W IN NE RS ’
October 2015
SP EC IA L
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Construction time again Building Daniel Miller’s new recording room at Mute Records HQ P32 P8
P22
P44
IBC CLEARLY NOW
FORCE FOR GOOD
VIEW FROM THE TOP
CANALS, CHANNELS AND CANAPÉS AT THE AMSTERDAM BROADCAST SHOW
HOW POWERSOFT’S AMP TECHNOLOGY IS SHAKING BASS PERCEPTIONS
IT’S A DOUBLE CELEBRATION FOR APEX ACOUSTICS AND PAUL SMITH
X15 HiQ, REFERENCE STAGE MONITOR - L-ACOUSTICS X SERIES In creating the X Series, we brought all of the experience gained in designing the K2 to bear on a new series of reference coaxials. Optimized design, ergonomics, acoustical performance and weight make the X Series the most advanced coaxials on the market. Four distinct enclosures with format, bandwidth, SPL and coverage angles perfectly adapted to short throw rental or install applications, the X Series offer studio monitor sound quality, compact design, consistent tonal balance, no minimum listening distance and exceptional feedback rejection. www.l-acoustics.com
Welcome
PSNEUROPE Editor Dave Robinson drobinson@nbmedia.com
Account manager Rian Zoll-Khan rzoll-khan@nbmedia.com
Deputy editor Jon Chapple jchapple@nbmedia.com
Head of design Jat Garcha jgarcha@nbmedia.com
Managing editor Jo Ruddock jruddock@nbmedia.com
Production executive Jason Dowie jdowie@nbmedia.com
P3 OCTOBER 2015
Advertising manager Ryan O’Donnell rodonnell@nbmedia.com
Contributors: David Davies, Mark Hallinger, Kevin Hilton, Marc Maes, Dave Wiggins, Erica Basnicki
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Cover image: Miloco/Mute Records
DAVE ROBINSON Editor
@PSNEurope
W
hat an incredible night! I’m sat writing this barely hours after being equipped with a balloon jetpack and blasting across the dancefloor at the Pro Sound Awards at the Ministry of Sound. And I’d only had a couple of chardonnays, honest. (See pictures of that, and more nonsense, on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/prosoundnewseurope.)
The skills of a certain Dr Balloonman topped off the third outing of our annual ‘party and prizes’ bash. Let me, once again, congratulate everyone who made it to the ‘last four’ in each category, and thank everyone who came along. For me, there were many highlights. The very humble Davide Lombardi, winning Best Engineer in the live sound category while acknowledging Bryan Grant of Brit Row who first gave him a break in the UK. Miles Hillyard, representing SSE, saying, “I though I was here as punishment!” but walking away with Best Permanent Installation for the Hammersmith Apollo. Sarah Jane from Tannoy/Lab.gruppen, attending her first awards show – on her own! – but taking a gong home for the (brilliant) Wind Tunnel Project. Doug Sinclair of Bang Post Production, who summed up exactly what we’re trying to achieve with the event, with the words, "It's lovely to be here with people from the industry we don't normally meet." I'm thrilled that Mel, Flood, Ed and Dave from Node pitched up with Flare; that almost-legendary-producer-already Paul Epworth helped out by receiving the award for Rising Star Riley MacIntyre (while, for a change, not taking home a trophy for himself...!); and that Giles Martin flew in from LAX the same day to present Colette with her Lifetime Achievement award. That Giles knows some rock’n’roll stories, I can tell you... So, next stop: PSNPresents in November. More on that soon. Oh, and Sunset+Vine, I've still got your trophy, if you want to sail by and pick it up...
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P4 OCTOBER 2015
Contents
In this issue... P50 Q-BEACH HOUSE BOSE BOXES ON A BELGIAN BEACH
P20 POWERSOFT M-FORCE THE MIGHTY MOTOR BEHIND THE WORLD’S LARGEST CLUB SUB
P52 HOUSES OF WORSHIP SOUND ADVICE FOR RIGHTEOUS INSTALLERS
Studio 24 26 30 32
P30 DECOY STUDIOS IS CENZO TOWNSHEND ON THE RIGHT TRACK?
Broadcast 40 42
Business 6 14 16 18 22 36
Pro Sound Awards 2015: The winners! Vocal channel: Erica Basnicki and Dave Wiggins Movers and shakers PSNTraining The strategic position: Powersoft M-Force Feature: Studios
8 20 52
Show review: IBC New products Feature: Houses of worship
Digital Audio Broadcasting at 20 Luci in the sky with iPhones
Live 44 46
Paul Smith’s Apex Acoustics: Still in vogue at 30 Imogen Heap and Sennheiser’s future designs
Installation 50
Technology
Approved: Abbey Road’s ambitious expansion No doubting Tommaso Colliva Cenzo Townshend’s Decoy: one year on Exclusive: In conversation with Mute’s Daniel Miller
On the beach with Bose
Back pages 57 58
Hither & dither Backtalk: John Metcalfe
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P6 OCTOBER 2015
Awards review: Pro Sound Awards 2015
Audinate’s Lee Ellison with the editor
AMI editor Adam Savage introduces the Rising Star award
Giles Martin presents the Lifetime Achievement award to Abbey Road’s Colette Barber
Winning ways!
T
he PSNEurope Pro Sound Awards returned to the Ministry of Sound for the third time on 24 September. The awards, in association with headline sponsor Sennheiser, opened with the (very popular) Martin Audio drinks reception, before Anna Mae’s served up southern US-inspired pulled pork, coleslaw and mac ’n’ cheese. First up was the live and touring sound category, sponsored by d&b audiotechnik. Davide Lombardi, FOH engineer for Kate Bush’s comeback Before the Dawn tour, was named engineer of the year, with Major Tom, Meyer Sound and Autograph Sales & Installations picking up the award for best tour sound. Gareth Owen was awarded the best theatre sound gong for his sound design for Memphis. Triple-Brit Award-winner Paul Epworth was on hand to present two awards: one to studio engineer of the year Matt Wiggins and one in absentia to Rising Star Riley MacIntyre, who was detained by visa problems in his native Canada. (Soundcraft once again lent its support to the Rising Star award). Independent Shoreditch facility Strongroom picked up the award for best studio, while Doug Sinclair and Howard Bargoff from Bang Post Production were recognised for best sound in post-production for the BBC’s
Sherlock. The studio category was sponsored by Focusrite. In the installation category (sponsored by Installation magazine) SSE’s L-Acoustics install at the Eventim Apollo was named best permanent installation project, and Thor McIntyre-Burnie and Tannoy’s Wind Tunnel Project best temporary installation project. Dimension Audio, Sports Technology and d&b audiotechnik were awarded team of the year for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. In broadcast audio, Warner Bros De Lane Lea was named best facility, with Sunset + Vine’s Volvo Ocean Race event of the year and BBC S&PP team of the year (for Strictly Come Dancing 2014). Sennheiser’s D1 and Only ad campaign narrowly beat Martin Audio’s CDD to win best marketing initiative. The two special awards, the Grand Prix and Lifetime Achievement prizes, were awarded to Dante developer Audinate and Abbey Road Studios’ long-serving studio manager Colette Barber, respectively. The after party, sponsored by Renkus-Heinz, featured a magician, the Technicolor-sponsored photobooth and the one and only Dr Balloonman (probably the most in-demand man in the room). Thanks to everyone who came... see you all next year! www.prosoundawards.com
www.prosoundawards.com
Strictly smiles for BBC TV’s Darryl Pitt and Carol Pawlett
Davide Lombardi, the first winner of the night
Doug Sinclair ofBang Post Production: Sherlock’s in luck!
P7 OCTOBER 2015
Sennheiser’s Simon Holley and Victoria Chernih collect the marketing initiative prize
Strongroom’s Emma Townsend and Phil Sisson
Nicola Horton of charity partner Julia’s House
The host for the big night was comedian Sean Collins
Ben Tredwell of Autograph, which supplied Ed Sheeran’s Meyer Sound kit
Paul Epworth collects Riley MacIntyre’s Rising Star gong
Tannoy’s Sarah Jane Thompson (and back-to-front temporary install award)
Lucy Kolodynska and Helen Alexander of De Lane Lea
Dimension’s Mark Boden and Gianni Abruzzese of d&b
SSE Audio Group senior project manager Miles Hillyard
The Church’s Matt Wiggins, studio engineer of the year, with the boss man
www.prosoundawards.com
P8 OCTOBER 2015
Show review: IBC 2015
Netherlands
Dam busters
Like James Bond, IBC will return… In the meantime, however, here’s PSNEurope’s round-up of the pro-audio highlights of 2015’s show, loving compiled by Jon Chapple
I
n news that will surprise few who attended the event, the 2015 International Broadcasting Convention was “widely agreed to be the most successful yet”, according to organiser. Total visitor numbers topped out at an eye-watering 55,128, with visitors from across the world pounding the pavements of the RAI to see everything from the latest broadcast product launches to talks, seminars, awards ceremonies, big-screen cinemas, the beach party, a ‘hackfest’ and the mildly terrifying-sounding Drone Zone (think hobbyists and media organisations, not the Tora Bora mountains). However, PSNEurope, consummate professionals that we are, only ever has eyes for the big pro-audio news – and when the news is of the calibre of the juicy morsels collated for your reading pleasure below, who can blame us? On the eve of the show, ALC NetworX announced Modulation Index and 2wcom as new partners for its AES67-based RAVENNA networking protocol. Streaming audio specialist Modulation Index is the developer of the Orban Opticodec-PC codec, which enables aacPlus (HE AAC) streaming for internet radio via HTTP/ Shoutcast and RTSP. Its new software, StreamS Audio Encoder, uses Fraunhofer AAC to support new and legacy streaming protocols. German company 2wcom is a global manufacturer and supplier of professional broadcast products. It offers complete end-to-end DVB-S/S2 audio/IP satellite system solutions, including professional encoders, modulators and an IRD product range. HHB Communications’ IBC stand played host to the world launch of six new products from Røde Microphones, including new mics, a digital interface, two boom poles and a new wireless audio package. Chief among the launches were two new additions to its VideoMic family of on-camera microphones, the VideoMicro and VideoMic Me. Measuring 80mm long, the VideoMicro is a small, lightweight, directional on-camera microphone designed for use on compact cameras. Designed to reduce distracting peripheral sounds and focusses on the audio in front of the camera, it features a more forgiving pick-up than Røde’s other on-camera microphones, making it suitable for recording indoors. The VideoMic Me is a high-quality directional microphone designed for Apple iPhone and iPad. Also new from the Australian manufacturer and software developer were the i-XLR, a digital XLR interface for Apple iOS devices; an updated version of the Røde Rec app; the Newsshooter Kit, an addition to its RØDELink range
of digital wireless systems which includes a cameramounted transmitter and new XLR transmitter (TX-XLR); and two new carbon-fibre boompoles. In addition to the Røde announcements, stand 8.D56 welcomed for the first time the Roland OHRCA M-5000C, a compact, ~30” version of its M-5000 digital mixing console. TC Electronic also chose the HHB Communications booth as the venue for its announcement of updates for the Clarity X monitoring system and Loudness Pilot loudness normalisation controller.
polar patterns and microphone prioritisation. “Close-ball mixing is very important, but very demanding when done manually,” added Struck. He explained that the system ensures transparent sound pickup with an excellent ‘noise-to-kick’ ratio, significantly reducing crowd noise. It also ensures a consistent audio level without noticeable fades and delivers a mix that is repeatable from match to match. KICK is available as a both software-only solution for productions using Lawo mc² mixing consoles and a hardware-bundled solution for productions using consoles from other manufacturers.
Having a KICK-about on the Lawo stand Ryan Burke, Røde’s export sales manager, and his new toys
Jünger Audio showed its audio monitoring system working with the Fraunhofer IIS MPEG-H TV Audio System. The integration of Jünger Audio’s loudness control features into MPEG-H means that broadcasters can easily identify content that has already been processed or levelled for loudness control, enabling them to avoid multiple levelling passes that can affect audio quality. Robert Bleidt, division general manager at Fraunhofer USA, said: “We are excited to work with Jünger Audio on this product, as it will enable broadcasters to offer better audio quality while satisfying their viewers’ desire for consistent loudness. It is an example of how working with an open standard such as MPEG-H allows rapid innovation.” (Solutions for immersive and interactive audio were also demonstrated by DTS (DTS:X) and Dolby (AC-4), which we’ll cover in far more depth next month.) New for IBC from Lawo was KICK, a patent-pending automated control software solution for ‘close-ball mixing’ in sports. Similar to Calrec’s Soccer Sidekick iPad app (launched at IBC 2013), the application guarantees a “consistent, fully automated close-ball audio mix for sports”, said Christian Struck, Lawo’s senior product manager for audio production. KICK’s GUI allows for easy adjustment of all of its parameters, including the placement of microphones, their
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Linear Acoustic revealed at IBC that Minnetonka Audio Software, a provider of audio solutions for motion picture, video, broadcast, video game and optical disc production, has joined the Telos Alliance through a merger of the two companies. The Telos Alliance, comprising Telos Systems, Omnia Audio, Axia Audio, 25-Seven Systems and Linear Acoustic/ Minnetonka, is also the developer of the Livewire audioover-Ethernet networking technology. “Efficient broadcast audio workflow is shifting from reliance on function-per-box hardware to integrated software and cloud-based solutions,” commented Tim Carroll, Linear Acoustic’s founder and Telos Alliance CTO. “John Schur, Markus Hintz, Jayson Tomlin and the entire Minnetonka Audio team share a keen understanding of this balance. We are proud to finally be working shoulderto-shoulder to help our industry move forward with better audio today and towards more personalised and immersive next generation audio.” The newly united companies will combine their expertise in all aspects of television audio “from production to transmission”, as well as radio, streaming and “future broadcast delivery methods”. “Our goal has always been to offer world-class, industrystandard audio technology in convenient, ready-to-deploy software kits, plug-ins and enterprise level systems,” added
P9 OCTOBER 2015
John Schur, president of Minnetonka Audio Software. “This new chapter for our company dramatically increases the technology that we can offer our customers to solve critical workflow issues. Look, or rather, listen for big things from this new relationship.”
