Moerman, Mediagroup’s loudness expert, will present at the event. www.taktons.org
UNITED KINGDOM
Audio specs in place for file-based shift The Digital Production Partnership team
Delivery of UK TV programmes is set to go fully file-based from October 2014. DPP technical standards chair Kevin Burrows discusses the practicalities of the changes, including for surround sound, with Kevin Hilton FILE-BASED TECHNOLOGY for television production and distribution has been a constant theme in the business over the last 10 years. It has been a consistent presence at successive IBCs so it was fitting that the organisation driving the move towards tapeless, data-centric working in the UK, the Digital Production Partnership (DPP), used this year’s show to unveil the latest technical specification and announce that British broadcast will begin to go filebased for programme delivery from 1 October next year. The DPP was set up in 2011 by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 (C4) to inform and advise the broadcast industry on best practice for digital production and data-based distribution of material. The initiative is supported by other broadcasters, including Five, Sky, BT Sport and S4C, as well as independent production companies. At the IBC session Mark Harrison, newly appointed chair of the DPP and controller of production for BBC North, described the organisation’s
progress towards a unified file-based structure for UK broadcasting as a “rather happy roller coaster ride”. He added that while BT Sport was filebased from its recent launch and Sky “as on the way”, ITV and Channel 4 would be “ramping up” for full implementation over the year to 1 October 2014. Harrison observed that the BBC had “a bit of catching up to do” and would use the date as a starting point, with file-based delivery as its preferred means. Audio was a relatively small part of the first DPP spec when it was published in March 2011. This document covered only tape-based operations and in sound terms concentrated on basic track lay-out. A file-based specification followed in February 2012, adding EBU R128 loudness control to track configuration guidance. Version 4.0 of the DPP technical and metadata standards is based on the newly ratified AMWA (Advanced Media Workflow Association) AS-11 version 1.1 specification for MXF (Material eXchange Format)
programme contribution. As well as R128, DPP v4.0 adds optional recommendations for the carriage of multichannel audio metadata in a programme file. Kevin Burrows, chair of the DPP technical standards committee and controller of technical broadcast and distribution at C4, says the industry body was formed to not only bring broadcasters together but also manufacturers. “It doesn’t make sense for companies nowadays to support different standards because of tight profit margins,” he explains. “We’ve done a lot of testing and held a manufacturers’ day during IBC and had a lot of input, particularly with kit for interoperability.” On the sound side Burrows says the main issue for broadcasters – and public service stations in particular – is ensuring all viewers can hear and enjoy the programmes. “There has been some concern from the hearing lobby about people not being able to hear dialogue properly,” he comments, adding that the loudness and
multichannel aspects of the spec have been designed in part to address this issue. The surround sound recommendations have three modes. Mode 1 has dialogue across the front three channels (left, centre, right or LCR); Mode 2 is for programmes with out-of-vision commentary or voice-overs, which are put in the centre channel; Mode 3 covers international or co-production material that has centre-only dialogue and where it is not possible for the UK broadcaster to prepare an alternative mix. Burrows observes that film soundtracks generally have centre dialogue but that “a lot of TV programme makers and broadcasters” want LCR. All commissioned material has to conform to -23 as laid down in R123. This came into operation for UK broadcast at the beginning of September and Burrows says there has been a drop in the number of complaints from viewers about variations in audio levels between programmes, commercials and promos. “R128 has made a difference but we’re not expecting it all to happen immediately, people need time to move across” he says. “Part of the problem is that we’re working with new commissions, which conform to R128, and old or archive programmes, which don’t. “The problem will reduce over time and R128 will minimise it but there will always be an issue with not knowing what commercial might follow a drama with a wide dynamic range. There are also differences in how people are listening – on flat screen TVs with thin speakers or surround systems – and that has an influence as well.” Burrows and his colleagues at the UK broadcasters are hoping agreement can be reached with US studios and TV producers to conform to common standards, so that programmes are more technically consistent. “We’ll never get to the point of universal standards,” he concludes, “but if we can cut down the number of formats that would be a start. It’s looking very hopeful.” I www.digitalproductionpartner ship.co.uk
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broadcastnews UNITED KINGDOM/UNITED STATES
Calrec confirms first Callisto console coup By Erica Basnicki CALREC HAS sold its first Callisto console to American OB company Token Creek Mobile Television, based in Wisconsin, which also purchased an Artemis Beam console. The Callisto, which was launched at IBC2013, will be installed in a new truck destined to cover high school and college sports, as well as corporate and entertainment events, among others. The Artemis Beam has been installed in an existing HD unit that covers a wide variety of applications. “We have two other Calrec desks besides the Artemis Beam and the Callisto, and we’ve always been very happy with them, so when we decided to build new trucks, Calrec was our first choice,” said Brendan Clark, Token Creek’s director of engineering. Token Creek ordered a Callisto console with 44 faders and a 64 x 64
The Calrec Callisto console: first sale already confirmed! mic/line, 72 AES, and four MADI I/O configuration, as well as a GPIO control option. The Artemis Beam console has been installed in Token Creek’s Chippewa HD mobile unit. It is a 64-fader console configured for 256 x 256 MADI, 128 x
FRANCE
Solely SSL for Canal+ Group By Erica Basnicki FRENCH BROADCASTER CANAL+ Group has installed a broadcast audio infrastructure based entirely on Solid State Logic equipment; reportedly the first instance of a major broadcaster opting for an all-SSL framework. The two main studio audio control rooms feature SSL C100 HDS consoles, with C10 HD consoles as backup and to provide a consistent interface and audio quality when used as a submixer. An additional three other studio control rooms feature the C10 HD as the main console with a second C10 HD as backup in two studios, for a total of seven throughout the facility. Beyond the
consoles, routing is based on the SSL MORSE Router and MORSE Stagebox to handle microphone and line I/O via MADI and multiple Alpha-Link LIVE-R MADI/AES/Analogue format converters to connect to the consoles. “Beyond the equipment itself, one of the major costs for building a facility is wiring,” said Jean-Marc Delage, project manager/engineer for CANAL+ Group. “We needed to put together five audio control rooms in such a way that all audio assets could address any console. SSL’s solution was efficient and cost-effective, as the entire hookup was through redundant fibre, so we enjoyed minimal wiring to yield maximum flexibility.” I www.solidstatelogic.com
Canal+ Group opts for an all-SSL solution
128 AES, and 64 x 64 analogue I/O. “By adding two more Calrec consoles to its fleet, Token Creek now has the capability to serve just about any size production or budget,” said Henry Goodman, Calrec’s head of sales and marketing. “The Callisto gives Token
Creek a cost-effective console with all the features and reliability it has come to rely on from Calrec. Selling the first Callisto console to a long-time customer such as Token Creek is especially gratifying because it tells us they have the continued confidence to invest in our newest products.” The Callisto console made its US debut at AES 2013, and will begin shipping in spring 2014. In other news, Calrec reports that it has sold its first console in Lebanon to Beirut-based production company Hedgehog for use in the country’s first high-definition outside broadcast (OB) truck. An Artemis Light console was installed into Hedgehog's first OB truck to complement the HD video with highquality audio for all its mobile TV production projects, including live television shows, sport and entertainment events. I www.calrec.com
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broadcastnews SOUNDBITES The Reproduced Sound Conference, hosted by the Institute of Acoustics, will take place from 12-14 November. Broadcast audio is the focus of this year’s event, titled: Delivering the experience – from imagination to realisation in audio. Two special visits at the BBC’s R&D facility and the University of Salford’s acoustics research unit have also been arranged for conference delegates. www.reproducedsound.co.uk Riedel Communications has acquired Düsseldorf-based mobile streaming specialist Code One, providing Riedel with a portfolio of WAN-focused technology for distributing video, audio and data via mobile networks. “This young company’s key areas of expertise, such as mobile streaming and innovative solutions for data transmission, offer Riedel unique technology that we can use to elevate our solutions to a new level,” said CEO Thomas Riedel. www.riedel.net WRN Broadcast has enabled Seoul-based KBS World Radio to provide a one hour daily transmission in German using an analogue-digital 20kHz simulcast mode of the Digital Radio Mondiale system via a shortwave transmitting station in Sofia, Bulgaria. Broadcasts began on 27 October, which listeners with a DRM receiver can hear on 5875kHz. www.wrn.org
UNITED KINGDOM/RUSSIA
Megahertz assets bought by fellow integrator OKNO-TV By Kevin Hilton INTEGRATION SPECIALIST Megahertz Broadcast Systems Ltd (MHz) has been bought by the UK arm of Russian integrator OKNO-TV. The sale was announced on 14 October, the same day Megahertz was put into administration. Under the deal OKNO-TV (UK) has acquired the business and assets of Megahertz, saving the jobs of all 25 employees. Megahertz has been in the systems integration business for 25 years, installing technical equipment in outside broadcast trucks and TV studios both in the UK and round the world. A recent high-profile contract in Britain was the technical installation at BT Sport’s new studio complex in east London. Company executives have estimated that 66% of Megahertz contracts are GERMANY
outside the UK; installations include an earth station for BT in Poland and two in South Africa for ETV in Cape Town and Johannesburg. In recent years Megahertz has been owned by US technology group Piksel, previously trading as KIT Digital. The company’s administration was handled by Baker Tilly Restructuring and Recovery, working with solicitors Bond Dickinson. The business and assets of Megahertz were bought out of administration by OKNO-TV (UK), a subsidiary of Moscow-based OKNO-TV, which has been supplying and installing equipment in broadcast centres in Russia and neighbouring countries for over 20 years. Adrian Allen, a partner at Baker Tilly Restructuring and Recovery, commented, “We believe this deal represents the
best outcome for creditors. It has safeguarded the jobs of 25 people and ensures a continuity of supply to some of the world’s leading broadcasters.” A Baker Tilly spokesman confirmed to PSNEurope that Megahertz went into administration on 14 October and that further details on that process and creditors will be made public “in due course”.
Jon Flay, managing director of OKNO-TV (UK), said: “The acquisition of Megahertz gives us an immediate in-house capability, with a team of highly respected engineers and project managers that will help to facilitate the expansion of our portfolio to include production vehicles and RF capabilities and to extend our footprint globally.” I www.megahertz.co.uk
GERMANY
OMG! 145 RTW TM3s for WDR By Erica Basnicki
Outside Broadcast provider and studio operator Prolink Television Facilities has taken delivery of a second DiGiCo SD10B console. The first desk was purchased in the summer of 2012 to service the needs of the popular BBC1 show Saturday Kitchen, together with other programmes that had moved to new television studios in Clapham, south west London. The second desk, delivered almost a year later in 2013, has recently been installed in Prolink’s High Definition Outside Broadcast unit. “We completed a significant upgrade to the vision side of the truck in early 2013 and we scheduled the mid-year period to give the sound facilities a similar make over,” said Prolink director Andrew Dugard, speaking of the DiGiCo acquisition. www.prolinktv.co.uk
BT Sports’s new complex in east London was a recent Megahertz installation
ONE OF the original founders of Stagetec, Dr Klaus-Peter Scholz, retired on 31 October. As part of his activities, he provided on-site customer support and technical consulting. In future, this role will be filled by current assistant manager, René Harder. “Stagetec has driven innovation from the first digital Nexus audio networks and Cantus mixing consoles on, going from strength to strength in the 20 years since its founding,” said Scholz. “I am proud to have done my part to build this success – and I think back fondly on the many great times I have had with our customers.” I www.stagetec.com
point”, said Friedrich Neher, head of the master unit service group at WDR. “Also, we liked the idea of using the TM3 as a standalone device. The
Additionally, since freelancers and full-time employees share RTW HAS delivered 145 TM3 the same work areas at WDR, TouchMonitor units to German the company required an broadcaster WDR, Europe’s administration solution to ensure second-largest broadcaster seamless workflows. after the BBC. Martin Leuenberg, The units, which WDR head of sales at RTW, has installed in its regional commented that one of studios and editing suites, the drawbacks of plugenable the broadcaster to in solutions was that comply with EBU R128 “any user can change loudness metering. presets or the setup. With the development Second, this would have of EBU R128, the audio added another GUI to metering reference has an already cluttered shifted from PPM to screen area,” he said. loudness, with a peak RTW’s Devicer level (QPPM) of –9 dBFS DC1 setup software RTW boss Andreas Tweitmann at the introduction of the TM3 to a loudness target of component for the TM3 –23 LUFS (Loudness allows for preset Unit Full Scale). separation of the display customisation, allowing users to WDR already has a large unit and the breakout box configure administration rights number of TM7 and TM9 units, were critical, as this for the application, making sure and “the similarity to the TM7 considerably increases the that only authorized employees and TM9 units already in use flexibility compared to can change the set-up. I www.rtw.de at WDR was an attractive competing products.”
