PSNEurope October 2014 digital edition

PSNEUROPE OCTOBER 2014

THE BUSINESS OF PROFESSIONAL AUDIO

www.psneurope.com

Street magic!

Miloco Group grabs Grand Prix at the Pro Sound Awards 2014

Join Chris Mace, Sound by Design, John Pellowe, Metropolis Studios and all the winners at this year’s big event, starting on p4

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welcome Photo: Jake Young

EDITOR’S COMMENT

“We learned that Dave Swallow’s worst gig was in a public swimming pool, while Matt told of being hit by rocks”

Front cover image: Nick Young, Siobhan Paine and Stephen Street, by Nic Cooper

WHAT A superb night, eh? Even if I do say so myself.

If you missed the second Pro Sound Awards last month, then you really did miss out.

New for this year was The Pre-Roll, two sessions of chat ahead of the main event. Up first were the Producer Sessions, which saw former Pro Sound News Europe editor Phil Ward “do a Parky” as he welcomed Monty Python’s go-to soundtrack man Andre Jacquemin, Depeche Mode collaborator Ben Hillier and Smiths, Morrissey and Blur producer Stephen Street to the stage. All three had tales which delighted and surprised us: Andre’s revelation that David Hasselhoff carried a suitcase full of pre-signed photos of himself was a particular goodie.

I have to say a special thank you to the great Stephen Street for sticking around to present the Grand Prix to Nick and Siobhan from Miloco – as seen on this month’s front cover.

Next up was the rambunctious Live Sound Sessions which featured Dave Swallow (Amy Winehouse) Jon Burton (The Prodigy), Matt Kanaris (Lana Del Rey) and Charles “Chicky” Reeves (Prince) trading tales of life on the road. We learned, for instance that Dave’s worst gig was in a public swimming pool, while Matt told of being hit by rocks from a hostile audience.

Thanks to all the sponsors of course – there’s plenty more details of the winners and party-goers over the page. But ahead of next year, let me say this: you have to be in to win. Someone’s clever organisation meant that Chris Mace received over 25 nominations and testimonials during the 2014 lobbying period. You and your colleagues could do that too, couldn’t you?

Dave Robinson

IN THIS ISSUE...

BUSINESS 4 Pro Sound Awards 2014: The winners!

8 Industry appointments 10 Events and expos 12 Show review: IBC 2014 18 Show preview: PLASA London 20 Show preview: AES 137 22 New products 24 PSNTraining STUDIO 26 Adrian Belew in a state of FLUX 28 The art of half-speed mastering BROADCAST 30 Mixed reaction to EU radio spectrum report 32 Continuous recording for reality TV LIVE 34 36 38 40 42

The O2, seven years on Cutty Sark hold becomes performance space Wigwam, DiGiCo and BroaMan move into Top Gear La Francofolies at 30 Feature: Training needs of the live and install markets

INSTALL 46 48 50 52

Pioneer DJ sold to private equity firm Ancient Verona Arena gets modern stage management L-Acoustics: Louder than a bomb at House of Vans Feature: The modern conference

BACK PAGES 53 54

Hither & dither: IBC special Industry talk: Paul Bauman, JBL Professional

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PROSOUND DAWARDS

awardsreview

In association with:

Credit: All pics Nic Cooper

Thursday, 25th September 2014, Ministry Of Sound, London

John Pellowe received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Nina Jackson of sponsor Metropolis, following a citation

by PSNEurope’s Dave Robinson

The most popular man of the evening? Oysters ahoy!

Winners, all!

Bigger and bolder Pro Sounds Awards sees stars of pro audio shine THE PRO SOUND AWARDS (co-sponsored by Sennheiser and Lab.gruppen) returned in triumph to the Ministry of Sound last month – as this collection of pictures amply demonstrates. Sound

by Design scored a double, being recipient of both the Permanent Installation Project of the Year and Installed Audio Team of the Year award.

Capital Sound was recognised for its contribution to the groundbreaking 2013 British Summer Time concert at Hyde Park, while Andrew Dudman, who recorded the Oscar-winning score for Gravity – also a winner in the Best Sound in PostProduction category – won Studio Engineer of the Year.

Paloma Faith’s A Perfect Contradiction won Best Recording Production, while Metropolis completed the list of winners in the studio category, taking home the prize for Best Studio.

Although she couldn’t be there in person, Faith showed her appreciation via a specially recorded (and somewhat off-the-wall) video message.

As well as the return of the drinks reception (sponsored by Martin Audio), buffet and after party (sponsored by Meyer Sound), the event saw the debut of The Pre-Roll: early attendees were treated to a series of talks with legendary

producers Andre Jacquemin, Ben Hillier and Stephen Street before engineers Dave Swallow, Matt Kanaris, Jon Burton and Charles “Chicky” Reeves took to the stage for a well-received (and frequently hilarious) live sound panel session.

Ahead of the main events ceremony, Nordoff Robbins’ Laura Shand presented a short and touching film about the work of the music therapy charity.

Other highlights were AIR Studios’ Jon Webber picking up the Rising Star Award (sponsored

by Soundcraft) before the evening’s major accolades: Pavarotti engineer John Pellowe took the Metropolis-sponsored Lifetime Achievement, presented to him by Metropolis’ Nina Jackson; producer Stephen Street was on hand to give Miloco their Grand Prix award, as seen on the PSNEurope cover this month.

Live/Touring Sound Engineer of the Year (sponsored by Allen & Heath) was Reay Grant; Best Theatre Sound (supported by Sennheiser) went to Chris Mace for I Can’t Sing.

Other Broadcast Audio awards (sponsored by Sony) included: BBC Proms for Team of the Year; Channel 4’s Winter Paralympics coverage bagged Broadcast Event of the Year; and Pinewood

Shure’s Peter James (left) with used-gear guru Bob Kelly

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PROSOUND DAWARDS In association with:

Thursday, 25th September 2014, Ministry Of Sound, London

The Pre-Roll, new for 2014, began with writer Phil Ward interviewing producers (L–R) Stephen Street, Ben Hillier and Andre Jacquemin

... then it was the turn of the live sound engineers’ panel. Dave Robinson tried to bring order to (L-R) Dave Swallow, Matt Kanaris, Jon Burton and Chicky Reeves

awardsreview Credit: All pics Nic Cooper

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6 l October 2014

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PROSOUND DAWARDS

awardsreview

Studios was named Facility of the Year. Source Distribution/Genelec won Best Temporary Installation Project for the Cock ‘n’ Bull Gallery, and Marketing Initiative of the Year went to Shure for the Call for Legends campaign.

A&H’s Glenn Rogers with Reay Grant

The night ended with many happy people bundling into the Celestion-sponsored photobooth for a comedy snap or two.

See you next year! Q www.prosoundwards.com

Paul Timmins for Capital Sound

Andrew Dudman, Studio Engineer of the Year

Chris Mace won for Best Theatre Sound

Laura Shand of Nordoff Robbins

Sony A&R Nikki Affleck picked up the Best Recording Production prize on behalf of Paloma Faith

Avid’s Ben Nemes promised to take the Best Sound in Post-Production to the Gravity team

Sam Wheat and Nina Jackson of Metropolis

Philip Burwell (L) and Neil Pemberton for the BBC Proms

Credit: All pics Nic Cooper

Host Alistair Williams

In association with:

Thursday, 25th September 2014, Ministry Of Sound, London

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PROSOUND DAWARDS Thursday, 25th September 2014, Ministry Of Sound, London

James Rutherford on behalf of Channel 4 and the Sochi Paralympics broadcasting

Dom Harter of Soundcraft dedicated the Rising Star award to the memory of the late Derrick Zieba

Rising Star winner, John Webber, with API editor Adam Savage

Phill Chapman, Elaine Duffy and Griff Hewis of Sound by Design

Miloco’s Siobhan Paine: all smiles

(L-R) Stephen Hughes, Andy Callin, Ed Kinsella and Mike Wheeler take Best Permanent Installation Project

Andy Bensley of Source for the Cock ’n’ Bull Gallery installation

Socialising, beer and a lot of laughter: Darryn de la Soul captured here with SSR London’s Michael Grieg sums up the mood of another great night

Shure’s Paul Crognale: Marketing Initiative of the Year

Miloco’s Nick Young: lifted up

Credit: All pics Nic Cooper

awardsreview

In association with:

8 l October 2014

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industrymovers

Roscoe recognised with Renkus-Heinz role New company head has featured in ‘Top 100 People in Advertising’ list LOUDSPEAKER manufacturer Renkus-Heinz has appointed Roscoe Anthony to the position of president, filling a post that has remained vacant since Scott Leslie’s departure last summer.

Anthony joins the Californiabased company during what is reported as a period of “unprecedented progress”.

“I’m honoured to be joining the organisation at such an auspicious time,” says Anthony, “and I look forward to helping guide the company to a path of even greater growth and success.” His new position will see him leading the company’s evolution and working closely with company founder and chairman Harro Heinz (seen here, right, with Anthony).

With reference to Anthony’s label as one of the ‘Top 100 People in Advertising’ (Advertising Age magazine), Heinz comments: “Roscoe brings with him an extraordinarily wide-ranging skillset, with deep expertise in business, marketing, and manufacturing, along with a powerful grasp of today’s complex technologies.”

In his previous role at Califone – which he held for 12 years – Anthony contributed to a period of record growth, including a transition of the company’s product lines (headsets, media players and equipment for education) from analogue to digital. www.renkus-heinz.com

Audiologic, the Essex, UK-based provider of proaudio sound equipment, has welcomed Dave Smith to the company in a newly created role as business development manager. Smith has a strong background in both the consumer electronics and music industry sectors.

Audiologic sales and marketing director Andy Lewis says: “We’re genuinely delighted to welcome someone of Dave’s calibre to the Audiologic family.

He has a proven track record of building and developing strong commercial relationships.”

Commenting on his new position, Smith comments: “Things at Audiologic are without doubt ramping up towards an ever more exciting future, and it’s great to be getting on board.” www.audiologic.uk

Dutch broadcast network manufacturer AXON has appointed Richard Couzon sales director at the company’s French sales office in Paris.

Couzon will be responsible for supporting French accounts and developing new business in France and francophone Africa.

With Couzon bringing over 20 years of broadcast experience to the company, the director of marketing and sales at AXON, Harry Kanters, states: “With Richard managing our new sales office [in] France, AXON will be much closer to the French clients,which will contribute to our growth plan in France and French-speaking countries.” www.axon.tv

FBT Audio UK Ltd, the UK subsidiary of the Italian professional audio company FBT Elettronica, has announced the appointment of Kevin McNally in the role of business development manager.

With a wealth of experience across all areas of the professional audio industry, McNally will be tasked with

developing FBT Audio UK’s penetration across the live event and sectors of the professional audio market. Commenting on his appointment, McNally said: “Having seen the future plans and ambitions, it is obvious that FBT is going places and I am delighted to be joining at this crucial stage in the company’s development.” www.fbtaudio.co.uk

RH Consulting has welcomed Richard Northwood to the Londonbased audio consulting firm, bringing 30 years of experience to the company. “I regard this as an excellent move for me personally, and RH Consulting benefits by the addition of my experience and skillset to what was already an impressive base,” Northwood comments. “Roland [Hemming, RH consultant and project manager] and I have already worked together on a number of projects and our skills are very complementary.” www.rhconsulting.eu

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expos&events

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

SPOTLIGHT

Photo: Mick Baker

TVBAWARDS 23 October London, UK www.tvb-awards.com

EDITORIAL PLANNER NOVEMBER

in association with TVTechnology 23rd October 2014 – Hilton London, Wembley

Headphones The first TVBAwards, the debut event by PSNEurope sister title TVBEurope, takes place at the Hilton London Wembley hotel this month.

The awards – divided into the categories Capture, Workflow and Delivery, with a fourth, Special Awards, honouring Lifetime Achievement, Sustainability, Marketing Campaign and Outstanding Broadcast – honour excellence in the broadcast sector.

The Workflow category includes the Achievement in Sound award, for which Bang Post

Production (for Sherlock), Gearhouse Broadcast (for The X Factor), Nugen Audio (for Later… with Jools Holland) and Pro Sound Awards finalist dock10 (for Happy Valley) are nominated.

For a full list of finalists and sponsors – at the time of writing, Ericsson is signed up as category sponsor for Capture, and Manor Marketing is sponsoring the Marketing Campaign award – or for more information, visit the TVBAwards website. www.tvb-awards.com

Small and midscale touring kit AES review

DECEMBER Software and plug-ins 2014 review

EVENTS Your complete calendar of expos and conferences for the months ahead PLASA London 5–8 October London, UK www.plasashow.com

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

Grammy Awards 5 February Los Angeles, US www.grammy.com

Event Buyers Live 4–5 March Luton, UK www.eventbuyerslive.com

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

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

Music Producers Guild Awards 12 February London, UK www.mpgawards.com

LLB 17–19 March Stockholm, Sweden www.llb.se

InfoComm MEA 13–16 October Dubai, UAE www.infocomm-mea.com

2015 International CES 6–9 January Las Vegas, US www.cesweb.org

BVE 24–26 February London, UK www.bvexpo.com

NAB Las Vegas, US www.nabshow.com

TVBAwards 23 October London, UK www.tvb-awards.com PLASA Focus Brussels 3–4 November Brussels, Belgium www.plasafocus.com/brussels

137th AES Convention 9–12 October Los Angeles, US www.aes.org Iceland Airwaves 5–9 November Reykjavik, Iceland www.icelandairwaves.is

NAMM Show 22–25 January Anaheim, US www.namm.org Integrated Systems Europe 10–12 February Amsterdam, Netherlands www.iseurope.org

BRIT Awards 25 February London, UK www.brits.co.uk ISCE 3–4 March Binley, UK www.isce.org.uk

Prolight + Sound/Musikmesse 15–18 April Frankfurt, Germany www.pls.messefrankfurt.com PALME Middle East 11–13 May Dubai, UAE www.palme-middleeast.com

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IBC review SOUNDBITES IBC 2014 brought in a total of 55,092 attendees – an annual increase of four per cent – making it “the most successful show ever,” according to the organisers. Visitors from more than 170 countries met with over 1500 exhibitors across 14 halls of the RAI exhibition centre.

“IBC’s goal is to deliver an event that is relevant to the community,” says Michael Crimp, CEO of IBC. “Getting the right attendance is more important than big numbers, but it is encouraging when we get both quality and quantity.” www.ibc.org Sennheiser launched a Dante card for the Sennheiser EM 9046 receiver which enables the Digital 9000 microphone system to be integrated into Dante audio-over-IP networks. Sennheiser says users will be able to conveniently route the system’s high-definition audio data via Audinate’s Dante Controller.