Minnetonka’s John Schur and Tim Carroll of the Telos Alliance seal the deal
At IBC Sennheiser unveiled the EK 6042, a true-diversity, two-channel slot-in camera receiver that works with both analogue and digital transmitters across a bandwidth of 184MHz.
transmitters that feature Sennheiser’s HiDyn plus or HDX companders. “This is a true ‘one for all’ receiver,” said Tobias von Allwörden, product manager, broadcast and media, for Sennheiser. “It works with any Sennheiser series from Digital 9000, 5000 and 3000 down to 2000 and evolution wireless G3, and automatically identifies the transmitter via an IR link.” The camera receiver chooses its own operating mode depending on the transmitter, and also selects the appropriate bandwidth and frequency in the UHF range between 470 and 654MHz. As a true diversity receiver with four separate receiver circuits the EK 6042 is extra-reliable, even in difficult RF environments. The EK 6042 can be combined with either a 15-pin adaptor to slot directly into Sony cameras, or a 25-pin adaptor for Unislot- and SuperSlot-compatible devices. The EK 6042 won one of three PSNEurope IBC Best of Show Awards (see p10).
Sony’s James Leach reveals the newest model in the DWX series of digital wireless systems
The EK 6042 close up
According to the German headphone/microphone company, the EK 6042 is an ideal partner for its top-of-therange Digital 9000 series and can operate with all analogue
The DWX-N series offers users higher quality sound, shorter audio latency and more reliable transmission, providing a solution that brings UHF wireless microphone technology into the digital domain. According to Sony the DWX-N series, for live, studio, installation, and broadcast applications, was developed following specific feedback from DWX customers. It comprises he DWR-R02DN receiver, DWT-B01N beltpack and DWM-02N wireless microphone. “The DWX-N Series is our most advanced digital
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wireless microphone system to date,” said James Leach, product marketing manager at Sony Professional Europe. “Developed in close consultation with our customers, we’ve not only continued the exceptional audio clarity of our previous solutions, we’ve also improved the reliability of the audio transmission. Crucially, we’ve developed a system that will easily integrate with existing live and studio workflows, making the DWX-N series ideal for multiple different applications.” On the Sound Devices stand, the US live production specialist paired its new SL-6 powering and wireless system with the 688 12-track portable mixer/recorder, launched earlier this year. “We are thrilled to bring the most powerful portable mixer/recorder available in the 688 together with our innovative SL-6 accessory to IBC,” said CEO Matt Anderson. “A mixing bag comprised of [sic] a 688 with SL-6 plus a SuperSlot-compatible wireless receiver offers audio mixing, recording and wireless receiver control all from the mixer, u ltimately simplifying power distribution and interconnection.”
Sound Devices sales manager Gabriel Benitez with the new SL-6
Studer introduced the Vista 1 Black Edition digital mixing console on the first day of IBC. Owing to its ‘Vistonics’ user interface with 40 on-screen rotary knobs, the Vista 1’s look and feel is identical to that of its larger sister models, the Vista X and Vista V. Features such as true broadcast monitoring, talkback, red light control, GPIO, N-x (Mix Minus) buses, snapshot automation and DAW control make the Vista 1 suitable for broadcast, live and production use. For theatre productions, the Vista 1 comes with a complete toolset for sound designers. The enhanced theatre
P10 OCTOBER 2015
Show review: IBC 2015
One of two IBC anniversaries came courtesy of RTW, which marked 50 years since its founding at the show. Andreas Tweitmann, CEO of the German audio metering specialist (pictured), said: “We look forward to the next 50 years of providing unparalleled customer service and products.�
CUE list includes character/actor library event handling, with MUTE and VCA events handling. CUEs can ďŹ re MIDI/ MMC events as well as loading different strip set-ups and UAD plug-in snapshots. With an integral DSP engine of 96 channels, the Vista 1 can handle mono, stereo and 5.1 inputs, and is provided with a standard conďŹ guration of 32 mic/line inputs, 16 line outputs and four pairs of AES inputs and outputs on rear panel connections (also customisable). I/O can be expanded using the standard Studer D21m card slot on the rear, to allow MADI, AES, AoIP (including AES67), ADAT, TDIF, CobraNet, Dolby E/Digital, SDI connections, etc. MADI links can connect to any of the Studer Stagebox range for XLR connectivity. The Vista 1 also features an integral jingle player, played from audio ďŹ les on a USB jingle stick (such as station ID or
RTS Intercoms celebrated 40 years in business at IBC. Celebrating on the stanad at the show were (L–R) Shawn Anderson, Josef Penker, Nico Lewis, hostess Anita, Guido van Pol and Manuel Brico.
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Black is the new black: Mark Hosking, Studer’s global sales director, and the new Vista 1 desk
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background FX) and triggered by a series of eight dedicated keys in the master section. A redundant PSU is included, and RELINK integration with other Studer Vista and OnAir consoles means the Vista 1 Black Edition can share signals across an entire console network. TSL Products showcased its newly redesigned Monitor Plus Audio (MPA) family on stand 10.B41. Rebuilt “from the ground up to offer greater ease of use and excellent sound qualityâ€?, the new MPA range offers solutions for both established I/O and audio over IP, with support for Dante and RAVENNA. The new products are available in two models: Solo offers the ability to listen to any channel, while Mix enables the user to create a simple monitoring mix. The shallow unit depth of 100mm makes both ideal for the broadcast OB environment, and the built-in web server enables all units to be conďŹ gured, monitored and controlled remotely via an intuitive web interface. “In redesigning the MPA family, we have really focussed on intuitive and easy use in order to make the range efficient, precise and able to create workow-speciďŹ c solutions,â€? said Matt Colman, TSL audio product manager. „ www.ibc.org With thanks to Mark Hallinger and Heather McLean.
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P12 OCTOBER 2015
Best of Show: IBC 2015
Q5X, Avid and Sennheiser are PSNEurope’s best of IBC Awards were given for the Q5X mic, VENUE S6L live mixer and EK 6042 camera receiver
N
ewBay Media’s IBC Best of Show Awards returned this year, with products by Q5X (Quantum5X), Avid and Sennheiser honoured with the three prizes given by PSNEurope and presented by editor Dave Robinson. Q5X and distributor Canford were recognised for its rubberised, flexible, waterresistant QT-5100 PlayerMics, while Avid scooped an award for the VENUE S6L live mixer and Sennheiser for the EK 6042 camera receiver. Mike Reay, Canford product manager for Q5X, said: “The new miniature Q5X QT5100 PlayerMics had a very successful IBC, as awareness of the concept of micing up athletes is increasing among major sports broadcasters. Being recognised with a Best of Show Award by PSNEurope magazine was a great endorsement for the system. “Our thanks to everyone who voted for the Q5X PlayerMics.” “With Avid Everywhere we’re committed to delivering innovation in live sound to support the most demanding live performances, so we’re delighted that the Avid VENUE S6L has been recognised with a PSNEurope Best of Show Award,” commented
John Driver, head of design at Canford (left), and Quantum5X CEO Paul Johnson
L–R: Avid’s Rich Nevens (worldwide director, pro-audio solutions specialists), Tim Carroll (VP of product management, audio) and Tony Cariddi (marketing director, audio)
Tony Cariddi, marketing director, Tobias von Allwörden, Sennheiser product manager for broadcast and media audio, at Avid Technology. “As a fully modular, scalable live sound mixing system, VENUE S6L delivers bestin-class functionality for a range of live sound mixing applications.” “We are very excited about the award for our new EK 6042,” said Tobias von Allwörden, product manager, broadcast and media, at Sennheiser. “We are sure that this receiver will be a great bridge between analogue and digital wireless transmission while optimising the workflow at the same time.” All three winners will be featured in a digital Best of Show Awards guide, to be published online in October.
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P14 OCTOBER 2015
Vocal channel
Winter of satisfaction
L ERICA BASNICKI is a writer and sound designer
adies and gentlemen, professional audio folks of every stripe, grab yourselves a glass of something bubbly and raise it. A season of celebration is upon us, and I am definitely not talking about the weather. I have been somewhat of a broken record talking about the importance of sound, but this time will be slightly different: This time I am merely reporting what others are talking about and, call me overly-excited, but I do believe we are on the brink of a sonic revolution. In the last two months at least four major publications have published pieces on the rise of sound in various forms. Publications whose core audiences don’t normally concern themselves with the audible world. Susan Philipsz was the first sound artist to win the Turner Prize for her piece, Lowlands, in 2010 (a massive victory somewhat marred by the heavy use of quotation marks –“sound art” – as if it wasn’t a real art form). Fast forward to last month, when the highly-respected
visual arts magazine Apollo trumpeted the increasing popularity of sound art, calling it “ the next vogue in terms of art experimentation and curation”. No quotation marks. Brilliant! The hybrid blog/publishing platform Medium – a purveyor of highly shareable, quality written content founded by the folks who gave us Twitter – recently hosted an article entitled ‘Why sound design is the next great digital frontier’. In it, author George Webster, director of content strategy at global digital design agency Critical Mass, predicts that “smart brands, smart agencies and smart innovators will be searching for new ways to connect people to products and ideas through sounds”. In an unrelated piece just over a month later, Fast Company’s Co.CREATE profiled Soho’s Grand Central Recording Studios’ (GCRS) educational campaign ‘Experience the Sound’: a series of in-house talks to sell its clients on sound’s creative potential. As the first studio to create a commercial in the Dolby Atmos format, GCRS is acutely aware
of the potency of good sound design. Finally, The New York Times recently profiled a few of the city’s restaurants addressing the issue of unwanted noise in its dining areas. Though focussed on a very niche market, the article also highlights the fact that poor acoustics is no longer an issue restaurants can afford to ignore. Addressing said sound-sophisticated diners, author Jeff Gordinier explains: “In the San Francisco Bay Area, a company called Meyer Sound, founded and owned by Helen and John Meyer, has developed a system called Constellation in which tiny microphones and speakers are placed throughout a restaurant and piped into a computer so that noise levels can be monitored and adjusted automatically.” Has this sunk in? The NYT is educating foodies about pro audio. “Brand creatives” (sorry) figure sound is the Next Big Thing. This is more than chance; more than coincidence; more than a pattern. Audio is definitely moving from afterthought to forethought, which ought to keep you feeling warm and fuzzy for a while...
combined fears of not knowing what one might miss and what people might say if one were not present were greater than the pain of paying for it. That view still exists to a degree, but is no longer prevalent, principally because many potential exhibitors have found more productive uses for some or all of those trade show budgets. It’s also a combination of technical factors. The internet and all the informationsharing opportunities it provides, plus increasingly savvy use of online facilities by potential exhibitors, means that it is much less important than previously to have ‘hands-on’ time with products. This is especially true when you consider that, despite many sincere attempts to do so, it is exceedingly difficult to offer meaningful product demonstrations at a trade show. These are perhaps just more indicators of a maturing industry, and nowadays the principal attraction of trade shows for both exhibitors and visitors is networking via physical interaction. Paradoxically, the
ease with which we all now communicate non-personally enhances the value of face-to-face communication, and trade shows should take advantage of this. In the right setting, business can be discussed, appointments made, site visits arranged and plans mooted in a civilised manner. To win back lost business and attract new customers, trade shows must deliver real efficiencies not just in direct costs but also in personnel, logistics and other areas such that exhibitors can support these events sustainably. Shows need to deliver a complete package which includes, among other things, geographical relevance, accessibility, economic reality, venue suitability, visitor footfall, event duration and pre- and post-show marketing support. In my view at least, the business still needs and should benefit from trade events, but they must evolve and adapt to its changing demands and the economic environment. Some do already – and some don’t.
Trading... up?
F
DAVE WIGGINS is a freelance marketeer and pro-audio pundit
or many individuals involved in the equipment supply side of the industry, the numerous pro-audio trade shows around the world are part of the warp and weft of their working lives. For years most of these events have changed but little, with the seemingly endless round of shows feeling sometimes like a global audio village groundhog day... However, things are changing. A few shows have stopped altogether, some have merged and others have shortened, while the titles of ‘most important’ shows in their respective locations and markets have occasionally changed hands. At the same time we have seen the odd new one pop up, but in general the trend is towards a lower total number of trade show days globally than in previous years Why? One reason is fear, or more accurately, the new lack of it. Twenty years ago there were a significant number of trade shows that many exhibitors simply could not miss regardless of cost. The issue was that the
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P16 OCTOBER 2015
Movers and shakers
CSU: Harman Robbins and Divine to lead new Harman customer solutions units
H
arman Professional’s solutions division has announced a change to its management structure (or “an additional layer of its new customercentric organisational model� in Harmanese) with introduction of new customer solutions units (CSUs) to support its existing customer-facing strategic business units (SBUs).
This new structure will be seen ďŹ rst in the entertainment SBU, which comprises two CSUs – retail/recording and touring/cinema – headed up by Scott Robbins and Brian Divine, respectively. Robbins is currently vice-president for global sales and has responsibility for selling Harman’s solutions division worldwide. Divine is director of marketing for Harman’s loudspeaker SBU.