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broadcastreport UNITED KINGDOM
Liquidation for radio industry stalwart Audionics Sheffield-based broadcast equipment firm is wound up after 26 years By Kevin Hilton RADIO EQUIPMENT and integration company Audionics has been wound up and its assets are being sold, PSNEurope has learned. The 26-year-old firm was based in Sheffield and produced a range of products, including distribution amplifiers, talkback systems, audio routing/switching matrices and audio mixers, as well as undertaking custom design and build projects. The liquidator is confident that creditors will receive either full or “substantial” payment. Founded in 1987 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Yorkshire Radio Network (YRN), Audionics was formed to offer the skills of the parent company’s in-house technical team on a commercial basis. YRN’s had already designed much of the equipment used by stations within the group and continued to do this under the Audionics brand, while at the same time working with other commercial broadcasters and the BBC. A management buyout backed by a group of Yorkshire
business people took place in 1991. Involved in this were Phil Myers and Phil Davies, who had been instrumental in building up Audionics as a standalone concern. In 2007 Myers and Davies, who had become executive directors, took over as joint owners of the company. That same year, they hit the headlines when the Audionics HQ was flooded by the River Don, which burst its banks after heavy storms. Audionics established a range that covered power distribution, internet control, digital audio units such as the DA210D distribution amplifier, routing with the MCX4 and the Com2000 talkback system. Liquidator Philip Daly of Daly & Co told PSNEurope that Audionics had been put into a “members’ voluntary liquidation”. This is done when a company is solvent – in other words it can pay its debts; this usually happens because the owners want to retire, or it is a family business and nobody else wants to run it, or the
Two of Audionics’ Silence Detector units business has run its course. There was no indication if any of these was the reason for the winding up of Audionics. However, a source close to the company suggested that the radio specialist’s over-reliance on the domestic market had caused a downturn in sales over the last two years. Daly said there should be “sufficient monies” to pay creditors in full or at least substantially, although this does depend on the sale of Audionics’ premises. He added that eight employees, including two directors, had been in fulltime employment at the time of winding up. All have been made redundant; some have found new jobs while others have decided to retire. I www.audionics.co.uk www.dalyco.co.uk
GERMANY
TV Skyline travels with Vista 1 MAINZ-BASED TV Skyline GmbH is one of the largest OB trucks and service providers in Germany, serving public and private TV channels as well as customers in various industries throughout Europe. To meet the increasing customer demand for surround sound productions, TV Skyline has upgraded the audio technology of its Ü3HD truck with a Studer Vista 1 console. The Vista 1 was sold through Audio Pro, Studer’s German distributor. The Vista 1 in Ü3HD is equipped with 32 faders and offers 32 mic/line inputs, 32 analogue outputs and eight
The Vista 1 is ready for Riedel RockNet! AES/EBU stereo input and output channels, as well as an integrated MADI port. A Riedel RockNet card is installed in the expansion slot of the console, ensuring the integration of the MediorNet system.
One particular advantage to the Vista 1 is that no external hardware is required, according to Jan Saueressig of TV Skyline. “The compact dimensions of the mixer, combined with the fact that no external hardware is needed, was a huge advantage of the Vista 1,” he said. “The easy access to MediorNet was another advantage that made the Vista 1 the obvious choice.” The console was first used in an 8-camera production at the start of the season for the Austrian Bundesliga soccer tournament in Innsbruck. I www.tv-skyline.de. www.audiopro.de
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broadcastfeature UNITED KINGDOM
Building the perfect
OB truck
Kevin Hilton examines the blueprints to see what makes an ideal OB vehicle OUTSIDE BROADCAST trucks have evolved in recent years. It’s not just that they’ve grown in size – although smaller units still have their place – but the technology inside them has changed. This is largely because of the demands put on them by not just established TV broadcasters looking to differentiate themselves from the competition but also the new generation of internet streaming services, which want quality sound and pictures to rival their broadcast competitors. So how do you set about building one? FIND YOUR SPACE Having enough room to work comfortably and not be hampered in what you’re doing
by bumping into things or just a general oppressive feeling is conducive to doing a good job. It’s probably even more of a priority in OB trucks, which have the inherent contradiction of space always being at a premium. Even more so for the audio crew in scanner trucks because the vision control area and, increasingly, the production gallery – with seating for the producer, director, various assistants and sometimes the talent – will always take a great deal of what available real estate there is. A positive point in today’s market is that, as Wayland Twiston Davies, OB specialist with Sony Professional’s systems integration division observes, it
Gearhouse Broadcast is a big builder of OB vehicles, such as this one
is “very rare not to build vehicles with expandable sides”. Back in the days of the first articulated trailer OBs the sound department usually had its own area, separate from the other sections, but now it can have much more room as well. Malcolm Robinson, director of broadcast and media solutions with Broadcast Networks, says in recent years the mixing console has been “central to the final design” of units built by the company. He explains there are two usual configurations for the sound desk. It can be installed across the vehicle facing the production area, although this means the width of the truck could give limited space for
the console’s surface, or along the side of the vehicle’s wall. In both cases a double sound proofed window will give eye contact between personnel in the sound and vision areas. An exception to these approaches is when there is an ‘expanding front’ to the trailer. In this case the console fits across the vehicle but on the front wall, which in turn expands to give what Robinson describes as “significant space for the sound engineer”. Not all OB operators can afford to build a monstrous expanding OB truck or, in practical terms, needs to have one for its particular area of business. ‘Sprinter’-style units, usually based on the long-wheel base Mercedes van of that name, are popular as either mini-scanners for television production or satellite uplinks in news gathering, with basic production and transmission equipment inside. Usually OB installations in this type of vehicle concentrate on the basics or particular equipment needed for a specific job. But Irish facilities company Riverside Television has proved that it is possible to get a technological quart into a motorised pint pot. ROB 1 (Riverside Outside Broadcast) was built into a Mercedes Sprinter 316cdi and although
open-plan inside it does manage to feature distinct areas for vision control, graphics and sound, with a seat for a director or client alongside the production switcher. This has been achieved through some careful planning and physical design. The side wall of the van housing the sliding door bows outwards enough to give the impression of more space than there is, relieving the claustrophobia of being right up against the side of the vehicle. Based round a 32-channel Roland M-300 V-Mixer, the ROB 1 audio area, which Riverside TV managing director Cyril O’Regan describes as his favourite seat in the whole truck, is behind a central racks column. Audio from the small Genelec 8020C loudspeakers above the mixer help form an invisible fence between the sound supervisor and the nextdoor graphics operator but he is still able to talk to others in the van and, by leaning slightly to the right, can see the output of the vision monitors. The vision and production sections of today’s big TV scanners take up a considerable proportion of the available space. This is mainly because of the number of people that need to be in there, both staff doing the actual work and clients watching what is going on. Because good quality loudspeaker monitors
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broadcastfeature are usually installed in the video area, which generally has comfy seats at the back for executives, there is little or no need for a client to be in the sound department. When it comes to audio-only vehicles accommodating someone from the production team, the person paying for everything or the artist involved, is a major consideration. Tim Summerhayes, sound engineer and a director of music for broadcast specialist Red TX, says clients usually “don’t care what equipment you’ve got in the truck” but are instead interested in “the creature comforts”. This includes the now obligatory cosy and relaxing seating, with a wellstocked fridge. Red TX recently refurbished both its trucks; the larger of the two, Red II, now features an additional space that can used for various purposes, including editing or as a listening room. In both vehicles the main mix area has had small loudspeakers
Of course, you could always install your kit in a Land Rover... installed specially to cover the seats at the back where the client/producer sits. Summerhayes acknowledges that this won’t give the same audio picture as at the sweet spot of the mixing console but does convey a good idea of how the output sounds. Surround sound is a common requirement for recording or broadcasting music events,
either as future proofing in case of repeat TV transmissions or for DVD/Blu-ray release. But it is also a major part of sports coverage, so having enough loudspeakers with suitable amplification is now a standard requirement in OB truck design. Positioning all the monitors so that a proper surround picture is produced is crucial, so time should be spent with a good
M
Extensive cabling is put in place along the monitor wall in Telegenic’s OB truck
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broadcastfeature M
acoustic designer or at least a decent CAD program to make sure everything will fit and sound good. In TV 5.1 is still the norm for surround, even if not all broadcasters are providing a multichannel service. As 7.1 has become the base standard in cinemas any OB operators looking for work in the lucrative live event/cinema broadcast market should bear extra speakers in mind. There might be need for even more loudspeakers if spatial sound takes off in conjunction with Ultra High Definition television. UK OB company Telegenic’s new 4k truck, T25, was built by Sony Professional with two speakers in the ceiling of the audio area to provide the necessary height information in any immersive mixes. Malcolm Robinson at Broadcast Network says the company’s design team is working on using the available space in the vehicles to look at creating a better environment for spatial sound, for example by moving equipment bridges or racks out of the audio area or building them into the walls of the production section. The choice of equipment and where it is installed can make a great deal of difference in OB audio sections today. New digital mixing desks are often much smaller than their analogue ancestors and even more immediate digit-based predecessors. And modern routing generally calls for less rack space in the mix area. Which leads on to...
GEARING UP The console remains the heart of any OB audio department but its importance and role now goes beyond the mixing of incoming signals. Digital technology had already changed the way desks were used, adding menus with different feature and function layers as well as automation and recall of settings, but today’s consoles are as much a means of routing and distributing audio feeds on site and to broadcast centres as they are a tool for balancing speech, effects and music. Of the manufacturers of desks commonly installed in OB scanner trucks, Lawo and Stagetec had a basis in audio routing that was brought to bear on the design of their mixing surfaces. Studer and Calrec Audio came more from the
One of the world’s first 4K OB trucks under construction, ahead of Telegenic and Sony’s live 4K trials at the Confederations Cup in Brazil
All shapes and sizes: German media and broadcast specialists Studio Hamburg MCI followed up the installation of four BroaMan routing systems for Sweden’s SVT by specifying the same brand for two NRK OB trucks in Norway operational side but have produced their own router systems to work with the desks. In Calrec’s case the Hydra 2 system has been designed to meet the demands of the market; the capability to deal with a multitude of channels simultaneously while at the same time providing enough bandwidth on networks to give good quality audio but with low latency. Most modern desks are modular; the mix engine and router are separate from the control surface, meaning they do not have to be installed in the main mixing area but can sit in an adjoining equipment room. The application of new chip technology has resulted in smaller consoles that still deliver on the channel count; the SSL C100, for example, squeezes 256 channels into 3U. Modern electrical technology has also had a dramatic effect on a once expensive and draining component of a truck: power. Wayland Twiston Davies at Sony Professional says the use of LCD and OLED displays and other indication
equipment means the overall system is drawing a lot less power than in the past. This in turn puts less demand on the air conditioning, which is also very power hungry. Something else that can reduced these days is the amount of cabling that has to go into trucks. Cable is still a crucial element but changes in how all the technical equipment is linked has brought about different approaches to basic design. Which brings us to... GET (INTER)CONNECTED Digital audio connectivity is nothing new but the advent of faster and more efficient data communications, combined with AES, MADI and embedded linear audio, has led to a reworking of how signals are carried. Malcolm Robinson comments that MADI over fibre connections is used “extensively” to both route within the audio department and link to hybrid routers, such as those produced by Evertz, which are used in the video department. All trucks being built today have 3Gbps core infrastructures
that make upgrading to emerging technologies easier. Another consideration for anyone designing a truck is IP, both for audio and video. Sony’s Wayland Twiston Davies says “large chunks of audio” are now being carried over low cost CAT5 data cable using audio over IP (AoIP) technologies such as Ravenna. He adds that fibre has become widely used because it is relatively cheap to break connections out from. Broadcast Networks is currently designing an all-IP truck that will have, says Malcolm Robinson, “seamless” interconnectivity between the audio and video domains. Greater integration between the two once disparate and separate worlds is allowing material to get on air faster during live broadcasts. This is crucial in sports coverage, so any interconnection between the audio and video replay servers, typically the almost ubiquitous EVS system, will get clips transmitted all the quicker. Twiston Davies suggests installing a 32-way I/O for connecting to EVSs, saying that demand for I/Os in general is growing and shows no sign of stopping. All these signals flying round in the data world need to be traced and controlled. There are several control systems aimed at broadcast in general but Twiston Davies says packages like VSM (virtual studio manager) are now used in conjunction with the consoles to manage the different inputs and outputs round larger trucks. The rigours of live location production has been recognised by a number of routingnetworking manufacturers, which provide a selection of
systems that carry both audio and video over fibre. Among them is Riedel with its MediorNet network for routing and signal transport, processing and conversion. Riedel is also among the leading suppliers of intercom, along with Trilogy Communications, Clear-Com and RTS-Telex. Whether you call it intercom or talkback, communicating within the truck and to the crews - sound (both broadcast and live), camera and production - is absolutely vital. Hard wired systems are the most reliable but wireless is necessary where crews are working over a large area. Traditional four-wire systems still have their place but Ethernet, including AVB (audio-video bridge), and IP, with sophisticated trunking techniques for distribution, are now offering additional flexibility and possibilities. Another consideration in general interconnection is the stage box; there should be at least one for connecting to remote inputs such as mic amps. And the nearer the mics and mic amps the stage box is, the lower the signal to noise ratio. CONCLUSION As with everything there is a basic formula to designing and building OB trucks. New technology has brought greater opportunities to save money and reduce the amount of equipment installed, which makes for bigger, more comfortable working environments. But as much as many OB units do much the same kinds of production – sport, live music and events – one size or style does not suit every occasion. Planning is all if you want something that meets your particular requirements. I www.bcnet.co.uk www.c2ssystems.com www.calrec.com www.clearcom.com www.falsystems.co.uk www.megahertz.co.uk www.riedel.net www.riversidetelevision.com www.rtsintercoms.com www.sony.co.uk/pro/hub/home www.stagetec.com www.studer.ch www.trilogycomms.com
+ Thanks to Steve Burgess (Megahertz Broadcast), Andy Unsworth (FAL Systems) and Jonathan Lyth, C2S Systems for their help in preparing this feature.