Sennheiser announced its support for the networking standard at NAB 2014. www.sennheiser.com To coincide with the first day of IBC, Finnish company Jutel, one of the most experienced suppliers of radio station automation and digital radio broadcast solutions worldwide, announced its partnership with RAVENNA. The move follows this week’s news that ARG ElectroDesign, OMICRON Lab and Meinberg have also signed up to the open media networking standard, and the installation of the world’s first RAVENNA/AES67-based commercial audio system, including networked loudspeakers. ravenna.alcnetworx.com RTW, the market leader in visual audio meters and monitoring devices, introduced RTW Mastering Tools, the second plug-in in its Masterclass PlugIns line of software-based metering solutions, at IBC. Designed for post-production, TV, film and music recording, the new addition brings extensive analysis and display functions for mastering, metering and loudness measurement for single- and up to eight-channel applications as a standardformat plug-in for Windows and Mac OS platforms. Andreas Tweitmann, managing director of RTW, says Mastering Tools “puts a very powerful tool for mastering, metering and loudness measurement into a convenient, easy-to-operate software package, adding further efficiency to the [user’s] overall workflow”. www.rtw.de

Lawo unveils “all in one” mc²36 desk

By Michael Burns LAWO’S mc²36 all-in-one audio console made its premiere at IBC2014, unveiled at a high-energy launch that included a live audio-over IP-mix of German rockers Rammstein.

“The mc²36 is the first production console Lawo has ever built that is designed as an all-in-one concept,” said Lawo’s senior product manager for audio production, Christian Struck.

“It needs no external racks, as surface, I/O and DSP are all built-in, which makes it very compact.

“The newly designed DSP micro-core with internal 512×512 port audio matrix and inbuilt Ravenna/AES67 connections make this console a fully networkable desk, and 100 per cent future proof.”

The mc²36 features onboard loudness metering and offers 21.5-inch full-HD touchscreens with touch-sensitive colourilluminated rotary encoders.

“We expect it to be used for broadcast operations, of course, but the portability also makes it suitable for rental applications and we see it going into theatres and houses of worship as well. We’re looking into whole new groups of operators with this desk.” Q www.lawo.com

Lawo senior product manager Christian Struck with the mc²36

Avid announces VENUE BroaMan makes MUX22 S3L-X live sound system MADI-compatible

By Jon Chapple AVID announced the launch of the Avid VENUE S3L-X compact live sound system on the first day of IBC2014.

“Building on the success of the Avid S3L system to deliver on the Avid Everywhere vision,” Avid says the new system allows live sound professionals to “more easily meet the increasing scope, size, complexity and diversity of today’s live sound requirements”.

The VENUE S3L-X is designed to be used with Avid’s Pro Tools software. “When used together, Avid VENUE S3L-X and Pro Tools software – both part of the Avid Artist Suite of solutions and powered by the Avid MediaCentral platform – deliver

the most streamlined, economical and tightly integrated approach to mixing and recording live productions,” said a statement from the company.

“Live sound professionals face tight budgets, pressure to get more value from their assets, and a multitude of technology choices,” said Chris Gahagan, senior vice-president of products and technology at Avid.

“When we first introduced the S3L, our customers immediately embraced it at major festivals, clubs and tours for its sheer sound quality, power and mixing creativity. Now, with the Avid VENUE S3L-X, we’re enabling them to use one system for both live sound performance and mixing down final assets to monetise.” Q www.avid.com

Maciek Janiszewski, BroaMan applications engineering manager, demonstrates the new kit

By Michael Burns

The original Avid S3L system

A NEW addition to the BroaMan MUX22 series which makes the platform compatible with the MADI audio format was showcased at IBC. Broadcast Manufactur (BroaMan) launched the original MUX22 audio, video and intercom module last year.

Offering up to 16 3G/HD/SD-SDI I/O configurable video ports with built-in CWDM multiplexer, it allows multiple signals to be multiplexed over just one single fibre each. The new MADI board is populated with four duplex SC MADI ports, offering 256 inputs and 256 outputs, and each MADI port is fully AES10 compatible,

offering 56 or 64-channel MADI I/O. As with all MUX22 devices the new MUX22 MADI can support up to eight video channels with a selectable number of dual inputs and dual outputs.

“The MADI option will push the MUX22 series even more,” said BroaMan managing director Tine Helme on the first day of the show, adding that the new arrival had already stoked a lot of interest at BroaMan’s IBC stand. “We’ve already heard of some great new projects and have made some new partners.” Q www.broadcastmanufactur.com

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IBC review Here’s what happens when you take a DPA 4060 miniature mic and treat it rough! See the full video of Nils Vinding, DPA area sales manager, taking a hammer to the indestructible 4060 at www.psneurope.com. www.dpamicrophones.com

HHB brings TC Electronic, Røde bonus

By Jon Chapple HHB Communications hosted the world debuts for a host of broadcast audio products with partners Røde, TC Electronic, Dynaudio Professional, Roland and Mogami at the 2014 International Broadcasting Convention (IBC).

TC Electronic’s aNorm normalisation algorithm provides innovative loudness adjustment features that HHB says “offer a new approach for user-defined targets for program loudness and loudness range”.

Complementing aNorm is the new Butterfly Processing Meter, which offers both graphical and numerical displays of program loudness and loudness range parameters at all stages of the process.

The aNorm algorithm and Butterfly Meter are part of the new LoudnessWizard II license for TC Electronic’s DB6 Broadcast Audio Processor.

The new flagship Røde Stereo VideoMic X (SVMX) provides the highest level of performance of any stereo microphone from Røde by providing broadcast-quality audio via an acoustically matched pair of true-condenser capsules.

Housed in a lightweight aluminium body, SVMX maintains high levels of resistance to RF interference.

The capsule and shoe-mounts are precision-machined to ensure the tightest possible tolerances, thereby minimising any acoustic resonance.

These launches were in addition to new and enhanced versions of Nugen Audio’s range of loudness plug-ins, several of Roland’s newest AV technologies and other products from Mogami, Yellowtec, Dynaudio and Wohler.

HHB Communications’ director of sales, Martin O’Donnell, commented: “We have an enviable collection of leading-edge equipment for a variety of broadcast audio applications at IBC,” adding that 2014 was “a banner year for [HHB] product débuts”. Q www.hhb.co.uk

Stereo VideoMic X boasts the highest performance of any Røde stereo microphone

Nugen showcases dynamic audio with DPP Nugen co-founders Jon Schorah (left) and Paul Tapper on their stand at IBC

By Michael Burns A NEW technology showcased at IBC addresses the challenges of repurposing theatrical content to TV in the context of full loudness compliance.

DynApt provides similar benefits when adapting TV content for mobile streaming, or any other application that requires adapting dynamics accurately to the constraints of the delivery system.

Nugen said DynApt, available as an extension for its Loudness Management Batch (LMB) Processor, gives audio

engineers a new option for efficiently adapting the content to preserve dialogue clarity. The LMB Processor is an offline file-based batch loudness analysis and correction program for high throughput applications.

Working faster than realtime, DynApt adapts dynamic audio appropriately for different listening environments and playout systems, while respecting the level of dialogue in the original mix and meeting specific loudness criteria. Q www.nugenaudio.com

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IBC review L–R: Colin Judge, managing director of IPE, Chris Exelby, managing director of TSL, and David MacGregor, chairman of TSL

SALZBRENNER STAGETEC PROMOTES DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BRANDS Salzbrenner international product manager Bjorn Van Munster

TSL to merge with IPE

By Jon Chapple TWO OF the biggest names in broadcast equipment and systems integration, TSL Products and IPE Systems, on the first day of IBC2014 announced their intention to merge.

The two companies say the proposed merger “will bring a combined wealth of knowledge and expertise that spans almost 60 years of first-class service to the broadcast industry”. Under the terms of the agreement, IPE’s Colin Judge will become managing director of the combined systems company, and TSL’s Chris Exelby will continue as managing director of the products company.

The merger will also add IPE’s IDS line of integrated

display systems to TSL Products’ portfolio of broadcast equipment, providing an “international launchpad” for the IDS platform into the global market.

TSL announced a strategic partnership with ARG ElectroDesign, a manufacturer of distribution solutions for the telecoms/satellite industry, in April, and acquired microphone/audio processing company SoundField at IBC2012.

The latest models in TSL/SoundField’s DSF Digital Broadcast surround sound microphone range made their débuts at this year’s show. Q www.ipe-systems.com www.tsl.co.uk

Xirium X flexed at expo

By Dave Robinson NEUTRIK has launched Xirium X, an updated, more flexible and more robust version of its digital wireless audio (DIWA) system, designed to replace analogue cables in situations where cable runs might be obtrusive, awkward or inappropriate.

Xirium was launched last year and represents Neutrik’s vision of a wireless studio-quality transmission system between two connectors. The product boasts reliability and ease-of-handling while running within the licence-

The set-up on the Neutrik stand showing components of the Xirium X system

exempt 5GHz frequency band. The system is suitable for conferences, live events and music performance, and offers a solution for venues where cables are difficult to hide and trip hazards must be avoided, including churches, historic buildings, museums and parties.

The XRX box can either be used as a pure receiving unit or as a repeater. In repeater mode, the XRX receives the signal from the XTX and sends the identical signal out again. This signal can then be received by an unlimited number of XRXs in receiving mode. Q www.neutrik.com

By Jon Chapple SALZBRENNER Stagetec Mediagroup has announced its intention to separate its three core brands – Stagetec, Salzbrenner Stagetec Mediagroup and Delec – and “refocus [its] core branding” as it seeks to achieve “renewed international prominence” for the group as a whole.

The move follows a rise in the number of international systems integration projects undertaken by Buttenheim-based Salzbrenner, which is traditionally known as a systems integrator in germanophone Europe. Equally, the Mediagroup is intending to “clarify its product offering,” with Salzbrenner recognised as the manufacturer of the Polaris range of consoles and Inspiration stage management systems; Stagetec, based in Berlin, with the Nexus, Aurus, Crescendo and On-Air ranges; and Delec with intercom solutions.

“Although our system integration company, Salzbrenner, has been

going for a long time, the Salzbrenner Stagetec Mediagroup is known as a manufacturer of products rather than for system integration,” explained Stephan Salzbrenner, one of the company’s CEOs. “In Germany, the market for system integration has been shrinking, and Salzbrenner has been doing more business in international markets such as Asia, so we had to make the name Salzbrenner – which is already well known in German-speaking countries – just as well known internationally as a systems integrator. The idea is to make it clearer for the customer, and to show which products are from Salzbrenner.”

The company premièred four new products at IBC: the ON AIR flex IP-based broadcast mixing console; XDSP 06, a new DSP board for the NEXUS routing system; two versions of its new oratis wireless interface; and the Polaris Scala audio DSP for the Polaris Evolution mixing console. Q www.stagetec.com

STUDER UNVEILS NEW VISTA V DIGITAL CONSOLE

By Jon Chapple STUDER launched the Vista V, the latest addition to its range of digital consoles, at IBC2014. Described by the company as “adding to the immense power of [the] Vista X” (launched in January) and featuring the “next step in processing power and intuitive functionality,” the 52-fader Vista V is based on the same Quad Star technology as its predecessor but has a more compact

footprint suitable for smaller studios, OB trucks and large live productions.

At the heart of the Vista V is the Infinity Core, which uses CPU-based processors to deliver an 800+ audio channels with “superb” sonic quality, and more than 5,000 inputs and outputs. Other show debuts for Harman included the AKG DMSTetrad wireless microphone system and the Studer A-Link digital audio interface. Q www.studer.ch

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PLASA

showpreview

When? 5–8 October

UNITED KINGDOM

Audio ExCeLlence PLASA London’s second outing at London’s Docklands continues its focus on pro audio with the launch of a dedicated ‘Audio Village’. Here’s who’ll be exhibiting, courtesy of Jon Chapple and Harry Powell A MAJOR POINT of interest for the pro-audio contingent attending PLASA 2014 is the host of new sessions added to the show’s Professional Development Programme. The latest additions are spread across the programme’s two venues – the Audio and AV Theatre and the Lighting and Stage Theatre – and include contributions from d&b audiotechnik, the Association of Sound Designers and Entertaining Sustainability.

Since launching in 2010, the Professional Development Programme has welcomed more than 300 speakers and thousands of attendees. The programme’s aim is to “test theory, inspire debate and showcase expert insight from the different areas of the entertainment technology industry”.

The Association of Sound Designers will address a subject that has arisen from the recent (and controversial) decision by Tony Awards’ Administration Committee to eliminate the sound design awards from its programme. The session ‘What’s the Difference Between a Sound Designer and a Sound Engineer? #TonyCanYouHearUs?’ will discuss a perceived ignorance in the wider theatre industry about the work of its sound designers and other members of the sound department. A panel featuring sound designers and engineers will talk about what their jobs entail and will invite the audience to “share their ideas on how the industry can promote theatre sound and understanding of it”.

Now, onto the exhibitors…

Cadac will exhibit its CDC eight-32, CDC eight-16 and CDC four digital consoles, as well as the LIVE1 compact analogue desk, at PLASA London. The company will also show the CDC MC Router (launched at Prolight + Sound in March) and MC MADI Bridge, and is to also launching the latest software, v2.3, for the CDC eight.

The CDC eight software update includes a Waves

interface card integrated within the console that provides connectivity to the Waves MultiRack server. This allows up to 64 channels of Waves studio-grade processing tools to simultaneously run alongside CDC eight’s own native effects options. There is also support for the new TabMix iPad remotecontrol app.

component parts of the d&b workflow”: the d&b ArrayCalc simulation software, R1 Remote control software and d&b amplifiers, including the D80.

DPA Microphones, in partnership with its British distributor, Sound Network, will be showing its full range of live and body-worn microphones in PLASA’s Audio Village, the new area of the show dedicated exclusively to pro audio.

DPA’s wearable d:screet necklace mic

A different kind of d&b stand

d&b audiotechnik has chosen PLASA to launch the Y-Series, a system providing flexible and configurable solutions for small-to-medium-sized sound reinforcement requirements. d&b’s stand, D80, will feature a range of selected products from the Y-Series – along with the d&b team, who will be on-hand “to explain why the Y-Series is something to be excited about”.

Additional d&b products will also be exhibited at the SSE Audio Group stand, where visitors will be able to see “the

DPA will have a live band backline set up on its stand (D77) to display the host of applications that can be covered by its range of condenser microphones. The display will include a full drum kit, amplifiers, acoustic instruments and a vocalist, all miced with products from DPA’s d:dicate recording microphone, d:vote 4099 instrument cicrophone and d:facto vocal microphone ranges.

The company also be focussing on its range of body worn microphones. Included in the line-up will be its recently launched heavy-duty d:screet 4060 omnidirectional miniature microphone and the new d:screet omnidirectional miniature necklace microphone, a cleverly designed mic that houses the d:screet 4061 omnidirectional capsule in a soft rubber necklace.