Brian Divine
Scott Robbins
“As leaders in our new customer-centric organisation, I’m conďŹ dent they will build upon our success in these entertainment vertical markets and continue to develop products and systems that are optimised to meet customer and market needs,â€? says entertainment SBU head Bryan Bradley. „ www.harmanpro.com
DEALER NETWORK
Ashly Audio has hired Ed Czarnecki as applications engineer. Czarnecki will report to Scott Leslie, the DSP/ ampliďŹ er company’s executive vicepresident, providing information and training about Ashly products. www.ashly.com
SI software developer D-Tools has appointed Randy Stearns as CEO. Stearns will focus on “deliver[ing] the next generation of D-Tools’ award-winning system integration software and data solutions�. www.d-tools.com
Linear Acoustic has expanded its leadership staff with the hiring of industry veterans Chris Shaw as VP of global sales, television, and Martin Dyster (pictured) as VP of business development, television. www.telosalliance.com/linear
Mackie has appointed Matt Redmon director of channel marketing. Redmon will “implement strategic integrated channel marketing plans� for the Mackie and Ampeg brands. www.mackie.com
Double Emmy Award-winning foley artist Pete Burgis has joined Pinewood Post Production. Burgis has spent the last decade working on ďŹ lm franchises including James Bond and Harry Potter. www.pinewoodgroup.com
Susie Rushden has joined UK Van Damme Cable distributor VDC Trading as sales manager. “My objective is to [‌] to provide a better service from the ďŹ rst contact,â€? she comments. www.vdctrading.com
ADAM Audio has announced Nordic Audio Distribution (NAD) as its new distribution partner for Finland. Alexander Sacken, the monitor manufacturer’s head of sales, says: “As our distributor for Norway, Sweden and Denmark [NAD] has already have shown an excellent performance in the Nordic regions. [‌] We are extremely pleased to have gained Nordic Audio Distribution as our partner for Finland as well.â€? www.adam-audio.com www.nordicaudio.eu JoeCo has announced that Peter Wolff Elektroakustik (PWE) is now representing its BlackBox range of multi-channel audio recorders and players in Germany. PWE, based in Recklinghausen, has played a key role in establishing brands s uch as Midas and ASL Intercom in the country. www.joeco.co.uk www.pwe-gmbh.de Soho-based root6 has been chosen by New Zealand company Kiwa Digital to launch its recently released VoiceQ 2.0 voice synchronisation software in the UK and RoI. VoiceQ 2.0 is a streamlined post-production cueing application designed to save time and improve accuracy with synchronised dialogue in ďŹ lms, television programmrs and video games. www.root6.com www.voiceq.com
www.psneurope.com/business
P18 OCTOBER 2015
New Trainee Day to lead student-friendly PL+S 2016
BY JON CHAPPLE
Messe Frankfurt is targeting novice audio engineers and school and university students with next year’s Prolight + Sound show, planning “an attractive programme with lectures, guided tours and other interesting
activities” as part of its first ‘Trainee Day’ initiative. “We want to give companies the chance to introduce themselves to enthusiastic young professionals and make personal contacts,” explains Prolight + Sound director Michael Biwer. “At the same time, newcomers to the sector can gain an overview of training scenarios and career opportunities in the individual companies and increase their knowledge of the event industry.” Trainee Day’s matchmaking sessions will bring companies and educational institutes together with suitable candidates, says Biwer, while on the same day speakers from the Prolight + Sound and Eventplaza Conferences will focus on solutions for helping young professionals working in the live
events sector. Prolight + Sound 2016 will offer reduced admission prices to trainees and university/vocational school students and groups of 25 or more people, with a limited supply of free tickets for students only available from www.prolight-sound.com/ traineeday. Trainee Day is part of a new-look PL+S/Musikmesse 2016 that will see a switch of halls and the latter opening its doors to consumers daily. Prolight + Sound will move from its existing home in halls 8 and 9 to the eastern section of Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre from next year, where it will occupy halls 1, 3, 4 and 5, the Congress Centre and outdoor exhibition areas. Musikmesse will take its place in halls 8, 9 and 11. www.prolight-sound.com
AMS Neve links with educators to “inspire next generation” BY DAVE ROBINSON Seeking to inspire a raft of talented engineers and producers, Burnleybased console maker AMS Neve has established partnerships with five universities and institutions around the UK. Around 2,000 students at dBs Music (Plymouth and Bristol), SSR (Manchester and London), LIPA (Liverpool), the University of Surrey and the London College of Music (West London University) will be given access to masterclasses from AMS console designers, special offers and competitions, and a chance to visit the
AMS Neve factory. The move has been welcomed by British record producer Steve Levine, former chairman of the Music Producers Guild. “I have my own 30-year relationship with AMS and it is very important that the manufacturers of our tools of the trade engage with the next generation of sound engineers and producers,” said Levine. “This will enable the students to benefit and enjoy the rapidly-changing technology and also to understand the history and legacy of recording.”
AMS founder Mark Crabtree (pictured) first demonstrated a revolutionary tape phase simulator to one Paul McCartney some 40 years ago; the Beatle quickly became the nascent technology company’s first customer. (AMS Neve was formed when the company joined forces with Neve Electronics in 1992.) Crabtree claims that McCartney’s vision of creating a centre for performing arts in his former school building was a factor in his decision to forge stronger links with educational institutions. www.ams-neve.com
Hands up for InfoComm Hands-On! BY DAVE ROBINSON
Trade body InfoComm International held the first InfoComm Live Hands-On, an “intensive training day addressing production essentials” on 4 September at Church House Conference Centre in Westminster, London. Presented by InfoComm and supporting companies, topics covered included acoustic intelligibility, lighting
for video in large venues, video playback and display, projection, video camera techniques and the latest in laser projection. Andre LeJeune CTS, InfoComm University staff instructor, explained: “The course is aimed at professionals with basic technical expertise working in fixed or live installations. “Additionally, professionals will learn production basics so that they are faster, more efficient, saving valuable time on-site. This will empower them to deliver an exceptional experience for clients and their audiences every time.” Event sponsors included Canon Europe, Green HippoLimited, NEC Display Solutions United Kingdom, Panasonic and Shure Systems Group. Chris Lavelle, regional director, UK and Ireland, adds: “The course brings together all of the benefits of InfoComm’s certifications, training programmes and expertise supported by local InfoComm representation.” www.infocomm.org
www.psneurope.com/training
5 September–19 December Britannia Row: Live sound intermediate course Twickenham, UK www.britanniarow.com/courses
27 October Harman: Soundweb London Basics with HiQnet Audio Architect Online harmantraining.webex.com
3–4 November Midas: Certified MIDAS Digital User training Manchester, UK www.music-group.com
10–11 November d&b audiotechnik: Sound system optimisation seminar Nailsworth, UK www.dbaudio.com
ISCE Mapps out sound measurement course BY JON CHAPPLE
The Institute of Sound and Communications Engineers (ISCE) has revealed the details of ‘Sound Measurement Techniques’, a new course scheduled for 8 October in Hemel Hempstead, UK. Presented by experienced acoustics consultant Dr Peter Mapp (pictured), who has presented numerous papers to the Institute of Acoustics and Audio Engineering Society and was named ‘instructor of the year’ by the US National Systems Contractors Association, Sound Measurement Techniques will cover the measurement of essential acoustic design parameters, including background noise level and reverberation time. Attendees will learn which frequency weighting and sound-level meter integration time settings
to use, how to measure the STI intelligibility performance of a sound system and the typical site issues that can affect or invalidate readings. Dr Mapp will, says the ISCE, “take you on a step-by-step journey through the acoustic measurement minefield, not only explaining the terminology and technology but bringing this to life with a series of live practical measurement demonstrations”. www.isce.org.uk
When you need to hear a pin drop...
SI Centrum Palladium, Stuttgart, Germany
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Theatre applications are particularly demanding, the quietest of sounds are often crucially important to the show. Similarly Orchestral and Jazz performances have huge variations in levels. The KV2 Audio ESR Series has been designed to deliver an impressive full range response with extraordinary dynamic range. Every aspect of an ESR system is aimed at delivering total accuracy and audio quality.
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P20 OCTOBER 2015
New products
BLACK LION AUDIO B12A MkII 500
What is it? A single-channel microphone preamp in the style of an API 312A. Details: Featuring a CineMag input transformer, Edcor output transformer and Hi-Z input, phantom power pad and phase, the B12A MkII 500 packs the same punch as its ½-rack cousin in a 500-series format. And another thing… Distributor Unity Audio says the pre is “the ideal companion to pillowy, fat sounds” and “will liven up a mix with an undeniable energy”. www.unityaudio.co.uk
CYMATIC AUDIO
SONNOX
WAVES AUDIO
What is it? A 32-channel recorder/player expansion card for Behringer X32 and Midas M32 digital mixing consoles.
What is it? Sonnox’s Restore suite of plug-ins – Oxford DeNoiser, Oxford DeClicker and Oxford DeBuzzer – now in 64bit format.
What is it? Five Waves dynamics processors – Gate, Leveler, DeEsser, Compressor and Limiter – in one easy-touse interface.
Details: The uTrack X32, which operates completely independently from the mixing desk, can digitally record 32 channels without the need for additional hardware or computers.
Details: Restore now supports RTAS, Audio Units, VST and AAX formats – the last of which will “make a lot of Pro Tools users happy”, says Sonnox senior sales and marketing manager Nathan Eames.
Details: Using Waves’ ‘Parallel Detection’ technology, each of the five processors responds to the both the original signal and each of the other processed signals simultaneously.
uTRACK X32
And another thing… As well as being controlled from the console, the uTrack X32 can be operated using iOS or Android devices. www.cymaticaudio.com
RESTORE
And another thing… The Restore suite is available for a special introductory price of £299 until 31 October. www.sonnoxplugins.com
www.psneurope.com
eMo D5 DYNAMICS
And another thing… With zero latency, low CPU consumption and “pure sound quality”, the company describes the eMo D5 as “a natural for both live and studio engineers”. www.waves.com
P22 OCTOBER 2015
The strategic position
The custom-built Avalon by EAW CLUB.one sound system, incorporating M-Force transducers, features the biggest club subwoofer installation in the world
A great disturbance by M-Force Jon Chapple finds out how Powersoft is gaining traction throughout the pro-audio galaxy with its ‘paradigm-shifting’ M-Force transducer technology. These are the components you’re looking for…
T
he announcement at Prolight + Sound 2013 of Powersoft’s M-Force transducer marked a major change of direction for a company hitherto known for its amplifiers and modules. Characterised by a moving magnet and ‘pushpull’ behaviour, the application of positive and negative electromagnetic fields allows for the M-Force motor to oscillate at an “unprecedented level”, says the Tuscan company, marking a “true paradigm shift from the old, fashionable coil and cone”. Two years on, with its inclusion in speaker systems by two major manufacturers and countless bespoke enclosures, it looks increasingly as though the industry at large is inclined to agree. “It was a ‘Eureka moment’ when we imagined something not axisymmetric but ‘planar’ in its magnetic design,” explains Powersoft co-founder Claudio Lastrucci, recalling M-Force’s genesis. “However, the idea for a new transducer technology came from our knowledge of switch-mode amplifiers and their native properties, and the desire to fully exploit the real benefits of their native energy recycling capabilities. No switch-mode amplifier, no M-Force…” Lastrucci says it became clear to him that Powersoft’s research into what would become M-Force, begun in 2008, could result in a new product for OEM applications “as soon the results from the initial prototypes provided some effective performances. We [then] started to pursue a process of optimisation and engineering that led to a finished product. Since our goal, as Powersoft, is not to be a speaker manufacturer but a supplier of components for their products, this was natural: in line with the company’s vision.”
Super Mario M-Force’s first outing was at the last year’s Grammy Awards, where ATK Audiotek, of Valencia, California – production sound provider for the awards’ television
broadcast since 2000 – augmented its audience PA with a prototype sub-bass system featuring the transducer technology, developed with ATK by Italian loudspeaker design consultant Mario Di Cola. The ATK set-up, which has also been used as the audience PA system for the US version of The X Factor, incorporates into each cabinet an M-Force motor with a 30” polypropylene cone, and is driven by a single Powersoft K10 class-D amplifier generating 9,000W. Scott Harmala, ATK Audiotek’s CTO and vicepresident of engineering, reveals that the company has implemented M-Force in a short-transmission-line cabinet design: “The design does load the cone but it doesn’t have the characteristics of a bass-reflex ported enclosure, where you have a fairly reactive port resonance.” “Because the M-Force motor has so much travel and its cone has so much surface area, this design allows it to create a tremendous amount of SPL at very low frequencies and still be within its operating parameters,” he continues. “The motor’s strength is somewhere in the order of 50 to 60 times greater than even the best 18” driver on the market. At 25Hz it has 8dB more output than two of our double-18” subwoofer boxes.”
Maybe the industry is beginning to trust that we can make crazy ideas real
Claudio Lastrucci, Powersoft system comprising the XD30 plus Powersoft X8powered A2 line arrays. “As a loudspeaker manufacturer focusing on acoustics and new loading techniques, we already had a new patented enclosure design which we had been using with different cone drivers for several years,” explains Isotalo. “When we saw M-Force, we immediately thought it would be good for more compressed loading because of that huge motor strength. “A single XD30 is able to produce more than 150dB peak SPL in floor, and we used four of those in a two by two end-fire configuration, so we were hitting average of 140dBs at 10m. Low frequency cut-off is around 30Hz, but it does go lower than that if necessary.” The Aura system has this year also been heard
Flying colors Finnish manufacturer Aura Audio, which uses M-Force technology in its XD30 subwoofer, first encountered the technology at its PL+S 2013 launch. “We started working with it immediately, so that by Frankfurt this year we were able to present our own M-Force product, the XD30 subwoofers,” says its managing director, Mika Isotalo. In July, hire company AMJ Turku Audio equipped both the main and second stages at the Colors dance festival at Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki, with an Aura sound reinforcement
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Clever little motor: M-Force up close
The future’s bright Sub-bass for Italian hip-hop artist Caparezza’s 2015 tour, which garnered a 2015 Pro Sound Awards nomination for best tour/production sound, came courtesy of four bespoke M-Sub enclosures built by Mario Di Cola’s Audio Labs Systems. Caparezza’s FOH engineer, Antonio Porcelli, describes himself as being “blown away” when he first heard the M-Force-equipped subs: “The sound of the MSub was faster and deeper, and the shocking thing is that it had no distortion compared to traditional systems. “I realised that I was in the future: I was at the forefront of what I consider a turning point in sound systems comparable to that of the line array.”
at DBTL Festival in Turku, Raumarock Festival in Rauma and Helsinki Pride. “The reaction from pretty much everyone has been one of positive surprise,” says Isotalo. “They have all been impressed by the size to SPL, fast transient response and effortless infra-bass.”
