Pro-Systems Nov/Dec 2014

November / December 2014

R35.00

AV System Integration | Installations | Live Events | Studio PRO Audio

Cover JBL’s Paul Bauman Story Interview Martin Mac Quantum Wash Review Plasa London 2014 Club Era Electro-Voice ETX Speaker Review Silverstar Casino Globe Christie 6P laser projector system

THE FUTURE OF LINE ARRAY

IS ACTIVE...

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Professional Active speakers

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EME one

EME one

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Band of frequency: VHF 170 - 230 MHz

Band of frequency: VHF 170 – 230 MHz divided into 3 bands of 10 MHz

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Sensitivity: -90 dBm for 85 dB S/N weighted “A”

Modulation: FM with Digital Code subcarriers

Supply: 9V battery 6LR61

RF Power: 20 mW

Autonomy: 6 – 7 hours with medium volume regulation alkaline battery

RF architecture: Microprocessor controlled PLL

Channels: 8 channels for each band intermodulation free calculated

Audio Inputs: 2 X MIC/LINE inputs with built in 2 ch.

Audio Inputs: 6.3 mm jack for monitoring electric guitars

audio mixer

Audio Outputs: 3 mm jack for 12 ohms In Ear Headphone

Channels: 8 channels for each band

S/N “A” weighted: 104 dB

intermodulation free calculated

Antenna: loaded fixed stylus

Power supply: universal plug 100 to 250 VAC

Headphones: Fire One 12 Ohm custom headphone

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Antenna: loaded fixed stylus

Ear Monitor Evolution One 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 It’s the end of a busy year for us at Pro-Systems, lots of movement in the industry and also some movement within our team as we bid farewell to our deputy editor, Greg Bester.

Greg has without a doubt been a tremendous asset to us and has contributed to the continued success of the publication. We wish him all the best for his future endeavours.

In this issue we have some great product reviews from Jimmy den Ouden. On page 46 you’ll find the Electro-Voice ETX speaker review and the Martin Mac Quantum Wash review on page 62.

Greg also managed to get some time out of Paul Bauman’s busy schedule at JBL for an interview on page 36.

I hope you all have a fantastic festive season and a prosperous 2015. Happy reading.

CONTENTS NEWS

Live Events

Crestron founder George Feldstein

Building on the JBL legacy.......................36

passes away.................................................3

Paul Bauman..............................................40

Osram finalises acquisition of Clay Paky...3

Electro-Voice ETX – EV strikes accord......46

TID acquires Adam Hall agencies

Plasa London 2014.....................................48

for South Africa.............................................3

PLASA London Feedback.........................50

Mediatech 2015 is on the horizon..............4

PLASA London Products............................51

Matrix Sound is new Dynacord

Standard Bank CIB 2014 –

distributor in South Africa............................5

perfectly blended......................................56

Prosound and Zero 88 continue

ARX Audi-box Blue DI Review...................60

to combine forces.......................................5

Martin Mac Quantum Wash –

Gearhouse upgrades SDS

A Quantum leap forward?.......................62

Western Cape..............................................6

Joburg Day 2014 .......................................64

ScanSource acquires Imago Group..........6 TPSA votes to merge with SACIA...............8

Claire Badenhorst

Deputy Editor It is with a heavy heart that I announce that this issue of Pro-Systems News Africa will be my last. I will be moving on to greener pastures and exciting new opportunities so I would like to thank you all – readers and clients alike – for your fantastic support over the last two years during my tenure at the publication and for your endless capacity and enthusiasm for what we do. I came into this job as a wide-eyed, naïve sound engineer who had a knack for writing and, looking back, I have learned so much; not only from my colleagues but from people like you who I dealt with on a daily basis. I learned first-hand the intricacies of our industry and what it taught me was that we are world class. We have professionals that rival the best and it makes me proud to be a South African and to work in such a burgeoning, self-sustaining, vibrant industry.

However all good things come to an end. Audio is and will always be my number one passion so, fear not, I suspect this will not be the last you will hear or see of me as I’m sure I’ll be dealing with many of you in the coming future. I would like to extend a special thanks to our fantastic publisher Simon Robinson and our assiduous managing editor Claire Badenhorst for taking a chance on me and for their enormous support and faith. Your guidance has been invaluable to my growth and I am indebted to you. I would also like to send a huge thanks to the rest of my colleagues in the Sun Circle office. You are all fantastic people and it has been nothing but a pleasure getting to know all of you. You made getting up and coming to work easy and I will miss you all.

Semper ad Meliora.

Studio PRO AUDIO Mixing drums in the

Company Profile

modern DAW – Part 6:

DWR Distribution –

compression continued............................66

it’s all about the people...........................10

Social Integration & INSTALLATION

Crestron Training.........................................68

Christie – the art and science of 3D........14

Kramer Roadshow.....................................68

Silverstar Casino Globe installation..........18

Audiosure Dealer Evening........................68

Club Harem spreads the vibes...

Robe BMFL launch.....................................68

and the pheromones................................22 Club ERA ....................................................26 A question of control.................................30 Tracking Technology. ........................32 – 35

Contributors Joanne Taylor | Completing her Creative Writing degree, Joanne is an experienced trade journalist and photographer in many different industries. Joanne is learning the ropes of the audio and AV industries and has a keen interest in lighting, particularly for live events and theatre productions.

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.

Jimmy Den-Ouden | An entertainment technician based in Sydney, Australia. His qualifications and experience span a broad range of subjects and technologies. He writes and reviews equipment most of the week, and works freelance on various shows and installations on a weekly basis. Jimmy can be seen on most GEARBOX video reviews, available on You Tube.

Warren Holden | A writer and editor with a passion for the film, television and broadcasting industries.

A graduate of AFDA Johannesburg, with a degree in Motion Picture Medium with specialisation in Writing and Directing. He is currently the editor of Screen Africa magazine and occasionally contributes to Pro-Systems magazine.

Greg Bester 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 | Joanne Taylor | 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

Crestron founder George Feldstein passes away A statement by Crestron Electronics reads: “It is with great sorrow that we announce the death of Crestron’s chairman and founder, George Feldstein. After a brave battle with brain cancer over the past year, he passed away earlier today [4 November 2014], peacefully at his home surrounded by family. His passion and love for our industry was evident in everything that he did. His influence has left an indelible mark on all those who were fortunate enough to know him. He was truly a great man and a great leader. We will all sorely miss him, but his spirit will live on in all that he touched.”

Bruce Genricks, managing member, Crestron South Africa, says that Feldstein was not only an engineer but a visionary constantly focused on creating new and better technology. “Starting Crestron in 1970, he remained a hands-on CEO, always having the company’s best at heart. He surprised us all by still attending the last big Crestron party laughing and joking with his unique sense of humour even during the time of his greatest battle. Although we know the family will take good care of the business, we know that the gap left can never be filled. On

TID acquires Adam Hall agencies for South Africa

The founder of Crestron passed away on 4 November 2014 at the age of 73 after a battle with brain cancer.

behalf of Crestron South Africa and Electrosonic SA, we would like to send our sympathies to the Feldstein family and Crestron Electronics, our thoughts and prayers are with you during this sad time.”

Feldstein’s most recent achievement was awarded to him in October at Grosvenor House Hotel in central London, he was commended with the inaugural Lifetime Achievement award at the AV Awards 2014.

Osram finalises acquisition of Clay Paky Osram, a leading light manufacturer, has successfully completed the acquisition of Clay Paky, a leading provider of entertainment lighting for shows and events.

All necessary approvals from the respective authorities have been granted regarding the acquisition, which took effect on 13 October 2014.

With this move, Osram will further expand its position in entertainment lighting. “The successful closing of this transaction is a further step towards strengthening Osram’s specialty lighting segment in a highly attractive market,” says Wolfgang Dehen, CEO of Osram. Pio Nahum, who has been appointed CEO of the Clay Paky business explains that being part of Osram, Clay Paky will have good prospects for further growth.

Technology Innovated Distribution (TID) has acquired the Palmer and LD Systems brands for exclusive distribution in South Africa. Both brands belong to the international Adam Hall Group.

Located in Randburg, TID specialises in audiovisual solutions and the distribution of musical equipment, bringing a well balanced mix of products and design philosophies to the South African market.

After negotiations with Adam Hall’s COO Markus Jahnel the exclusive agreement was secured with immediate effect.

Tiaan Hoogstad, marketing manager TID says that the LD Systems extensive product range is the perfect complement to TID’s current product offering. “Their selection of high quality yet competitively priced portable audio systems, active speaker systems, installation loudspeakers, as well as wireless systems and other hardware, means that TID now truly has a product to offer for every application in the MI, eventing and installed sound markets.”

“We are pleased to appoint TID as the new exclusive distributor of our LD Systems, Palmer Pro Audio and Palmer MI brands in South Africa. Their current range, their philosophy and positioning in the market fit in perfectly with the LD Systems and Palmer product range as well as our own philosophy,” comments Jahnel.

With the acquisition of Clay Paky, Osram is pushing forward its strategy of technology and innovation. The innovation-driven entertainment lighting market is very attractive, with mid-single digit percentage growth rates. Clay Paky will be part of Osram’s Specialty Lighting segment, which comprises the company’s automotive lighting as well as the Display / Optic activities.

During the recent PLASA exhibition in London, Clay Paky won the PLASA 2014 Award for Innovation for their new moving head ‘Mythos’ – a highly advanced form of hybrid light, combining beam light and spotlight – an award that Clay Paky has received eight times now.

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news

Mediatech 2015 is on the horizon

Mediatech 2013 at the Coca-Cola Dome

The eighth biennial advanced media and entertainment technology tradeshow, Mediatech Africa, is set to kick off on 15 July 2015 at the Dome at Northgate, Johannesburg.

Mediatech is Africa’s premiere trade show in this arena and many exhibitors in the live entertainment technology, AV systems integration, broadcast, film, production, post-production, animation and new media, studio and recording and pro DJ equipment sectors will have their wares on display. This creates an open platform to showcase new products and technologies and sets the

15 – 17 July 2015

THE DOME @ NORTHGATE JOHANNESBURG SOUTH AFRICA

stage for effective networking.

Stand sales opened at the beginning of October 2014 and the response from the industry at large has thus far been phenomenal. Despite being months away, a host of big name exhibitors have already confirmed their stands with the uptake from the Live Event and AV sectors being particularly impressive. Sound and Light City, Audio Visual Centre, Viva Afrika, Peripheral Vision, DWR Distribution, Concilium Technologies, Inala, Electrosonic SA, Extron Electronics and Mitsubishi Electric are amongst the already confirmed stands, while

many other exhibitors have provisionally booked their stands by making their mark on the floor plan.

Mediatech Africa 2013 saw a total of 6 935 visitors walk through the door over three days including 424 foreign visitors of which 197 were from the African continent. 136 companies exhibited, collectively representing just short of 700 brands. Of these visitors, 37% were decision makers in their respective companies while 19% filled senior management positions. That being said, 49% of visitors had power of purchase while 30% had influence of purchase.

Visit WWW.MEDIATECH.CO.ZA for more info

10AM – 6PM I WEDNESDAY TO FRIDAY

Proudly brought to you by Thebe Reed Exhibitions and Sun Circle Publishers

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Publishers & Projects

Matrix Sound is new Dynacord distributor in South Africa With immediate effect, Dynacord has appointed Matrix Corporate and Theater Sound as its new distributor in South Africa.

Trevor Peters Founded in 1998, Johannesburg-based Matrix Sound specialises in equipment sales, hire as well as event consulting. Sound systems of award-winning Matrix Sound have been installed in venues including theatres, retail stores, houses of worship and training facilities. Additionally, clients include events such as First National Bank Innovators’ Awards and the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

“In South Africa, Dynacord has always had a fantastic reputation,” comments Trevor Peters, owner of Matrix Sound. “We’re delighted to include Dynacord in our portfolio and look forward to a long and successful partnership.” For Peters, the current product range embraces everything from entry-level to high-end products for professional users. But, even as important, Peters highlights: “As a company specialised on sound, we need to enjoy the sound a product creates. And in the case of Dynacord, we were thrilled.” In the future, Peters plans to extend the presence of the brand in both the MI market, among DJs and event companies as well as among larger rental and installation companies.

“In an already saturated market like South Africa, we searched long and hard to find the right partner – with the right amount of passion and zeal to take on a new brand and a strong commitment to grow it from scratch,” comments Klaus Seitz, sales director Prosound MEA. “In Matrix Sound, we have secured exactly the right partner. We look forward to working with Peters and his team and to exploring the possibilities to grow the Dynacord range among Matrix’ extensive client base in South Africa.”

Prosound and Zero 88 continue to combine forces

Prosound South Africa has signed a distribution extension agreement with Zero 88, known as manufacturers of lighting control equipment for the entertainment industry – including stage, live events, television and theatres.

The Prosound team has worked with Zero 88 for a number of years and as such has built up an extensive in-house engineering, sales and support knowledge for the brand. The extended agreement coincides with increased promotional activity that will include sales demonstrations and training around South Africa, supported equally

by Prosound and Zero 88.

Both companies can draw upon over four decades of experience in the specialist performance lighting industry and look forward to working together to provide the best service the industry has to offer.

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news

Gearhouse upgrades SDS Western Cape

Gearhouse’s new SDS factory space in the Cape

Sets, Drapes, Screens (SDS), part of the Gearhouse Group of Companies, has been servicing live events, venue requirements, television productions, custom exhibition stands and brand activations in Gauteng and the Western Cape for the past six years with set requirements as well as a variety of large format screens and draping.

To grow the SDS service in the Western Cape region, the facility expanded their manufacturing workshop by 450 square metres to facilitate larger, custom-built sets, and recent investments include state-of-theart Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machining facilities and the addition of wall

saws which will increase and refine manufacturing capacity. The company is also investing in a broader stockholding which will enable a full service drape and screen hire service in the Cape.

In Johannesburg, an upgrade of large format 16:9 screens to the latest screen projection technology is underway. The latest borderless screens provide a cleaner aesthetic on conferencing and AV-intensive events than traditional truss-surround screens and the company can also now offer the first 23 metre x 7 metre specialised rear projection, soft-edge blending screens available in South Africa.

The on-going expansion of the business’ specialised drape inventory includes new DMX controlled Kabuki outdoor curtain–drop systems which have been configured for both linear and curved release effects – ideal for adding an unusual element to a product reveal.

Also, the process work flows at SDS have come under review with the establishment of a Project Management department in the Cape Town branch targeting improved cohesion and client service onsite, managed by Jacques Gunning.

ScanSource acquires Imago Group ScanSource, an international distributor of specialty technology products, has acquired Imago Group, a distributor of video and voice communications equipment and services. ScanSource acquired Imago’s operations in the UK and France, and their recently acquired business in Germany.

Founded in 1991 and headquartered in the UK, Imago has nearly 120 employees in the UK, France, and Germany. In June 2014, Imago acquired Vitec Distribution, a videoconferencing distributor in Germany.

Imago provides a full suite of services in video, voice and data, including project

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initiation, implementation and training, as well as a strategy in assisting resellers with implementing cloud solutions via public, private or hybrid means. Imago carries a strong line of vendor partners, including Polycom, Barco, Samsung, and NEC. In 2013, Imago was named by Polycom as its Distributor of the Year in EMEA. “The acquisition of Imago represents the next step in ScanSource’s strategy to be the leading value-added distributor of video, voice and data solutions for resellers in Europe,” says Mike Baur CEO ScanSource.

Ian Vickerage, Imago founder and

managing director, has grown the business into a respected distributor of video and voice solutions in Europe.

He remains in his position and will continue to lead the talented management team he has built at Imago.

Imago operates as a separate business unit as part of the ScanSource video, voice and data strategy in Europe. With this acquisition, ScanSource now has nearly 400 employees located in more than 15 offices throughout Europe.

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news

TPSA votes to merge with SACIA Over the past few months a task group made of representatives from the TPSA and SACIA have been crafting a proposal for the merger of the two organisations.

The TPSA has been represented in this task group by Kagiso Moima, Duncan Riley and Jameson Hlongwane, while Gavin Olivier and Bruce Genricks have represented SACIA.

The Technical Production Services Association (TPSA) and SACIA merger task group’s proposal has been unanimously accepted by the SACIA and TPSA boards.

The TPSA will be established as a special interest group within SACIA. The strategic vision of TPSA will continue to be defined by an Advisory Board comprising Duncan Riley, Kagiso Moima, Mike Jones, Paul Newman and Guillaume Ducray. This five-person Board will be appointed to serve for an initial six-month period until April 2015, following which a new TPSA Advisory Board will be elected from amongst the membership.

All existing TPSA committees and task groups will continue operating within SACIA and operational management of the TPSA will transition to SACIA’s executive director, Kevan Jones.

Both groups believe that by merging SACIA and the TPSA there is an opportunity to provide long-term value to members, and Jones asserts that the value of this merger is already manifesting itself in direct benefits to members. “Our GEN111 AV Essentials class delivered during October was our first training programme delivered jointly with the TPSA,” he explains. “The class was aimed at AV professionals already working in industry and was hosted as part of a programme encouraging continuous professional development. About half the class were TPSA members and the feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive.” dbAudio, a long-time TPSA member sent two delegates from Namibia, while TCH Bonisa, an events company in Johannesburg, sent three delegates. “I started working as an AV technician in 2011,” relates Jesaya Johannes from dbAudio, “but

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During October SACIA and the TPSA hosted their first joint-training programme aimed at AV professionals working in the staging and live-events industry. More than 20 students explored the science and technology behind today’s modern AV systems.

our sources of information are limited in Namibia and we rely heavily on the manufacturers and distributors to help us resolve technical issues. The GEN111 ‘Essentials of AV technology’ course has allowed me to learn more in a condensed amount of time, giving me a better understanding of the science behind the equipment I use on a daily basis.

“I can also reflect on the connections between audio, light, power, environment and vision – how all of these elements need to be factored into planning and implementing AV. I am better equipped to make informed decisions when planning an event. Thank you SACIA for this eye opening and informative course. I would highly recommend it to any AV technician.”

Gavin Barron, partner at TCH Bonisa Events is equally enthusiastic about his learning experience.

“I must profess I was a bit hesitant to do this course when my business partner suggested it to me,” he admits. “Being in the industry for a long time, you tend to think you know it all.

But I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of content and quality of the course material. My colleagues and I found it very rewarding and informative. I must also compliment all the other companies that sent their staff on the course. It just shows how much people care about their staff to encourage further training. I think our group was a great bunch of people and I hope we’ll meet up again at future SACIA events.”

TPSA members also gain instant access to the wide range of online training programmes available to SACIA members, including specialist audio training from Syn-Aud-Con and video production training offered through Class On Demand.

“While access to professional development training is important, the real value to TPSA members lies in our capacity to engage with members and industry stakeholders in a meaningful way,” explains Jones.

“We’re already planning a series of member events that’ll take place in January 2015. We’re also ramping up our engagements with government and regulatory bodies. This is particularly important in terms of the new BB-BEE Transformation Charter approved by the Department of Trade & Industry. The live events industry has been identified as a sector that has been particularly slow in embracing transformation and black economic empowerment, and government is now implementing programmes to accelerate the pace of change in the marketplace. These programmes will have a dramatic impact on established players in our marketplace. While there have been many people who’ve resisted transformation up till this point, the new regulatory framework means that companies who fail to make a commitment to the process of transformation will be severely handicapped.”