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November 2013 l 29
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For the latest live news www.psneurope.com/live
live UNITED KINGDOM
Shure’s business shuffle UK distribution operation realigns sales and support into three clear channels, ahead of launch of ‘Academy’ training and accreditation initiative, reports Dave Robinson SHURE DISTRIBUTION UK (SDUK) kicked off pro-audio proceedings at the rejuvenated PLASA show in September with a formal presentation heralding its internal reorganisation. The new heads of the three newly created groups to serve Retail, Pro Audio and Systems Integration were on hand to meet and greet press and customers. Following a decision by Shure EMEA, SDUK is redefining its role in terms of distribution, and “committing resources into a more complete and channelfocused support package for its selected partners”, says the company. “Rolling this concept out on a pan-European level ensures service and support levels are consistent at a country level, which is essential when resellers and service providers are increasingly operating in a single European market.” The sales function at SDUK is now structured into three divisions and these reflect the framework of the new European distribution model. The Retail division, headed by former
Pictured at PLASA are (L-R) SDUK’s Savage, Tolonen and Short SDUK field sales manager Anthony Short, supports all aspects of Music Industry (MI) and consumer electronics (CE) retail. The Pro Audio division manages SDUK’s rental, touring and broadcastorientated customers and is headed by Tuomo Tolonen, who worked previously as applications and product planning manager. Finally, Duncan Savage – one
of three new faces to join SDUK in the reorganisation – has been appointed to lead the Systems Group, which has been created to serve integrators and contractors working on largescale installation projects. SDUK has also committed resources to ensure that partners are offered enhanced technical training via the new Shure Academy European Audio Network (SEAEN), which will incorporate the
existing training programmes run by the company and integrate new workshops and seminars. In the UK, this brief will extend across the entire Shure Distribution portfolio and include training and certification for brands such as DIS, QSC, Radial and myMix. “We have always offered detailed technical training for our brands at our Waltham Abbey HQ, and those events, such as Axient accreditation and Q-Sys training, will continue under this new umbrella,” explained Peter James, SDUK managing director. “But the Academy has a wider brief and will encompass on-line webinars and training programmes, tailored dealer events and networking events for end users. “Our aim is to encourage a transfer of technical know-how between our experts, industry professionals, and our customers. Sound engineers, manufacturers, integrators and end users can all be part of the Academy and benefit from it.” I www.shuredistribution.co.uk
UNITED KINGDOM
PLASA first for PreSonus 24.4.2AI By Dave Robinson PLASA WAS the occasion for the first appearance anywhere, a c c o rd i n g to S ource Distribution’s marketing coordinator Alex Theakston, of th e P re Sonus S tu d ioLive 24.4.2AI mixer. The desk was presented on the Source booth alongside its bigger brother, the 32.4.2AI, which was launched earlier in the year.
With around 50,000 of the original StudioLive mixers having been sold worldwide already, the two AI desks (for ‘Active Integration’) retain the same surface-driven functionality of the first generation series but with enhanced feature sets and 64-times the processing power. Burr-Brown A/D/A converters are employed on the inputs and outputs, plus a new DSP
architecture based on the acclaimed 64-bit Studio One (software) summing engine. Integrated WiFi control means that tablet devices such as iPads can be used with the desks without the need for an additional laptop/PC. Source also presented PreSonus’ Active Integration PA loudspeakers, designed in conjunction with Fulcrum Acoustics’ co-founder Dave Gunness, at the ExCeL show.
The 24-fader 24.4.2AI made it’s world premiere at London’s PLASA Show Other products on the booth included M-series live sound microphones from RØDE, multichannel Apollo series audio interfaces from Universal Audio and digital effects. I www.sourcedistribution.co.uk
SOUNDBITES MIPRO IEMs were chosen for The Toy Factory Productions’ Glass Anatomy – The Musical, adapted from the classic 1983 Taiwanese film Papa, Can You Hear Me Sing? Singapore-based hire company Audio Image Engineering provided the equipment, which included 12 MI-808T stereo transmitters; 12 MI-808R stereo bodypack receivers, one MTS-100T digital rackmountable stationary transmitter, 11 MTG-100R digital portable receivers and four sets of AD-90a UHF wideband high power antenna amplifiers. www.mipro.com.tw Turbosound’s Flashline and Flex Array line array PA systems were flown at this year’s Zurich Open Air Festival, provided by German rental partner FeedBack Show Systems & Service. The main Open Air stage FeedBack’s systems engineer Dennis Dackweiler flew 15 TFS-900H four-way high packs plus two TFA-600H down fills per side with 30 TFS-900B subwoofers evenly spaced across the front of the stage in blocks of three. www.turbosound.com Solid State Logic has appointed HD Pro Audio as its Live console dealer in the UK. It was after seeing the console at Prolight + Sound this year that Andy Huffer, HD Pro Audio sales director realised that the company “had to be involved with this product”. SSL first shipped its first five Live consoles to Britannia Row and France’s SGroup in September. www.hdproaudio.co.uk www.solidstatelogic.com Funktion-One’s John Newsham and Tony Andrews have signed on as tutors at Soulsound School; a new online resource centre for experienced live and studio engineers to keep up to speed with the latest tech developments. Additional tutors already on board include FOH engineer Justin Grealy (Biffy Clyro) and live/studio engineer Marcel van Limbeek (Tori Amos). Soulsound School will launch officially in Spring 2014. www.soulsoundschool.com
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livereport
Summit meeting FRANCE
Rumours about K2, ‘the next big thing’ from L-Acoustics, have been circulating among high-end PA companies since the summer. Time for a sneak peek, then. Or should that be ‘peak’? THE CLOUDS are lifting and K2 is in sight at last. The team at L-Acoustics has designed a system that has the “DNA of K1” – hugely successful since its 2008 launch – and the form factor of the legendary V-DOSC. K2 is not officially launched until 2014, but a couple of the big rental houses have already set out to explore its potential. Florent Bernard (FB), L-Acoustics’ director of application/touring, and Stéphane Ecalle, director or marketing, gave PSNEurope the view from base camp. The K2 system is more than just a rumour then… SE: The rumour is confirmed! Actually, three European companies are already partnering L-Acoustics in our K2 pilot phase: SSE (UK),
K2: standing tall but weighing less
Stéphane Ecalle, director of marketing Black Box Music (Germany) and Concept Even in France. They have been deploying K2 in the field, either as a main system or as a complement to their K1 rigs. The pilot phase will end in November, with a significant amount of field experience being accumulated. K2 has received outstanding comments from engineers and owners: we’re thrilled with this green light for the market introduction. A production phase will ramp-up this December to address selected markets, while the worldwide launch will follow around Prolight + Sound time in March 2014. How does the K2 system slot into your product range? FB: K2 is positioned for similar applications as V-DOSC, typically productions with audiences of anything up to a headcount of 20,000. K2 delivers exactly the same max SPL and bandwidth as V-DOSC; it’s pretty logical that K2 will be replacing V-DOSC in our product line, with V-DOSC taking a welldeserved retirement after 22 years of loyal service! We will, of course, continue providing after-sales service to our V-DOSC customers for the foreseeable future. From a genetic standpoint, K2 has more of a K1 DNA
Florent Bernard, applications & touring transplant into a 12” format enclosure…but with increased operational flexibility. What separates K1 and K2 systems? FB: Since its introduction in the fall of 2008, the K1/K1-SB package has been optimised for very large scale events. This narrow market encompasses arena tours, stadium productions and large greenfield festivals. SE: From a business standpoint, there is a very high financial commitment required for a sound company to service this market with one or multiple K1 systems: the standard K1 stadium kit comprises more than a hundred K enclosures, plus SB28 subwoofers, racks and accessories. Considering the seven-figure euro investment at stake, the K1 market is by itself a selective one. Nearly 50 Rental Network agents around the world have chosen K1 over the course of the last five years and the system is recognised today as one of the top rider-friendly systems. But beside the “small world” of “big K1”, there is a wider group of top companies and venues which operate in a very demanding market segment with an audience size of up to 20,000. These rental and fixed installation owners have basically the same needs as K1
owners: they are exposed to demanding productions with top technical requirements; [they need a] riderfriendly system; and any investment needs to be secured with high stock rotation and a sizeable resale value later on. FB: From an application standpoint, rental houses will seek the K1 benchmark sonic signature to deliver the best performance to their own clients. Moreover, the package needs to be adapted in size, rationalised for transport and with an extremely flexible deployment. This is where K2 comes in. What was L-Acoustics’ design plan here? FB: First, the acoustic performance had to be absolutely in line with K1, with a max SPL positioned 3dB below its sibling and a bandwidth equivalent to K1. This determined the 12” format and the choice of drivers which can match the standard of K1. Secondly, the vertical coverage had to be stretched to accommodate shorter throws and audiences with high tiers or balconies. The good news is that a 12” trapezoidal format allows twice the K1 maximum splay angle for a value of 10˚ versus 5˚. SE: Next, we wanted to offer a lightweight system for medium-sized events or installations. The system needs to fit the rigging limitations in certain buildings. Also, for productions where temporary structures are deployed, the sound companies have to minimise their dimensioning and therefore prefer aluminium and/or foldable systems against steel. FB: Another feature we were looking for was adjustable horizontal directivity. System
engineers need to sector the audience zones in the horizontal plane to reduce the overlaps between mains and fills to get an even SPL coverage and optimised intelligibility. With accurate control of the horizontal directivity, the sound designer can focus the acoustic energy onto the audience. So in outdoor situations, says, the noise exposure of sensitive neighbourhoods is drastically reduced, as experienced during the pilot phase in the UK when SSE Audio deployed its K1/K2 system in Hyde Park, a notoriously difficult site for sound control. The measurements taken on-site confirmed that we were perfectly in line with noise regulations. Now, this ‘acoustic steering’ is accomplished in the vertical plane by L-Acoustics WST sources. (WST, or Wavefront Sculpture Technology, asre the principles behind line array design first proposed by Christian Heil and colleagues in 1993.) Horizontally, though, no manufacturer offers a line source system capable of
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livereport
What K2 weighs in kilograms
and K2 owners, with a very limited number of enclosure references in stock.