Joining the club It’s not just events companies which are well served by M-Force: The world’s largest-ever subwoofer club installation, at the Avalon Hollywood nightclub in Los Angeles, features a giant 40” Powersoft cone in each of its EAW-built speaker cabinets – something made possible by M-Force, which enabled increased air movement, faster response time and zero power compression, says club owner John Lyons. Lyons, also president of club sound/ lighting designer John Lyons Systems, completed his ‘Avalon by EAW CLUB. one’ sound system – dubbed the ‘Bugatti of club sound’ – last February. The club, named one of the 10 best in the world by Resident Advisor, can now boast an even “louder, cleaner and clearer” sound that was previously impossible to produce, particularly in the lower frequency ranges,” says Lyons, “and “earth-crushing sub-bass”. M-Force has also found its way into the Sound Force series of club systems
by DAS Audio, announced in May, making the Spanish speaker manufacturer the second (after Aura) to build a system around an M-Force transducer. The Sound Force range comprises the SF-112, a mid-high three-way cabinet; the SF-215, a bass system comprising two 15” DAS speakers; and a double-21” sub. “With M-Force it was exciting to see the reaction when we started to talk about this new technology [to manufacturers], says Lastrucci, “and above all, getting them listening to it and playing with the first samples. We know well that new technologies take a very long time to be accepted in our industry – it has happened so many times to us – but it sounds like this time the word is spreading faster. Maybe the industry is beginning to trust [us when we say] we can make crazy ideas real.” Aura Audio’s Mika Isotalo expects to see M-Force-equipped speakers becoming increasingly common in club installs, both in Finland and beyond: “We expect to see some new ones using M-Force in the future. […] [It] opens up new ways to make high-power subwoofers and, coupled with DPC and the endless power capabilities of Powersoft amps, we’re able to make a new reference for high-end subwoofers in both SPL dynamics and sound reproduction accuracy.” www.powersoft-audio.com
The Aura Audio XD30/A2 system at Colors festival in Helsinki
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P24 OCTOBER 2015
Studio
Abbey Road Studio One
United Kingdom
Abbey Road multi-million-pound expansion gets green light The investment is the largest since the studios were established in the 1930s, reports Dave Robinson
W
ork to expand and upgrade Abbey Road Studios has commenced following the recent granting of planning permission, David Allen, head of brand and marketing for the studios, has confirmed. The construction and renewal project will ensure that the famous north-west London facility “remains competitive” while propagating “the next legacy of great artists and great works”. Although he wouldn’t reveal the exact amount of cash injected, Allen noted that it is the largest single investment the studio has received since it was built 84 years ago. The most important addition to the facility is the creation of two rooms for writing and developing “rock and pop”. The garage that backs on to Studio 2, and the editing suite at the front of the Abbey Road building, will be converted and made available as short-to-medium-term lets. “These reflect where the market has gone,” says Allen. “People are mixing ‘in the box’, budgets are smaller and a live space is no longer needed.” Several spaces within Studio 2 are also being reworked: a new lounge is being constructed next to the control room, and a couple of isolation rooms will take the place of a tape room and a store room – currently used for some of the in-house restaurant’s catering equipment. These renovations are important to meet clients’ needs, increasing relationships with A&R and remaining competitive, says Allen. “It’s important the next legacy of great artists and great works come through the studio, in a visible way.” Abbey Road No5 (the house next door, but part of the premises) has been refurbished to include office space for the Abbey Road Institute and Hothouse Music Productions, a critical listening room and – in recognition of the studio’s appeal to tourists – a gift shop. (“We’ve always wanted to do that but it’s been an issue with the council and the
That roadsign – without graffiti for a change!
neighbours in the past.”) A dedicated Dolby Atmos mixing suite will be constructed in the garden (“… It’s not Pinewood!”), complementing the ‘mini’ Atmos system already in place in the Studio 3 control room. The investment has come from Universal, who have ploughed “an incredible amount of investment” into the studios, says Allen, as well as deploying a team to oversee the work. Universal acquired the world-famous studios
when it purchased EMI in late 2011. Lucian Grainge, chairman and chief executive of Universal, said at the time: “This is an historic acquisition and an important step in preserving the legacy of EMI Music.” Planning permission was first sought for the expansion in late 2014, and was granted in July, following the obligatory due-diligence checks and public meetings to reassure local residents. While 391 people were consulted, only six objected. “There was some concern about the garage conversion – people coming and going at all times – but that’s not the plan for that.” It was, again, the gift shop that caused most concern – but an agreement to open the store during normal trading hours has assuaged protestations. David Allen adds: “I’m most excited about making the studio accessible to rock and pop acts.” Building work is expected to last for around 16–17 months – just in time to record the Christmas #1 for 2016, perhaps. www.abbeyroad.com
A host of mics in Studio 2, where extensive changes will take place
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P26 OCTOBER 2015
Studio
United Kingdom
Colliva’s travels Jon Chapple meets Toomi Labs’ Tommaso, the man behind the new Muse album. Dr Dre is a fan Tommaso Colliva at Toomi Labs (All photos: Eugenio Vasdeki)
W
hile Muse’s four studio albums since 2006’s break-out Black Holes and Revelations have run the gamut from bombastic, sci-fi-influenced prog to dance, dubstep, chunky alt-rock and back again, one thing has remained a constant: the presence of Milanese engineer/producer Tommaso Colliva. After an early career spent at the Officine Meccaniche studio in northern Italy – his first session as an assistant was with Mutt Lange producing Shania Twain – Colliva has, since going freelance in 2006, engineered “pretty much everything Muse has done in the last 10 years”. He recently moved from Milan to London, to a room at Palm Recordings in Hornsey. PSNEurope spoke to him in mid-August, two months after the release of Muse’s seventh studio album, Drones, which he engineered and co-produced with the band and, coincidentally, Lange – and which bagged him no1s on both sides of the Atlantic…
How’s life at Palm? It’s great: very well built and soundproofed, which is really important given the number of rooms – 16 or 17 altogether. It’s no surprise there are lot of very good people are in the building, including Guy Massey and Adam Noble to name just two. I’ve got a control room and a medium-sized booth, big enough to do all kind of overdubs, and small drum kits so I can track bands elsewhere but complete the rest of the process here, having my creative arsenal of amps, keyboards and mics ready to go. It took a bit to tweak the room acoustics – I relied mainly on extremely wellmade panels by Oudimmo Acoustics – but now I’m very comfortable mixing here, too.
What prompted the move from Italy? After too many years coming to London every other month I decided to permanently move here about a year-and-a-half ago. Last year I was very, very busy working on Muse’s latest album [Drones] and at the
www.psneurope.com/studio
same time looking for the right place to set up all my gear. After extensive research, I found this room, which I’m very happy with.
How did you first get involved with Muse? They came to the studio in Milan to do strings and few overdubs. I was already chief engineer at that point, but I was the only one who could speak English and I definitely didn’t mind working for a few days with Muse and [Black Holes and Revelations producer] Rich Costey. They were pretty late on the album and ended up staying two months, using two rooms at the same time, with Rich recording bits in one and myself recording other bits next door. During that period I started chatting with Matt [Bellamy] about a small writing studio he needed help with setting up at his place near Lake Como. That writing-room idea became a full-sized studio with four live rooms, an SSL 4048 G+ console and tons of gear. Designing and supervising the building of the whole
P28 OCTOBER 2015
Studio
The control room
Toomi Labs’ “creative arsenal”
missing a take! Having said that, I’ve selected a few things I really love and I couldn’t do without. First of all, ATC speakers: they’ve got so much detail to them and really force you to work hard to achieve what you want, because you can hear it. As for sound gear, I like to have options around on all sides of the spectrum: clean, transparent gear such as GML pres and EQs, classics such as Neve pres (I’ve got a 1073, 33115 and 31105), warm tube pieces such as the Thermionic Culture Phoenix, Retro EQs and Universal Audio LA-610 and weird bits like a Binson Echorec [as heard on Pink Floyd’s Echoes, Shine On You Crazy Diamond and all over The Piper at the Gates of Dawn – Space Rock Ed], spring reverbs and pedals. I also love utility tools that make experimenting very easy and flexible – that applies to instrument-orientated units like the Little Labs PCP [instrument distro] but also to line-level units such as my beloved Manley Backbone console, which allows me to try out different master-bus chains on the fly while mixing without losing time and concentration patching things around.
Do you ever mix in the box? I grew up with big consoles but I mostly mix hybrid now: in the box with external summing and analogue gear when needed. I have a wonderful SSL Sigma with analogue automation post inserts, so I can hit compressors as hard as I want, do parallel compression in the analogue domain or tame noisy gear on outros.
Finally, tell us about your band, Calibro 35. For English-speaking audiences who might not be familiar with the Poliziottesco movies by which it’s inspired, can you explain the concept?
facility building was a huge project – and I was only just 25 at the time – but I’m very proud we ended up doing the whole of the Resistance album there, with Adrian Bushby and myself engineering and Spike Stent mixing. Spike said it was one of the best places he has ever worked at! From that point onwards I’ve been involved in everything they’ve done in a recording environment. I engineered and did additional production on the last two albums, mixed a few songs, worked on soundtracks, recorded the big live show [on 6 July 2013] at the Rome Olympic stadium…
How are they to work with? Working with the guys is really good. Matt is annoyingly gifted – he knows what he wants and won’t settle in for anything less. The whole thing can be pretty demanding […] but they are all so extremely talented that it is definitely worth it. Working with them also gives me the chance to experiment with sounds and instruments to come up with new and different things and ideas
that I know may suit their vision. I love that side of the process: kind of venturing into the wild world of sounds.
What kind of kit do you use? Judging from your website, you’re a bit of a gearhead… [Laughs] While I can’t deny I went through a gear-addict phase, I like to think it’s over now. I just wanted to know how things sounded and what the differences were: why this microphone sounded different to that microphone, why these pick-ups behaved so differently to those other pick-ups and so on. I was very lucky to start my career in a big studio featuring a lot of the ‘classics’, both instruments and recording equipment. I’ve learned a lot, but I’ve also discovered it’s a never-ending process that is not about the gear – or not only about it, at least. It’s so easy – too easy – to think it’s just about the gear, but it’s about how you use it, when you use it and why you use it, and sometimes it really doesn’t matter: you better be quick and record with whatever is available instead of wondering what mic you should use… it’s never worth
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Calibro 35 is my baby. I started it as a one-off studio project with guitar player Massimo Martellotta, inviting some friends to record obscure Italian soundtracks that pretty much nobody has played again since the 1970s. None of the musicians involved had met each other before the first session, but I had been working with all of them on other projects and I thought they could be a good match. It’s mostly instrumental; we gradually shifted from those soundtracks to our own music, with the guys travelling the globe quite a lot and picking up quite a following in Italy. It’s pretty unusual to see an instrumental act playing in front of 1,000 people in major cities! We have had our records released worldwide, and songs used in major movies such as Bruce Willis’s Red. We’ve also attracted quite a lot of attention from hip-hop producers, with both Jay-Z and Dr Dre sampling us [for his song Picasso Baby and One Shot One Kill from Compton soundtrack album, respectively]. Eight years after the first session in Milan, I’ve just finished mixing our fifth album, which we recorded on analogue eighttrack tape at Toe Rag in Homerton, London. www.toomi.it
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P30 OCTOBER 2015
Studio
United Kingdom
Decoy playing host to a myriad of mixes One year on from the unveiling of his expanded Decoy Studios, award-winning mix engineer Cenzo Townshend is able to reel off an impressive roll-call of projects ranging from Newton Faulkner to Franz Ferdinand/Sparks supergroup FFS. David Davies hears the latest from the picturesque Suffolk facility
L
ast summer PSNEurope reported on the significant expansion of acclaimed mix engineer Cenzo Townshend’s own studio facility in the Suffolk coastal town of Woodbridge. Although acknowledging the unpredictability of current market conditions, Townshend was hopeful that the well-equipped rural facility – now sporting a large control room, live room and live booth alongside the existing mix room space – could nonetheless find a niche for those seeking to undertake both mixing and additional recording during the latter stages of a project. Twelve months later and the roll call of projects to have passed through the doors of Decoy firmly underlines Townshend’s optimism. Fast-rising stars – such as singer/songwriters George Ezra and Rhodes – have been particularly numerous, although established acts have also been making use of the studios’ services. Robbie Williams, Suede, The Maccabees and FFS – the hugely enjoyable collaborative venture between Franz Ferdinand and Sparks – have all been mixed at Decoy during recent months. “We have been very busy,” confirms Townshend, “to the extent that at one point earlier this year we had something like eight mixes on the charts, which is obviously a great result. I had thought we might be doing
recording in the future… that’s just the way it has worked out over the last year.” The last time PSNEurope visited Decoy (‘Goodbye city, hello country’, August 2014) we detailed an extensive list of equipment that includes SSL 6000G and Audient ASP8024 consoles, Tannoy and Yamaha monitors, Pro Tools systems and huge amounts of vintage gear, including Neve modules, Pultec EQs and Bricasti reverbs, among many others. Since then, Townshend has added more classic outboard, as well as additional instruments to the live room. He is also full of praise for a recently acquired Audient iD22 AD/DA interface and monitoring system, and the iZ Technology RADAR digital recorder. “It’s a fantastic 24-in, 24-out box running Pro Tools and featuring an internal clock and a very fast processor,” he says of the RADAR. “We’ve been using that a lot and plenty of people have been coming in for listening tests. It always sounds great through the Audient.” For Townshend, the facility’s popularity Decoy is located in a rural setting in the Garden of Eden Woodbridge, Suffolk has also meant a curbing of the nomadic more recording – although we have had some people lifestyle that tends to be inherent in the life coming through to do drums for a few days, for example of the successful mix engineer. “I’ve pretty much been – but in reality it works out better financially anyway here every day of the last year,” he comments. “I don’t to do more of our own mix projects than rent out for mind travelling, but everyone seems happy to work recording for weeks on end. But this industry tends to here, which is great.” be cyclical, so it could well be that we are doing more www.decoysound.com Townshend has added more instruments to the live room
www.psneurope.com/studio
P32 OCTOBER 2015
Studio
Mute Records new writing, recording and mixing room was built by Miloco Builds
The book of Daniel Mute Records boss Daniel Miller has a credo that there should be no “endless fiddling around the back” in a studio. More time to fiddle with the knobs and buttons on all those lovely synthesizers, says Dave Robinson
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he last time PSNEurope was in a room with Daniel Miller, it was the extreme opposite of our current meeting. Today we’re in the compact, newly completed Mute Studios in Hammersmith. The previous occasion was the vast Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, watching Kraftwerk perform The Man-Machine as part of their 2012 eight-night residency in London. “I remember the gig,” begins Miller. “What did I think of it? The surround sound was incredible and tastefully done, the visuals worked really well.” “I knew them – not well – but we’d had a few meetings over the years. They know what a huge fan I am, and they don’t think I’m insulting electronic music – which is quite good!” he laughs. No one could ever accuse Miller of that. He has always been a champion of electronic experimentation, innovation and off-kilter thinking. From his early foray into stripped back electro-punk with The Normal and Warm Leatherette, to signing Fad Gadget, Depeche Mode, Erasure and later Goldfrapp to his Mute label and techno acts including Luke Slater, Richie Hawtin and Speedy J to the NovaMute spin-off, Miller continues to sound the horn for the sonics of synthesizers like few others. “We took over the Kraftwerk reissues project,” he continues, “and they thought being on Mute was a good idea, which was incredibly flattering. I was lucky enough to get tickets for all eight nights at the Tate. I thought it was fantastic: everything Kraftwerk do just works, nothing jars…”
This last remark reveals, and underpins, what Miller wanted from the design of his new Mute studio, which will be used as a writing, recording and mastering space. “The thing that sets us apart – apart from that it’s a nice space to be in, Dan [Williams] is a really good engineer, and we have some really great outboard – is that it all works. There’s no endless fiddling around the back! It all works and is usable, and that’s important.” There’s always been a studio at Mute HQ. (“I’ve always felt it’s important to have a studio in or close to the label,” says Miller.) The imprint, originally established by Miller in 1978, was acquired by EMI back in 2002, becoming independent again in late 2010.
www.psneurope.com/studio
After leaving the major, Mute set up an office and studio in Hammersmith; and when the lease ran out on that space, the label moved over the road to the current location. That move precipitated the design and building of the room in which we now sit. Renowned consultant Nick Whitaker was responsible for the acoustic design, while Pete Hoffman and Miloco Builds undertook the construction. Whitaker designed Mute’s first big studio in Harrow Road in 1986 – with its Amek mixing console – as well Miller’s home studio. The label boss worked with Whitaker, Miloco Builds and Jigsaw24’s Ian Duncan (“my technical director of some 15 years, I suppose”) to finalise the design. The room is isolated and reuses the RPG acoustic panels from the old studio. Miloco Builds incorporated a machine room and a storage area into the facility, while maintaining natural light and cleaning up the power supply. “I don’t come from an engineering perspective, I come more from programming,” Miller says, gesturing at the racks of keyboards. “Of course, this studio is not built for me, it’s built for clients - but you don’t want to be standing around trying to find the right cable or MIDI channel, do you?” But you could work in here? “I do work in here! So I was quite specific about how it should be put together. The whole thing about analogue synths is the spontaneity – but the whole process of how you work has to be spontaneous too.” Analogue synths, then: the studio’s real firepower.