This expanded capacity is a critical feature for Duncan Riley, chair of the TPSA special interest group within SACIA. “Over the last year the TPSA board has explored various options that would allow us to provide meaningful value to our members,” says Riley. “This merger with SACIA stands head and shoulders above all other options we considered. SACIA has a growing membership and, by forging this alliance, we believe we’ll deliver real value to our own members in the live events industry.”

COMPANY PROFILE

DWR Distribution – it’s all about the people

The DWR crew standing in front of the DWR offices with Duncan Riley (front right)

Duncan Riley, owner and director of DWR Distribution, tells us exactly how the company is all about the people.

DWR Distribution supplies, installs and maintains stage lighting equipment throughout South Africa. The eight-year-old company is run by a humble and inspiring Duncan Riley and his three right hands, Nick Britz, Robert Izzett and Bruce Riley. Duncan is the owner and founder of the company and the well-known letters DWR, an acronym for Duncan William Riley – only because he says all the other names he had on a list when registering the company were unavailable.

The story of DWR is intricately interwoven with the story of Duncan and to separate the two would serve an injustice to both, so this is a profile story of DWR and the man that brought it to the market, from a small office and garage at his home in Weltevreden Park on the West Rand.

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Today, the business employs 42 ‘awesome’ people, as Duncan describes his employees, and each and every one of them was handpicked for their genuine, ambitious characteristics and not from a pile of CVs that inevitably land on your desk when advertising a position. “You can teach a person a trade or set of skills, but you can’t teach them to be good, honest, decent people who truly care about others, and that is the essence I find in my team members long before they join us,” explains Duncan.

Developing and nurturing relationships with staff and clients is vital to the business. In terms of the employees, this is proven by the fact that in the eight years the company has been in business, only two staff members have left and not returned. This is an incredible staff retention rate, which is exactly what Duncan wants – to ensure each and every one of his employees are happy, growing, learning, suitably challenged and thriving in their role at the company.

Other than the lovely Sherryn Riley, the first employee was Nick Britz, because Duncan recognised the long term value in keeping people who were true and beneficial to business. Nick could have worked anywhere in the industry, but he chose to support Duncan’s dream of making DWR the first point of call for clients, whether they have a

COMPANY PROFILE

“You can teach a person a trade or set of skills, but you can’t teach them to be good, honest, decent people who truly care about others, and that is the essence I find in my team members long before they join us.”

– Duncan Riley

problem on site or if they are looking to buy products. Following Britz was Simon Ndlovu, who joined as a helping hand for installs and is now assistant in the warehouse, then came Duncan’s brother Bruce Riley, who joined as technical and support and is now technical director and heads up the workshop, service and install teams.

Cherine Viney was intially the receptionist and now fulfills the role of logistics manager and PA to Duncan. Robert Izzett who is the sales director began his career at DWR as a sales representative. Duncan describes Bruce, Robert and Nick as his life support mechanisms and recently made them partners in the business to ensure that when the time came for the business to evolve without him it would still keep running like a machine. “I want the individuals in the company to grow and learn. The business has got to run as it is with or without me,” explains Duncan.

The slogan ‘It’s all about the people’ is the core of the business. It’s the DWR approach to all the people they deal with – colleagues, suppliers, and clients alike, and this is what Duncan wants to leave behind when it’s time for him to step down and let new blood take the business forward.

The business DWR Distribution’s head office is located in Laser Park on the West Rand, and has 2 500 square metres of space with various departments – the workshop, manufacturing and steel fabrication department, cable manufacturing, sales and admin, a demonstration room, and a training facility. Training programmes offer clients value for their investment as they learn to manage and repair their own equipment on site, which translates to fewer frantic phone calls from customers at midnight, laughs Duncan.

There are smaller, 200 square metre offices with one employee in each in Durban and Cape Town, and these will grow as the market grows. Nick Barnes runs the show in Durban and Bradley Bruchhausen heads the Cape Town office.

Looking to branch out and supply and service the rest of Africa, DWR employed Johnny Scholz, and so far he is doing very well.

The beginning Duncan became interested in the industry as a boy when he would accompany his father, Dan Riley, on site while doing installations.

Duncan went on to study electronics and landed his first job in the industry at Calite as a technician. Today it is not uncommon for DWR to refurbish an old installation that Dan had originally installed years before. After a couple of years with Calite, including working for a short period inbetween on the set of Egoli at ZSE TV (now Sasani Studios), Duncan went to Electrosonic – a time and place where he learnt a great deal about the industry, its people, and most of all how

to do business using relationships as the foundation.

The time then came for DWR Distribution to be born. Having left the security of a permanent job, Duncan found the means to go to the Czech Republic and meet with Harry von den Stemmen and Joseph Valchar, MD of Robe Lighting, and this became DWR’s first agency. The next agency was Avolites, as DWR needed a control system to offer clients, so Duncan asked Simon Oates of Tadco if DWR could take it over from them. Tadco were happy to hand it to someone who had the time to focus on it. The rest of the agencies followed in due course, many owing to good relationships built with people in the industry, such as Ofer Lapid.

These agencies are Philips Vari-Lite, Philips Selecon and Philips Strand Lighting, as well as Le Maitre, Lumen Radio, MDG, MA Lighting, LSC Lighting, Clay Paky, Doughty, ESP Vision, GDS, Longman, City Theatrical, Prolyte, Robert Juliat, Vectorworks and Vuepix.

Duncan established the company after his 12-year involvement in the entertainment industry, and needless to say, the initial few months of embarking on a new venture were trying. But getting over the hill included some highlights and successes, including DWR’s first big order for a television studio’s lighting for Urban Brew Studios, and its first big moving light order was for 36 Robe ColorSpot 1200 and ColorWash 1200E ATs to Movievision.

Gearhouse South Africa purchased 100 units from Robe in 2007, just one year after DWR opened.

Biggest project supply One of the company’s greatest gambles and largest projects was the 2010 FIFA World Cup, for which DWR looked ahead and imported half a million Euros worth of equipment in advance to have readily available, and a further four tons of lighting and control gear was brought in to meet the massive demand, as rental companies were kitting out fan parks, public viewing areas and a myriad of other World Cup associated events.

Gearhouse South Africa was contracted to deliver all the technical aspects of the opening and closing ceremonies, and these included purchasing much of the lighting equipment from DWR. For the closing ceremony, Gearhouse invested heavily in Philips Vari-Lites for this gig. The 120 Vari-Lites were the biggest sale of Vari-Lites in South Africa to date. Vari-Lite 3000s, 3500s and VLXs were used on this show, along with Robe ColorSpot and ColorWash 2500E ATs and Robe REDWash 3 192 LED wash lights.

Once equipment is sold, whether it’s simply ‘moving boxes’ or completing an installation; the relationship on service and support begins. DWR strive to serve the industry with dedication and would like to be known as the team who go the extra mile. “For us, business and life is all about relationships,” says Duncan.

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COMPANY PROFILE

Robert Izzett, Bruce Riley, Nick Britz and Duncan Riley

The road ahead The future of DWR is that it is getting more involved in what’s on stage, except for audio, simply because there are true professionals in the audio market and the only way DWR could hope to compete is if it acquired a good audio business that already has the expertise. DWR is able to assist with stage lighting, LED screens, trussing, cable and distro manufacturing and steel fabrication for our industry.

“DWR will stay focused on lighting, because we understand it and we are good at it. This year we joined forces with Theatre and Studio.

We invested in a large amount of machinery and rented more office space to accommodate this. We are grateful to have Rob Young, owner of Theatre and Studio, with his great knowledge, experience and expertise now part of the team.

“We want our employees to be happy and important, we want to refine the system of how the company operates, refine and sharpen our skills and offerings and be experts to offer clients the absolute best,” agreed Duncan, Bruce, Nick and Robert.

With the three partners, Duncan continues to inspire and help his staff grow as individuals, professionally and personally, by taking time out of his day to meet up with as many staff as he can to find out how they are and, if anything, is weighing on their shoulders. “In spite of how big it’s getting, I want us to stay close. We are a team.”

He enjoys people and relationships, and truly being there for staff and clients – professionally and personally wherever needed. “I have some great friends in the industry, who have become pillars in my life and they include Mike Jones, Mark Gaylard, Ofer Lapid, Nasser Abbas and Otto Horlacher, and my parents Dan and Linda.

Some may ask what’s Duncan’s secret. “It’s bascially to surround yourself with good people. And that’s what DWR is all about, it’s all about the people.”

Last of all, there are two monkies in Duncan’s life, Amy and Luc, and they have made sure that there is never a dull moment at home and make life all the more worth living. “In conclusion, I want to thank the staff, customers and friends for their support, because without them, none of this would be possible.”

“In spite of how big it’s getting, I want us to stay close. We are a team.”

– Duncan Riley

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Integration & Installation REPORT

Christie – the art and science of 3D

By Warren Holden

Christie’s 6P laser projection system

Although IBC is predominantly a forum for the promotion and testing of broadcast technology, the 2014 edition of the giant trade show also featured a major development in the world of cinema. For the first time in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) sphere, audiences got to experience two films, Life of Pi and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in 14 foot-Lambert (fL – the unit of luminance) 3D, using Christie’s 6P laser projector system. The high-end projection and display technology company is marketing the 6P as a solution to most of the major shortcomings of the 3D format.

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According to Richard Nye, Christie’s cinema sales director in EMEA, the main problems with 3D projection as it currently works, using xenon lamp illumination, boil down to the question of brightness.

“Projectors that use xenon lamps are specified for 2D brightness only,” he says. “There is a Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) standard that states that you must have 14 fL of light onscreen for 2D, but there is no published standard for 3D projection, which means, when it comes to using those projectors for 3D, you take whatever you get. The net effect of that is a pretty poor experience for the viewer.”

The low luminance associated with 3D projection means that important details are simply not visible to the audience. Most 3D systems in use are of the passive type. These systems use a silver screen, rather than a white one, as well as a polariser in front of the projector lens. The result is a ‘muddy’ image and the occurrence of ‘hotspots’ on the screen. Wherever an audience member is sitting in a cinema using a passive 3D projection system, they will see a bright spot in the image directly in front of them and the rest of the screen is relatively dim. The undesirable effects of 3D are often physical in nature, with people complaining of

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Integration & Installation REPORT headaches and nausea.

The 6P system, which throws out the old xenon lamp entirely and replaces it with lasers, delivers up to 48 000 lumens to the cinema screen. The xenon lamp system can deliver only a maximum of around 28 000 lumens.

But the innovations of the 6P system involve more than just adding muscle to the light source.

“With current systems, the 3D effect is achieved by what’s known as triple flashing,” Nye explains. “You have one image for the left eye and one for the right and they flash alternately. Your brain then puts the two together to form the 3D image. That’s the only way we can achieve 3D with a single projector but that’s not we how see naturally. The 6P system uses two projectors, putting out two offset images simultaneously – one for each eye. So aside from the increased brightness, you get a more natural viewing experience.”

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes proved an interesting choice to showcase the 6P system. Together with the 14fL visuals, the film also came with an impressive Dolby Atmos sound mix, which added to the immersive experience. The use of 3D for the film is unobtrusive and tasteful, which meant that it made a strong case, not only for the projector system but for the creative possibilities of the 3D format. Although it is your classic Hollywood blockbuster – hackneyed adjectives such as ‘spectacular’ and ‘action-packed’ wouldn’t be out of place – the director has resisted the urge to use 3D for gimmicks or shock effect. Although the immersive experience of the medium is still achieved, there is a subtle difference here. The traditional description of a Richard Nye – Cinema Sales Director, EMEA, Christie 3D movie is that it seems to ‘come out’ towards the viewer. In this case, the viewer’s feeling is rather one of being ‘pulled into’ the moving the take-up is likely to be slow. Nye says that some orders have already image. The format has the capacity to enhance the been placed by cinemas in the Middle East and there is currently one cinematographer’s art, adding another dimension to the possibilities in commercial operation in the United States. Africa’s cinema owners of image composition. are likely to think carefully before making the leap however. The price The 6P delivered as promised; the increased brightness is point is quite fluid since the system is scalable and modular and the noticeable, allowing the visuals to come through sharp and clear. The price you pay will depend on the needs that arise from the size of viewing experience throughout the two-plus hour running time of the your theatre and screen. Nye places the average price at about film was as comfortable as one would have with a 2D film through a US$10 for every lumen. So if one opts for the maximum number of high-quality projector. Of course, there are still the glasses, which are lasers, which delivers 48 000 lumens, that’s nearly half a million US still an annoyance to some viewers, but even these (Christie makes dollars. Compare that with the xenon lamp projectors that most use of Dolby’s relatively ergonomic product) are lightweight and cinemas currently use, which cost around US$2 per lumen. comfortable, and not an impedance to the enjoyment of the film.

So the 6P will offer an extremely high-end, premium entertainment Christie is taking orders for the 6P system but since it is a major experience – this is exactly the way that cinema will have to go in the investment and many exhibitors are still uncertain of the future of 3D, future in order to ensure its survival.

16

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Integration & Installation REPORT

By Greg Bester

Photos by Duncan Riley

Silverstar Casino Globe installation

Echoing an almost identical but smaller installation at the Tgoso Sun’s Ridge Casino in Witbank, Silverstar Casino in Mogale City on Johannesburg’s West Rand recently erected a new 2 000 square metre outdoor domed events arena called ‘The Globe’.

Aimed at events such as stand-up comedy, musical events and exhibitions, The Globe is a free-standing dome structure filled with cutting edge technology that facilitates versatility and a quality experience for audiences and clients alike. Of course, to get a project like this off the ground requires coordination and cooperation between many parties, including the technical supplier and installers.

As one would expect, many of our leading names in the field were involved so without further ado, let’s dig a little deeper.

The structure, the concept The oblong structure dubbed ‘The Globe’ is an SP ’SUPA’ Dome, supplied by In2Structures, a Gearhouse Group company, and was erected in a six-bay configuration. Its sizeable internal dimensions are 68.7m (l) x 32.7m (w) x 16.23m (h) and it can accommodate three tons of load per arch. This was perfect for its purpose as the structure would have to support high-grade and heavy event technology such as a line array, trussing and lighting fixtures comprising both show lighting and house lights.

David Butcher, audio visual specialist at Tsogo Sun, brought in entertainment technology design consultants Mtshali-Moss Projects Africa (MMPA) to manage the technical specifications for the venue.

The aim was to design a system that could be used in three different orientations: two wide and one long. Therefore the trussing, the stage, the FOH box and all other technical paraphernalia had to have the ability to be moved quickly and easily by the house crew and adjusted depending on the show requirements.

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In terms of the overall system design, Butcher explains the motivation behind installing various elements: “They (the directors) wanted to be able to host a comedian and Trevor Noah’s spec was the blueprint that we expanded on a little bit.

For instance, the projectors are actually a bit bigger than what Trevor would want. Originally we wanted to put in a bunch of moving lights but of course the costs soar quite quickly when you go that route so we ended up with LED par cans, which I’m actually quite happy with. The sound spec in terms of microphones is very basic because, once again, we spec’d the venue from the point of view of a comedian’s requirements.”

Butcher further explains that it was reasoned that it would be sensible to at least offer customers a decent audio reinforcement system with microphone options for a two-man band and speeches such as lectern, headset or handheld wireless mics and a couple of industry standard instrument and vocal microphones.

For a venue of this size, it would help to bring rental costs down and keep the majority of work in-house.

“We’ve got a venue that’s functional for, I would say, 80% to 90% of everyday events that they’re going to end up hosting here,” says Butcher.

For larger events like music concerts the options are to either supplement the existing system with additional equipment or to remove the in-house system altogether and offer the venue as a dry hire. This was an important aspect to the installation and crucial for The Globe to be utilised for as many potential scenarios as possible.

REPORT Integration & Installation

Audio The audio reinforcement system for The Globe centres on a Coda AIRLINE LA8 line array, supplied by local distributors Tadco, who were contacted by MMPA’s Steve Moss. The system is configured in left, centre and right arrays with six elements per hang while low end duties are handled by eight LA8-SUB subwoofers. Eight Quest HPI5s are configured for front-fill. The system is powered by five Camco Vortex 6 amplifiers and system processing is handled by three Coda DNC260 controllers.

“We’ve gotten into the realm with line arrays in the past decade or so where it is very difficult to look at two line arrays specification for specification and say ‘this one is a better bang for buck,’” says Butcher. “It really is difficult. As we all know, shootouts are also a disaster and never really work out. The good old fashioned way for measuring a PA’s efficiency used to be SPL at one watt at one metre but manufacturers don’t even put that specification in their spec sheet. This makes choosing a line array a very difficult and to compound the issue, the system engineer brings a lot more flavour to an audio system than ever before. The system tech is everything now.”

Speaking of system techs, Tadco’s head of operational support, Kyle Robson, was on-site to oversee the audio installation and to configure the system.

“We spent a lot of time with Steve [Moss] going through plots, going through wave guides and changing various elements until we were happy with how the system worked,” says Robson. “What Steve wanted to do, because of the dome, was to keep the dispersion very narrow. So we installed 60 degree wave guides in the top four boxes in each of the side hangs and 120 degree waveguides in the bottom two. The centre hang is entirely 120 degrees.”

According to Robson, the biggest challenge was taming the

reflections in the venue; hence, the decision to utilise a combination of 60 and 120 degree waveguides in order to keep reflections to a minimum. Also, because the initial setup was for an event where the stage was orientated in the ‘wide’ position, getting the low end to disperse evenly throughout the venue, particularly to the side extremes, was challenging. However, Robson found a solution.

“In this setup – the wide setup – we’ve actually steered the subs, which has worked out nicely. They’re configured in four stacks of two so we delayed the outside two, which resulted in a wider bass dispersion. We’re using three Coda DNC260 controllers for this; one for each hang paired to a stack of subs. I’ve done custom presets so when, for instance, they’re in the long configuration, you call up the long venue preset and the system adjusts accordingly.”

The console installed into The Globe is a Midas PRO1, supplied by local distributors Prosound.

“Tsogo Sun already own two PRO1s so the logical choice was another PRO1,” says Lee Thompson, technical sales consultant at Prosound. “The client is very impressed with the sound quality and functionality of the console.”

Along with the PRO1, two 16 input, eight output Midas DL153s were supplied. However, because of the extraordinarily long cable runs that were required, two KlarkTeknik DN9620 CAT5e (AES50) to fibre optic converters were deployed along with 150m of Midas fibre optic cable.

Prosound also supplied their bespoke comms system – the ubiquitous Prosound COMMPAC. “This is a two-wire cabled comms system that was developed locally by Prosound about 30 years ago and is still the go-to choice for many rental companies and venues today,” remarks Thompson.

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Integration & Installation REPORT

Photos by Duncan Riley

deployed to hoist the trusses.

“All the points are in the roof and everything’s there, ready to be transferred over,” explains Riley. “It’s just a matter of bringing in a cherry picker and clipping into the points and they’ve got a completely new orientation.”