LMC Audio has announced that it is distributing GUIL in the British Isles and will showcase a selection of the GUIL product range at PLASA. Spanish manufacturer GUIL is a metalwork company specialising in the production and development of lifting towers for the PA rental and events markets.

Shure Distribution UK – the

Cadac CDC eight running Waves exclusive UK and Republic of Ireland distributor of Shure, QSC, DIS, Radial, Primacoustic, Sound Devices and Servoreeler and a silver sponsor of the event –has a “wide variety of entertainment technology” to present, including the new Shure QLX-D wireless microphone system.

Kirsty Lamport, the company’s head of marketing, says: “The show proved itself to be a great success for us again last year following the move to ExCeL. It will be the perfect place to debut QLX-D, which we look forward to demonstrating to customers during the show, and we’ll also have some exciting announcements to make on the first day.”

Source Distribution will host the European debut of products from both WorxAudio and PreSonus. The WorxAudio

The Source Distribution PLASA line-up

range, newly acquired by PreSonus, boasts a line-up of more than 20 loudspeaker models with integrated rigging hardware for streamlined installation and packout.

WorxAudio’s Hugh Sarvis will be showcasing a selection of the company’s compact linearray and subwoofer products, including the V5, X2, X115 and TL118.

Also new for PLASA is the PreSonus RM-series of rack

mount digital mixers, which offer complete recallable touchcontrol. Based on the StudioLive AI-series mix engine and controlled with “battle-ready” PreSonus UC Surface software for Mac, Windows and iOS, the RM-series mixers are available in 16- and 32-channel versions.

Having been absent for PLASA London’s move to ExCeL in 2013, Yamaha Commercial Audio returns to the show this year to exhibit its new RMio64-D Dante/MADI converter and the version 3 software for CL and QL digital mixing consoles. Both products were launched at IBC on 12 September – PLASA London will be their first showing at a UK trade event.

The RMio64-D allows audio from a CL/QL mixing system to be converted to MADI and fed to an OB vehicle or other recording facility. Additionally, it can allow a MADI-based console to be integrated into Yamaha’s Nuage system for audio post-production.

Version 3 software brings a range of enhancements to CL and QL consoles and adds “a comprehensive range of broadcast-friendly features” to all models, such as onboard Dan Dugan auto-mixing for the CL series. Q www.associationofsound designers.com www.cadac-sound.com www.dbaudio.com www.dpamicrophones.com www.lmcaudio.co.uk www.shuredistribution.co.uk www.sourcedistribution.co.uk www.yamahacommercial audio.com

Its name is R(M)io (but keep it away from sand)

20 l October 2014

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showpreview

AES 137

When? 9–12 October

UNITED STATES

It never rAEnS in Southern California…

As the Audio Engineering Society Convention returns to the LA Convention Center for the first time in 12 years, Jon Chapple finds out what’s hot in SoCal KICKING THINGS off on Friday morning will be a keynote address by Neil Portnow, president and CEO of the Recording Academy – the organisation behind the Grammy Awards – and its Producers and Engineers (P&E) Wing, which comprises over 5,500 producers, engineers, remixers, manufacturers and other studio professionals.

Taking place from 12–1pm in Special Events Room 403, Portnow’s presentation will discuss “how the Academy and

its P&E Wing, via education and dialogue, address the challenges and opportunities currently facing recording professionals”.

A major focus for the AES this year is game audio, and the convention will feature a comprehensive set of game audio programmes and events focussing on audio trends and issues in the gaming industry.

Steve Martz, chairman of the AES’s ‘Game Audio Track’, says he has assembled “a compelling and highly inclusive

series of panels, sessions and presentations that address the many dimensions of this complex sector of professional audio”. A highlight will be ‘Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, The Devil is in the Details’, a panel that will closely examine how the audio team behind Diablo III: Reaper of Souls created the audio soundscape for the game.

Marty O’Donnell, a director and composer best known for his work on games like Myth, Oni and Halo for developer Bungie, has also been chosen

to give this year’s Heyser Memorial Lecture, entitled ‘The Ear Doesn’t Blink: Creating Culture with Adaptive Audio’.

Also taking centre stage is networked audio, with a series of workshops, tutorials and sessions spotlighting the latest developments in audio networking technology, standards and practices.

The ‘Networked Audio Track’ will feature presentations and professional opportunities dealing with “the latest developments and technologies

in networked audio, as well as applications for system integration, broadcast, live sound, recording, contractors and more”.

Finally, Raw Tracks, new for this year, will see top producers and engineers discuss and deconstruct influential, classic recordings from some of music’s most highly regarded artists. The four sessions are Raw Tracks: Fleetwood Mac, presented by Ken Caillat and focussing on “a classic song” from Rumours; Raw

www.psneurope.com

October 2014 l 21

showpreview Tracks: David Bowie, a “track-bytrack masterclass featuring a classic David Bowie recording” presented

by Ken Scott; Raw Tracks: Pet Sounds, presented by Mark Linett; and Raw Tracks: Red Hot Chili Peppers, featuring Andrew Scheps deconstructing Pink as a Floyd.

Crane Song is introducing two new products at AES 137. The Avocet II discrete class A monitor controller, the latest iteration of one of Crane Song’s best-selling hardware products, features an entirely new DAC and offers significantly improved jitter performance. The INSIGNA valve equaliser, featuring three bands of EQ and selectively variable high- and low-pass filters, is the third 500 Series module from Crane Song.

“The new AKM part for the DAC chip offers unsurpassed imaging,” says company founder Dave Hill, commenting on the Avocet II, which is shipping now. “I’m doing something a little bit different – using a unique combination of analogue and digital reconstruction filters – so the transient response is also exceptional.”

On Wednesday, 8 October, just prior to the start Crane Song’s of the convention, INSIGNA EQ DPA Microphones, Lectrosonics and Sound Devices will host the Sound Summit LA. Taking place from 3–9pm, with presentations from the manufacturers at four and seven o’clock and sessions presented by location sound practitioners at five and eight, Sound Summit LA will also feature Fernando Delgado and his team from Stickman Sound demonstrating their audio solutions for a variety of TV shows, including The Ultimate Fighter and Top Chef, and ToneMesa’s Daniel McCoy discussing his equipment and techniques on programmes like The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Tosh.0.

Fairlight will launch its secondgeneration CC-2 technology.

CC-2, described by the company as “the most powerful post-production

Fairlight says the CC-2 engine is “the most powerful post-production audio engine ever created”. Pictured is the optional MADI expansion card

audio engine ever created,” incorporates 1000 playback channels, over 100 output buses and 100 live inputs. It is entirely compatible with the audio hardware currently operating with Fairlight’s established CC-1 engine.

The CC-2 engine features a processor chip that is five times more powerful than the chip in CC-1. It also has four times the PCIe bandwidth, a new dual-channel memory architecture, an onboard expansion slot and almost twice the MADI connectivity.

Nugen Audio is celebrating its 10th year in business by introducing MasterCheck, which the company describes as the “first modern loudness tool for the music industry”, and a significant update for its Visualizer audio analysis tool.

MasterCheck is the first music industry-specific audio plug-in designed to facilitate mix and mastering for the modern loudness-normalised playout. “iTunes, Spotify and DAB radio all now use loudness normalisation, and MasterCheck reveals how the consumer will hear audio on these music platforms, and others, by using internationally recognised loudness, dynamics and true-peak standards,” says a statement from the company.

Designed for every aspect of music production, including recording, mixing, mastering, compilation, archive and restoration, MasterCheck can also be used for producing podcasts at optimal loudness levels for dialogue clarity.

Version 2 of Visualizer is available in a version supporting Avid Pro Tools HDX or as a standalone application version.

The AES and the OCA Alliance have announced they will be working together towards the ratification of the latter’s proposed Open Control

Version 2 of Nugen’s Visualizer offers a significant update to the audio analysis suite Architecture as an AES public standard at AES 137. The alliance will also be exhibiting on the exhibition floor, “explaining and demonstrating the benefits of the OCA standards-based control and monitoring architecture” with a live demonstration of control and monitoring across networked audio devices from different manufacturers. Q www.aes.org/events/137 www.cranesong.com www.fairlight.com.au www.nugenaudio.com www.oca-alliance.com

22 l October 2014

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technologynew products Harry Powell compiles this month’s list of hot new products AVIOM

A320 What is it? An easy-to-use personal mixer from Aviom.

Details: The A320 utilises a 32-channel mix engine for mixing up to 16 mono or stereo sources, and includes a simplified stereo placement control that combines the pan and spread of stereo signals into a single control.

And another thing: The A320 personal mixer is ideal for use with in-ear monitors as well as headphones. www.aviom.com PASCAL

S-A1 & S-A2

What is it? Two new extension modules for the S-PRO2 power amplifier module.

Details: The S-A2 and S-A1 extension modules function as additional identical amplifier output channels for the S-PRO2, powered by the S-PRO2 power supply.

And another thing: The new boards enable “a range of new cost-effective power configurations for self-powered and multi-channel amplifier applications”. www.pascal-audio.com

RADIAL

STAGEBUG SB-48UB What is it? A unique phantom power supply that enables a guitar, bass or mandolin player to connect a condenser microphone to a Radial PZ-Pre or PZ-Deluxe.

Details: The SB-48UB takes the balanced input from a condenser and supplies it with 48 volts’ phantom power.

And another thing: Power is derived from a 15VDC supply, and an internal non-radiating charge pump elevates the voltage to 48V for standard phantom power use (it may also be set to 12VDC). www.radialeng.com

B&C

DE110 What is it? A mini high-frequency driver.

Details: At just 60mm in diameter, this driver is especially appropriate for any application where size and weight are an issue.

And another thing: The one-inch exit DE110 features a 36mm, high-temperature polymer diaphragm with unique ribs that smooth the frequency response above 8,000Hz. This produces a very flat response curve from 2,000–18,000Hz. www.bcspeakers.com NEUMANN

KH 420 What is it? A new Neumann midfield monitor.

Details: The KH 420 has been designed to provide optimum dispersion regardless of the orientation of the cabinet. This is possible thanks to the rotatable waveguide section which contains both the high frequency and midrange drivers.

And another thing: An optional Digital Input Module (DIM 1) is available for the KH 420 which provides the monitor with digital AES3 and S/P-DIF inputs and a delay function. www.neumann.com

TASCAM

DR-44WL What is it? A four-channel portable recorder with Wi-Fi control and transfer to iOS or Android.

Details: The portable recorder has XLR inputs, four-channel recording, a multitrack mode and highquality stereo condenser microphones, updated with a new XY pattern and high-performance mic components.

And another thing: A free app for iOS or Android devices provides control, file transfer and audio streaming to the user’s smartphone. www.tascam.com

24 l October 2014

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PSNTraining 28th Tonmeistertagung to feature The Essentials: Help, I’m broke! actions you can take to solve nearly 200 educational sessions Seven short-term cashflow problems

By Jon Chapple

VERBAND DEUTSCHER TONMEISTER (VDT; the Association of German Sound Engineers) in the last week of September published the preliminary programme for the 28th Tonmeistertagung.

The biannual pro-audio convention will this year take place from 20–23 November at the CongressCentrum Nord, Koelnmesse.

“This time, our programme is particularly comprehensive, and we have gained an extraordinary number of international speakers,” explains Günther Theile, head of programme planning for the event. The focus for Tonmeistertagung 2014 is on current trends such as networked audio, object-based recording and live event recording, with “lectures, workshops and tutorials [examining] all aspects of the specific subject”.

“Another area of focus is 3D audio, for which we have arranged plenty of demonstrations in rooms equipped with excellent technology,” adds Theile.

“Loudness normalisation is another core topic; this year we are looking at its introduction to radio, and matters of practical implementation.”

To view the programme, which comprises nearly 100 lectures, 30 poster presentations, 35 workshops, 10 round tables, a ‘TMT Academy’ aimed at young talent and several tutorials, visit the Tonmeistertagung website. Q www.tonmeister.de

By Nathan Lively IT HAPPENS to me every year. Come August, work slows almost to a crawl.

Suddenly, I’m in survival mode.

I hate it, but it’s not always a thing born of sloth. This year, for example, I’ve been so busy focussing on future projects that short-term cashflow went way down on the list of priorities. Unfortunately, money is something that can’t be ignored for long.

Unless you are ready to take on a major lifestyle shift, there are bills you have to pay.

Here are seven great tips for dealing with short term cash flow problems.. Q Read the full article at www.psneurope.com/training

LIFE ON THE ROAD WITH SOULSOUND

DIARY 5 November SSL: Live console operator training Where: Oxford, UK store.solidstatelogic.com/forms/ live-training

By Jon Chapple SOULSOUND, the pro-audio resource centre and live sound agency, recently debuted Life on the Road – My First Tour, the first in a three-part video series on life as a rock and roll roadie.

In the first episode, veteran engineer Justin Grealy, whose career spans 30 years, spells it out what to expect when the band you are working with becomes successful… Q www.vimeo.com/100948040

6–7 November Fundamentals of System Design, Implementation and Optimisation Where: Online (Munich, Germany) www.meyersound.com/events

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

26 November Adlib: Soundcraft Vi training Where: London, UK www.adlib.co.uk/educationtraining

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

26 l October 2014

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Studio

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

WORLD

SOUNDBITES Grammy Award-winning producer Steve Levine has been using his new Audient ASP880 to mix the live tracks from his Assembly Point Sessions, recorded live at Liverpool International Music Festival last month. The sessions featured live performances from Boy George, Tim Burgess, Bernard Butler and Levine himself. He explains: “One of the reasons I chose the ASP880 was because of the digital inserts.” www.audient.com Summerfield Studios, the Midlands facility which joined the Miloco Group last summer, has announced numerous upgrades in a joint collaboration with Birmingham-based session player and musical directory Marcus Byrne.

A new Pro Tools HD Thunderbolt system, MacBook Pro and UAD Quad Satellite are headline additions to a substantial list of gear acquired by studio owner Phil Croft and Byrne, who will be using the facility as a permanent base for all his projects. www.miloco.co.uk/studios/ summerfield-studios Scrub, the HHB Communications subsidiary specialising in postproduction, has supplied LipSync Post in London with a 24-fader Avid S6 M10 console and Pro Tools upgrades. The new S6 is the sixth to be installed by Scrub. Ben Scully, head of sales at Scrub, explains: “LipSync is one of Soho’s first post houses to take advantage of the innovative new features provided

by S6 and Pro Tools. We installed the console in a configuration that is specific to LipSync’s engineers with an extremely fast turnaround.” www.avid.com Artesuono studios, one of Italy’s best known venue for recording jazz and acoustic music (and a long-time collaborator with ECM) has added Merging Technologies’ Horus Networked Audio Converter to its inventory of mobile recording kit. Stefano Amerio, Artesuono’s owner and chief engineer, chose Horus for “the quality of the microphone -preamplifiers and converters” and the ease with which he can connect it to his existing Avid Pro Tools HDX and HD3 Accel systems. www.merging.com www.artesuono.it

State of FLUX

Is it a music app, an audio manipulation tool or even a radical new approach to live performance?