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P34 OCTOBER 2015
Studio
Miller fell for them from the very beginning, recording Warm Leatherette with a Korg 700M and a TEAC four-track in his bedroom. He’s been a collector ever since. “There has to be a reason for having a studio rather than ‘some guy’ doing it at home, which is what we have here. People can’t get this stuff at home.” An ARP sequencer, a Roland System 100M, a Russian Polyvox, an original Korg MS20, EMS Vocoder, Moog Minimoog, Roland 303, 808 and 909… nope, you certainly can’t get this stuff at home. Miller opens a drawer to reveal a Stylophone and an unidentifiable Russian drum machine. There are Launchpads and Ableton and Pro Tools too, of course. “Everything you could want, the new and the old…” His new favourite thing is the recently released Arturia BeatStep Pro, he notes. “Two sequencers and a drum machine; CV/gates, USB and MIDI. I was in the studio at the weekend, doing some bits and pieces, trying to get things in sync from different worlds... it was like 1980 all over again!” Did the love of analogue and spontaneity influence the choice of the SSL Matrix console as the studio’s centerpiece? “We looked at a lot of different ways of mixing, doing it with controllers, etc. We knew what we wanted, we knew we had space limitations, and we went through a lot of options… the Matrix seems to be serving us extremely well.” Ultimately, then, what does Miller, now 64, want to achieve with this room? ”In general: a mixture of the people who work here, people on the label and people who rent the studio – we’re working with Miloco on that side of it. I’ve spent so much of my life in studios, happily, I’m very conscious of it being a creative space, something that functions: I want people to feel comfortable in here, and I think they do.” Miller’s legacy, if you will, has been to sign independent thinkers to his independent label. Music with teeth, with vigour, with something to say. Does he still feel that way? “Put it like this: I wouldn’t still be doing what I do if I didn’t have that [feeling]. It’s a lot of work, but I love the work. We choose our artists very carefully and try to work with those who bring something new. The world doesn’t need another label chasing the same acts, so we go our own way, and
All the synths and machines are hooked up and ready to go
that’s an important part of being an independent - in your thoughts and your actions. As a label we don’t have a sound as such. What’s in common is that they write great songs, be it Nick Cave or [Depeche Mode’s] Martin Gore or Will [Gregory] and Alison [Goldfrapp]. ”When someone sends in a tape – well, not a tape, a link! – we instinctively know what isn’t a Mute record,” he continues. “It’s not just about the music; you’ve got to be able to work with the artist and share a vision, otherwise it gets very messy. The people I work with, they are all independent spirits, they don’t want to be told what to do, which is fine because I don’t want to tell them what to do. I want to be there if they want to know what to do.” Miller continues to “mess around” with electronics at home, he reveals. “I try to keep the making of sound, if you will, a hobby. This [label] is my work life, but at home, it’s open ended – so I mess around and enjoy myself. If something comes out of that, then OK – it’s also a bit of a research tool, so I can say, ‘Yeah, maybe you should use that envelope generator…’”
www.psneurope.com/studio
There aren’t many label bosses who could give that kind of advice to his protégés. Kraftwerk would be proud. www.mute.com www.milocobuilds.com
Not a Minimoog: Mute’s Studio Electronics’ SE1 analogue synth
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P36 OCTOBER 2015
Feature: Studios
Strongroom 1: where it all began
Tracking the changes Having gone through a painful period of consolidation, the recording studio market is arguably in a more buoyant state than at any time since the early 2000s. As David Davies reveals, that’s largely down to a willingness to optimise existing operations, diversify into other areas and embrace smarter business practices
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en years ago, putting together an overview of the European recording studio market would have been a decidedly depressing process. In parallel with the music industry beginning to experience the first in a series of traumatic economic and organisational upheavals, the ‘traditional’ recording studio business model looked increasingly uncertain. And so, the closures began to mount up, with London alone losing countless celebrated facilities during the 2000s, among them Olympic, the Town House and Wessex. Walking past the former Town House in summer 2015 as it undergoes conversion into luxury flats (starting price: a budget-friendly £1.8m) can’t help but prompt a twinge of regret amongst anyone who cares about the capital’s recording heritage. But elsewhere in London, and beyond, there is thankfully plenty of evidence that the much-consolidated studio sector is now on a firmer footing than would have been the case even five years ago. This stability has been achieved via several primary routes. Firstly, some of the larger studios have looked to streamline their operations and focus instead on one or two primary applications – in essence, doing less but doing it more cost-effectively and (hopefully) even better. Secondly, there are those facilities which have successfully diversified into areas such as post-production, education and entertainment. And finally – and possibly most significantly – there is a new
generation of smaller facilities often geared towards the requirements of a single ‘name’ producer or engineer. “In the studio world it seems like we have come through a long process of consolidation,” confirms Phil Sisson, studio manager of London’s Strongroom. “We have got to the point where there are a lot of producerled studios, which may be hired out to others inbetween projects. Then there are places like us, Metropolis, RAK and so on, who could be said to be in the category of ‘last men standing’ – and for whom there seems to be about the right amount of work for us all to do OK. It seems like a good mix to me, and I don’t foresee any drastic changes in the near-future.”
Tracking here, mixing there It is difficult to overstate the extent to which wider changes in the music industry have affected studio usage patterns. Talking to a few seasoned freelancers underlines this point, with engineer Wes Maebe – whose clients have included Ellie Goulding, Beverley Knight and currently UB40 – indicating that the lot of the modern studio professional can be a rather nomadic one. “I think what is increasingly common is that a project might be tracked at a major studio, then the mixing and overdubbing are undertaken at a home studio or producer-owned facility,” he says. “For example, I do a lot of mixing at my own home set-up.” Inevitably, the extent to which work can be carried out at a major studio is determined by an individual project’s
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We have been virtually block-booked since January [and] through my week-toweek contact with other studios it does seem to be a similar story, bookings-wise, elsewhere
Trisha Wegg, RAK budget – and thus is more variable than ever, postfragmentation of the corporate label scene. “It seems to me that a lot of the labels are not doing that much: they are expecting a band, music and artwork to effectively be in place [at the point they become involved], so there is often almost no reason for them to be there,” suggests Maebe. “More and more I think that people are going independent and shopping for a good publishing deal rather than a record deal.” With VC-backed projects also more prevalent, it seems that the recording process will henceforth be characterised by piecemeal financing rather than a continual flow of funding. Fortunately, that state of affairs seems to be a fair complement to the more diverse studio landscape that has emerged through a decade of upheaval.
P37 OCTOBER 2015
We are large, we contain multitudes Amongst the larger studios that survived the noughties, there is no denying the amount of diversification that has gone on in order to safeguard them against the vagaries of an evolving music industry. In reality, north London facility RAK was already a diversified operation, with RAK Publishing continuing to exist alongside the studios as it has always done. But in more recent times the RAK premises have also become host to a number of music-related companies (Trust Management, Touch Tones Publishing and Ambie Media), whilst within the studio area one room (Studio 4) is on a long-term hire to writer Jimmy Napes and has also been part-shared by Disclosure during the recording of their new album. In addition, a small production room is being used by Sam Romans for his own and other artist projects. “Our business model is now a combination of all the elements inside the building based in St John’s Wood,” confirms RAK Recording Studios’ studio manager, Trisha Wegg. “The recording studios continue to enjoy a wide variety of clients – both established and upand-coming – and the spaces are also often used as location facilities for television, music video shoots and magazine and occasionally fashion shoots. Events such as album launches and playbacks for record labels and management companies have also provided another source of business.” An “ongoing programme of investment” in new and vintage equipment – running the gamut from an original Neumann U 67 to an upright Baldwin piano and a Pro Tools HDX rig – also seems likely to have contributed to RAK’s robust current form. “It has already been an exceptionally busy and productive year for RAK Studios,” says Wegg. “We won the MPG Award for studio of the year for the second year running and have been virtually block-booked since January. Through my week-to-week contact with other recording studios it does seem to be a similar story bookings-wise elsewhere. I hope this will result in the spate of studio closures we have seen coming to an end.” Of course, six years ago there were widespread concerns that arguably London’s, if not the world’s, most well-known studio complex, Abbey Road, faced an uncertain future under then-owner EMI. But in fact Universal has presided over substantial investment in the studios having acquired EMI in late 2011, and earlier this month Abbey Road announced it would be creating two new rooms for writing and developing rock and pop artists, as well as introducing a Dolby Atmos mixing suite, reworking Studio Two and adding additional offices and a gift shop (see page 24 for full story).
Strongroom tactics Whilst diversification might be providing some wellestablished studios with a valid ticket to ride (apologies), others have sought to refocus on one or two core activities to secure their futures. By Sisson’s own admission, Strongroom was “at one time diversifying
RAK Studios in St John’s Wood Photo: Andy Leese
The Church Studios, now part of the Miloco Group, was bought by Paul Epworth in 2013
in a big way: hire, radio, post. We tried a lot of things – some more successful than others. But ultimately we decided to strip things back, and that has helped us concentrate on getting things right in the studios.” Today, Studios 1 and 3 are primarily used by a group of half-a-dozen or so regular engineers/producers. Studios 2 and 5 operate as dry-hire rooms rented to one producer each – in the same fashion as Strongroom’s 10 or so programming spaces. Meanwhile, Studio 4 – a joint venture with Danton Supple (Coldplay, Kylie Minogue, Doves) – could be seen as a hybrid of these approaches.
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Fine-tuning their support capabilities, adding new equipment and tweaking the configuration of some existing spaces ¬– for example, adding new isolation booths and rearranging the control room in Studio 1 – have also helped to ensure Strongroom remains relevant. “We’re in a really good position now,” affirms Sisson. In part, Strongroom’s latterday business model underlines the extent to which permanently occupied spaces have found favour. Miloco Studios is, of course, synonymous with the trend and now operates and manages a diverse portfolio of studios globally –
P38 OCTOBER 2015
Feature: Studios
Brighton rock (and roll) Although many existing studios are either being reconfigured or redeployed, there are still some individuals forging ahead with entirely new facilities. Jake Skinner and Ali Gavan had been involved in various Brighton area studios before finding themselves sharing the same studio building a few years back (albeit working separately). But when “we found out at short notice that our tenancy was not going to be renewed and that our landlord had other plans for the site, we decided to join forces in opening something bigger and better. We wanted to create a spacious studio that could accommodate a wide array of local bands, but would also attract artists from further afield as well,” says Skinner. The result of their collaboration is Brighton Road Recording Studios. Having secured a large converted barn outside Brighton, they embarked upon three months of building to convert the main barn into a large live room, a smaller isolation room and a large control room. Some work was also carried out to convert the existing lobby into a lounge/kitchen/ chillout space. Skinner readily admits that it is a “challenging time” for commercial studios, but thinks they can still have a future if they think flexibly. “Although a lot of people do produce their music at home these days, I believe that there is no substitute for having a dedicated engineer/producer behind the frequently in partnership with leading producers and/or engineers. Nick Young, managing director, confirms that “our model is now becoming that of more of an agent for a lot of studios around the world. Typically, we are adding a couple more studios to the roster each month.” The latest additions include Berlin’s Bieger Sound – which is owned by producer/engineer Hannes Bieger and is Miloco’s third site in the city – Greystoke Studio in London and Grouse Lodge in the Republic of Ireland.
desk to allow the artists to focus on giving their best performances and not having to worry about the technical side. We take on all sorts of projects from full-blown album productions to tracking-only sessions where the client wants to mix and edit at home to keep their costs down.” Robin Scott (aka M of Pop Muzik fame), singer/ songwriter Anna Ling and hip-hop artist Iambenji are among those to have made use of Brighton Road since it opened in July.
of studios encompasses facilities of many different sizes and configurations, they all need to attain a certain standard “to ensure that anyone using a studio in the group can be confident of getting what they need”. Meanwhile, Miloco has insured itself against the whims of an uncertain market by becoming a ‘360-degree’ operation that also comprises Miloco Gear (sales, brokerage and financing), Miloco Builds (studio design and construction), Miloco Repairs (selfexplanatory!), Drumdrops (drum sample library) and management companies Gotham Producers and Pieces of 8 Music.