In terms of the lighting fixtures, David Butcher and MMPA wanted to go with a very LED-driven system. This has the obvious advantages of saving on power and maintenance costs as LED fixtures are generally more efficient and have extended lamp longevity.

The lighting fixtures installed include: • 24 x white LED par cans • 48 x RGBW LED par cans • 12 x Robin 600 washes • 12 x Robin DLX spotlights • 2 x LeMaitre MVS haze machines

An interesting part of the lighting installation which also lends itself to ease of configurability is the inclusion of wireless CRMX technology from lumen radio. Each truss received its own universe of Lumen Radio which negates the need for DMX cabling to be run leaving only power as a necessary encumbrance. DWR also supplied their in-house brand of hot power distribution on Socapex looms to the trussing and to the rest of the venue where power was required.

The console of choice for The Globe is an Avolites Tiger Touch 2 running V.8 software. According to Riley the V.8 software: “includes the benefit of the newest features currently on offer from Avolites”.

Staging

Stage lighting and trussing The stage lighting and the trussing for The Globe, along with the stage structures, was supplied by local lighting distributers DWR, overseen by their representative for Africa, Johnny Scholtz. At the time of this interview Scholtz wasn’t available for comment so in his absence director Bruce Riley stood in and supplied the information on the installation from the DWR end.

“We were originally approached by David Butcher as he had a concept he wanted to run with,” says Riley. “So we started off doing drawings for the installation but it proved to be quite difficult because the venue hadn’t been built yet. Johnny [Scholtz] steered the project, which began at the Ridge Casino in Witbank, is a smaller, almost identical venue with less equipment. From there it came to this venue, which is bigger and more extensive.”

As mentioned, the venue was designed to be used in multiple orientations and DWR had a big hand in that since they were involved in technical drawings, the rigging and supplying the trussing from which everything hangs and is ultimately orientated. Three trussing structures were supplied, including: one 15m back truss, one 10m stage truss and one 24m FOH truss. Eight 500kg Prolyte motors were

20

The staging and FOH box was also supplied by DWR and keeps with the mandate of re-configurability and modularity. The largest possible incarnation of the stage is 20m x 10m, comprised of 100 2m x 1m Prolyte stage decks with telescopic legs that can extend from 90cm to 140cm. All hand rails and steps were also supplied.

Apart from the stage, the FOH box was conceptualised by Butcher and DWR’s Keith Pugin to be modular.

“FOH is custom built to David’s spec to what he wanted the surrounds to be. He wanted it to be easily stripped and moved around the venue in different configurations,” says Riley.

House lighting The house lighting system was installed by Prosound under the auspices of general manager of lighting, Ian Blair. The system, like the rest of the technical installation at The Globe, is very similar to the one at the Ridge albeit scaled up a bit. However, unlike the stage lighting, using effective LED fixtures for this purpose was not possible despite being desirable.

“Gabby Olivier of CKR Consulting Engineers approached us for a house lighting solution based on LED,” says Blair. “However, LED comes at a price; you can’t just install any LED fixture as low quality LED will give you a bad facial complexion. To compound the problem Source Four LED fixtures are five to six times the cost. So, what we decided to do was to go with reverse house lighting technology. This is where your day-to-day cleaning lights are LED and your Tungsten-based house lights become performance lights so they’re only used in performance mode, which makes sense.

“Also, the Source Four on-board dimmer, which was migrated from the ETC Sensor range, is dead silent and can operate a lamp at 115V or 230V. When you operate at 115V you get 40% more output and

3 000 hours of lamp life. When you set the dimmer at a top-set of 92% you double the lamp life to 6 000 hours. Now, if you amortise that into the cost of performances over a weekly, monthly or annual basis, you can see that your next lamp change will occur in about four years. This makes the non-LED ETC house system a very cost effective solution.”

ETC was the system of choice throughout, including processing, control and fixtures and full schematics including system layouts and renderings were provided by them. Two ETC DRd Unison racks, each fitted with 12 dual-channel relay modules, were installed to power the system. An ETC Paradigm processor serves as the system brain while ETC’s accompanying Echo control offers user-configurable presets and custom looks while supporting energy-saving light and occupancy sensors. A fully-customisable ETC wall-mount touchscreen was installed to allow the user to use faders and buttons to trigger programmed presets or effects while two five-button wall-mount stations allow five buttons to be programmed as per client specifications, in this case solely to operate the cleaning lights.

“The touchscreen incorporates north, south, east and west zones along with a middle zone that is broken up into four further zones. This way the operator can select specific zones in the SP Dome that are used for each event while leaving the others zoned off,” says Blair.

In terms of fixtures, 91 ETC Source Four par cans and 30 ETC Source Four profiles with on-board dimmers were rigged; linked with DMX for control. The result is a system that incorporates the existing cleaning lights – eight per side (16 in total) – into the system via a feed from Unison DRd racks, providing total control of the entire system and the ability to be programmed according to the client’s specs.

A nod to flexibility in the house lighting system is the facility for visiting lighting technicians to tap into and take control of the system via strategically placed DMX pickup points.

“There are three points in the SP Dome,” explains Blair. “There is one area where they said they would never put the stage so the other three areas have DMX pickup points where a technician can patch his console in and take full control over the house lights. Also, he overrides the system completely so no one can tamper with the system while it’s in show mode. When he takes his console away it reverts back to day-to-day operation.”

AV The AV system at The Globe comprises two 6m x 3.3m screens mounted in truss frames that flank either side of the stage supplied by Sound Stylists and two BarcoHDX W18 projectors, supplied by local distributors Questek. A Roland V800HD vision mixer was installed for scaling, switching, cropping and zooming of video sources to any desired output resolution and aspect ratio. The projector cabling accommodates 3G, HD and SDI over fibre.

The wrap For The Globe at Silverstar Casino, versatility is the name of the game. A venue with an oblong shape such as the SP Dome facilitates a few different orientations depending on the event so a system unified through manoeuvrability and reconfigurability is paramount for setup and show time to commence quickly and smoothly. In light of this, once again it is evident that South Africa’s world class distributors and installers came together to create a system to meet the client’s specifications and installed a system that is easy to configure and delivers top shelf quality.

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Integration & Installation REPORT

Club Harem spreads the vibes... and the pheromones Rosebank has a new luxury club in a recently redesigned venue: Harem.

The club in Rosebank’s Design Quarter formerly known as Hush is now called Harem and has a completely remodelled look and feel along with a brand new audio system from local audio equipment brand Hybrid, supplied by local distributors and manufacturers Viva Afrika and installed by Mayen Pather of Maysat Audio Visual.

A harem, in former times, was a room specially reserved for

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By Greg Bester

concubines. Another definition is a group of female animals sharing a single mate. Whatever this says about the club itself remains to be seen but if my hunch serves me correctly club Harem exudes a certain appeal that members of the opposite sex might find aids in the distribution of pheromones.

Viva Afrika has a relationship with Harem going back to when the venue was Hush. According to Bernard Pienaar, director at Viva Africa, because the Viva Afrika retail store is right across the road from the building that Hush/Harem is located in, it was convenient for them to hire equipment from them in the past, which led to a burgeoning relationship.

“We then decided to kit out their club with a brand new Hybrid/ Hybrid+ system, which they were very happy with,” says Pienaar.

REPORT Integration & Installation

“Subsequently, we did the same deal with KONG (the club upstairs), as they have the same owners. When Hush closed down and was revamped to Harem, we were the ones who were approached to supply the new club with a PA system.”

KONG, of course, was a feature article last year in Pro Systems and will be remembered for its Earth shattering Hybrid+ sound that has to be experienced to be believed. Hybrid+, of course, is Viva Afrika’s professional range of loudspeakers.

Mayen Pather of Maysat Audio Visual, who also installed the system at KONG, has a long standing relationship with Viva Afrika and their preferred installer for churches, restaurants and clubs. Additionally, Pather has the contract to install systems in Spur Steak Ranches countrywide. For these reasons he was the man for the job at Harem.

“We have a long-lasting, positive relationship with him,” remarks Pienaar.

The audio system Harem has multiple zones that get fed music from the DJ box including the entrance section, two VIP areas, sitting booths, the smoking section and the main dance floor. It is one of those clubs aimed at high rollers so the predominantly dark décor is very dimly lit with velvety material as the furniture covering throughout. The DJ booth is emblazoned with a large Belvedere Vodka logo and is trimmed with blue LED light while the rest of the club is washed in neon blues, purples and ambers and features branding from Moet and Chandon, Glenfiddich and Dom Perignon for that up-market feel.

Starting at the entrance section, a single 300W, two-way, 10” coaxial Hybrid+ 10CX speaker was mounted into the roof above the cloakroom. Pather explained that since this area doesn’t close, the security of that speaker installation was paramount to prevent vandals from tampering with it.

“That speaker’s not going anywhere,” says Pather with a devious smile. “It’s epoxied into the ceiling structure.”

The 10CX is an ideal choice for a single roof speaker as it provides two-way, full range sound in a single enclosure.

The main dance floor is where the heavy lifting is done. Never to skimp on bass in a place like that, no less than four Hybrid+ EXS121 subwoofers were placed in ground stacked arrays of two. These behemoths feature 21-inch drivers and handled 1600W RMS each. As if that wasn’t enough bass, a further dual-18-inch, 3000W RMS Hybrid+ EXS218 was strategically placed further down the west end of the dance floor for a bit more low end fill.

Differing from its sister club KONG, three Hybrid+ PRIME212s were strategically placed above the dance floor in a triangular configuration. These unique looking, two-way dual-honeycomb shaped speakers that feature an external horn that is somewhat reminiscent of a gramophone horn are biamped at 800W for the dual 12-inch LF drivers and 100W for the 1.4-inch HF compression driver.

The DJ booth, which is the centrepiece of the dance floor, received two Pioneer CDJ 2000s and one Pioneer DJM 2000.

The smoking area is an arched room with velvet walls that is washed in a blue hue. Four 250W, two-way Hybrid+ BT8s were installed horizontally oriented – two on either side – within the wall itself, strategically placed angling slightly downward. They feature an

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Integration & Installation REPORT

8-inch LF driver and a 1-inch exit HF driver running full range.

“At first when we installed the BT8s I realised that the HF wave guides were firing in the vertical plain which made the dispersion very narrow. So, I removed them, opened them up and rotated the wave guide so as to take advantage of a wider dispersion,” says Pather.

To handle low end duties, a single Hybrid+ EXS121 was installed in a wall recess behind the bar.

The two VIP areas, considering that huge sound is probably not the aim since guests are most likely to want to converse with each other easily, each simply received two BT8s. The sitting booths, which lined the two back walls of the club, received eight BT8s.

In terms of audio amplifiers and processing, the club received two amp racks. Rack one, which powers and processes the dance floor system, was loaded with five 5400W (4Ohms, bridged) Audiocenter DA 12.2 amplifiers were supplied along with a single DBX Drive Rack PA+. The second rack received six 2500W (4Ohms, bridged) Audiocenter DA 6.2 amplifiers and two DBX Drive Rack PA+ units to power and process the rest of the zones.

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The wrap In an industry where big international name brands are the norm, it’s a pity that more clubs like Harem and KONG don’t look to our local boys to supply their sound systems. If you’ve ever been to KONG or Harem, you would be hard pressed to find a flaw in the audio quality presented there. After all, if a high roller club like Harem chooses local products designed by local people, that says more than enough about the quality that is bred right here at home. Viva Afrika, indeed.

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Integration & Installation REPORT

By Greg Bester

Photo by Jonx Pillemer

Club ERA

Back in the ‘70s before there was such a thing as the line array there was a revolutionary loudspeaker manufacturer called Turbosound. Turbosound was founded by an innovative audio enthusiast named Tony Andrews and sound engineer John Newsham and given the state of loudspeaker technology of the time; Andrews deeply questioned the merits of the status quo.

His goal: to create loudspeaker systems that lived up to the way the artist and record producer had envisioned.

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REPORT Integration & Installation

Funky background music I make no apologies for mentioning Turbosound. It is both a direct and indirect part of Funktion One’s history because, as they say, in order to know where you are going, you need to know where you come from.

Indeed, much of what Andrews and Newsham learned during their tenure at Turbosound is what Funktion One has built upon and, some would say, improved upon. Funktion One’s approach, as with Turbosound, is to create the most linear sound reproduction system possible without any extraneous processing or EQ. Their design philosophy aims to bend the boundaries of acoustical physics and traditional loudspeaker design instead of jumping on bandwagon fads such as the line source and over-the-top processing. In fact, they don’t even manufacture a line array and choose instead to stick with the proven reliability of high quality point source systems; a refreshing twist in an industry dominated by countless line-array systems.

Funktion One dubs themselves as “English inventors and manufacturers of professional loudspeaker systems”. Their mandate is simple: achieve the best possible audio quality. This may seem rhetorical but Andrews takes this very seriously and it is evident in their approach of the avoidance of both system EQ (which causes phase shift and headroom issues) and mid-range compression drivers (which cause distortion). Since I couldn’t put it better myself this excerpt from the Funktion One website sums up their approach quite poetically: “We understand sound to be the most important of our senses and in fact, the root of the structure of the entire Universe. As such, we try to pay the amazing acuity of human hearing the respect it deserves by providing products that deliver as much resolution and detail as is possible. We also pay considerable attention to the emotional effect of not just music, but the sound itself, what you might call it ‘quality’. In a world where everything is ‘dumbing down’ and finesse and subtlety are rapidly disappearing, it is a source of pride to us that we are continually going in the opposite direction, expanding the envelope.

On a spiritual level, good music and good sound has the effect of opening peoples’ minds and deepening their consciousness which can only be good for the planet.” – http://www.funktion-one.com/ about-us/about-us/

Club ERA – Cape Town

One of the answers to these burgeoning questions led to a device dubbed the Turbo phase device, a remarkable innovation that found its way into many of Turbosound’s loudspeakers such as the famed TMS-3 which became a staple in the rock n’ touring world and the highest selling full-range PA cabinet just a few short years after its release. Indeed, Turbosound is famous for many innovations such as their TMS series, the UHQ system or FLASHLIGHT, as it was known, and the FLOODLIGHT system. Indeed, the famed Glastonbury festival would not have been the same without Turbosound’s involvement.

However, this story is not about Turbosound. This story is about Andrews’ and Newsham’s follow-on company founded in 1992: Funktion One.

After visiting Prolight and Sound 2013 in Frankfurt I was intrigued at the, well, funky design of Funktion One products. They just seemed out of the norm and, as I was to find out, their reputation precedes them wherever they go because they are known for one thing and one thing only: supreme sound quality. Currently their products are primarily used in the EDM sector but they are not limited to it. Saying that, if you’ve ever taken a trip to Ibiza or any up-market clubs in Europe you’ll most certainly run into one of their systems.

This made me wonder upon my return to South Africa if their products were available here. In short? Yes, indeed they are.

Phuture Sound is the local distributor, headed up by owner Anton Sinovich and he is an avid Funktion One devotee.

“I used to be a DJ and every time I went clubbing in London or elsewhere I found I would either be completely fatigued and tired at 3am or full of energy and ready for more,” explains Sinovich. “The clubs where I ended up with very little fatigue and lots of energy comes the end of the night all had Funktion One systems installed. I became convinced this was the reason.”

Sinovich was contacted by US-born Cape Town entrepreneur and club owner Giovanni Agusta to construct a state-of-the-art, upmarket dance club with a heavy focus on the audio system. “Only

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Photos by Jonx Pillemer

Integration & Installation REPORT

the best would do,” according to Sinovich. The result was a club called ERA that is quickly making waves in the Mother City and making a reputation as the best sounding club around. This is no doubt as a result of the Funktion One system installed there. But there’s more to this.

In the unfortunate and usual approach, a club is constructed with the audio system being an after thought and left with the scraps of the budget left over from shop fitting and décor. This trend is curious given that a dance club’s pivotal draw card is the music. Era’s approach was the other way around: construct the club and the acoustics around the audio system.

“We were fortunate to have been afforded the opportunity to get involved with the club really early on, in its conceptual stage,” explains Sinovich. “This meant the sound system was not implemented in isolation to the club as an afterthought. Rather, we could literally design the club around the sound system, co-ordinating the balance between the sound, acoustic treatment, numerous visual effects, general interior architecture and design of the club in line with Giovanni’s vision for ERA. You can put the best sound system in an inappropriate or badly designed acoustic space and you will not get the best out of it.”

ERA is housed in an old art gallery in the Cape Town CBD and its 700m2 floor space is split between an upstairs ‘music appreciation room’ and deli (also an over-spill space for the downstairs area) and a basement section nicknamed ‘the bunker’, which comprises the main dance floor. The installation was performed by Phuture Sound

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and its associates while the room acoustics was designed by Dino Moran, an experienced DJ and producer with a flair for dance club acoustics. Tony Andrews was also on the scene after the installation was complete to give a final tune to the system and advise on potential tweaks of the acoustic environment.

Upstairs Upstairs comprise four zones: • Zone one: Main floor (music appreciation room) • Zone two: DJ booth • Zone three: Deli entrance • Zone four: Bar The main floor system comprises four 425W, two-way Res1 enclosures corner mounted two per side in front of the DJ booth and two BR218 dual-18-inch subwoofers. The Res1s feature a 350W Funktion One-designed 12-inch neodymium driver with a usable operating band of 25Hz to 520Hz and a five-inch HF driver coupled to their Axhead-loaded waveguide that extends up to 16kHz. This is in stark contrast to traditional two-way designs that employ compression drivers to handle the top end. It is Andrews’ assertion that, with the right design and waveguide, the five-inch driver handling HF is vastly more efficient and exhibits far less distortion so therefore is more efficient while supplying superior sound quality. The systems are powered by MC2 E100 amplifiers and driven by a Funktion One X04A processor.

REPORT Integration & Installation

Zone two, the DJ booth, received a single F81 monitor speaker and a MB112A subwoofer. The F81 is a 100W compact enclosure with eight- and one-inch drivers optimised to Funktion One specifications and the MB112A is a single-12-inch, 250W subwoofer. The system is powered by a 150W HiFi amp into 8Ohms.

Zone three, the deli, received a distributed system featuring four 150W, two-way F101 enclosures (10” LF, 1” HF) and two MB212 dual-12-inch subwoofers, powered by an FFA F40-DV amplifier. The FFA was chosen because of its multi-channel operability and the fact that is has on-board DSP for configuring delays, EQ and other necessary processing without the need of outboard drive units.

Zone four, the bar, received two F101s driven by a 200W HiFi amplifier into 8Ohms.

Downstairs The downstairs section of the club is the main attraction and where the majority of the sound was installed. It too comprises four zones: • Zone one: dance floor • Zone two: DJ booth and lounge (green room) • Zone three: booth entrance • Zone four: bar / dance floor overspill • Zone one, the dance floor, was designed to house the main chest-thumping audio system and is three-way. It is set on a rectangular grid, with the mid / high enclosures mounted in each corner and firing into the centre of the room while the mid-bass and bass enclosures fire away from the DJ booth. Two 325W Res3 SH-Ps (10” MF, 1.4” HF) are the main mid / high enclosures and are mounted in front of the DJ booth while Res2-SHs are mounted in the rear corners of the dance floor, firing as back-fill. The mid-bass band is handled by

two horn-loaded 800W dual-15-inch F215 subwoofers, stacked on top of two 1500W dual-21-inch BR221s.

