Pro-Systems July /Aug14

July / August 2014

R35.00

AV SYSTEM INTEGRATION | INSTALLATIONS | LIVE EVENTS | STUDIO PRO AUDIO

COVER CHIMELONG OCEAN KINGDOM STORY DEEP SEA ODYSSEY INFOCOMM SHOW 2014 CLAY PAKY – SHARPY WASH 330 REVIEW PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION SIMON & TONY OATES OWNERSHIP OF SHOW FILES DOWNTOWN STUDIOS

DVA S09DP Active Subwoofer 15” 1000 Watt RMS Frequency Response (+/- 3dB): 45 - 120 Hz Max SPL: 134dB LF Driver: 15” Driver LF Amp: 1000 W RMS Weight: 37.5Kg Dimensions mm: 515(W) x 440(H) x 720(D)

DVA S10DP Active Subwoofer 18” 1000 Watt RMS Frequency Response (+/- 3dB): 40 - 120 Hz Max SPL: 136dB LF Driver: 18” Driver LF Amp: 1000 W RMS Weight: 48Kg Dimensions mm: 515(W) x 640(H) x 720(D)

MODEL DVA T8 DVA T12 DVA S09DP DVA S10DP

| | | |

PRICE incl R43 917 R67 150 R28 017 R38 167

Professional Active speakers

All you need from one system

THE FUTURE OF LINE ARRAY

IS ACTIVE...

Full of Technology

DVA T8

DVA T12

3 Way Active Line Array Module with DSP processing

3 Way Active Line Array Module with DSP processing

Frequency Response (+/- 3dB): 66 – 18 000Hz

Frequency Response (+/- 3dB): 60 – 19 000Hz

Max SPL: 132dB

Max SPL: 136dB

HF Driver: 2 x 1” Neodymium Compression Driver

HF Driver: 3 x 1” Neodymium Compression Driver

MF Driver: 1 x 6.5” Neodymium Compression Driver

MF Driver: 2 x 6.5” Neodymium Compression Driver

LF Driver: 8” Neodymium Compression Driver

LF Driver: 12” Neodymium Compression Driver

Power Rating (RMS): LF 350 + MF 175 + HF 175W

Power Rating (RMS): LF 710 + MF 350 + HF 350W

Weight: 14.2Kg

Weight: 29.9Kg

Dimensions mm: 580(W) x 240(H) x 327(D)

Dimensions mm: 580(W) x 386(H) x 430(D)

Active speakers Pro-active investment viva afrika

Viva Afrika Sound and Light (Pty) Ltd Unit 2, 2 Drakensburg Road Longmeadow Business Estate West, Westfield PO Box 4709, Rivonia, 2128, South Africa Tel: 011 250-3280, Fax: 011 608-4109 orders@hybrid.co.za, www.hybrid.co.za

IN THIS ISSUE MANAGING EDITOR Welcome to the other side of the middle of the year, the side that brings us that much closer to December’s delights.

To our newest advertisers: TV Audio and Fintech, we are delighted to have you on board.

If you feel like a laugh, grab the popcorn (and perhaps a shot of Vodka) for Jerry Gilbert’s profile on Simon and Tony Oates on page 24. On a more serious note, David Davies takes a look at the new AES67 Networking Standards on page 20 to 21. Pages 42 to 45, Robert Scovill looks into the rights and legalities around the ownership of show files. Mike Wood’s in-depth review of the Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 300 is the first of many reviews which will be published in up-coming issues of Pro-Systems.

Hopefully by the time this issue lands on your desk, the weather would have eased up little!

Enjoy!

Claire Badenhorst

DEPUTY EDITOR Well, what can I say? The year is more than half way over and there’s been a whirlwind of activity in the industry. In case you haven’t noticed, the Studio Pro Audio section has shrunk a little bit and we’ve been forced to postpone publishing my column on recording and mixing drums for the time being.

We’ve just had way to much content to cover to fit it in, which is a great indication of the health of our industry but rest assured, we’ll resume the column in the near future. Nevertheless, we’ve got heaps going on in this issue which resulted in us pushing the page count of the magazine up a few pages. Don’t miss the dissection of the Clay Paky Sharpy by Mike Wood; an article that’s sure to give you great insight into the inner workings of the fixture. The thought provoking and often hilarious Simon and Tony Oates profile is also one that’ll give you a chance to get into the minds of one of the industry’s mainstay duos. Gavin Olivier gives us an insight into interactive theme park ride technology with his dissertation on the Ocean Kingdom Deep Sea Odyssey dark ride in China while audio industry expert Robert Scovill tackles the often overlooked issue of intellectual property and ownership of show files. Of course there’s the usual mix of product reviews, show reports and live events such as the Earthworks range of microphones, InfoComm and our coverage of the presidential inauguration.

Before we know it the end of the year will be upon us so rest assured we will bring you more to chew on in the September/October issue. Bye for now!

Greg Bester

CONTENTS NEWS

LIVE EVENTS

Harman completes acquisition of AMX....3

Run for your lives…

Langenhoven elected

the lawyers are coming............................42

new SACIA Chairman.................................3

A presidential affair, indeed.....................46

Exterity opens new

Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330.....................50

Johannesburg office...................................3

ETC Eos-family user review........................56

Matrix Sound acquires

Tracking the election results centre.........60

ARX Systems agency...................................3

Explosive confessions

Avolites restructures board of directors.....4

of a pyrotechnic addict...........................62

Electrosonic SA forms reseller

Equipment finance....................................65

partnership with Kinesys UK.........................4

STUDIO PRO AUDIO

Sound Stylists invest in Ayrton WILDBEAM-R.....................................4

Earthworks mic review...............................66

US retail giant cuts ties with Behringer.......6

The only way is up

Taking flight with the Lowther WING..........6

for Downtown Studios...............................68

INDUSTRY EXPERTS Tony & Simon Oates ...................................8

SOCIAL Barco T-Series launch ...............................71

INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION

Barco Image Processing

InfoComm 2014..........................................16

& Projection for Staging

Feedback from InfoComm.......................18

and Events workshop................................71

InfoComm products..................................20

Crestron Training .......................................71

Hard Rock Café.........................................26

SSL Training..................................................71

Setting a (new) standard..........................28

Audiosure dealer breakfast......................72

Virtual classrooms: dream or reality?......30

AWA launch................................................72

China’s Deep Sea Odyssey unveiled......32

ETC Training.................................................72

Ultra-narrow bezel LED display walls

Martin Training............................................72

– what can your money buy?..................36 Ever evolving Electrosonic SA .................38

CONTRIBUTORS Chanelle Ellaya | A Journalism graduate from the University of Johannesburg. Chanelle has experience in both the magazine and television industry. She has a keen interest in the Media in various capacities, as well as in music and technology.

Louise Stickland | Professional journalist and photographer with huge passion and enthusiasm for technology and the production industry. Louise initially worked and toured as a lighting designer after graduating from university. She has many years experience in the music and live event sector, and works closely with leading international designers, production companies and technology manufacturers.

David Davies| A journalist who has been covering professional AV and broadcast technology for 14 years. He is reelance managing editor of Sports Video Group (SVG) Europe and continues to contribute to a host of trade publications, including PSNEurope, PSNLive and Installation. He has also been a part of the team for The AES Daily, The IBC Daily and, since 2005, The ISE Daily, for which he served as an executive editor in 2013 and 2014. In addition, he is active as a copywriter and sub-editor.

PUBLISHER| Simon Robinson | simon@sun-circle.co.za MANAGING EDITOR | Claire Badenhorst | editor@pro-systems.co.za DEPUTY EDITOR | Greg Bester | greg@pro-systems.co.za IN-HOUSE JOURNALIST | Chanelle Ellaya | news@pro-systems.co.za SUB-EDITOR | Tina Heron ADVERTISING SALES | Simone de Beer | sales@pro-systems.co.za DESIGN | Trevor Ou Tim | design@sun-circle.co.za SUBSCRIPTIONS | Albertina Tserere | data@sun-circle.co.za ACCOUNTS | Natasha Glavovic | accounts@sun-circle.co.za Sun Circle Publishers (Pty) Ltd | Tel: +27 11 025-3180 | Epsom Downs Office Park, 13 Sloane Street, Bryanston, Johannesburg | PO Box 559 Fourways North 2086, South Africa

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www. pro-systems.co.za

Publishers & Projects

NEWS

Harman completes acquisition of AMX Harman International Industries announced the successful completion of its acquisition of AMX LLC, from The Duchossois Group, for $365 million. Texas-based AMX will be integrated into Harman’s professional offerings servicing audio, video and IT professionals.

“The addition of AMX to our family of brands is consistent with Harman’s strategy to diversify its portfolio, and the acquisition will extend the service of the enterprise where its strength in audio, lighting and control will serve as a platform for integration, innovation and growth,” says Dinesh C. Paliwal, Chairman, President, and CEO of Harman.

Pio Nahum

From the addition of Martin lighting and Duran Audio in 2013 to the completion of the AMX acquisition, Harman Professional is aggressively pursuing opportunities to provide customers and partners with systems solutions that advance the integration and application of AV technology in

the enterprise.

Blake Augsburger, President, HARMAN Professional division says that the completion of this acquisition expands Harman’s preeminent role on stage and in the studio to the enterprise as a leading supplier of turnkey AV solutions.

AMX products and operations will be integrated into Harman’s Professional division, the professional audio and lighting unit of Harman, featuring legendary brands like AKG, BSS Audio, Crown amplifiers, dbx, JBL Professional, Lexicon, Soundcraft, Studer, and Martin lighting. As with other product brands in the Harman Professional portfolio it will be referred to as AMX by Harman.

Langenhoven elected new SACIA Chairman Matrix Sound acquires ARX Systems agency Following the recent SACIA Board and at the first Board elections, the meeting held since the association now has a new elections, Wynand Board of Directors Langenhoven (Peripheral committed to ensuring that Vision) was elected as SACIA continues to develop Board chair for the coming in response to the needs of year. its members.

According to the SACIA After two years of service, Constitution, the Board chair Thys Venter from Audiosure can only serve for a did not make himself maximum two-year period available for re-election and in his opening address and his seat on the Board to the SACIA Board, Wynand Langenhoven has been taken by Gavin Langenhoven recognised Olivier from Digital Fabric. Bruce Genricks, the contribution made by Bruce Genricks to Elaine Shellard, Sobi Mokholo and Wynand the association’s growth and success since Langenhoven were all re-elected to the he was elected as chairman in May 2012.

Exterity opens new Johannesburg office Exterity, a leading provider of enterprise IPTV technologies for the secure distribution of live, on-demand and recorded video over IP,

markets across the globe, including in sub-Saharan Africa. Demand for enterprise IPTV systems is on the rise in the region in a number of rapidly growing market segments such as corporate, leisure, oil and gas. The new office will enable the company to expand its reach and leverage its regional partners, including Global Access,

recently announced that it has opened up a new office in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The new regional office includes a demo facility to enable sub-Saharan system integrators and pro-AV installers to see the Exterity product portfolio in action.

The Exterity IPTV systems are already used by many organisations in a wide variety of

Hambisana, Panavision, Prosonic Angola and Space Stream, part of SpaceTV, to offer best-in-class on the ground support for its customers.

“Demand for IPTV in sub-Saharan Africa continues to rise and we must be proactive in the region to meet this demand,” says Colin Farquhar, CEO, Exterity.

ARX Systems, the Australian based designer and manufacturer of Digital and Analogue interface and signal processing products has announced the appointment of Johannesburg-based Matrix Sound as its new distributor for South Africa.

Trevor Peters of Matrix Sound says; “I was attracted to the ARX product because it is a well-established brand which is embracing new and innovative technology. There will always be a demand for reliable products that make your life as an engineer simpler and I think ARX has recognised this in its range and with its new releases.”

ARX Managing Director Colin Park says: “Matrix Sound is a well-known and long established sales and rental company in the South African professional audio industry.”

“Here at ARX, we’re looking forward to working with Trevor Peters and his team at Matrix; they’re very enthusiastic about the possibilities for the growing ARX product range among their extensive client base throughout South Africa.”

“Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the fastest growing regions in the IPTV market,” says Gary Davies, Sub-Saharan Africa Sales Manager, Exterity. “Opening a new office in one of the most vibrant cities in the region enables us to be closer to our partners, as well as better support our customers.”

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NEWS

Avolites restructures board of directors Avolites has announced a restructuring of the board of directors, with MD Richard Salzedo stepping back into the role of Director, and Steve Warren ascending to the role of Avolites Group MD. Founder shareholders Warren, Salzedo and Financial Director Meena Varatharajan The Avolites crew purchased Avolites from previous owners Carlton TV in 1991. Since then Salzedo has worked for Avolites as Research Engineer and Research & Development Director, overseeing hugely successful projects such as the Sapphire and industry-changing Avolites Pearl console before moving on to become MD. He now hands the reigns of control to Warren, who joined Avolites in 1984 and in his 30 years with the company has held various posts including Electrical Wireman, Test Engineer, Service Engineer, Technical Sales, and ultimately Sales Director.

Warren’s passion for integrating video with lighting control has driven the formation of Avolites Media Ltd, and the purchase of the technology within the Ai servers. The

capabilities of these have been showcased at the London 2012 Olympics, powering the world’s largest video screen, and again for the volumetric “LED Forest” at the recent Sochi Winter Olympics.

Warren states: “We at Avolites are in the privileged and possibly unique position of producing first-class lighting and video control products. The management team would like to thank Salzedo for his continued commitment to Avolites, and will continue to use the immensely strong components of Titan lighting engine and Ai video control engine to produce industry-leading, integrated solutions for complete visual control.”

Electrosonic SA forms reseller partnership with Kinesys UK

Kinesys at Frankfurt Pro Light and Sound 2104

Electrosonic SA has formed a partnership with Kinesys, the renowned British motion control system specialists. With Electrosonic SA as its approved reseller, Kinesys will now have a footprint in South Africa.

This new partnership is a perfect complement to Electrosonic SA’s representation in South Africa for CM Lodestar, Litec and Milos Structural Systems.

The addition of Kinesys completes the family, and means that Electrosonic SA now offers entertainment lighting customers a

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complete package of motion control systems.

There has never been a Kinesys reseller in South Africa, and Electrosonic SA’s plans to showcase their rigging-focused products, such as the Digihoist Controller, the Vector Control software and the LibraCELL load monitoring systems. Scheduled training programmes will introduce the South African entertainment industry fraternity to the full range of concepts and possibilities offered by Kinesys.

“Kinesys’ philosophy and values are aligned with Electrosonic SA’s philosophy of using world class and trusted products.

However, Kinesys also believes that great products alone are not enough, and need to be backed-up by skilled and passionate individuals. By introducing Kinesys to South Africa we are realising our vision of bringing value and innovation to the entertainment market,” says Bruce Schwartz of Electrosonic SA.

Sound Stylists invest in Ayrton WILDBEAM-R

Kevin Glover & Richard Smith

Local technical supply company Sound Stylists recently took order of 24 Ayrton WILDBEAM-R automated luminaires through local distributors Sound Harmonics.

Ayrton is a relatively new brand in South Africa but is gaining traction because of their innovative products. The WILDBEAM-R, the smallest moving fixture in the RADICAL range features 7 x 15 watt individually controllable LED RGBW sources paired with high yield 67mm collimation optics.

On why he chose to invest in the WILDBEAM-Rs Kevin Glover, co-director at Sound Stylists says: “We like the idea of having individual pixel control. We are thrilled, frankly. They are well-made and the lighting guys are impressed with what they can do with them.”

“We are excited to be able to supply Ayrton to such a prestigious user, and looking forward to see Sound Stylists utilise the fixtures to their full potential,” says Sound Harmonics director Richard Smith. “We have had a long relationship with Kevin, and Sound Stylists, and our focus has always been on building quality relationships so we are pleased to be able to offer a solution to them.”

The debut gig for the WILDBEAM-Rs was the 2014 Presidential Inauguration.

According to Glover, their main use was for “eye candy – it was a day event so we didn’t have to ‘light’ so much as create a look.”

NEWS

Taking flight with the Lowther WING

The Lowther WING

Let’s be honest, putting together a presentation for work is never easy and never without stress, and fussing with laptop cables and fumbling with ill-fitting adapters minutes before you present is enough to throw anyone off course. Enter, the Lowther WING! This revolutionary design is the brainchild of engineers at Lowther Communications, a proudly South African initiative. It is a new innovation that allows one to take the technology to the client – be that in the same building or in another location altogether. The Lowther Wing is portable and easy to relocate, creating a high tech meeting area out of any available space.

Paul Lowther, CEO and co-designer of the WING says: “The unique design is inclusive, yet incredibly simple. It is all about innovation in design-thinking.” The design was driven by

The WING offers many options. For example, the articulating arms can be operated manually, or they can be automated – with the screens extending at the touch of a button.

The two 55-inch HD LCD screens can be used vertically or horizontally, with three additional options: • identical media duplicated on both screens; • one media image out across both screens; or • completely different media on both screens.

Another innovation is that either screen can be upgraded and used as an electronic whiteboard.

Paul concludes: “Our primary goal with the WING is to create a product range that is

observing what really goes on at a customer’s premises and converting this need into a product that would make data presentation and video conferencing support services available effortlessly and within minutes, anywhere on the premises.

versatile enough for everyone. We can adapt the screen size, colour and technical spec to suit any environment. You tell us what you will be using it for and we custom-design and factory-assemble it for your unique needs.”

US retail giant cuts ties with Behringer Guitar Center, the world’s largest chain of musical instrument retailers, cut ties with Behringer on 16 May 2014. This was based on claims of: “...unreasonable business terms late last year and a continuous history of attempting to force unfavourable changes into agreements.”

Guitar Center’s full statement reads: “Decisions like this are never made easily.

There are rare occasions where the integrity of the relationships and agreements we make with vendors are challenged, despite the potential impact to the bottom line or overall sales. We can’t speak for anyone else in the industry, but we’d had enough of watching Behringer try to do business this way. It’s not the way we like to work with people and it’s not productive. They made some questionable choices that put us into a position to develop a contingency plan. As we re-evaluated that plan several weeks ago, we found that it would allow us to build better relationships with other vendor partners in the category. When Plan B starts to make this much business sense, it became clear we didn’t need to tolerate this anymore. We’re focused on where we can succeed in partnership with our new vendors

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A Guitar Centre store in the US

and we’re excited about the future.”

What this actually means for the Music Group, Behringer’s parent company, remains unclear. Behringer had a 20-year relationship with Guitar Center and while the retailer points the finger at Behringer as the culprit; they claim otherwise.

Joe Sanborn, senior manager of marketing communications, issued a statement on the official Behringer forums stating: “Frankly, it became increasingly difficult to do business with Guitar Center as they sought to increase their profits, which would have forced us to increase our prices to you (the consumer). We didn’t agree. 25 years ago, Uli Behringer founded our company on the principle of offering products at “Double the experience for half the price”. Because Uli was a struggling

musician himself, he made it his mission in life to offer amazing products at amazing prices, so YOU can fulfil your musical dreams. This will never change.”

Uli Behringer, founder of Behringer and Music Group CEO, issued a somewhat diplomatic statement that seemed to come from a slightly different angle: “We were surprised by a recent public statement issued

by Guitar Center. Over the last year, due to Guitar Center’s highly publicised financial situation, we were forced to evaluate their creditworthiness. As a result of their credit rating, it was determined that they were a high risk and we were forced to put them on business hold. We certainly respect Guitar Center’s decision to discontinue business with us and we thank them for the excellent 20-year relationship.”

The new Blackmagic Studio Camera has optical fiber, talkback, tally and massive 10” viewfinder!

The Blackmagic Studio Camera is the world’s most advanced broadcast camera for live, multi camera production! It features an incredibly tough, lightweight machined magnesium design with a massive 10” viewfinder, 4 hour battery, talkback, tally indicators, phantom powered microphone ports and built in optical fiber and SDI connections. That’s a fully self contained, broadcast grade, live camera solution!

Full Size HD Viewfinder The Blackmagic Studio Camera includes the world’s largest viewfinder built in! The massive 10” high resolution screen has a super wide viewing angle and extremely high brightness so you can see your images with amazing detail even in bright daylight! This professional grade viewfinder makes it easy to frame, focus, change iris settings and make subtle adjustments with full confidence even when you’re live on air!

Optical Fiber and 6G-SDI Connections Connect Blackmagic Studio Camera to your live production switcher with optical fiber cables connected to the built in fiber port or use regular 6G-SDI BNC video cables! The video connections are bi-directional and carry HD or Ultra HD video with talkback, tally, embedded audio and even camera remote control. With standard, low cost fiber optic cable, you can connect to your cameras over massive distances!

www.blackmagicdesign.com/sa *All prices subject to VAT, exchange rate fluctuation and import duties.

Talkback and Tally The Blackmagic Studio Camera features built in talkback using general aviation headsets, so you get better noise cancelling and comfort at a much lower cost! You also get built-in tally lights that illuminate automatically when your camera is live so your cast and crew can easily see which cameras are on air! Talkback and tally signals are embedded in the return video connection to the camera, so you don’t have to run separate cables!

Micro Four Thirds Lens Mount The active Micro Four Thirds lens mount is compatible with an incredibly wide range of lenses and adapters. You can use your existing photo lenses for smaller setups and fixed camera use, or connect incredible broadcast ENG lenses via a B4 lens adapter. You can even use third party adapters for high end feature film PL mount lenses, so it’s easy to customize your camera to suit any sized production!

Blackmagic Studio Camera HD

1,995

US$

*

Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K

2,995*

US$

INDUSTRY EXPERTS INTERVIEW

Tony & Simon Oates

The professional audio, lighting and visual industries rely hugely on relationships, but few are comparable to that on the iconic Oates brothers. Jerry Gilbert took on the task of interviewing Tony and Simon Oates to hear historic anecdotes and what it takes to run distribution companies in Thailand and South Africa respectively

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INTERVIEW INDUSTRY EXPERTS

“We were oblivious to apartheid – but at the same time it was not only the Cape Coloureds, the Indians and black communities that the white minority was down on – the Boer War had not been forgotten! At my first school up in Pietersberg I had to fight every day and always about the fact that I was British.”

– Tony Oates Few people capture the zeitgeist of the party-infused ‘90s better than Tony and Simon Oates. Operating their respective distribution businesses from different ends of the planet, whenever these galactic troupers descend into our midst, gravity and equilibrium are both under threat.

Proving the adage that nothing exceeds like excess, who could forget the carnival spirit on Fuzion’s two-deck stand at the PLASA Show in 2005 with the presence of a bevy of Thai girls – clad in national costume and shipped over by Tony – dispensing such exotic cocktails as marshmallow and mint aero vodkas?

The austere post-millennium has done much to erode that hedonistic era but when mondo*dr managed to corral the brothers in the press bar at the recent Prolight+Sound show in Frankfurt, the spirit had remained largely intact. Tony arrived fastidiously attired, armed with Confucian wisdom and a bagful of riffs, Simon, the selfappointed “better looking of the brothers” with his heavily contoured physiognomy consigning the Keith Richards facial roadmap to the nursery slopes.

Both look as though it’s been a life well lived, and they have remained largely insouciant, despite at times hanging on grimly to the industry roller-coaster with ever-whitening knuckles. Yet from a background as musicians – before their names became synonymous with Fuzion and Tadco respectively – both Tony and Simon became foundation stones in the construction of the pro industry as we see it today; gratifyingly, following some diligent housekeeping, their stars are once again in the ascendancy.

The interview found them in a reflective mood, yet it wasn’t long before sibling sparring started to gather momentum. No smoke, mirrors, sophistry or trotting out the familiar tropes for these guys; the chat fired straight from the hip as they related how they have tried ‘to blaze a trail through the austerity of the times’, to use Fuzion’s own website blurb.

Now at the end of their sixth decade, one can only speculate what the scene would have been like if this summit had taken place 20 years earlier; that would have been a frat party in the true sense of the phrase.

Like many who established their chops in the pro industry, the Oates brothers first served their time as professional musicians. Born 20 months apart – Tony being the elder – the family emigrated from the UK in 1968 to escape the Wilson Government by immersing themselves in the stoneground apartheid regime of BJ Vorster’s South Africa. It was the year of the Basil D’Oliveira affair which proved a watershed in ending competitive sport between the nations. “We moved because the Wilson government had fucked the country and many people were leaving. Income tax was on a sliding basis with no

ceiling,” recalled Tony. “So we left one regime for another.” In fact, the top rate on investment income would eventually rise to 98% under the Wilson Government.

The brothers finished schooling and Tony survived several months studying to be a lawyer before sensing it was not for him. “We tried various ways of earning money and eventually decided to put a band together.”

Simon was still completing his education when their father, who owned the lease on a hotel in White Level, ran into trouble. “He had a masterful business sense,” said Simon with undisguised sarcasm. “For instance in the mid ‘60s you couldn’t fail in the UK if you ran a Laundromat, but somehow he managed to!”

Tony headed up to the location in the Lowveld to help out, and while there, met a couple of musicians from the local coloured township. “We had extremely long hair and I think I was there to buy some weed,” he vaguely recalled. “We were oblivious to apartheid – but at the same time it was not only the Cape Coloureds, the Indians and black communities that the white minority was down on – the Boer War had not been forgotten! At my first school up in Pietersberg I had to fight every day and always about the fact I was British.”

Taken by the idea that the two men, named Roland and Bernard hung out in a corrugated hut named ‘Woodstock’ – next to a railway track – the band was duly formed, with Simon later taking over on drums.