David Davies speaks to FLUX project creator, former King Crimson guitarist/singer and all-round musical renaissance man Adrian Belew to find out if it’s actually ‘three of a perfect pair’

IF YOU’VE spent any real time exploring the darker, stranger reaches of rock over the last 30 years, you won’t have failed to encounter Adrian Belew in at least one of his many guises.

From featured guitarist with Frank Zappa’s frequently jawdropping late-’70s band to a driving force of the post-new wave reboot of King Crimson in the ’80s (best sampled on long-time PSNEurope favourite Discipline), and beyond that to an eclectic body of solo work that most recently yielded the 43-minute through-composition e, Belew has been an admirably questing force in modern music.

But these often-ambitious undertakings almost pale a little when compared to the scale of his new, cross-disciplinary project, FLUX. Encompassing a multi-effects audio processor app for the iPad, a music app featuring hundreds of newly recorded pieces and even a fresh approach towards live performance, FLUX has occupied the greater part of the last two years of Belew’s working life. “It’s a massive project and we’re still tweaking now [but] we are planning for launch in November,” says Nashville-based Belew, who guided PSNEurope through the finer intricacies of FLUX in the company of his engineer and co-developer colleague Daniel Rowland.

FLUX… THE MUSIC APP For some time prior to the fullscale initiation of the project, Belew had been pondering the notion of delivering “music that never played the same way twice”. He had already

stockpiled many short extracts when a conversation with an old friend, MobGen creative director Nick Mueller, convinced him that a dedicated music app represented the best way forward.

The result, two years on, is a vast collection of several hundred partial and full songs, everyday household sounds and all manner of other aural material making up a music app in which “everything is chopped up into random bits,” says Belew. “Every now and then you hear a whole song, but mostly just a portion of it. Songs and sounds do repeat themselves over time, [but] the basic idea is that you are constantly surprised and sent off in another direction. I also think this reflects the way in which people experience music these days… it’s rare that they will sit down and listen to an hour of music.”

Belew obviously can’t be sure how long people will surrender to the FLUX experience on any give occasion, but suggests that 30 minutes of “being on this randomised musical rollercoaster” might be about right. The app is currently with Apple for approval, although Belew and Rowland – who is also on the music tech faculty of Middle Tennessee State University – are continuing to finetune the amount of content that will actually be included.

“There is a lot of content, including video, and we are working to make it as lightly compressed as humanly possible – because we don’t want it to be so bloated that people won’t download it, [but at the same time] we don’t want to degrade the sonics of the music, so

Belew with Daniel Rowland, his engineer and co-developer of FLUX

we will pull out songs before we do that,” says Rowland, who anticipates higher bitrate conventional or Super Audio CD releases of some material further down the line.

FLUX… THE PRODUCTION APP It was Mueller’s suggestion that the eternally tech-savvy Belew consider developing his own audio production app, and over the last few years that, too, has taken shape – in this case through collaboration with MobGen and audio software developer elephantcandy under the collective umbrella of NOII. SE. Designed for studio and live applications, FLUX:FX (“basically our portable version of [FLUX],” says Rowland allows users to manipulate any audio signal with an “almost unlimited” range of effects options. It should not, however, be construed as a replacement for existing effects processors and pedals. “What is cool about this is that there are so many combinations that you could never otherwise make, and also by the nature of the way it

operates [the result] is always going to be random to a certain degree,” says Belew. “It doesn’t really change all the stuff I have or replace it; instead, it’s a crazy addition.”

“Virtually all” audio interfaces will work with the production app, which features more than 30 studio-quality effects and the ability to chain five together for greater aural impact. Belew is currently assessing the extent to which he can incorporate the app into this autumn’s Adrian Belew Power Trio tour, but is confident of greater integration for subsequent road work.

In the meantime, he is hopeful that the FLUX project, and in particular the music app, will provide a constructive complement to the increasingly fractured consumption patterns of the digital music era. “These days most people hear little snippets because that is how the internet has told people to process information,” he says.

“Music doesn’t reflect that and to date no one has really made use of [that change]… but FLUX does.” Q www.adrianbelew.net flux.noii.se

28 l October 2014

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studio UNITED KINGDOM

Mastering the art of 16ī For the 20th anniversary vinyl re-release of the first Underworld album dubnobasswithmyheadman this month, Abbey Road Studios mastering engineer Miles Showell used the technique of ‘half-speed mastering’. He explains all to Simon Duff THE VINYL mastering technique known as ‘halfspeed mastering’ does what it says on the run-out groove: the cutting engineer operates the disc-cutting lathe at halfspeed. For work on a vinyl LP, the turntable rotates at 16ī revolutions per minute (rpm) – half the playing speed, 33Īrpm – while the source file, be it tape or digital, is played at half the playback speed. When the finished product is played back at the normal speed, the material transferred returns to its original pitch and tempo.

Miles Showell, a freelance mastering engineer at Abbey Road Studios, has been using the technique throughout his 30-year career. He explains: “A big advantage is that it gives the cutter head twice as long to carve the intricate groove that goes on the disc – and that is the tricky part, really. Think of a groove on a record as the sound waves from a loudspeaker recorded as a wavy line…

“So, let’s say you have a tambourine in the track, and that may have a 12kHz component – the stylus has to vibrate 12,000 times a second in order to cut that sound. So if you half it all, what starts as difficult-to-cut high frequencies becomes fairly easy-to-cut midrange. It just means you get much cleaner sounding records.

“The cutting amplifiers that drive the cutter head use somewhere between a quarter and a third of the current they do in real time. Nothing is getting stressed [as] everything has twice as long to get on there.

It just makes amazing sounding records with very precise, clear stereo separation; amazingly clean high frequencies; and a rich, analogue bass. If you are going to cut a record, it is the best way to do it.”

Showell joined Abbey Road in February 2013, bringing with him a vast array of experience from his training at Utopia Studios, then work at Copymasters (later Masterpiece) and Metropolis (for 15

years). One of his most highprofile recent assignments is mastering the 20th anniversary deluxe reissue on vinyl and CD of British electronic pioneers Underworld’s 1994 debut album, dubnobasswithmyheadman.

Rick Smith, one half of Underworld, is himself a fan of half-speed mastering, having first heard it via cuts by Showell.

For dubnobasswithmyheadman, Showell worked from a 48kHz Pro Tools session provided by Smith. “Rick is a very good archivist, and has always kept really good notes from studio sessions and live recordings,” Showell explains, “so I was working with the correct original 48kHz DAT mixes copied into Pro Tools, which I then uploaded to a 96kHz SADiE [DAW] running v6. I listened to the whole album a couple of times to re-familiarise myself with the material, and made mental notes of what tweaks I should look at doing.”

The signal path available to Showell post-SADiE includes original, custom-made EMI TG 12412 analogue EQs; a Manley Massive Passive valve EQ; a Prism Sound Maselec EQ; an Avalon EQ; and a Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor, commissioned for him by Abbey Road when he joined. Monitorwise, he uses B&W Nautilus 801s, as well as PMC 228s and LB1s. A customised Neumann VMS 80 lacquer-cutting lathe was used for the four sides of the vinyl cut of the remastered dubnobasswithmyheadman.

“For the Underworld album, I started with the longest of the four sides,” he explains, “[as] usually the length of the sides dictates the level you can cut at – the shorter the record, the louder you can cut it.

Underworld’s music has a lot of bass, which needs space; so if you have level and length and bass, it’s a problem. Thankfully, for this reissue, it was cut as per the original album, as a double: I think the longest side is about 17 minutes – only slightly longer

Showell cutting at half-speed with Abbey Road’s Neumann VMS 80 lathe

Showell’s Shadow Hills Master Compressor, the centrepiece of his armoury, commissioned specially by Abbey Road when he joined

“[Half-speed mastering] makes amazing sounding records with clear stereo separation, clean high frequencies and a rich, analogue bass… If you are going to cut a record, it’s the best way to do it”

Genesis and Roxy Music.

What advice would Showell give to mix engineers and producers with regards to creating the best master mix for half-speed mastering?

“Aim high and use 96kHz or 192kHz if possible, and avoid too much pre-limiting before you get to mastering,” he says.

“People often like their music to jump out of the speakers and be pumped, which is fine if you need to play it to impress someone in an A&R department – but for mastering, it is a lot easier to do work if the mix has not been too heavily squashed.

“So, by all means, do a version for the record company as a sort of pumped-up pseudomaster, but then do another one with that all backed off. It gives me more of a free hand.” Q www.abbeyroad.com

Miles Showell than a 12” single – so I didn’t have to apply any compromises to the signal in order to fit it on.

“After doing a few tests, I then made an acetate, which we insist all clients have if it is a half-speed cut. Once we have client approval, I then do the master lacquers. I cut those and

they go off to the factory. In total, I think I was working on the album acetates for about five hours, and then four hours on the cuts. This was in May for the [6] October release date.”

Other high-profile clients for which Showell has half-speed mastered in 2014 include Queen,

The artwork for the 2014 vinyl reissue

30 l October 2014

www.psneurope.com

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

broadcast EUROPE

SOUNDBITES Riedel Communications has announced that Germany’s TV Skyline has integrated the Riedel Artist digital matrix intercom system into OB 7, the company’s HD mobile production unit. “Riedel’s Artist system is reliable, easy-touse and very flexible, which means that we have no trouble making it bigger for larger productions,” says Robert Kis, managing director of TV Skyline. “We can consider unusual ways of using the system because with Riedel’s versatility, there is no idea that is not worth exploring or pursuing”. www.riedel.net In its third major sporting event of 2014, audio equipment

by Salzbrenner Stagetec Mediagroup provided all audio feeds for the 2014 European Athletics Championship in Zurich.

The German manufacturer and distributor previously lent its expertise to the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, in February, and FIFA World Cup in Brazil in June and July. For Zurich 2014, longstanding Stagetec client tpc relied on a Stagetec NEXUS network consisting of a NEXUS STAR and five NEXUS base devices. www.stagetec.com Acoustic consultant and design company Veale Associates has worked with the British Forces Broadcast Service (BFBS) to refurbish its 1980s-era broadcast facilities. The company renovated three studios, three production booths, a talk studio and a television studio with green screen for the BFBS as part of a programme orchestrated by the charity which provides the service, the Services Sound and Vision Corporation (SSVC), under its contract with the British Ministry of Defence (MoD). www.va-studiodesign.com Digigram’s VX222e series of sound cards has been selected

by Jelli for integration into the company’s RadioSpot programmatic advertising platform, engineered to streamline the buying and running of radio ads. Digigram’s analog digital stereo sound card will provide the RadioSpot platform with “the broadcast-quality audio that is so critical in the playout of commercial content”. www.digigram.com

Mixed reaction to EU radio spectrum report Lamy’s recommendations balance mobile and broadcast with PMSE needs, writes Kevin Hilton THE BROADCAST and PMSE (programme makers and special events) sectors have given a mixed reaction to the Pascal Lamy’s report on radio spectrum, presented to the European Commission on 1 September. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) welcomed recommendations to safeguard bands below 700MHz for digital terrestrial television (DTT) until 2030 but expressed concern at the early release of frequencies above that for mobile broadband.

Publication of the High Level Group report coincided with EU vice-president Neelie Kroes announcing new rules on the harmonisation of spectrum bands used for wireless microphones. The Commission acknowledged that, like broadcast transmission, radio mic users “have relied on the UHF band, and their continued operation must be safeguarded as the allocations and use of the UHF band evolve”.

Under the new rules, wireless microphones will have access to at least 59MHz of spectrum at EU level (more spectrum can be made available nationally to cater for specific events and circumstances) within six months of the announcement.

This, the EU says, will “give manufacturers greater certainty and space for mass-market equipment growth”. The rules include harmonised spectrum in the UHF band (823-832MHz)

Lamy (left) and Kroes present the report

and at 1.8GHz (1,7851,805MHz).

In his report on spectrum, Pascal Lamy, a former EU trade commissioner, proposes that the 700MHz band – covering 694 to 790MHz – should be given over to wireless broadband across Europe by 2020, give or take two years. This will have ramifications for both DTT and PMSE but broadcasters have been given some hope in Lamy’s recommendation that “regulatory security and stability for terrestrial broadcasters in the remaining UHF spectrum below 700MHz [will] be safeguarded until 2030”.

Presenting his report, Lamy said: “For too long the broadband and broadcasting communities have been at loggerheads about the use of the UHF spectrum band. There have been many different views and perspectives. On the basis of discussions with the two sectors, I have put forward a single

scheme that could provide a way forward for Europe to thrive in the digital century.”

Responding to the proposals, the EBU’s head of technology and innovation, Simon Fell said, “The EBU believes safeguarding spectrum below 700MHz will enable public service broadcasters and the European audiovisual sector to continue reaching all sectors of the population, sustain broader content choice, and secure investments and innovation over the long term. It is essential that broadcasters are not financially weakened by any loss of the 700MHz band.”

As secondary users of spectrum, the PMSE community has become “the nomads” in this situation, according to Alan March, spokesman for lobby group BEIRG (British Entertainment Industry Radio Group). March was the PMSE representative on the Sherpa sub-group of the High Level group on spectrum

and made the case to those from mobile companies that the content they are proposing to carry on the new broadband frequencies still needs to be made, which involves radio microphones.

“The report is saying, like [UK regulator] Ofcom, there won’t be any more release of spectrum below 694MHz, with the presumption that the 700MHz band will go, although that’s not a done deal,” March says. He adds that the profile of PMSE in the report and discussions was “higher than I’ve ever seen”, which he feels has brought home the message about this sector. “What we’re saying is [mobile companies should] use the spectrum they’ve got more efficiently before they start carving up broadcast networks.” Q www.beirg.co.uk www.ebu.ch www.europa.eu/rapid/pressrelease_IP-14-957_en.htm

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broadcast

The reality of continuous recording TV producers and viewers are still fascinated by ‘real life’ lived by ‘real people’, as shown by the popularity of The X Factor, The Great British Bake Off and the daddy of them all, Big Brother. To produce enough material for all this, new audio techniques and techniques have developed, as Kevin Hilton reports

The director’s gallery for Educating Yorkshire

REALITY TELEVISION is, of course, not as real as it is claimed to be. Editing and direction play a part in creating drama, humour and a narrative shape.