efficiently steering acoustic energy in the horizontal plane on demand. With K2, you get four directivity settings in one box: 70° and 110° symmetrical; 90° asymmetrical left or right. We have reached a new level of directivity control in the horizontal plane. Finally, the K2 package had to offer full mechanical compatibility with the existing K1 and K1-SB elements. K2 owners will need this compatibility feature, to extend the K2 operating bandwidth or increase the LF throw with the combo K2/K1-SB. The rigging compatibility between the two systems also means that K1 owners can combine the two systems as they perfectly complement each other: K1 as a main system for long throw L/R applications, and K2 either as downfill to K1 or side fill, or delay. SE: So you can either consider K2 as a standalone system associated with K1-SB or SB28, or a complement to K1. Both systems run on the existing LA-RAK platform, so from the L-Acoustics Rental Network standpoint, their compatibility represents an interesting crossrental opportunity for both K1
What were the big challenges L-Acoustics faced during K2 development? FB: We faced several but the enclosure “weight-loss” programme is undoubtedly the most spectacular. The Baltic birch plywood we use in the cabinets has a high fibre density for rigidity so it is solid but heavy. Reducing thickness means a loss of directivity and coherency control. So we did two things: using computer analysis, we ‘mapped’ the panel areas where the plywood matter brings little stiffness contribution to the panel. Then we milled the K2 panels in an intricate pattern that yields the maximum stiffness/weight ratio. As for the side panels, the solution was to replace Baltic birch for a lighter and stiffer material: aluminium. The trick is that the K2 aluminium side panels play a triple role: they reinforce the mechanical rigidity of the box; they act inside as a progressive vent for laminar airflow; while the outside supports the suspension hardware with the best mechanical accuracy. SE: The results speak for themselves: K2 weighs 56kg – that’s 50% of V-DOSC’s 108kg, for the same max SPL and bandwidth and with no compromise on structural and acoustic performance. What distribution strategy are you going to implement with K2? SE: Since we are relying on the regional presence and the expertise of our certified representatives, the distribution strategy of K2 will be simply based on two channels for our domestic markets where L-Acoustics is the distributor: Certified Providers/Integrators for the fixed installation market and Certified Providers/Rentals for the Rental Network. For the markets where we are not directly present, we will rely on our distributors. Can anyone buy K2? SE: Our Network indicates that the market potential for K2 is 300 companies worldwide but making a purchase is down to the customer, not us!
Choosing a large PA system like K2 has major consequences for a rental business, financially, commercially and technically. As we said earlier, rider friendliness is the bottom line for return on investment, while the system resale at a later date is the icing on the cake from an investor standpoint. Five years ago, we created a Rental Network Charter that illustrates this philosophy. And if you invest in K2, you automatically enter into the logic of the Network, which maintains a set of commitments to benefit the sound companies, the clients and the engineers.
The first concerns inventory thresholds: you cannot buy a tiny fraction of a big system, it’s useless; nor can you buy too much, which would be dangerous. The second commitment is regarding universal standards: performance consistency and predictability around the L-Acoustics brand signature for engineers and artists – plus cross-rental compatibility. No interface headaches! And third, the training of staff. Everyone agrees that the education of technicians is critical and must be carried out by high-level trainers. So yes, you need to have your techs
trained by professionals to take advantage of the system! To cut this long explanation short, if K2 is the right system for a company, its techs and its clients, then they should go for it! And they will have the last word on this, not L-Acoustics. Mark the calendar for March in Frankfurt, then? SE: The worldwide introduction of K2 is scheduled for PL+S 2014. However, we are proud to announce that the system will be seen and heard in the opening and closing ceremonies of a major winter sporting event in Russia… I www.l-acoustics.com
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livereport UNITED KINGDOM
Generating profit Phil Ward finds sparks of inspiration at UK rental powerhouse Pearce Hire SHAUN PEARCE and Richard Oxley busy themselves in the hangar-like warehouse of Pearce Hire, preparing a sophisticated course of sound reinforcement for an event mostly removed from musical performance: the Birmingham Great Run, a classic official half-marathon with added charity fundraising that draws huge crowds every year. Thanks to the audio, everyone’s experience of the occasion is greatly enhanced – not least because of the ‘bands on the run’ that entertain along the way – but this is business as usual for the now 27-year-old rental company based in Peterborough and its bedrock of loyal clients. By trade Shaun Pearce is an electrician, and you wouldn’t get very far without electricity in this business. But more than that, you can go a lot further with a good grounding, if you will, in excellent provision of it, wherever that may take you. He apprenticed at Redring, a local water heating and shower specialist, and no doubt it’s this expertise in the combination of electricity and water that has made him one of the go-to figures for temporary generator power at British outdoor events today.
Project manager and Pearce Hire’s ‘Mr Audio’ Richard Oxley (left) and Shaun Pearce, prepping the delays for the Birmingham Great Run His enthusiasm dates back to Peterborough schooldays, triggered by a simple remark made by his Mum after she’d seen – and heard – a David Essex concert: “Wow,” she said, “you should have seen the size of the speakers…” It was enough to exert young Shaun into the rather more accessible world of disco, and the building, renting and operation of a mobile rig around the local scene.
“I built the first DJ console myself,” he says, “so this company is effectively founded on an investment of £15.” Pearce Electrical followed, while a collection of sound equipment and lighting built up enough to service the pub scene in live music for miles around. With textbook enterprise, the operation outgrew the family enclave and Pearce Hire, as it was now called, moved into a bustling unit among
the tyre fitters and bathroom installers populating what used to be open fenland on the outskirts of town. Crucially Pearce bought his premises rather then renting, so when recession hit, although he had to shed staff and carry on more or less alone, there was some equity to cushion the leanness until things improved. And so they did: purchase of a Soundcraft 400B desk, Martin Audio Philishaves and JBL horns consolidated regular electrical and lighting work – including a cast-iron, Council-backed commitment to the Cambridge Folk Festival – and frequent rave-scene halfmarathons of a different kind into a thriving business. “The level of investment nowadays required in audio is a challenge,” Pearce reflects. “If you bought an analogue monitor board at one time, it would last you for the next 10 years. The pace of technology now means you’ve got to get your money back quickly, and that’s after a big outlay. It’s creating two very different tiers: the top-end companies like Capital Sound, Brit Row and SSE; and the lower end of the scale doing local stuff. There’s a void in the middle that’s becoming very hard to breach.” There’s a drive at the heart of the company that Pearce finds lacking in a new generation of potential intakes, although apprenticeship figures highly on his agenda. “I’ve forged links with the local Technical College,” he reports, “and we’ve got some internships underway. It’s important that they see every
aspect of the operation, and not just make the tea all day, so we keep a careful log of how they complete each task.” For Birmingham, project manager and Pearce Hire’s ‘Mr Audio’ Richard Oxley is testing 650m of cable connecting timealigned KARA and ARCS boxes – one stack every 50m – and Yamaha M7CL control. “I’ve worked with Yamaha digital mixers from day one,” he says, “quite literally: I did the product launches for the ProMix01, 01V, PM1D and DM2000! They’re absolutely reliable, I know them inside out – and everybody else does as well. The M7CL is one most bands’ riders at the moment; it’s very rare that we get asked for much else.” As well as the flagship L-Acoustics kit and Yamaha desks, the inventory boasts Lab.gruppen amps, Dolby Lake and Sennheiser EM300 radio systems among much else, and if the British Birdwatching Fair is “not on the rock and roll A-list,” as Pearce puts it, it still requires 300 power sources, huge lit marquees, a distributed PA system throughout, delayed L-Acoustics speakers for lectures and a digital console – where 16 years ago it took three microphones and a small mixer. The business has regular bookings up to 2018, and now occupies 14,000sqft in an even bigger ‘enterprise fen’: not bad for a self-confessed ‘house sparky’. If such a combination of humility and commitment could be harnessed to a boiler, it would keep this industry warm for decades. I www.pearcehire.co.uk
UNITED KINGDOM
VUE banks on UK launch
Loudspeaker manufacturer brings beryllium to Britain. Dave Robinson reports US-BASED LOUDSPEAKER manufacturer VUE Auditechnik marked its official UK launch last month with a series of demos at The Music Bank facility in London. The demos were a joint effort with the company’s newly-appointed UK distributor Fuzion Ltd. Featured products included a full sampling of the VUE a-Class, and i-Class ranges, as well as the al-4 subcompact line array and h-Class systems
– the latter two incorporating the company’s beryllium compression driver technology. Customers from across the UK came along to the two-day event, this being the first opportunity to hear VUE’s offerings since the company revealed itself at Prolight + Sound last year. VUE was established by EAW co-founder and former CEO, Ken Berger and former CEO of Meyer Sound Germany, Jim Sides.
Design chief is Michael Adams, who has devised systems for JBL, QSC and Yamaha. According to VUE’s EMEA business development manager Doug Green, the occasion was a huge success. “This is such an important market for VUE and I couldn’t be more pleased with how enthusiastically our products were received this week,” commented Green. “I’m very excited to continue this
(L-R back): Matt Cook (Fuzion); Holger De Buhr (Media Logic Germany); Doug Green; Gary Ashton (Fuzion); Mikael Collin (AVP Sales Sweden); Ed Draycott (Fuzion). Seated: Tony Torlini (Fuzion) and Edgar Lien (Avon Lyd Norway) momentum with our partners at Fuzion as we introduce a new level of technical innovation and performance to customers throughout the UK and Ireland.”
During its Music Bank tenure, VUE took the opportunity to hold its first formal European distribution strategy meeting ahead of 2014. I www.vueaudio.com
www.dbaudio.com
Wacken Open Air Festival, Germany
30 years of fun, obstinacy and neutral sound: d&b is d&b.
They say that d&b have built a selection of remarkable sound reinforcement systems in the course of time. All of them efficient tools for sound engineers, not forgetting the rental companies as well as the artists. Whatever: d&b as usual.