Eventually the Oates brothers left the Lowveld and headed back to Johannesburg where they operated initially as a ‘covers’ band playing mostly hotel residences before going on to play in various venues around the country.

The venture duly ran its course. “I eventually got tired of playing mother to a bunch of delinquents,” continued Tony, pulling no punches. Meanwhile, Simon’s attempts to get into the Berkeley Music School to learn harmony was derailed and he instead returned to the UK to study jazz drumming at Leeds University, coming under the spell of Buddy Rich. “I couldn’t get a union card without a band and couldn’t get a band without a union card,” he said. “It was Catch-22 and so I became a motor cycle courier down in London.” He would not return to South Africa until 1976.

Meanwhile, Tony had landed his first ‘proper’ job, with Hohner South Africa, a company set up by Emil Feil to represent Peavey, Sonor, Ovation, and others. “I was supposed to go to Germany to learn how to fix accordions but figured out how to do it myself before they got round to sending me. I left after a year having been made redundant, but it was my first brush with an industry I have now been in for over 35 years.”

Utilising the cottage and garage complex at the back of his house in Parktown, Johannesburg, as workshops, Tony started to offer services to the local music community. He remembers one day

“We moved because the Wilson government had fucked the country and many people were leaving. Income tax was on a sliding basis with no ceiling,” recalled Tony. “So we left one regime for another.” In fact the top rate on investment income would eventually rise to 98% under the Wilson Government.”

– Simon Oates

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INDUSTRY EXPERTS INTERVIEW “Contacting Electro-Voice about recones, they said sure, but what about the mics and speaker systems we make? I went over to see them and that’s how the relationship began. This deal gave the company a unique competitive price advantage in South Africa.

“Here I am, not yet 30, financially comfortable and yet I could already see everything potentially going wrong, with the ‘big fish in small pond’ syndrome and debauchery constantly just around the corner.” – Tony Oates

someone in the PA rental business producing a plan of the classic JBL 4560 bass bin cabinet. “He wanted 20 to add to a somewhat fledgling rental stock. So I built them and ended up operating them in the system they became part of.”

This was the start of his relationship with Prosound owners Terry Acres and Dennis Feldman, which appears to have been a fairly volatile one by all accounts. “I sorted out the workshops and manufacturing, did most of the rental work and serviced key clients.”

Anecdotes from the period pour forth from Tony’s lips like confetti, how he ventured into Salisbury, Rhodesia to mix Mungo Jerry under armed escort – during the Ian Smith regime – was one of the more memorable.

He also worked for a time with David Marks, owner of 3rd Ear Music, and a member of the sound crew at the epochal Woodstock Festival.

He ended up buying part of the legendary Bill Hanley Sound System, specifically designed for the event, although the system had migrated into the Prosound rental fleet by the time Tony joined.

But the key relationship that was to carry him through the next few chapters of his life were forged with Electro-Voice. It began with a masterstroke of genius. Faced with a swingeing 80%-plus import duty he put together a competent in-house manufacturing facility after gaining Electro-Voice’s permission to build its speaker systems and mould its recently patented constant directivity horns under licence.

“That would certainly be right up there with my best achievements,” he reflected. “As Electro-Voice had just started building its own systems.”

The Hanley bins were driven by Crown DC-300’s, which were well named, since they were noted for going ‘DC’. Since JBL would not supply South Africa at the time Tony often had to fly over to New York to buy recones for the JBL 15-inch K140’s, or beg those visiting to pick some up.

“However, there was a company importing a brand called Kustom,” he remembered. “Some genius decided they would import a full set of spare components for every cabinet they bought in.

“When the company went broke there was an auction and we picked up a load of Electro-Voice SRO 15-inch chassis speakers very cheaply. Ergo, when the JBLs got fried, we replaced them with SROs, which also eventually got fried. But we liked them a lot.

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“Contacting Electro-Voice about recones, they said sure, but what about the mics and speaker systems we make? I went over to see them and that’s how the relationship began.” This deal gave the company a unique competitive price advantage in South Africa.

“Here I am, not yet 30, financially comfortable and yet I could already see everything potentially going wrong, with the ‘big fish in small pond’ syndrome and debauchery constantly just around the corner.”

Meanwhile, back in the UK, Simon had been clicking his heels away from the industry, largely mired in administrative office work.

The chance to end this ennui and return to South Africa came just before Sun City was due to open in 1979 and he and his South African wife were lured back to the Southern Hemisphere. “Tony asked me to come back and join him at Prosound because they could not find good personnel locally,” said Simon.

At the risk of straining a relationship between the brothers and Prosound, Tony took the decision to move on, and after working with well known Detroit FOH engineer, Frank Fisher – known for his work with OJays and Earl Klugh – headed off to Michigan.

“I had just got married and a few weeks later left for the States with my wife Sharon. I wanted to get back to engineering and be more hands on instead of managing a large number of people,” explained Tony. But during the year it took Tony to extricate himself from South Africa, Frank Fisher, in cutting ties with his then business partner, had effectively gone bankrupt.

“My plan to obtain a green card via an old USA / UK treaty trader relationship and to invest in a US business, was torpedoed, as there was now no business to invest in. I wanted to go back to South Africa but Sharon said ‘no way, there has to be another plan’. So instead of paying me the money he owed me I asked Frank to buy two one way tickets to London.”

Moving to Chiswick in 1982, Tony started making furniture in Fulham while looking for a position in the industry. But stopping off for a pint in Notting Hill one day he heard the unmistakeable Scottish tones of Tam Fairgrieve, a backline tech – with Andy Summers of The Police – whom Tony had met on a Bay City Rollers tour. “I had contacted everyone in the pro audio industry but not had a squeak back from anyone. Tam said, ‘let me make a call’. Next day John Denby from Entec contacted me from Shepperton Studios and said he needed someone to replace Mark Burgin, who was leaving.”

The two struck up a friendship and shortly before Mark was about to leave, Tony received a phone call out of the blue from Larry Frandsen, President of Electro-Voice Europe (and later head of Mark IV Audio Europe). “He wanted to come and see me.”

Electro-Voice had its own office in Hove under Gulton UK (Gulton Industries were the owners of Electro-Voice at the time) but Larry decided to shut this when Tony agreed to set up an independent distribution operation to manage the Electro-Voice brand.

“After dinner, and breakfast the following morning, the conversation went something like ‘can you have an office running by Monday?’ I had no resources so replied, ‘Monday might be tight, how about Tuesday?’

“I went back to Entec and said to Mark, ‘you are off tomorrow, and I am too’. Mark wanted to know what I planned to do and after I explained he said, ‘that sounds like fun, let’s go and see my old man’.

Mark’s father agreed to bankroll the new operation and the following day a £20K line of credit was set up.” By July 1982 they were open for business and Shuttlesound was born as Electro-Voice’s new UK HQ. I recall visiting the preppy young Tony and Mark at the beginning of 1983 and listening to their impressive and pragmatic approach to marketing from their base at 200 New Kings Road, the company subsequently operated from Wandsworth and later Mitcham. At that time, with the club world booming yet still largely relying on old

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INDUSTRY EXPERTS INTERVIEW

“But I wanted to start my own company. Why do it again?

Because it’s what I know.”

– Simon Oates

“No, you wanted to do it because you didn’t do it correctly the first time.” – Tony Oates

fashioned disco boxes designed for the mobile DJ, the incipient Shuttlesound faced a major challenge to ramp up Electro-Voice’s market share, and I seem to recall succeeded when Peter Gatien’s high-profile nightclub Limelight opened in a converted London West End church.

But by 1994 the marriage had been dissolved. After a year of attrition Tony left the company he had started to set up Fuzion – with Gary Ashton and Paul Ward – the name taken from graffiti he had seen on a railway wall. “It had all got very messy and after completing my gardening leave several of our previous suppliers followed me to Fuzion – in fact all except Electro-Voice.”

Included in the product mix was Nexo. “At the first distributor meeting at Frankfurt in 1995 I told them all the things that were wrong with the company, somewhat harshly. I expected to be fired at my private meeting with them the following day. However, Nexo co-owners Micky Johnson and Eric Vincenot, after a long night with a bottle of single Malt, decided that what I had said was fairly accurate.

They asked if I was prepared to join them and fix the issues.

“So I joined the board of Nexo with the clear objective of building the brand globally and eventually floating some of the company on Libre Marche once the bulk was there.

“Apart from the first six months of Fuzion while setting it up and getting operational I was never involved 24/7 with the business. But my position did enhance Fuzion’s abilities to do the ‘big deals’ in the UK and the synergy was good.” The Nexo role lasted until 2000 by which time Tony was already planning his next global relocation.

“One winter’s morning I woke up and realised I didn’t want to be here any more! I needed a warm place in a third world market with proper potential for growth – as opposed to stealing from each other.” Bangkok beckoned and in 2001 Fuzion Far East (FFE) was established to service the Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodian markets. “I would have been happy at any number of places but Thailand very quickly felt like home and I fitted in very easily.”

He had already become acquainted with Sutat ‘Pok’ Kohkiat of Mr Team fame, as he was the Nexo distributor at the time. However, distribution was very much second fiddle to Pok’s production business. “I said how about me bankrolling a proper distribution business?” So in 2001 the operation started, along with Varuit Rattapong, equally well-known in the Thai market.

Meanwhile, back in South Africa, Simon had ended his 18 year stint with Prosound when the time-honoured ‘difference of opinion’ called time on proceedings. “This had included eventually assembling the Electro-Voice cone drivers and even BGW amplifiers. We did the

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sound in FNB Stadium for Mandela’s release, at just 48 hours’ notice, for over 150 000 people. The stadium was capable of half of that. We also did the Namibian Independence Celebrations and South Africa’s Inauguration.

“But I wanted to start my own company. Why do it again? Because it’s what I know.” “No,” Tony suddenly interjected. “You wanted to do it because you didn’t do it correctly the first time.”

The groundwork was done at the NSCA Exhibition in 1995 and the new company Tadco was ready to blast off in July that year. Despite minimal funding Simon immediately built momentum with Nexo, Kelsey, Sabine and a couple of other smaller lines.

So how did the Tadco name originate? “Well in South Africa the name had to be descriptive,” he explained. “I discussed ‘The Audio Distribution Company’ with Tony and there was a good acronym staring me in the face.

“Crown had initially stayed with Prosound but we won them over – and in fact Tony and I had been the last independent distributors of Crown before its distribution reverted to Harman and Camco filled the breach.”

The departure of Crown had been a particularly sad day for Fuzion after Harman President, Mark Terry, announced the decision to homogenise all the brands. Crown had been a huge revenue spinner for both factions. “Crown actually fought very hard on our behalf but finally we reached an agreement and we parted ways. We did well with Camco for a while but there were mistakes and internal issues,” said Tony enigmatically.

The departure of Crown set in train a litany of unfortunate circumstances, with Nexo also changing its business model in 2009, relegating Fuzion from distributor status to that of mere ‘dealer’.

Tony remains fairly sanguine about the French company’s decision.

“It was understandable. Everyone that Nexo was up against was going direct so it was obvious the model would need to change.

When they announced the Yamaha acquisition we were still involved and it was a year or two later that the decision was made.”

But recently VUE Audiotechnik, the company set up by US industry heavyweights Ken Berger and Jim Sides, pacted with Fuzion UK, and has the makings of something that ticks all the right boxes.

For all the other eclectic brands Fuzion has represented, their major investment in Kelsey Acoustics custom cable had also seemed something of a masterstroke and provided a continuing legacy for Richard Vickers’ company. “It came about as a promise to Richard on his deathbed to keep the company going,” said Tony. “The integration into Fuzion was a fraught process at first but it eventually

worked out very well.”

Simon also reflected philosophically on the development of Tadco from the bedrock of earlier brands. “We sold Lab.gruppen through the local distributor, but when the opportunity arose to take on Crown – a product we had handled in my previous company – we took the opportunity. We also offered dBTechnologies but then met Mark Ladewig from Group Technologies in Australia. Having lost the RCF distribution after the Mackie takeover, he took on Nexo and started looking at a Group Technologies solution for the more entry level part of the market in the form of Quest Engineering. Mark sent me a couple of sample speakers, plugged them up and I believe we were his first export client. We’ve never looked back. It is the most incredible product with the most incredible people. But then so are Camco, DiGiCo, Nexo and Coda!”

Simon also later engaged in a joint venture with Ofer Lapid at Gearhouse, in 2004 forming TLDC (The Lighting Distribution Company). “This was largely to keep High End Systems alive in South Africa but we also brought in Milos and Jands, and branched out to include Christie projectors. Welcome to the world of AV.” However, the AV arm was recently severed when Tadco decided to make changes to its business model. “We needed to refocus on what we do best and that’s audio,” rationalised Simon. Today, lighting distribution in the region is largely controlled by near neighbours DWR, with whom Tadco enjoys a close working relationship.

This strategic move also forms part of the recovery plan following two particularly bad trading years. In 2008 the global economic crisis took root, from which South Africa was not exempt, followed by the local impact on the 2010 FIFA World Cup, followed by further currency fluctuation. “A lot of audio kit flooded into the country for the World Cup, much of it without a home. And in the last four months, due to the devaluation of the Rand, we have lost over 20% against the EUR, USD and GBP currencies. This really hurts,” he admitted.

On the supply side, Tadco has been able to relocate to new premises around 50 square metres bigger than its old building. “The fact that it is on a single level allows us a lot more floor space to work in, with a demo room and the footfall synergy that occurs through having DWR as near neighbours, which is a further bonus. But the real thing here is that we are separate companies and Tadco works with all distributors. Synergy is king.”

Simon’s Tadco operation is supported by a loyal, long serving and competent team. This includes three family members, Roz, his wife of 32 years, Josh his son, and daughter Lexi.

“It was never pre-ordained, and although Roz has handled Tadco’s books since inception, she is actually a potter and artist.

Lexi trained as a somatologist but the hours were long, the pay was crap and the appreciation non-existent. Instead she has grown into an amazing asset for us. Josh studied BCom Marketing and drifted into Tadco with some pretty cool new ways of looking at things and has been here ever since.” – Simon Oates

INDUSTRY EXPERTS INTERVIEW distribution model is failing in Europe where the trend towards single point distribution is well entrenched. The customers know what they want, how to use it and have a very clear idea of the global street price due to the success of operations like Thomann, Sweetwater, Musicians Friend and so on. There are scenarios where language is an issue but each country has its ‘communities’ who network on social sites in their native language so the answers are typically available. It’s a product, in a box, at a price and shipped anywhere. In other parts of the world, MI distribution remains realistic, but one wonders for how long.”

What does remain of the distribution model, he believes, resides in the ‘solutions’ business of pro audio.

“Dealing with products which are too

The Tadco team

Trimming the number of brands has been just one of a number of new strategies implemented by Simon. “This has allowed us to identify and focus on those that we feel are integral to the company and our offering to our clients; each one is a dominant force within its own sphere. But we learn from our mistakes.”

His optimism for the future is based on the size of the continent. “Sub Saharan Africa is ‘nebulous anamorphic’ by description. Africa has 54 countries and most people could not name 20!” In fact Tadco has had a permanent base in Kampala, Uganda for the past five years which deals with East Africa and has also opened offices in Lagos, Nigeria.

“Africa is going to be huge, that much is clear as day, and business from north of our borders is increasing.”

Creating a company that pumps gear into this market is easy, the goal is to not only to raise the standard in terms of the quality of kit available but to increase the knowledge and service of the companies and uplift the operators to international standards. We work together with SARA (South African Roadies Association) – a grass roots, non-profit organisation, headed by Freddie Nyathela – to train people in the technical skills of this industry. It is so cool that many of the rental companies in S.A. are supportive. That is my passion and the way I have geared Tadco.” And as mission statements go, is pretty damned commendable.

Back in Thailand, Fuzion Far East has also cemented its success as a pure distribution company with a relocation to new custom built premises last year. It did so by merging several fire damaged units to create a modern 16 000 square foot space with warehousing, offices, showrooms and service facilities close to its previous premises in East Bangkok’s RCA (Royal City Avenue). Its success continues unabated.

Both operations have highly selective brand portfolios. Thailand’s aim has always been straight and true, and Tadco’s fortunes also seem to have turned the corner. But is there still a future for the distributor in the modern age, can the distribution model remain intact? Once again Tony remains both pragmatic and enigmatic and Simon nodded in agreement.

“The answer is both yes and no,” he said. “For sure, the MI

14

complex and specialised for a social network to overcome the issues.

Language translation in some territories also becomes a vital factor. For instance, many customers simply cannot converse in, or understand English, written or verbal. Furthermore, there is still a massive amount of misunderstanding and bullshit surrounding complex sound systems and even not-so-complex systems.”

“The distributor needs to provide training, support and brand management on behalf of the manufacturer – and deal with complicated logistics, funding and after sales support issues – which often demand a visit to site. The more tangible the level of solution provided, the higher the margin all round.

“Conversely, a rental company may have all the knowledge and skills in-house so one might have to accept a lower margin on sales of such items as part of a brand mix.”

As an indicator to the future, Fuzion UK recently celebrated its first major London West End installation success with VUE Audiotechnik, symbolically opening a new chapter as it sets out to build the next hot loudspeaker brand.

Tony on his website, said: “We strive to be a ‘fun’ company to do business with.” Simon added playfully that he will always be more fun than Tony, so its clearly central to both men’s ethos. Mark Burgin once famously told me: “If we had run our business in the ‘80s the way we are having to run it in the ‘90s we would be seriously rich.” Or words to that effect. But that was before anodyne replaced outrage in the industry canon. We were all either guilty or take full credit, depending on your perspective.

Whether Tony regrets that or not, he remains a streetfighter – a word coincidentally used on the Fuzion website – and quintessentially feisty, believing that “the demise of both of our companies was caused by key people who we had supported above and beyond, although in the end it’s totally our fault.” Dammit, it seems I even hold my own personal place somewhere on Tony Oates’ wall of shame!

But both men remain survivors, and as more and more ‘emerging countries’ finally come out on the world map, their combined knowledge will be indispensable. As Tony and Simon put it: “As long as we continue to focus on what we are good at, we will be fine.”

This story was published courtesy of Mondo DR.

INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION INFOCOMM REPORT

InfoComm 2014 InfoComm 2014, the international conference and exhibition for professional audiovisual buyers and sellers took place from 1 4 to 20 June this year.

A massive 37 048 professionals from 114 countries flocked to the Las Vegas Convention Center for InfoComm this year, which saw a 5.5% increase in attendance from 2013. There were 947 exhibitors participating at InfoComm last month. Exhibitors occupied more than 490 000 net square feet of exhibition and special events space.

More than 10 000 of the hottest technology products from more than 950 companies were featured for the business, government, military, education, worship, healthcare, hospitality, retail and entertainment markets.

The event provides the multi-billion dollar industry and its customers with a thriving show floor, along with education and training.

Attendees heard from leading audio brands in demo rooms and on the show floor, and connected with collaborative conferencing in the United Communications and Collaboration Pavilion. Attendees also viewed the latest in signs at the Digital Signage Pavilion and experienced the latest in illumination and production in the Lighting and Staging Pavilion.

The Technologies for Worship Pavilion featured the latest AV technology applied for House of Worship staff and volunteers, while the new Security Pavilion featured the latest technology solutions.

“The AV industry continues to grow each year and the demand for AV technology, including control systems, conferencing, digital signage and networked audio has increased dramatically in the built environment, says David Labuskes, CEO and Executive Director of InfoComm. “Audiences expect to be amazed at live events. This interest has resulted in a thriving show, and I’m certain that InfoComm 2014 attendees experienced technologies that they hadn’t seen anywhere else.”

InfoComm is often praised by attendees and exhibitors as the ‘can’t miss’ technology show of the year because of its ability to interact with all segments of the industry in just a few days, while having the opportunity to attend a wide range of educational sessions offered by InfoComm University and partner groups.

More than 5 700 seats were filled at the InfoComm University sessions, which provided practical training and attracted the industry’s best and brightest instructors and students. The courses were on topics ranging from acoustics to videoconferencing, the popular courses included BYODs: The New Reality, The Future of Video Collaboration, CTS Prep, Designing Classrooms; and 4K is Here: Are You Ready For It? With two-thirds of all of the education sessions being new, technology managers flocked to the inaugural InfoComm’s Solutions Summits on UCC and Digital Signage, attracting more than 500 participants.

Beyond the show floor, AV Technology Tours allowed attendees to see installed AV projects in action and networking activities brought everyone together, which allowed for the development of meaningful conversations and relationships.

InfoComm also featured a Solutions Summit that began before the show and offered related sessions available throughout the week.

16

There was Digital Signage and UCC tracks, with the flexibility to move amongst sessions. In addition, InfoComm International marked its 75th anniversary with an awards dinner.

Industry outlook A new study by Acclaro Growth Partners projects that audiovisual products and services will become a $116 billion global industry by 2016. The 2014 Global AV Market Definition and Strategy Study, conducted on behalf of InfoComm International, is the only worldwide study aimed at sizing the commercial audiovisual industry.

The growth of conferencing, signal management, AV acquisition and delivery equipment and streaming media resulted in an 11% compound annual growth in demand for AV products and services between 2012 and 2016. The study finds that the audiovisual industry currently generates $92 billion a year. Further industry growth is anticipated.

INFOCOMM REPORT INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION

AV applications such as displays, AV acquisition and delivery, projectors, signal management and processing, and sound reinforcement are expected to drive future growth. The fastestgrowing product categories are control systems, software, AV acquisition and delivery, and displays. Over time AV systems have become complex and essential to the operation of government, institutions and corporations, resulting in a growing need for service contracts.

The corporate, venues/events and government/military markets are the three largest consumers of audiovisual products and services.

However, hospitality is the fastest growing market for AV goods and services. The increased need for communication and collaboration in these environments is fuelling a reliance on AV and reinforcing the importance of industry trade shows like InfoComm.

InfoComm 2014 was platinum sponsored by Crestron, Microsoft, Panasonic and Samsung, and was Gold sponsored by Aurora, Blackmagic Design, Christie Digital, Epson, NEC and Ricoh.

“The AV industry continues to grow each year and the demand for AV technology, including control systems, conferencing, digital signage and networked audio has increased dramatically in the built environment.”

– David Labuskes, CEO and Executive Director of InfoComm

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INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION INFOCOMM REPORT

Feedback from InfoComm We caught up with some of the local representatives that attended InfoComm this year, here’s what they had to say…

Wynand Langenhoven (Peripheral Vision) InfoComm was good as always, more or less the same size as last year. There was lots of hype around new acquisitions and new product releases. I only got to attend two days of the show so I didn’t get to see as much as I would have liked to.

From an AMX point of view their new messaging concept was ‘to think big we have to go small’ so they had a very good product set in terms of the larger expensive technologies and they have now filled the gap at the lower end with products that make up much better solutions with complete AMX solutions from beginning to end. NEC also launched a couple of new products and there were impressive exhibitions from Arthur Holm and Sound Control Technologies. Arthur Holm is a very high end motorised monitor that comes out of a board room table and allows you to have a local view of whatever it is you wish to view. We’re going to be doing a product launch on Arthur Holm and Sound Control Technologies in August and there’s been quite a lot of hype around it.

Bruce Genricks (Electrosonic SA) The show was well attended with the popular stands being crowded most of the time. There seemed to be a real buzz on the floor and I got the feeling that serious business was being conducted.

4K video was a prominent theme throughout the exhibition space. 4K cameras, media servers, switches, distribution amplifiers, projectors, range extenders and even LED video displays were on display. Most of the 4K products on display were prototypes, some however were already in production. HDbaseT continues to dominate the video over Cat5 technology. More manufacturers are adopting this technology than ever before. Collaboration was prominent on a number of stands, with innovative new wireless technologies demonstrated.

“Bring your own device” (BYOD) is the new buzzword in the industry.

This simply means that employees are now bringing their own devices to work (tablets, smart phones, laptops, etc) and expect to be able to present directly from them. Intergrators now need to cater for this wide variety of devices in training, meeting and boardrooms.

Trevor Peters (Matrix Sound) InfoComm is always a very well organised event, geared to make things as easy as possible for visitors. International visitors are offered opportunities to attend networking functions at no additional cost.

The buzzword was 4K or UHD, all manufacturers were either presenting their Ultra High Definition video product or in the process of embracing this latest technology. Large screen UHD blends and UHD LCD displays were very impressive.

We have acquired the ARX agency and are in talks for the distribution of a range of digital audio products as well as audiovisual content servers.

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Rupert Denoon (Crestron South Africa) InfoComm is a wonderful trade show that seems to grow every year, it has created an environment for audio visual professionals to get together and exchange ideas, showcase new products and help to build our industry.

Walking through the various exhibition floors one could clearly see that 4K was on everyone’s minds, if you weren’t looking at 4K or designing products that could transport or display 4K you were simply behind. Around the exhibition floors many different 4K logos were present, exhibitors advertising 4K, and a lot of discussions were also around 4K 60Hz video capability.

InfoComm also started to bring in scholars to these trade shows to introduce them to our wonderful industry, these programmes are important to the growth and future of the audio visual industry.

Also for the first time at a trade show Crestron, setup two technical areas to show people how their 4k/ digital technology works giving live demonstrations of signal handling and showing the difference between a good and bad signal.