But to get all the material for this crews have to shoot almost constantly, something that has been made a lot easier and more practical by digital hard-disk and solid-state recording technology for

both audio and video.

Sound recordist Simon Bishop says this way of working has created a new production style he refers to as “blanket coverage”. The seemingly never-ending appetite of the viewing public for watching ‘ordinary people’ has given Bishop a new strand of work - specifically from the ‘find a star’ shows Britain’s

Got Talent (BUT) and The X Factor - in parallel to his established position as a production mixer on UK television dramas.

“There is a new genre of production where everybody wears a radio mic if they are likely to say anything significant,” Bishop explains. “We run the multitrack from the moment they enter the building

till they finish. Depending on the number of people there are this can go from eight to 64 tracks. On The X Factor we have 56 tracks that are recording for the majority of the day.”

Bishop says that 15 years ago, just before the reality TV boom really hit with Big Brother, it was “a bigger deal” to make tape machines work in the way

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broadcast says, “because a story can hinge on one nuanced conversation.”

Radio mic feeds are combined with signals from fixed mics, which provide both effects and pick up secondary characters who are not wearing wireless packs. “We need as good a mix as we can get,” Bass comments, “but we also record as much as possible off the radio mics for belt and braces.” Mixes are made on two new DiGiCo SD10B desks, while the ISOed wireless mics are recorded on to JoCo BlackBoxes.

This gives the post-production team the opportunity to go back to the original tracks using timecode to find a clean version

JoeCo Blackbox Recorders

hard-disk recorders are now being used. Depending on the job Bishop uses SADiE, JoeCo or Sound Devices recorders for blanket coverage. “The kit is becoming more compact and user friendly,” he says.

Compactness is especially true of the Sound Devices PIX range; this includes the 270i, which records both sound and video, and the audio-only 64-track, Dante/MADI equipped 970.

“It’s significantly smaller than a shoebox and for something that can be used as a bit bucket, incredibly well specified,” Bishop comments.

The 24-channel JoeCo BlackBox BBR1 records in Broadcast WAV files to an external USB2 drive; it, and its variants, have featured on a variety of reality-style programmes, including I’m a

The SADiE LRX2 has been used by Simon Bishop on The X Factor and BGT in what senior support engineer Steve Penn describes as a “stripped down version” running with the MTR (multitrack recorder) program. Penn says this set-up offers full metadata capability for logging as well as USB and XLR connectivity with three 1/O cards, including MADI. “When we were designing this we spent time with sound recordists, including Simon Bishop,” he says. “This kind of working has now changed the way people think about reality TV.” A facilities company that has worked through the evolution of reality shows is Roll to Record (RtR), part of the NEP Broadcasting group. RtR made its name in this niche area with Big Brother; it continues to work

Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, The Great British Bake Off and Geordie Shore. Company founder and managing director Joe Bull says his original intention was for the system to record for long periods but he was frustrated during development of the prototype that the small drives available six years ago wouldn’t allow him to perform overnight soak recording tests.

Today, large capacity media is now widely available at low cost, making continuous recording a practical and financial reality.

on that show but has branched out into variations on the theme, notably the Educating... series.

The most recent series was Educating the East End, which, like its predecessors in Essex and Yorkshire, follows teachers and pupils during their school day.

Mick Bass, RtR’s commercial director, explains that the main ‘cast members’, the people identified by the production team as the most interesting or with potentially dramatic stories, are individually miked using Sennheiser wireless units. “As much as possible is recorded,” he

of a line if the one in the mix is indistinct. Educating the East End spends months in the edit, contrasting dramatically with the fast turnaround on Big Brother, where a day’s events are packaged into an hour of highlights that evening. “There has to be a usable mix at the first go for that,” says Bass, “but there are fewer protagonists involved.”

Which suggests that the reality is we should be more worried about Big Brother listening to us. Q www.joeco.co.uk www.nepinc.com/welcome/rtr www.sadie.com www.sounddevices.com

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live SOUNDBITES Hampshire-based event production company LTN Productions has invested in an Inspired Audio Optima 5 array system supplied

by Inspired’s UK distributor, LMC Audio. Describing the speaker as “packing a punch,” Blinston recounts the performance of the speakers from recent outdoor theatre event Boxford Masques, stating: “We didn’t know what to expect when it gets windy, yet so far it hasn’t really bothered the system.” www.inspired-audio.co.uk Monnow Valley Studio, a residential studio in Monmouth, Wales, has installed Unity Audio Boulder MkII three-way monitors. The upgraded MkII version features larger eightinch SEAS woofers designed to extend the low frequency response to 33Hz and an additional 4dB SPL. Lewis Griffiths of Monnow Valley comments: “The Boulders have been nothing but fantastic, producing an incredibly accurate reproduction of what’s being recording. They have really brought our control room together, making it sound like it never has sounded before.” www.unityaudio.co.uk Dutch audio rental company Flowsound has expanded its rental stock by adding a DiGiCo SD10 mixing system. Flowsound owner Floris van den Berg says: “Engineers and sound designers specifically ask for DiGiCo products because they are very happy with the sound quality, the products’ user-friendly and intuitive interface and their wide range of feature sets.” The SD10 was successfully put to use at the Culinair Zoetermeer festival in the Netherlands only a few days after it was purchased. www.digico.biz British singer-songwriter Frank Turner has launched a petition urging culture secretary Sajid Javid to adopt the ‘agent-of-change principle’ to protect Britain’s live music venues from closure. A YouTube video entitled A message from Frank Turner to Sajid Javid, uploaded by Music Venue Trust, accompanied the artist’s petition on Change.org. Sign the petition, which at the time of writing has over 24,000 signatures, at: www.change.org/ savemusicvenues

UNITED KINGDOM

Seven years on, The O2 is still Bowling for glory A new 1,000-capacity venue with its origins in New York City’s most populous borough has opened up a new chapter in the life of leading London entertainment complex The O2, writes David Davies SEVEN YEARS AFTER The O2 rose from the metaphorical ashes of the decidedly unlamented Millennium Dome, the Greenwich entertainment complex continues to expand its scope with the recent opening of a new multi-purpose facility, the Brooklyn Bowl.

An additional venue that complements the main arena, the 2,720-capacity indigo at The O2 and the more clubbingoriented Building Six, the Brooklyn Bowl combines a restaurant, 12 lanes of bowling and a live performance stage.

Collaborator and producer du jour Pharrell Williams is among the star names to have already played the 1,000-capacity venue, while future bookings include country trio Lady Antebellum, Fugees singer Lauryn Hill, Stax soul legend William Bell, New York indie-rock band We Are Scientists and former Parliament/Funkadelic saxophonist Maceo Parker.

Appropriately enough, the Brooklyn Bowl concept first originated in the eponymous New York City borough and has since rolled out to Las Vegas, but the O2 location

represents its first venue outside the US. “It adds another component to the mix,” observes Emma Beszant, who is technical manager for The O2 arena and has no involvement with this new space. “It’s a [...] cool venue [with] some strong programming and a nice vibe.”

Established by Brooklyn Bowl’s NYC-based owner, promoter Peter Shapiro, the new venue is also open for corporate bookings, and in this regard it is surely assisted by an extensive permanent audio specification.

The d&b PA comprises Vi, Q, Qi and J Series boxes, along with M6 monitors on stage, while console duties are handled by a pair of Avid VENUEs: a Profile at FOH and an SC48 at monitors. When the PA is not in use, day-to-day audio is run through 33 Tannoy boxes, hung from the ceiling in zones and powered by a Lab.gruppen system situated upstairs.

Brooklyn Bowl London also houses an impressive permanent mic spec, including plenty of Sennheisers, among them e 906s, e 609s and Beta 91s, along with four ew 500 G3s featuring 935 capsules. Also available for

use are AKG K451s and Shure SM58s, among other fixtures.

Overseeing the assembly of this audio inventory has been Brooklyn Bowl London production manager Pete Webber, who has just added a full Pro Tools HDX system to the inventory. “This means we can do live recordings on spec, but I’m also keen for us to be a venue that is working with bands andartists of all levels in creating content,” he says. “With the in-house video capabilities as well, we can create separate live cuts of video and then add multi-track mixed audio after the fact for a slightly more polished look and feel. I’m really excited by that and the importance not only for artists to have live content available on the web, but venues like ours, too. It’s a digital age, and I think it’s underestimated how important it is for a live music venue to keep up with that.”

The arrival of a new venue underlines the current good health of the O2 complex as a whole. Reflecting on the year to date of the main O2 Arena (the indigo at The O2 is run separately by AEG Live),

general manager Rebecca Kane reports that “overall 2014 has been a slightly quieter year than 2013, which was our best year ever. Having said that, we were delighted to see that when [touring industry trade publication] Pollstar released [its] mid-year ticket sales figures, The O2 was once again the number one venue in the worldwide arena rankings, having sold 919,900 tickets for music shows in 2014.”

A predicted total of 203 performances for this year attests to the wisdom of pursuing an increasingly diverse repertoire that complements arena-filling appearances by the likes of Elbow, Peter Gabriel and Kylie Minogue with sporting fixtures including the ATP World Tour Finals and stand-up comedians such as Lee Evans and Miranda Hart.

“As The O2 has developed from a pure music venue since opening in 2007 to more of an entertainment destination, we’ve seen the breadth of events offered wide,” says Kane, who was MD at Alexandra Palace Trading when PSNEurope last spoke to her in 2010. “Comedy

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live “Comedy and sport are a key part of our bookings mix throughout the year, and this has enabled us to reach out to new fans and customers” Rebecca Kane, general manager, The O2 and sport are a key part of our bookings mix throughout the year, and this has enabled us to reach out to new fans and customers.”

Further diversification is set to follow. Work is currently nearing completion on a £2.5m refurbishment and relaunch of The O2’s VIP space, the American Express Invites Lounge. “It’s going to be a breathtaking space for guests and we’re very excited about this and the investment going

into it. We’ll be re-launching our VIP experience later this year,” says Kane.

“Then, summer 2015 will see the opening of a 452-bedroom hotel on site. It will contain a 3,000sqm-capacity ballroom as well, set to be the largest in Europe and which will be a great addition to the O2 offering. There is much more planned for 2015, but I’m afraid at this stage it’s under wraps.” Q london.brooklynbowl.com www.theo2.co.uk

UNITED KINGDOM

In memoriam: Derrick Zieba

By Dave Robinson Renowned sound designer Derrick Zieba, 59, passed away on 15 September after a recurrent illness.

From his early days at the National Theatre to this year’s Brit Awards, Derrick managed the difficult feat of being both exceedingly competent and persuasive technically, ensuring no compromise was brooked in the path to perfect sound.

He had the ability to charm even the most demanding live performer or producer.

These attributes proved invaluable to the many projects he worked on, especially when navigating the technical necessities of producing audio at events for live broadcast throughout the world, among

them Chime for Change (2013), the Diamond Jubilee (2012) and the Brit and European Music TV Awards, where he led the audio teams for many years.

His was a considerable talent and he will be Derrick, right, with Bryan Grant of Britannia sadly missed by his Row Productions, with whom he had a longmany friends and time working relationship and close friendship colleagues within the industry. A ‘Derrick London Crematorium.

Zieba Memorial Page’ on The family has asked that Facebook has been ‘liked’ well-wishers do not send by 540 people at the time of flowers but instead make a writing. donation to the Margaret Derrick is survived by his Central Special Purposes Fund. children Emily, James and Online donations can be Edward and sister Linda. made to: His funeral was held on 24 www.bartscharity.org.uk/donate September at the City of

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live

The Cutty Sark at night

UNITED KINGDOM

Public on board with 92-seat Cutty Sark theatre As the historic British clipper ship adds a performing arts space to its lower hold, Georgia Butler speaks to Cutty Sark Studio Theatre programmer Yvette Griffith AFTER TRAVELLING across the world, sailing under both the British red ensign and the Portuguese flag and visiting every major port in the world, the Cutty Sark, the last surviving tea clipper, was

transferred to a permanent drydock at Greenwich, southeast London, and opened to public display.

However, after being badly damaged by fire in 2007, the British vessel was reopened in

2012 with the addition of the eclectic, 92-seat Cutty Sark Studio Theatre, which provides a platform for a variety of performing arts. The Studio Theatre programmer, Yvette Griffith, explains: “I think the restoration gave [the trustees of the Cutty Sark] an opportunity to think about the ship’s uses, but I do think it is something that would have happened [anyway]. I’m not sure it would have happened at the same time or pace, but I definitely think it’s something that would have happened.”

The theatre is a versatile space which can be transformed according to the necessities of each performance.

The audio equipment includes two AudioTechnica ATW r2100a UHF radio receivers, two AudioTechnica radio transmitters

and an IMG Stage Line mpx622/sw four-channel stereo audio mixer, which has two channels reserved for the UHF receivers (leaving two spare phono inputs). Griffith notes that the equipment was “appropriate for the space [and] within our budget” and says that the Cutty Sark Trust “also took the advice of industry experts”. The storage of the equipment is “quite ingenious”, according to Griffith, as the ship stores the equipment in the tea chests: “it is the exhibition during the day, but some of the tea chests act as cupboards.”

During the day, the lower hold contains displays of artefacts relating to the ship’s history – yet in the evening, the central section of the ship is open to an assortment of audiences. “It is completely unsubsidised, so the ticket income has to cover all our operational costs and any artist fees – so it is always our aspiration to sell every ticket,” says Griffith. “People just think it’s a really good idea and love the intimacy of the space…

Part of what we have tried to achieve with this theatre space physically and visually is that you always know that you’re on a ship. The back wall is the ship: we don’t have a backdrop or anything like that – we actually make sure you can see the wood and the metal.”

The Cutty Sark is regularly hired out for parties and celebrations – however, prior to the refurbishment the audio was limited to acoustic live music.

Griffiths tells PSNEurope that as “it’s such a small intimate

The storage of the audio equipment is “quite ingenious”, according to Griffith, as the ship stores it in the ship’s tea chests space, it doesn’t need to be amplified sometimes,” with the two twin-channel amplifiers and four 50w Visaton WB13 speakers often just used “to get a rounder feel”.

“Although it is a new space, we do like to think that the unusualness of the venue – the theatre in a ship – will always be quirky enough to: A) to pull the artists in and B) to keep the audiences coming in,” concludes Griffith. Upcoming performances include a oneman show by Andy Kershaw, an evening with James Bond and The Avengers actress Diana Rigg and musical performances

by Jason Yarde, Anna Noakes and Gabriella Dall’Olio. Q www.rmg.co.uk/cuttysark

Harpist Glenda Allaway in the newly refurbished Studio Theatre

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James May, Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson (L–R) host Top Gear Live

live

EUROPE

Wigwam moves into Top Gear … with DiGiCo’s multiplexed fibre ring and the first ‘live’ BroaMan MUX22 unit WIGWAM ACOUSTICS has implemented DiGiCo and Optocore’s latest software to build the first multiplexed DiGiCo fibre ring systems for use in the live environment.