In terms of amplification and processing, two X04 processors handle main system processing while an FFA 60q-DV DSP-loaded amplifier handles the Res2-SH back-fill. The Res3-SH and F215s are powered by MC2 E100 and E45 amps while BR221 is powered by an MC2 E90.

Zone two, the DJ booth and lounge, received four two-way 350W F1201s (12” LF, 1” HF) and one BR218 powered by MC2 E25 and E45 amplifiers, respectively.

Zone three, the booth entrance, received four F1201s powered by an FFA F40q-DV amplifier / processor.

Zone four, the bar / dance floor over spill area, received two F55 ultra-compact dual-5”60W enclosures, powered by the FFA 60q-DV amplifier installed into zone one.

The wrap Club ERA seems to be a first in South Africa with its attention to acoustic detail and utmost sound quality. However, not only have the sound system and acoustics been highly spec’d but there is also a refreshing mandate that it enforces on its DJs. “Era is in our opinion the first club that is purpose built around music, sound and crowd enjoyment on the continent that got it right,” says Sinovich. “It is Phuture Sound’s first club installation. ERA also has a music policy that bans DJs from ‘spinning’ MP3s; only pure audio source material like WAV and vinyl is acceptable and deserving of such a pure sound system. It’s a bold step.”

A bold step, indeed.

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Integration & Installation REPORT

A question of control Providing a standards-based approach to audio-over-IP interoperability, AES67 has had a significant impact on the networking world since it was published in September 2013. Now the organisation is poised to provide the next piece of the puzzle with the control-oriented AES-X210, writes David Davies.

Nuclear Security Summit 2014 in The Hague with the DCN multimedia Conference System from Bosch

In June this year, Pro-Systems News reported on the remarkable impact that AES67 has had on the disparate audio networking landscape since its publication last autumn. Designed to allow interoperability between various IP-based audio networking systems, AES67’s early adoption by established networking solutions such as Audinate’s Dante and ALC NetworX’s Ravenna has surely contributed to its present momentum.

In that same feature, Bosch Communications Systems senior scientist Jeff Berryman alluded to the next focus of AES’ networking activity in the form of development project AES-X210. “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?’”

So what are the origins of AES-X210? The name itself might be fairly

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new, but the technological principles behind it are not. At its core is a media networking system protocol, OCA (Open Control Architecture), developed by the OCA Alliance, whose membership includes Audinate, Bosch, Harman Professional, TC Group and Yamaha Commercial Audio. Bosch’s involvement should be highlighted in particular as its own, earlier protocol, OCP, fed into the creation of OCA. Work began on converting OCA into a formal standard in late 2012 and AES standards manager Mark Yonge confirms that the drafts of the three-document standard are now approaching completion.

“Public drafts will be made available at the beginning of 2015, after which there will be a six-week call for comment,” he says. “Assuming all issues can be resolved, we expect to publish (the complete standard) around Easter time.”

Pragmatic philosophy Critically, notes Yonge, AES-X210 maintains the ’orthogonal‘ philosophy of AES67, allowing both standards to be implemented separately. It will also be possible for AES-X210 to be deployed with any number of other transport technologies – including AVB. Ethan Wetzell – platform strategist at Bosch Security Systems and a prime mover behind the OCA Alliance – pinpoints the pragmatically modular nature of the AES’ work in this area. “AES-X210 is a natural fit with the AES67 standard as these two elements work in tandem to address both the transport and control elements of a complete media networking solution,” he says. But “while they are directly complementary, the modular nature of the standards will also work to everybody’s benefit as they can be implemented independently over time. This means that the ecosystems for both standards are able to grow and manufacturers will be able to implement them more easily without taking an ‘all or nothing’ approach to implementing both standards simultaneously.”

As with all standards work, final validation of success can only come with the ensuing level of implementation. Not surprisingly given its own stake in OCP and subsequently OCA, Bosch has been an eager early adopter, with OCA a core component of Bosch’s OMNEO media networking architecture.

“All products from the Bosch, Electro-Voice, Dynacord and RTS brands that support OMNEO have been designed in such a way so as to be able to be upgraded to comply with the final AES standard if the standard deviates from Bosch’s current OCA implementation,” says Wetzell. d&b audiotechnik released its OCA-enabled D80 amplifier in January, while Wetzell reveals that other Alliance members are: “working on products that will support OCA and they will announce those when they are ready to do so publicly.”

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Next step: network discovery?

In a highly intricate area of endeavour, it is somehow pleasing that Yonge resorts to a down-to-earth metaphor to describe the collective role of AES67 and AES-X210, labelling them as the: “meat and potatoes of handling audio networks.” If the passage of time proves that to be accurate, then it’s clear there will be plenty for dessert; Yonge expects network discovery to be among the future targets of AES standards work.

“We will definitely not be sitting still,” confirms Wetzell. “I like to say that the final release of the standard is just the end of the beginning.

On the standards front, we will be looking at extending the standard to new protocols and new kinds of products and applications.”

No one can be sure about the long-term contribution of AES-X210 and AES67 to a networking landscape that was once primed for the dominance of AVB – a technology that has yet to have the impact that was once routinely predicted for it. But whatever happens, Wetzell firmly rejects any perception of competition and implies a belief that there will be room for everyone.

“AVB brings a new view of how networks should operate and behave; AES67 looks to interoperability, harmonising and extending technologies; and AES-X210 is focused on control rather than transport,” he says. “There will be times when you need only one of these technologies, but there will be times when you will need more as well. The key for us in the industry is to really stay focused on the problems that we are trying to solve with these technologies and converge where we can to provide the best solution to users.”

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31

Integration & Installation TRACKING TECHNOLOGY

The AMX NX-4200 of the next generation NetLinx Integrated Controller Family, the NX Series, is geared to meet the high-end control and automation requirements of the most sophisticated and complex business, educational and residential installations.

NX provides a scalable platform for the future by combining high performance, backward compatibility and extensive network security features. The NX-4200 provides versatility with the ability to integrate the largest number of devices in the NX Series of Integrated Controllers, including projectors, lighting, DVD and Blu-ray players, thermostats and other electronic equipment. The NX-4200 is the ideal solution for technology-rich environments.

The hardware and software is built for continuous operation, and supports modern networking standards as well as enabling two discrete network interfaces for excellent security. High performance architecture, flexible programming platform (RPM, NetLinx and Java) making it easily scalable to support a wide range of applications.

Full line compatible with standardised port numbers and new configuration import / export tools mean fewer coding changes, enhanced diagnostics on serial and IR ports provides real time error feedback when serial and IR ports are disconnected or improperly wired.

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

The Crestron PP-100: PinPoint Proximity Detection Beacon works with the Crestron App for iOS,

enabling a smart device to know what room it’s in so the controls for that room are automatically displayed.

PinPoint enhances the intelligence and personalisation of your Crestron system by enabling your iPhone or iPad to always know what room it’s in. PinPoint works with the Crestron App to ensure that the controls displayed on your device are applicable to the room you’re in.

Walk into the kitchen and you’re automatically presented with lighting, audio and TV controls for that room. Move into the family room and instantly start controlling the lighting, shades and home theatre system in that room. With PinPoint, there’s no need to manually select your current room from a menu — your iOS device always knows where it’s at.

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

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TRACKING TECHNOLOGY Integration & Installation

The Kramer VP-553: Boardroom presentation switcher / dual scaler is a

high-performance 6 x 2 presentation switcher / scaler for HDMI, HDBaseT and analogue signals, and a 4 x 1 USB switcher. Suitable for projection systems in conference rooms, boardrooms, hotels and churches and for video conferencing setups.

The unit has dual, independent, scaled outputs, the first on both HDMI and HDBaseT connectors, and the second on an HDMI connector. Both can take from the six digital inputs: three HDBaseT and three HDMI signals; while the first also includes analogue inputs – for two computer graphics signals, two composite video and two analogue TP inputs. Analogue, digital and embedded audio are supported, and the unit also includes a microphone input and rich DSP features.

The VP-553 has Pix-Perfect scaling technology, HDTV compatible, HDCP compliant, HDBaseT range of up to 70 metres, video inputs, scaled outputs, 4x1 USB switcher, on screen display, audio DSP, input and output audio level adjustment. It also features selectable microphone talk over, automatic audio detection and selection age.

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

The Arthur Holm – DynamicVision integrated motorised wall mount

is for videoconference cameras and controls.

Unveiling the camera upon request is possible through RS-232, AH net, Infrared, contact closer and SCT Coded Control Interface when needed, and storing it away when not in use, for a safe and controlled working environment and for protection of the camera. The front enclosure moves vertically up unveiling the camera, the tray then moves the camera forward simultaneously.

DynamicVision is serving the design of the videoconferencing installation by giving the system integrator, the architect, the interior designer and the space planner a superior tool to do their job.

The pre-installation frame is the perfect solution to take away the coordination headache between the system integrator and the architects / constructers. It can be delivered separately to be installed into the wall at any time, pointing out the placement of cables and power. Furthermore the DynamicVision helps the system integrator to easily bring and manage the cables and connectors simplifying the connectivity.

DynamicVision provides a straight forward solution to hide the video conference camera and control, enhancing the interior with its easily adaptable front enclosure which can be covered with fabric, wallpaper and lighter, rigid materials or paint. Modern technology won’t in your way but at your side.

Distributed by Peripheral Vision:

www.peripheralvision.co.za

33

Integration & Installation TRACKING TECHNOLOGY

The Vivitek D755WTIR is a projector that takes

interactivity in the classroom to a new level. The D755WTIR, when combined with an IWB (interactive whiteboard) allows collaborative learning sessions of simultaneous writing, drawing and annotations for up to 10 people. Also, as an ultra-short-throw model, the D755WTIR is the ideal projection solution for learning environments.

The D755WTIR offers the innovative DT01 ‘laser curtain module’.

This feature injects excitement into lessons as teachers and students collaborate together up to 10 simultaneous finger touch points on the screen. The projected image can then be manipulated in any chosen way, to create diagrams, drawing, writing or anything that is desired. The projector also supports for two IR Pens to be used for live note-taking, highlighting and onscreen amendments.

The D755WTIR delivers a 3 300 ANSI lumen brightness level with a contrast ratio of 5 000:1. The plug and play set up offers automatic or manual set up for easy integration into the existing network. Connectivity options are wide and include multiple display connectivity ports such as HDMI, VGA-In, Composite, Video Out, and more. The D755WTIR is also fully compatible with Crestron, AMX control and other enterprise- wide network monitoring and facilities management systems.

Distributed by Audiosure: www.audiosure.co.za

The 14K lumens Barco RLM-W14 projector

is a three-chip DLP projector offering Active Stereo 3D, WUXGA (1 920 x 1 200) resolution, and a brightness level of 14 500 centre lumens. Equipped with HDBaseT to provide video over a single Cat 5 cable, the RLM-W14 is designed for fixed installation in small- to medium-sized venues; but its rugged chassis, extended warping and blending functionalities and optional rental frame make it equally suited for the rental and staging market as well.

Featuring a fresh projector design with an improved lens mount, the RLM-W14 also offers Active Stereo 3D, extended warping and blending, and comes with video over a single Cat 5 cable functionalities (HDBaseT) as standard. It achieves its 14 500 lumens with twin 465W NSH lamps which – next to being very affordable – offer a long lifetime. Thanks to these features, it’s perfectly suited for fixed installation in museums, theatres, houses of worship, hotels, lecture halls or conference auditoriums, as well as for the rental market.

Supporting point-to-point transmission of video signals from a source converter to a projector over a single Cat 5 cable, the RLM-W14’s integrated HDBaseT eliminates the need for multiple cables and connectors, leading to greater simplicity and lower installation costs. It covers signal distribution over a distance of more than 70 metres. The high-brightness RLM-W14 generates crisp and stable images with rich contrast. And thanks to its three-chip architecture, it can produce 35 trillion colours. Moreover, the RLM-W14 features a Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) simulated mode that guarantees accurate grayscales and highly detailed images – key requirements for use in medical training and education applications.

The RLM-W14 can be easily controlled in multiple ways and thanks to its lens memory feature, specific settings for image size, lens shift and the focus of the projector lens can be easily stored and recalled at a later time.

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The Apart Audio Microphone Discussion System (MDS) is a highly

flexible small to medium size tabletop discussion system.

This easy to set up and easy to use audio system is the perfect solution for meeting rooms, board rooms and medium conference rooms. This discussion system consists of a chairman unit (MDS.CHAIR) and up to 19 delegate units (MDS.DEL). The connection interface (MDS.INT) is located at the beginning of the microphone chain.

This MDS system has a unique circuit loop design with an easy set-up using standard CAT5 cables for linking up to 20 units in a daisy chain, and every microphone and switching adaptor can be located anywhere in the loop. When the chairman presses the mute button, only the chairman unit will be active and all delegates will be muted and deactivated. The delegates can press a button to talk into the flexible gooseneck microphone.

The MDS.INT easily connects to any of the Apart pre-amplifiers, matrixes, integrated or mixing amplifiers, allowing you to control the volume and / or use the record output for recording the meeting. Combined with one of the pre-amplifiers, REVAMP power amp series and with the Apart CMX20T or MASK4 loudspeakers, you will have astonishing voice clarity for your board rooms, meeting rooms or medium conference rooms.

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LIVE EVENTs REVIEW

Building on the JBL legacy

By Greg Bester

JBL VTX V20

Some history JBL are the initials of founder James Bullough Lansing, the ex-vice president of engineering at famed audio equipment pioneering company Altec Lansing and founder of JBL. Since 1946, JBL has been making professional audio products that have, at one point or another, been encountered by anyone who works in the pro audio industry from the recording studio, to the live sound sector, to the OEM sector and even in the consumer market. In a word, JBL products are ubiquitous and have been for well over 70 years.

JBL S25

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The story of James B Lansing is a sad one. In his time during the ‘40s he was well known as a highly innovative engineer but, sadly, wasn’t a very good businessman. Despite developing many robust loudspeakers that had enormous market longevity – some well into the ‘70s – during his short tenure with his newly formed company he struggled to pay his creditors and failed to ship enough product out the door. The stress of it all, and no doubt an inherently depressive nature, led to his tragic suicide on 4 September 1949.

But this was not the end of JBL. In fact, this turning point causes one to wonder: had Bill Thomas, his successor, not taken over and used the $10 000 life insurance policy that Lansing had left to the company to revitalise it, how much of an impact would that have had on pro audio today? In my mind, the consequences would have been devastating because, as time would tell, JBL virtually became a household name (and later on quite literally did) and its products played a vital role in the pro audio industry for many decades.

Indeed, by 1977 – arguably a ‘golden era’ in rock and roll – more recording studios were using JBL monitors than any other brand and their loudspeakers were found all over the touring community. This must have had an immense bearing on much of the music from that era that we now treasure and it could be said that we can owe it all to that $10 000 left by Lansing.

Of course, JBL was eventually bought from Thomas by Harman in 1969, then called the Jervis Corporation, and has been under their umbrella ever since.

This makes them one of the longest standing Harman companies and, combined with Lansing’s innovations, has a long and rich heritage upon which to build upon. And, man, are they building upon it!

JBL loudspeakers and line arrays are a virtual standard in many touring circles today. Their VerTec line-source systems have been used on countless rock and roll tours and are known for their big, powerful sound in that genre.

But, as time marches on the new builds upon the old and next generation products start to emerge so the successor to the VerTec became the large-format VTX V25, a huge step

forward in JBL’s repertoire. The VTX V25 featured a slew of new, patented technologies that improved upon the design of VerTec and included the pivotal dual-diaphragm D2 high frequency driver and their Differential Drive technology, which found its way into JBL’s next generation woofers.

Leading on from that success, JBL recently released a new, mid-format line array called the VTX V20, with its accompanying subwoofer, the S25. This fills a gap between their small format VRX series and the V25 behemoth and gives rental companies and installers the opportunity to satisfy their customers’ needs more effectively. So, without any further ado, let’s take a look-see, shall we?

The V20 and S25 Paul Bauman, associate director of Tour Sound at JBL Professional, said of the VTX V20 and S25 during its launch at NAMM 2014: “In its short history, the VTX Series has already proven to be the world’s highest-performing line array system, as evidenced by its rapid adoption and deployment on some of the world’s most successful tours and most prestigious venues. The new V20 and S25 deliver the same level of performance that is characteristic of the VTX Series while adding even more flexibility due to their compact form factors.”

The V20 is a true three-way system. It features a scaled-down version of its proprietary D2 dual diaphragm, dual voice coil compression driver, which is a huge innovation in and of itself and, as with the V25, includes JBLs patented Differential Drive woofers, also featuring dual voice coils and ultra-linear motor midrange drivers.

More specifically, the V20 features two 10-inch 2261H Differential Drive woofers, four 2164H four-inch ultra-linear midrange drivers and three smaller form-factor D2415K high frequency drivers.

The D2 is probably the most noteworthy innovation found throughout the VTX series that, in essence, merges two compression drivers into a single unit and combines their output. Each voice coil has its own magnet assembly and specialised phase plug so instead of utilising one heavy, single dome diaphragm and voice coil assembly it implements two lightweight ring radiator diaphragms with dual voice coils that exit through the same chamber. However, to understand why JBL took this approach, you have to understand what the disadvantages of traditional dome diaphragm, single voice coil dome compression drivers are.

Traditional single-dome compression drivers suffer from several drawbacks and most well-known of them is a phenomenon called the ‘mass break point frequency’. This phenomenon exhibits a 6dB/ octave high frequency roll-off as a consequence of the moving mass of a radiating diaphragm. The rule of thumb here is that this frequency decreases (becomes lower) as the mass of the diaphragm increases. Therefore it stands to reason that lighter, faster moving diaphragms produce superior high frequency reproduction. The caveat, however, is that small, light diaphragms can’t produce the SPL required by long-throw applications in touring sound systems so a balance must be struck between performance and diaphragm size and weight. In a general sense, the frequency at which most traditional compression drivers reach their mass break point is at 3.5kHz and above that frequency the response rolls of at 6dB / octave. This is then ‘corrected’ via EQ and the obvious trade-off is reduced amplifier headroom. Additional equalization is also required to offset air absorption over long throw distances and this also impacts amplifier headroom. Dome break up modes at high frequencies are another limitation of dome compression drivers and these break up modes are responsible for increased distortion at higher frequencies – typically above 12kHz.

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LIVE EVENTs REVIEW

JBL D2 dual diaphragm, dual voice coil compression driver

The D2 attempts to remedy these limitations by combining the output of two low-mass diaphragms mounted coincidentally in the same structure by the implementation of specialised phase plugs that achieve phase coherence at the output of the driver. This also means that the mass break point frequency is shifted significantly higher which in turn produces an exceptionally flat high frequency response without the need for extreme compensatory EQ. Additionally, this means that the system amplifiers work more efficiently which results in more available headroom plus, since there are two voice coils, power handling is doubled. The ring radiator topology does not suffer from dome breakup modes of traditional dome compression drivers so clean, distortion-free high frequency reproduction is another important benefit.