JP van Niekerk (Dimension Data) It was a really good show this year and definitely worth while attending, especially since I did not attend ISE earlier this year. It was particularly interesting to see the reaction and outcome of a couple of big announcements in the industry this year, like Harman acquiring AMX and Microsoft Exhibiting at InfoComm for the first time.

The following trends and products caught my eye: • Digital Audio Processing / Distribution: Further development of Dante digital audio-enabled products from Biamp, BSS Sound Web, Kramer, Shure, ClearOne. Williams Sound – Hearing Hotspot which can stream 56 audio channels to hundreds of users’ smart devices via Wi-Fi. • Unified Communications: Acano and Blue Jeans networks with their cost effective bridging / conferencing and collaboration solutions.

• Wireless Presentation and Collaboration: Mersive – Solstice 2.0, Kramer – VIA Collage, AMX – Enzo, Christie – Brio, Crestron – AirMedia.

• Video Conferencing and Cameras: Cisco – SX80 Integration Condeco, Vaddio – RoboSHOT Cameras.

• 4K / UHD: 4K Switching form Crestron, LG’s range of 4K displays, Christie’s 4K Projection options.

• Indoor LED Panels: Christie – Velvet LED Cubes, Planar Esdlumen – Mini Series, Barco – LiveDots.

• High Lumen Laser Projectors for all the big manufacturers: Christie, Panasonic, Barco, Sony, NEC.

Live controlled Mixtrack Pro II “The world’s #1 DJ controller is now even better.”

N4 “four decks of software control plus a built-in mixer that can be used with or without a computer.”

Mixtrack Quad “Mixtrack Quad is a fully interactive instrument for modern mixing. ”

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INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION INFOCOMM REPORT

InfoComm products InfoComm 2014, as always, provided the platform for countless industry products to be showcased and released…

Absen launched U1.9 at InfoComm this year. U1.9（Pixel Pitch: 1.9mm）is a HD LED display which boasts exceptional gray scale representation even when brightness is reduced to 20%. Its in-house developed unique technology successfully solves first line dimming problems, ensuring excellent display uniformity.

A specially designed Information Display Window indicates cumulative usage time, working voltage, working temperature, and other parameters, which also supports one-button settings and one-button testing.

As the substitute for LCD and DLP products, U1.9 can provide high quality display service in information communication, branding and advertising.

Distributed by Absen. www.absen.com

Allen & Heath unveiled Qu-32, a 32 fader, 38 in / 28 out digital mixer joining the rackmount Qu-16 and compact Qu-24.

Qu-32 shares the Qu series key features, such as total recall of settings, Qu-Drive integrated multi-track recorder, dSNAKE for remote I/O and personal monitoring, multi-channel USB streaming, Qu-Pad control app, and the renowned iLive FX Library to deliver class-leading audio quality. It comes with a larger, 7” touchscreen and 33 motorised faders.

Key to the design was providing a dedicated fader per mic input channel while retaining a compact footprint, the Qu series distinctive styling, and extensive I/O, comprising 32 mic/line inputs, 3 stereo inputs, 24 mix outputs including two Stereo Matrix mix outputs and four stereo groups with full processing, patchable AES digital output with a further 2-channel ALT output, dedicated Talkback mic pre input, and 2-track output.

AMX announced new enhancements to its Enzo® content sharing and conferencing platform. AMX announced the addition of screen mirroring of laptop and mobile device content. It also previewed upcoming support for web conferencing and simplified launching of Enzo sessions right from a touch panel or keypad. Enzo was designed as an application-based platform to give meeting attendees choices in deciding how they want to present and share content in meetings.

In addition to retrieving content from cloud-based storage, the Web or a local USB drive, meeting participants are now able to instantly screen mirror content from their laptop (Windows®/Mac® OS X), smartphone or tablet. Powered by industry-leading MirrorOp® wireless mobile content sharing technology, users can quickly and easily share their screens with just a click. AMX also eased life for integrators by adding the ability to create Enzo session macros using the AMX Rapid Project Maker (RPM) configuration tool.

AMX® also introduced its new Sereno Video Conferencing

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Camera, part of the AMX Enzo® platform. Sereno provides essential features for small room conferencing in an attractive design and affordable price. In addition to high definition AV capture, Sereno also includes two important features rarely found in an affordable camera: a way to ensure that everyone in the room can be seen during a web conference and the option to disable the camera and microphone to safeguard sensitive meetings.

Another new release by AMX® at InfoComm this year was the NetLinx® NX Series Controllers to support the increasing number of IP-controlled AV products being managed across corporate networks, driving the need for increased performance and network security.

The new, next generation NX Controllers include IPv6 and 802.1x security support for connection to the enterprise network as well as dual NIC functionality to completely isolate IP-controlled AV devices from the network. These features not only enhance security but drastically reduce the number of IP addresses required for AV technology implementations.

Distributed by Peripheral Vision: www.peripheralvision.co.za

Arthur Holm displayed the following products: Dynamic3 with dual retractable microphone is a fully motorised screen which opens, closes and rotates 180 degrees.

ARTHUR HOLM showed a special version during InfoComm which adds double retractable “gooseneck” microphones enabling one monitor to be shared and used by 2 conference’s attendants. Both the screen and the microphones can be independently controlled, offering a totally versatile solution. The system is entirely built in milled anodised aluminium and can be recessed into the table desk, leaving a perfectly clean working surface, thus, enhancing the workspace flexibility.

Dynamic3 is not only unique in terms of aesthetics, but also because of its functionality; the screen rises and leans, has an additional 180 degrees rotation movement, and retracts inside the work surface in two different positions, with the screen oriented up or down.

Dynamic1H is a new motorised monitor provides a horizontal motorised movement and the screen is always visible. It raises and it leans within the desk surface and can be stopped at any position between 0 and 80 degrees. A smart memory system will make easy setting up and recalling the desired tilt position. Built entirely of aluminium and finished with a black edged anti-glare glass (which can be turned into a multi-touch screen as an option), it takes a minimum depth. It is ideal for auditorium, reception desks, and meeting, conference and training rooms.

DynamicVision is a motorised wall mount for videoconference cameras, unveiling the camera upon request through RS422, AHnet, Infrared and Contact closer. The front enclosure moves vertically up or down and a tray moves the camera forward simultaneously.

Distributed by Peripheral Vision: www.peripheralvision.co.za

Long-Lasting Reliability and High Picture Quality • • • •

Dynamic light control achieves high 10,000:1 contrast ratio.

System Daylight View 2 enhances color perception with no need to turn off the lights.

A laser light source and durable optical system allow approx. 20,000 hours of continuous operation.

Dust Resistant Optical Engine allows filterfree design.

Expanding Installation Flexibility

Professional System Integration

•

• •

• • •

Multi-Screen Support System seamlessly connects multiple screens – Edge blending, Color matching and Multi-screen processor.

Multi-Unit Brightness Control function.

Lens-centered design.

Omnidirectional installation capability – With the PT-RZ670 Series, projection is possible in any direction vertically and horizontally, and the unit can be rotated 360 degrees for installation at any angle.

• • • •

DIGITAL LINK – the Single Cable Solution.

Art-Net compatibility simplifies system integration.

Abundant terminals, including SDI (3G/HD/SD), DVI-D and HDMI inputs.

Multi Projector Monitoring and Control Software allows multiple projectors to be managed together over a wired LAN. Web Browser Control.

Optional Early Warning Software ET-SWA100 Series compatible.

Contact: Johan Oosthuizen: (011) 313 1615 • joosthuizen@pansolutions.co.za • www.pansolutions.co.za

INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION INFOCOMM REPORT Barco expanded its projection portfolio for rental and staging with the unveiling of a brandnew three-chip DLP projector, the new HDQ-4K35. Offering a brightness level of 35 000 centre lumens, the brand-new HDQ-4K35 is capable of showing native 4K content at 60Hz frame rates. It features a unique integrated design with internal power supply, rental frame and no external chimney fan. What’s more, the HDQ-4K35 is fully ready to be combined with Barco’s groundbreaking 4K screen management system, which allows native 4K projector blending – a first in the industry.

Barco also showed their TransForm N and TransForm C controllers allow users to optimally use their pixel real estate to dynamically configure layouts for multiple displays to enhance collaboration. Users can quickly and easily configure a robust common operational picture with unlimited perspectives to view better, share faster and resolve quicker.

Also on the stand was ClickShare which makes it easy for anyone to share their content with the click of a button. Integrated with Barco business projectors, high-resolution video walls and any computing device, ClickShare brings meetings to life, enhancing collaboration for faster decision-making.

Cisco showed its new DX70 and DX80 desktop collaboration devices.

Similar to how smart phones revolutionised our mobile lives, the Android-based DX70 and DX80 streamline and simplify our work lives by providing access to all the top tools and applications that highly collaborative work requires.

Cisco also showed its new Collaboration Meeting Rooms (CMRs).

CMRs provide everyone with their own personal, private, alwaysavailable video collaboration space in the cloud. These rooms give you the ability to host meetings where attendees can join from the device of their choice—whether they choose a Cisco® video endpoint, many other standards-based video endpoints, desktop or mobile clients (such as WebEx), or even a soft client like Microsoft Lync to join your private cloud meeting room.

Christie debuted the Christie Velvet LED line of built-to-order, high resolution indoor LED panels. Seamless to integrate and available in various pixel pitches, Christie’s LED tiles display stunning content that helps businesses creatively connect their brand message to their audiences. The LEDs are well-suited to various indoor applications where 24/7/365 reliability is required.

Christie® also introduced Brio Team at InfoComm. Designed for smaller meeting spaces in corporate, academic and government facilities, Christie Brio Team allows users to wirelessly connect up to five computers, smart phones and tablets to share information securely on a larger display while streaming audio through a meeting room’s sound system. Brio Team doesn’t require LAN access and the unit works effortlessly using software interfaces already integrated into standard PC, Mac or Android laptops, tablets and smartphone devices, with no additional software apps or external dongles.

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Clear-Com showed the HelixNet family of products, and also presented three new product additions: • HRM-4X Remote Station provides the intercom functionality of the Main Station but without powering the system or housing interfaces, and is therefore a more compact unit. The Remote Station provides access to four simultaneous channels of intercom communication, plus programme audio. It receives audio data, control data, and DC power via the same cable, and additionally has the capability to be locally powered via an external power supply or use Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) connection.

• HKB-2X Speaker Station receives four channels of intercom communications simultaneously over a single cable, and is able to monitor all four and communicate on any two of those channels at any given time. The user can also receive and monitor a separate level-controllable program feed. It can be mounted in a 4-gang wall box or be used with the optional S-Mount enclosure.

• S-Mount is an attractive yet durable mount that enables the Speaker Station to be used in portable applications. It can be surface mounted or set as a desktop, enclosed and secure. The mount and display can be easily adjusted to different angles to better suit the user’s requirement. It includes a DC Power connector and XLR-3M and XLR-3F Powerline Intercom Ports for easy connection, additionally it has the capability to be locally powered via an external power supply or use Power-overEthernet (PoE) connection.

Distributed by Tadco: www.tadco.co.za

Crestron showed, for the first time, their new TST-902 which delivers all of the dedicated control of TSW touch screens in a wireless tablet that doesn’t require WiFi. The Crestron TST-902 Advanced Wireless Touch Screen delivers enhanced wireless control, voice command recognition, and web browsing all in a thin and stylish design. Even better, primary touch screen functionality is supported via Crestron ER wireless communications, lessening or eliminating the need for WiFi. Crestron also debuted a full line up of DigitalMedia™ 4K products.

DM 4K products that debuted at InfoComm include: • DM-RMC-4K-SCALER-C – 4K DM receiver and room controller with scaler • DM-RMC-4K-100-C-1G – Single-gang wall plate 4K DM receiver and room controller • DM-TX-4K-100-C-1G – Single-gang wall plate 4K DM transmitter • DMC-4K-C – 4K DM Input card • DMC-4K-C-DSP – 4K DM Input card with down mixing • HD-DA2-4K-E, HD-DA4-4K-E and HD-DA8-4K-E distribution amplifiers The 16-Channel Analog Audio Breakout Box (AUD-BOB-1602) also debuted at InfoComm. It provides connections for audio insert/ extract for DM HDMI® input and output blades on a separate rack-mountable box.

Distributed by Electrosonic SA: www.electrosonic.co.za

DiGiCo launched their new D2-Rack. Designed to support and expand the DiGiCo SD Range’s higher sample rate I/O solutions, the D2-Rack comes with either BNC or CAT5 MADI connections, allowing it to be used with a number of DiGiCo consoles. By using the latest converters found in DiGiCo’s SD racks, the D2-rack offers a more compact, efficient and affordable rack solution for connection at either 48kHz or 96kHz with no I/O reduction.

The D2-rack offers two I/O versions: The first features 48 mic inputs, 16 line outputs and two blank output slots allowing an additional 16 outputs in the owner’s desired format (analog, AES and Aviom), while the second offers 24 mic inputs, 24 AES inputs, 16 line outputs and two blank outputs, again permitting an additional 16 outputs in one of three formats.

The D2-rack is currently available for use with SD8 and SD9 systems.

Distributed by Tadco: www.tadco.co.za

Wireless radio communication systems especially developed for professionals in the entertainment industry.

Using VOKKERO up to 6 users can be in continuous, hands-free communication up to 800m.

R49 950 nett incl.

EAW showed Otto – the world’s first Adaptive™ subwoofer. Utilising two offset aperture-loaded woofers paired with independent on-board amplification, processing and networking, Otto extends Adaptive Performance™ to the lowest octaves of the audible spectrum. Otto will perfectly balance low-frequency coverage with cancellation to suit the user’s requirements; omni, cardioid, hyper-cardioid or anywhere in between from just a single module. Combined in arrays, Otto provides users with near endless possibilities in low-frequency pattern control.

Each Otto module includes two high-power 18” cones featuring Offset Aperture™ loading to generate four optimally-spaced acoustical sources; one in each corner. In addition to perfect source spacing for the loudspeaker’s operating range, this loading also provides exceptional efficiency and minimises harmonic distortion, even when the system is driven to maximum levels. Ingenious transducer, port and enclosure design allow Otto to achieve extremely high output levels, while providing impact and lowfrequency extension typical of much larger enclosures.

Distributed by Surgesound: www.surgesound.co.za

Electro-Voice previewed the next generation of its X-Line line-array loudspeaker family.

Two models will be launched later this year – X1 and X2 – and the X1 was on display at InfoComm.

X1: compact 12” vertical line-array loudspeaker system that combines innovative new technologies and features with compact design, enabling its use in a wide variety of applications.

Three new EV technologies form the core of the X1 system: • Mid-Band Hydra (MBH) for superior box coupling • Wavefront-Shaping Circular Hydra (WCH) for extended linear HF performance • Integrated rigging system for quick set up Distributed by Prosound: www.prosound.co.za

Your Solution for all wired and wireless Communications

Green-GO is an all-new communications system which simply plugs into an existing PoE Ethernet network.

For digital voice communication, just connect the outstations you need. All group data is stored locally so there is no need for an expensive central matrix.

(Tel) 011 708 1194 www.soundharmonics.co.za ● sales@soundharmonics.co.za

INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION INFOCOMM REPORT Green Hippo showed AViary Video Tools: The new range of high-resolution players that comprises three new products, Par4Keet, 2Kan and Magpi.

Flagship player Par4Keet calls on Green Hippo’s pedigree in solving the issues of video in challenging environments. Par4Keet is the first video player to combine playback at 4K resolutions and beyond with the benefits of true real time media manipulation and multi-screen configurability, all over standard display cabling and in a robust rack mount casing.

The 2Kan player sports a similar array of tools to Par4Keet in the same chassis but with an output of up to 3 megapixels for applications requiring full functionality and control but at lower video resolutions.

The third product in the AViary Video Tools range is Magpi Player.

For installation professionals who need up to four independent streams of high-definition video or up to six streams of standard definition media, Magpi is a playback device that provides highly configurable media feeds, real time correction and trimming of clips along with a host of tools to tackle the most challenging display setups.

Distributed by Electrosonic SA: www.electrosonic.co.za

HARMAN’s JBL Professional introduced the latest addition to its Control® Contractor 60 Series pendant loudspeakers with the new Control 60PS/T pendant subwoofer. This high-impact pendant subwoofer features built-in passive crossover for up to four satellite loudspeakers.

HARMAN’s JBL Professional also introduced the AWC159 and AWC15LF compact all-weather loudspeakers. Designed to deliver world-class sound quality and high sound level capability for outdoor applications, their wide-range, smooth frequency response and high sensitivity ensure high-fidelity music reproduction and superb projection of clear, intelligible speech.

Distributed by Wild and Marr: www.wildandmarr.co.za

Kramer & Sierra Video showcased a number of products: The VIA Collage™ Wireless Collaboration device from Kramer Electronics allows people to meet smarter. The VIA Collage solves BYOD challenges and allows for the effective integration of PC, Mac, iOS and Android devices, allowing users to wirelessly collaborate in any meeting.

The VP-773AMP incorporates many technology advancements including the ability to set an EDID for each input of the unit, ensuring connected sources will send the best signal possible to match the display. The VP-773AMP also includes a unique ‘emergency alert’ feature that will allow any video screen connected to a VP-773AMP to instantly display an alert message.

The VP-794 is a high-performance scaler/switcher with edgeblending and warp processing developed specifically for multiple screen applications.

K-Touch allows you to turn common touch screen devices into interfaces that can communicate with Kramer control systems over standard IT networks.

Kramer offers new families of speakers, being the Galil, Yarden and Tavor lines of speakers. The Galil family is a line of value oriented closed back ceiling and on-wall commercial speakers for AV. The Yarden family is a high performance line of closed back ceiling,

24

ceiling tile and on-wall commercial speakers with Kevlar woofers and where applicable, Titanium Tweeters. The Tavor models are powered ceiling tile and on-wall speakers that also have Kevlar woofers and Titanium tweeters. All speakers can operate as either 70V or 100V and are 8ohm.

Distributed by Electrosonic SA: www.electrosonic.co.za

L’Acoustics announced its new K2 line source array loudspeaker system featuring PANFLEX™ technology. The successor to L-ACOUSTICS’ industry-changing V-DOSC® system, K2 offers K1 performance in a rescaled package that makes it flexibly well-suited for both permanent installation and touring applications, from theatre to stadium productions. The primary system components include: • K2 full-range element with PANFLEX™ horizontal steering, operating from 35Hz to 20kHz. • K1-SB low-frequency element reinforcing LF contour down to 30Hz or LF throw down to 35Hz. • SB28 low-frequency element extending the operating bandwidth down to 25Hz. • LA4X / LA8 amplified controllers or LA-RAK touring rack fitted with three LA8.

K2 employs L-Acoustics’ new PANFLEX, a unique horizontal steering technology that combines mechanically adjustable fins with DSP algorithms effective from 300Hz. Four different settings are possible: two symmetric (70° or 110°) and two asymmetric (90° as 35°/55° or 55°/35°). Narrowing or widening the horizontal directivity can serve many purposes: adapt to the width of the listening area, fit long and short distance coverage/SPL requirements, reduce or extend overlapping areas and avoid reflecting surfaces.

Distributed by Sound Harmonics: www.soundharmonics.net

Martin Professional showed the MAC Quantum Wash and its new family member, the MAC Quantum Profile.

Also, the family of VC-Grids and VC-strips were on display. More grids and strips have been added to fit the requirements and demands for different pixel pitch in various projects. A new powerful unit to the award-winning P3 system controller family, the P3-300 was also presented.

A selection of the popular M-series consoles were also shown: M-Series software has been released in version 3.4 which brings tons of new features and improvements, including fully synchronised networking and several new user views.

Distributed by Electrosonic SA: www.electrosonic.co.za

NEC launched its new PA Series, which is the first projector range to offer a 4k interface for multi-screen display compatibility.

Outstanding picture quality is guaranteed with NEC’s third generation Sweetvision, high brightness levels, and NEC’s scaler chip.

The new PA522U offers rich connectivity with a wide range of inputs and excellent installation capability making it ideal for corporates, higher education, museums, and signage applications in large rooms and auditoriums.

The benefits include: easy installation, up to 4k interface, HDMI-out signal loop through, built-in signal splitter and edge blending capability enables large presentation pictures without any external devices. Free download of multi-display management software, highest brightness, very low cost of ownership, wide application support, rich connectivity, and perfect image quality. This unit also displays 3D images and is capable of receiving direct HDBaseT signals.

Distributed by Electrosonic SA: www.electrosonic.co.za

INFOCOMM REPORT INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION Panasonic showed the

Shure Inc. showed the QLX-D™ Digital

world’s first laser light source – their brand new 1-Chip DLP™ projectors, models PT-RZ670B/W and PTRW630B/W. Main features: • The world’s first laser light source 1-chip DLP™ projectors with 6 000 lumens of brightness.

• Bright, beautiful picture quality for a long period of time.

• Reliable drive system enables continuous 24/7 operation with no downtime.

• Laser light source and filter-less design allow a maintenance-free 20 000 hours.

• Newly designed optical system achieves high reliability and excellent colour reproduction.

• A new liquid cooling system maintains quiet, long-term, stable operation while keeping the exhaust heat extremely low.

• A filter-less, dust-resistant structure with an airtight optical block.

• Detail clarity processor 3 gives natural clarity to even the finest details.

• System daylight view 2 enhances colour perception with no need to turn off the lights.

• Advanced technologies for excellent image quality including

Wireless System. Delivering exceptional wireless performance with transparent 24-bit digital audio, QLX-D is a costeffective solution that features networked control and compatibility with Shure’s intelligent rechargeable battery technology. QLX-D Digital Wireless transmits accurate audio with extended, flat frequency response. The system’s automatic channel scan and IR sync make finding and assigning an open frequency quick and easy.

Also on show by Shure, ShurePlus™ Channels, the Company’s new iOS app, which will be available for free download from the iTunes App Store. Delivering time-saving flexibility and convenience, ShurePlus Channels enables audio professionals to untether themselves from their mixing consoles, hardware racks, and bulky laptops by providing real-time, precision monitoring of select Shure wireless systems. Supported on Apple mobile devices running iOS7, ShurePlus Channels is compatible with Shure Axient®, ULX-D® Digital Wireless, the newly-launched QLX-D™ Digital Wireless System, as well as the PSM®1000 Personal Monitor System.

When connected to your dedicated Wi-Fi network, ShurePlus Channels automatically discovers compatible Shure hardware,

full 10-bit signal processing.

DICOM simulation mode reproduces easy-to-view rendering of X-ray photos.

• Waveform monitor for easy and precise calibration.

Distributed by PanSolutions: www.pansolutions.co.za

offering remote visibility to critical channel information like RF signal strength and interference alerts, audio levels, transmitter battery life and alerts, and other key attributes.

Distributed by Wild and Marr: www.wildandmarr.co.za

•

+27 11 791 7009

sales@tadco.co.za

www.tadco.co.za

25

INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION VENUE INSTALLATION

Hard Rock Café

By Greg Bester

Many people probably don’t know this, but the culinary icon of American cuisine (if you could call it that) and rock and roll sub-culture, the Hard Rock Café, was actually founded in London in 1971. Founders Peter Morton and Isaac Tigrett, two shaggy-haired Americans living in the English city at the time, desired nothing more than to find a decent burger in a locale run amok with Yorkshire puddings, beef wellingtons and mushy peas. The Hard Rock Café was the brainchild of that quest. And who could blame them, right? English gastronomy, some would say, is most likely the grim result of a vicious dare.

Black pudding, anyone?

Nowadays the franchise boasts around 145 cafés worldwide with one of the latest additions being the Johannesburg branch at Nelson Mandela Square in Sandton. Like the rest of the Hard Rock Cafés around the word, the restaurant is an unabashed example of unapologetic Americana, sporting a dazzling collection of bona fide rock and roll memorabilia, a floating constellation of nearly 7 000 drumsticks at the main bar and a full stage for performing bands and artists.

Of course, like many clubs of its persuasion, top notch sound was a must so local distributors and installers of high end audio equipment Wild and Marr supplied and installed the sound system.

Audio Hard Rock has a close association with the Harman Group internationally and so it was a natural progression that the audio system at the Hard Rock Café should be installed by Wild and Marr and coordinated by Technical Manager and Systems Engineer Anton van Wyk. The system was designed to operate in two modes: as a background music system and, when needed, a live music system.

Background music Due to the need for switchable audio distribution, the backbone of the system comprised of a BSS Soundweb London BLU160 signal processor combined with a BLU120 signal expander. The BSS system, since it uses JBL’s proprietary HiQnet digital audio over Ethernet transport protocol, was integrated into the café’s network via a Netgear 48 point network switch and Netgear wireless access point.

System control, therefore, forgoing the more common method of a wall-mounted panel, is handled via the HiQnet London Architect app on a PC or via the HiQnet Motion Control app for iOS. A total of 40 JBL Control 47CT 6.5-inch ceiling speakers and 12 JBL Control 40CST 8-inch ceiling subwoofers were installed into three discrete zones, which were configured to be controlled independently from each other. The retail area and bathrooms received 14 Control 24CM ceiling speakers and four Control 19CST ceiling subwoofers.

As far as powering the system is concerned Van Wyk says: “The ceiling loudspeakers are powered by Crown’s new DCI DriveCore amplifier technology. We used two DCI 4-600 which offer four

26

The Hard Rock Café in Sandton

channels of audio at 600W per channel in a 2U rack mount profile and two DCI 2-300 which offer two channels of audio at 300W per channel in a 2U rack mount profile giving us 6 000W of power just for the ceiling loudspeakers. However this will never be driven to its full potential due to noise restrictions.”