Deployed on Top Gear Live and the annual Hillsong Conference Europe, the systems, which in addition to audio also incorporate video transport, allowed a range of DiGiCo mixing consoles and Optocore devices to work seamlessly together.

DiGiCo is the only console manufacturer to benefit from OEM Optocore, running the native 2.21 Optocore protocol.

Launched at Prolight + Sound in March, the system allows Optocore devices to function on a DiGiCo optical loop. This allows, for example, Optocore X6R and V3R mic preamps to be controlled directly from DiGiCo consoles.

“Being long-term associates of both DiGiCo and Optocore, we are keen to embrace the technologies afforded to us as they progress,” says Wigwam’s Alex Hadjigeorgiou. “We work very closely with both companies and had been investigating a way of providing more functionality through our existing DiGiCo fibre ring.

“Maciek Janiszewski from

Optocore explained what could be achieved and helped sanction an initial design. This led to the development of a full system realisation, which catered fully to the requirements of both

Top Gear Live and Hillsong.

It sounded great when it was tested in the warehouse – but there’s a massive step between that and putting it on a realworld show.”

The two events could not have been more different. Top Gear Live featured motoring stunts, races, car testing and big show numbers, all accompanied by the usual innuendo and schoolboy

humour of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. In contrast, the Hillsong Conference, at the O2 arena in London, was three days of Pentecostal worship and music.

Wigwam’s DiGiCo desk at front of house

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live The systems used on both events included various configurations of DiGiCo consoles, including SD10s, SD8s and an SD11 system drive console, with a mixture of I/O units, including three DiGiCo SD-Racks, an Optocore X6RFX analogue output and a X6R-TP digital AES I/O. A MUX22 interface, from Optocore’s specialist broadcast start-up BroaMan, was also used for the first time in a live context on Top Gear Live, and ran the d&b audiotechnik R1 control system on a point-topoint single-mode fibre. At Hillsong, Wigwam – knowing the MUX22 gave them pointto-point video capability – provided internet streaming feeds to God TV and live feeds to the video screens.

Its expertise helped Wigwam establish the necessary lines of communication for the transfer and management of audio, video and data. A pair of the BroaMan MUX22 units sent data streams at different

The brains of the operation

wavelengths along the same piece of fibre optic between the front of house mix position and the stage at each event. The

DiGiCo fibre ring with gigabit Ethernet control network provided the capacity to transfer SDI video and audio between

the two locations – this included a data network which provided control to d&b D12 amplifiers, located on stage.

“The level of responsiveness in terms of the system’s control cannot be underestimated,” says Wigwam system designer Rob Priddle, the man responsible for proposing this new solution.

“When implementing new technologies, there is always an element of leaping into the unknown. But with the support of both DiGiCo and Optocore/ BroaMan, the resultant system worked exceptionally well on both events.”

“The result of deploying this DiGiCo/Optocore fibre ring was that the control was a lot quicker, and although the transmission was complex, the set-up time was greatly reduced,” concludes Alex Hadjigeorgiou. “Someone had to bite the bullet, and this solution would have been impossible without the MUX22.

Because it was made by BroaMan, we knew it would be compatible with a DiGiCo ring made by Optocore.” Q www.broadcastmanufactur.com www.digico.biz

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live

FRANCE

30 years in 30 songs at La Francofolies To celebrate the 30th La Francofolies festival, 30 of France’s leading musicians took to the stage supported by equipment from rental company Fa Musique. Guillaume Schouker reports THIS SUMMER saw the 30th edition of the Les Francofolies de La Rochelle, the music festival founded in 1985 by Jean-Louis Foulquier in 1985 to promote francophone music.

Held in La Rochelle on the west coast of France, Les Francofolies attracted an audience of 130,000 to its eight concert halls and a number of venues throughout the city between 10–14 July.

On the first night, 30 top French acts took to the main stage, La Grande Scène de Saint-Jean d’Acre (the Main Stage of St John of Acre), to celebrate La Francofolies’ “30 years of craziness” and pay tribute to Foulquier, who died in December. France Télévisions, the French public TV broadcaster, recorded the concert for a programme called Les copains d’abord, 30 ans, 30 chansons (Friends at first, 30 years, 30 songs) presented by film actor Omar Sy and shown on France 2 on 6 September.

Artists performing included of Véronique Sanson, Bernard Lavilliers, Jacques Higelin and Yannick Noah.

Since 2006, most of the audio equipment for Les Francofolies has been supplied by Fa Musique. Fabrice Leblanc, the company’s technical director, explains: “We are in charge of the sound system for La Grande Scène de Saint-Jean d’Acre

[and other venues] Le Grand Théâtre, La Salle Bleue at La Coursive and Le Diane’s at the Casino Barrière La Rochelle.” “[The organisers of] Les Francofolies [push our development] by both their demands and experience. An

Actor Omar Sy presents coverage of Les copains d’abord, 30 ans, 30 chansons for France Télévisions

evening like 10 July helps us to improve technically and concerning the organisation of the different team jobs. All year long, we work out ideas that came from real-life experiences, whether it is at the Francofolies or during other festivals.

All these experiences help us to improve. We are lucky at Fa Musique to have a team of permanent sound technicians who are as much involved in performance production as in equipment ergonomics…”

Fa Musique usually makes

uses of a Midas Heritage 2000 and PRO6 consoles for front-of-house, but for the 10 July celebrations it deployed a Soundcraft Vi6. “It was the choice of Jean-Christophe Bourgeois, the FOH engineer who mixed that special night,”

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live explains Leblanc. “This choice was dictated by the fact that he knows this control surface very well. It was necessary that he felt comfortable with the gear because he was only there for the last rehearsal, knowing that there was a full week of rehearsing in Paris for the musicians and Benjamin Rico, the monitoring engineer.”

On the monitoring side, a Midas H3000 and Midas XL8 were supplied by Fa Musique – “We kept the XL8 board because we had [more] space on stage and it is more user-friendly for controlling both audio and distribution systems,” says Leblanc – and a Midas Pro2C digital console was used as a mix matrix, taking the signals from the FOH consoles and rerouting them to the front diffusion, press room, Radio France station mobile and Morgane Production’s Pro Tools.

(Morgane Production acquired Francofolies in 2004.)

The sound reinforcement system consisted of L-R clusters of 12 d&b audiotechnik J8

Fa Musique’s Mathieu Renaud and Jean-Christophe Bourgeois at their desks

Series loudspeakers, plus two d&b J12 and eight d&b J-SUBs suspended behind the J8. For extra low-end, 10 d&b J-INFRA cardioids were arranged under the proscenium. The entire system was driven by no less than 20 d&b D80 amplifiers. “[With] the first members of the

audience […] relatively far away from the stage, the need for front-fills was reduced to four spots of one d&b V8 speaker,” says Leblanc.

“Linking thirty artists within two hours, with one sole rehearsal, was already a brilliant feat,” Leblanc concludes. “The

technicians of Fa Musique went through this adventure with seriousness but in a great atmosphere and serenity, which […] is essential for the team, as well as for the guest artists and engineers.

“This evening was the first one of the festival, and ensuring

[we face] the following days with the same level of reliability, cheerfulness and equanimity [will also] be a real challenge.” Q www.famusique.com www.francofolies.fr www.dbaudio.com www.midasconsoles.com www.soundcraft.com

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feature

WORLD

Making the grade in live/installed sound As the industry continues to become ever-more competitive, a consensus is increasingly emerging on the need for more comprehensive pro-audio education and training. Last month, Jon Chapple cornered studio and broadcast engineers for their take – this time, we’re talking live and installed sound PUTTING ASIDE the inevitable pressure to cut costs and increase margins, the 2014 edition of PSNLive – PSNEurope’s annual report on the state of the European live sound market – revealed a number of other concerns expressed by live sound engineers in an otherwise positive year for the industry. The quickening pace of technological change, an increasing push for diversification and the highly competitive nature of the market – “there are a lot of people out there who will do something for nothing,” said one respondent – are pushing both experienced engineers and those just starting out towards more making the most of the specialised training options on offer.

Gavin Canaan, education manager at Meyer Sound, says today’s live engineers, owing to the increasing complexity of modern live shows, are also expected to have a solid foundation in the science of sound – something not traditionally expected of the average sound tech. “The scale […] of live productions has grown to the point where proaudio technicians who are only trained ‘on the fly’ or ‘in the trenches’ are seeing the need to advance their understanding of sound,” Canaan explains.

“While hands-on field experience is very important, technicians are also required to have a solid foundation in the science of audio in order to optimise the sophisticated audio technology available today.”

“Today’s concertgoers have

become much more demanding when it comes to audio quality in a live show,” he continues.

“To keep the fans coming back, promoters are expecting the audio crew to consistently deliver full sonic impact with even coverage, as well as the definition of an audio recording.

To achieve this day after day with the variables of a live environment, it takes an audio practitioner who is grounded in audio science and can create solutions for any challenge thrown at them.”

However, Soulsound’s Darryl de la Soul is cautious of focussing too much on ‘science’ at the expense of on-the-job training. “I believe that training, as a concept in itself, is absolutely essential, but prospective sound engineers need to choose that training

“Engineers are required to have a solid foundation in the science of audio in order to optimise the sophisticated audio technology available today” Gavin Canaan, Meyer Sound

wisely,” she says. “During my time as leader of live sound education at a specialist audio college, I was astounded by the number of students we had that came to us after already completing a degree in sound, but were still not prepared for a career in pro audio.

The practical side just wasn’t practical enough.”

Offering a freelancer’s perspective, Aston Fearon, a British FOH engineer, emphasises the importance of becoming an expert with one’s own choice of equipment. “I think training is crucial in the field of sound engineering [as] technology [moves] forward and tools become more and more advanced,” says Fearon. “As a freelancer, I see it as part and parcel of my role to manage my own continual professional development and to be learning all the time. I think training offered by manufacturers is a good thing as it gives them the opportunity to interact with us as the end-users and highlight good ways to approach working with their product.”

De la Soul also echoes American sound designer and engineer Nathan Lively’s comments in last month’s

“All courses in audio should also focus on producing employable humans, not just getting them through exams… Work tends to go to the people who present themselves best” Darryn de la Soul, Soulsound

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feature PSNEurope, in which he commented that a younger generation of prospective sound engineers “expect that the skills they have been developing [in education] should launch their career like a rocket,” finding themselves disappointed when a lack of real-world experience and failure to network means they don’t immediately land the audio job of their dreams.

“Youngsters are, […] I feel, led to have unrealistic expectations of what their degree will mean in the real world,” she says. “As an agent looking after people’s

TRAINING DIRECTORY

careers, and placing them in work, I don’t really care how they learned their craft, I just want to know what they can do.

“Just saying on your CV, ‘I have a degree,’ means nothing – the standards and subjects taught in degrees vary so widely that having a pretty certificate really is no guarantee to the employer that the person is able to actually do the job. I want to know what you know, not how you learnt it, and I still have a healthy respect for the selftaught.

“All courses in audio should

TRAINING DIRECTORY Britannia Row Productions London-based Britannia Row, one of the world’s leading audio rental companies, has been supplying high-end audio equipment to live engineers since 1975.

In April last year, it began for the first time to offer training courses in live sound practice and theory to people outside the company, and in July partnered with Alchemea College for Alchemea’s live sound course.

“Britannia Row’s Live Sound Technology Course provides a shortcut entry path into the live sound industry,” says the company. “Unlike other audio, sound or music technology courses, it focuses on all of the skills needed for professional live work. You will learn directly from sound engineers and audio technicians who are working at the highest levels in the industry.” www.training.britanniarow.com JBL Professional “In the Harman Professional tour division, we have expanded our team and strengthened our commitment to training and support to help ensure that customers in the live sound and rental communities obtain optimal return from their investment in our platform,” Paul Bauman, associate director, tour sound, at JBL Professional tells PSNEurope, outlining the company’s training philosophy.

In addition to its regular VTX training courses at its headquarters in Northridge, California, US, the company now offers remote training at clients’ locations, and is “implementing policies to provide remote show support as well”.

“Many of the training concepts and sound design techniques that have been developed over the past 16 years have been integrated into [the] JBL HiQnet Performance Manager software,” adds Bauman. “The Performance Manager workflow has been specifically designed to steer people towards good working practices in order to get the best results, so this is complementary to our education initiatives.” www.jblpro.com Meyer Sound Meyer Sound has been offering audio training since Bob McCarthy, now the company’s director of system optimisation, first began leading SIM Audio Analyzer seminars in 1984.

“We continue to see education and training as key to Meyer Sound’s philosophy,” says education manager Gavin Canaan. “While our existing seminar programme continues to be in high demand worldwide, we are also exploring new ways to offer education and product-specific training to our users.”

Canaan says that although “face-to-face interaction is always going to be uniquely valuable,” the company sees “great potential” in online resources for training and education. “Product tutorial videos are something we are putting a lot of effort into developing as well as broader webinars on a variety of topics,” he continues, “ranging from technical content to broader interests.

“For example, Buford Jones, who has mixed Pink Floyd and Eric Clapton, has been leading webinars interviewing other veteran engineers who bring a wealth of information and insights in discussing their personal experiences in the world of professional audio. As the tools in our business become increasingly complex and exact, we see a growing need to provide training and education and offer it in a variety of delivery formats.” www.meyersound.com

Shure Distribution “There are several topics and products we offer training on, but currently the Wireless Mastered Series is in high demand,” says Tuomo Tolonen, manager of Shure Distribution’s pro audio group. “In this course, we talk specifically about RF technology to give participants a better idea of how these devices work. Wireless systems have become an integral part of [audio installations and productions today, yet are often misunderstood: RF is sometimes referred to as the ‘dark art’, and the Wireless Mastered sessions aim to de-mystify some of the confusion surrounding wireless equipment.

“Coinciding with the rise in wireless microphone use, we have the very real threat of losing further UHF spectrum to the mobile industry, which leaves us with less spectrum to operate these devices in. Having a clear understanding of how to set up wireless systems and troubleshoot them if something goes wrong is an extremely valuable skillset to have.” www.shuredistribution.co.uk Soulsound The Soulsound agency, founded by Darryn de la Soul, specialises in “getting entry-level [live] engineers started in the business and finding opportunities for them to grow”.

Supplementing the employment agency is the Soulsound Resource Centre, an online membership scheme which focusses on “employability and continued professional development”. “We do not offer a ‘course’ as such,” explains de la Soul, “but aim to plug the ‘real-world’ gaps in formal education through online masterclasses and interviews [and] in-depth looks at how successful engineers and producers have made their way in the world – and spend quite a lot of time perving at bits of gear and finding out how the greats use them!”