Coupled to the three D2415K high frequency drivers is JBL’s new Radiation Boundary Integrator (RBI) wave guide. As most people know who are intimately familiar with line-source loudspeaker design, the wave guide is an integral component when attempting to achieve an isophasic, cylindrical wave front and is a huge part of what gives a line array its ‘sound’, clarity and throw. RBI technology combines the high frequency and midrange drivers to achieve uninterrupted transmission across each band that is distortion-free and seamless. Essentially, the midrange drivers are mounted into the walls of the HF wave guide which features specially placed slots where the midrange band exits. A patented and tuned resonant chamber is also integrated into the wave guide, which JBL claims eliminates ’throat-related cancellations due to back pressure from the midrange section‘. The RBI wave guide employed in VTX V20 supplies stable horizontal coverage across 100 degrees and line source array coupling from zero to 12.5 degrees in the vertical plane.

Specifically designed for easier transport, speed of installation, handling and re-configuration, a notable new addition to the VTX range is JBL’s ASM Suspension System. ASM stands for ‘Angle Stop Mechanism’ and this rotary cam works in tandem with fully captive hinge bars. This allows relative enclosure angles to be rapidly

38

configured during array deployment.

There are two modes of operation for the ASM system: compression mode, which utilises a rear pullback motor or hand hoist to set inter-enclosure angles; or fixed angle mode, which secures angles via quick-release pins. During strike, the ASM system can be reset to zero with ease.

In addition to the ASM system, a brand new array frame and extension bar is implemented into the suspension system. This provides a new level of flexibility in either operation mode or when stacking because of the tilt adjustment facility incorporated into the design.

The V20 will also be able to be suspended below the V25 for down-fill applications in the future as an adapter frame is in the works.

The S25 is the companion subwoofer to the V20 and features two Differential Drive 15” 2000W drivers. Indeed, these are the exact same drivers found in the V25 mid / high enclosure, maintaining coherent sonics across the range when combining the systems. The S25 is cardioid array-ready and can be flown in a variety of configurations; beside, behind, in the middle, or at the top of the V20 arrays in either end-fire or cardioid mode for enhanced pattern control and rear rejection.

The wrap The JBL VTX V20 fills the much needed gap between the relatively small and now aging VRX and the massive VTX V25 line-source systems. It features many patented designs and innovations that build upon the rich legacy of JBL Professional and, given that all of these technologies, such as Differential Drive and the D2 driver, can be found in the V25, sonic signature ‘linearity’ is almost certain across the two systems. JBL, I’m sure, will continue to create and innovate and given their heritage, one can only surmise what their future will hold.

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LIVE EVENTs INTERVIEW

Paul Bauman Paul Bauman, associate director of Tour Sound at JBL, was instrumental in the development at the VTX V20 system. With a master’s degree in physics and electrical engineering and a prestigious background in line array development spanning 20 years, Bauman is an industry heavyweight with much insight to offer. Pro Systems caught up with him to pick his brain and to find out a little more about what makes JBL and the V20 tick.

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INTERVIEW LIVE EVENTs

GB: You have quite a history in audio spanning over three decades, have a master’s degrees in physics and electrical engineering plus you were involved in the development of the L-Acoustics V-DOSC. What motivated you to get into audio?

Please provide a brief career history.

Paul Bauman: Like many people in this industry it began with a passion for music, a fascination with the equipment that reproduces sound and the excitement of going to see live performances. As a 16-year-old coming out of high school, those were my first motivations. Looking back, I have been with JBL Professional for the past eight years and am currently Associate Director, Tour Sound. Prior to this, I was head of research and development (R&D) then director of technical support with L-ACOUSTICS, based in France from 1998-2006; director of R&D with the Baltimore-based tour sound company Maryland Sound International (1994-98); director of engineering with Canadian manufacturer Adamson Systems Engineering (1991-94); guest researcher at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden (1991-92); and senior research engineer with the Communications Research Lab at McMaster University (1986-91). In addition to product and sound reinforcement system design, over the past 30 years I’ve been active in sound design and system engineering for touring, fixed installations and special events.

GB: In an interview in 2011 you mentioned that John Vanderkooy and Stanley Lipshitz were influential in your journey as an audio specialist. Can you please elaborate on that?

Paul Bauman: After completing an undergraduate degree in physics, I realised I needed to specialise and while researching graduate study possibilities, I came across the Audio Research Group (ARG) at University of Waterloo. I figured that if I was going to specialise, it might as well be in something I’m interested in and, at the time, Stan Lipshitz and John Vanderkooy were a unique team doing cutting edge research in the areas of digital audio, recording techniques, loudspeaker crossover optimisation and loudspeaker measurement. In 1983 compact disc had just come out, it was the dawning of the digital audio era and the ARG had one of the first portable digital recording systems in Canada (Sony PCM-F1) and the only Calrec Soundfield microphone in North America for their research into Ambisonics. So in addition to my research on loudspeaker measurement and digital signal processing, I started assisting Stan on field recordings and campus radio broadcasts of chamber music concerts. Having access to the equipment, I began doing live recording projects of alternative music groups for my own interest and ultimately this led to live sound reinforcement.

Readers should be proud to note that Stan Lipshitz is South African by origin and recently the Toronto Chapter of the Audio Engineering Society held a tribute to the ARG, inviting graduate students to talk about the difference that ARG made in our careers. For those interested, please check out the Toronto AES website.

GB: You were a research engineer at McMaster University in the field of mm-wave antenna technology which is similar in theory to line-source theory in audio. How did this impact your career in loudspeaker system development?

Paul Bauman: At first it was hard to break into the pro audio industry and while doing indie music projects on evenings and weekends, I was working as a research engineer at McMaster University on mm-wave line array antennas for low angle missile tracking including simulation of rough sea scattering conditions. With mm-waves, the wavelengths are the same as audio frequencies – it’s just the speed that’s different (light versus sound) – so the theory is directly applicable. That was my day job and while at Mac, I re-discovered a great alternative music scene in Hamilton. One of the bands I worked with (The Dik Van Dykes) grew in popularity and started playing shows across Canada so I starting doing live sound for them and got bit by the ‘big PA bug’ so to speak. Eventually I wound up joining the band for a joke (it was a comedy punk act after all) and played bass on their second record so I had a chance to experience things on both sides of the studio glass, onstage, as well as at FOH (aside: check out the recent 24 year reunion / farewell show on YouTube – hope you have a good laugh). Meanwhile, through my ongoing involvement with the Toronto Audio Engineering Society chapter, I got to know Brock Adamson and this connection led to my first step into sound reinforcement manufacturing. From there I went to Maryland Sound International so I got to see the industry from a sound company’s perspective and worked on proprietary loudspeaker system designs while gaining valuable system engineering experience on festivals, tours and installations.

GB: You were director of technical support at L-Acoustics.

What were some key experiences and lessons learned from working with L-Acoustics that aided in the development of the VTX systems?

Paul Bauman: Following MSI I went to L-Acoustics in the very early days of V-DOSC (the company had only 15 people when I arrived in France) and in some ways became the ‘sound and voice’ of the company since I was responsible for product and preset development as well as training and documentation. It was fun to be in the ’right place at the right time’ since as V-DOSC took off, major touring accounts and sound companies were approaching L-Acoustics to learn how the technology worked.

They were busy and exciting times and it was all about managing growth of the company and establishing the V-DOSC Network.

Needless to say, being on the V-DOSC selection committee with Michel Brouard and Christian Heil was an interesting experience and so was keeping up with international training demands as new sound companies came onboard.

Establishing the relationships with Lab Gruppen and Lake to develop a system solution for V-DOSC was also a lesson learned about the importance of having a system standard. The importance of modeling software in determining installation parameters was also a lesson learned along with the experience of coding Array2000 and storyboarding Soundvision. The value of training was also an important lesson learned and having founded the V-DOSC training program at L-Acoustics, it was recognised in the early days of line array that training was essential since it was a completely different technology and it was important to work correctly with it in order to get the best results.

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LIVE EVENTs INTERVIEW Many people thought it was complicated, but once you got to know the simple modeling and installation procedures, it saved time and allowed for better, more consistent results. When I left L-Acoustics about 3 000 people had been through the various training programs developed so that’s a source of pride. Gaining experience working with line array technology and complementary fill from a creative sound design perspective on numerous projects in the field also provided important lessons learned.

Based on this experience, product manuals became labours of love that were intended to explain how to work with these new tools and it was fun to come up with new sound design approaches to disprove reactionary naysayers who were claiming you can’t do this or that with line arrays. Key experiences came from travelling the world, training various sound companies and meeting great people while having the opportunity to work on sound design and system engineering for a wide variety of touring, fixed installations and special events. Production credits including: Rock in Rio 2001, Brazil; Dream Concert, Korea; Peter Gabriel Growing Up Tour 2001-2003, Phil Collins First Final Farewell Tour 2004, Bob Dylan Europe 2005. I also consulted on sound design for Mamma Mia (four installations), Witches of Eastwick, Turandot Stade de France, Jean Michel Jarre, Nine Inch Nails, David Bowie, Neil Young, Radiohead, Bjork and Madonna, among others.

GB: With the ever increasing ubiquity of line arrays on today’s market and arguably a similar increase in quality versus cost, what are the main challenges faced by a loudspeaker system designer? Are all avenues toward creating the ’perfect’ line source almost exhausted?

Please explain.

Paul Bauman: I don’t think that all avenues are exhausted yet – there is always room for refinement and a search for even greater perfection. There will be ongoing improvement on the transducer side as new materials and concepts evolve – the D2 driver is a good example of that trend. You can always do things faster and more consistently so there’s constantly room for improvement on the packaging and installation side. Although it’s true that there are many good systems on the market these days, ultimately it comes down to the operator (and the band of course) so from the loudspeaker system design side it becomes more of a challenge in developing the complete system – not just the loudspeaker alone – and giving the operator better tools that are more convenient and easier to work with in order to get more consistent results.

Modelling, measurement, EQ and control software, amplification, transport, networking and DSP all play an important part in the system and having a tightly-integrated solution with an intuitive, effective workflow-based user interface is key to success. A strong training and technical support program to back it up is also important. Apart from JBL Professional’s unique proprietary transducer technology, one of the advantages of Harman Professional is the fact that all the pieces to the VTX system come from legendary brands within the HPRO group. I like to think that this gives us a unique opportunity to develop a more tightly-integrated system and ultimately go further than our esteemed competition.

GB: What was the motivation behind developing the VTX as a successor to VerTec? What shortcomings, if any, did you see in the VerTec that could be improved upon and how did you solve these problems?

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Paul Bauman: Refreshing the 10-year-old, full-size VT4889 VerTec Series model with updated transducer technology, packaging and suspension was a natural motivation and setting a new industry standard for high end touring with the VTX System was the main goal.

The VT4889 HF section was sonically solid and low distortion due to the use of beryllium dome compression drivers but required significant HF shelving eq to compensate for mass roll off effects and was somewhat limited in power handling. As a result, the mid section was over-specified and for V25 it was important to scale up LF and HF sections to improve the balance of power resources between bands.

This was achieved by introducing 2267H and D2430K transducers, thus providing increased overall max SPL system output.

VT4889 enclosure height was reduced by about three 3 inches for V25 and this combined with the new RBI waveguide design and relieved mid-high section with optimised active radiating surface area improved vertical coupling from five to 10 degrees for V25. The RBI waveguide combined with V5 processing also provided more stable horizontal coverage. Additional improvements such as the linear Angle-Stop-Mechanism and dolly board were packagingrelated to help speed up the installation process. The design of VTX V25, S28 and G28 models began in 2010. The waveguide for V25 evolved from the VT4886 and D2 Dual Driver development began roughly four years ago from initial concept so we had a solid foundation to work from. The design of other VTX System level elements such as JBL Line Array Calculator, Crown Audio VRack and JBL HiQnet Performance Manager were under development for 4-5 years and were fully mature so we had a solid turnkey system package to coincide with the VTX V25 launch in 2012.

Prior to VTX development, another important consideration was to establish the VerTec V5 system standard while ensuring future compatibility with the VTX System standard, improving the performance of VerTec Series models to support current owners, their customers and audiences worldwide while at the same time providing an upgrade path towards VTX. Essentially, VTX is an entirely new Product Series at JBL Professional and, as its name implies, is an extension of the VT Series. At the same time, VerTec V5 is an extension of the VT Series since it is compatible with the VTX System standard and complementary from a sound design perspective.

LIVE EVENTs INTERVIEW GB: The D2 driver and Differential Drive technology have been revolutionary components in the VTX systems. Can you give an overview of their operation and advantages over conventional drivers?

Paul Bauman: The D2 driver is a unique technology since the same large format driver that is used in JBL’s flagship M2 Master Reference studio monitor for high fidelity, critical listening is also used in VTX V25, VTX F12 and F15 enclosures for high SPL sound reinforcement applications. The fact that the same component can be used in these two applications with such different demands and requirements demonstrates how versatile D2 technology is. It’s also a unifying technology since there will be consistent sound quality between what the artist hears in the studio on M2 monitors, what they hear onstage through F12 or F15 stage monitors and what the audience hears out front through VTX V20 or V25 FOH systems.

The D2 Dual Diaphragm Dual Driver merges two compression drivers into a single, compact transducer. Two lightweight, polymer material, annular diaphragms with a V-shaped profile and dedicated phase plugs are employed in the D2 transducer. The two annular diaphragms have the same effective radiating surface area as a traditional dome diaphragm, thereby providing equivalent SPL output. There are three main benefits to the D2 approach: 1) two separate voice coils provide twice the power handling capacity combined with reduced power compression and increased dynamic headroom due to improved heat dissipation; 2) the lower moving mass of two annular diaphragms has improved high frequency extension in comparison with the heavier dome diaphragm assembly; and 3) dome breakup modes that result in frequency response irregularities and increased non-linear distortion at high frequencies are virtually non-existent for the D2 driver due to the use of annular diaphragms and the polymer diaphragm material itself.

For readers who are interested in complete technical details, please refer to the following Audio Engineering Society preprints: ’Dual Diaphragm Compression Drivers’, October 2011 and ’Application of Matrix Analysis to Identification of Mechanical and Acoustical Parameters of Compression Drivers’, October 2013. Both of these preprints were authored by Dr Alex Voishvillo, Senior Transducer Engineer at JBL Professional and inventor of the D2 driver.

GB: The VTX V20 was recently launched. Is it just a scaled down version of the V25 or does it feature any new innovations? Please explain.

Paul Bauman: Despite the success of VTX V25, there is a limited amount of demand for large format line array systems and many of our customers were requesting a smaller format VTX line array that would be more suitable for a wider range of applications. Since we had recently refreshed VERTEC VT4888 (2x 12”) and VT4887A (2x 8”) models with V5 processing upgrades and these models are still both very relevant and popular in the market, the goal was to introduce a 2x 10” model since this is a format that JBL has not offered in the past.

The concept was to develop a compact, high power density enclosure that would be suitable for use as a standalone FOH system but could also be used to complement main LR V25 arrays when V20 is used as a center cluster, offstage / outfill arrays or as a downfill enclosure suspended underneath V25. The compact V20/S25 format is ideal for use in theater and performing arts center applications as well as compact; low-profile stacked or suspended sidefill monitoring.

Using the same 15” transducer in V20’s companion subwoofer VTX S25 as is used in VTX V25 also helped to ensure sonic consistency.

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VTX V20 features the same advanced technology and performance of the groundbreaking VTX V25 in a smaller format, high power density (nine transducers, 14 voice coils total), true three-way design, complemented by a new suspension system that provides efficient transport, fast setup and precise configuration. Many people are just as excited by the suspension system as they are by the sound quality, coverage / throw and output capacity of V20. The horizontal pattern control is extremely stable and provides precise, accurate coverage with exceptional stereo imaging. Effective line source array coupling has been achieved in the vertical plane from 0 to 12.5 degrees and V20 delivers linear, transparent sound up to surprisingly high output levels and throw distances for its compact size. The key differentiating feature is a new small format version of the patented, D2 Dual Diaphragm Dual Voice Coil High Frequency (HF) compression driver. Using two annular, ring radiators with separate voice coils and magnetic motor structures results in twice the power handling, extended HF response due to the lighter moving mass of the two diaphragms in comparison with a standard dome compression driver and significantly reduced distortion above 10kHz due to the absence of dome breakup modes. Three small format D2 drivers, combined with new ultra-linear 4-inch Mid Frequency (MF) and 10” Differential Drive Low Frequency (LF) transducers comprise V20’s 3-way system design and the power density that has been achieved provides output that approaches what other competing 2x12” systems can deliver.

GB: Do you feel line source systems are still at the cutting edge of live sound reinforcement? Where do you see the sector moving in the next five to 10 years and what other innovations can we expect in the future given the advances of discrete DSP-driven systems and the ever increasing ability to control coverage?

Paul Bauman: Yes – line source systems are still very much at the cutting edge of live sound reinforcement. I think we will see a continuation of the ongoing shift towards more tightly-integrated, turnkey packaged systems. Since tour sound tends to be relatively conservative in adopting new technologies I don’t anticipate any radical shifts in direction just ongoing, incremental improvement and refinement of existing technologies. We’ll continue to develop tour sound products that feature the innovative transducer technologies that JBL Professional is known for while leveraging and building upon the system-level infrastructure that we has already been put in place.

Advanced simulation, equalisation and measurement tools implemented via JBL HiQnet Performance Manager, comprehensive training and improved levels of integration between JBL loudspeakers and other technologies within the HARMAN family are additional areas of development. I’m particularly excited about our recent acquisition of Duran Audio and the possibilities that their industryleading expertise in digital beam forming and beam steering will bring to future system developments. Watch this space!

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LIVE EVENTs REVIEW

Electro-Voice ETX – EV strikes accord

By Jimmy Den-Ouden

EV ETX Powered Loudspeakers

It’s no real secret that EV and Dynacord have the same parent company in Bosch Communications. The two have a lot in common really – they’re both pretty solid product.

From a personal perspective I’ve always seen Dynacord as the heavier duty product, but with the release of the ETX range, that line seems to be a little more blurry than it used to be.

ETX is a range of self-powered speakers. The whole family is built from 18mm 13 ply birch ply, and all the hardware is made by EV specifically. Handles, top-hats and amp chassis are all die-cast aluminium rather than plastic. The full-range models include eye-bolt mounting points as well as boundary compensation filters for floor, pole, or flown configurations. The brains don’t end there either – dual limiters, linear phase crossovers, and intelligent thermal management add to the appeal. Using a pole to join a top box to a sub puts the front faces of the boxes out of physical alignment with each other – I’m told that the boxes know how to compensate for this, which is pretty cool.

The range encompasses a variety of models; 10-inch two way, 12-inch two way, 15-inch two way boxes all have nominal coverage of 90 x 60 degrees. The 15-inch three-way is interesting if for no other

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reason than it’s a less common configuration than a 15-inch and horn. It uses a 6.5-inch mid-bass and a 1.25-inch compression driver as well as a 15-inch LF unit. Physically it’s a bit bigger than the others, and appears to be designed for long throw applications with 60 x 40 degree nominal coverage. The range also includes two subwoofers – a single 15-inch and a single 18-inch. The specs of the whole family are really well laid out in a table for comparison on the EV website.