Live Music For the stage, a separate system is supplied for live music. For the main FOH system, four 15-inch, three-way JBL PRX635 were supplied (two cabinets a side) along with two PRX618S-XLF 18-inch selfpowered subwoofers. The XLF suffix to the model name denotes an extended low frequency response that offers a useable range down to 39Hz (-3dB). For stage monitors, four self-powered 10-inch, two-way JBL PRX710Ms were supplied. Since all speakers in the system are active, there was no need for additional amplification.

Van Wyk comments on the audio system: “The reason we chose the PRX 635 was due to the three-way cabinet design and the midrange driver is ideal for vocal and speech reproduction. The PRX635 loudspeakers are extremely ‘flat’ and when we performed the calibration of the system very little EQ was required to get the system linear.”

In live music mode, the ceiling speakers are muted, which activates the live music system. The entire system produces 8 000 watts but because of noise restrictions it will only ever be run at around 60% power.

At FOH a Soundcraft SI Expression is installed, paired to a Soundcraft Mini Stagebox via two CAT5 cables for redundancy. The Mini Stagebox offers 24 inputs and eight outputs. “This enables us to have the minimal amount of cables between the stage and the mixing desk,” says Van Wyk. “Gone are the days of heavy, bulky snakes and people tripping over cables.”

Distributed throughout the stage are four floor boxes to connect microphones and instruments. Wild and Marr provided a custom patch panel system where any of the floor boxes can patch into the system in any configuration for greater flexibility for the sound engineer.

“This installation goes to show that the Harman range of products covers all the requirements there are, from background music all the way to rock bands” says Van Wyk. “It is a turnkey solution from one company.”

Lastly, as their contribution to the Hard Rock legacy, a collection of past and present Shure microphones was donated for display at the reception desk.

The wrap Wild and Marr have once again delivered a robust system using Harman products that are sure to serve the Hard Rock Café for years to come. The JBL/Soundweb combination along with the Soundcraft Expression console is a streamlined solution that supplies a flexible routing option and top quality sound that Wild and Marr have come to be known for in the professional audio, AV and club environment.

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Rent from

TechRig event at Siemens Midrand photographed by Rebecca Hearfield

(011) 706 0405 www.questekadvanced.co.za info@questek.co.za

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INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION NETWORKING

Setting a (new) standard AES67 is the newest kid on the networking block, but can it really bring the kind of uniformity to the marketplace that is claimed on its behalf? David Davies finds out – and previews the forthcoming AES-X210 standard.

AES67 Interoperability

“In standards work it is comparatively rare, but AES67 is one of those happy occasions where we have the ‘right thing at the right time’.”

– Mark Yonge, Standards Manager, AES AVB, Dante, Ravenna… the new additions to the pro-audio networking landscape have arrived thick and fast over the past few years. But now the picture is set for yet another shake-up with the introduction – and rapid adoption – of a new Audio Engineering Society (AES) protocol suite known as AES67.

Spearheaded by the AVnu Alliance, the AVB (Audio/Video Bridging) networking technology has picked up support from some of the biggest names in the AV industry since 2009 – Avid, Harman and Yamaha, to name just three. Over the past 12 months, however, there has been a sense of fading momentum around the project, with the Layer 2 IP transport-based technology’s requirement for dedicated switches arguably not being satisfied with sufficient quantity of available (and, more to the point, cost-efficient) product.

Simultaneously, the outlook for Layer 3 IP networking solutions that can use existing switches has brightened considerably. One of the great strengths of the AVB initiative was its reinforcement by official standards; but now the Layer 3 camp is strengthening its case with AES67 set to bring clarity to a market featuring Layer 3-capable solution such as ALC NetworX’s Ravenna and Audinate’s Dante.

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But we are getting ahead of ourselves: first things first, what is exactly is AES67? In development for at least two years before publication last September, AES67, a due-process standard published by the AES, is a Layer 3 protocol suite designed to allow interoperability between various existing IP-based audio networking systems.

Contained within the suite are interoperability recommendations for professional quality audio networking in the areas of synchronisation, media clock identification, network transport, encoding and streaming, and session description. It offers, in essence, a meeting point between different solutions and should therefore not be perceived as a comprehensive media distribution system in the same fashion as AVB.

‘A diffuse market’ AES standards manager Mark Yonge recalls that the project commenced with a highly defined objective: “We didn’t want to invent anything new; the objective was interoperability, and this involved all kinds of parameters such as defining packet time, which determines network latency, and whether you are going to be using PCM encoding or something else. Fairly simple issues on the surface of it, but vital if you are going to achieve interoperability between different solutions.”

‘Fairly simple’ its aims might be, but in an audio over IP scene that Yonge rightly describes as remaining “highly diffuse”, the through-line provided by AES67 looks appealing on both marketing and end-user fronts. Therefore there was a raft of significant announcements during and after this year’s ISE exhibition in Amsterdam. In a move that

NETWORKING INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION

“With AES67 in charge of transporting signals, and X210’s standard in charge of controlling devices, the industry will have a complete media networking standards suite.”

– Jeff Berryman, Senior Scientist, Bosch Communications Systems Audinate’s CEO, Lee Ellison, described as “wholly logical”, the company confirmed that its evermore ubiquitous media networking solution, Dante, will accommodate AES67 by adding a Layer 3 RTP (Real-time Transport Protocol) option to its existing Layer 3 UDP (User Datagram Protocol) transport.

This decision has significant ramifications for current systems, such as Bosch’s OMNEO media networking architecture, which is based on Dante. “Bosch OMNEO will integrate the Dante AES67 support, and will thereafter be interoperable with AES67 equipment,” says Jeff Berryman, Senior Scientist with Bosch Communications Systems, who describes AES67 as a “sensible, usable package” that has “.. contributed greatly to clarification of the relationship between media transport protocols and discovery/name-service protocols...

ALC NetworX, meanwhile, says that its Ravenna solution – which has proven to be a huge hit in the broadcasting sector with support from the likes of Lawo, Genelec, Innovason and Neumann – not only already satisfies the requirements of AES67, but actually exceeds them. “Since AES67, targeting interoperability, defines just a minimum set of requirements, Ravenna exceeds AES67 in terms of supported payload formats, packet data rates, achievable synchronisation precision and functionality required for a satisfying experience, [such as] advertisement and discovery and stream redundancy support,” says Andreas Hildebrand, Senior Product Manager, ALC NetworX. Kevin Gross is founder of AVA Networks, which provides consulting services to users and manufacturers of media networked systems, and also played a decisive role in initiating the entire AES67 project.

Looking ahead, he predicts that: “..by this time next year enough devices will have AES67 capability that the benefits of interoperability will be clear. It appears that the first place this will be making a significant difference is with European broadcasters who have built IP networks in their studios and in some cases nationwide which are designed to handle live audio contribution and distribution.”

The next standard With QSC expressing its intention to support the standard, Telos Alliance already shipping the AES67-compatible Telos Axia Audio xNode AoIP interface, and a major ‘plugfest’ on course for October, momentum behind AES67 seems unlikely to slow any time soon.

What is

But already the attention of the AES standards group is beginning to switch to the next piece of the networking puzzle – the network control-oriented AES-X210.

The new standard, currently in its development phase, will be based around the Open Control Architecture (OCA) specification, which provides architecture for controlling devices on a media network. Berryman, who is task group leader for AES-X210, puts the project in context: “AES67 answers the question: ‘How can I get audio from device A to device B?’ X210’s standard will answer the question: ‘How can I tell devices what to do with the audio once they have it?’”

OCA was developed by the OCA Alliance and given to the AES for standardisation in 2013. It is expected that AES-X210’s standard (which will have a publication name of the form ‘AESnn’) will be published later this year.

“With AES67 in charge of transporting signals, and X210’s standard in charge of controlling devices, the industry will have a complete media networking standards suite. As companies adopt these standards, true multi-manufacturer media networking will become a reality for all,” says Berryman.

‘Sense of urgency’ Although the official introduction of AES-X210 is still some way off, as Yonge remarks: “Where the AES used to spend 10 years developing new standards, it’s now more like two years or less. The ability to collaborate over the internet has definitely helped to increase the pace, but so has a sense of urgency [around networking]. We have lots of technology but there hasn’t been much interoperability, which is desperately needed. That feeling of urgency has been very useful in getting things done.”

Reflecting on a 10-year period characterised by numerous contrasting solutions and considerable confusion at an end-user level, one is not exactly overwhelmed by an air of urgency. But with AVB no longer regarded as necessarily being the panacea for all networking ills, and more and more permanent and non-permanent applications the target of full networking, the need for a path through the maze of available solutions is more pressing than ever before. Early indications suggest that AES67 and AES-X210 could be at least part of that path, but as ever, only time will tell.

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29

INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS

Virtual classrooms: dream or reality?

There has been much talk from both educationalists and technologists about the potential of the ‘virtual classroom’ for transforming the learning experience. David Davies finds out how close this concept is to becoming reality.

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Connectivity challenges

“Video is becoming the ubiquitous solution of choice as there has been a rapid growth in video solutions interoperability, cloud delivery services, and the advances in the personal computer and mobile device market,” says Tim Stone, Vice-President Marketing EMEA, Polycom.

As trend terminology goes, ‘virtual classroom’ inclines towards the nebulous. Now being applied to an ever-greater array of technologies – from audio-only two-way communications to full-scale video-conferencing and telepresence environments – it is a term that has rapidly gained currency, but not without running the risk that it might soon lose its value.

Before exploring whether or not the virtual classroom is a reality, then, it is arguable that a working definition is not just useful but

The principle benefits of such set-ups should really speak for themselves. For students located in remote areas, they herald the opportunity to cover individual topics or even complete subjects that might otherwise be impossible from local resources alone. And for students everywhere, there is the chance to share information and ideas between much larger pools of pupils, paving the way for a richer educational environment.

Of course, any individual country’s ability to implement the virtual classroom is ultimately determined by the extent to which its online connectivity has developed. In South Africa, it is clear that high-speed broadband access is still some way off maturity; in context, the government’s recently unveiled South Africa Connect plan – which calls for 90% of South Africans to have access to broadband with a minimum speed of 5Mbps by 2020, with 50% of the population also having access to 100Mbps by the same point – must surely be welcomed.

For educational users, this boost to connectivity will form part of a broader emphasis on (to quote the National Development Plan) ‘improving the quality of education, skills development and

essential. Fortunately, Adré Joubert from systems integrator from FROG Audio Visual, a Doringkloof-based systems integrator

innovation.’ Speaking during a recent conference overseen by networking technology giant Cisco at the University of Pretoria,

specialising in video-conferencing, has an extremely concise one at the ready.

She notes: “A virtual classroom is an online environment that allows remote students to communicate, view presentations, interact with learning resources, and work in groups as if they are in the classroom.”

One might only extend this to include the possibility of staff and institutions as a whole to collaborate remotely on course programmes and long-term research.

telecoms minister Dr Siyabonga Cwele highlighted the push towards an e-literate society and urged: “..both Cisco and our universities to continue on this path of collaboration and innovation in delivering skills and learning solutions to our youth.”

VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION

Seeking solutions Cisco’s commitment to that ideal is in no doubt among other initiatives; it has plans to introduce a further 200 networking academies into government schools and FET (Further Education and Training) colleges over the next two years, adding to the 64 already operational across South Africa.

Simultaneously, plenty of other technology developers and integrators are moving in the direction of virtual classroom solutions. For example, a pilot project involving Microsoft South Africa, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and various research and university bodies is bringing tablet devices, laptops and PCs to the classrooms of five schools and the University of Limpopo to give students and teachers a chance to benefit from new practices.

Polycom, meanwhile, is one of many individual manufacturers who are continuing to innovate in this segment. “We provide interactive virtual classroom solutions that equip educational institutions and corporate training departments for bringing remote students and experts together irrespective of their location,” confirms Stone.

“As an extension to the virtual classroom capability, the latest Polycom breakthrough, Polycom Video Content Management (VCM) SmartStart, helps to capture, manage, stream, and share video content which can then be delivered simultaneously to several thousand students regardless of the types of devices they are using.

Our video content management solution also helps the staff of the educational institutions to collaborate in real-time for processes such as student administration, course development and curriculum delivery.”

Indeed, it is clear that Stone envisages video assuming ever-greater importance to virtual classroom delivery: “We expect a major growth in the uptake of virtual classroom technology, which will soon become a norm across the world.”

Giving guidance With the variety of solutions increasing every month, it stands to reason that all stakeholders – manufacturers, distributors, resellers, and integrators – need to work together very closely to ensure that educational establishments invest in the most appropriate solutions

for their teachers and pupils. Hearteningly, plenty of them appear to be doing just that; Polycom, for example, has an extended network of trained experts who can advise institutions on the best solutions, while its Partner Program furnishes distributors with a wealth of information about its products, the market, key trends and best practices.

Joubert also confirms the importance of a collaborative approach.

“Our suppliers are experts in their field, and they extend this to us as their reseller, and our clients, and assist with initial system design, set-up and training of their products.”

FROG AV’s recent virtual classroom projects include the installation of a full HD infrastructure, large projector displays, an interactive whiteboard and integrated video conferencing – among other components – at Tshwane University of Technology’s New Architect Auditorium in Pretoria. Joubert indicates that the pace of change will continue to accelerate: “I think converged audio, video, data and computer-based learning – whether free-standing or based on either local networks or the internet – will be readily available for students to collaborate, interact and share. Also, we might see more utilisation of personal devices and free software applications.”

In South Africa’s case in particular, it is clear that patchy access to high-speed broadband will remain a thorn in the side of education technology visionaries for some time to come. But when that connectivity is in place, the technology will be ready and raring to go. The virtual classroom is no myth – it is already reality.

. . . w h e n

t h e

d e t a i l s

m a t t e r .

MUS EUM | VIS ITO R ATTRA CTIO N | SYSTE M IN TE GRATIO N

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INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION INTERNATIONAL THEME PARK INSTALLATION

Photo courtesy Kraftwerk Living Technologies

China’s Deep Sea Odyssey unveiled

The queue area with the Pao-Pao inspired submarine

With a rapidly expanding attractions industry in Asia, companies far and wide are experiencing good business from the development of new resorts, theme parks and waterparks. Many of the designers and developers are looking to media – based rides to augment their offerings and give them the edge over their competition. Quite often, this translates into a desire to be bigger, better and faster than comparable attractions, and not just in Asia, but across the globe.

One such attraction is the Chimelong Group’s Ocean Kingdom in Zhuhai, China. Not content with small steps, the park has broken no less than five world records, including the largest underwater viewing dome and aquarium tank. Ocean Kingdom forms part of the Chimelong Hengqin Bay Hotel development, the largest of its kind in China, and includes seven themed areas that contain rides, live animals, a circus and a wide variety of retail and dining opportunities.

With the monster 22.7 million litre aquarium tank as a central feature, the designers decided to incorporate a dark ride called Deep Sea Odyssey that offered visitors breathtaking views into the aquarium, combined with an immersive scenic undersea experience.

Executive producers Falcon’s Treehouse of Orlando produced the

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seamlessly integrated media content and were responsible for the development of a character called Pao-Pao, a whimsical fish-like submarine that leads the show throughout.

South African firm Digital Fabric were contracted to provide technical project management services during the planning stages as well as full onsite management and specialist installation services

by Austrian system integrators, Kraftwerk Living Technologies, who were responsible for the entire media hardware and lighting scope of work. Digital Fabric’s Gavin Olivier commented on the ongoing relationship between the two companies: ”We are engaged in several long-term projects with the Kraftwerk team, in Asia and the Middle East, and were very pleased to be asked to work with them on Ocean Kingdom. We have a good understanding of how they approach design and this saves a lot of time and effort, which is important when deadlines are tight.”

The ride is based on 121 rotating gondolas on a fixed track from German manufacturer Mack Rides. The 250m track is woven into the structural maze that underpins the aquarium tank, looping directly under the tank on two occasions via clear acrylic tunnels. The rest of the track time is filled with projections, virtual aquarium views and Pepper’s Ghost effects.

The system is based on a Brainsalt Media HD platform for delivery of all media to displays over fibre optic transmission lines. The displays are split between 27 Projection Design projectors and 20 flat panel displays in every possible mounting orientation to suit the heavily themed scenic displays.

Most notable is an undersea volcano scene that employs 8

Projection Design F32’s on a 16-metre hemispherical dome. The projection scheme is based around Brainsalt Media’s auto alignment system, which recalculates the warp and blend parameters as required, compensating for mechanical movement in the structure.

The projectors and alignment cameras are embedded in the scenic rockwork and as scenic construction involves a strong creative element, final positions are often only guaranteed after the work is done. This required specialised mount systems to be manufactured on site, achieved with modular engineered aluminium systems. DF Technical Director Alex Sanfilippo confirms: “With themed projects, everything has a degree of fluidity during construction, yet an 8-projector blend onto a dome requires absolute precision and rigidity, so the degree of mechanical accuracy is crucial to a reliable system.” The volcano experience is enhanced by an extensive lighting design and various effects including powerful heat blasts.

The audio component throughout the ride is no less significant, with over 160 speakers built into the themed environment. All speakers are from the QSC AcousticDesign weather resistant range of products, with the majority being either 5-inch or 8-inch, dependent on visitor proximity. Each speaker is independently driven

by QSC CX series amplifiers and QSys DSP. Once again, the integration into the scenic elements played a crucial role with the emphasis being on audibility VS visibility in most cases.

“It’s no great task to mount and wire 160 loudspeakers, but when each one has to be individually considered, checked on site and re-checked during and after scenic construction, the time required is exponentially greater and this is where an experienced planning

INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION INTERNATIONAL THEME PARK INSTALLATION team really counts, and there is simply no time for guessing,” explains Sanfilippo.

Control over the media hardware is shared by Brainsalt Media and Crestron with many localised show controllers to manage the timeline-based ride loops, but with overall management and ride system interfacing across an Ethernet backbone. All controllers are connected to a master E-stop system with ride readiness reporting at all stages of the ride. The show control programming was handled onsite by a team of programmers from Kraftwerk. “Timing around programming and commissioning was very tight, as it always is,” smiles Sanfilippo, ”the deadline of Chinese New Year was not ever going to move, so any construction delays simply had to be dealt with.”

Almost contrary to the term ‘dark ride’, lighting within a themedride environment is of paramount importance. Of course the selective use of darkness can help to hide ride mechanisms, but lighting is essential to achieve the required theatrical effects and ambience in an immersive environment.

Deep Sea Odyssey has an impressive fixture list with a large base of ETC Source 4 Lustr LED profiles and D40 LED washlights. These are complemented throughout by several hundred metres of Proled RGB strip. The list of effects units is comprehensive and includes fittings from GAM, PPS WAVELight, Apollo, Wildfire, Rosco and City Theatrical. All generic dimming and switching is managed across two centrally located 48-way ETC Sensor3 Racks. The large quantity of LED products required a substantial DMX network throughout and this is managed on an SRS backbone. The overall DMX lighting control

Photos courtesy Kraftwerk Living Technologies

The queue area with an interactive periscope

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comes from the Brainsalt Media show controllers, which issue all start/ end of day commands and scene changes.

In summary, Deep Sea Odyssey as a ride may not be the biggest or fastest, but it takes visitors through a Guinness Record breaking aquarium experience, using media, theming and awe-inspiring scale to make its impression. The opening went according to plan – on time and to specification and the Chinese New Year brought more than 30 000 visitors through the Deep Sea Odyssey ride on day one alone.

Kraftwerk’s Head of Implementation, Werner Spiegel, sums up the working relationship: ” The distance between the headquarters of Kraftwerk Living Technologies and Digital Fabric is more than 8 000km. One would expect that a long distance relationship between two companies would be difficult when delivering complex and highly integrated turnkey projects. Having worked together for almost 10 years we are happy to prove the opposite, we now consider Digital Fabric as our primary partner for implementing major projects. Their work ethos, commitment to quality and approach on complex and milestone driven challenges is inspirational.”

INTERNATIONAL THEME PARK INSTALLATION INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION

In summary, Deep Sea Odyssey as a ride may not be the biggest or fastest, but it takes visitors through a Guinness Record breaking aquarium experience, using media, theming and awe-inspiring scale to make its impression.

The undersea volcano with full projection dome

Digital Fabric is a South African based market leader in the design and integration of systems for the museum and visitor attraction markets. With more than 30 years of combined experience, the team has consistently set new standards, specialising in bespoke developments and award winning interactive experiences, both in South Africa and across the globe.

Kraftwerk Living Technologies is one of the leading companies in the field of professional audio-visual system integration. The Austrian based specialists combine and synchronise high-quality systems to provide tailor-made overall solutions for the global market. For more than 20 years Kraftwerk has been engaged in the technical conception and development of AV solutions that find application in many different areas – from the entertainment industry to the automotive industry. Focused on providing highest quality and innovation, Kraftwerk has become a trusted partner for turnkey AV projects. The service range includes technical design, engineering, implementation and maintenance. Kraftwerk has executed numerous projects all over the world and has defined the standards for state-of-the-art system integration since its founding in 1992.

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INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION LED DISPLAY WALLS

Ultra-narrow bezel LED display walls – what can your money buy?

Given the ever increasing influx of multi-display video walls into modern business, Pro System’s Greg Bester went out in search of a few 55” offerings from local suppliers. After all, what does your money in fact get you and how do the specs of different brands and models compare? These are the findings.

Christie- FHD551-x

NEC – X554UNS

Price (retail excl. VAT)

R120 000

R145 000

Native Resolution (pixels)

1920 x 1080

1920 x 1080

Aspect Ratio

16:9

16:9

Backlight

Direct LED

Direct LED

Bezel size (mm)

1.2 bottom/right; 2.3 top/left nominal, 3.5 content to content

1.2 bottom/right; 2.3 top/left; 3.5 content to content; 3.9 VESA Mounting

Maximum brightness (cd/m2)

500

700

Contrast ratio

1400:1

3500:1

Viewing angle (CR 10:1)

178° h/v

178° h/v

Response time (ms)

12

8

Inputs

1 x DisplayPort; 2 x HDMI (HDCP); 1 x DVI (HDCP); 1 x Component; 1 x VGA; 1 x S-video; 1 x Composite

VIDEO: 1 x D-sub 15 pin, 1 x DVI-D (with HDCP); 1 x HDMI (with HDCP), 1 x Interface Extension Slot; 1 x OPS Slot; 1 x DisplayPort (with HDCP) AUDIO: 2 x 3,5 mm jack, 1 x DisplayPort; 1 x HDMI

Outputs

1 x DVI (HDCP); 1 x VGA; 1 x Composite

VIDEO: 1 x DisplayPort; 1 x DVI-D; 1 x HDMI; 1 x Interface Extension Slot; 1 x OPS; 1 x through DisplayPort out AUDIO: 3,5mm jack

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Control inputs

RS-232; RS-485

RS-232C (9-pin D-sub) Input; LAN with SNMP; Remote Control IR (internal/ external (optional) sensor)

Control outputs

RS-485

N/A

Power consumption

170W typical; 240W max; ≤0.5W standby

150W typical; 310W maximum; < 0.5W (ECO Standby)

Warranty

3 year parts and labor limited warranty for manufacturer defect

3 year warranty incl. backlight for manufacturer defect

LED DISPLAY WALLS INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION

Panasonic – TH-55LFV50

PVision – PD55N6-LED

Samsung – UD55D

R113 900

R65 399

R99 900

1920 x 1080

1920 x 1080

1920 x 1080

16:9

16:9

16:9

Direct LED

Side LED

Direct LED

3.4 left/top; 1.9 right/bottom; 4.9 content to content

5.7 content to content

1.2 bottom/right; 2.3 top/left; 3.5 content to content

800

700

700

1400:1

4000:1

3500:1

178° h/v

178° h/v

178° h/v

10

8

8

VIDEO: 1 x BNC (shared with component Y); 1 x HDMI; 1 x component (BNC); 1 x PC (mini D-Sub 15-pin)

VIDEO: Video, VGA, DVI-D, Y/Pb/Pr, RGB/HV, HDMI

VIDEO: 1 x Analogue D-Sub; 1 x DVI-D; 1 x DisplayPort 1.2; 1 x component (CVBS common)

AUDIO: 1 x jack (side; shared with component in); 1 x PC stereo mini jack (shared with PC in); 1 x mini jack (shared with DVI-D in)

AUDIO: Audio in

AUDIO: 1 x stereo mini jack

VIDEO: 1 x DVI-I

VIDEO: Video out

VIDEO: 1 x DisplayPort 1.2 (loop out) AUDIO: 1 x stereo mini jack

AUDIO: 1 x pin jack set

AUDIO: Audio out

Serial: 1 xD-Sub, RS-232C compatible; LAN: 1 x RJ45 (web browser control only); 1 x IR transmitter

1 x RS-232 IN DB9 (female); RS-232 via LAN (RJ45)

1 x RS-232C; RJ45 (LAN)

Serial: 1 xD-Sub, RS-232C compatible; LAN: 1 x RJ45 (web browser control only); 1 x IR transmitter

1 x RS-232 OUT DB9 (male); RS-232 via LAN (RJ45)

1 x RS-232C; RJ45 (LAN)

320W; ≤0.5W standby

300W max

175W typical; 209 max

24/7, 3 year standard warranty for manufacturer defect.