Soulsound is presenting six seminars at PLASA London on 6 and 7 October focussed on “upskilling and deepening your understanding of audio”.

De la Soul says previous seminars at PLASA and PLASA Focus (see www. soulsound.co.uk/getting-foot-door-full) “have been extremely popular because we concentrate on teaching skills, not flogging gear”.

“We are building a community of audiophiles!” www.soulsound.co.uk www.soulsound.co.uk/agency also focus on producing employable humans, not just getting them through exams.

CV writing, how to approach employers and the importance of attitude, timekeeping and being likeable (days are too long in our business to be spent with unlikeable characters) don’t seem to be taught. I get sent many CVs and the vast majority of them are poorly written.

Work tends to go to the people who present themselves best.”

This emphasis on not being an “unlikeable character” is also touched upon by Tuomo Tolonen, manager of the pro audio group at Shure Distribution. “It’s not easy to get into or advance within the industry, as its a demanding career on many levels,” he comments, “but I believe that if you are hardworking, honest and fun to be around, and put your heart into what you enjoy, you will enjoy a successful career in pro audio.”

Although Paul Bauman, associate director, tour sound, at JBL Professional believes that “it’s becoming easier in some ways [to break into live sound] since there are more educational programmes and […] training resources available,” he sees these as complementary to gaining experience and being willing to work one’s way up

the ladder. “Pro audio is a relatively conservative industry, and the old career path model of working your way up through the warehouse and paying your dues while gaining real world experience still applies,” he says.

“In most cases, this means maintaining gear, loading trucks and gradually working your way onto shows […] in order to gain experience while learning from more experienced engineers along the way. It’s sort of how professional sports teams have a farm team system to develop up-and-coming talent.”

“Breaking into the audio industry is still very much about word of mouth,” agrees de la Soul, before touching on that most controversial type of on-the-job training: the internship. “A newbie needs to impress an oldie enough to be taken along for the ride. I agree that the intern/working for

Meyer Sound’s Bob McCarthy leads a SIM 3 training class in Banff, Alberta, Canada

free system is cruel, especially after spunking thousands on a degree, but that is still the best way to prove your worth and get the experience you need to progress. People need to trust you, and trust needs to be earned. Just choose wisely when working for free!”

“What I personally see is [that] relationships are most important in terms of career advancement,” Canaan adds, “but that is not new or unique to the pro audio industry. The Meyer Sound man also points to the increasing availability of a number of “significant and varied job opportunities that weren’t quite as available in the past,” including “touring, corporate work, amusement park resorts and numerous other avenues where highquality audio is required”.

The industry is as competitive as ever – and that’s a good thing,” concludes Paul Bauman.

“There are a lot of high-quality sound systems [on] the market, but at the end of the day it’s the people installing and operating these systems that make the difference… and that’s where training comes in.” Q

PSNTRAINING PSNEurope launched PSNTraining, our dedicated online training section, editorial page and fortnightly newsletter, in June.

As our three-way vehicle to bring you the latest dispatches from the pro-audio training world, PSNTraining highlights courses, projects, online packages, demo days and teaching seminars and hosts videos, white papers and a diary to keep you up to date with training days and events.

If you think you can contribute, drop PSNEurope editor Dave Robinson a line on david.robinson@intentmedia.co.uk. www.psneurope.com/training

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

Q

installation WORLD

SOUNDBITES TC Group has announced the appointment of Prase Engineering as the distributor of Lab.gruppen and Lake for Italy, adding to the company’s successful relationship with fellow TC Group brand Tannoy.

According to Ennio Prase, Prase’s CEO: “It is a joy to finally add products from Lab.gruppen and Lake to the offering for our customers. Both of these brands have a strong reputation for quality, and we look forward to enhancing that reputation in Italy.” www.prase.it German fibre network specialist Optocore has appointed Audio Solutions to distribute its products in Russia. According to the manager of its pro audio division, Igor Kovalev, the Moscow-based company will be providing Optocore solutions to its two core markets: sound reinforcement (for theatres, concert halls and live events) and broadcast. Kovalev comments that “Optocore responds quickly to any technical challenges – they offer good sales support and very good informative training”. www.audiosolutions.ru The BBC is to install Clear-Com’s Eclipse HX digital matrix and new FreeSpeak II wireless intercom systems across its sites in Belfast and Londonderry. The FreeSpeak II wireless intercom system allows large numbers of wireless beltpack users to simultaneously roam across an large production area without compromising on performance. Nicki Fisher, director of EMEA sales at ClearCom, says: “We’re delighted that the BBC has selected Clear-Com systems to meet its growing communications requirements at its Northern Irish facilities.” www.clearcom.com Stardraw, the developer of the Design 7.1 design and control software, has announced that its symbol library now contains more than 70,000 elements, representing products from over 700 manufacturers. CEO Rob Robinson, described the milestone as a “reminder of the quite staggering effort put in by our symbols department”. www.stardraw.com

Pioneer confirms £335m sale of DJ business The Japanese electronics giant is concentrating management resources on its car electronics business, reports Jon Chapple PIONEER, IN a joint statement with private equity firm KKR, has announced the signing of a share purchase agreement which will see the former’s DJ equipment division spun off into a new company, provisionally named Pioneer DJ, jointly owned by the two companies.

Based on the agreement, KKR will acquire all outstanding shares of Pioneer DJ via a holding company called PDJ Holdings (PDJHD) for approximately ¥59 billion (around £335m or €428m).

Pioneer will then acquire newly issued shares in PDJHD leaving the company 85.05 per cent owned by KKR and 14.95 per

cent by Pioneer.

Susumu Kotani, representative director, president and CEO of Pioneer, said: “As we accelerate our efforts to concentrate management resources on our car electronics business, Pioneer has been seeking the optimal partner to further the globalisation of our DJ equipment business and expand the brand. We are pleased to have reached an agreement with KKR on the purchase of Pioneer DJ. “KKR has a wealth of experience in the technology and media industry globally, and we are confident it has the

Pioneer’s DJM-250 DJ mixer

UNITED KINGDOM Over 100 Jaguar enthusiasts and sports car industry figures, including F1 world champion John Surtees, OBE, gathered for the unveiling of the Callum Mk2 – a restored Mk2 Jaguar built for Jaguar Cars’ head of design, Ian Callum – on 28 August. For the Callum Mk2’s Clarion entertainment

system, restorer Classic Motor Cars chose Van Damme’s Blue Series speaker cable. Supplied by VDC Trading, the Blue Series, which uses finely stranded oxygen-free copper, is the same cable used by most studios throughout the UK, including Abbey Road. www.vdctrading.com

expertise to drive Pioneer DJ forward. Pioneer will retain 14.95 per cent of the voting rights in Pioneer DJ and we will maintain a framework for cooperation to ensure the future growth of the company.”

Subject to approval by “the relevant authorities and other customary closing conditions,” the agreement is expected to be completed by March 2015.

Mark Grotefeld, general manager, marketing, Pioneer DJ Europe, tells PSNEurope: “The new ownership takes effect from March 2015. We will continue to use the Pioneer DJ brand

and further develop the existing brand assets and platforms. The company will be fully focussed and committed to developing its leading position in the dance music sector.

“Pioneer and KKR will jointly leverage their respective business resources. Pioneers DJ’s brand expertise and technological capability, as well as KKR’s global-technology and media-industry investment experience, is a synergistic combination that will fuel the further growth of Pioneer DJ.” Q www.pioneerdj.com

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installation

ITALY

In fair Verona, where we lay our cable… … as Shakespeare might have written, had he been installing the latest Riedel system in the city’s 2,000-year-old Arena amphitheatre. Mike Clark takes up his quill

by Prase Engineering (Community R2-474 three-way horn-loaded fibreglass loudspeaker systems, controlled by a Biamp AudiaFLEX processor).

Based on a Performer 32+16 matrix with three Cat-5 cards and an eightport client card, the system included two Artist RCP 1112 OLED key panels (one at the Yamaha DM2000 stage monitor console, the other in the main control room), an Artist DCP 1116 OLED desktop key panel (at the Arena’s VENUE FOH console) and seven LCD key panels.

There were also five Riedel C22 AES-to-partyline interfaces, 18 Riedel Performer beltpacks and Air lightweight single-ear headsets and an Acrobat Digital Full duplex Wireless Intercom with four Riedel Acrobat antennas and six wireless beltpacks.

Bertoni continues: “I designed the system not only for communication between technical staff, but also for paging dressing rooms and performer assembly points. This has greatly simplified things and, being entirely digital, eliminated interference, making it more comfortable to use – previously, technicians were compelled to listen to hours of hum in their headsets!

“Above all, it has greatly rationalised conversations, reduced calls and enabled them to concentrate on their work.”

Musical Box Rent chose Syntax hybrid cables to connect the various zones, as the Cat-5e conductors have a larger cross-section than those of other manufacturers, reportedly “guaranteeing” better electrical performance. Manufactured by Rivoli, Turin-headquartered manufacturer and

Photo: Ennevi (courtesy of Fondazione Arena di Verona)

BUILT ALMOST two millennia ago, Verona Arena is one of Italy’s largest Roman amphitheatres, with a current seating capacity of 13,500. Performances at the venue, particularly the staging of opera events, attract audiences from around the world.

To streamline communication throughout the venue for technical teams working on such productions, the Arena took delivery of a Riedel intercom/stage management system, in time for the 2014 opera season.

The bid for tenders for the system was won by Musical Box Rent from Lugagnano di Sona, whose Alessandro Bertoni explains: “I believe the system’s the first of its kind installed in an Italian opera theatre and we hope others will follow [Verona]’s example!

“The set-up combined traditional party lines (for staff requiring portable beltpacks) with ten stations equipped with 12- or 16-key panels and a fullduplex wireless system, divided into three communication groups and integrated with the matrix.DECT technology, which enables beltpacks to automatically select the antenna with the best signal in the huge venue. The upgrade was indispensable to facilitate communication in the Arena’s warren of corridors with dressing and store rooms, performer assembly points and technical areas – lighting/audio control, followspot ops, etc – used for the spectacular opera productions, ballet and innovative shows, such as those by Fura dels Baus.”

The Riedel system was configured in such a way as to accommodate the integration of the public address system designed and installed some time ago

Riedel intercoms and VENUE desk in the ancient arena

distributor Valentini, the cables feature a power line with its own IEC-compliant PVC jacket for added safety, three Cat5e cables for data signals and two AES/ EBU digital pair cables.

Bertoni adds: “The cables were fundamental for ensuring an orderly infrastructure for signal distribution from the control room housing the matrix toe various points in the arena, and saved considerable time at the installation stage.”

The main control room (in one of the tunnels stage left) was connected to a patchbay under the stage, from which the cables ran to the rear of the stalls seating, lighting control and FOH audio control, announcement room, stage right and followspot towers.

The complexity of the venue’s layout meant that up until now the person paging artists had no less than four microphones, used with an analogue system including compressors and

various duckers, to lower the “live programme”. There was also an intercom for internal communications.

This season, a single Riedel panel (with just one microphone and headset/ loudspeaker) was sufficient.

The season ended in September with a historical production of Verdi’s Aida.

Bertoni stated: “Being a monument open to tourists for the rest of the year, the system had to be dismantled and removed, but, judging by the positive feedback from all concerned, should be used as the basis for the call for tenders’ specs for next year’s season. We obviously hope to win this and further implement Riedel technology in such an important venue.” Q www.biamp.com www.communitypro.com www.musicalboxrent.com www.prase.it www.riedel.net www.valentininet.com

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50 l October 2014

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The ARCS installation in the House of Vans gig space

installation UNITED KINGDOM

L-Acoustics is louder than a bomb at House of Vans Zero Degrees Events specified an ARCS line array install in the skate areas and live gig tunnel, as Jon Chapple exclusively reports

HOUSE OF Vans London, the 3,000sqm (32,292sqft) “music, art and skate space” under Waterloo station which opened on 7 August, features an L-Acoustics line array installation in its skate areas and live gig tunnel.

Describing itself as “the latest addition to London’s creative playground,” Vans says the new venue, which occupies the site of the former Old Vic Tunnels, “represents the eclectic diversity of London and the cultures that have embraced Vans from its humble beginnings through five decades”.

House of Vans London’s L-Acoustics ARCS system was specified by West Sussex-based Zero Degrees Events. Explaining the company’s choice of ARCS, Zero Degrees’ Neil Cranston tells PSNEurope: “The point source throw suits the space, and the angles of coverage greatly reduce bounce when compared to a line array box with a wider spread. Durability and longevity – as well as economics – made this system the choice, and it works brilliantly in the space.”

He continues: “We decided to purchase refurbished boxes […] for the permanent install in these areas, with a system in each of the skate tunnels and a small hang centrally in the gig tunnel.

This works for playback but also acts as a delay system when we add a hired-in rig for the one-off events, [delivering] what we feel to be the best of all worlds.

“Desks and mics are down to requirement – sometimes a big old analogue with loads of outboard is the go, other times a [Yamaha] LS9 at side of stage will suffice for a DJ setup.

Again, monitoring is spec’d on a show-by-show basis – this way we deliver a bespoke solution to suit the bill.”

House of Vans London opened to the general public on 9 August, but launched on the evening of the 7th with performances from Public Enemy (fresh from their gig the previous night at Metropolis), Dinosaur Jr and Roots Manuva. Q www.houseofvanslondon.com www.l-acoustics.com www.zerodegreesevents.com

The skate area

Flavor Flav of Public Enemy takes centre stage on the opening night

52 l October 2014

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installation

The modern conference

Political party conferences, high-level international government summits, local authority debates: everyone taking part needs to be heard. Kevin Hilton convenes a discussion on the current state of technology in the board room THE IMAGE of conferences can still be influenced by the perception that they are predominantly a group of people sitting in a room, often woodlined in an historic building, discussing weighty or arcane matters. That can still be the case but the reality is conferencing is a vital part of government, international affairs, finance, industry, medicine and commerce, all of which are now media and technology aware areas.

Because of this, the ‘modern conference’ makes full use of the latest technologies to not only ensure that everyone is able to have their say but there is also the capability to connect to other facilities, record the output and provide feeds to broadcast news services. The networking and routing aspects of today’s systems are recent additions to what has always been a

Sennheiser’s solution for better get-togethers

technically aware market.

Pro audio in general has embraced wireless technology.

The added advantage for conferencing, explains Duncan Savage, divisional manager at Shure UK, is wireless DECT mics can be connected to a transceiver and converted into a transmission technology such as Dante audio over IP (AoIP) for networking.