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livenews WORLD
Harman amplifies live sound support By Erica Basnicki HARMAN PROFESSIONAL has formed a new Global Live Sound and Rental Systems division within the company to support live sound and rental professionals with advanced programmes, including technology, systems, training and support. The group is led by Brian Pickowitz, newly promoted to associate director of the division, and includes tour sound veterans Raul Gonzalez, application engineer, Live Sound and Rental for North America, and Vincent “Vinnie” Perreux, application engineer, Live Sound and Rental for EMEA and Asia. “The formation of a new Global Live Sound and Rental Systems group within Harman Professional will serve our customers well and I am pleased and encouraged to have a professional of Brian Pickowitz’s expertise and experience to lead the group,” said Harman’s Scott Robbins, executive vice president of sales. According to Pickowitz, the group is extending the depth of partnership to which Harman Professional engages its customers in this community. “We
Brian Pickowitz, associate director of Harman’s Global Live Sound and Rental Systems division recognise that partnership extends beyond a transaction and requires a considerable commitment before, during and after the sale. Our strengthened commitment to training and support will ensure that customers in the live sound and rental communities extract optimal return from their investment in our platform,” he said. “If we can provide customers with greater consistency in terms of system performance and setup efficiency, then we’ll help improve their businesses and therein lies the goal of this new group.” I www.harman.com
UNITED KINGDOM
Corporate coup for DPA d:fine
Adam Pierce and Kelly Morris at PLASA London By Erica Basnicki LONDON-BASED EVENT specialist Blitz Communications has placed an initial order for 20 units of DPA’s d:fine headset microphones. In addition to live events, Blitz also provides services to the corporate conferencing market, which is primarily the sector for which it acquired the d:fines. Blitz has been a DPA customer for many years and had used a large number of DPA 4066 omni headset microphones over that time. However, the stock was in need of replacement. Initially, Blitz
intended to replace the mics on a like for like basis, but changed its mind after demoing the newer d:fines. “Put simply, the d:fine headset microphones offer our clients a more comfortable solution than they have been used to,” said theatre production assistant Kelly Morris. “The audio quality is also very good, which is an important consideration because we need to ensure that conference speakers can be heard by everyone in the room.” Adam Pierce, UK sales and marketing manager at Sound Network, commented: “The corporate and conference sectors are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of delivering great audio, and this is translating into plenty of interest in high-quality audio products like DPA microphones. The d:fine headset microphones are especially popular because they are so reliable and, thanks to their modular construction, very easy to maintain.” I www.dpamicrophones.com
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livenews UNITED KINGDOM
Coda gets the call for Ellie Goulding By Erica Basnicki LIVERPOOL-BASED EVENTS specialist Adlib supplied a Coda Audio sound system for songwriter and multiinstrumentalist Ellie Goulding on the latest UK leg of her Halcyon Days tour FOH engineer Oz Bagnall requested the Coda Audio system, which comprised 24 Coda LA12, 16 ViRay and 16 SCPF speaker cabinets, all driven by Coda’s C10 amplifier and
DNC260 system processors. Bagnall first heard the Coda system at one of Adlib’s demo days: “The top end is absolutely stunning,” he said. “It’s detailed, not bright and with lots of clarity,” adding that it works well in all the rooms they are playing, even the highly reverberant ones. For system processing, one of Adlib’s standard Lake LM26/ LM44 rack packages was utilised. Bagnall cut the mix using an Avid Profile console, running all the vocals through Midas XL42
UNITED KINGDOM NEWCASTLE-BASED AV hire specialists Ingramsounds has built up a sizeable hire inventory of KV2 Audio’s EX Series, including the EX 6 and EX 12 loudspeakers and the EX 1.2 subwoofer. A live gig by The Unthanks, Lindisfarne Story and The Futureheads at Durham Cathedral stands out for company
owner Reed Ingram Weir. “We used a total of 12 EX cabinets on independent matrixes all time aligned in stereo pairs up the pillars of the Cathedral. Three pairs of our EX 12s handled the bulk of the audio with a further two pairs of EX 6s handling in fill duties and the gig sounded great.” I www.kv2audio.com
preamp channels to make use of the XL42’s analogue EQ. Tour/production manager Derek Fudge stated: “Having known of Adlib for many years but never having actually worked with them, it has been a pleasure and pain-free experience. Oz and James (Neale, monitoring engineer) have been happy with the equipment and the crew have been friendly and professional. Bloody marvellous!” I www.adlib.co.uk www.codaaudio.com
Adlib’s Coda system was a flexible solution for Ellie Goulding’s tour
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livenews UNITED KINGDOM
Music tourism worth £2.2bn to the UK in 2012 International music lovers are sustaining more than 24,000 full-time jobs, according to a major new report issued by UK Music, writes David Davies The arrival of Wish You Were Here makes this even harder to justify, with 72% of music tourism shown to be occurring outside London. Speaking at a launch event held in the Top Deck area of the National Theatre – another cultural institution whose enduring contribution to UK life is currently being acknowledged with a raft of 50th birthday celebrations – UK Music CEO Jo Dipple pinpointed the economic contribution made by live music, but called for more co-ordinated action by government bodies. “The Stone Roses were resurrected in Heaton Park last year, generating £23 million for the Manchester economy,” said Dipple at an event that was graced by a short set from fast-rising, Surrey-hailing singer/songwriter Newton Faulkner. “Our economy might have stopped flatlining, but we
need to get it to grow again. Government needs to start leading the recovery with its strongest hand, and that hand has two fingers sticking up on it – music and music tourism. If government puts its mind to creating a joined-up Music Tourism Strategy, we could grow the numbers we reveal in today’s report [even more].” Dipple urged policy-makers to look overseas for inspiration, citing the $200 million contribution made by the SXSW festival to the economy of Austin, Texas. For UK Music’s part, she confirmed that the organisation would continue to work closely with VisitBritain, whose stated aim is to attract a total of 40 million overseas visitors by 2020. Wish You Were Here can be read in full at the UK Music site: http://www.ukmusic.org/ assets/media/. I www.ukmusic.org www.visitbritain.com Photo: Mahtab Hussain
AN EXHAUSTIVE new report issued by commercial music umbrella organisation UK Music in conjunction with tourism authority VisitBritain has underlined the considerable value of music tourism to the British economy. Entitled Wish You Were Here in a possible nod to the 1975 bestseller by one of the UK’s most prodigious musical exports, Pink Floyd, the report reveals that 6.5 million tourists generated £2.2 billion while attending UK festivals and concerts in 2012. The 88-page document also states that overseas music tourists made an average spend of £657 during their time in the UK. Other headline statistics include a grand total of 24,251 full-time jobs being sustained by music tourism. Glastonbury aside, mainstream media coverage of the live music industry can still often seem remarkably south east-centric.
Jo Dipple (left) is pictured with VisitBritain CEO Sandie Dawe
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livenews
For the latest live news www.psneurope.com/live FRANCE
STM hopping in Paris New system brings the beats in familiar Nexo confines of Stade de France By Erica Basnicki URBAN PEACE 3, Europe’s largest hip-hop and urban music event, was an all-Nexo affair with 60,000 fans packed into the Stade de France in Paris for five hours of live performance, headlined by IAM and Sexion D’Assaut. Sound rental provider Melpomen brought Nexo’s new STM Series line array systems into the national stadium for the first time, tying into the permanently-installed Nexo GEO S12 PA for extra coverage of the uppermost seating areas. Sound designer Vladimir Coulibre used a total of 78 sets comprising one M46 main, one B112 bass and one S118 sub.
“STM handled the job easily,” said Coulibre. “As soon as the rigging was completed, I felt comfortable with the headroom and the dynamics. What I liked above all is that it is pretty much plug-and-play,” he said. Melpomen engineers devised a new configuration for the S118 subs, which proved hugely effective in the massive Stade de France. Groups of nine S118 sub cabinets were groundstacked along the front of the stage, in each group six units facing forward and three facing back. “The new cardioid pattern has given us a 16dB drop in volume behind the stage,” said Melpomen director Thierry Tranchant. “This two-and-one configuration has made the
sound even tighter. “This is the largest of all the French STM shows so far; everyone’s been so happy at the way the system sounds, which of course means less work for them, and the carry of the lowend is particularly beneficial when working with this type of music. Tuning went very smoothly. We have SPL limits of 115dBA (Leq 15mins) here in the Stade, but headroom remained high, and we positioned the delays so that STM was able to work absolutely optimally.” System techs Cedric Bernard and Alexandre Borel supervised at the FOH riser: “Although this is the largest STM show we have ever done – physically, it’s taken one-and-a-half days to put it all
Urban Peace 3 featured the cream of French rap music on the city’s largest and most prestigious stage in, do the EQing, set the phases, and so on – it was very easy to tune, and everyone is very happy with the results,” said Bernard. “All of the engineers have found it very easy to just turn up and mix on this system – no problems at all – and they have commented particularly on how beautiful the low-end is as well as the great clarity in the highs.” On stage, a selection of Nexo loudspeakers made up the monitoring system. Most of the performers were using IEMs, supplemented by
PS15-R2 wedges and 16 45°N-12 line monitors. Summing up, Nexo concert sound manager Stuart Kerrison comented: “The coverage in the Stade was way better than I thought it would be in a venue like this; when I walked into soundcheck, arriving from the back of the stadium, the sub was killing – I assumed subs were on all the delays, but they weren’t using any on the delays. It was very impressive!” I www.melpomen.net www.nexo.fr
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livenews SOUNDBITES As a result of increased success with global partners, Martin Audio has announced the introduction of a 24-hour email tech support solution for its MLA family of live sound products. Monitored constantly, the email helpdesk will ensure that queries are handled quickly by MLA support from around the world. mlasupport@martin-audio.com Cadac and Outline co-hosted a four-day international distributor event at the end of September. A rolling schedule of product demos, ‘breakouts’ and workshops were presented at Pala Banco di Brecia, in Lombardia, Italy to more than 100 industry professionals from 15 countries. Cadac marketing manager James Godbehear said, “The intention was to get Cadac’s new consoles in front of a wide breadth of potential customers. The majority of those in attendance had not seen the product before.” www.cadac-sound.com www.outline.it
UNITED KINGDOM
Brit Row Training is go By Erica Basnicki BRITANNIA ROW Productions Training celebrated the successful completion of its first three-month live sound technology course at the production company’s former warehouse in Wandsworth at the end of September. According to Matthias Postel, managing director of Britannia Row Productions Training, the course aims to fill a gap in live sound education. “There are studio-focused college courses, degree courses that are also very studio-focused and formal apprenticeships in technical theatre, where sound is but a portion. It is this situation that led to this vision of ‘let’s build a training course that is based on what the industry needs.’”
L-R: Gonçalo Lopes, recipient of the Britannia Row Productions job; Barry Bartlett; Mike Lowe, director; Bryan Grant, managing director; Matthias Postel and course graduate Jamie Burgess Course director Barry Bartlett adds that the training is practical, hands on and very intense, “which is a benefit, as it really equates to what life is on the road. I feel it’s
like going on a three-month tour, four times a year. That gives our trainees a much more realistic picture of what the work pressure and the workload is like in a
working environment. They don’t have much time to be students, they have to get on with it and get the job done.” In addition to the training, the top graduate of each intake is guaranteed a one-year paid apprenticeship with Britannia Row Productions. Students also have the advantage of access to Britannia Row Productions’ entire inventory “and also inventory from other manufacturers who have given us huge support and loaned us equipment”, added Bartlett. Yamaha, Midas, DiGiCo and Avid are the main consoles focused on during the course of students’ training. There are also many gig visits, which have so far included Justin Timberlake at Olympic Park, Soundgarden at the O2 Academy Brixton, and Peter Gabriel’s recent O2 gig. Going forward, a part-time programme is also under development, and is expected to begin in January 2014. I training.britanniarow.com
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Photo: Helen Aitchison
livereport
Eels were one of many bands in the line-up
Laura Mvula performs on the Scéne Pression Live stage. Her performance was mixed on the Lawo console and streamed to the Dailymotion website
FRANCE
Yasta’s Louise Bardet and Benoît Gilg with Lawo’s Hervé de Caro (right)
Rock steady This summer, Lawo took an mc2 broadcast console on a tour of French festivals, in a quest to gain knownledge that will lead to the development of a fully-fledged ‘live’ desk. Dave Robinson dropped in on Rock en Seine to find out more LAURA MVULA takes to the stage on the Saturday afternoon at Rock en Seine. She delivers an hour of exquisite soulful pop, at times encouraging the French audience to sing along – if they’ve not been stunned breathless by her smooth-as-silk vocals and the delicacy of the string/harp/ keyboard arrangements by her musical director and drummer Troy Miller. While Laura transfixes the fans, what she doesn’t realise is that, in some small way, she’s also helping to transform the pro-audio industry.
In a pre-fab control centre 100m away down a fibre cable, sound engineer Olivier Gascoin and his colleagues are taking the Mercury Prize nominee’s liquid songs and mixing them – as if for a FOH mix – on a Lawo mc256 Mk2. These mixes will then be piped to another base onsite, to be embedded with video and streamed to websites and TV channels including the Dailymotion, Culturebox and France 4. Rock en Seine began a decade ago and this year attracted its biggest ever audience (a reported
100,000 fans over three days). An international line-up including Franz Ferdinand, Nine Inch Nails, System of a Down, Alt-J, Major Lazer and Tricky, as well as a host of domestic acts (Phoenix being the biggest) ventured to the Parc du SaintCloud for this most sophisticated of music celebrations. For Lawo and product manager Hervé de Caro, Rock en Seine is the last leg of a very important ‘Tour de France’ in partnership with audio production outfit Yasta. The arrangement has given engineers
from Yasta access to the intricacies of Lawo’s methodology via the mc256 desk and associated kit at music events around the country. The pay-off for Lawo and de Caro has been an insight into the needs of sound engineers in the live music sphere, rather than in a sports environment where the brand is already strong. The tour has visited Les Vieilles Charrues, la Route du Rock, Hellfest and Jazz Sous Les Pommiers. This weekend, the location is a majestic park in the south-west corner of Paris. “In France, Lawo is kind of an unknown, ‘mystical’ name,” volunteers de Caro. “Engineers know it as ‘high-class’, but they don’t know the details.” He says the community might be familiar with Innovason, a former French brand, but not with the German parent. De Caro’s position then, put simply, is to be the Lawo “conduit” – his word – into French channels, overcoming any ‘cultural complications’ that may arise. While the French market is often understood to be closed to outsiders, de Caro can open its doors. The outcome of the tour, he says, will be to absorb all the feedback and reactions to the mc256, and to use that learning wisely. “My objective is to provide the specs and the modifications we need to make it fully compatible for a future live mixing system.” He says the Yasta engineers, plus other notable operators invited by Innovason/Lawo representative Sennheiser France, have been keen to get involved. “What is cool from them is they accept the limitations presented by the broadcast console to mix live; and it’s cool for me because it gives me the right balance between what works well already, and what features are needed.”