Repairs carried out locally.

12 month standard carry-in warranty for manufacturer defect.

3 year parts and labour warranty for manufacturer defect.

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INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION COMPANY PROFILE

Ever evolving Electrosonic SA

By Chanelle Ellaya

The Electrosonic Offices in Northcliff, Johannesburg

Electrosonic SA has come a long way (to say the least) since its inception in 1991: One office, two computers and three individuals is a far cry from the audio-visual giant that we know and love today.

Theirs is a story of hard-work, persistence and a true indicator that starting from the bottom and working your way up is an honourable and sure way to succeed.

Martin Professional, Crestron, Kramer, Green Hippo and Elite Screens, just to name a few, are all distributed in South Africa solely by Electrosonic SA, as you may already know. What you may not know is exactly how much blood, sweat and tears went into building this enviable AV empire, and that’s where we come in…

Starting at the bottom Electrosonic SA was the brainchild of current Managing Member, Bruce Genricks, and former partner Lourie Coetzee, who met in 1985.

Genricks did his apprenticeship through the railways as a telecommunications technician, and got his first gig as a technician in the AV industry working at a company called Twin Imports, which was owned by Coetzee.

“Lourie was running Twin Imports which was a very small AV company,” explains Genricks. “I joined with him as a technician, he was distributing different products including Electrosonic Ltd equipment, for which he was the South African distributor at that

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stage. Coetzee was also an integrator, as back then there was no such thing as control systems that you could buy in a box, they were all custom-made. We would design and build the boxes to control the boardroom or the training room or the museum or whatever it was. It wasn’t a case of programming it, it was a case of making it, and so we were custom manufacturers of control equipment.”

Around 1989 the economy was suffering and Twin Imports encountered some rocky terrain, Coetzee took the decision to sell his company to Selected Audio Visual into which it became incorporated. Both Coetzee and Genricks continued their work in the AV industry with Selected Audio Visual, however shortly after, Coetzee left the company and the industry as a whole and Genricks was retrenched a few years later. “It was in November before Christmas, they just paid me and said goodbye, I was devastated,” he comments.

It was then that Genricks decided to start a business of his own, working as a technician from his own garage. His first client, funnily enough, was Selected Audio Visual, the very same company that previously let him go, the irony! Genricks explains: “I realised that they (Selected Audio Visual) were still carrying on as a business but now that their technical staff had been retrenched, they had a problem.

So I called them up and said ‘you’ve got a problem that I can fix, just send the stuff to me and I will repair it and charge you’ and that was it!”

Slowly but surely customers started working directly with Genricks who christened his first solo endeavour, Basic Electronic Devices, “BED for short,” he laughs.

It didn’t take too long before Selected Audio Visual closed down, which meant Electrosonic UK were looking for a new South African distributor. Coetzee took this opportunity to re-join the AV industry

and start a business of his own, also from his house, distributing Electrosonic equipment. Genricks and Coetzee began to work together more often, which ultimately led to the birth of Electrosonic SA. “We were doing more and more business together, I was doing the technical side of it, the installations, the servicing, the repairs, and Lourie was doing the importation, the sales and the distribution of the product,” explains Genricks.

“One day we just got together and decided to start a business and that’s exactly what happened. With the permission of Electrosonic UK, we used their name and we opened up a partnership.”

The company, which opened in 1991, started out rather modestly – in one small office, with one technician, two desks and two computers – but that wasn’t for too long…

Game changer In 1994 Electrosonic SA won their first major tender to supply the AV and lighting for the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Durban, directly resulting in the acquisition of the Crestron and Kramer agencies which are still valued suppliers of the company today: “That was a huge breakthrough for us, what happened is we put in our tender bid, there were three bidders and we were the most expensive of the three, so we were very lucky to get the job…I had to recruit an installation team in Durban and the company here in Johannesburg assisted with procurement and all the rest and 18 months later, it was very successful.”

Bruce Genricks at ICC Durban, in front of the Procube, a rear projection cube from Electrosonic UK

INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION COMPANY PROFILE

Electrosonic SA’s first team

A Meopta Slide Projector, one of Electrosonic SA’s products early 90’s

“It was a massive project in that it was one of the first projects where widespread use of touch panels were implemented, but the ICC installation also signalled a bit of a turnaround for us in that way.

We took on the Kramer agency as we realised that for this project we needed distribution amps and switchers and so on, and Kramer was

and services for the audio visual and entertainment lighting industries.

Some of the major agencies that were acquired over the years were, Martin Professional (1992), Seleco/Sim2 (1994), Crestron (1995), Kramer (1997), Strand Lighting (2000), Helvar (2000), Compulite (2001), Euroscreen/Screen International (2003), Electron (2004), Robert Juliat

a product that we knew about, so we contacted them and we became their distributors as a result, and Crestron was also an agency that came through that,” concludes Genricks.

That ICC installation marked a turning point for Electrosonic SA, giving the company additional deserved credibility and access to other large-scale projects and agencies. Business was moving forward at a quick and steady pace, with turnover doubling each year, Electrosonic SA soon outgrew their humble abode, forcing them to move to larger office spaces every couple of years until finally settling into their current premises in Northcliff in 2001.

(2007), Selecon (2007), Litec (2008), Elite Screens (2008), CM Lodestar (2009) and ADB (2010).

Their current lighting agencies are Martin Professional, CMET Entertainment Technology, Green Hippo, Kinesys, Milos Structural Systems, Litec, ADB Lighting Technologies, Electron, Compulite and Elite Screens.

On the AV systems side Electrosonic SA are currently responsible for Crestron, Kramer, Sierra Video, Elite Screens, NEC, GALAXY and Ceymsa Audiovisual.

In addition to the ICC installation, the company has been involved in some other highly impressive projects, such as; Vodaworld, Canal Walk Shopping Centre, Multichoice command centre, the Playhouse Theatre, Moses Mabhida Stadium and the Saxon Hotel to name a few.

Adapting the business model Electrosonic SA started out in the industry as an importer, distributor and integrator, which was more or less the business model of most South African AV companies of the time. “We imported and did the integration. We would sell to other companies but that was limited, mostly we would be selling to end-users. And that was our business model for the next 12 years or so,” explains Genricks.

After many years playing a balancing act between dealers and end users, Electrosonic SA realised that they needed to make the long-debated decision to become distributors only, enabling them to focus their energies more on dealer and product support, and thereby showing their existing dealers that their interests would go uncompromised.

“We would be selling to our dealers and the next thing we would go to a tender meeting and quote against them and we just realised that it wasn’t fair and it didn’t make any sense. So then we took the decision to change our whole business model and we decided that we are distributors, we are not integrators and we’ll protect our dealers in that way. That was a good thing for us and I think it worked very well for us. Our dealers saw that we weren’t a threat to them anymore and we built up good relationships with our clients in that way.”

Memories and milestones Over the years Electrosonic SA added a number of product ranges and agencies to their stable, always keeping in mind their foremost objective – to house a complete range of complementary products

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Going forward Regarding the industry as a whole Genricks says that he would like to see more skills and more diversity, it’s all about up-skilling and becoming more proficient. “I don’t think there is enough diversity, we need more young people and more people of colour in the industry.”

“One of the things we have been speaking about at the Southern African Communications Industries Association (SACIA), and we’ve recently spoken about here within the company, is that we need to try and develop some sort of career guidance programme at schools regarding the AV and lighting industries as it’s never a career that anyone thinks of,” he comments.

For Electrosonic SA the outlook for the future is simple – to provide their dealers with the best value in whatever capacity they can, this includes making provisions for the ever-evolving exchange rate. “The plans are to make things easier for people to do business with us. It’s about adding value to what we do; we recognise that our dealers are our livelihood. From an exchange rate point of view we are trying to assist by buying forward to average out the exchange rate so that even if there is an increase on a quote from our side, it’ s very slight,” concludes Genricks.

It’s certainly clear that Electrosonic SA, at the risk of sounding cliché, is a force to be reckoned with. Their approach to business in this cut throat industry is nothing short of admirable. If their track record is anything to go by, this is a company that can and will continue to withstand the ‘ups and downs’ that are inherent in an industry that is constantly in a state of flux. Cheers to that!

LIVE EVENTS OWNERSHIP OF SHOW FILES

Run for your lives… the lawyers are coming

By Robert Scovill A few years back, I was asked to moderate a digital technologies panel for AES during their show in New York. At that particular time in history, the topic of choice was still pretty broad in nature and it centered on the burgeoning live sound market and the coming age of digital console technologies, etc.

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One of the topics that I posed to the panel and audience was focused on the workflow challenges that were going to be associated with creating and managing show files created on these digital consoles. I distinctly remember posing this question to the panel. “Given that we’re moving into an era of console design that will allow a mixer to develop show files and settings and easily transport those settings; what positives or negatives would that bring to your daily professional lives?”

As I expected, everyone quickly jumped to the obvious concept of “that’ll be great, because I can simply carry my show files with me when I’m travelling and meet up with other consoles and load my

and if I get fired it will take me less time to clear the console before I head for the airport.”

I paused for a moment and gathered my thoughts and pondered the scope of the follow up question I was about to ask. Kind of like a young boy holding a baseball bat, gazing up at a docile beehive preparing to take a swing. I knew this was going to be that magic moment you hope for as a moderator. That really fantastic moment when you gaze out over the crowd and the panel and KNOW you’re going to open a can of worms that no one came in expecting to discuss. You’re about to witness light bulbs flickering on above head after head, of not only the audience, but also the panel members.

The conversation was about to shift to an entirely new plain and I knew at that moment our industry might actually mature just a little bit starting in 5, 4, 3, 2, …

Me: “So let me ask you this question panel members; is it your position, that you are the owner of that show file because you created or programmed it and in so doing, feel you are within your rights to take it with you when you leave, or even erase it after you’ve created it?”

There was a very brief pause for silent pondering, followed by what could only be best described as a rowdy episode of Jerry Springer.

show file once there. I won’t need to physically carry a console any longer.”

This discussion carried on for quite some time, right up until someone on the panel, tongue firmly planted in cheek, said “Yeah,

When we came back from commercial, and after everyone was seated and the security guards had left the stage, the general consensus by nearly everyone in that room on this day was that they alone retained the rights to that show file because their skill and

OWNERSHIP OF SHOW FILES LIVE EVENTS

expertise was used to create it.

Really?

(Do your best Jim Carrey here) “Reeeeeeeheheheallly?” I proceeded to gently break the news to everyone that it was my belief that legally, they did not have the rights of ownership for that file and the settings it carried because it would fall under the heading of a “work for hire”. Hence those files are owned by the person paying your salary for the work; i.e. the band.

I suggested to everyone to emotionally take a step back for a second and maybe consider a few analogies to see if their claim of ownership might stand up legally. I suggested that we stay in the “arena” if you will, so that it remained an environment that we’re all intimately familiar with. Here’s what we came up with.

Okay, let’s start with a simple and obvious one; show carpenter.

Production hires show carpenter. The carpenter over the course of a couple of weeks designs and manufactures numerous physical items and props that are used during the show. Two weeks into the tour, the carpenter develops a crappy attitude and gets fired. (I know, it’s a stretch right?) The carpenter in a fit of rage takes his chop saw and hammer out and destroys everything he built or he simply backs up a truck and loads all of “his” work up and heads for home. Was he within his rights to do so? The show now has no props etc. for the next show. Was he justified in doing so? What rights does the band have here?

Not convinced? Okay, how about production manager?

Production manager spends months of time putting together budgets, creating spreadsheets, itineraries and doing advance work, much of which is stored on his computer or in paper documents. Just

Premium power distribution systems

Te l : 0 8 3 6 01 13 0 0 E m a i l : p e d r o @ g e a r s h a c kd a n d . c o . z a W W W . G E A R S H A C K D A N D . C O . Z A

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LIVE EVENTS OWNERSHIP OF SHOW FILES

“Lawyer up son, it’s going to be an expensive battle for you even if you win and you’re likely going to lose because the law is not on your side on this one.”

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before the tour starts the production manager gets into a huge argument with the manager and the manager sends him packing.

also offset the time constrains for the coming events.

What transpired over a couple of hours was tense, but predictable

Who retains ownership of all the advance work in its digital or even paper form?

Still not convinced? How about content creation?

Band hires a video director/editor to assemble video footage for the big screens during each song in the show. Video dude acquires the footage and builds an EDL for the show. But things don’t work out with the lighting designer and he agrees to depart, amicably no less.

But he states “hey that video is my creation, my creativity was used to build those shots and that EDL for your show, if I leave that content and EDL goes with me” Really? Does he really have that right?

Here’s one a little closer to home; lighting designer.

Band pays lighting designer to program and maybe even operate their lighting production. A week into the tour the band fires lighting designer/operator. The lighting designer/operator in a fit of rage promptly clears the console stating “let the bastards play in the dark tomorrow night for all I care”. Was he within his legal rights to do so?

What does the band do for tomorrow night’s show?

Store these scenarios and your answers in your memory banks for a minute, because you’re going to need to recall them at the end of the next segment and see if you still feel the same way.

Recently I saw this very situation play out before my very eyes while doing some one-off work for an artist. For the record, I will not reveal any names of band, engineer or lawyers here, but I assure you this is real and actually transpired. Who the act was is of no significance, so leave it alone, but what transpired IS important so pay attention here.

The band was contracted for a series of one-off events after the end of their tour. They wanted to bring along the tour monitor engineer and FOH engineer for the one-off shows. The FOH engineer declined and so I was hired to do the one-offs but the monitor engineer agreed to do the events. That is; right up until he was told that he would not be retained at the conclusion of the one-off events.

This did not make the monitor engineer happy and in an attempt at

once the tour manager got wind of what had happened. He immediately contacted the band’s legal representative who in turn immediately reached out to the monitor engineer to apprise him of the scope of his actions and the possible legal ramifications and informed him that he could be held liable for damages related to the show.

Mixer dudes and dudettes, are you hearing what I’m saying? If not, let me clarify with an example. Let’s hypothesise a worst case scenario and say that in the story I referred to above, that at the end of the show, the corporate rep who hired the band is extremely dissatisfied with the performance by the band and demands some financial relief from the huge fee they paid to the band to appear.

Please remember; this part is a hypothesis not what actually transpired at this event. The band when confronted by their manger tells him “I don’t know what was going on but we couldn’t hear a thing all night – I don’t know why our monitors were all of a sudden so different but I was really struggling to hear and perform.” (Does this actually sound familiar to anyone???) Band and manager calls in the new engineer to discuss, and as we all know, bad mojo roles downhill very fast and the former monitor engineer is lying in wait at the bottom of that hill face down, clutching his USB key with the show file on it.

Is this your mix?

At the end of the day, who do you think is going be held responsible for this situation? How badly do you think the former engineer wants those files now? Lawyer up son, it’s going to be an expensive battle for you even if you win and you’re likely going to lose because the law is not on your side on this one.

Now, do yourself a favour and stay on point. Remember, this is not at all about whether the replacement carpenter, PM, engineer, mixer, designer, or editor was capable or able to do the job quickly in your absence and pull off the show absent of your settings or files. That is a

retribution he departed with the show file for the monitor console in hand and left his replacement to start from scratch. Because these were one-off shows – corporate shows to boot – there would be little to no time for extensive sound checks and/or rehearsals to provide time for a new mixer to build an adequate file that would meet the bands expectation left by the other file. Read as; the production and band members were counting on the established monitor console build to help facilitate the transition to a replacement engineer and

moot point (nice, I got to use a legal term!). In court, this is simply the case of a disgruntled worker departing with an asset that he built, constructed, edited, or programmed for the employer i.e. the band, while in their hire. At its core, this is about assessing damages in favour of the employer as a result of the worker’s departure in possession of created asset that was a work for hire; nothing more, nothing less.

In the calm light of day, these can seem like semantics and ambiguities, when in fact from a legal point of view they really are

quite clear. In the business world, these kinds of ambiguities are often clarified with well-tailored, written agreements between the parties in question that set expectations, clearly define work-for-hire and offer departure clauses that are clearly defined.

More often than not, while band members can place great value on our contributions as people and our skills as mixers, because we seldom use contracts we have very little to no leverage at the end of the day if it all goes wrong. Because of this, thinking you can exert punitive damages on your employer by walking off with a key asset owned by them is neither smart nor prudent. Can you imagine a software designer working for a corporation being fired and destroying all the code that he created while thinking “I’ll show them”? Would that be grounds for a lawsuit? Bet the farm on the fact that it would if they felt inclined to pursue it.

But here’s where it gets really interesting in my opinion: As live sound mixers, I don’t remember us ever thinking this way before we had digital consoles. Here’s another great panel question that requires some deep thought: “At the end of the day, how is our work on a digital console any different from our work on an analog console?” At some level, the meaningful, real difference is the portability of the settings; i.e. show files. Although, it could certainly be argued that a pencil-written console and effects ledger with a patch sheet (remember those? I do …) is the analog equivalent of a show file, it just takes longer to load. Would we as engineers be just as liable if we zeroed an analog console and effects upon a hasty departure after being fired? I submit to you that, viewed through eyes of the court, we would absolutely be just as liable. It’s just that with digital console settings and data, the asset is now just as tangible as the carpenter who built and destroyed props or the digital files that the production manager erased vs. paper documents he might have shredded upon departure.

Back at the AES session, the light bulb that came on over my head was just how vulnerable and void of leverage we are as “workers for hire” in our profession even though we are often defined as independent contractors by our 1099 status. It’s easy to view yourself as more than that, as a creative collaborator on par with one of the band members i.e. the 5th Beatle. Yep, it’s easy to allow yourself to become conveniently naïve about that which you are so passionate.

Today we are W9 people who expect to be treated as if we work in the W2 world with all of its benefits and protections. Artist management firms tend to treat us as W9 employers but with many of the W2 restrictions when it comes to work-for-hire and generally speaking the law is a bit more on employer’s side.

The wrap What we actually are, are independent contractors who do not use actual contracts. We negotiate and secure our deals with nothing more than a handshake, and many times even less than that. And while there is freedom along with lack of red tape and process that comes with that simple meeting of the hands, there is also great vulnerability. The more time goes on, and the more mature our industry gets, the more those vulnerabilities stand to be exposed. The old saying “a handshake deal is as good as the paper it is written on” has never been more true.

Believe it.

The above article was used by permission from splnetwork. com. To read more from more A-list engineers including Pooch van Druten (Linkin Park), Void Caprio (Cee Lo Green), Ace Baker (Chickenfoot) and Martin Fry (Lonestar) and others, visit www. splnetwork.com. Subscribe to their newsletter: http://eepurl.com/HMEBD.

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Photo courtesy Sound Stylists

LIVE EVENTS SHOW REPORT

A presidential affair, indeed Following the completion of South Africa’s fifth democratic elections the ANC once again arose victorious with their leader, President Jacob Zuma, at the helm. His inauguration took place at the Union Buildings on Saturday 24 May 2014 and was a fanfare of celebration, high fashion, international dignitaries and, of course, a concert open to the public featuring some of South Africa’s top artists including the Soweto Gospel Choir, Zahara, Kurt Darren, The Soil, Salaelo Selota, Mango Groove, Uhuru, and Rebecca Malope.

Three separate areas where designated for the day’s events: the Nelson Mandela Amphitheatre where the inauguration itself took place; a VVIP marquee tent at the presidential guest house; and the South Lawns where the concert was held. Local high-profile production company VWV along with leading technical supply company Sound Stylists partnered up and were awarded the task of handling the day’s production and technical requirements, respectively.

The Nelson Mandela Amphitheatre The inauguration took place at the Nelson Mandela Amphitheatre, which is the centrepiece to the Union Buildings, the administrative seat of our nation. Built in 1913 and designed by architect Sir Herbert

46

By Greg Bester

Baker in the English monumental style, they are 285m long and feature a semi-circular shape in the centre, creating a half-moon court, and two wings at the sides; the idea being that it represented the union of a formally divided people. As this notion originally harked back to the tumultuous beginnings of South Africa, the metaphor is still poignant today and could be seen to represent a newly unified people under democracy.

The semi-circular Amphitheatre became the backdrop to the inauguration of President Jacob Zuma and the audience and dignitaries were seated around a central covered stage structure surrounded by red carpets.

A total of 24 Coda LA8s were configured as four hangs of four elements for the main system while behind the amphitheatre there were four stacks of two on top of LA8 Subs to handle delayed coverage. Four further LA8 Subs were used for the main system, totalling eight all-round. Camco V8 amplification drove the system entirely. For additional fill, eight Nexo PS10Ps were utilised for the delayed balcony system, also powered by Camco.

“It was a bit of a difficult one,” comments Sound Stylists director Kevin Glover, “because there was no point source from which everything emanated. You’ve got the speech, which is obviously your main point of interest, but then the band was at the back of the venue, the choir elsewhere and they all play together. It was a bit of a wild one in that respect but obviously the important part was the main ceremony, which everyone was there for.”

FOH, handled by Simon van Niekerk, received two Yamaha PM5D consoles cascaded for redundancy while system processing was handled by an XTA 428 audio management system. A combination of AKG, Audio Technica, Sennheiser and Shure microphones were employed to mic up the choir, the orchestra and the podium.

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For monitoring, run by Van Niekerk from FOH, the choir and orchestra received six Nexo PS8s, powered by Camco and Nexo amplifiers while the podium received two Quest QSA 200i powered loudspeakers.

Flanking either side of the amphitheatre were LED screens affixed to Milos screen truss towers. The 16mm screens measured 5m x 3m that were fed by three live cameras, an SABC feed and a remote camera for the sign language interpreter. The video system was run by a Folsom ScreenPro II HD/SDI seamless switcher and a Roland VS800 vision mixer.

Since this was a daytime event, the only lighting to be found was an array of 12 ADB F201 2kW fresnels with barn doors to, as Glover says: “give the cameras a bit of punch.” The lighting system was run by an Avolite Pearl Expert console and Jands FPX12 dimmers.

The Southern Lawns The Southern Lawns, which lie perpendicular to the union buildings behind the gardens, were the locale where the public were treated to a concert featuring some of South Africa’s top artists; FOH duties being handled by Audio Logic’s Marius Marais and project management by Sound Stylist’s Colin Loock. The stage structure for the event, supplied by local technical supply company CES through Sound Stylists, measured 18m x 14m and included 6m x 3m daylight screen structures, 13m x 6m PA towers and 13m x 4m outfill PA towers; all Layher.

In terms of the audio system, Glover gives an overview: “We had 12 Coda LA12s a side. We brought in four extra SC8 subs so we had a total of sixteen; eight a side. It might not sound like much but it was pretty impressive. The sub in itself is 150dBSPL peak so we worked out the ratio; if we had to put in the Nexo S2s as an alternative we would have needed something like 128 of them to give comparable performance.”

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LIVE EVENTS SHOW REPORT

Accordingly, the mammoth 4 x 18” SC8s were flown on either side of the main hangs in order to get the throw distance they were looking for. Twelve further Nexo Alphas were placed under the stage as front-fills to cover the first few rows while the out-fill arrays consisted of eight Nexo GEO-Ds a side to achieve 100 degree horizontal dispersion. A combination of Camco Vortex, Nexo and Crown IT-4000 amplifiers powered the system.

“The distance to front of house was 110m,” says Glover, “which actually worked quite nicely because it was right in front of the statue so you had the whole expanse of lawn with nothing in the way, which opened it up quite nicely. We ended up pushing 122dBSPL at front of house and about 110 dB SPL A-weighted at the back of the venue so we were well over spec. Across the venue we had pretty good coverage with an average of 120dBSPL.” Kyle Robson, operational support head at Coda and DiGiCo distributor Tadco, was commissioned by Sound Stylists to help configure all the Coda and DiGiCo systems in use at the inauguration concert in terms of interconnectivity and distribution, and to get the DiGiCo D5s purring nicely.

“Once everything was connected we used Smaart to time align all the stacks and set levels,” says Robson. “We then got stuck into the D5s, got all the racks together and ran the cables. We ended up using RME MADI interfaces to convert BNC to fibre so we could achieve the far run to FOH.” Sound Stylists opted to go the MADI bridge route because of damage concerns. While they carry and often use DiGiCo Optocore connectivity, in this case there was no available backup in the case of a failure. Redundancy was a clear issue for something as important for the presidential inauguration so the final solution was to run MADI-bridged multi-mode fibre to the back of the venue along with a redundant line.

The original spec for the show called for two 48-channel consoles but that was changed because the final show spec ended up at 112 channels. As a result, the two DiGiCo D5s were employed to handle the increased channel count; one for FOH and one for monitors.

Monitoring duties were handled by Sound Stylist’s Rayne Ramsden.

As is often the case, however, there were slight but not insurmountable challenges. Robson comments: “Being older technology, the D5s use socket files to configure the rack quantities and the various card types in the system. The arduous process is to open these socket files in Wordpad and you spend a lot of time making sure it’s all typed out correctly otherwise you have to deal with a flood of error messages. One mistake and you could be going through many headaches.”

For on-stage monitoring, six JBL SRX712m’s were used as floor wedges while side-fills comprised four Nexo Alpha M3/B1-15/S2 stacks; two a side. The resident band received an Aviom AD-16 personal monitoring system with Shure PSM1000 in-ear monitoring systems.