European context
Brighton Road Recording Studios’ Jake Skinner
Other notable recent projects include the renovation of London’s Livingston Studios and the construction of a new writing, recording, mixing and mastering space for Mute Records. “Making studios work effectively with smaller budgets” has been a recurring theme of Miloco’s success, confirms Young, although ensuring they are “highly and distinctively equipped” has been another important element. Whilst Miloco’s extensive portfolio
The vintage SSL 4000G in The Church Studio 2
Whilst this article has primarily focused on British studios, the picture of consolidation and increased diversification is repeated across much of mainland Europe. For example, Massimo Scarparo, from Rome’s Forward Studios, confirms that “the studio market has changed [significantly] in Italy. Budgets are not the same as they were a few years ago, even in the case of mainstream productions, and in general people are becoming less demanding in terms of quality. But fortunately we believe that this is cyclical and that in the very near-future people will again look for quality and proper spaces in which to record their music.” Accordingly, Forward Studios has been undertaking a series of upgrades, with its Caesar Studio receiving both a new acoustical treatment and a Pro Tools upgrade. Meanwhile, Aurelius Studio has been reworked to make it easier to use in out-of-the-box, in-the-box or hybrid configurations. “We are also improving our production network for bringing new talent to light,” says Scarparo. “We are always open to new collaborations, but we are firmly convinced that our first and most powerful weapon at this particular moment in the music industry is making quality work.” The developments discussed in this article indicate that many of the studios which survive postconsolidation are thinking along similar lines. While no one can predict the eventual outcome of the music industry’s ongoing digital shakedown, the rate of closures has slowed down dramatically and, overall, the studio sector seems more stable and at-ease with its future than at any time since the early 2000s.
KEY POINTS: • There is a general feeling that after substantial consolidation, the European studio sector is relatively stable once again • Extended stretches in major studios are less frequent as tighter budgets mean more projects have to be mixed or fixed in semi-pro or home studios • Major players such as RAK and Abbey Road continue to diversify into other areas, including artist development and management
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P40 OCTOBER 2015
Broadcast
Twenty years of DAB: the slow road to where? Digital radio is part of modern life but it has been no overnight success. As broadcasters contemplate the next step in the implementation of DAB, Kevin Hilton considers where the sometimes controversial technology came from and where it might be going
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n the face of it the DAB (digital audio broadcasting) digital radio format has been growing in Europe over the past 10 or so years. WorldDAB, the international body that promotes the technology and sets specifications for it, reports that there are now over 40 million DAB radios being used, with the rate of uptake increasing all the time. There are more services available and countries including Norway and Switzerland are moving towards switching off analogue transmission in favour of a digits-only radio world. The reality is that it has taken a long time to get to this point, and there is probably still a way to go before a whole-scale move away from FM. DAB’s roots lie in research undertaken during the early 1980s by the Institut für Rundfunktechnik (IRT; Institute for Broadcasting Technology). The push towards creating a standard came in 1987 with the formation of the Eureka 147 project, which was backed by the European Economic Community – now the European Union – and included the BBC, Bosch, Deutsche Telekom, Philips and, latterly, JVC, RAI, Sony and Swedish Broadcasting. The intention was to produce something spectrum and power efficient that could carry more services in a single frequency by using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and differential QPSK modulation. Operationally this year marks 20 years on air for DAB. On 27 September 1995 the BBC, followed a day later by Swedish Radio, started broadcasting using new digital transmitter networks. This was described as a ‘switchon’ of pilot services rather than a full launch because, for the BBC at least, the offering was largely a simulcast of its existing national stations. Even if there had been brand-new services, very few, if any, listeners would have been able to hear them due to the lack of DAB radios on the market. These did not begin to appear in any substantial numbers – and at attractive prices – until the end of the ’90s. Despite this the UK remained committed to the technology, while Sweden slowed its roll-out programme. The
The Pure Evoke 1S, the first sub-£100 portable DAB player, launched in June 2002
Patrick Hannon, president of WorldDAB
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UK’s digital radio offering expanded with the launch of the Digital One commercial multiplex in 1999 and the start of brand-new BBC services in the early 2000s. Denmark and Germany were among the other European countries to move into DAB but there was not a wide-scale adoption. Part of this was attributed to the receiver situation, particularly for the in-car market, which, somewhat ironically, was the sector that featured heavily in initial DAB tests and demonstrations. There were also concerns that DAB was limited in what it could offer, if not already outmoded, and that it still compared unfavourably to FM in terms of quality and coverage. To make matters worse there was consumer resistance, with some listeners daunted by the technology and others resentful of having to buy new equipment. That situation has changed dramatically, although there remains a section of the industry that considers
P41 OCTOBER 2015
DAB Timeline 1981 IRT begins development of DAB 1985 First demonstrations of DAB held at the World Administrative Radio Conference 1987 DAB becomes a EEC research project as Eureka 147
software-only receiver New BBC services announced, including archive and Asian Network 1999 Digital One, the UK commercial national multiplex, goes on air with Classic FM, Virgin Radio and Talk Radio
1988 First DAB transmissions take place in Germany 1990 Audio codec, modulation and errorcorrection coding systems selected and first test broadcasts made 1993 DAB demonstrated to the British public Protocol specification finalised 1994 ITU-R adopts the protocol spec, followed by the European Community in 1995 and ETSI two years after that 1995 EuroDAB Forum – later to become WorldDAB – set up at the EBU to define standards and specifications The UK and Sweden launch pilot DAB services in September 1997 DAB Digital Radio officially launched at the IFA consumer electronics show, with showings for consumer radios and announcements of new broadcast services HM Queen Elizabeth II presented with a digital radio during a visit to BBC Broadcasting House on 29 October 1998 Bosch/Blaupunkt, Clarion, Grundig, Kenwood and Pioneer launch DAB radios for the UK market, while RadioScape introduces a lower cost,
2002 BBC 6 Music launched as a digitalonly station, followed later the same year by comedy and drama channel BBC7 and BBC Asian Network Pure launches the Evoke-1S, the first sub-£100 portable radio, in June 2007 DAB+ introduced 2009 Digital radio broadcasting starts in Australia on DAB+ 2011 DAB+ services start in Germany 2013 DAB+ services launched in the Netherlands
terrestrial digital radio in general to have missed its chance, with its internet equivalent the more likely to succeed. WorldDAB used IBC to push what it sees as a success story, with the organisation’s president, Patrick Hannon, saying that “a tipping point” had been reached. “One of the clear developments is in automotive,” he said. Today 70 per cent of new cars are fitted with DAB+, the enhanced version of the original format with better sound quality and greater potential for interactivity. “As well as the first countries to adopt DAB/DAB+, we are seeing take up in Austria, the Czech Republic, Turkey, South Africa and some Arab states,” Hannon says. The place of internet radio was recognised, with Simon Fell of the EBU predicting that hybrid radio would play a major part in the future of sound broadcasting. There is also the realisation
that FM spectrum is, in Hannon’s assessment, “full”. Broadcasters are aware of this; in Germany ARD is reportedly discussing the end of FM services. Amid all the positives a warning was sounded by Elena Puigrefagut, a senior project engineer with the EBU who has been studying spectrum availability. She pointed out that the World Radio Conference (WRC) in November was poised to not only approve the freeing up of the 700MHz band for mobile services but also move DAB out of the L-band: “Band III is not fully used for DAB so we have to get the message across - either use it or lose it.” DAB is now established and taking hold, but there are still variables that could seriously affect its future – although that does seem to have been the story of its life. www.worlddab.org
Be proud of your sound
2015 Small-scale DAB tests start in the UK 2015–16 Regionalised commercial multiplex planned for launch in Denmark
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2016 The UK’s second commercial multiplex to go on air, with capacity for DAB+ services 2017 Norway set for digital switchover 2020 Start date for digital switchover in Switzerland, running until 2024
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OCTOBER 2015
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P42
Broadcast
Netherlands
The sky’s the limit for Luci Ten years after developing the first Luci Live broadcast software applications, Dutch company Technica Del Arte is establishing itself as a familiar brand name, offering customised broadcast applications and launching Luci Global, a revolutionary community radio app, reveals Marc Maes
T
oday over 20,000 people are using Luci technology, either as broadcast correspondents, as individual contributors or in the cross-media business,” Florence Laout, head of Technica Del Arte’s sales department, explains to PSNEurope ahead of the IBC launch of Luci Global, its brand-new social radio app. “Throughout the continuous evolution of the Luci product series, we have devoted a lot of time to listening to what the people want – and carefully monitored the evolution of mobile technology.” Technica Del Arte founder and CEO Joost Bloemen says that customisation is the solution for radio stations equipping their reporters with their own radio tools. He states that Luci’s capabilities will continue to grow organically, with more or less extra features being added, combining market demand with designers’ creativity. “This approach resulted in Technica Del Arte winning a major tender for the development of a live broadcast application specifically customised for Swedish public broadcaster Sveriges Radio (SR),” he says. “SR wants to equip its contributors and reporters with a user-friendly mobile tool for both recording and live reporting. The development of a Sveriges Radio live app for digital use is a logical step for a broadcaster leading on the innovation of radio.” “Last year, we concluded a deal with German public broadcaster ARD for the development of a customised muPRO app,” adds Laout. “The app will be officially launched this autumn and serves all of ARD’s broadcast and multimedia services. Today, we’re looking at some 5,000 users and a tailormade, fully customised application, complete with the broadcaster’s logo and imaging.” The IBC 2015 launch of Luci Global – a radio community also based on the Luci Live platform – is expected to be another successful offering from Technica Del Arte based on Luci technology. Luci Global allows professional radio reporters, correspondents and individual users to transmit live or recorded audio content to a variety of stations. “With Luci Global, we are going a step further,” Laout explains. “Rather than a software licence, this is an app that works as a free download and install for anyone who wants to contribute audio to any station of their choice. The app includes a dynamic directory of destinations for reporters to stream their audio to, in full broadcast quality.
Joost Bloemen demonstrates Luci Global on his iPhone
The muPRO app, built for ARD by Luci, as it appears in the App Store
“Contributors can use their iPhones or iOS tablets with either the built-in microphone or with the MIKI cable, Technica Del Arte’s microphone/pre-amp interface.” The revenue model for Luci Global relies on the fact that Technica Del Arte is managing the destination directory via presets in the application. “The big difference with Luci is that the global application is based on station subscription rather than a licence fee,” says Bloemen. “From radio stations, web radio and thematic
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broadcasters to newspapers with multi-media platforms, all types of stations can become part of Luci Global destination directory.” Technica Del Arte remotely adds broadcaster or destination details to the Luci Global app station list, although final on-air access is controlled by the subscribing broadcaster or other receiving party. “For between only €49 and €99 per month, depending the required connection type, stations are listed in the Community Radio Luci Global app,” explains Laout. “Stations will want to be on that list because Luci Global is a cost-cutting, ultra-compatible, mobile, high-quality app which allows them to receive streams from any audio content contributor.” Bloemen underlines that maximal compatibility is key for Luci Global: “Rather than pushing our clients to lock themselves into a proprietary vendor arrangement, they can continue to use their favourite third-party equipment like Comrex, Telos and Digigram codecs and/or gateway systems to receive the Luci content.” At the time of writing, with Luci Global still in the trial phase, Technica Del Arte has entered into a partnership with US-based Backbone Networks Corporation, creator of turnkey, online sports, news and talk radio stations, to also integrate Luci Global as a key element of their new service offering, Backbone Co-Host. When married together, the two services allow talk radio stations to produce live programming from anywhere in the world with minimal equipment and virtually no physical infrastructure. Bloemen, a visionary who predicted radio’s software evolution more than a decade ago, sees a future in setting up collaboration deals with big companies. With his background in high-end audio, his emphasis still lies on audio. “The last thing we want is Luci technology becoming a threat,” he says. “Complementarity and compatibility are key in what we do, and we don’t aim to replace what exists and functions well.” “There will always be satellite trucks covering events or news, and radio will remain pretty much a technical medium, albeit more software-based,” concludes Laout. “It is our aim to offer reporters and contributors affordable, user-friendly tools to stream content to the media, and Luci is a step in that direction.” www.technicadelarte.com www.luci.eu www.backboneradio.com
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P44 OCTOBER 2015
Live
United Kingdom
Apex predator Scotland’s premiere Meyer Sound and DiGiCo dealer enters its third decade of trading this year. Does life begin at 30 for Apex Acoustics? Jon Chapple asks long-serving MD Paul Smith
F
rom its humble beginnings in Dundee’s am dram scene to becoming exclusive DiGiCo and Meyer Sound dealer for Scotland, a lot has changed at hire/sales company Apex Acoustics Sound Services in the last 30 years… and owner and managing director Paul Smith has been there (nearly) every step of the way. “Our background was, and largely still is, theatre,” explains Smith, who bought the business from its founder, then-local radio presenter Graeme Adamson, in 1994. According to Smith, Meyer Sound’s speakers first appeared on his radar following the UPA-1’s success in London’s West End (most famously with Andrew Bruce’s sound design for Cats): “We always paid attention to sound design in the West End and on Broadway, so in 1989 we purchased our first pair of Meyer Sound UPA1Cs and never really looked back. Our UPA-1Ps are still our most popular box out there. “We became the sole Scottish dealer for Meyer in 2004 and have supplied systems to Perth Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline, Strathpeffer Pavilion and Strathallan School, to name but a few…” Apex’s relationship with DiGiCo is more recent: Smith was introduced to the console brand through Autograph Sales at a demo day in London late 2005. “I met Tim Shaxson from DiGiCo,” he recalls, “and was really taken by the D1 Live console. I asked to be shown around the factory, which is located in Glenrothes in Scotland, a short 25-minute drive from our base in Dundee. I then met [DiGiCo managing director] James Gordon, and there was no way I could get out of that lunch without buying a console – he’s very good!” “Since becoming a dealer I have sold consoles to many venues and rental companies throughout Scotland,” he continues. “The SD range of consoles are fantastic and very intuitive, and engineers like them. We currently have the SD7, SD8, SD9, SD10 and SD11 in hire stock and they are always out working. Exciting times are ahead as we await the arrival of DiGiCo’s latest console, the S21, which is a real game-changer of a console and already has generated a lot of interest.” When PSNEurope spoke to Smith in August he was also preparing to invest in Meyer Sound’s new LEOPARD linear sound-reinforcement system – launched, like the S21, to great acclaim at Prolight + Sound 2015 – bringing Apex’s stock of both manufacturers’ equipment bang up to date. (It is also a dealer for Sennheiser and Shure, “and can get access to most pro-audio products”.)