Shure, like beyerdynamic, AKG and Sennheiser, manufactures equipment for both sides of the conference technology market, which roughly divides into delegates systems – typically press-to-talk style for meeting rooms and dedicated facilities – and larger scale event-type installations featuring radio mics, mixing consoles and PA rigs.

“There are clear divisions between conferencing systems and individual DSP-run mic

set-ups,” Savage says. “The first type tend to be used in places like the European court and council chambers, where there is a hierarchical structure with a chairman choosing who speaks and when. The corporate side is more fluid.” He adds that the two do come together on occasions, integrated using DSP-based routing systems, such as those from QSC and Polycom, to connect small meeting rooms featuring camera tracking systems as well as sound reinforcement.

MICRO-FLEXIBLE APPLICATIONS Shure produces the Microflex (MX) wireless system for what it calls enterprise-scale boardrooms and AV conferencing, offering both fixed mic stations and handheld units. Sennheiser offers the ADN distributed digital audio range plus the TeamConnect product, which is designed for telephone and Skype conferencing in meeting rooms.

Nick Pemberton, market development manager at Sennheiser UK, observes that the two product lines highlight the difference between discussion and conference applications, with the first being more formal, chaired meetings. He says the ADN-W (wireless) system is aimed at discussions, with each delegate having a gooseneck mic and a request to speak button.

“The ADN-W is fully encrypted

“People can sit further away from an MPR mic, which makes for more relaxed meetings”

abreast of developments. It also features Dante on its high-end digital radio mic range, the 9000 series (introduced last month at IBC), which he says is aimed at broadcast but is attracting interest from suppliers in the corporate sector.

Ian Cullen, marketing director at AKG UK distributor Sound Technology, comments that he has seen a “definite increase in the need for wireless systems capable of encrypted, secure transmission”. Applications range from military to courtrooms and blue-chip financial services. “Systems capable of secure, encrypted

Matt Nettlefold, Polar Audio because it is used in government and banking environments but there is a wired version as well, which we see used in large-scale government projects because radio waves are susceptible to interference and there is nothing safer than wire.”

Pemberton says there is no support as yet for networking standards such as AVB, Dante or Ravenna on the delegate side, although Sennheiser is keeping

Romano M. Cunsolo of Xavtel, a relative newcomer to the conferencing market, at ISE earlier this year

54 l October 2014

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installation audio transfer are being specified both for fixed installation in boardrooms and at conference events,” he says.

AKG has two products for the event market: the DMS700 v2 UHF digital wireless system for “the most content-sensitive applications” and the lower cost DMS Tetrad, with standard 128bit AES (advanced encryption standard) encryption. AKG also produces the CS3 discussion system, a plug-and-play modular system that can support up to 60 microphone stations.

A recent entrant to the market is Xavtel with the Senator digital congress system. Romano M. Cunsolo, Xavtel’s director for worldwide marketing and business development, says the big change in conference system design has been the use of high speed networking in conjunction with powerful DSPs.

“This allows every parameter to be stored in software, with pre-sets recalled when needed,” he explains. “It is only possible because of the high-speed networks used for products like Senator. The big advantage is that this saves a lot of costly DSP power to run 20 to 30 mics, especially if each has a different setting.”

The gooseneck microphone has been an almost constant factor in the design of delegate systems over the years.

Developers have flirted with other designs, including the golf ball style and Polycom’s starfish phone format for teleconferencing, but in the main most manufacturers have stuck with a capsule on a bendable arm. A departure from these formats was made approximately eight years ago when beyerdynamic introduced

Xavtel Senator congress system Xavtel began shipping version 1 of its new conference system at the end of July. It comprises the DCP1000 DSP unit, DCA660 digital sixchannel amplifier, DDB104 four channel mic junction box and the CDM1000 delegate station. Senator has been designed as a complete conference system from mic to DSP to amplifier. The in-built processor features DSP controlled conference functions, such as a Voice Activated Gate, which opens a mic only when speech is detected, and dynamic digital signal processing allocation for eight conference channels.

Voice over IP teleconferencing is available through an additional AEC (acoustic echo cancellation) board.

Xavtel’s products are based on a proprietary redundant ring network called Xavnet. Cunsolo says that in conference applications

this provides enough security without the need for further encryption. “Nobody from outside will be able to listen in,” explains Romano M. Cunsolo, Xavtel’s director for worldwide marketing and business development, “because the data is being carried by our own protocol over CAT5 or fibre optic, not standard Ethernet.” He adds that the system can be set up easily using graphical user interface software that includes a set-up wizard for quick programming before each event.

Future releases of Senator will include voting software, the CDM-T5 delegate station featuring a touch screen for full meeting, agenda and attendee control and, in version 3, expanded hardware and software for up to 41 channel of simultaneous translation.

the Revoluto microphone array technology.

Matt Nettlefold, a business development manager at beyer’s UK distributor Polar Audio, describes the long, thin single unit, which contains 17 individual mic heads, as looking like a Toblerone bar. He says more people are now favouring this format, which is also known as a corridor mic, for both technical and practical reasons.

“People can sit further away from an MPR mic, which makes for more relaxed meetings,” he comments, “but it is still able to improve the audio quality in a boardroom.”

TOP SECRET TALKS Every delegate at every conference will doubtless consider that what they are saying and the general topic under discussion is massively important but there are levels of importance and, more critically, sensitivity. At the very highest level of conferences, international government and finance meetings – such as the recent NATO Summit in Wales – feature views, plans and other issues that, if leaked too early, could prove detrimental for world affairs.

Delegate technology plays a major role in maintaining security for closed sessions.

German manufacturer Brähler ICS’s equipment has featured at a number of major conferences over the years. Simon Sainsbury, managing director of the company’s British representative, Brähler ICS UK, says these are covered by strict non-disclosure agreements so discussing specifics is often tricky.

Secure connections for Brähler ICS wireless delegate systems are created using a version of the AES format that differs from what most other manufacturers use. “Brähler ICS decided on a different approach and uses a 256-bit encryption key that changes every ten seconds,” Sainsbury explains. “This means that even if someone does manage to make a brute force attack it could take seven seconds to get through, which means they would only hear three seconds of the debate. We think ours is more secure but if people want the highest level of security they should for wired.”

Brähler ICS and other delegate systems often feature in event-style productions, with press-to-play mic stations on tables in the main room, working

Brähler ICS Rec&Go app The modern conference is now not only exploiting new professional audio-visual technology, such as AVB, but multimedia and mobile applications as well. German delegate system specialist Brähler ICS has developed a digital recording app for iPhone and iPad that works in conjunction with its DIGIMIC wired and wireless conference microphone systems. Rec&Go connects to the conference network over WiFi and receives streamed signals from the DCen and DCen mini central control units.

Simon Sainsbury, managing director of Brähler ICS UK, says the multimedia side of conferencing is a “niche within a niche”. He observes that the German manufacturer, which

in conjunction with a main live sound PA rig on stage. Sainsbury says collaborating with rental companies such as Dimension Audio and Delta Sound in the UK is nothing new, with feeds sent from the delegate system to the live rig.

Mark Bonner, joint managing director of Delta Sound, comments that sometimes pressto-talk systems are brought in from specialist suppliers to work with the company’s main system but generally it relies on the traditional live sound radio mics-loudspeaker-mixing console set-up. “We wouldn’t put in 30 to 40 mic-speaker units but would install a PA to support the feed,” he says. “We tend to work on AGMs where there might be 300 people in the room with six to eight radio mics for the presenters, who might move among the audience.”

Delta favours Sennheiser or Shure lapel and handheld wireless mics, with DiGiCo or Yamaha digital desks and d&b or L-Acoustics loudspeakers for the main system. Bonner says the equipment configuration for these production is “pretty much the same” as it was in the past, only with less outboard kit, more done on digital desks and wired or wireless communications for bigger shows. “It is what it was,” he says, “it’s just grown up a bit.”

Part of this maturity has come from digital front of house consoles. James Gordon,

his company represents in the UK, is due to show further developments in this area at next year’s ISE, including small “tablet-type screens” with the ability change volume and distribution feeds.

managing director of DiGiCo, says conferencing covers “a wide remit for us”, from fixed installations to large one-off productions. “The IT companies have conferences and presentations,” he says, “either as road shows or, in the case of Apple, in their own theatre.”

The DiGiCo SD11 desk is used for conferences, partly, Gordon says, because of its size – under 19” wide – but also for the connectivity, with Dante options to link into audio over IP systems. Another aspect to consider, he adds, is video. “In all the areas we work the link between audio and video has become more developed than five years ago.”

In the boardroom, too, video is making itself felt, with sessions now routinely recorded for archiving or later scrutiny.

In some instances, the video switcher is triggered by the microphone feeds, so the cameras switch to whoever is speaking. Which is similar to what many radio stations are using today. So how modern does that make conferences?

Probably very. Q www.akg.com www.europe.beyerdynamic.com www.brahler-ics.co.uk www.deltasound.co.uk www.digico.biz www.polaraudio.co.uk en-uk.sennheiser.com www.shure.co.uk www.soundtech.co.uk www.xavtel.com

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CONTACTS

October 2014 l 57

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Editor Dave Robinson david.robinson@intentmedia.co.uk Deputy Editor Jon Chapple jon.chapple@intentmedia.co.uk

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

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

hither&dither

Hither at the IBC 2014

Graphic Designer Jat Garcha jat.garcha@intentmedia.co.uk Production Executive Jason Dowie jason.dowie@intentmedia.co.uk Digital Content Manager Tim Frost tim.frost@intentmedia.co.uk Office Manager Lianne Davey lianne.davey@intentmedia.co.uk Correspondents: Mike Clark (Italy), Marc Maes (Belgium/ Holland), Phil Ward (UK) Contributors: David Davies, Kevin Hilton, Harry Powell, Georgia Butler, Guillaume Schouker, Simon Duff

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Cheers from Single Malt Audio: (L-R) Christian Settele, Julia Kubitza and Tim Flügge

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Visitors to the RAI can’t have failed to notice this strange, um, ‘sculpture’, one of a number of new features on the expo’s periphery. Answers on a postcard please...

Grass Valley: technology that packs a punch, obviously Ahead of the referendum, these lads from Scottish start-up Blind Spot Gear got into the swing of things at the IBC party

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Time for a double-take: Paul Tapper of Nugen Audio bought his OOZOO watch in the same York shop as the PSNEurope editor. Spooky!

58 l October 2014

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industrytalk

Bauhaus design Phil Ward talks to Paul Bauman, the JBL tour sound director who has opened for the Ramones...

CANADIAN Paul Bauman is now associate director, tour sound, at JBL Professional. With both Ayrshire and Yorkshire grandparents, and a home in Switzerland, Bauman is naturally attuned to the European psyche, and was the perfect candidate to head up L-Acoustics’ R&D and technical support from 1998 to 2006. This followed stints with rental mainstay Maryland Sound and with Adamson, after a distinguished academic career in Sweden and Ontario.

His sound design credits range from Rock in Rio and Mamma Mia! to David Bowie, Bob Dylan and Peter Gabriel, and, as if that wasn’t credibility enough, he’s also the bass player in veteran Ontario punk darlings The Dik Van Dykes. He has been directly involved with many of the most prestigious VerTec installations including LA’s Staples Centre and Walt Disney Concert Hall, and contributes regularly to AES committees and documentation.

This summer he was in London to support Sound Technology’s rollout of the new JBL VTX V20 line array, in the European leg of a typically exhaustive programme…

V20 was unveiled at NAMM – how long do you spend on the road after such a big statement?

I’m not constantly on the road; I have to stay close to base to

work on new product development, so I have to try and find the right balance between travel and Northridge.

We have dedicated teams for launches and training in the US, EMEA and Asia, but I love to get out and meet old friends. I always collect new ideas and gain inspiration – on everything from new products to accessories and packaging.

What new ideas does V20 bring?

V20 features the same technology and performance of the V25, but in a smaller format, high power density 3-way system – complemented by a new suspension system that provides efficient transport, fast setup and precise configuration.

Many people are just as excited by the rigging system as they are by the sound quality and output capacity of V20. The horizontal pattern control is extremely stable and results show accurate coverage and exceptional stereo imaging.

Effective line source array coupling has been

achieved in the vertical plane from 0°–12.5° degrees and V20 delivers linear, transparent sound up to surprisingly high output levels for its compact size. The key differentiating feature is a new small format version of the patented D2 Dual Diaphragm high-frequency compression driver.

Prior to this, what was JBL’s biggest single contribution?

There have been too many legendary product developments throughout JBL’s long history to make that possible to choose. Historically, JBL has had a huge impact in cinema and studios, both recording and broadcast, but if I had to pick one thing it would probably have to be EON for it’s groundbreaking technology when it was first released and the sheer number of EON speakers that have been shipped since its introduction – over one million and counting.

As a bass player, did the being-in-a-band thing lure you into pro audio?

Actually I came at it from the technician’s side. After graduating in physics I felt I knew a lot about nothing in particular, so to be marketable I needed to specialise in something. I found a university with strong audio and electroacoustics programmes; it was 1983, right when compact disc and digital audio were new; and I enrolled for a master’s degree and did thesis work on loudspeaker measurement and DSP techniques to remove reflections. My professor, Stanley Lipshitz, was a chamber music buff and recorded a lot of recitals that were then broadcast on campus radio, so I got very involved in all those processes. Of course I loved the excitement of live shows too so, on my own, I started recording punk bands!

Did that include The Dik Van Dykes?

Certainly: they were local to the university and my recording of

one concert became a cult hit.

We then recorded in Hamilton and, as they toured Canada, I stepped into the FOH shoes.

When the bass player quit I was offered that job too, although I didn’t really know what to do. They just said, “learn every Ramones song, then learn ours”. Both of the albums we made reached number one in the Canadian campus charts, I’m glad to say – and opening for the Ramones three nights in a row was definitely a highlight.

Why manufacturing?

After getting to know him through the Toronto AES chapter, Brock Adamson called me up at the University and asked where he could find someone for some new research – and I said, “You’re talking to him”.

We applied for a research grant from the Canadian government and got funding to develop a digital crossover for a new-generation system. It was ambitious, and I eventually became chief engineer. I then gained rental experience at Maryland Sound [MSI], working shows, although my main mandate was still speaker design: it was before the transition from proprietary boxes to off-the-shelf factory systems. MSI was old school: a lot of heritage and the perfect grounding for understanding what touring companies really need.

Who sticks out as a defining customer from those days?

I would say Neil Young, especially as – oddly enough!

– around the time I went from MSI to L-Acoustics was the time that Neil changed to V-DOSC. Pure coincidence, obviously…

There’s a recent Dik Van Dykes reunion concert on YouTube: could this be a threat to JBL’s product development?

Our lead singer told the audience: “We’re too old to be doing this and you *****s need to listen to some better music…”

So, no, I don’t think so. Q www.jblpro.com