“As soon as you have a chance to make the demo, and they understand that philosophy behind the support, the software, the relationship with Lawo – things change,” he says. For those who do not work ostensibly in the live music domain, seeing the possibilities becomes a tantalising offer. “They are immediately interested to join the game,” as de Caro puts it. He has learned that engaging engineers in a process that involves taking a known product and transforming it into something else – something other than what it was designed for – is a popular pursuit. And if that product comes to market, the input of the contributors is instantly validated. Benoît Gilg runs Yasta – a business strand separate to, but associated with, video production unit Sombrero & Co – with his partner Louise Bardet. He is in complete agreement with de Caro. “The desk is not as you would expect it... but that’s the point of the collaboration. We have some small problems but we are sharing what we find.” Gilg says he has long “dreamt” of working the Lawo way: where a powerful network enables everything to be connected to everything else; where audio strands can be controlled and directed wherever they are required. The set-up at Rock en Seine – again, simplified – is as follows. There are Lawo DALLIS I/O stageboxes on two of the four stages, each with 56 mic inputs and 16 AES digital inputs (for the Neumann and Sennheiser digital crowd mics). These run to a Lawo Nova73 HD Core in the control centre. Two sets of Yasta’s Optocore pre-amps, based at the two remaining stages, are also hooked up to the HD Core. “Because Optocore has implemented Lawo protocols,
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livereport Lawo detects Optocore inputs like it was another DALLIS, so you can control the gain levels,” explains de Caro. A 16-fader Lawo extender [on a Cat5 cable running up to 200m] can be connected directly to the DALLIS or Optocore units – so a sound mix can be created directly from the stage. What are the shortcomings in the system, and the console in particular, then? De Caro highlights some of the processes expected in the live environment, such as the use of multiple VCA controls and snapshots (“you only have one VCA controlling a group of faders on a broadcast desk, you need more than that on a live desk”); switching the console into an offline mode, for previewing or adjustments; the different means of naming the mix busses. “But they agree to do without for now because there is so much power and processing within the Lawo. The management of a network offered by Lawo is the best in the world: the matrix can handle 8,192 x 8,192 paths and multiple consoles.” Gilg, in particular, has found the 16fader extender unit a boon. “With banks of inputs and to be able to flip between them, I can mix two stages on [just] 16 faders. With someone working on another Lawo desk, we can really work as a team. Sometimes we are mixing 12 or 15 mixes per day…” “The possibility to change all the faders as soon as we what; to have in just one desk to have what we want, where we want… it is a really, really open system,” he continues. “If you have a clear idea of what you want to do, you can do it.” ”Imagine that all the mic inputs, and all the controls on the console, are just data on the server on the network,” adds de Caro. “This is how Lawo thinks: the sound is for sharing, but with the correct management, so you able to change the gain on the preamps and so on. “The objective is to keep everything that is good with Lawo, plus the important elements from the [Innovason] Eclipse, to make a product that will provide the right price for the right market.” De Caro emphasises that you won’t see Lawo targeting that alreadycrowded compact mixer market, though.
Lawo has other ideas: the opposite of the current economic choice, in fact. The Innovason Eclipse desk is now a mature product and will continue to be supported but not be repackaged in other sizes: let Behringer, Yamaha, Soundcraft and the others fight it out in the small footprint stakes. “We want to stay in big theatres or Broadway shows,” he says, “providing huge network capability and powerful processing. “When everyone goes to manufacture in China, we will manufacture in Germany – because Lawo want to [push the profile of] Innovason up and up.” Will the Innovason brand survive, or will it be absorbed into a ‘Innovason by Lawo’ realignment? It’s too early to say. Whatever the outcome, Lawo acquired Innovason five years ago because they wanted that touring technology and because they were, well, too “broadcasty”. When the next stage of that evolution will begin, the heritage and learning that has made Innovason successful – the MARS 64-track recorder, for instance which may soon by 128-track capable, via Ravenna – will become part of the new Lawo DNA. “And,” says de Caro proudly, “whatever happens to the brand, the spirit of Innovason is here, within me.” I www.lawo.de
Olivier Gascoin mixed on the Lawo mc256
Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails made a rare and electrifying appearance at the festival
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livefeature d&b E8 speakers taking on Baltic storms in Kiel, northern Germany
Compact speakers: built to last! Pro-audio users are spoiled for choice when it comes to compact, multipurpose speakers… but which current products have been built to withstand the greatest rigours of the road and the built environment? David Davies selects a handy half-dozen
‘TOUGH’… ‘ROBUST’… ‘enduring’… Just three of the epithets that typically litter the marketing materials for modern compact speakers. The choice of words might vary, but almost without exception manufacturers are keen to convey the ability of their products to cope with the greatest challenges that touring or fixed installation can throw in their way. For touring, prerequisites of a ‘tough’ compact speaker would include components and cabinet design capable of withstanding the endless load-in/load-out cycle and less-than-genteel handling by road-crew. With bands packing in more live dates than ever before as income from recorded music continues to decline, these qualities have never been at more of a premium. The stakes for fixed installoriented compact speakers are arguably even higher. Typically – for example, in restaurants and shops – their design must support round-the-clock operation. But nearly as important for external or heavyduty usage, internal public space applications is speakers’ weatherproofing and all-round solidity of construction. PSNEurope caught up with a number of leading manufacturers to find out about their most robust compact speakers… in the process discovering that, to paraphrase Masterchef, ‘speakers don’t get any tougher than this’. 1. JBL CONTROL 25AV-LS Designed for applications where the music playback loudspeaker system also serves as the life safety system, the JBL Control 25AV-LS is the life safety certified version of the Control 25AV. Like its sibling, the Control 25AV-LS features a 60W multi-tap transformer with 8 ohm bypass, InvisiBall mounting and a magnetically shielded woofer. The 25AV-LS, says JBL Professional senior manager, commercial installed sound, CBT & AWC, Rick Kamlet, is “not only physically strong, but it has been certified to being especially robust under a wide variety of difficult and hazardous operational conditions”. Accordingly, the speaker delivers compliance with UL1480/EUAY physical structural requirements, UL1480-UUMW life safety
JBL Control 25AV-LS
KV2 Audio EX12 toughness criteria, IP55 protection against water jetting and dust, and the MilSpec 810 rating to stand up to UV, salt spray and temperature extremes. Design-wise, Kamlet points to several factors that conspire to make the Control 25AV-LS as tough as they come. For one, the drivers are made of “robust materials. For example, the woofer cone is hybrid of polypropylene in front (for protection) and Kevlarreinforced pulp in the back (for performance).” A sealed-cabinet design – as compared to the ported design of the standard Control 25AV – prevents airborne contaminant incursion, while the transformer is constructed of all UL-approved materials and methods to ensure robustness. One of the many applications in which these characteristics have come into their own is a Las Vegas hotel where, says Kamlet, “the speakers needed to be installed in planters (where they are subjected to water), deliver high levels of high fidelity music, and still be certified as being capable of delivering high volume emergency announcements when required”.
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livefeature Reece-Farren, who points to the incorporation of Baltic birch construction with a wearresistant polymer coating to help it cope with the most challenging of tour and install applications. Hence, too, the recent upgrading of the EX12 to include a new
“The enclosures are built out of ABS plastic, which is an incredibly durable bit of material, and ensures that if in the course of dayto-day usage it’s dropped it is very unlikely to crack” Phil Sanchez, QSC Delivering 500W of total power with a complete on-board speaker management system, the speaker is capable of 127dB sustained output (130dB peak) with very high dynamic range and low noise floor. Ensuring that the speaker was highly durable was a key priority of its development, confirms
heavy-duty grill that makes the speaker “even more durable… It’s being rolled-out across the rest of the EX range as well.” Underlining Reece-Farren’s description of the EX12 as “a really reliable workhorse” is its deployment at a venue located near to KV2’s UK HQ – The
NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL EXTREEEEME TESTING! FBT Audio, Mark Parkhouse: “We export to countries all over the world, so our speakers have to be able to cope with contrasting environments.” JBL, Rick Kamlet: “The testing in 24 days of sulphuric-acid air and being subjected to high pressure water jets are just some of the harsher situations the Control 25AV-LS has been subjected to…” KV2 Audio, Jonathan Reece-Farren: “All of our products go through extreme testing – from two-week on/off cycles as standard practice, to attempting to shake our double 21” subwoofer to bits! Burning in of all loudspeaker components, load-testing of all amplifiers and electronics, heavy-duty thermal and overload testing, and vibration testing are part and parcel of our development processes.” Peavey, James Kennedy: “The first cabinet built [in the Elements series] was laid on its back, filled with water and left for a 90-day period. After
Peavey cabinets secured to a Mississippi lamp-post... that period not a drop had leaked or escaped from the cabinet, there was no visible water damage or warping, and the dimensions were exactly the same before water was applied. Another test involved two units being secured to lamp-posts in the
parking lot at Peavey HQ in Meridian, MS, and exposed completely to the elements. The speakers were connected up and actually passed audio with scheduled stimulus checks for 90 days.”
M
2. KV2 AUDIO EX12 “Designed to withstand rigorous operation around the clock” is Jonathan Reece-Farren’s capsule summary of the EX12 Extreme Resolution Active Speaker from KV2 Audio, the company of which he is UK managing director.
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livefeature EXTREEEEEEME EXTREME!
M
FBT Mitus 152A Blues Bar in Harrogate, which runs “as a café during the day, necessitating background music, and then becomes a live music venue six nights a week. The system has been put through many thousands of operation and nothing has needed to be changed, so it’s really proven to be a very durable solution.” The speaker also continues to show its worth out on the road, where it has recently been specified by Richard Brooker Sound Design for a new 24-week UK theatre tour of classic musical Fiddler on the Roof. 3. FBT MITUS 152A One of the latest launches to feature in this round-up, having been launched at Prolight + Sound in March 2013, the Mitus 152A active speaker has also been developed to handle live sound and fixed install applications with equal adeptness. A two-way, biamplified, bass reflex design, the 1,100W + 250W RMS speaker includes a 380mm B&C neodymium magnet woofer with 75mm voice coil, 50mm B&C HF driver with 64mm voice coil, and a 60 (H) x 40 (V) degree rotatable HF horn. Mark Parkhouse, managing director of FBT Audio (UK), highlights the “roadworthiness” of a speaker that owes its robustness in no small part to its “birch cabinet plywood and scratch resistant paint. As with all FBT products, it’s constructed inhouse at the factory in Italy to a very good standard.” The Mitus 152A isn’t IP55rated for water and dust protection (although Parkhouse reports anecdotally that some purchasers have been acquiring rain covers to allow the speakers to be used outdoors), but this requirement is catered to by another of FBT’s recent introductions – Shadow. “IP55-
Here’s what some of the specialist installation brands have to go through. At the top, Technomad Vernal loudspeakers, installed by systems integration company Watt & Volt Sverige AB, at the SkiStar resort in northern Sweden. The speakers are part of an installation that communicates the history of SkiStar, deliver atmospheric audio in eight locations. Niklas Hamrin, managing director, of Watt & Volt, says of Technomad: “Their loudspeakers provide the rated, Shadow comprises a line of full range and horn-loaded loudspeakers that provide music and voice reproduction for applications where extreme weather resistance is a priority,” notes Parkhouse. 4. QSC ACOUSTICDESIGN SERIES S8T, S10T, S12 QSC’s senior communications & public relations manager, Phil Sanchez, nominates the fixed install-oriented, 70/100V, twoway S8T, S10T and S12 surface mount loudspeakers from the manufacturer’s AcousticDesign series. “The enclosures are built out of ABS plastic, which is an incredibly durable bit of material, and the design also lends the speaker to being deployed in tough environments,” he says. Alongside a spec that includes a 1.4” diaphragm, 1” compression driver to ensure detailed highfrequency reproduction, a variety of features have been included to make the speaker suitable for demanding install applications. All three meet IEC60529 IP-54 for dust and splash resistance, with sealed input panels and powder coated aluminium grilles provided for added weather resistance. Meanwhile, the versatile X-Mount hardware makes it easy for the installer to mount the bracket and then simply lift the loudspeaker onto the mount and lock it into place. But above all, Sanchez highlights the robustness of the ABS plastic, which he describes as “an incredibly well-wearing material. Combined with an aluminium bracket and grill, and it’s clear this product will be rust-resistant.” Accordingly, demanding public space installations – including retail outlets, casinos, houses of worship and healthcare facilities – feature prominently in the list of suitable applications.