Paul Smith (right) with Jon ‘Paint’ Cozart at the Edinburgh Fringe
Apex Acoustics was, as Smith says, born on the stage, but recent years have seen it expand its reach into festival sound (Southern Fried Festival, BBC Scotland’s Scottish Proms) and sporting events (the Commonwealth Games and European Games – more on the latter later). Training, too: Apex’s longstanding partnership with Meyer Sound means it has welcomed seasoned American FOH engineer Buford Jones (Pink Floyd, George Harrison, The Kinks, James Taylor) – Meyer’s tour liaison manager – to Dundee for mixing workshops, and Smith and his team regularly host kit-focussed training days with Meyer Sound and DiGiCo. However, while he recognises the importance of those training days, Smith believes that “nothing beats getting out and working on a job. A local college teaches engineers to set up a system – but gives them a whole day to get it ready for a gig. In the real world it’s much quicker. I spend half my time getting engineers up to a speed where they work efficiently and safely but can get systems set up quickly.” Sluggish students aside, his main worry as a business owner – one that will be familiar to audio company chiefs and middle-class housewives everywhere – is the need to keep up the Joneses when it comes to hire and sales stock. “As a relatively small company, our biggest concern is the amount of audio
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equipment introduced into the market each year,” Smith explains. “Productions always want the latest shiny kit and therefore rental companies need to keep buying it to win contracts. You always feel like when one finance deal ends another one starts.” Still, if anyone can weather contemporary pro audio’s addiction to conspicuous consumption, it’s Smith – as Apex Acoustics celebrates 30 years in business, its owner is also marking his own anniversary: 2015 is his 25th year at the company (and 21st in charge). What’s kept him in one place for a quarter of a century? “I suppose it’s my genuine interest in the industry [that means I’ve stayed at Apex] – and obviously being a gear freak makes it easier.,” he says. “I love the people and I’m never happier when I’m behind a mixing desk. Unfortunately it’s more meetings these days, but I do still have a lot of hands-on work.” Smith – clearly a man who enjoys equally the dizzying highs and crashing lows of the life of a theatre sound engineer – identifies mixing a large orchestra at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh for a recent show with veteran West End singer Kerry Ellis (My Fair Lady, We Will Rock You, Les Misérables) as a personal favourite gig. “The orchestra and that venue made the night really enjoyable – until I lost my van keys at the end of the night,” he recalls. “I spent most of the de-rig looking for keys and planning how I was going to get the gear home
P45 OCTOBER 2015
at two in the morning – I’m sure my crew thought I was avoiding lifting anything – but thankfully I found them!” He also recently succeeded where The Guardian failed in gaining entry into Azerbaijan for the recent inaugural European Games in Baku. (The British newspaper, along with a number of other media outlets and NGOs, was barred from entering the human rights-agnostic Caucasian republic ahead of the sporting event in June.) “I got asked to operate the sound at the boxing through a company called Great Big Events as I had worked with them during the Commonwealth Games,” explains Smith. I thought, ‘Summer in Scotland or two weeks in the sunshine?’ I opted for the latter!” When he’s not shirking his de-rigging responsibilities/watching men punch each other for sport, Smith also dabbles in live comedy, and recently produced professional YouTuber Jon Cozart’s show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August. Cozart’s performance “went down a storm”, says Smith, who invited the 23-year-old Arkansan – who has over 2.9 million subscribers to his ‘Paint’ YouTube channel – to the festival after watching his viral video Harry Potter in 99 Seconds. So, after over two decades at Apex Acoustics, what
One of Apex’s DiGiCo desks at King’s Theatre, Edinburgh
does the future have in store for its intrepid leader? More hobnobbing with young vloggers? The next European Games (no doubt in somewhere even more not-in-Europe than Azerbaijan)? Being responsible for another engineer giving up all this pro-audio nonsense and going back to medical school?
“I might pour myself a cup of tea… and then retirement, then death, are on the cards.” Oh. Well, it’s good to keep your feet on the ground, we suppose. Sugar? www.apexacoustics.com
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P46 OCTOBER 2015
Live
United Kingdom
Imagining with Imogen Sennheiser gave a taste of what’s to come, both in terms of headphones, and immersive recording and performance, at a special event in London at the end of August. Dave Robinson joined the fun
S
ennheiser gave press and guests and press the merest glimpse of its new topof-the-range super-expensive headphones and amplifier combo at a company 70th anniversary presentation and concert at London’s Central Westminster Hall last month. According to Andreas Sennheiser, joint CEO of the German company, who co-presented the sneak preview with his brother Daniel, the (so far unnamed) headphones are “the best the world has ever seen” and the “biggest leap in headphone technology” for the company since the Orpheus electrostatic headphone of 1991 (which can still be found fetching $30k on ebay, according to one report). Detailed information on the items was scarce, the
Jonathan Stockhammer conducts the Junge Deutche Philharmonie
Imogen Heap performs Hide and Seek at Central Westminster Hall
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P47 OCTOBER 2015
The engineerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perspective Sound designer and FOH engineer Oliver Voges described the complexity of the event: â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are actually bringing three completely different elements together. First thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the orchestra â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they usually play live and are not used to getting ampliďŹ ed. Then we have Imogen and her band â&#x20AC;&#x201C; their music and the many MIDI signals and effects need to be ampliďŹ ed, of course. And last but not least, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the 9.1 immersive audio recording taking place; such recordings are normally made without any ampliďŹ cation happening at the same time, because you want to reproduce the actual hall and loudspeakers would interfere with the natural acoustics.â&#x20AC;? However, the acoustics of the impressive Great Hall turned out to be quite challenging, and ultimately the ampliďŹ cation via the PA system was the very thing that ensured a fantastic listening experience for the live audience and â&#x20AC;&#x153;savedâ&#x20AC;? the 9.1 recording. A beautiful large dome spans the Great Hall, and this feature created unpleasant audio reďŹ&#x201A;ections. To remedy the situation, Voges (pictured) had to do a mix with his own room algorithms to mix the depth of the room back in: â&#x20AC;&#x153;In a classical production you would usually do this with different kinds of mics and different kinds of pre-delays [â&#x20AC;Ś] but here we had no other choice than to do this electronically. Our goal was to keep the colouration of the sound 100 per cent the same, no matter whether the PA is on or off â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and we achieved this.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;35,000â&#x20AC;? was mentioned during the eveningâ&#x20AC;Ś) â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have been working for this now more than 20 years, and we will bring it to the market when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ready,â&#x20AC;? Daniel told PSNEurope. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Right now, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s almost ready so you can see itâ&#x20AC;Ś and it will come to the market when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really, really ready!â&#x20AC;? The technology preview was followed by a concert double-header: ďŹ rst the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie orchestra, performing pieces by Adams, Ligeti, Mendelssohn and Glass; then the only UK appearance this year of songwriter-performer Imogen Heap, who has worked for several years with technologists including Sennheiser UK to develop her â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Mi.Muâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; gesture control gloves. The event was mixed by tonmeister Gregor Zielinsky and recorded in the Sennheiserâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nascent 9.1-channel
immersive audio format (early working title â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Sennheiser 3Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;.) Andreas noted that technology for the desired immersive playback of the format would be available in â&#x20AC;&#x153;12 to 18 monthsâ&#x20AC;?. As a ďŹ nal aside, PSNEurope enquired as to how Andreas and Daniel â&#x20AC;&#x201C; who took over the company from their father, Prof. JĂśrg Sennheiser, two years ago â&#x20AC;&#x201C; were ďŹ nding their new roles. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still getting along as you see!â&#x20AC;? said Daniel. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very interesting to run such a company with your brother, because we can have different views on things, but we trust each other 100%, we have the same value system and together we make it happen. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a privilege to be not alone in such a situation.â&#x20AC;?Â&#x201E; www.sennheiser.com
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brothers revealing only that the headphones use a supersensitive platinum-vaporised diaphragm, which gives them an â&#x20AC;&#x153;absolutely ďŹ&#x201A;atâ&#x20AC;? frequency response from 8Hz to 100kHz, while the chassis for the ampliďŹ er is hewn out of marble from the same Italian quarry where Michelangelo selected his slabs. Guests were allowed to view the technology in situ for just a few brief minutes; the full extent of the speciďŹ cation is promised later in the year. (As for pricesâ&#x20AC;Ś well, the ďŹ gure
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P48 OCTOBER 2015
Live
Belgium
A momentary glimpse of Vero “We’re pretty much there,” Funktion-One co-founder John Newsham tells Marc Maes
A
t the 2015 WeCanDance festival, staged on Zeebrugge beach, rental company Soundsystem deployed Funktion-One speakers across all four stages as the main systems for borh FOH and monitors. This included an outing for the long-awaited Vero system, which is now in its final phase of beta testing. Other stages featured Evo 6Es, which were launched at Prolight + Sound Frankfurt 2015. Soundsystem’s Tia Broodcoorens and Lieven Pillaert were joined onsite by Funktion-One founder John Newsham, who lent his expertise to tuning the systems,
while keeping a watchful eye and keen ear on Vero. “This festival is a great opportunity to test Vero,” said Newsham. “We started testing the system almost two years ago, today we’re looking back at around 20 shows. We believe we’ve developed something really special; therefore we’re determined that every single element of the system – from the speakers to the flying to the software – will be exactly right when we launch it. What we now know after WeCanDance is that we’re pretty much there and can look forward to launching the system now.” www.funktion-one.com
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Lieven Pillaert and Tia Broodcoorens of Soundsystem (top) with (bottom, L–R) Funktion-One’s John Newsham, WeCan Dance’s Bart Roman and Benedikt Koch, managing director of FunktionOne distributor Thöne und Partner (Photo: Marc Maes)
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P50 OCTOBER 2015
Installation
Belgium
Jumping the Q For the ninth edition of Q-Music’s Q-Beach House, the leading Flemish radio station invested in a Bose RoomMatch club system, reports Marc Maes
E
ver summer, Dutch-language broadcaster Q-Music – normally based in Vilvoorde – moves its operations to Ostend beach. In July and August, from 10am until 11pm the station broadcasts live from its ‘Beach House’ studio – and hosts free concerts (‘Sunset Concerts’) as the sun sets over the North Sea. One of this year’s Sunset Concerts, by Oscar and the Wolf, attracted over 20,000 visitors, illustrating its impact and popularity. “We have grown from ‘jolly camp-fire guitar on the beach’-type concerts with minimal amplification or FOH to live concerts attracting an average of 8,000 people,” explains Rudi Wynants, project manager for Q-Music parent company Medialaan Radio. “Six years ago […] we started to bring in full band and dance performances, and when we invited Milk Inc. to play a Sunset Concert in 2013 before an audience of 12,000, things became more sophisticated: We had to put in place an bigger open-air sound system, mixing consoles…” This year’s Q-Beach House featured live music on the menu every day: alongside the Sunset Concerts, the station invited artists to perform unplugged ‘Q-Beach Live’ concerts. “Until last year we built a sound system for each of the eight open-air concerts in July and August,” continues Wynants, “but with this year’s daily concerts, the Friday night DJ sets and five Sunset shows we were looking for another, more permanent solution. [As we are] located right on the beach in Belgium’s premiere seaside resort, we had to [be aware of] neighbourhood noise disturbance; in order to cover a spacious open-air site like ours it would require a lot of SPL power with a stacked speaker solution.” Wynants decided to install a ‘club system’ configuration, placing speakers throughout the Beach House site. This reduced overall SPL levels while offering a clear, immersive sound, offering the best possible reduction in noise leakage to nearby seaside apartments. Having worked with Bose’s 802-series speakers previously, Wynants opted for a combination of 11 802 boxes, four Bose RoomMatch RMU208 speakers and nine weather-resistant Bose Panaray MB12 bass module subs. “The combination of the Bose 802’s sound reproduction and weather-resistant characteristics was ideal for the open-air location,” he says. “We also had a RoomMatch RMU208-equipped 5 x 10 Brustor tent with a second small stage to be used in case of bad weather. In this shelter the Bose RoomMatch® RMU208 speakers are used.”
Oscar and the Wolf’s Sunset concert attracted over 20,000 people (All photos: Q-Music)
The main sound system is steered by five Bose PowerMatch PM8500N network amplifiers, with one DiGiCo SD9 at FOH. Another SD9 console was used in the production room for the broadcast mix, with an additional SD8 brought in for big concerts. FOL Sound & Vision, a Bose ‘pro partner’, handled the configuration and installation of the Bose system. For open-air Sunset Concerts by Kensington, Stan van Samang, Oscar and the Wolf and Nielson, Q-Music hired extra gear: one L-Acoustics SB18 and nine KARAs flown each side, plus nine L-Acoustics SD28 subs clustered in the centre, left and right of the stage. The L-Acoustics kit, provided by Q-Music’s technical partner Soundfield, was powered by L-Acoustics LA8 amplifiers. As with the station’s main studio in Vilvoorde, the Beach House mobile studio – located in a boat on the beach – this year used a Studer OnAir 3000 console with a Dalet Radio Suite production and play-out system. “Signal transmission to the main on-air studio went over [telecom provider] Belgacom’s Explore network, mostly over IP by using a Prodys Prontonet encoder,” Wynants explains. “As a back-up we used a second Mayah CENTAURI encoder via the ISDN network, allowing us to combine a twin ISDN link-up via an APTX 256kb audio link. The boat’s roof served as a concert stage.” In addition to Q-Beach House’s new radio/audio technology, Wynants underlines that its video coverage
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has also grown organically. This year’s summer stint was captured by 11 cameras – and seven more during events – streaming on the station’s website and cable TV networks in Flanders. “We also made use of two Q-Ball remote weather-proof cameras, offering 360° images from the stage or the site,” he adds. With the station undergoing a major rebranding for the ‘back to school’ period starting on 1 September, Q-Beach House also provided an ideal opportunity to put everything in place for the new-look Q-Music in Vilvoorde. www.qmusic.be pro.bose.com www.fol.be
Dutch singer-songwriter Maaike Ouboter being interviewed in the Q-Beach House
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P52 OCTOBER 2015
Feature: Houses of worship
The Southern Baptist South Biscayne Church in Florida features a DAS Audio installation utilising Event 2080A line arrays and 218A subs
Faithful sound reproduction Europe’s style of worship is changing, and it comes as a blessing for the pro-audio industry, writes Erica Basnicki
E
uropeans are less inclined to affiliate themselves with a particular religion, according to a study by the aptly named Pew Research Center. A major analysis of the global religious landscape released by the ‘fact tank’ in April of this year puts the number of “unaffiliated” Europeans at one in five, and rising. Only one other geographic region – the US – is seeing the same trend. What that study doesn’t directly address is how worship is changing. And yes, that change is happening in Europe, too. Rising up along side the traditional “bells and smells” of century-old religious ceremonies is a new form of communing. It’s bigger, it’s brighter and most definitely louder. Crucially, it’s also catching on in a big way: exactly the kind of good news message the pro-audio industry wants to hear. London-based AV specialist SFL Group has been responsible for multiple house-of-worship audio installations across the UK, including London’s most famous places of worship, St Martin-in-the-Fields. You could consider St Martin’s the ‘godfather’ of contemporary worship, having embraced modern AV technology just over 90 years ago: The world’s very first broadcast of a church service took place there, in 1924. A recent upgrade to its audio system saw the SFL Group install L-Acoustics 8XTi and 5XTi loudspeakers and a Yamaha QL1 digital mixing console. This is by no means a typical installation. In fact, pinning down a trend in this market is extremely difficult; according to Horton, buildings vary wildly – as does worship style, “and the two don’t correlate”. “As I understand it, the pendulum will swing from a very traditional format where you still have the choir and organ
– where any AV we’d be putting in would be supporting the spoken word side of things,” says Horton. “The choral traditions are mostly unamplified; it’s all about speech reproduction. “What a lot of churches are venturing into now is the very contemporary, performance-driven style of church worship where you’ve got your drums, bass, electric guitars, keyboards and so forth. There are all sorts of churches around the world that are modelling that style, and the UK is no exception.” Epitomising this change to a more contemporary form of worship in Europe is the Alpha Course (known simply as ‘Alpha’), self-described as “an opportunity to explore life and the Christian faith in a friendly, open and informal
The main difference [between houses of worship and corporate events] is that churches normally meet in rooms that appear pretty low down on my ‘places I’d like to mix sound’ list
Phill Beynon, NoiseBoys
Lead plunder VS God’s thunder Loudspeakers don’t just tame wild reverb inside worship spaces; they’ve also been installed in church spires around the UK to deter would-be metal thieves from ripping lead and other metals from roofs, with great success. According to a 2012 report in The Daily Telegraph, metal theft was at its worst in 2011 when the cost of metal rose dramatically during the global economic crisis. The cost to the Church of England alone was over £10 million. In some areas of the country, insurance claims quadrupled within two years. In response, church insurer Ecclesiastical invested £500,000 of its own money to install alarms on some of the most at-risk churches in England, Scotland and Wales.