Peak SPL across the range (pink noise at 1m) is between 134 and 136dB, so they all match together nicely for output.

Having the luxury of finding the entire range at my disposal in the loading dock (with multiples of some units), I naturally gravitated toward building the biggest cohesive system possible with what I had.

Two ETX-18SP subs with an ETX-35P (that’s the three-way 15-inch) sitting on top. I won’t lie – getting it all into the studio required me to enlist some help. Thoughtfully enough the subs have nice high quality wheels on the back, so they were easy. The ETX-35P weighs 38.2kg, so unless you’re feeling especially tough it’s worth getting a hand to lift it.

REVIEW LIVE EVENTs

Controls on the EV ETX 35P Powered Loudspeaker

Physically it’s a big box, but feels well balanced enough that using it on the pole-mount wouldn’t be unstable.

EV has perhaps borrowed from Dynacord for some of the DSP on the ETX range – why wouldn’t they? There’s inbuilt delay, EQ, roll-offs and the aforementioned boundary compensation. The sub also has polarity inversion and a cardioid mode I was keen to try. Going on the literature, the cardioid thing is pretty simple – just point the middle sub in the stack backward then engage cardioid. If you’re only using two subs, spin the bottom one. It looks a little untidy, but there’s no real way to avoid that with any speaker. I only point this out because otherwise the range looks very neat and professional. Nice finishes, nice grilles, nice hardware. It feels very much like classic EV product in that regard – good and solid. Warranty is three years for the record.

The user interface on the ETX range is dead simple – a screen and a rotary encoder / button. Everything is controlled from the rotary, save for input on the ETX-35P which is a pair of standard pots. You can feed line or mic level into the box, and both it and the subs have a digital output level control on the display home screen. The menu is all straightforward and required no reading of instructions to operate.

There are a couple of different ‘modes’ on the box – ‘music’ applies a bit of smiley EQ, ‘live’ is flat, and ‘speech’ gears it toward exactly that.

EV has long been big on speech quality and ETX is no exception.

Running some content through the system I liked what I heard.

Voicing on the ETX-35P is consistent with my expectations of the brand, but it feels a bit more sparkly up top. I think that’s a bit of a current fashion in some ways, but it worked for me. The subs seem well up to task too, with claimed frequency response of 37 to 150Hz (+/-3dB) seeming pretty believable. I noted some emphasis around the 50Hz region and a little dip closer to 40, but my suspicion is that this

was a room mode thing. It would be unfair to judge it on this without first listening in a more appropriate environment (maybe I should have just put the 10-inch on a stick and listened to that instead?).

Anyhow, the point is that the configuration I tested yielded very pleasing results indeed. There was bucket loads of level (I couldn’t even get close to hitting limiters), and the pattern control on all the boxes seems pretty good (as much as I could determine in a small environment). The thing I’m stuck on is how to categorise the product.

Is it MI or professional? Reality is that it has footing in each camp, and solid footing at that. It’s packaged like MI gear, it’s friendly to use and its performance would likely please most pro users.

Mark Malherbe, from Prosound, the local Electro-Voice distributor, had this to add: “It’s nice to see that Electro-Voice have returned to a three way design in the ETX-35P. Electro-Voice used to offer some excellent three way designs that were highly regarded in the 1980s and 1990s.”

Brand: Electro-Voice Models as tested: ETX-35P and 2x ETX-18SP RRP: ETX-35P – R34,775.84 excl VAT. ETX-18SP – R34,775.84 excl VAT. Price correct at time of print and subject to change.

Product Info: www.electrovoice.com Distributor: www.prosound.co.za

Review syndicated from CX Magazine.

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LIVE EVENTs REPORT

Plasa London 2014

PLASA London 2014 welcomed visitors and exhibitors to ExCeL, London for the second consecutive show from 5 to 8 October and impressed with an inspiring education programme and a host of important announcements. While exhibitors revealed their latest product innovations, the organisers uncovered plans for the future of the show.

Speaking at the PLASA Awards for Innovation and Sustainability, PLASA’s CEO Matthew Griffiths revealed some of the changes for 2015, which will redevelop the scope and delivery of the event. Under the leadership of Christopher Toulmin, PLASA’s director of the Events Division, the show is being remodelled to become a PLASA member-focused event which includes moving from four days to three days, introducing a new floor plan concept, expanding the education offering and investing in the audio, staging, AV and broadcast elements of the live entertainment technology at the show to accompany the phenomenally successful lighting element.

Reflecting on PLASA London 2014 and looking forward to next year’s show, event director James Ashwood, said: “PLASA events has a new team, with a new vision for evolving and developing the PLASA show for the benefit of its exhibiting members. We are at the start of this exciting journey, and moving ahead with confidence, this has been reflected in the 80% rebook onsite for 2015.”

Just over 11 000 people attended the show, putting it slightly ahead of 2013, with a surprise increase of 55% in the number of re-visits to the show, demonstrating that people have been returning on more than one day.

One of the talking points throughout this year’s show was the Robe Arena – a 1 000 square metre stand, which created a huge immersive space adjacent to the main show floor. The lighting manufacturer’s decision to ‘go big’ and try something completely different as a one-off, centred on its 20th anniversary celebrations and on providing a showcase for the launch of the new BMFL Spot lighting fixture.

Robe UK MD Mick Hannaford said that as opposed to being huddled up because there stand is always busy, this year they were able to have more meaningful conversations. “It’s worked really well and our only problem is it’s going to be very difficult to come back from this now that we’ve gone this big, it will be very difficult to ever do anything much less than this – it’s been so successful and well-worth the extra costs.”

Exhibitors spoke about being happy with the number of good quality visitors they were seeing and with the number of businessrelated conversations they were having. Clay Paky’s CEO Pio Nahum, said: “In general, the attendance has been very good and

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we had the perfect showcase for our new products, so I think it has definitely been a good exhibition. Our lighting demonstration drew the crowds in and the quality of the visitors has been very good, 20% of which are international visitors.

The Professional Development Programme (PDP) benefitted from two new positions, adjoined to the main floor. Both the Audio and AV Theatre, and the Lighting and Stage Theatre saw a huge range of seminar content, capturing imaginations and drawing in large audiences. More than 2 000 people attended the PDP’s sessions, indicating how important education is to the event and highlighting why PLASA plans to expand the programme in 2015.

Session highlights included ‘Pin the Mic on the Actor’ from the Association of Sound Designers, Martin Professional’s sessions on ‘The Use of Intelligent Lighting in TV’ and the ‘Technology of Theatre Lighting’, Avolites Media’s ‘Convergence of Video and Lighting – Whatever Next?’ and Rockart Design’s session about ‘Making the Eurovision Set Come to Life’.

Soulsound hosted seven sessions, which were extremely engaging and very well attended. Company founder, Darryn de la Soul, said: “PLASA’s commitment to professional development through inspiring content has paid off. We’ve welcomed large numbers of people, from all kinds of backgrounds, to some incredible Soulsound sessions.

My gratitude goes out to all the session leaders who contributed their time and knowledge – they were amazing.”

The fifth annual Rigging Conference, which ran alongside PLASA London 2014 on 6 October, thrived in its new one-day format. More than 160 delegates attended, representing an increase in attendance of 15% on last year. Attendees came from 18 different countries, including New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and the US. International visitors made up 30% of the audience, indicating that the PLASA Rigging Conference is the global meeting point for the rigging community.

Programme curator, Chris Higgs, said: “This year’s conference allowed delegates to contribute to the formation of an international rigging code of practice and discuss the likely impact the CDM 2015 regulations will have on the industry.”

“As our keynote speaker, Bill Sapsis spoke about why we do what we do, making it humorous as well as thought-provoking. Structural engineer Abigail Matthews made a good case for using our common sense in a presentation that generated lengthy discussion safety. A session concerning the integrity of the objects we are asked to suspend, presented by Alan Bartlett of the RSC, was well received and we were privileged to have Bill Dudley, a theatre designer with seven Olivier awards to his credit as one of 17 panellists who helped make the 2014 conference the success it was. All in all, a great turnout and very satisfying to see delegates from so many different sectors of the industry. One of the high points for me is finding that delegates share interest in the content I have programmed.”

LIVE EVENTs REPORT

PLASA London Feedback We chatted to a few of the South African representatives that attended PLASA London this year to get their opinions on the show. Here is what they had to say…

Ofer Lapid, MD, Gearhouse South Africa It felt like it had become much more localised and more UK-focused. One could say it had reduced but I found it more manageable to see people in a more focused way and have an opportunity to have a thorough look and discussion around the products.

My primary reason for attending was to meet with old faces and rub shoulders. I hoped for discount but I didn’t get it because I didn’t buy anything, but the products that impressed me were the Robe BMFL and High End Systems’ Shape Shifter and Whole Hog 4.

Duncan Riley, director, DWR Distribution The show was really good this year, it was great to meet up with all our suppliers and attend the distributor meetings held in London. I think international visitor numbers were extremely low compared with previous years of PLASA due to the location of the venue in the docklands area, Excel , it is just simply out of the way. I have attended many PLASA exhibitions in the past at Earls Court in Central London, and I do think the venue drove international numbers down, but as far as UK visitors go, numbers were up. Only two South African companies visited the exhibition this year and normally there would be at least 10 to 15 local companies visiting the exhibition.

The main reason for attending was to attend distributor functions and maintain relationships with our suppliers that are based all over the world. It really helps to have all our suppliers at one place at the same time instead of travelling to the relevant countries to visit them.

I got exactly what I was expecting from the show so it was definitely a worthwhile trip for me. Products that grabbed my attention and stood out from the rest were the Robe BMFL, the new Mythos fixture from Clay Paky , the VL 4000 from Philips Varilite and Lumen Radio’s new CRMX Chip, and all of these products won awards at the exhibition.

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Freddie Nyathela, president, South African Roadies Association The show was fine but I felt it was not as well-attended as previous shows at the previous location. It didn’t seem to attract as many exhibitors either, and I feel it is struggling since it moved from Earls Court.

My reason for going was to network and meet with the UK’s training and education industry organisations like the Backstage Academy and the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural Skills, and to meet VPLT – The Professional Lighting and Sound Association of Germany. As always I also attended some of the educational seminars of the PLASA Professional Development Programme and met with officials of equipment manufacturing companies like Prolyte, SGM and ROE Visual Europe.

I was very impressed by ROE Creative Display’s Black OnyX series, which is ROE Visual new high-performance indoor HD LED display that can be set up in any way – stacking, hanging and curve.

Dave Whitehouse, sales executive, DWR Distribution I really enjoyed the show! It was great to see the latest developments, especially in luminaires. Technology is evolving rapidly and it’s so important to keep up. It’s is also great to see old friends in the industry, and it’s great from a networking point of view. The only disappointment was the lack of South African visitors.

The show was smaller than it was at Earles Court, no question.

However, the quality of product on display was as high as ever. My purpose was to see new products, technologies, as well as network. Being able to meet other distributors from different parts of the world, each with their own challenges, was most enlightening.

The Robe BMFL and miniPointe, the Clay Paky Mythos Spot and Stormy LED Strobe, the Robert Juliat Merlin Touring Followspot and the new Philips Strand NEO control desk and VariLite VL4000 were the highlights for me, as they are all revolutionary in their own ways.

REPORT LIVE EVENTs

PLASA London Products Here is a list and short description of many of the new products on the market that were displayed and / or demonstrated at the show…

Avolites Quartz Avolites went down the ‘size matters’ route at this year’s PLASA unveiling a brand new, compact console aimed at the touring market. Quartz is the newest addition to the Titan Mobile family, complete with on-board processing and a bright, vibrant 12.1’screen’.

The Quartz is positioned as the ideal companion for lighting projects ranging from touring and festivals to clubs and one-offs. It is Avolites’ smallest fully-featured console.

Avolites distributed by DWR Distribution: www.dwrdistribution.co.za

Ayrton NandoBeam S9 The big brother of the NandoBeam S3 and NandoBeam S6 LED moving head fixtures, offering 55 x 15 W RGBW LED and the same massive zoom range of 8° to 40° in a highly controllable, r ock-solid package.

Ayrton MagicRing-R1 This hot-off-the-press addition to the Radical Series offers seven 15W LED RGBW sources, large 67mm optics and a high intensity output of 3 200 lumens from only 130W of power. Crucially, MagicRing-R1 features the Magical speciality of Ayrton’s unique continuous pan and tilt to make it one of the fastest, most powerful and versatile fixtures around.

Ayrton distributed by Sound Harmonics: www.soundharmonics.co.za

Artistic Licence VersaSplit

Clay Paky SuperSharpy An ACL beam-type moving head featuring a 470 W, 7 800 K lamp that is three times brighter than the Sharpy. The SuperSharpy’s light reaches never-seen-before mid-air distances, making it the first low-wattage beam light that can properly challenge a searchlight.

The product also provides seven rotating gobos, 18 fixed gobos, a rotating prism, CMY, colour wheels, CTO, CTB and more.

Clay Paky Stormy The Stormy uses the latest LED technology, but retains all the charm of a classic strobe. The light source is a strip of powerful white LEDs, which perfectly emulate a bright Xenon linear lamp. The flash effect is actually enhanced since the Stormy is equipped with a parabolic reflector, like a classic strobe, and does not project the light directly forwards like other LED strobes do. The frequency, duration and intensity of the pulse are fully digitally controlled, and these parameters are even independently adjustable, which is impossible with a xenon lamp strobe. The light turns on and off instantly, creating the jerky movement illusion. It also comes with RGBW LEDs, which are able to flash in any colour.

Clay Paky distributed by DWR Distribution: www.dwrdistribution.co.za

Chauvet Iluminarc Next NXT-1

The VersaSplit is a modular and configurable rack-mount product that promises to redefine the DMX, Ethernet and radio distribution market. Designed with ultimate flexibility in mind, VersaSplit can be a radio distribution system one day, and a DMX splitter or Ethernet node the next.

Clay Paky Mythos The Mythos is a highly advanced form of hybrid light. Firstly, it is a 470 W lamp spotlight, which produces an outstanding large light beam, featuring a zoom that ranges from 4˚ to 50 ˚. Light beam is sharp with perfectly defined edges, from the first millimetres after the front lens right along its entire length. The zoom is optimised for focusing, which is separate from that of the fixed and rotating gobos. Its movements are smooth, fast and very quiet. Mythos also features a completely redesigned indexed visual effect disc, which may be superimposed on all the gobos – six rotating and 18 fixed – both in and out of focus.

A pixel-mapping panel with 25 quadcolour RGBW LEDs, the Next NXT-1 combines fast pan / tilt movement with a tight 6 ˚ beam angle to create brilliant in-motion displays that will mesmerise audiences. The ultra-bright output allows its sharp pixel-mapped images to cut through haze and washes on stage and deliver maximum punch at long throws, when used as an LED wash. This product was engineered to make the programming process fast and easy for users of all technical skill levels. The panel is equipped with an incredibly versatile virtual gobo wheel stocked with static patterns and alpha-numeric characters, allowing designers to create text displays and eye-popping effects quickly and effortlessly.

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LIVE EVENTs REPORT Chauvet Epix Series Epix Tile 2.0 New to the Epix series is the Epix Tile 2.0, a user-friendly fixture that makes it easy for lighting professionals to add high quality pixel-mapping video content to their designs. It is designed to work seamlessly with other members of the Epix 2.0 series, and is square shaped and contains 160 tri-colour (red, green, blue) SMD LEDs. Featuring a 25mm pixel pitch, the Epix Tile 2.0 boasts high output, excellent colour rendering and a wide 120 ˚ viewing angle, making it ideal for creating bright, bold, exciting motion graphics displays.

outputs that support resolutions to 4K and beyond. Version 4 bears the fruit of Green Hippo’s dedication to software development including FlexRes, built in 3D visualiser, SHAPE integration, all new output management and a re-designed user interface. Every V4 system features front panel indications of system status, as well as removable hard drives as part of the STRATA Caddy System. Inside, Hippotizer V4 includes all Solid State Drives as standard and the latest graphics technology to deliver high performance.

Green Hippo distributed by Electrosonic SA: www.electrosonic.co.za

High End Systems Road Hog 4

Chauvet Intimidator Spot 355Z IRC A bright moving head with motorised focus and zoom for crisp gobo and beam changing effects. Seven installed gobos plus the wedding six pack give you plenty of options for creating a unique look for every event. Built-in automatic programs along with move-in-black capability make programming with a Chauvet DMX controller as easy as can be.

Chauvet Intimidator Wave IRC

touch display in a compact package, and with networking and Art-Net outputs.

The programming interface remains familiar with the minutest of changes to allow for the compact chassis allowing the user to transition across the whole range without sacrificing work flow. It features an unlimited number of simultaneous crossfades, four encoders for an expanded wheelset, twelve user keys, and 10 playback faders.

High End Systems Shapeshifter Offering awesome power, incredible speed and total flexibility, Shapeshifter is the

A magnificent moving light array with five independently controlled heads that project narrow, razor sharp beams of lights. Each moving head has a bright quad-colour LED for infinite colour-mixing capabilities. The light can be operated with the control panel, or the optional Chauvet IRC-6 remote control. Up to four of these lights can be linked together as one to create stunning coordinated effects.

Chauvet Professional distributed by Audiosure: www.audiosure.co.za

ETC Source Four LED Series 2: Daylight HD and Tungsten HD The Daylight HD is for variable cool light 4 000K to 6 500K, and Tungsten HD is for adjustable warm light 2 700K to 4 500K. Suitable for on-camera use, these lights operates flicker-free, even at high speeds. They work quietly and dim smoothly, so they won’t disrupt the action on the set. The arrays benefit from this colour expertise. The luminaires have tint control, so designers can tweak the colour, warming it up or cooling it down, to perfectly illuminate individual skin tones. The luminaires allow designers incredible control over colour quality. They can use preset colour temperature settings that can be transferred from fixture to fixture, and use the user interface or a console to experiment with individual control of each LED colour in the mix.

ETC distributed by Prosound: www.prosound.co.za

Green Hippo Hippotizer V4 Thanks to a new hardware platform, V4 offers a district leap in performance with increased

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The Road Hog 4 has a 22-inch multi-

new and innovative range from High End Systems. Seven independently controlled modules housed in one moving fixture create a multitude of highly defined beams coming together to form an amazing array of effects from the incredibly bold to the ultra-subtle. All elements of the fixture are lightning fast giving the designer the largest palette of creative options available, all from one fixture.

High End Systems distributed by Stage Audio Works: www.stageaudioworks.com

Lab.gruppen PLM+ PLM+ is a new touring platform that offers all of the unique performance characteristics, flexibility, and raw power of the 20000Q, but with twice the processing power, twice the throughput and a whole host of additional features and improvements designed to deliver real world benefits and make the life cycle of any production easier, smoother and more efficient, from the system design stage, operating, through to the final load out.

PLM+ range offers two models – PLM20k44 and the PLM12k44 – each combining a true 4in/4out configuration for audio IO as well as four modules of Lake Processing. The new PLM+ platform offers four analog inputs, four AES inputs, four power outputs, four Lake Contour modules, 8x8 Dante I/O, two port 1GB network switch, and dual redundancy. A total of up to 16 inputs can be routed to a PLM+ device, allowing audio format conversion from one input type to another, and then delivering these inputs to other devices in the system. Matrixing / summing of inputs can be achieved and controlled within the Lake environment, an environment expected by most engineers at front of house or monitors, where using a tablet computer, they can tune, monitor and drive their system.