There was a considerable amount of radio microphone systems needed to support the show. On Sound Stylist’s end a total of 24 Shure ULX-D, UR and R wireless microphone systems were employed to

48

achieve the desired frequency ranges. Additionally, the Mzansi Youth Choir brought along its own engineer, console and wireless systems and fed a sub-mix to FOH. This obviously brought along with it the danger of conflicting RF bands but with a little bit of careful planning and a little bit of good luck, there were no problems.

“It actually didn’t give us much of an issue,” says Glover. “We had pre-planned it before we went in to make sure we had the separation that we needed, but we were fortunate that they slotted in with what we needed and there were no problems.”

There were concessions, however, as the airwaves became cluttered in other ways.

“The wireless Clear-Com system that we wanted ran on the 2.4Ghz RF band but they had put up WiFi over the lawns so we were forced to go back to wired comms and two-way radios, which was fine,” says Glover.

Being a daytime event the lighting, while substantial, was limited to keeping the stage illuminated which had its back to the sun. The LD for the event was Sound Stylists’ Shawn Crawley.

“The original brief was for 24 parcans, 24 spots and 24 washes,” says Glover. “We elected to go entirely LED. So we put in 24 Robe 600s, 12 Robe 100s, 24 High End StudioPixes and 16 of the new Ayrton WILDBEAM-Rs. Because it was a day show we used the 600s to give a general wash across the stage and the StudioPixes to reinforce that.

However, essentially everything was eye candy at the end of the day.

Inside the stage, because it had its back to the sun, was just a big dark hole so we had to get that to pop out as much as possible.”

Additionally, 16 Robe Cityskapes were rigged vertically on either side of the stage.

The lighting console was an Avolites Pearl Expert Touch. The Artnet output from the console was converted to Ethernet via a bridge and subsequently fibre which was run to stage and back to FOH. Two LSC Nexus Ethernet to DMX converters were implemented to accommodate a total of 72 fixtures and six universes, which resulted in a sizeable lighting rig despite the fact it was a daytime event.

As is now the norm in most large scale events, two 25m2 25mm pitch Megaview LED screens were rigged on either side of the stage.

A two-camera system was employed and all vision mixing was accomplished via a Roland V1600HD while satellite uplinks were distributed through local broadcasting experts Telemedia.

The VVIP tent The VVIP tent at the presidential guest house was the most low-key of all of the locales utilised for the inauguration with the SA Navy Band being the only performer at this venue.

The audio system consisted of four Nexo PS15s and four PS15B units as the main system and six Coda 712s as floor wedges, all driven by Camco amplifiers. A Yamaha M7 was the console of choice.

A basic lighting system was the order of the day, consisting of 12 Robe 100s equipped with diffusion filters for a basic stage wash.

The wrap The 2014 Presidential Inauguration (while executed without a hitch) was no small affair and required much planning and delegation.

Sound Stylists, along with VWV and all involved clearly hit the target right on the mark and delivered an excellent service, not only to the public who came out in droves to enjoy the music, but to the dignitaries that attended, our leadership and ultimately to our nation. The technical crew are the unsung heroes in any event but in this case, South Africa salutes you!

LIVE EVENTS PRODUCT REVIEW

Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330

By Mike Wood

Clay Paky have enjoyed enormous success with the Sharpy product over the last couple of years. They haven’t said, but I’m sure it must be their best selling product ever, perhaps only beaten by the Golden Scans they used to manufacture and sell by the thousands back in the golden days of discos in the 1980’s. An enormous success like the Sharpy can be somewhat of a double edged sword for a manufacturer, it’s fantastic while it lasts, but how do you keep the momentum going and justify the now larger company you have built up on the back of it? They are level-headed folks in Bergamo and I know they are pondering these issues. They’ve brought out a new range of LED products this year and have followed the Sharpy with the product I’m looking at today, the Sharpy Wash 330.

Figure 1: Fixture as tested

At first glance the name seems like a bit of an oxymoron. How can a wash light be sharp? However, I don’t think we are supposed to take the name too literally, instead it should be looked at as more of a product family name. What we have here is a very small, lightweight, automated wash unit which uses a lamp similar to that in the Sharpy, but more powerful. It is physically of similar size and has an optical system that allows it to produce a very narrow beam, albeit soft edged, that gives it kinship with the Sharpy spot unit. Although also designed for aerial effects, the Sharpy Wash 330 can provide a long throw wash with zoom and colour mixing. How does it perform? Will it help Clay Paky keep their sales momentum going?

This review follows my typical format, we start with the lamp and work along the optical train, measuring everything as objectively as possible, ending with the light output. For this review all data comes from tests I carried out on a single unit supplied to me as typical by Clay Paky. I need to add the same caveat to this review as I did to the one on the original Sharpy and other tight beam effects units.

Measurements don’t tell you the entire story with luminaires like this.

Because the main use is for effect rather than illumination of performers, then it’s the way it looks to your eye and the camera that matters, not just the numbers. So please temper your opinions with that in mind, good or bad, and understand that a final judgment can only be made by trying the unit out yourself. All tests were run on a nominal 115V 60Hz supply; however, the Sharpy Wash 330 is rated to run on voltages from 115-230V 50/60Hz. (Figure 1 – Fixture as tested)

Lamp

compared with 1.0 mm. Roughly 30% higher output but with a 30% longer arc. A wash light optic can usually deal with a longer arc and its higher etendue with no real problem, there’s no tiny gobo aperture to get through so we should expect to see higher output from the Sharpy Wash 330 compared to the original Sharpy. The Platinum 16R is a 1,500 hr life lamp rated at a nominal 14,550 lm with a colour temperature of 8,000 K. Lamp change is a little intricate, but, because all fasteners are captive, should be possible with the fixture in the rig. First you have to remove both top and bottom head covers, exposing the lamp housing and its associated cooling. (Figure 3 – Lamp Housing and Cooling). The small fan you can see on the right of Figure 2 can then be unplugged and unscrewed together with the top plate which can be lifted off to expose the lamp itself. (Figure 4 – Lamp in situ). Finally, two more screws allow removal of the surrounding metalwork. The lamp can then be slid sideways against restraining spring fingers and angled out of the unit. I found this last stage slightly tricky as the edges

Figure 2: Lamp

The Clay Paky Sharpy uses a Philips MSD Platinum 16R lamp (Figure 2 – Lamp). This lamp is a close cousin to the lamp used in the original Sharpy, but is rated at 330W as opposed to 189W. It also has a larger arc gap, 1.3 mm

50

Figure 4: Lamp in situ

Figure 5: Lamp cooling and hot mirror

Figure 3: Lamp housing and cooling

PRODUCT REVIEW LIVE EVENTS of the metalwork you have to push against were very sharp and cut into my thumb. Either Clay Paky needs to remove the sharp edges, or I should have worn gloves – probably a good idea anyway as you shouldn’t touch the lamp capsule with bare fingers!

All this fiddling to get at the lamp is so that it can be adequately cooled. These bare short arc lamps are very demanding and have to be cooled very accurately. Clay Paky has a large fan pulling air through the lamphouse plus an extra, small, fan directing air onto the lamp pinches and the inner capsule. This second fan directs its air flow through a small duct directly underneath the angled hot mirror, as shown in Figure 5. (Figure 5 – Lamp cooling and hot mirror) I’ve spent some time describing the lamp assembly as, firstly, with its integral reflector it’s a critical component that drives the rest of the design, and secondly, that’s pretty much all there is to the optics!

Ignoring colour and effects for the moment, the Sharpy Wash 330 optical system is very simple, comprising the lamp, an aperture, and the output Fresnel lens.

down, cutting out more and more light, until it’s just a narrow slit. The dimmer curve produced by this is quite smooth and approximates well to a linear dimmer. (Figure 7 – Dimmer curve). However, it does visibly vignette the light, you can see the sides closing in and the beam becomes more and more oval along a diagonal axis as dimming progresses. This effect changes depending on the zoom position you are at and which level of diffusion, if any, you are using, but is always present to some extent.

Colour

The dimmer is mounted immediately after

Next in line are the colour systems. The Sharpy Wash 330 has a three wheel CMY colour mixing system, as well as a single fixed dichroic colour wheel. Both of these can be seen very well in Figure 6. The CMY colour mixing uses conventional dichroic wheels etched with a familiar finger pattern. When the Sharpy Wash 330 is in its wash mode, with either of the diffusing flags in place, then the colour mixing is even with good smooth coverage and mixing. If you go into aerial effects mode without diffusion then the colour mixing is much blotchier with visible areas where the colours aren’t fully homogenised. Of course, that doesn’t really matter when in aerial mode. The user must take care to set up and use the system to suit the particular task. For narrow angles and aerials, I would use the colour

the hot mirror. This is a slightly unusual design. It uses a common principle, but is laid out slightly differently than usual. You can see it Figure 6: Dimmer and colour wheels clearly in Figure 6 (Figure 6 – Dimmer and colour wheels).

The dimmer is a tapered slot-cut around an arc of an aluminium disc.

There is a full size aperture at one end, then it increasingly tapers

wheel for its fast, snappy changes whereas for wide angled soft wash use the colour mixing is good. Very narrow angle optical systems don’t lend themselves very well to colour mixing. However, Clay Paky say that the intent was to give the user as many colour options as possible.

When in wash mode the Sharpy Wash 330 allows you, through a menu option, to preset the colour mixing wheels so that they are always in the light path and you never see the edge of the glass wheel crossing the image. This gives a smoothness to long, slow colour fades.

The colour output from the colour mixing is heavily saturated as you would expect from an effects unit.

Dimmer

Figure 7: Dimmer curve

51

LIVE EVENTS PRODUCT REVIEW The fixed colour wheel is mounted after the CMY wheels.

It contains 11 fixed trapezoidal shaped dichroic filters which are glued to the wheel. This wheel doesn’t have the same quick-release magnetic coupling that the Sharpy used, so these colours are not easily changeable. However, what Figure 8: Frosts and beam shaper this wheel does have in common with the one in the Sharpy is its good half-colours and speed of movement. Inevitably, as this is a wash light, the half colours aren’t quite as crisp as a spot, however they are very usable in wider beam angles. They are a little difficult to see at narrow settings.

I measured the open white of the Sharpy Wash 330 at 7100 K. The TC260 filter reduced it to 2520 K, and the TC190 filter to 3240 K. Like its sibling, the Sharpy Wash 330 has a good range of colours, the reds are inevitably a little orangey because of the lack of red in the lamp but all colours were strong. I mentioned earlier that the colour wheel is quick.

The small balanced wheel is very snappy in its movements, and you can get ‘flash’ colours in transitions which makes for an excellent effect.

Movement in both CMY and fixed wheel rotation and colour selection were all very smooth, with no visible steps or jumps.

Figure 9: Output lens

Figure 10: Lens module

Figure 11: Minimum zoom no frost

Shutter The strobing shutter is immediately after the colour systems. This is a simple mirrored flag which can be seen through the aperture in Figure 6. The strobe is sharp and fast with measured speeds from 1 Hz to 12 Hz. Clay Paky offers a normal range of strobe types and, because it’s a separate assembly, you are able to strobe whilst dimming.

Frost Systems and Beam Shaper The Sharpy Wash 330 has two separate frost flags.

These can be seen in Figure 8 (Figure 8 – Frosts and Beam Shaper). These can be inserted either separately or both together to give three levels of diffusion. The light frost (on the right in Figure 8) is a normal frosted glass filter, while the heavy frost (shown in the center in Figure 8) is actually a

Figure 12: Maximum zoom – no frost

Fixed Colour Wheel Colour

Red

Orange

Aqua

Green

Light Green

Pink

UV

TC260

TC190

Half Minus Green

Blue

Transmission

2.1%

26%

40%

21%

80%

46%

0.1%

55%

48%

73%

0.5%

Colour Mixing

52

Color

Cyan

Magenta

Yellow

Red

Green

Blue

Transmission

20%

4.8%

86%

3.3%

8.6%

1.7%

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LIVE EVENTS PRODUCT REVIEW diffusing lenslet array rather than a frost. This gives a much more dramatic effect and is responsible for improving colour mixing and beam homogenisation. I think I’d call it more of a wide angle homogenising lens than a frost. You really need to have this in place all the time if you want to use colour mixing and get smooth beam edges. Both frost flags took 0.2 second to insert or remove.

Sharing the module with the frost systems is the beam shaper. In fact this is in the same plane as the light frost flag so the two cannot be used together. As can be seen on the left of Figure 8, the beam shaper is a circular lenticular glass element which can be moved across the beam and then rotated as desired. The effect is familiar, it turns the beam shape from round to oval, and then allows rotation and angular positioning of that oval. The magnitude of the effect varied with beam angle and whether or not the diffusing lens (heavy frost) was in place. The effect, as you might expect, was most prominent without diffusion and was useful across the entire zoom range.

With frost added the beam shaping is much less noticeable. I measured the beam shaper insertion/removal time at 0.3 second and, once in place, it provides a range of rotation speeds from 86 rpm down to 0.63 rpm.

Colour Wheel Colour change speed – adjacent

< 0.1 sec

Colour change speed – worst case

0.2 sec

Maximum wheel spin speed

0.7 sec/rev = 86 rpm

Minimum wheel spin speed

41 sec/rev = 1.5 rpm

Figure 13: Minimum zoom with frost

Lenses and output As I mentioned earlier, the optical system of the Sharpy Wash 330 is very simple. If you don’t have the diffusing lens in place then it’s just the lamp and the final Fresnel lens as shown in figures 9 and 10. (Figure 9 – Output Lens and snoot, Figure 10 – Lens module). The Fresnel lens can be moved back and forth to change the beam angle with a full range move taking 0.8 seconds.

The native field angles for the Sharpy Wash 330 with no frost or diffusing lenses range from 7.7° to 27° as the zoom is changed. That’s about a 3.5 : 1 ratio. Adding in the frost and/or diffusing lens allows you to increase the output angle to around 50°, albeit with some loss of light of course.

Figures 11, 12 and 13 show the beam profile for minimum zoom with and

54

Figure 14: Tilt yoke arm

Figure 15: Yoke arm 1

without frost, and maximum zoom without frost (Figures 11, 12, 13 – Beam Profiles). As you can see in Figure 12, the widest beam without frost has a dip in the centre, however, if that concerns you, then the frost filters help fill this in. If you compare figure 11 to figure 13, that’s minimum zoom with and without frost drawn to the same horizontal scale, then you can see the effect of the frost.

As I’ve mentioned before in reviews of narrow angle units, it’s very difficult to make sense of total lumen measurements. In the case of the Sharpy Wash 330, I measured values between 13 000 and 15 000 lm in wide angles with no frost (which suggests that the lamp output is actually more than the value Philips quotes), but the irregular beam profile makes those readings somewhat suspect. Still, there’s no doubt that it’s a very bright unit, how bright I need to leave up to you and your usage need. One final point, the Fresnel lens has a top hat attached to it which moves back and forth with the lens. This gives you good light spill control at all beam angles, which will particularly appeal to theatrical users.

Pan and tilt The Sharpy Wash 330 has full pan and tilt ranges of 540° and 240° respectively. I measured pan speed over the full 540° at 2.6 seconds and 1.3 seconds for 180°. In tilt, the figures were 1.4 seconds for 240° and 1.1 seconds for 180°. Both pan and tilt have optical encoders to reposition the fixture if it is knocked out of place. I measured hysteresis or repeatability 0.23° for pan and 0.08° for tilt, which is about 0.9” and 0.3” respectively at a 20’ throw.

Movement in both axes was excellent. Very smooth and tight with very slight overshoot and recovery in high speed moves. Figure 14 shows the tilt system along with its encoder wheel, tensioning springs, and sensors. (Figure 14 – Tilt yoke arm)

Noise The constant fans produced the bulk of the noise from the Sharpy Wash 330. I leave units to reach thermal equilibrium for at least an hour before taking noise measurements. Zoom and pan were the noisiest moving elements with a couple of speeds where there was noticeable motor whine.

Sound Levels Ambient

<35 dBA at 1m

Stationary

45.0 dBA at 1m

Homing/Initialisation

49.1 dBA at 1m

Pan

48.8 dBA at 1m

Tilt

46.7 dBA at 1m

Colour

47.4 dBA at 1m

Zoom

48.4 dBA at 1m

Beam Shaper

45.0 dBA at 1m

Frost

47.2 dBA at 1m

Strobe

45.1 dBA at 1m

Homing/initialisation time The Clay Paky Sharpy Wash 330 took 62 seconds to complete a full initialisation from first powering up, and 45 seconds to perform a system reset while running. As with its Sharpy sibling, the unit was extremely well behaved on reset. The software slowly fades the output to black, performs the reset, then gently fades it back in again. The reset time is long enough that the lamp has time to cool down sufficiently that it can restrike during initialisation.

PRODUCT REVIEW LIVE EVENTS

Figure 16: Display

Figure 17: Connections

Power, electronics and control In operation on a nominal 115V 60Hz supply the Sharpy Wash 330 consumed 4.1A when stationary. This is a power consumption of 468W with a power factor of 0.99. The power peaked to over 500W when all motors were running.

The main motor driver electronics are in the yoke arm as shown in Figure 15 (Figure 15 – Yoke Arm 1) with control and power supplies in the top box. The top box also contains a battery allowing you to program the units start address and other parameters while it is still in the road case and unplugged. Access to all the electronic boards, connectors, and assemblies was straightforward.

As with the Sharpy and their other automated lights, Clay Paky provides a graphic LCD screen and control pad for parameter setting with the menu providing all the usual functionality including off-line operation, set-up and maintenance functions. (Figure 16 – Display) The connector panel is also familiar (Figure 17 – Connectors) and offers both five-pin DMX512 XLRs and three-pin XLR connectors, as well as power via Powercon and Ethernet on an Ethercon.

Construction and serviceability Head construction is around two modules, which you can see removed from the unit in figures 6 and 10. These contain all the colour, effects and optical systems. Just about everything apart from the lamp. Removing them from the head for maintenance or cleaning is straightforward.

Just like the Sharpy and all the other narrow beam luminaires on the market, you need to be cautious when running the unit in an extreme narrow angle. The beam is very hot and can damage fabrics and scenery from quite a distance.

So, there you have it, the Sharpy Wash 330. How does it shape up as a companion to the original Sharpy? It’s a difficult product to categorise, it’s called a wash light, but it’s probably unfair to directly compare it with traditional automated wash luminaires. Clay Paky have gone for a slightly larger lamp and a very simple optical system which has its pros and cons. If we keep an open mind and treat it as a new category of product, then it probably isn’t correct to compare it with a conventional wash when looking at, for example, the quality of the colour mixing. Instead it needs to be considered on its own merits.

I think Clay Paky’s marketing information should make that point better, the current literature draws you in the wrong direction. Its small size and good output will surely win it some fans. Will you be one? You have the figures, so you get to decide.

Mike Wood provides technical, design and intellectual property consulting services to the entertainment technology industry. He can be contacted at mike@mikewoodconsulting.com

This article previously appeared in the September 2013 issue of Lighting&Sound America and the October 2013 issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine.

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LIVE EVENTS PRODUCT REVIEW

ETC Eos-family user review ETC, or Electronic Theatre Controls, based in Middleton, Wisconsin USA, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of entertainment and architectural lighting systems. While their products are quite ubiquitous, such as their iconic Source Four range of lighting fixtures introduced in 1992, their strengths have been primarily in the theatre and fixed installation market where high-grade, built-to-last equipment with a sensibility to the theatre lighting designer is paramount.

ETC has always been a company that revolves around innovation. In

fastest way of getting things done when working on the biggest of

1987 their flagship Expression console, which came about as a result of their pursuit for a “better way to make a lighting control console”, was a breakthrough for its time. The Expression was one of the first microprocessor-based systems that incorporated a 2MHz Intel 8080 CPU and that paved the way for what has culminated into an entire range of consoles that are thousands of times more powerful.

Today ETC offers three families of consoles: Smart Solutions, Cobalt and Eos; the Eos is the focus of this user review.

The Eos family comprises six consoles: Nomad Puck, a ’mini computer‘ that supports both the Eos and Cobalt software scalable from 256 to 2 048 outputs; Nomad, computer-based lighting control software which supports both the Eos and Cobalt software; Eos Titanium, ETC’s flagship lighting control console that supports up to 16 384 outputs; GIO, a compact lighting control console built for touring shows; Ion, a portable package; and Element, the most basic of the control surfaces offered in the Eos family.

All the Eos-family controllers run the Eos software platform with features varying based on which hardware option you choose. Pro Systems caught up with a few local and international lighting designers who utilise the Eos-range on a regular basis. This is what they had to say.

shows. Much thought goes into the command line syntax so it is as clear and consistent as possible.

“I also love the direct selects, particularly with the ability to split the screen in version 2.2. The direct selects make accessing record targets really easy and the labels mean you can see exactly what you are doing. Magic Sheets have also become a very important part of my workflow recently. While their usage varies from user to user, I find they are excellent for dealing with non-light fixtures, such as practicals.

They’re also great for visualising effects. I wouldn’t say there is anything I don’t like but there are always things I wish it could do. I’m particularly looking forward to the addition of OSC and the new colour controls. I’m also really hopeful that we’ll get API support to allow independent developers to build apps which work alongside Eos.”

“The National Theatre requires powerful cutting edge control for the large number of productions each year. The Eos family provides sophisticated control of very large rigs and speaks the language of lighting design. The console therefore makes it possible to create the largest of shows with the minimum amount of effort. Eos is one of the best supported consoles I have worked with.

“Essential features of any lighting console for the type of work that I do are tracking and blind editing modes – Eos handles both of these aspects brilliantly. Plus they ‘think’ the way that I do, so I don’t have to convert my requests/thoughts into complicated reverse syntaxes.

“I get to programme the desk in ’English‘. The way I give the instruction to a programmer is the way that the type the instruction into the desk, so it’s really intuitive and logical. It is my understanding that they offer excellent value for money and are fully-functioning consoles capable of handling any show or event from the smallest to the largest – the 2012 Olympics in the UK is a prime example.

“I have been using the platform for about six years now and I have seen the software develop and grow and become more and more powerful. As a truly theatrical console, I think you would be hard

“When you purchase an Eos you know you are getting not just what you have bought on the day but many years of technical support and software releases which make it more valuable every day. It is certainly in the elite class of lighting desks as demonstrated by the many shows it is used for. That said, where it really shines is that it is designed to be a lighting console, not just a way of controlling lights. What that means is that every area of the desk is tailored around how we light shows. I love the command line interface; it is the

pressed to find another console more suited to its application. There is a powerful effects package and it is more than happy to handle video, pixel mapping, magic sheets or any other complex tasks that you might want to throw at it. It is also an extremely stable platform – it is extremely rare that is crashes. There are some great features, like Query, which allows you to ask the desk questions based on what you have programmed and can be quite helpful when wanting to select fairly specific channel ranges or complex ranges of channels based

Daniel Murfin, lighting control supervisor, Royal National Theatre, London (Eos RPU3, Eos RPU, Eos Ti, Eos, Gio, Ion, Ion RPU, Nomad, Nomad Puck)

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Declan Randall, freelance, UK (Eos, Eos Ti, Gio, Ion and Element)

PRODUCT REVIEW LIVE EVENTS on what their current output is. SNEAK is also a feature that I find I now miss on any other console that I use.”

Toto Yende, head of lighting, Woordenlewe church (Ion) “The ETC Eos-series is smooth, effective, and it is easy to train volunteers to use the equipment without worrying that there will be a problem if they change the settings. I find that with the ETC Eos-series I am in control of every move every second. So, for me, its control is what separates the platform from others.

“The GUI is easy to understand and I enjoy features such as Direct Select, Magic Sheets, live split channels and DMX over Ethernet. We use Watchout, so being able to control media servers is cool. As far as things I don’t like go, I wish it was able to sync with the ETC Congo.

Also, I wish there was a history folder so I can go back and find the auto-saved show file. Lastly, support for the Eos-range locally has been ten out of ten. They know exactly what they are doing!”

David Kane, IATSE Local &28 lighting console programmer, Los Angeles (Gio) “The majority of my gigs are as a gun-for-hire, so typically I will come in anywhere from one day to a few weeks to programme a rig. As such I need a console that is versatile, powerful and portable. I got all of that in my GIO. “Its compact footprint makes it easy to transport, yet it has all of the features that I look for in a higher level console such as motorised faders, built in touch screens, programmable macro buttons and, of course, the clutched encoders are a great touch! My GIO was hands down one of the best investments I ever made. Financially speaking, it was affordable enough where I could easily pay it off within the first year of ownership. Where my GIO really stands out in this field is that it is manufactured by ETC, a company that backs its products in a way I have never seen. ETC is constantly working to improve upon their consoles, releasing regular free software updates that improve my life as a programmer and greatly expands the functionality of the desk.

“They also listen – closely – to their customers. The on-board touch screens on my GIO allow me to fly while I’m programming. Combine those with the new split-screen and multi-workspace features released in the latest software release and you can build incredibly specific programming environments for yourself. I make extensive use of the magic sheet functionality to create custom programming interfaces, and then I can share those on a screen with the Eos standard displays. By doing this I have been able to create very specific and specialised interfaces for various tasks, such as moving light programming, media server programming, effects creation, playback, etc.

“The hard macro buttons on the face of the console also enable me to further customise my programming experience by adding functionality that is accessible at the touch of a button. I wish the console had better live-playback functionality such as a master time parameter or the ability to assign separate parameters to the pot and buttons on a single play playback fader, although I am assured this is coming!”

Denis Hutchinson, freelance (Element, Ion) “For anyone with a theatrical background the syntax and system philosophy is very reminiscent of Light Palette and Obsession so it’s a less steep learning curve than would be the case with a programmer-based console.