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The alarms are triggered by movement sensors which not only illuminate the area, but trigger a booming “voice of God” warning thieves that security has already been dispatched. Ecclesiastical’s ‘Hands Off Our Church Roofs!’ [sic] campaign site was updated recently with the following message: Thanks to the success of alarms, from 1 August 2015 there will be no limits applicable to our church policies for theft or attempted theft of external metal and the subsequent damage as a result of the theft or attempted theft. In the event of a loss claims will be paid in full up to the buildings and/or contents sums insured. www.ecclesiastical.com
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Feature: Houses of worship
Answering the Call Churches currently make up the bulk of installations in houses of worship, but the need to tame wild reverb can be even greater in mosques, says Community. In April, Belgian installation specialist Hifi Center Herteleer chose an ENTASYS-based system for the country’s largest Turkish mosque, Yunus Emre Camii, in Genk (pictured). “The entire floor of the mosque is covered with thick woollen carpet, so floor reflections are reduced but the domed ceiling creates a tremendous echo, far greater than I’ve heard in any church before,” explains Hifi Center’s Kristof Broux, who designed the system. “The solution was to use loudspeakers that could cover such a large area, but with such tightly controlled vertical dispersion that no sound was directed into the dome.” Sound in the main area of the mosque is provided by two ENTASYS column line-source loudspeakers, with a pair of C Series CS4s providing delay fill at the back. Four I/O5 loudspeakers cover the area for women only, also
environment”. According to the Alpha website over 27 million people have completed the course globally. Alpha traces its roots back to 1977 at London’s Holy Trinity Brompton. Its international success positions Alpha as a leader of this new, evangelical, form of worship, and yet it remains a congregation of the Church of England. HTB, as it’s now rebranded itself, has four sites in very traditional buildings “with bell towers and balconies and pillars and all that architecture that makes a building aesthetically beautiful, but acoustically horrible,” says SFL Group sales and installation manager Tim Horton. If there is any point of commonality in house-of-worship installations, poor acoustics would be it. Phill Beynon,
located at the back of the mosque, and four all-weather R.25 loudspeakers are used in the minaret for the call to prayers. According to Community the ENTASYS can provide the same or better pattern control than digital beam steering, making it a cost-effective and more naturalsounding solution for houses of worship and other acoustically challenging venues. “Community has managed to get pattern control down to a fine art without electronics. The ENTASYS provides 120 degrees horizontal coverage with adjustable 6 to 12 degrees vertical. It’s a tight pattern control to achieve with a passive speaker,” says a spokesperson for Community. As a result of products like ENTASYS, the company confirms it has seen increased sales within the house-ofworship market in both European and US markets. www.communitypro.com
technical director at Leicestershire-based pro-audio installer NoiseBoys, elaborates: “Viewing the average church from a purely technical point of view, it looks very similar to a weekly, medium–large corporate event, with a lot of importance placed on the spoken word, music playback and often a full-on band. “The first, and main difference, though, is that churches don’t usually meet in purpose-built conference centres, gig venues or hotel rooms with nice acoustics; they normally meet in rooms that appear pretty low down on the ‘places I’d like to mix sound’ list. Valencia-based DAS Audio knows churches like these all too well. Florida’s South Biscayne Church uses a
www.psneurope.com
St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, with L-Acoustics and Yamaha audio equipment from SFL Group
space that was originally developed as a shopping centre. GC Pro (Guitar Center Professional Division) – working in conjunction with Event Resource Group – recently designed a sound reinforcement system for the church using DAS Event 208A three-way active line arrays, Event 218A dual 18” powered subwoofers, Action M12A twoway powered stage monitors, and a DSP-26 stereo/mono processor for loudspeaker management. These challenging spaces are present all over Europe as well. According to Beynon, “there are roughly three categories of church building in the UK: traditional churches, which are usually centuries old; modern, purpose-built churches; and warehouse conversions. Each carries its own challenges, but it’s rare to find any style that was designed with amplified audio in mind.” Earlier in 2015 NoiseBoys completed one such challenging – and very high profile – installation at Leicester Cathedral. The discovery of King Richard III’s bones in a car park opposite the cathedral by archaeologists in 2012 sparked a massive refurbishment programme, including a complete overhaul of its AV system. The system includes Pan Acoustics’ Pan Beam steerable column arrays and JBL CBT 50 columns using a BSS Soundweb system controlled via a touchscreen tablet (see ‘Out of my sight!’, PSNEurope April 2015). “The installation uses steerable array speakers which we have used to digitally direct the sound only to where it is needed, minimising reflections and maximising clarity,” Beynon explains, highlighting another possible trend in the house-of-worship market. “The market is broad and varied, from traditional churches and mosques to more modern venues, but we certainly see a lot of use of steerable columns,” agrees Tom Williams, EMEA manager of application engineering for Harman Professional Solutions, “which allow sound to be focussed on the listeners whilst ensuring minimum excitation of the room, providing maximum possible intelligibility in what can often be difficult acoustic spaces.” Column loudspeakers such as JBL’s Intellivox system also provide another advantage, says Williams: “These are steerable line-array columns which utilise advanced DSP algorithms that advance beam shaping to maximise the focus of sound on the listeners. Because the sound is electronically steered, the speakers can be installed flush against the building structure to allow for aesthetic requirement – such as being less visually intrusive.” The visual aspect of an installation is of particular importance to heritage groups, who “generally don’t like archways being obscured because they like the architectural purity of the sightlines,” explains Horton – hence the appeal of column-style speakers. However
P55 OCTOBER 2015
there is also the structural integrity of heritage buildings to worry about, which can trump aesthetic concerns: “Sometimes we’ve been able to put in a line array system and we’ve sold it down the thought process of, ‘It’s a single hang of speakers, we’re not running cable front to back in the venue, there’s only one set of drill holes to mount it...’ The weigh-up is that you then have this mono hang in the front of the church and it might obscure a stained glass window. Sometimes we’ve done a distributed pointsource system, other times its columns... it really depends on the customer and on the art form and the venue.” How the house-of-worship market continues to grow depends on the pro-audio market itself, says Rik Kirby, vice-president of sales and marketing at Renkus-Heinz: “Audio for houses of worship has evolved along with the rest of audio technology. As audio systems have got more efficient and more economical, they have become increasingly ubiquitous in houses of worship. “Customer demand has evolved as well... The worship market has also seen a great deal of internal competition with churches ‘needing’ to have bigger and better AV to attract, or even retain, their congregations.” But not every congregation has staff trained to use modern AV equipment, which makes user-friendly technology (such as apps run on tablets) increasingly attractive options for this market: “There are real advantages to churches getting into this technology, as they can have a control surface that’s customised to their particular way of working without the risks of someone messing up the settings or not having anyone who knows how to
work the system,” comments Beynon. “We go to many churches where the users are in the dark about how their technology works and what it does, either because the people who know have moved on or forgotten or because they were never shown properly in the first place.” Offering the right training, then, and encouraging congregations to
www.psneurope.com
‘see the light’ is also increasingly important. “Most of the churches don’t have anyone full-time employed to oversee this stuff,” explains Horton. “Even if they do, they’re still relying on a large volunteer base to make the services happen week by week.” Bless ‘em.
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Please send all contributions for Hither & Dither to drobinson@nbmedia.com
OCTOBER 2015
Hither & Carrera Did you IBC what we IBSaw?
BroaMan/Optocore brought extra vroom to IBC with this Carrera four-slot racetrack as centrepiece on their show stand. The track was linked to an OB Van parked outside via an Optocore fibre network
Riedel didn’t win a prize for best booth design, but, if you stood in the right place, you saw exactly what the company was trying to do
Kevin Emmott, Calrec marketing manager, made this guitar – he bloody made it! – out of a spare Fieldbox I/O unit. The beautiful instrument was given away in a prize draw on the last day of IBC – the winner was Johan van Tonder from Supersport OB, South Africa
Here’s Calrec’s Ian Cookson with the second of the company’s branded beers, the light and hoppy AoIPA. Ale is the “original networking protocol”, it says on the bottle, “helping people communicate since 2500 BC”
The company certainly gets the PSNEurope award for Best Press Kit – head of markerting and communications Christian Bockskopf was suitably excited by the ingenious tape cassette design
www.psneurope.com
P58 OCTOBER 2015
Backtalk
John Metcalfe
From Factory Classical in Manchester to Real World in the West Country, he’s a well-travelled soul, finds Simon Duff
A
talented composer, viola player, producer and arranger, John Metcalfe started his professional career while studying for his music degree at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, joining the legendary Durutti Column and working in A&R for Factory Records svengali Tony Wilson in the heyday of The Hacienda. Since then Metcalfe has toured the world with the Duke Quartet and arranged for the likes of Stephen Street, Morrissey, the Pretenders and Blur. More recently, he has collaborated as both producer and arranger for Peter Gabriel, working on his album projects Scratch My Back and New Blood and touring with him as musical director. Recent high-profile assignments include orchestral arrangements for Coldplay and co-production on an album for Monserrat Caballe. In June this year he released his fourth solo album, The Appearance of Colour, on Real World, an exploration of classical influences and ambient electronica. Factory Classical must have been a great learning experience… Tony Wilson gave me carte blanche to do the whole thing. I was a kid in a sweet shop. I chose the artists – The Kreisler String Orchestra, the Duke Quartet, Robin Williams, Steve Martland, Rolf Hind and Graham Fitkin – then organised the recordings, editing and mastering. We did a lot of recording using Calrec SoundField microphones in places like remote farmhouses, as well in studios in Manchester such as Peter Hook’s Suite 16. It was important for the music to be 20th century, with at least one British composer on each CD in the case of the ensembles. Beyond that the musicians could do what they liked. In a way my work with Peter Gabriel and Real World is a continuation of that philosophy.
You have worked for Gabriel extensively. What sort of ‘workflow’ do you have? Peter is not frightened to try new ideas and take risks. Once I had approval for my arrangements, the orchestra was recorded at AIR Lyndhurst: a 50-piece orchestra with a 12-piece choir from Magdalen College Oxford. One of the most interesting things for me was the set-up in the live room. Bass is really important to Peter, so early on we decided to put the double basses and cellos in the middle of the live room at AIR to ‘pin it down’. Violas were set up to the right – where the cellos traditionally go – on the outside, facing the violins. The track count was very high: well over a hundred that we could edit [in Pro Tools]. Mixing was done on the Sony Oxford OXF-R3 console in Peter’s room at Real World, with Bob Ezrin producing.
I use a Neumann TLM 103 or a Schoeps CMC 6 and MK 4 cardioid capsule to capture all the detail of [my playing], and I have a choice selection of Neve 1073 mic-pres recording into Digital Performer plus a host of sample libraries and plug-ins running on a Mac.
Turning to your new album, The Appearance of Colour: What is the intention behind the work, and how was recording approached? In some ways the album is an exploration of synaesthesia and people’s non-verbal reaction to colour. I engineered a lot of the album myself at my studio but recorded drums and bass at Eastcote Studios with Philip Bagenal. Some viola and piano was recorded at Real World, with Patrick Philips engineering. It was mastered by Guy Davie at Electric Mastering. My studio is a dedicated set-up away from my house in a room called The Bus Stop. Monitoring is off a pair of KRK V4s and a KRK 10S sub: I love their accurate bottom-end definition. Separate amps for the woofer and tweeter keep things clean.
What are you working on at the moment? I have just been at Real World working with an artist called Tom Kerstens, a Dutch classical guitarist and his ensemble, who I have composed a new work for. I am also MD and doing arrangements for a huge new opera, an Italian production at Arena Di Verona, called Intimissimi on Ice.
What about your beloved viola? It’s a Giovanni Batista Ceruti, made in Italy in 1800 and one of only a handful in the UK.
www.psneurope.com
This summer you played on the B&W stage at the WOMAD festival. Tell us about your live set-up… The John Metcalfe Band is a seven-piece, and Chris Ekers is my live engineer. The challenge to present it live is that my music ranges from quite intimate chamber music up to a full, lush orchestral dynamic. What we try to do is to reduce as much as possible the pre-records. You want it to be live, though occasionally we need those big string sounds I have recorded and built up myself – but integrated as much as possible.
Ice? Nice! Technology-wise, what would you like to see developed in the future? A brain headset interface that can tap into neural transmissions might be an extraordinary way forward. Maybe something based on the Oculus Rift model. I know that the LA Philharmonic is using Oculus Rift to explore new audience ideas. And [I’d like to see] much more emphasis on tactile interfaces. www.john-metcalfe.co.uk www.realworldrecords.com