Lab.gruppen distributed by Technology Inovated Distribution: www.tidistribution.co.za

REPORT LIVE EVENTs Philips Selecon RAMA LED Fresnel Designed for 230 v operation, the RAMA LED Fresnel combines the superior control and light quality of a Philips Selecon Fresnel but with added LED advantages. It provides an adjustable cone of light, has a soft edge and is easily blended with adjacent beams to provide even illumination. A key benefit of the exciting new luminaire is that it is no longer necessary to change lamps and as a 3 000 K LED source, designers can use colour filters, in a similar way to a tungsten unit. It is also the ideal tool for general stage lighting as it has a smooth dimming curve and offers significant reductions in power consumption over traditional 1/1.2kW Tungsten Halogen luminaires.

The RAMA LED Fresnel has the advantage of requiring only a single channel of control, just like a regular tungsten Fresnel.

Philips Showline SL BAR 510 The SL BAR 510 sees the unique quick connect system offered in the SL NITRO range and the SL BAR 520, meaning all three ranges of luminaires can be easily interconnected providing unlimited design possibilities. Each of the four homogenized RGBW LED cells in the SL BAR 510 deliver flat, even, fully blended washes of colour. The high output LED luminaire easily adapts to any production environment as it retains a traditional light source appearance. In addition, it is available with versions of fixed 60

and 28º beam angle, providing uniform colour mixing and illumination for a wide variety of applications. Offering multiple cells of control, each luminaire can provide dynamic looks and chases.

Philips Showline SL eSTRIP 10 The SL eSTRIP 10 is the latest addition to the Showline eSeries family. Ten cells of homogenized RGBW emulate the traditional halogen strip light effect, with reduced power consumption, lower heat output and minimal maintenance. Each cell can be controlled individually for maximum flexibility, or in groups, as the SL eSTRIP 10 can be easily configured to suit almost any design requirement.

Philips Showline SL BEAM 100 The new SL BEAM 100 luminaire delivers a bright homogenous beam with three independent zones of control, allowing users to create unique designs on the front of the luminaire, and its seven RGBW 15-watt LEDs deliver over 1 500 lumens of output and a crisp edged beam.

The zoom range of 5º to 45º provides designers with the freedom to use the SL BEAM 100 as a narrow beam light special with defined edges, or as a wash luminaire with a flat, even field. In addition, as with every Showline luminaire, it utilises the Harmonize Colour Calibration system. This revolutionary process ensures colour matching not only between luminaires but also between individual pixels.

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LIVE EVENTs REPORT Philips Strand Lighting NEO console This console starts with the inclusion of many timesaving features, allowing the user to program faster and more accurately. Icons and Shutter controls are represented graphically on the display, saving time and presenting meaningful data to the operator. Floating Windows allow the operator to configure their views their way, making it easier to find information. Effects are revolutionized, with ‘Time Line’ features, allowing drag and drop to create that perfectly timed sequence. The show is even secured on a ‘Mission Critical’ grade SQL server, ensuring no data loss in those critical moments. Boot time is massively reduced with high speed solid state disk drives, making the NEO lighting control console robust for everyday and touring use.

Philips VariLite VL4000 spot Exciting features include its highresolution optics, which ensure remarkable centre-to-edge focusing and an unprecedented contrast ratio, and a 5:1 zoom covering an amazing 9 to 47 degrees without sacrificing output or clarity. The VL4000 Spot also boasts an entirely new colour mixing system, which is ultra-smooth whether operating in a slow fade or instant snap, as well as variable CTO colour temperature correction and dual five-position colour wheels. The dual opposing fixed colour wheels achieve unique colour effects, providing a multitude of combinations.

Philips distributed by DWR distribution: www.dwrdistribution.co.za

and can dramatically change beams and aeriel looks. The finetuned short arc Osram Sirius HRI 140 W RO light source together with the optimized optical system cuts effortlessly through haze and fog. A smooth variable frost filter and any one of the 13 instantly accessible rich colours can help create fabulously even wash effects, adding even more creative options to this compact powerful beam, wash and effects fixture.

Robe CycPix 12 This easy-to-install wash fixture offers an 8° – 67° zooming optical system and an array of twelve powerful 15W RGBW multichip LEDs. RGBW colour mixing is possible for the complete array of LEDs or for each individual pixel, offering an extensive range of colours from delicate pastels to intense saturates, including a selection of pre-set calibrated whites, variable CTO and tungsten effects. More options include a full power strobe effect and very smooth dimming, while the manual tilt setting allows -50° to 90° adjustment.

Robe ROBIN LEDBeam 1000 Using the latest LED technology, it can be used either as a beam or a wash light. With flexibility to the fore, it features a unique proprietary optical system with a zoom of 4 – 60 degrees and full beam control, giving an extremely tight and intense beam for long throws or a nice smooth even wash. A super-fast pan / tilt is great for creating spectacular ‘WOW factor’ effects.

Robe BMFL Spot The Bright Multi-Functional Luminaire (BMFL) has a custom light source specially designed for Robe that produces a staggeringly powerful 250 000 lux at 5 metres. Despite its power and comprehensive feature set, it weighs just 36 Kgs and has a compact body profile. The lamp produces light at a CRI of 92. This combined with a refined optical system and 5 – 55 degree zoom results in a crisp, high quality fat beam that is truly homogenised and without a hotspot. Aimed at long-throw applications, the newly patented Robe EMS (Electronic Motion Stabiliser) technology, enables the BMFL Spot to absorb vibrations from music and audio sources, truss movement, sprung or suspended floors.

Robe miniPointeM Small, agile and multi-purpose fixture specifically designed to produce sharp beam and aerial effects. Strikingly bright 2.5° parallel beams with shimmering colours and static gobo wheel patterns can be multiplied using the new and highly original Dynamic Flower Effect (DFE) which produces various different flower shapes

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Robe DL4S Profile Equipped with an enhanced version of Robe’s RGBW LED module for creating brighter saturated colours and a more powerful output. It boosts the already smooth colour range, fading and dimming of the DLS profile, and the DL4S also features an innovative LED driver system, producing an improved and extremely high definition dimming curve for all R, G, B and W colours with 18 bit resolution. A system of four fast, smooth, framing shutters has been added within the optical path design of the proven DLX Spot format.

REPORT LIVE EVENTs

Robe ROBIN CycFX 4 ‘Small is beautiful’ has always been a winning mantra for Robe, and the highly versatile CycFX 4 takes all the flexible parameters of the CycFX 8 and presents it in a smaller, half size package. Truss or floor-mountable and offering four individually controllable LEDs, an amazing 8 to 67 degree zoom and lightning-quick movement, this is an outstanding fixture that is ideal for creating spectacular sweeps and curtains of light and colour across a stage or an area and also for footlights or audience ‘blinder’ effects.

Robe ROBIN PARFect 100 Based on the hugely popular LEDBeam 100 technology, using the same optical system and light engine in a static housing. The PARFect uses 12 x 15W RGBW LEDs and has a 7 degree beam angle with the option of additional diffusers to

achieve 10, 20 and 45 degrees. A Powercon connector in and out allows 12 or six units (Europe and US respectively) to be daisy-chained together, and optional accessories include barn doors and a gel frame.

Robe distributed by DWR Distribution: www.dwrdistribution.co.za

Robert Juliat Merlin followspot The Merlin is the culmination of an ambitious project to produce a powerful, rugged followspot for the touring market. With an output that belies its 2 500 W HMI lamp and a massive 3°-12° beam range, Merlin covers both long and medium throw ranges in one unit. It delivers a performance that outshines the ever-increasing power of LED lighting and videowall backlighting, while newly designed bodywork ensures Merlin is easy to install and maintain, tough enough for the road and supremely tourable. Merlin has been created to reflect the specific requirements of those working in the touring, live music and large event market – indoors and out.

Robert Juliat distributed by DWR Distribution: www.dwrdistribution.co.za

LIVE EVENTs REPORT

Standard Bank CIB 2014 – perfectly blended

Photos by Annie Goetzshe

By Joanne Taylor

The 360-degree screen seen from the control desks.

Standard Bank gets a record breaking 360-degree projection screen for their Corporate and Investment Banking Conference.

A 360-degree projection screen surrounded 1 200 delegates at Standard Bank’s biennial Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) Conference, a one-day event which took place at the Sun City Super Bowl on 6 September 2014.

Standard Bank approached Sean Mackenzie of O’MAGE to assist them with making their dream conference a reality. The bank requested a central stage environment, allowing the audience to get much more engaged with the speakers. This opened many opportunities for the lead creative, Peter Blond, whom ultimately decided upon the 360-degree screen surrounding the audience.

O’MAGE awarded the technical to CI-Nation, specialists in show control and high-end playback, under the leadership of Mike Fynn and Stefan van der Walt. Their passion for perfection and dedication of running flawless events, proved right yet again. After serious contemplation of suitable suppliers, they chose MGG as their technical partners, to provide rigging, lighting, projection and audio.

Denzil Smith, general manager from MGG pulled in a crew second to none to assist with the challenging event.

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Screen The screen, likely the most anticipated part of the event, measured 170 metres long by 8 metres high, starting just 0.5m off the floor to eliminate shadows being cast on the screen from performers, delegates and crew members. Disguising the existing Super Bowl stage was a 20-metre kabuki section which nearing the end of the day dropped to reveal a surprise performance.

The projection surface was Cyclo 200, provided by Showtex South Africa, under the guidance of Michael Spaan. It was perfectly hung around the exterior of the floor area, reaching far above the bleachers, and almost right up to the festoons.

“Working to plan was a necessity in this environment. Kay Page drew up every aspect of the venue in Auto Cad giving us a clear vision to imagine the space prior to our arrival on site,” explains Fynn.

Content “Content creation on a screen of this magnitude is crucial and thorough planning was necessary,” says Fynn. The screens displayed a resolution of 22 954 pixels wide x 1 080 pixels high, which is full HD all around. Blond created well thought-through storyboards from start to finish. These were treated like the bible to the team of five animators (with noticeably different creative design qualities) whom created all the custom content over a two-month period. Their different abilities

REPORT LIVE EVENTs

and techniques were highly appreciated as each of the business units’ presentations were unique, allowing the audience to be captivated and entertained throughout the event.

Each of the 11 Business Units (BUs), were given a 20-minute slot to entertain or enlighten their colleagues. Working closely with the O’MAGE team, these BUs were able, through the use of mind blowing graphical treatments and performances key to the message delivery, achieve their goals and inform their audience in a compelling way.

Audio Visuals Smith brought in Marcel Wijnberger, Bradley Hilton and Grant Reyes to handle the AV side of things and take on the mammoth task of blending the monstrous screen. A total of 14 x 20K Christie projectors were chosen as the right tools for the job, and that they were. The four of them worked tirelessly in teams to achieve the perfect blend.

Cameras and Vision Mixing Brendan Marsay from EFX Productions was given the task of recording and filming the event for playback. “He gave two separate outputs from his vision mix allowing for amazingly dynamic looks and feels when in the venue and being engulfed with the visuals,” says Fynn.

Marsay used an eight-camera rig, which comprised three operated with long throw lenses, a wireless steadycam, three fixed cameras in

the roof and trussing as well as a wireless action cam used on presenters whom abseiled down from the catwalk.

Playback The team chose to use Dataton Watchout as the playback system of choice.

It took three weeks of programming all the content with just over six terabytes of animations, all of which required encoding and slicing for optimum playback. Once on-site, Dylan Finlay assisted in this process ensuring smooth playback of all last minute videos and sound clips.

Due to the risk involved when trying something new and with the massive amount of media, it was crucial to test the system at full resolution off site: “We setup a ring of 65-inch full HD monitors to preview all the material. This was necessary so that we could see where some animations needed adjusting as we realised that certain graphical movements were just too vicious. Previewing the material also gave us confidence in our machines for stable playback,” says Fynn.

Due to the extreme playback requirements, CI-Nation invested in four new Watchout Display Servers, from Penmac, to handle the required 30 full HD displays (15 main and for 15 back-up). Each machine was fitted with raided solid state drives, Firepro Graphics Cards, S400 sync modules, 3,7Ghz Intel Processors, 16GB RAM and dual DVI Capture cards, fed by individual seamless switches, allowing for a

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LIVE EVENTs REPORT

The control desks

multitude of sources for capture. “These new puppies handled all that we could throw at them with an absolute breeze, never a stutter nor a glitch.”

Lighting Francois van der Merwe of Wizardry Group had the challenge of complementing the screen yet not overpowering the projection, undoubtedly, he created ‘magic’, with over 400 fixtures in operation, from Sharpys to Pointes, and B-Eyes to Batons, “…all of which came together and looked phenomenal,” beams Fynn.

Stage and Set Craig Pretorius of SDS, with Kim Akester leading the team on site, built the central stage incorporating a 7,5-metre revolve along with other set elements. They also built six double doors into the screen, which were used as access into and out of the venue which, while closed, disappeared into the screen allowing for some interesting theatrical entrances alongside graphical treatments.

As a centerpiece above the stage, a 6,5-metre circular projection screen was hung from trussing and inflated to achieve the desired ‘contact lens’ shape. This displayed lighting and graphics to complement the various animations and themes throughout the event.

Audio Adriaan van der Walt of Matrix Sound led the audio team and mixed FOH on a Soundcraft VI6. Nathan Thiart of Audio Logic handled the stage and monitoring requirements. Jaco Beukes of MGG was the

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systems technician, and he pulled out all the stops, even teaching the old dogs a few new tricks. Beukes installed the rig of JBL Vertec’s on six separate hangs from a central circular truss with eight double 18s on the floor surrounding the circular stage giving a clear equal distribution to all areas of the venue. On the main stage the audio team hung the JBL VTX rig for the concert later that evening.

Stage Management Demetris van Zyl of Darc Industries had his hands full managing the 26-piece orchestra, the 30-piece choir, drum café, a multitude of public speakers and surprise international act Dave Stewart from the ‘80s duo the Eurythmics.

The festivities continued into the evening after an incredibly fast turnaround, under the guidance of 24 Carrots. They achieved a futuristic look and feel with a multitude of performances and décor elements to enthrall the audience late into the night.

The wrap Calling the show was intense, with thousands of cues to be precisely hit, Fynn with the help of Edgar Laubscher, met each of them perfectly.

“Keeping everyone together and running like a well-oiled machine was the core of the team being Shereen Knox and Sean Mackenzie, from O’MAGE. They had been involved in the process for eight months, dealing with all the clients’ requests, budgets, logistics, schedules, accommodation, catering and venue management. Without them, this amazing event would not have come together so seamlessly,” concludes Fynn.

K-LA Series Core Technology The K-LA series is primarily used for fixed installation and touring systems. The result of in-depth research, the Audiocenter R&D team has developed the unique PTVTM technology which combines phase and waveguide engineering together seamlessly.

K-LA28 Dual 8” 3 Way

Passive Line Array

Frequency Response (+/- 6dB anechoic chamber): 60 – 20 000Hz Average Sensitivity: 96dB/1W/1m Drivers: Beyma customised drivers Connectors: 2 x NEUTRIK Speakon NLT4MP Power Rating (AES): LF 200 + MF 200 + HF 50W Passive X-over Frequency: 450Hz / 2.2kHz Passive Weight: 19Kg Dimensions mm: 590(W) x 236(H) x 436(D)

PF218B+ Dual 18”

Bass Bin

Frequency Response (+/- 6dB anechoic chamber): 32 – 300Hz Average Sensitivity: 102dB/1W/1m Drivers (LF): Audiocenter customised ferrite drivers, 4” voice coil Connectors: 2 x NEUTRIK Speakon NLT4MP Power Rating (RMS): 1600W Hi-pass filter: 38Hz full range (24dB/oct Butterworth) Weight: 91Kg Dimensions mm: 984(W) x 625(H) x 660(D)

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

LIVE EVENTs REVIEW

ARX Audi-box Blue DI Review

By Greg Bester

DI boxes. They’re (usually) quite simple yet crucial devices that convert an unbalanced high-impedance signal from, say, a guitar or a keyboard to a balanced low-impedance microphone-level signal.

There are a few reasons for this, but the main purpose is to make sure an unbalanced, high-impedance signal doesn’t pick up noise on its way to the preamp, particularly over long distances such as over a mic snake. The result of running an unbalanced signal that doesn’t match the input impedance of your balanced preamp will have other trade-offs, such as less signal level (usually around a drop in 6dB) and an altered frequency response, usually manifesting in a top end roll off. Second, it enables a line level signal’s gain to be controlled via the microphone gain pot, which usually offers a lot more gain to work with.

So that’s the basic idea; a DI box maintains balanced signal integrity from an unbalanced, high-impedance signal for insertion into a microphone preamp.

Now, you may have noticed that I included the exception ‘usually’ in brackets in the second sentence of this article. The reason for this is because there are companies out there doing some very interesting things with DI boxes and one of those companies is ARX, the Melbourne, Australia-based company that manufactures “precision tools for audio professionals”.

I was lent an ARX Audi-box Blue DI by local ARX distributors Matrix Sound, and this little guy is refreshingly different. Aimed at corporate, DJ and other work where the main source of playback content is hosted on a Bluetooth-enabled smart phone, MP3 player or laptop, this handy tool allows wireless playback in stereo over the protocol to a claimed radius of 12m. That could be quite handy, so let’s take a deeper look.

Features The Audi-box Blue is, well, blue. Matte-royal blue, in fact, and while light in weight, the all-steel housing feels well-made and robust. It’s got a roughly 2cm wide, grippy foam footing that squares the entire perimeter of the base too, which ensures it doesn’t go anywhere when placed on a flat surface.

The rest of the features are quite straight-forward, really. It’s got two balanced male XLR jacks on the one end which are the left and right stereo outputs of the device along with a power on/off button. The output impedance is 200 Ohms so the XLR outputs should pair well

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with most microphone inputs on common consoles and preamps.

Since the source signal is fed via Bluetooth, the output gain is nominally at unity with the source device.

Of course, like most DI boxes, this one can also run on 48V phantom power which is fed to the device via the output XLRs coming from the preamp. However, both channels being fed from the DI need to have phantom power enabled in order for the device to power itself.

If phantom power is not available, there is a +12VDC socket for an external power adapter (not included).

On the opposite end of the Audi-box Blue there are two LED lights arranged vertically – a blue one on the top and a red one below – that indicated when the device is scanning the airwaves (red) or when there is Bluetooth activity (blue). When the device is communicating with a source device the blue LED will blink and when the device is successfully paired and locked, it will remain solid blue. However, if there is a problem during pairing to the right of the LEDs there is a red, non-latching button that resets the device back into scan mode for another attempt.

That’s about it. It really is that simple.

The test In this test I decided to attempt to pair all my available Bluetoothenabled devices with audio playback, one at a time, to the Blue DI. These devices included my iPhone, my iPad and my PC Laptop.