“This has a lot of advantages for venues that are purely theatrical,

but so much depends on the types of shows that need to be controlled and whether they’re generated in-house or need to satisfy riders. It’s the tracking console most specifically designed for theatre rather than other areas of the market. There are other theatrical boards, but they are mostly non-tracking and in my less than humble opinion, if it doesn’t track it’s not a lighting desk. [Saying that], I’m not a fan of the GUI interface at all – it’s Blackberry rather than iPhone.

Also, kill the bloody tombstones! I really don’t like the displays as there is way too much unnecessary ‘information’ that one has to process.

Less is more. I also find navigating between screens very clumsy, but that may only be on the ION which uses the same software.”

Kobus van der Berg, managing director, Sonique Productions (Ion) “Every painter requires a proper palette to create the perfect picture. For a lighting designer familiar with LEE gels and the exact number it is a walk in the park to create what your production requires [with the Ion].

“The Ion function of selecting the LEE filter and dropping it into the fixture is remarkable. This is what separates the Eos-family from competing brands. You select the desired LEE gel number and slot it into the LED fixture or intelligent unit and it automatically mixes the colour for you. It has seamless step-by-step cueing with smooth scene-to-scene changeovers as well. What I like specifically about the Eos-family is stability. It is as stable and reliable as the old school lighting consoles and recalling a file or a previous show, without the thread of bugs, is a plus point on the ETC Ion. “Also, soft patching is as easy as you can get; you just drag and drop with the touch screens. Assigning fixtures to faders is a walk in the park. It speaks for itself – ETC is the Rolls Royce of theatre and broadcast lighting was the obvious choice. [As far as support goes] Our relationship with ETC and local distributor company – Prosound are fantastic. Ian Blair and Sales Manager Lindsay McGuire are a formidable team. They are always prepared for the extra mile and the back-up service is incredible.”

Stuart Cross, West End freelance, UK (Ion, Gio, Eos, Eos Ti) “The Eos system is almost seen as the industry standard and the way ETC keeps updates coming; it is proving quite future proof.

“The main difference between the Eos system and other competitors’ desks is quite simple in the way the information is displayed. Obviously this is great for the programmers such as myself, but is invaluable for the lighting designer who quite often does just require very limited information of which lights are on, in what colour and pointing where.

“I do think the best thing about the Eos system is the GUI. The basic ‘Tombstone’ display means you can see what fixtures are doing, especially if you use pallets and presets, but with a single push of a button you’re into the ‘Table’ view which gives you a comprehensive view on what everything the fixture is up to. The fact that you can use a mixture of command line and ‘Direct selects’ makes programming extremely quick and easy.

“The information that is displayed on ‘Playback Display’ is amazingly comprehensive but looks so simple, from telling you if something is live moving (moving position while fading up from zero, as opposed to moving while active) to giving you all the link, loop, mark, and of course timing information.

“If I feel that the platform lets itself down anywhere, it would be in the area of effects but I know this is something that is being worked

57

LIVE EVENTS PRODUCT REVIEW on. In fact, some of the changes that have been implemented in v2.2 go a long way to alleviating my problems. The fact that you can now adjust an effect on a channel-by-channel basis as opposed to globally, and that when you recall the channel from a cue it remembers these changes, solves my biggest problem. There was always a way to do what you needed but it was just a bit complicated.”

Ziggy Jacobs-Wyburn, Eos programmer, English National Opera, London Coliseum (all Eos-family consoles) “As someone who uses the consoles in a wide variety of applications, I can say that the purchase of an Eos is one of the most solid investments to be made in entertainment technology. Since its inception and despite strong competition, the Eos has consistently pushed to the head of the pack, becoming the far and away industry standard.

“What I love about Eos is that it’s made for a huge variety of users, and the end result of all of those levels is always a creative, artistic tool that speaks the language of design. The Eos is all about minimizing translation between designer and programmer, making the operator more involved in the design itself. From the small-scale end of operation, this makes the one-man-band operation extremely simple and straightforward – I can programme for myself in a school hall or warehouse space, while keeping my designer brain in gear.

“I love the way the interface looks. I can read numbers, parameters and referenced information labels quickly and easily without digging around. It has an incredibly flexible display and with the advent of Magic Sheets I can now create virtually any display imaginable for myself – something that previously competing consoles banked on as their leg up.

“I am a bit of a Query addict; I love being able to ask the console for anything just like I would another person. Being able to simply ask “What’s moving while dark in this cue?” or “What do I have unpatched in the 4 000 range?” makes my life a thousand times easier, and I really feel as if the console is there to help. The consistency in logic means that I know exactly how it’s going to behave in any situation, and if I encounter a completely unfamiliar one, I can make a really good guess as to how to handle it, without even a bump in the speed of programming.”

Zakaria Al-Alami, lighting director, Jazz at Lincoln Center and Arc3Design, NYC (All Eos-family consoles) “The existing reach of and familiarity with (now-legacy) ETC consoles make the transition to the Eos a very worthwhile investment. The Eos-series makes it easy to do simple and complicated work, and does so as a natural progression in learning and operating the system. And ETC’s constant development of the product line ensures its longevity and growth.

“The ETC legacy is ingrained in this desk. The Eos-series builds on and maintains existing protocols, syntax, habits (even general key layouts), and incorporates logical and easy-to-use advancements that make the desk a very capable and powerful control method for today’s complex rigs. I’ve always enjoyed that, right out of the case, an Eos-family desk is immediately operable, with all needed information easily accessible and clearly visible. The clarity with which information is presented is one of the great things about the Eos-family interface.

“Look at something as basic as the Live Channel Display: no matter how many fixtures you have on a show, or how varied they are in features, you can always immediately tell what a fixture is doing.

58

Combine that with the About screen and you never have to hunt for the answer to “why is that light doing that?” or “what’s controlling that light?” – it’s all right there.”

Nick Simmons, freelance programmer and designer, UK (Nomad, Eos) “I’ve been using the Eos family of consoles for over seven years and the newer Eos Ti and Gio hardware primarily in the last 12 to 24 months. I also have a new Nomad dongle, which is going to come in handy in the future.

“I worked at the National Theatre in London for many years and we switched over to Eos very early on in development with War Horse being the first show I used it on. Since then Eos has become almost the default console for theatre shows in the UK and the only platform I’ve used in the past six years since becoming a freelancer.

“The Eos family has a consistent command-line structure which makes learning the console very easy, once you understand this structure every feature follows the same method, this makes learning the console and handing over shows to touring and house crews very easy. The Magic Sheet feature has been a huge leap forward for designers and crews and they’re no long searching for pieces of paper to find information it’s right there on the screen, this is more important as shows are just getting bigger and bigger.

“Eos is becoming the one console family solution with a lot of shows moving their video programming over to Eos, this means once the show is up and running you no longer need two different console manufactures on the show with a midi cable sitting in between the two. I used the Eos system to control 128 layers of video for the London Olympic Opening Ceremony with no problems whatsoever and handling the time-code involved was nice and simple within Eos even on this large scale. ETC’s technical support is second to none and they have a large, end-user forum community, which is great for new users to ask questions in a friendly environment.”

James Ohrberg, lighting programmer, Candela Controls, Winter Garden, Florida, USA (Ti, Eos, Gio, Ion, Element) “The Eos series is a worthwhile investment for several reasons: reliability, scalability, continued software development, and superb customer support. The ability to swap the different console hardware based on the immediate need in a venue is very powerful and efficient, ie. programme a show on a Ti, and then operate it on an Ion. “The flexibility in display workspaces and the implementation of magic sheets allow for a user interface customised for efficient operation in any venue. As far as what I specifically like about the platform, first, Magic Sheets provide a way to access and view information very efficiently for different applications. I’ve been able to build pages that allow me to see and interact with a large amount of data in a very easy and visual manner.

“Second, as a frequent time-code user, the interface for viewing and editing time-code is quick and easy. Third, the ability to quickly export large amounts of data for documentation is a huge timesaver for analysing a show file.

“However, I do wish for more flexibility in the effect engine.

Some consoles have wave-based editors that allow for effects that are more difficult to produce on the Eos. However, the Eos effects editor can also do some step-based effects that are much easier than other consoles. Lastly, ETC support is outstanding! I know I can always get technical support from the factory via the phone, but I heavily rely both on the ETC and Facebook Eos forums for ideas and solutions.”

Source Four LED

Liolà, National Theatre, London, lighting design by Neil Austin, photo © Max Narula

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INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION DATA PROCESSING & DISPLAY

Tracking the election results centre

By Greg Bester

The new screen system at the National Results Operation Centre (ROC) at the Tshwane Events Centre

This year, 2014, South Africa celebrated 20 years of freedom and democracy. Our fifth democratic elections also took place on 7 May, which brought a special sort of significance to the longevity of our Rainbow Nation and culminated in a virtual homage to our resilience as a people since 1994.

On Wednesday 30 April the national Results Operation Centre (ROC) was officially opened at the Tshwane Events Centre, just west of the capital city. The opening event was attended by a host of dignitaries including diplomats, civil organisation leaders, international observers and political party representatives.

While the 25 million people who registered to vote geared up to do their part, most would be unaware of the processes behind capturing and displaying the votes at the ROC. Obviously, this was no small feat and required much planning and technology to get it off the ground.

One company that has been heavily involved in the leader board aspects of the national elections since 2000 is local technical

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production specialists Lucidity, headed by Paul Newman. Head of AV at Lucidity Sean Moss also had a hand in bringing their services to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to fruition.

“The elections [results displays] have, in the past, always been quite rudimentary despite the IEC progressively pushing for a more advanced setup,” says Newman. “In 2011 at the municipal elections we tested a new system that departed from the previous analogue system to LED and projection. The projection aspect were two 16’ x 12’ screens with the national results LED board in the middle.”

The previous system used by the IEC consisted of older characterbased LED boards with physical printed plaques that displayed the party’s name. Each row that represented the party and its votes had eight character combinations for up to 99 million counts. These characters would then roll over as the votes came in.

Moss explains how the votes were captured for display on the previous boards: “The way it was set up was they would have nine PCs that would be linked up to their database. It would then capture the data and feed it through to an application which would then read that data and convert it to an analogue signal. That signal would get sent down a line to the older LED boards.”

This legacy system has been used since 1994 but brought problems

DATA PROCESSING & DISPLAY INTEGRATION & INSTALLATION

The old screen system used for the elections in 2009

such as difficulty in viewing the results at the bottom of the longer screens, such as with the Western Cape, which had more parties than other provinces. Plainly put, the system was antiquated.

For the 2014 elections the IEC was convinced a new digital system was the way forward and asked Lucidity to come up with something unique and different to what they had previously provided. Lucidity then pitched a couple of options with the IEC finally selecting a Dataton Watchout-driven system to move forward.

“The development and the behind-the-scene happenings required to enable us to do what we wanted to do were quite immense,” says Newman. “We spent several months developing software which enabled us to grab the audited information from the IEC and display it on the screens in an extremely secure process.”

Custom screens were required so Lucidity employed the services of manufacturer Showtex out of Dubai to construct the two 12.5m x 7m screens which would ultimately flank the portrait-orientated LED screen in the centre. The DigiLED screen was supplied by AV Systems through Lucidity and measured 9m x 4m.

“The IEC wants to embrace the digital age,” says Moss. “This year they had an iOS app where you could track the results, so they understand the importance of moving into that spectrum. So, a part of going that route was giving them the flexibility of what digital offers over analogue. What they wanted to do was have the flexibility to display not only the voting statistics but also geographical information from around the country as well as to screen the live daily press conferences. So we created a number of templates with various fields of information which we created in Watchout.”

While all the visuals happening on the front of the screens was the final result, much was going on in the background to ensure a smooth and hiccup-free election process. One of the key points of concern was full redundancy as an assurance that the screens would remain on for 24 hours a day throughout the election period. In order to achieve this each screen received two Christie Roadster HD14KM projectors (four in total) that got discrete feeds from a Watchout server fed from a matrix switch. On the other end of the matrix switch there were two Watchout servers – a primary and a backup – running slaved to ensure that in the event of a server loss, it would immediately switch to the backup. Each Watchout server was equipped with two Datapath E2S cards.

In choosing Watchout as opposed to other media servers Moss says: “There are a lot of media servers that can do a lot of different jobs, and they’re all great, but what I needed was to be able to read data in three different ways. So, what we were able to do with Watchout was – and, again it came down to the IEC’s security protocols – take live DVI feeds, take feeds over the network for the maps and in addition to that I needed to feed off of an image server.”

Lucidity worked closely with the IEC’s IT department to ensure that all information that was displayed on the screens was highly secure.

To accomplish this Lucidity’s custom built SQL server (which interfaced with the IEC server), read the data, generated a graphical interface and spat out the three individual DVI feeds which drove each screen. Concurrently, an image server ran alongside the SQL server which took an image of the screens every 10 seconds, bringing a further level of redundancy in the event of a failure. PENMAC, Dataton distributors in South Africa, was also on site for technical support and backup. According to Newman, PENMAC’s support was key in choosing Dataton Watchout for the ROC. “PENMAC and Lucidity over the years have developed a strong working relationship, and this high profile project required a lot of focus on detail,” says Malcolm Finlay, PENMAC director. “The final outcome of the project for PENMAC and Dataton was very exciting in that the solution required more than just the display and visual power of Watchout, but also engaged much of the control features built into the platform which have led to its favoured user description as the ‘Swiss Army Knife’ of display tools.”

The wrap The digital age has brought myriad new ways of disseminating information and how we interact with it. The fact that the IEC has taken the step to provide an iOS app for voters and has completely digitised the Results Operations Centre can only mean good things for our democracy and is hopefully a benchmark for our foray into the digital future. Indeed, the IEC has chosen to use this system in forthcoming elections, which says a lot about its robustness and proposed longevity.

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LIVE EVENTS PYROTECHNICS

Explosive confessions of a pyrotechnic addict...

By Greg Bester

Pyrotechnics has become a huge part of large-scale arena and festival events across the globe. Used creatively, it can add a huge sense of impact, particularly to the pop and rock genres where lighting and sound are just not enough to fulfil the excitement quotas audiences now demand.

However, here in South Africa, ‘pyro’ – as it is abbreviately termed – seems to have been limited to high profile sporting events or for international artists who bring their wild, top dollar spectacles to our shores.

But all that seems to be changing. Pyrotechnics is becoming increasingly common in our local events and, as it turns out, we have a handful of companies which specialise in this sort of craft. Artists and promoters are also starting to demand these extravaganzas of orchestrated fire in an attempt, I assume, to propel their events from good to out of this world. This is a good thing.

The first time I personally was exposed to pyrotechnics was back in 2002 during the Pop Disaster tour stop in Virginia Beach, USA with punk rockers Green Day and Blink 182. It is well known that Green Day has an affinity for pyrotechnics and I, a small town boy thrust into the US rock touring scene, was green behind the ears never having been close to or witnessed the technique personally. Needless to say, standing side stage with Dee Snider from Twisted Sister and various other rock stars who were watching the show, I had no idea what was coming. The safety personnel were all a flurry, curiously counting down and I stood there like a fool wondering why everyone was putting in earplugs or sticking their fingers in their ears.

It caught me off-guard. The explosion was enormous and I could feel the impact of the pressure wave on my face. I’m sure the 40 000-strong crowd could too; at least the first few rows. My ears were shocked into a ring and I felt disorientated momentarily.

But what a rush!

This got me thinking. Pyrotechnics is serious business. Anyone caught in the blast of one of these charges is surely going to be in serious trouble and, indeed, there have been many pyrotechnics disasters in entertainment history with the consequences ranging from minor injuries to death en masse. After all, who could forget The Station nightclub fire of 2003 in Rhode Island, USA where 100 people were killed as a result of a pyro display during a Great White gig? This illustrates just how much of a concern safety is when using pyrotechnics.

Recently I caught up with award winning pyrotechnics experts Fireworks for Africa (FFA) to find out more about this unique brand of event wizardry. If you’ve been to an event in South Africa that involves pyrotechnics, chances are it was their doing so, for the purpose of this article, they were the logical point of contact to learn more about the art and science.

But first, a little history.

“There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable application of high explosives” – Scott Adams 62

PYROTECHNICS LIVE EVENTS

Way back when Stage pyrotechnics – or, ‘proximate pyrotechnics’; meaning the pyrotechnic devices are in close proximity to an audience – obviously has its roots in traditional fireworks which span over 1 000 years. The first documented origin of fireworks goes back to China in the 7th century where it was invented; eventually making its way into Chinese festivals and rooting itself into their culture and tradition. Around 1240 the Arabic peoples assimilated the Chinese knowledge of gunpowder and it is said that by the 13th century it had found its way into Europe, possibly at the hands of Marco Polo or crusaders who had brought it from the East.

By the mid-17th century Chinese fireworks were very popular in European society. Lev Izmailov, ambassador of Tsar Peter the Great once remarked of Chinese fireworks: “They make such fireworks that no one in Europe has ever seen.”

Of course, we would have to wait until the 20th century for the rise of stage pyrotechnics as we know it and the pioneers of incorporating this technology into their shows was undoubtedly Pink Floyd with their iconic smoke blast at the climax of Careful With That Axe, Eugene.

Other bands like The Who, KISS and Queen soon followed suit, incorporating pyrotechnics into their repertoire as well.

Nowadays pyrotechnic displays are very popular in all levels of sports events and entertainment with current artists like Rammstein, Nightwish, Lordi and Green Day being well known for their spectacularly explosive shows (pun intended).

Pyrotechnics in South Africa Here in South Africa there are very few acts – even top level acts – which incorporate pyro into their repertoire on a regular basis.

However, this doesn’t mean we don’t have the expertise or the know-how; we do, despite the fact that it is arguably still a niche industry. What’s more, our boys are actually quite good.

Fireworks for Africa, one of our leading specialists in the craft, has won many awards over the past 15 years and have taken first place in such international pyrotechnics display competitions as the International Vuurwerkfestival, Knokke-Heist, Belgium 2008; KFM Symphony of Fire, Cape Town 2006; Les Grands Feux du Casino du Lac-Laemy, Hull, Canada 2000, 2001 and 2005; and Les Grands Feux Loto, Quebec, Canada 2000 and 2001. They have also supplied pyrotechnics for sporting events such as the 2010 football World Cup, the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations and the All Africa Games while also handling international concerts for artists like Beyonce, Cold Play, Enrique Iglesias, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Bon Jovi and many more.

Commenting on the history of South African pyrotechnics, Nick Mitri, owner and explosive pyrotechnics operator at FFA says: “We first came across stage pyrotechnics back in 1995 when we did the fireworks for the Bon Jovi SA Tour. We did three stadiums in three cities (Cape Town, Durban and Joburg) and fired a fireworks finale ‘carpet bombing’ while two American pyrotechnicians handled on-stage pyro consisting of gerbs, cascades and airbursts. The material and the two crewmen came from a company called Luna Tech based in Alabama. We were fascinated with this product as we had never come across it previously. I ended up going to the US after that and worked with a pyro company based in Fort Dodge, Iowa. I spent two months there every year, working over the 4th of July season. We then decided to import the pyro and start using it here locally.”

Mitri explains that at that time it was a difficult affair because nobody really knew what pyro was. This proved be a challenge in convincing both his clients and the local authorities that they could be used indoors. The idea just didn’t compute. This hurdle led to a demo with the Chief Inspector of Explosives (CIE) in Pretoria as well as with the local fire departments in each new city where they wished to use pyrotechnics indoors. However, as time went on the authorities grew more accustomed to the technology and the scepticism surrounding it gradually faded.

Pyro-technicals Today there are many different types of proximate pyrotechnics, otherwise called ‘theatrical special effects’ in the event world.

In a basic sense, a pyrotechnic device comprises a container that is adequately flame resistant and strong enough to hold its active contents. The active contents will almost always consist of highly flammable compounds such as nitrocellulose, blackpowder or a fuel/ oxidiser (most common) mixture blended together. The active content particles can either be grains or flakes but the rule of thumb is that the higher the particle surface area, the higher the burning speed and the rate of reaction. Also, some chemical compounds known as binders may be used to ‘bind’ the powders into solid materials.

Fuels are generally based on metalloid powders and some effects may specify multiple fuels. Some common fuels include: aluminium, magnesium, iron, steel, zirconium, titanium and ferrosilicon. There are many more and they all have their own burning properties. For instance, manganese is used to control burn rates while copper is used as a blue colourant with other fuels.

Oxidisers consist of perchlorates, chlorates and nitrates most commonly while other less common compounds include permanganates, chromates and various oxides. The rule of thumb

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LIVE EVENTS PYROTECHNICS here is that the less oxidiser there is, the slower the burning rate with more light being produced.

Various other chemical additives may also be added to provide smoke, sparks or colour. For example, strontium nitrate will supply a red colour, charcoal powder will supply a yellow/gold colour and copper chloride will supply blue.

Getting into the types of effects that pyrotechnicians use to build their show, likely the most basic is what is called a ‘gerb’; a charge designed to eject a fountain or jet of sparks. As described earlier, it consists of a strong, flame-resistant container that holds the active compounds. A plug is found at the exit end of the container with a small hole called a ‘choke’ which constricts the discharge and increases the size and ferociousness of the jet. Then, what is called an ‘electric match’, or ‘e-match’, is inserted into the hole and is remotely engaged to initiate ignition. Control systems can range from a manual system via a switch console to wireless control through a specialised system on a fixed frequency to computer control according to a pre-programmed sequence that follows on-stage cues.

Mitri comments on their chosen control system and the current state of pyrotechnics technology: “Things have obviously come a long way since we started with pyro back in 1995. Our new controllers are radio controlled and fully programmable. Our receivers have a standby time of 60 hours, so it’s not an issue when they need to be flown on a truss. Flames, CO2 jets and confetti have also become part of what pyro companies offer and we are now able to run all of these on DMX. We are able to sit at FOH and control everything. As an example, when we did the recent Ultra SA events in Cape Town and Joburg, we were asked to control from FOH as the LD wanted to cue us. For that event, we had ten firing locations for pyro: four for flames, four for CO2 and six for the confetti and streamers. When we did the stadium pyro for the 2010 World Cup, we had 45 firing positions and fired 4 000 effects in 1 minute and 45 seconds. This would never have been possible with old systems. Not only has the technology come a long way in terms of the pyro we use, but also in terms of how we activate the pyro.”

FFA uses a system by a company called Galaxis, which specialises in wireless firing systems for pyrotechnics while some elements are also controlled via good old DMX. Travis Yeatman, special effects operator, on the system used at Ultra SA says “All the pyrotechnics were triggered via the Galaxis pyrotechnic system. The entire system is wireless on a locked frequency and the configuration is customisable for every venue and event. An Avolites Tiger Touch was used to control a DMX system which operated a dimmer rack for programmable hot power channels which triggered the CO2 jets and stadium shots. The Flamaniac units (flame producing units) have integrated DMX.” Some things are operated manually, however.

“The confetti blowers are operated manually for easy adjustment of speed and flow of confetti,” says Yeatman.

Safety FFA has a very hard stance on safety, which, of course, is mandatory.

“Safety is always our number one priority,” says Yeatman. “If anything isn’t safe, we won’t do it. It’s not negotiable; ever.”

As mentioned, there have been catastrophic pyrotechnic disasters over the years worldwide that have cost lives. There is The Station club incident with Great White, which was particularly destructive, but many preceded and followed it. Metallica’s James Hetfield got second- and third-degree burns by a charge that exploded below him during one of their songs in 1992. In 2008, a pyrotechnic rocket fell

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Setting up pyrotechnics for a show

off of its cable and landed in the crowd at WWE event and in 2010 WWE star The Undertaker was engulfed in a flame during his entrance.

Most recently in 2013 – and probably one of the worst incidents on record – 236 people were killed and dozens injured at the Brazilian night club Kiss during a pyrotechnics accident.

Clearly, poor safety costs lives.

According to Mitri, the first point is that on-stage pyrotechnics must be manufactured and intended for indoor use and the technician must be a qualified pyrotechnician. Here in South Africa, the technician is required to write an exam at the CIE in order to be registered and permits are also required from the local fire department and the CIE for every event. Pyrotechnics are included in the Explosives Act so it is taken very seriously with severe penalties for non-compliance.

“We have found that the American and Europeans are the leaders in the manufacture of stage and close proximity pyro at the moment,” says Mitri. “We currently use American and British effects for our indoor and stage pyro and Spanish material for our stadium pyro. Our fireworks are made in China, but to be honest, we have not come across anything from the East that we would be prepared to set up and fire close to an audience.”

All products that are imported into South Africa have to be authorised by the CIE and an import and storage permit is mandatory. The company in question has to be registered in order to apply. If the product is new, the CIE may request samples for testing and if approved the product will be registered on a system, making future imports easier.

The wrap The overall picture I got from researching this article is that Pyrotechnics is an art, a chemical science and very, very dangerous in the wrong hands. In South Africa, companies like Fireworks for Africa are as successful as they are because of a strict adherence to the rules combined with a passion and a flair for technology and creativity. Plus, I’m sure it’s very fun to deal with high explosives! But Mitri, while passionate, is still realistic.

“We are pretty much doing everything locally as is done overseas, but on a very much smaller scale,” says Mitri. “However, this does seem to be changing slowly as pyro is being seen as an integral part of the productions as opposed to a last minute add-on. Pyro is being included from the get-go and not on the day before show day as was often the case. I’m excited about where pyro is going.