Vernal: snowy appropriate protection considering the large snow amounts and extremely low temperatures, which can drop to between -30 and 40 Celsius.” As a footnote, QSC famously threw a first-generation Acoustic Design speaker (and an RMX amplifier) off the roof of the Costa Mesa HQ in 2005, and filmed the whole event. Both speaker and amp performed perfectly after the encounter with the car park concrete. 5. D.A.S. AUDIO WR SERIES Introduced to the market earlier this year, the WR (Weather Resistant) series products from D.A.S. Audio have – as their name might suggest – been developed specifically to suit adverse outdoor installation
D.A.S. WR 6412
Peavey Elements
Community: watery Middle, ‘ingress protection’ procedures by Intertek at its Life Safety & Security testing facility in Leatherhead, Surrey for EN54-24 certification of applications. Comprising four two-way passive models, the range is available with two exposure ratings in order to comply with IP55 and IP56 environmental ratings as per IEC 529. Roberto Giner, marketing director for D.A.S. Audio, explains: “‘Covered Exposure’ (CX) is for applications where cabinets are covered or protected, while ‘Direct Exposure’ (DX) is for situations where cabinets are unprotected and directly exposed to the environment.” CX versions, notes Giner, are protected with a thick Iso-Flex coating on both the exterior and interior surfaces. The DX versions, meanwhile, augment the protection rating by employing a fibre-glass exterior and a gel coat sealed interior. Additionally, stainless steel fittings and mounted hardware are offered on both versions. The evolution of new weatherproofing methods has fed into the WR series, confirms Giner: “Clearly, new materials and techniques lead to changes in production as these products are integrated. In our case, the WR products take advantage of the new paints and finishes and waterproofing solutions to offer true all-weather durability.” And although it’s a new range, the WR products have already found their way into several challenging environments – not least the outdoor terrace of multiuse venue Stage 48 in New York City, where the WR products have been selected to resist NYC’s notoriously harsh winters. 6. PEAVEY ELEMENTS SERIES “Gone are the days of hanging so-called enclosures outside only to replace the speaker in a year or two” is among the claims made by Peavey on behalf of its freshlyminted Elements series. Built for
Technomad: army Community’s R-Series R1, R2 and R6 loudspeaker systems. And bottom… Technomad boxes on a US Army Humvee. Need we say more? long-term usage, the Elements weatherproof enclosures combine innovative cabinet construction and weatherised components designed for direct contact with the elements in the most demanding climates. There are two distinct strands to the Elements range. The fivemodel-strong Elements C series features composite enclosures constructed from an advanced composite fiberboard material that is dimensionally stable in wet conditions and resists contamination, yet has the resonant properties of wood. Additionally, the aluminium grills of the Elements C enclosures include a barrier membrane that repels water but allows moisture to escape without affecting the sonic performance of the loudspeaker. Comprising six models, the Elements M series, meanwhile, incorporates rugged moulded cabinets and a variety of speaker sizes and horn options. All cabinets feature an IP45 environmental rating as a result of stainless multi-fly-point hardware, sealed terminal connections, weather-resistant grills and weatherproof speaker cones. “Both the M and C series are fully weatherised, so they really can handle all kinds of conditions,” says James Kennedy, operations manager, Peavey Commercial Audio. By way of example, Kennedy points to a public test at InfoComm in June that saw discrete Elements speaker drivers being topped to the brim with water with ducks floating around. “It went to show that you could completely submerge the speaker cones in water and they would be unaffected.” I www.dasaudio.com www.fbtaudio.co.uk www.jblpro.com www.kv2audio.com www.peaveycommercialaudio.com www.qscaudio.com
Uniting the audience Speech and music that stir the soul. From the thrill of theatre to the celebration of worship to the inspiration of the auditorium. It’s all about consistent audience coverage, front to back, whatever the acoustic challenges. A shared experience they will never forget. That’s the Martin Audio Experience.
Unite your audience at www.martin-audio.com
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For the latest installation news www.psneurope.com/installation
installation SOUNDBITES PricewaterhouseCoopers has invested in a Yamaha audio system after moving headquarters to Prague. The technical equipment includes four DME64N digital mixing engines with two CP4SF wallmounted control panels and two LS9-32 digital mixing consoles. Michal Dolezilek, audio and video administrator for PwC, said: “The system allows any seminar or event needing sound reinforcement, video or audio to be catered for automatically, without the need for specialist operators. It is very reliable, maintenance-free and has excellent sound quality.” www.yamahaproaudio.com Polartide, an interactive exhibition about climate change, is to take place on November 24 at the 55th Venice Biennale in Italy. The installation uses a Meyer Sound UP-4XP 48V loudspeaker system for sound reproduction. Visitors click on an interactive graph showing sea water levels and oil stock quotes, and this generates musical textures. The sound is then relayed outdoors through eight UP-4XP loudspeakers connected to two MPS-488HP power supplies (48V DC). “We needed tools that reproduce sound precisely and work in the rain, and the UP-4XPs have achieved both brilliantly,” said Grey Niemeyer, new media artist and creator of the exhibition. www.meyersound.com The local council in the suburb of Brasschaat, Belgium, has purchased a QSC Core 250i-based Q-Sys system with a TSC-3 touchscreen controller and KLA line array loudspeakers for the multipurpose hall at the heart of its local cultural centre. The staff that run the sound system recommended the purchase of the Q-Sys system along with the KLA active line array system following a demo by the local QSC distributor, AED. www.qsc.com
NETHERLANDS/UNITED STATES
Duran Audio steers into Harman fold Creator of the AXYS Intellivox column speaker is latest acquisition by US entertainment technology giant By Dave Robinson HARMAN, PARENT of loudspeaker giant JBL, has acquired privately-held beamsteering specialist Duran Audio BV of the Netherlands. The acquisition supplies Harman with access to electroacoustic and software-based directivity control technologies such as the AXYS Intellivox line of “steerable” columns. The AXYS products and core technologies will become an integrated part of the Harman Professional audio product line.
Harman Professional’s Bryan Bradley with Gerrit Duran at the 135th AES Convention The news comes just nine months after Harman demonstrated an active commitment to growing through acquisition – across a number of geographic and vertical markets – by buying lighting giant Martin Professional. The terms of the acquisition were not announced. Gerrit Duran, founder of Duran Audio, noted: “Our focus
has always been on innovation. Over the years we have developed a range of solutions for some of the most difficult problems facing sound system designers, architects and acoustic engineers. Today’s acquisition by Harman presents many wonderful opportunities to push the R&D boundaries even further and to deliver some
truly unique technologies to a wider customer base.” Founded in Zaltbommel, Netherlands by Gerrit Duran in 1981, Duran Audio has earned a strong reputation for its AXYS range of professional audio products including loudspeakers, amplifiers, signal processors and network devices. Duran Audio pioneered modern loudspeaker “beam steering” and “beam shaping” which are essential to addressing demanding acoustic environments. The company has also established a leading position in audio solutions for European EN54 safety applications and software technologies for audio design. Harman’s director of corporate communications, Darrin Shewchuk, confirmed that Gerrit Duran will stay with the group as an “executive in the loudspeaker business”. I www.harmanpro.com
UNITED KINGDOM UNITED STATES A RENKUS-HEINZ Iconyx digitally steerable column array was installed in Los Angeles’ stunning new Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX. The crown jewel of the new terminal is the 14,000sqm, $1.9 billion (€1.4 billion) Antonio R Villaraigosa Pavilion, which houses dining and shopping services, along with an AV information hub.
“At 80 feet high with tons of glass, the pavilion was one of the more challenging spaces,” said system designer Michael Kalmanson, vice president at VSA Associates. “The Iconyx systems allows us to direct sound exactly where we needed it to be, while avoiding difficult reflective surfaces or wasting energy outside of the listening areas.” I www.renkus-heinz.com
MARTIN AUDIO has provided equipment for Fathom, a sonic exhibition at Plymouth University creatd by media arts specialists Jane Grant and Dr John Matthias. Fathom enables visitors to experience the sounds of the River Tamar estuary, using underwater sound recording technology. They experience different atmospheres, and the exhibition conveys a sound divide between water and air. Producer of the event and
sound engineer Simon Honywill, said on using Martin Audio equipment: “It was the only way I could even start to generate the kind of sharp cut-off that this unique project demanded.” Elements of an MLA system was deployed for the projects used. Andy Davies, from Martin Audio Application Support, said: “It was a great honour for Martin Audio to be involved in this project.” I www.martin-audio.com
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installationnews Powersoft and EAW serve up chill-out music for dinner, and a club atmosphere after midnight
TURKEY
Powersoft, EAW, installed at Bosphorus bankside THE ROOFTOP nightclub at Nu Teras, one of the most expensive club/restaurants in Istanbul with a fantastic view of the Bosphorus, has been equipped with an audio system from Powersoft and EAW. The Mars Entertainment Group chose distributor and installer Asimetrik Sound, Lighting & Visual Systems to supply the solution for the venue. “In terms of location and operation Nu Teras sits right at the very top,” said Görkem Çelikbilek, electrical and electronics engineer and VP of Asimetrik. “Consequently, this is a great reference installation for us and a large step towards improving Turkey’s vision of professional audio systems. We invested maximum effort in
designing a system that can only be described as world class,” he said. The system consists of a dozen Powersoft K2 and K10 amplifiers with on-board DSP, powering EAW JFL210, JF80, JF10 and SB250 cabinets. According to Çelikbilek, Powersoft was an obvious choice: “First of all we needed plenty of power, as we had to deliver the most efficient signal to the speakers at all times. Reliability was the second reason. We sometimes get power variances in Istanbul – and the Powersoft amps make it safe for the speakers, as it provides protection against voltage drops from the power grid.” I www.asimetrik.com.tr www.eaw.com www.powersoft-audio.com
SWEDEN
Meyer hops into Rabbit Land By Erica Basnicki IN CELEBRATION of its 90th anniversary, Liseberg amusement park in Sweden has completely renovated its children’s area to create Rabbit Land, a 10,000sqm play area where children can interact with animals and rabbitcostumed actors. System integrator One Two Sales of Gothenburg has outfitted Rabbit Land with Meyer Sound’s D-Mitri digital audio platform and Meyer Sound selfpowered loudspeakers discreetly placed throughout the area. At the heart of the system is the D-Mitri platform, which connects to six UPJunior-XP 48 V VariO loudspeakers nestled in the park’s Rabbit Hills and Cupcake areas, with three 500-HP subwoofers providing low end. In addition, seven UP-4XP 48 V loudspeakers are mounted underneath the park’s monorail track to extend coverage and provide sound effects. The system was designed and specified by Lindstedt in consultation with Dan
Meyer Sound’s experience in themed entertainment landed them in Rabbit Land Rigtorp, Liseberg’s technical director. “We looked at other solutions, but decided on Meyer for several reasons,”continued Rigtorp. “The speakers have a small footprint with their unique low-voltage solution. In addition, Meyer Sound offers us a single source for everything, including support and education.” The Rabbit Land development represents Liseberg’s largest single investment, with a total cost of just under 200 million Swedish kroner, (approximately €22.8 million). I www.meyersound.com
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installationnews UNITED KINGDOM
Martin Audio makes its mark at The MAC By Erica Basnicki THE MAC, Belfast’s new creative arts venue, has had its newly designed production infrastructure equipped and installed by Rea Sound, Martin Audio’s Irish distributors. Appointed as specialist subcontractors to Bowen Mascott JV, and working from a design specification by consultant Carr & Angier, Rea Sound masterminded the entire technical
The MAC’s 350-seat main auditorium, equipped with Martin Audio W3s fit-out, which included a Martin Audio W3 theatre PA system. “The W3 is a fantastic sound
system and perfect for the requirement,” confirmed Rea Sound’s Roger McMullan.