I plugged the outputs of the DI into two available inputs (channels 7 and 8) of the ART Tubefire 8 I use in my home studio and enabled phantom power. The analogue outputs of the two channels were then fed into an Apogee AD8000, running at 24-bit, 44.1kHz which then digitised the signal and was routed back out via AES/EBU to my Dangerous Audio D-Box monitor controller and eventually on to my Yamaha HS50 studio monitors. Essentially what I ended up with is a simple, modular digital audio console.

The first device I tried to pair was my iPhone. The scan light was blinking on the Audi-box and as soon as I enabled Bluetooth on my phone the blue light started flashing to show Bluetooth activity. I selected the ‘ARX Blue DI’ in the iOS Bluetooth settings and voila, the blue light went solid, showing a locked and steady connection.

REVIEW LIVE EVENTs

At this point I would like to add, that while I tried the iPad third, it had the exact same result and was just as easy to set up. So, as far as I could tell, iOS devices work flawlessly with this unit.

I played some music off of Youtube and some high quality files from Billy Joel and AC/DC through the Blue DI and the quality was surprisingly good. I have only ever used Bluetooth to share files and once upon a time with a hands free kit and didn’t recall the audio quality being too stellar. However on this occasion through the Blue DI, it sounded very representative of the source. I switched my headphones between listening directly from the iPhone/iPad and the monitor controller being fed from the DI and the difference was negligible.

The PC Laptop was a different story. At first I could only get the PC to see the Blue DI and pair with it albeit with no Bluetooth services.

The ARX Blue DI icon in the Devices and Printers applet was opaque and greyed out. The blue light on the DI would not lock, either. Nor did it flash. The red scan light just continued to blink. Eventually I downloaded the latest Bluetooth drivers for my laptop, installed them and the computer instantly saw the DI with all available audio

streaming services available. All that was left to do was select the DI as the default audio output and I was getting a stream.

But this is where it got puzzling. The stream from the laptop was slightly more distorted in the top end and sounded a bit grainier. I’m not sure if this was a software problem on the laptop side or whether there was something wrong with the Bluetooth link, but I couldn’t get it to resolve, despite attenuating the volume on the PC side. That being said, it could always be a problem with my laptop and not the Blue DI. I also tested the range of the unit. I found out very quickly that it does not transmit through walls, which is expected. I left my studio, walked around the house until I got a line of sight through window and sure enough, the audio returned. I walked back several meters (I don’t have a 12m range from my studio window to the boundary wall) but I would say I got clear transmission for at least seven or eight meters, which is good enough for most cases.

The wrap The ARX Audi-box Blue DI is a handy unit. If I had one gripe I would have liked to see the addition of an output pad for those instances where you have a low-headroom preamp but I suppose in that case you could just turn down the volume on your device.

However, all in all, I think this is a very useful tool to have if you’re a DJ or do a lot of corporate work and the Bluetooth facility just makes it so slick and fun to use. Welcome to the 21st century where cables are slowly becoming obsolete.

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DVI HDMI VGA

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LIVE EVENTs REVIEW

Martin Mac Quantum Wash – A Quantum leap forward?

It’s hard to pick the origins of the Mac Quantum Wash. Physically, it’s similarly sized to a Mac 600.

Visually, it kind of looks like a Mac Aura which took all the steroids. In terms of performance, it’s nothing like either of these…

The basics of the Quantum Wash are as follows: 50x 15W RGBW LED light sources arranges in four concentric rings, sitting behind an Aura style lens. That’s right – 750W of LED, which is gut loads. Lifespan on the LEDs is specified at 50 000 hours to >70% brightness. It’s WAY brighter than a Mac 600, especially in saturated colours.

Additional LEDs illuminate the Aura style lens, complete with strobe FX. The lens assembly itself moves back and forth to provide a 1:5 motorised zoom range, and it looks to me as though the LED assembly moves in a reciprocating manner behind it. This would logically provide the same zoom range in half the movement, and presumably be faster. Fast it certainly is – minimum to maximum beam happens virtually instantly. Zoom range is controlled

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By Jimmy Den-Ouden

by DMX values 0 to 200 from wide to narrow, with values above 201 causing an ‘overdrive’ effect with a super hot-spot on the beam. It’s a cool idea.

Mechanically it’s largely standard – 540 and 270 degrees of pan and tilt, with 16-bit control of this (and dimming / lens rotation) available. It’s RDM capable, software updates happen via USB, and the control interface is the same as on a Mac Viper. Very good. The fixture is happy to hang or sit in any orientation, and there’s a tilt lock to secure its rather sizable head.

The LED elements are arranged in a ring or 20, then a ring of 16, and then paired rings of 10 and four. These numbers are important, but more on why a bit later. Each of these can be independently controlled and colour mixed via RGB. Because the Quantum is factory calibrated to recall specific white CT values, the white LED channel is hidden. The fixture just generates white in whatever colour temperature you ask for (there’s a full table in the manual with values from 2 000 to 10 000K). Conveniently the Mac Aura does the same thing, so you can match them very easily.

The front lens can be rotated using the ’beam twister‘ function. Because this only works with the fixture at narrow zoom, engaging the twister automatically zooms the fixture to a tight beam.

Remember the element numbers? The lens bumps

REVIEW LIVE EVENTs

line up with all the chips at once only at one point in 360 degree rotation. At another point, they line up with only the outers. At another point only with the mids; and at yet another only with the centre. This means the beam twister can kind of morph the tightness of each of these sections into one another – as the centre chips move to a tight beam the others widen. Sounds weird, but once you see it in action with different colours on each section it makes way more sense. It’s a very different optical effect to what we’re used to seeing, and in some ways reminiscent of the ‘60s oil wheels.

Finally this – on top of all this colour rich beamy goodness, to me the Mac Quantum Wash seems well priced. Definitely not cheap, but you definitely get what you pay for and then some. I’d say it’s good value.

Both Julius and I agree that Martin has really produced an excellent fixture in the Mac Quantum Wash. The straight out performance as a versatile high output wash light is nothing short of impressive, but the ultra fast zoom speed and beam twister really do make it something very special indeed.

Brand: Martin Model: Mac Quantum Wash RRP: R80 000 excl VAT (Price correct at time of print and subject to change) Product info: www.martin.com Distributor: www. electrosonic.co.za

Electrosonic SA’s Entertainment Lighting Manager, Bruce Schwartz had this to add about the light: “There are many LED wash lights on the market and some great effect lights too. But there are very few that can truly combine the two functions well, they generally excel at on or the other.

“The Mac Quantum Wash is a true professional wash light first and foremost, a real work horse. In addition to this it is impressive effects light which rounds off a truly versatile package.”

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LIVE EVENTs REPORT

Joburg Day 2014 Once again, the arguable flagship in South Africa’s international-grade one-day festival repertoire, Joburg Day brought to you by 947 and MTN, occurred at the Crocodile Creek Polo Club north of Johannesburg on 13 September 2014. If you attended last year’s event you’ll know that it was staggeringly big. So big, in fact, that you could have been fooled into thinking you weren’t in South Africa at all. This has to do with the fantastic talent we have in South Africa and, of course, the top notch quality and larger-than-life scale of the technical aspects of the show, supplied by Gearhouse SA. This year’s event was a slamming success and saw 30 000 people attend, beating the previous year by at least 5 000. Everyone involved, from the artists to the techs to the crew, delivered the goods with utmost precision and set a new benchmark for what the South African industry can accomplish. We are certainly not ‘Mickey Mouse’ and it showed.

Given the success enjoyed by all, one has to wonder, what, if anything, was different? Why change a good thing? Well, this is exactly what I sought to find out.

Audio According to Llewellyn Reinecke, head of audio for the event, there was very little difference in the audio systems. The last rig had performed so well that the decision was taken to supply (almost) the exact same one.

“Let’s just say that it was pretty much a carbon copy because they

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By Greg Bester (the organisers) liked it so much. The main differences were on the stage,” says Reinecke.

Kholofelo ‘Rast’ Sewela was the monitor engineer for the day and so was heavily involved in the new on-stage developments that had happened there this year. Sewela is very passionate about young talent coming into the company through the Gearhouse Academy and Joburg day was a proving ground for this initiative.

“Aside from the partnerships that we had developed with Prosound and Splitbeam with the Midas consoles and Audio Technica, we focused a lot on development and looking at the future in terms of festivals for the company,” Says Sewela. “We put our concentration on the [Gearhouse] Academy and tried to get more and more students involved in what we are doing in festivals. So, we had more students that were actively involved in changeovers and with the development that has been happening we now have students who have been put into more senior positions. It was actually surreal to see something like that happen. Load out was significantly faster than last year; almost cut down in time by half.”

As Sewela mentioned, Audio Technica came on board through Prosound and this was a big eye opener to him in terms of getting to hear a brand that has not had as much exposure in South Africa as others in the past.

“Audio Technica was actually a revelation. We miked most of the festival with their mics.” says Sewela.

The main PA comprised 12 K1 boxes and four K1-SB low frequency extension elements set up in ‘throw configuration’ for the main-hangs and a combination of six K1 and six KARA elements for the down-fill out-hangs. Two KARA arrays, consisting of three stacked elements, were used as front-fills and 48 L-Acoustics SB28 subwoofers were used in a left, centre, right configuration.

Once again, delay systems totalling ten delay structures were employed to cover the venue in its entirety (including the beer garden). The first and second delay towers placed roughly behind FOH and halfway down the field, respectively, included 12 V-DOSC enclosures per side. Additional clusters of Turbosound TMS3s were placed near the rear of the venue and in the beer garden for

REPORT LIVE EVENTS

additional coverage. As per last year, the system was interconnected via Neutrik OpiticalCon Quad fibre cabling and powered

by L-Acoustics LA8s.

Another main difference this year was the consoles employed. A Yamaha PM5D and a Midas PRO2 (supplied by Splitbeam) were the consoles of choice, which were switched between for each act. A duplicate system was employed on stage for monitoring.

The monitor system was also bumped up in size from last year.

Sewela explains: “We had monitoring from L-Acoustics. We had three ARCS2s per side-fill, which was one more than last year, and two SB118 subs. The floor monitor counts were exactly the same at 18 115 HiQs and a further SB18 sub for the drummers.”

Lighting Gearhouse’s Lucky Nkosi was head of lighting for this year’s show and according to him, little was changed besides the configuration of the trussing.

“We just changed the look slightly,” explains Nkosi. “Originally it was an A-type truss central box measuring 9.6m wide and 7.2m deep with 4 x 4.8m L-shaped trussing but I had to collate it all to three trusses because they (LEDVision) had to put a big screen in the back. I had to work so people could see the screen.”

Being that the show was mostly during the day, the lighting was mostly centred on lighting the inside of the stage so it could be seen clearly by the audience and by the cameras feeing the LED screens.

“There is only two hours of the show that happened in the evening,” says Nkosi. “There was more LED lighting than last year so we used them to light the inside of the stage for the cameras.”

Lighting fixtures list: • 24 x Martin 2kW Viper • 24 x Martin 2kW Washes • 24 x Robe Robin 600 LED • 12 x Martin 3000 Strobes • 24 x Tri-Tour LEDs • 12 x Robe Red Wash • 24 x four cell cyclites The lighting console employed was a MA grandMA2 full-size paired to an Avolite ART2000 48-way dimmer rack while an MDG Atmosphere APS hazer supplied hazing effects.

LED Probably the biggest difference to this year’s event was the LED system, supplied by Gearhouse company LEDVision.

“Last year, the emphasis was placed on artistic elements, as far as the LED contingent was concerned,” says Graeme Baker, project manager at LEDVision. “This year, we tried to combine enhanced viewing with artistry by putting a large centre screen on the stage, surrounded by ‘commas’ on either side.”

In line with that plan, the kit supplied to gig was as follows: • 1 Barco B10 trailer • 40 Lighthouse R16 LED panels • Stage screens: configured as 2 of 5 panels wide by 4 panels high (5.08m x 3.048m), 16:9 ratio • 100 Lighthouse R16 LED panels • Delay screens: configured as 5 of 5 panels wide by 4 panels high (5.08m x 3.048m), 16:9 ratio • 220 Lighthouse DuoLED 18 LED panels configured as: • Centre screen: 144 panels: 1 of 16 panels wide x 9 panels high (9.216m x 5.184m) 16:9 ratio “Joburg Day is truly one of the largest annual South African events of its kind,” concludes Baker. “For artists and technical suppliers alike, it is the perfect opportunity to showcase this country’s talents. Every year we try to better the last, ultimately giving audiences an event to remember: a concert of international standard, featuring South African artists!”

The wrap Once again South Africa shows its loyal concert-going population that we can roll with the big boys. Of course, when you’re rolling with the big boys it’s time to bring out the big guns and that’s exactly what Gearhouse did for Joburg Day. Contrasting this year to what they did at last year’s event, it’s clear that this was more an exercise of refinement than anything else and with the ever increasing inclusion of their skills development through the Gearhouse Academy, it seems things can only get smoother from here.

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Studio Pro Audio STUDIO TIPS

Mixing drums in the modern DAW – Part 6: compression continued By Greg Bester In this final instalment of the Mixing Drums in the Modern DAW series, we discuss transients, ratios and other compression settings, EQ with compression and ambiance.

Transients Transients are the first few milliseconds of the waveform and drums are full of them. In comparison with a flute, you will note that the flute’s transient characteristic is slow and gradual, whilst a snare drum’s will be short and sharp. It is largely in reaction to these transients that a compressor works. Generally, a faster attack time will suppress the transient and a slower attack time will let more of the transient through. Subsequently, a fast release will let more decay of the note/ instrument through, whilst a slow release will suppress it. It is by cleverly utilizing these two controls that you can achieve the desired relationship between transient information and sustain. Also please note that excessive [fast] compression can greatly affect the top end and it is how a particular compressor handles this problem that marks its quality.

Ratios and Settings Generally the ratio is selected based on how much gain reduction you will need when the audio extends over a given threshold.

Typically, higher ratios for drums are chosen from 4:1 all the way up to hard limiting, depending on the application.

For rock/pop drums I generally find myself using the UAD 1176LN between a 4:1 to 8:1 ratio with the attack set medium-slow around the ‘3’ mark and the release quite fast, usually with the release dial cranked all the way to the right. This equates to a release time of about 200ms but it is not uncommon for release times to approach 50ms, depending on the tempo of the music. These settings are not set in stone, however, as I will adjust to the material for either less dramatic or more extreme settings, whatever the need may be. As far as other compressors go, the DBX160 or the Empircal Labs Distressor will do equally well, pending the exploration into their sounds. The DBX 160 is a VCA-based compressor and the Distressor is a digitally controlled compressor that employs a harmonic distortion component. Both have been used on many a hit record and will process drums in a very pleasing manner. As far as plugins go, UAD

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makes emulations of both of them and they sound very good.

A note on the 1176LN: The 1176 ratio buttons, when pushed in simultaneously, offer what is called the “all button mode”. The result is a unique-sound that soon became widely copied in rock music mixes and has been imitated by other compressor manufacturers. The ratio goes to somewhere between 12:1 and 20:1, and the bias points change all over the circuit. As a result, the attack and release times change. This change in attack and release times creates a compression curve that results in an “overdriven” tone.

EQ with Compression Naturally, because a compressor increases the average level of a given source, it helps immensely to filter out the offending frequencies so that they are not amplified along with the frequencies that you want. Cleverly isolating and eliminating troublesome resonances and frequencies can aid in better sounding, smoother compression. Just be aware that any erroneous boosts before the compressor in any of the offending frequency ranges will result in those ranges being amplified. Inversely, EQing after compression can help in gently tone shaping the drums to the desired sound.

STUDIO TIPS Studio Pro Audio

Ambience Once I have got a good balance with my unprocessed drums, I focus on creating L and R ambience tracks that can be blended into the master drum group to broaden the spatial information of the drums and give them depth. It is also common to have an additional snare reverb but often room ambience is sufficient so it is not uncommon for the snare reverb to be omitted.

There are many ways to add ambience to drum tracks. The first and most obvious is to record them in a good sounding room that has favourable acoustics and set up a stereo pair of room mics.

A single mic can also be used for this. Obviously this is a luxury for most so knowing how to emulate ambience artificially using plug-ins is essential.

In the interest of using only the highest quality artificial ambience, it is of my opinion that convolution reverbs that employ impulse responses are the best option for achieving this. I use SIR (Super Impulse Response processor) and Steinberg’s Reverence, but there are many other (and expensive) alternatives out there such as Altiverb, Waves IR-1, Wizooverb, Nebula, etc. The thing I like about SIR

is that it supports files up to 96kHz, is completely free, and is compatible with wave file impulses which means that if you’re so inclined, you can make your own using Voxengo Deconvolver or a similar de-convolving utility.

And it doesn’t just stop with reverbs. There are many websites on the web where you can download all sorts of impulses made from various kinds of outboard units such as preamps, compressors, famous outboard reverb units and also impulses captured from real acoustic spaces.

The process of creating an ambience track is simple. What I do is I solo all the drums and insert an instance of SIR on the master or drum bus (you may use your favourite reverb plug-in) and set it to 100% wet.

I usually turn the kick down quite a bit as I don’t want it to cause the reverb to bottom out and because I am aiming to recreate the sound of the drums in a real room as I would hear if it was actually miked up.

In fact, you can attenuate whatever you like as now the channel faders essentially become FX sends. Just save your mixer level settings for the drum channels so you can go back to where they were when you’re done.

Drums generally require short to medium room ambience so I scroll through my impulses/reverbs until I find one that I like. What’s nice about SIR is that it has a powerful filter section with infinite bands that can be used to pre-EQ the reverb and eliminate mud and shape the reverb to taste. Once I’ve picked an impulse and tweaked the filter I set my left and right locators to include the entire drum arrangement (be careful to leave a bit of time at the end to capture the reverb tails) and export/bounce the ambience down to split stereo mono tracks back into the project / session. I then pan them left and right and bus them to their own group, which is routed to the master drum group track. You now have a stereo ambience that can either be mixed into the master drum group (for ambience blending via the compressors’ release knob) or merely sent to the master bus as an open, unprocessed ambience. It is also common to compress room mics quite heavily and the UREI 1178 stereo compressor was a usual go-to compressor for this duty. Also, the free SSL LMC-1 plugin was released for this purpose. It is a digital emulation of an SSL reverse talkback microphone compressor that engineer Hugh Padgham found worked great on drum ambience mics during a recording with Phil Collins. It is now available in plugin format by SSL and it’s free.

When using a dedicated reverb for snare, the mono snare sub-group can be fed via an FX send to an aux/FX channel where another instance of your favourite reverb plug-in is inserted. High quality reverbs are a must here as they too are not all created equal.

The snare can be radically enhanced by a short roomverb, a gated reverb or anything else that tickles your fancy and serves the mix. The options really are endless and picking the right reverb for the song is just a matter of taste and experience. The more you get to know your available reverbs the more you’ll know what reverb to use for what purpose.

Final Considerations The techniques outlined above are only guidelines and demonstrate only a few of the countless techniques that are out there. These particular ones have worked for me and the clients that I most encounter and should be viewed as techniques to be used in a pop/rock production. I hope that some of you found helpful hints within this guide and that they will help you along your way. I believe that audio engineers should stick together, help one another and share experience so as to benefit the industry as a whole so, happy production.

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