It’s being included in all kinds of events – not just rock shows. We get enquiries for literally all kinds of events.”

EQUIPMENT FINANCE LIVE EVENTS

Equipment finance It’s no secret that to pull off a successful live event a large amount of capital is required. The latest gear doesn’t come cheap to say the least and this capital can be extremely difficult to acquire via traditional methods such as bank financing.

The live entertainment market has specific and unique equipment requirements, the value of which is not always intrinsically understood.Fintech recently entered the entertainment industry sector offering an alternative to bank finance in a market which they have come to understand.

Chanelle Ellaya recently chatted to Micky Carter, head of sales at Fintech, to find out more about the rental finance option which they offer clients within the live entertainment sector.

Why did Fintech decide to get into the live entertainment industry?

MC: Fintech, traditionally known for their office equipment finance solutions, has expanded into a wide range of industry sectors. We have grown our knowledge base of industry-specific equipment and the individual needs of each sector. We have finance packages that have been specifically designed to suit the requirements of these different industries. Our approach is very personal and we tailor-make finance options for each company.

We identified the live entertainment industry specifically as the cost of equipment is high and regular upgrades are required to stay on the cutting edge of technology. A live event can be made or broken by the quality of the equipment. The capital outlay for the latest professional gear can be significant and finance difficult to swiftly secure. Our rental options are a perfect fit for the entertainment industry, given that gear becomes outdated within two to three years.

Technology is changing all the time and it is important for a company to keep up with technological advances and international standards. With our tailor-made rental finance solutions companies now have the opportunity to upgrade more often and secure better equipment.

How would a customer from the live entertainment sector go about financing equipment through Fintech?

MC: They can contact Fintech and be put in touch with one of our sales representatives who are experts in the live entertainment industry sector. Based on the customer’s specific equipment needs, Fintech will tailor-make a financial solutions package to fit the customer’s requirements. The Fintech representative guides the customer through each part of the process and follows through with excellent service delivery, even after finance is secured.

How does Fintech select which equipment suppliers they are willing to affiliate themselves with?

MC: Suppliers need to be in business for three years or more. We conduct an assessment of the supplier as well as the equipment they sell. Fintech is very thorough in this assessment process and will only

deal with reputable and professional suppliers to ensure that the end user has recourse and that quality equipment is supplied. At Fintech we partner with our equipment suppliers to help them grow their business. Making the rental option part of their offering allows them to make each and every sale.

We also actively seek out new partners, for example, DWR suppliers of intelligent lighting had one of the largest stands at Mediatech (the leading African lighting, sound and broadcast expo) and we saw the potential of joining forces. After further investigation we discovered that they were just the kind of supplier that we like to associate with.

What criterion qualifies a customer to acquire financing through Fintech?

MC: Fintech assesses the customer based on their latest financial information and the value of the customers financing requirements.

Potential customers are referred to a sales representative who is a specialist in the relevant industry sector and is well versed in the equipment requirements and finance options available.

What is the main advantage of using Fintech’s offering as opposed to bank financing?

MC: Fintech is an independent financier and can transform an opportunity into a total solution for customers. Suppliers will enjoy a partnership in which they are enabled to sell more equipment, deliver with confidence, and enjoy a simpler administration process.

Customers and suppliers want to work with professionals who do as they say and always follow through. The speed at which Fintech can provide finance, get through the paper work and deliver a decision, is of huge benefit in an industry that often requires last minute decisions.

Fintech makes the whole process simpler, better, and faster, because we understand specific industries and the equipment requirements. The live entertainment market is capital intensive and margins are low, with businesses often drawing from their cashflow to purchase equipment. Fintech’s rental options not only free up working capital but we pride ourselves in our expert service and the relationships we build with clients.

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STUDIO PRO AUDIO PRODUCT REVIEW

Earthworks mic review

By Greg Bester Earthworks, while not a new brand, is not a prominent brand in South Africa. This may be because people aren’t that aware of their local presence or it may be a price issue, but nonetheless, they are serious microphones that deserve attention and possibly even a little love because if doing things differently is a mechanism to pique curiosity, then they certainly have my attention.

Sound Harmonics, our local Earthworks distributor, was kind enough to lend us five Earthworks models on offer for this review: the DK25/R DrumKit-series recording bundle that includes two omni TC25s, a cardioid SR25 and Earthworks’ innovative KickPad, which supplies instant kick drum-focussed EQ; a cardioid DP30/C snare/tom microphone and their new hypercardioid SR40V handheld vocal microphone. We took these mics to Pan Music recording studio in Jukskei Park, Johannesburg to put them through their paces. But before we get to all of that, a bit of history is in order.

A little history, a little philosophy Earthworks DK25R

Microphones: the colours on the audio engineer’s palette. Garish metaphors aside, there’s a great deal of importance resting on the kind of microphone you choose and where you put it. And let’s be honest, the options are almost endless.

From new Chinese cheapies to expensive and rare vintage specimens, it can take virtually a lifetime to learn which microphone to use for which application.

But that’s half the fun. Any serious audio professional, if they’re honest, can immediately be reduced to a giddy child in a candy store at the idea of giving a new microphone a whirl. It’s what gets us audio guys going and is part of the eternal journey of discovery and rediscovery.

Of course, there will always be the tried and trusted mainstays. Models like U47, U67, U87, RE20, SM57, 421 mkii, C12 and a host of others come to mind. These are the standards that engineers have come to love and respect; we know what they sound like and we know what to expect when we use them. But every now and again new contenders step into the otherwise snobbish microphone world and cause a stir because they’re just too good to ignore or because they do things just a little bit differently to what we’re used to.

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Earthworks, founded by dbx noise reduction pioneer and dbx founder David E Blackmer in the late 1980s, was originally focussed on designing and manufacturing audiophile-grade loudspeakers.

During their development, Blackmer realised that the standard measurement tools he was using were insufficient and that to achieve the level of quality he was aiming for, a more accurate tool was required. This tool was a measurement-grade omnidirectional microphone: the QM1, his first model.

This caused his colleagues encourage him to shift his design to other microphones and preamplifiers, which is the core business of Earthworks today. However, in spite of this, Blackmer finally produced the Sigma 6.2, his audiophile dream realised; hand crafted and finished in cherry wood.

Blackmer’s philosophy and research has always been centred on ultrasonics in sound reproduction. He firmly believes that, despite the mainstream view that the human ear cannot respond to frequencies above 20kHz, the time resolution of human hearing is five microseconds or better which corresponds to around 200kHz. Of course, his claim is not that humans can hear linearly up to 200kHz but rather that extended frequency response and accurate time-domain performance are crucial to three-dimensional, life-like audio. To quote Earthworks: This is the motivation behind the design of Earthworks microphones.

The models

Earthworks SR40V

All current Earthworks microphones contain a number in their model number denoting the upper frequency response limit. For instance, the SR40V has an upper limit of 40kHz while the TC25 extends to 25kHz. This is central to the sonic integrity of Earthworks microphones and embodies Blackmer’s philosophy around ultrasonics. To achieve this, all Earthworks microphones are fitted with very small diaphragms roughly 5mm in diameter, which also contributes to their very fast and accurate transient response.

Resultantly, the specifications for all Earthworks microphones are quite impressive. The omnidirectional

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TC25 has a frequency response of 9Hz to 25kHz; a max beneficial to go for the DK25/L cardioid acoustic input of a massive 150dB SPL and has an bundle. However, since the angled ceiling equivalent noise rating of 27dB SPL (A-weighted). The in the live room at Pan Music starts at 9 feet cardioid SR25 has a frequency response of 50Hz to 25kHz, and extends to about 15 feet, and the has a max acoustic input of 145dB SPL and an equivalent room is largely asymmetrical, we thought noise rating of 22dB SPL. As you can see, these mics have we got a very true and faithful image of very wide frequency responses not typical to ‘regular’ the kit with just the right amount of drum kit microphone sets, very high-level handling and room tone. are super quiet.

Adding in the SR25, we were presented Both the TC25 and the SR25 have a wider end, where with a thuddy, chesty kick sound that the XLR connector is inserted and the phantom-powered didn’t sound tailored or ‘pillowy’ at all. At preamp sections are contained and then narrow into a first I wasn’t happy with the sound I was shaft around 8mm wide. The SR25 features a few slit-like hearing so I moved the microphone a little ports on its address end, which, I assume supplies its further inside the kick drum hole to cardioid pattern. Their overall shape gives them a accentuate the low end a bit more and ‘measurement mic look’. I couldn’t find any information get a bit more attack. I then flipped the on what material they are crafted from but from the looks polarity on the overheads and suddenly of it, it could either be stainless steel or the kick drum came to life. polished aluminium.

Overall the kit sounded good. I could The DP30/C is a gooseneck microphone with a right see how experimenting with various angle head designed, with the aid of a special clamp, to three-mic techniques might yield different be fixed to the side of a drum. It looks somewhat like a results but if you’re doing a jazz recording lectern microphone, but this is because its clamp is or a style that requires a very live and flat designed to attach to the bottom rim, which allows the sound, the three mics will probably work mic to extend above the top rim due to its length. out perfectly for you.

Earthworks DP30C The DP30/C has equally impressive specs. It exhibits a Adding the DP30/C I was instantly frequency response of 30Hz to 30kHz (±2dB at 15cm), a impressed with the snare sound we max acoustic input of 145dB SPL and an equivalent self-noise of 22dB achieved without any EQ. It had just the right amount of top end, the SPL. attack was fantastic and it had ample body and punch. I became The hypercardioid SR40V is a high-end vocal microphone aimed at an instant fan of the DP30/C and it added the perfect amount of cut the live market and is one of the newer additions to the Earthworks and punch that the snare drum was begging me for. family. Finished in flat black and crafted from stainless steel, it has all Moving our attention to the SR40V we figured that given that the the hallmarks of a live microphone and, disregarding the inverted specs of the mic were comparable to studio mics, we should teardrop ports at the base of the grille, it looks somewhat like a Shure compare it to our Manley Reference Red studio condenser and, SM87 with its flat-top address end. funnily enough, a plain old SM57. We wanted to hear if the However, the difference is under the hood. Designed to deliver flat microphone truly brought studio quality sound to the stage. performance when the mic is 15cm from the source, the foamAccordingly, we set all three mics up in the vocal booth and local rap covered capsule also measures around 5mm, just like Earthworks’ artist Prozaktly sang and switched between them from six other microphones. The SR40V features a frequency response of 30Hz inches away. to 40kHz, has a max acoustic input of 145dB SPL and has an The Manley, of course, exhibited a classic large diaphragm studio equivalent self-noise of 22dB SPL. This is extremely quiet for a live condenser sound. It had a silky top end, a smooth midrange and big application microphone. bottoms. By comparison, the SR40V, surprisingly given its extended frequency response, sounded darker and more rugged. This was not The tests what I expected. This may have been because the Manley could be somewhat hyped in the low and top end, but I definitely got the First we tested the DK25/R bundle with the KickPad and the DP30/C impression the SR40V was flatter and therefore sounded a little boxier on the drums. I would love to say that this was a comparative review in comparison. Switching to the SM57, we were surprised to hear a bit but since we didn’t have anything in our mic locker that was similar in more clarity in the top end. However, the SM57 did not take well to design, we opted to just set them up and take a listen. The TC25s were plosives and performed terribly off-axis, which the SR40V handled placed in a spaced configuration, equidistant to the snare drum with ease. while the SR25 was placed just inside the hole in the front head of the kit. The DP30/C was positioned to pick up the snare drum.

I’ve always been intrigued by minimal drum mic setups. Indeed, The wrap Glyn Johns is famous for his three-mic technique and recently Eric Valentine demonstrated a one-mic technique for achieving Motown Earthworks make beautiful microphones. If a hyped sound is what sounds. This is not something I typically go for as these days it’s most you’re after, do not look here because, as their literature states, common to use a combination of close and distant microphones but their goal is a flat and extended frequency response. For this this gave us a chance to see what could be achieved. reason transparency is the name of their game and is why, after At first we listened to the overheads. The TC25s supplied a very some more experimentation, their mics respond wonderfully to EQ transparent sound and captured a lot of the room due to their and exhibit near perfect polar patterns that do in fact remain even omnidirectional response. This could be a hurdle for some studios that across all frequency and position within the pattern. They are, all in have less-than-good sounding live rooms. In that case it may be all, truly remarkable microphones.

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STUDIO PRO AUDIO STUDIO REPORT

The only way is up for Downtown Studios

By Greg Bester

Studio 1 at Downtown Studios

The South African music industry undoubtedly has a rich heritage. While many people are aware what transpired in our music scene during isolation in the deplorable apartheid years, there are very few monuments from that era left to remind us of our recording legacy. However, there is still one place in Johannesburg that has fared the winds of change; where many of the greats of not only the local recording industry were immortalised, but those of the international fraternity as well.

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Downtown Studios, now part of the Downtown Music Hub, is back to life. It is one of the last, if not the only large format commercial recording facility left in Johannesburg and it has survived the tumultuous ebb and flow of the industry over the past 35 years.

Indeed, many people were left wondering about its fate after it lay in limbo for quite a while despite remaining in operation somewhat under the radar. But it still stands today; now in a state of revitalisation with its bow pointed straight at the horizon of the future.

The closing of commercial studios is a concerning phenomenon worldwide. Even now, as this is being written, the historic 50-year old RCA studios in Nashville, currently managed by piano-pop phenomenon Ben Folds, is in danger of being closed due to a resale of the property to a Texas-based commercial development company. This is a recurring and often sad story for places like RCA Nashville that literally changed the world, yet is now in danger of being cast aside in obsolescence.

The digital age brought about a complete and utter revolution to the recording industry with the widespread availability of cheap digital recording gear and the proliferation of the MP3. The CD format dwindled, people stopped buying albums and this had the knock-on effect, in as few words as possible, of shrinking the label-driven budgets that were keeping these commercial studios in business. The massive overheads of running a facility on that scale quickly became

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the end-game for many and the industry was forced to change its MO. Indeed, RCA New York is now office space for the IRS. There’s a sick sense of irony in there somewhere.

Downtown Studios is different, however. It doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. The facility, now going on its 35th year in operation, has received a breath of new life under the auspices of the National Arts Council and the Department of Arts and Culture who clearly see the value in what amounts to ‘our RCA Nashville’; bidding to support burgeoning local artists and uplift the local recording industry in general. It is now a division of the Downtown Music Hub, an initiative by the Department to create a hive of creativity in the music sector.

Chola Makgamathe, CEO of the Downtown Music Hub says: “Once the section 21 entity was established (currently operating as the Downtown Music Hub), its board embarked on a process of developing a business plan which sought to address some of the challenges in the music industry that had been identified by the Department. The plan outlines a 20 year vision to become players in various aspects of the music value chain and utilise this position to benefit the sector. One of the areas is of course production and the plan was to recapitalise the studios so that local artists could have access to state-of-the-art facilities to record their music. In order to do this, we purchased consoles and other equipment from Solid State Logic and other suppliers and should be finished with the entire studio refurbishment process by the end of July.”

Pro Systems recently caught up with long-time Studio Manager Darryl Heilbrunn to talk about the past, present and future of Downtown Studios. This is its history. This is its story. This is its future.

Beginnings Downtown Studios was established as RPM Studios in 1979 by ex-Gramophone Record Company Salesman Matt Mann and Producer Dan Hill, the duo that founded RPM Records in 1969.

Matt Mann handled A&R while Dan Hill was a producer, clarinettist and a band leader and, in fact, produced the first album to acquire gold status in South Africa entitled, Happy Days Are Here Again. Kevin Kruger, the legendary South African drummer and producer, later joined them along with Grammy-award winning John Lindemann, who became the studio’s first manager. The studio ran with the five at the helm for a few years until ownership changed hands.

“RPM Studios was part of RPM Records, which was situated in this building where RPM ran the record label from,” explains Heilbrunn.

“In 1982 the Gallo Record Company bought RPM Records and RPM Studios so we, then as RPM Studios, became part of Gallo. The name was then changed to Downtown Studios in 1991. The reason for that was Gallo felt that, seeing as we were servicing other labels, perhaps it would be better if we had a neutral name.”

RPM Records was also absorbed as a label affiliate that, at that time, specialised in ‘white’ genres of music such as rock, Afrikaans pop music and the famous Bump dance compilations. However, despite the oppressive political climate at that time RPM Studios was a place of refuge for people in the industry who wished to escape from the Group Areas Act and interference from the authorities. It was fertile ground for collaborations between musicians of all colours and indeed became a sanctuary for artists involved in political activism who used their music as a mechanism to invoke change and expose the atrocities of the ruling National Party.

RPM Studios subsequently produced a slew of superstar artists and a mountain of hits by such names as Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa, Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse and Don Laka. Notable producers who likewise made RPM their home were greats like West Nkosi, Hamilton Nzamande, Tom Mkhize, Richard Siluma and many

“I believe that progress and heritage can co-exist in mutual respect.”

– Ben Folds, owner, RCA Studios Nashville

Studio 1 drum booth

others. It’s had its share of collaborations with international artists as well, and indeed the studios became somewhat famous for this.

In 1989 Manfred Mann recorded his hit album Plains Music in Studio 2. Simon Le Bon and Duran Duran also got the bug to record while on tour here and ended up at Downtown Studios only to emerge two days later with an album combining Brit pop with township-style inflections. Simply Red recorded their hit single We’re in This Together in five days, that featured 20 South African session vocalists. And, of course, who could forget Paul Simon’s Graceland which was by and large recorded there in 1985 in collaboration with many local musicians such as Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Graceland went on to sell 14 million copies worldwide and won the 1987 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Later on, in a twist of serendipity, its title track won Song of the Year in 1988.

RPM remained an operational division of the Gallo Group for 30 years until 2010 when the Department of Arts and Culture got interested in the studios and eventually purchased them from Gallo in a bid to become an “agent of change for the advancement of human capital development, job creation and entrepreneurship in the industry” and to “facilitate economic empowerment of South African artists”.

Despite all of these changes, Downtown Studios prides itself on never having closed its doors in its 35-year existence. However, Heillbrun will admit that in recent years the frequency of feet walking through the door did wain somewhat.

“Home studios, computers and software that allowed people to record in their bedrooms or garages definitely had an effect [on business]. People are recording fairly decent sounding stuff in their home studios. However, I say ‘fairly decent’ because we still feel there is a place for professional studios. If one listens very carefully to the average sound quality of recordings these days, you’ll actually hear that it’s decreased over the years. It’s become quite hard, harsh, digital and homogenous. Whereas, in the analogue days there was a lot more actual engineering going on to create the sound you were after.”

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STUDIO PRO AUDIO STUDIO REPORT

The studios, the upgrade “We made a conscious decision not to build an incredibly technical and perfect facility because we didn’t believe that technology alone was the basis of an excellent recording,” explains Heilbrunn. “We felt that you needed good acoustics, which we did – our rooms were designed by Jean Knopperson and Ivan Lin; proper acousticians. You need average speakers, not mind blowing ones, because they put you in another world. We just felt that if we had a good SSL console, good tape machines and good room acoustics, that was enough.”

Downtown Studios comprises three studios: Studio 1, Studio 2 and Studio 3 in descending order of size. While most of the floors that encompass the Studios, such as the administrative offices and the reception area have received a complete overhaul and cosmetic upgrade, the studios, besides Studio 3, have remained largely the same due to their classic and original design. Most of the upgrades to the studios have therefore mostly been in respect to the equipment. Studio 1, however, did receive new carpets as the old ones were looking a little long in the tooth while Studio 3 has undergone an entire redesign of its control room.

Studio 1, the largest of the three, has a large control room that originally housed a 48-channel JH-500 MCI console paired to a Studer A27 24-track tape machine with Dolby SR noise reduction. All three studios in fact received these tape machines. The MCI was replaced later on with a 56-channel SSL 4000E with G-series EQ that was obtained from the famous British musician Paul Weller (The Jam).

However, eventually the 4000E broke down which caused Studio 1 to be closed for a while until Downtown Studios received new funding.

Eventually the funding was procured because of their new

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partnership with the Department of Arts and Culture and, as part of their upgrade plan for the facility, Studio 1 received a brand new 72-channel SSL Duality SE console, a 64-channel Avid HDX system with the MADI I/O, SSL MX Alpha Link converters, Adam S3X monitors and an Apple Mac Pro to run recording software.

Studio 2 has remained largely unchanged with the original 48-channel Harrison MR-series console staying put. However, a Pro Tools system has been installed along with SSL MX Alpha Link converters and an Apple Mac Pro. Studio 3, the smallest of the three, has undergone the most dramatic metamorphosis. Originally housing a Neve console purchased from the SABC, a Soundcraft console was then installed as its replacement until finally a Sony MXP-3606 found its way in, which stayed there for many years. The new revitalisation project will see, as mentioned, the control room completely redesigned for better acoustics with the addition of a 48-channel SSL AWS 948 II mixing console with virtually the exact same Pro Tools HDX/MADI/Alpha Link system installed in Studio 1. Adam S3X H midfield speakers will also be featured.

The wrap Downtown studios, it seems, has had a breath of new life. This is most positive for the future of South African artists and, given the spirit of its mandate, the Department of Arts and Culture is clearly behind the growth of the music sector wholeheartedly. The rich history of Downtown Studios and what it represents to so many is invaluable to our future because, after all, if you don’t know where you’ve come from, you can’t possibly know where you’re headed.

Long live Downtown Studios!

SOCIAL

Barco Training and T-Series Launch – Questek, Bryanston

Jakobi Yzelle and Alan Worsley

Werner Bakker, Rola Alsharif and Rene Brummage

Wayne Schneeberger and Cornell Tome

Ellan Phaahla, Jacques Welthager and Eugene Mokai

Eric de Jager, Jack McEwan, Willem van Tonder

Julian van Zyl, Abie Bruwer and Koem Ameye

Rene Brummage and Sabi Mokholo

Michael Collyer and George van Gils

Khensani Machete and Paul Mann

Peet van der Colff, Jonathan and Martin Slabber

Marc Geldof and Rola Al Sharif

Alan John Worsley

Crestron Training – Crestron, Blackheath

Adam Hooper

Peter Westraadt

Joel Malherbe and Katashka Holdstock

Martin Carstens

Mduduzi Kubeka and Bongani Mondlane

SSL Training – Downtown Studios, Johannesburg

Gavan Eckhart, Garrick Van Der Tuin

Shawn Taylor

Doug Hook

Neil Kuny and Kevin Manas

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SOCIAL

Audiosure dealer breakfast – Audiosure, Midrand

Brendan Venter and Mike Pepper

JP van Schalkwyk, Shane Brummer and Zweli Mndebele

Anthea Bossert, Andre van Staden, Eddie Muller and Camilla Brengosz

Greg Payne and Alison Taman

AWA launch – Boundary Loner, Kya Sand

Perry Elias, Jacques Nieuwoudt and Marnus Nieuwoudt

Marius Koopman and Jose Stafford Moses

Chris Andrews and Vin Deysel

Vernon Robinson and Jeremy Kusner

Reggie Bidgood and Lior Manelis

Andrew Rowan and Ruan Joubert

ETC Training – Prosound, Hillfox

Charles Markotter and Hein Zentgraf

Clement Makama, Mfanafuthi Njokweni, and Marcel Wijnberger

Jannie De Jager and Solly Thaane

Richard Thompson and Glenn Duncan

Hein Zentgraf

Martin Training – Electrosonic, Northcliff

72

Terry Bourquin, Magz Schoeman and Renier Smit

Arthur Phofeli, Jesse Dullabh, Lucky Selaledi, Renier Smit and Stanley Monageng

Jesse Dullabh and Johan Marais

Heinrich Dragt and Jesse Dullabh

Renier Smit, Matthew Phala, Francois Van der Hoven, Thokozani Sithole and Jesse Dullabh

Andre Hanekom

WM Series

Technical stats:

Stage Monitors

WM15

WM10

WM12

Coaxial Wedge Monitor

Coaxial Wedge Monitor

Coaxial Wedge Monitor

RMS Power: 300W

RMS Power: 400W

RMS Power: 400W

Impedance: 8 ohms

Impedance: 8 ohms

Impedance: 8 ohms

Average Sensitivity (1W/1m): 96dB

Average Sensitivity (1W/1m): 98dB

Average Sensitivity (1W/1m): 99dB

Continuous SPL/1m: 121dB

Continuous SPL/1m: 124dB

Continuous SPL/1m: 125dB

Frequency Response (-6dB): 68~20000Hz

Frequency Response (-6dB): 65~19000Hz

Frequency Response (-6dB): 58~19000Hz

Cabinet Size (H x W x D) mm: 261 x 444 x 390

Cabinet Size (H x W x D) mm: 297 x 504 x 437

Cabinet Size (H x W x D) mm: 352 x 580 x 502

Net Weight: 15kg

Net Weight: 19kg

Net Weight: 25kg

Connectors:

Connectors:

Connectors:

Two NEUTRIK Speakon NL4MP with link through

Two NEUTRIK Speakon NL4MP with link through

Two NEUTRIK Speakon NL4MP with link through

Cabinet Material: Hard Plywood

Cabinet Material: Hard Plywood

Cabinet Material: Hard Plywood

Cabinet Finish:

Cabinet Finish:

Cabinet Finish:

Textured Touring Grade Waterproof Coating

Textured Touring Grade Waterproof Coating

Textured Touring Grade Waterproof Coating

viva afrika

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