The system is the main auditorium comprises three W3s per side and a Martin Audio AQ10, powered by MA amplifiers. These provide separate channel feeds to each of the house PA speakers as well as the infills and effects speakers, which include three AQ10’s plus four ‘floating’ Martin Audio Blackline F10+ and two F12+. At the heart of the system lies one of two Allen & Heath IDR units, allowing for full
control on all inputs and outputs of the PA speaker channels. Supplied for the audio engineer is an Allen & Heath I-Live T122 digital console and IDR48 stagebox again allow for ease of use and preset recalls. The smaller upstairs studio also utilises W3 cabinets, with an Allen & Heath I-Live R72 digital console and IDR16 stagebox. I www.martin-audio.com
UNITED KINGDOM
BPM team launches PRO show for NEC By Dave Robinson ON THE wave of another successful BPM 2013 (the ‘DJ and Electronic Music Production Event’), organiser Marked Events is expanding into the professional audio and lighting space with the launch of PRO. This exhibition is aimed at installers, rental houses, production companies and anyone who provides technical services to bars, clubs, concert venues and small to medium-sized events, and will run alongside BPM at the NEC in Birmingham Saturday 13 till Monday 15 September 2014. The shows will retain individual identities (BPM for DJ gear, PRO for pro-audio and lighting needs) though one ticket will cover entry to both. Marked Events’ sales director told PSNEurope at press time: “Since announcing PRO, the industry reaction has been great. Following PLASA’s debut at ExCeL, I think the need for a targeted PRO event is even more apparent. The idea for PRO is that it will fill the gaping middle ground currently not covered either by PLASA or our BPM event. “PRO is specifically targeted at late night venues, production companies and the retail sectors that supply professional
Mark Walsh, BPM & PRO sales director audio and lighting users. The development of PRO was initially driven by professional audio companies who serve this market and are looking for a new opportunity for show promotion in the UK. This point has already being proven by BPM, which included representation from more speaker brands than any other UK show this year. With the birth of PRO, this is only set to grow.” BPM has expanded from 2,200 visitors in 2007 to 8,000 this year, and from 4,000sqm of floorspace to 8,700sqm in 2013. Walsh has already been approached by a number of new exhibitors for 2014, as well as current BPM exhibitors seeking increased space. “For the proaudio companies this will mean more feature area space for sound system demonstration and dedicated educational content in the PRO Learning Spaces.” I www.visitpro.co.uk
sound without compromise
S4.4 Series
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TOA Corporation (UK) Limited HQ3 Unit 2, Hook Rise South, Surbiton, Surrey, KT6 7LD, England Trantec is a part of the TOA Corporation group of companies
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installationnews SOUNDBITES A Yamaha CL3 system is the centerpiece of a new sound system at Hereford Hereford Courtyard Centre for the Arts, following it being granted funds for an upgrade. Production manager Carl Hulme chose the desk in order to take the venue – which was last updated 15 years ago – “far into the future”. The console was supplied by SSE Audio Group, together with a pair of R-series I/O units – a Rio3224-D in the venue’s control room and an Rio1608-D on stage. www.yamahaproaudio.com VUE Audiotechnik has appointed AVP Sales as the company’s distributor in Sweden. AVP Sales is the fifth European distributor to sign on with VUE in the last 12 months. “These high-calibre teams bring tremendous experience at a time when we’re sharpening our focus on key international markets,” explained VUE’s executive VP Jim Sides. www.vueaudio.com
UNITED KINGDOM
Stadium double for ETA Sound By Erica Basnicki ETA SOUND, who joined parent company SSE Audio Group in 2012, has scored two UK stadium sound installs recently. The first was the Worcester Warriors’ 12,000 capacity Sixways Stadium, where ETA’s Eddie Thomas designed a sound reinforcement upgrade with JBL’s AWC129 two-way coaxial loudspeakers on the lower stand and AWC 82s above in the hospitality area, supplied by Harman Professional’s UK and Ireland distributors Sound Technology. “It is the first time we have used these loudspeakers and we are delighted with their performance,” said Thomas.
ETA Sound has completed phase one of Swansea’s Liberty Stadium PA VA upgrade Added Brian Ryan, Sixways Stadium’s head of operations: “We were very impressed with the new JBL speakers and they have performed well during their first ‘live’ match. The clarity for speech announcements is excellent and they also handle music exceptionally well. ETA Sound’s second project
involved completing the first phase of an upgrade to the public address voice activation (PAVA) system at the Liberty Stadium, Swansea. The Stadium is home to both the ‘Swans’ Swansea City Premier League football club and the ‘Ospreys’ RFU club. Thomas once again designed the system; a replacement
network solution centred around the QSC, Q-Sys integrated system platform. “The system comprises two 250i servers and six I/O frames, two located at each of the remote equipment rack locations, along with supporting input and output cards to drive the existing amplification frames,” said Thomas. The operation control software was customised by SSE Audio’s Paul Todd. As part of the refurbishment works, a new QSC emergency microphone and desk mounted paging station was also installed. The system was designed, supplied and installed across a three-week period and was ready for use on the first UEFA Europa League qualifying match of the season, which Swansea City won 4-0 against Swedish side Malmo. I ww.etasound.co.uk www.jbl.com www.qscaudio.com www.soundtech.co.uk www.sseaudiogroup.com
CONTACTS
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November 2013 l 53
Editor Dave Robinson david.robinson@intentmedia.co.uk
hither&dither
Staff Writer Erica Basnicki erica.basnicki@intentmedia.co.uk Managing Editor Joanne Ruddock jo.ruddock@intentmedia.co.uk Deputy Advertising Manager Ryan O’Donnell ryan.odonnell@intentmedia.co.uk Head of Design and Production Adam Butler adam.butler@intentmedia.co.uk Editorial Production Manager Dawn Boultwood dawn.boultwood@intentmedia.co.uk Production Executive Evan Graham evan.graham@intentmedia.co.uk
Hither and PLASA Including an ‘allstar’ line-up at the immaculate art deco Troxy
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Not only did Pioneer launch its new club soundsystems at PLASA, it brought the branded beer along too
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The party event of PLASA was undoubtedly the Martin Audio/DiGiCo/Avolites bash at the Troxy in east London. That’s James Gordon (Phantom) and David Webster (Kiss) on the mic...
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Look everyone, Al McKinna is back from Avid in SF! Five years away? No!
Meanwhile, back at the Troxy: Dominic Jacobson does his best ‘Bez’ while Simon Bull carries on regardless
And elsewhere in London, Sony showed off its new range of high-res audio players. Spot the man who works for Hitachi
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54 l November 2013
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industrytalk
“My time at Euphonix involved taking an American brand and building it into an international force, so EAW was something I could really sink my teeth into. I turned down a couple of big opportunities here because they were only US-focused” Rusty Waite
FOR HIS generous network of industry trustees, no international trade show feels complete without at least some time spent in the company of Rusty Waite (Russell to his mom), now embarking upon the latest chapter of his globetrotting career. As he settles into leading EAW’s sales drive into a new era of domestic production and high-end challenge, it’s time for some reflection on resettling on the East Coast, moving from console to speaker manufacture, his formative time in Europe and simply doing what he does best – keeping that network well tuned and convivially engaged. Have you noticed that there are no faders on a speaker cabinet? I’ve worked that out! Yes, it’s new territory for me – I was further up the processing chain before, with AMS Neve, Euphonix and Stagetec – and there’s a lot to take in. But over the past year I’ve been doing a lot of theatre sound design, and I know what I want to get out of loudspeakers in a performance arena. After I parted company with Stagetec I had time to share my daughter’s enthusiasm for musical theatre – she’s with a youth theatre group in California, which is a really professional set-up. As a sound engineer by trade I just had to get involved, bought a couple of small digital consoles and managed to raise the audio quality to another level. Looking back, I guess in a way it was building up towards this kind of position. How does it suit you? This role at EAW is global, and that’s what really attracted me. My time at Euphonix involved taking an American brand and building it into an international force, so this was something I could really sink my teeth into. In fact, I turned down a couple of big opportunities here because they were only US-focused. Developing EAW further as a power across EMEA and Asia too… I feel I can make a difference.
it for an incredibly wide range of applications. [Anya was ‘secretly’ trialled by Rat in front of an audience of 20,000 at the Coachella festival earlier this year – Ed] This weekend they’re using it for a festival in Santa Monica, where the city was really worried about noise, and it’s because you can sculpt the soundfield so accurately that Rat Sound got the gig. Wherever it is, Anya can be adapted to the performance space.
Good company Swapping channel strips for chain hoists, Rusty Waite has taken on a major role with EAW. The console champion would like to introduce Phil Ward to his new progeny Anya, too And it’s an interesting time for the company… There’s so much happening. Being part of Loud Technologies gives us a major infrastructure to work with, but it’s still about me being a live engineer, a sound designer and an all-round audio guy. I’ve delved into the core technologies at EAW, and I have to say the current portfolio is as strong as it’s ever been. I thought the Anya range would blow me away – and it did – but what I didn’t realise was that the rest of the products would blow me away too. My connections with EAW go back to ’93, when it was being distributed by Siemens Austria. I was working
for them at the time, based in Vienna, which brought me into contact with the EAW team and enabled me to understand exactly what the brand stood for. What impresses me now, and what we’re all focused on, is bringing the majority of the manufacturing back into the US, at Whitinsville. All of the custom work is done here now: the era of EAW being a China-based manufacturer belongs to yesterday. The buzz is back and, although products like the QX series and Avalon have sometimes felt like the best-kept secrets in the business, when you actually get people in front them and listening they
are consistently knocked out. My job is to get that message back out there.
Cedar Audio ....................................3 Celestion.......................................35 Clear-Com ....................................48 Community Professional Loudspeakers ................................51 D.A.S.Audio...................................17 d&b audiotechnik ..........................33
DiGiCo ...........................................13 Dynacord .......................................11 Full Fat Audio................................53 Genelec .........................................37 HK Audio ......................................25 JTS Professional ..........................50 K-array.........................................38 Kling & Freitag..............................34 L-Acoustics..................................IFC
Lectrosonics ..................................21 Line 6 ...........................................28 Martin Audio.................................45 Meyer Sound...................................7 MIPRO ..........................................31 NAMM Show ................................39 Radial Systems Engineering ....5 & 55 Renkus-Heinz ...............................36 Sommer Cable...............................23
ADVERTISER INDEX ADVERTISER INDEX NAME ....PAGE 18 Sound.......................................43 Adamson Systems Engineering...OFC ASL Intercom..................................4 Audio-Technica...............................8 Beyerdynamic .................................9 Canford Audio...............................47
Is ‘Anya’ the way back into high-end touring? Definitely. Of course we’re equally devoted to installation, but Anya is poised to take us back to the top of the touring game. It’s not a typical product of any kind: it’s not line array, but neither is it simply point source; and it also has value in the fixed install market. It’s a mix of qualities and techniques that we call Adaptive Performance: we sold the first system to Rat Sound – Dave Rat was involved with the development – and they’re using
Is it part of the new generation of software-driven, highly analytical FOH systems? It’s a game-changer. The ‘Resolution’ software is not just about beam steering, or modelbuilding, or prediction. It happens in real time: at another festival in Downtown LA, Dave Rat was able to fix some unexpected reflections from a tent at the back of the coverage area by adjusting the scope of the dispersion in situ. The problem just went away. Plus, the rig hangs straight: there are no tricky J-curves or degree-bydegree tweaking, you just point it and fire. Then the software takes over and deals with the situation, including determining the location of the boxes in relation to each other using infra-red sensors. In the vertical plane you can adjust from 0° to 180°, making it especially equipped to deal with balconies, upper tiers in stadiums and problems of that kind. And you can hang them side by side to deal with horizontal dispersion, up to a true 360° image – way more flexible than a normal line array. Big plans for Europe? Of course: we’ve got a great guy in Steve Badham, our application support manager for the EMEA region, and by Q1 next year we’ll have an Anya system over for demos. But the whole portfolio is ready to get the full benefit of my unique experience in Europe, and I’m really happy to know I’ll get to spend more time in your neck of the woods! I www.eaw.com SSL ..........................................18/19 Tannoy .....................................16/17 TOA .............................................49 Waves Audio .................................41 Yamaha Commercial Audio ..............1