Pro-Systems 3rd Quarter 2012

South africa

3rd Quarter 2012

R35.00

AV System Integration | Installations | Live Events | Studio & Broadcast Audio

SA Music AWARDS

Corporate AV Display Technology

Feature

New OB 4 Van for SuperSport

Product News Sound Engineers’ Mic Choices Infocomm Las Vegas Digital Signage Soweto Theatre Restaurant Audio

news

news

Electrosonic and NEC sign deal AVL Distribution/ Electrosonic SA has recently signed a distribution partnership with NEC Display Solutions Southern Africa. The deal is targeted at increasing NEC’s local market share and informing the industry of the company’s product solutions.

“This is a strategic appointment where NEC Display Solutions Southern Africa aims to enhance its exposure in the local Pro AV and systems integration market by building on existing working relationships with complementary products currently distributed exclusively by Electrosonic,” says Sarah Fraser, channel development manager for southern Africa.

“It underlines NEC’s commitment to drive the integration of innovative products in the industry and expand on our ever growing market share. It will take advantage of the overlap of vertical markets within the

Firstgear expands

corporate, education, transport, broadcasting and rental and staging industries.”

Although Electrosonic’s core focus will be on public displays, large venue displays, events and the control room market, they will also distribute the complete range of displays including large format displays and projectors.

Sound Harmonics gets Cadac Sound Harmonics recently added the prestigious Cadac Mixing Console brand to its stable of high-end products that it exclusively distributes.

Cadac, which is based in the UK, manufactures sound mixing consoles for live music productions, theatre installations and for use in recording and broadcast environments.

Cadac’s legendary mixing Joseph Mandy, Ben Millson (Cadac – international sales) and consoles have been widely Richard Smith acclaimed for their pristine audio and build quality and have dominated While widely known for theatre, many Broadway and London’s West End theatre, world class acts like Rolling Stones have with shows such as Phantom of the Opera chosen Cadac consoles for touring. Cadac and Mama Mia. consoles also feature on some of the world’s

AVL Distribution / Firstgear has begun construction of its new 550m² showroom complex in Auckland Park.

This state-of-the art showroom and training complex is housed alongside sister training company, Academy of Sound Engineering.

The company reports that the new building will be South Africa’s ‘go-to’ location for sales, training, information and equipment in the professional event and entertainment industries.

It will also house several international-standard demo studios and showrooms.

AVL Distribution / Firstgear will move into their new premises once construction on the new building is complete in a few months. The company’s offices are currently situated at 4 Ealing Crescent, Bryanston in Johannesburg.

most iconic recordings, most notably Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

These large format analogue consoles have been an easy choice for big budget, world class shows but times have changed — and so too has Cadac. Drawing on its rich heritage, Cadac now offers the same legendary audio and build quality at an affordable price, with its new CDC range of digital mixing consoles.

Gs-R24 Installed at COPA Allen & Heath’s GS-R24 Firewire recording mixer was recently installed in the main recording studio at the Campus of Performing Arts (COPA) in Johannesburg.

The mixer was installed as a teaching console and will aid the managing of music students’ projects.

The console sports a fully parametric EQ, two great-sounding onboard valve pre-amps which also serve as instrument

DI’s, with onboard MIDI control of your digital audio workstation (DAW), including transport and plug-ins, automated flying faders (GSR24-M) and the flexibility to route your DAW. The mixer has already been employed to manage recording projects and demos for over 400 students with music ranging from metal, rock & pop, to hip hop and jazz. The students particularly enjoy the impressive

DAW and MIDI control features for producing drum and bass and electronic genre, mixed in the box using the channel faders as controllers, back to the DAW, then back again through the onboard valve pre-amps.

1

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Publisher & Editor

CONTENTS Concert Report

System Integration

Well after the successful launch of Pro-Systems

InfoComm Report

News, I was

Growing AV industry showcased............8 – 13

overwhelmed by the

Display Technology

fantastic response that we received from the

Display technology in the corporate AV market.............................14 – 18

Digital Signage

first issue. I would personally like to thank not only my team for making

Out of home advertising in the 21st century...................................20 – 21

this happen, but also the advertisers

Expert Opinion

for supporting us on our first issue

Sun is setting on analogue............................22 Designing better restaurant audio systems..........................................23 – 25

and our first time readers for picking up the magazine and taking the time to read it.

Industry Experts Sean Stewart and Roger Feldmann.............26

In this issue we have put together

Vegas’ and brought you details of what went down and was launched in June at InfoComm. You will also get a local perspective from integrators on the corporate AV market in

Bespoke demo theatre..................................27 ... And action! PE’s latest live entertainment venue opens...........32 – 33 New school audio...........................................34

both interesting and insightful Enjoy the read!

Concert Report Heating up the desert – for opera........50 – 51 Queen’s Diamond Jubilee concert..............52

Industry Expert Marius Marais...................................................54

Studio & Live

Studio & Broadcast

Industry Expert Crighton Goodwill...........................................59

International Trade Show

Soweto Theatre – a dream realised.....................................28 – 30

IBC Preview..............................................60 – 61

OB Review Producing sweet sounds from OB 4......62 – 63

Live Events

Greg Bester has also put together a choice’, which I hope you will find

Tracking Technology............................46 – 48

Theatre Solution

South Africa. great feature on ‘Engineers’ mics of

International designs manufactured in China.........................44 – 45

Sound engineers’ microphones of choice..........................55 – 58

Installations

Venue Solution

‘What happens in Vegas, stays in

International Factory Tour

Expert Choice

some great articles. For the integrators we broke the golden rule of Vegas:

The 18th South African Music Awards...........................................40 – 41 Branching out to rig Zahara’s set..........42 – 43

Studio Review

Theatre Production Cue sound, cue lights, queue audience – it’s the Phantom!....35– 37

International Trade Show Plasa turns up the volume.............................38

A Unique sound space...................................64

Product Review Plugged in at last............................................65

Social ...............................................66 – 68

Contributors Claire Badenhorst | Industry expert with eight years experience in event management, PR, marketing and advertising within the professional audio, video, lighting and staging sector. Claire has played an integral role in the development of the concept and content creation of Pro Systems and works closely with our advertisers and readers.

Eddie Hatitye | Professional journalist and former editor of Music Industry Online, Eddie has been actively involved in the South African recording and music industry for the past 5 years. He has a strong passion for music production and has leveraged this knowledge and his contacts to further his career as a journalist.

Greg Bester | Musician and audio engineer – proficient in both the analogue and digital domains and has extensive experience mixing live music, setting up and configuring loudspeaker systems, monitoring and general stage management. He has mixed events numbering into the thousands and is comfortable on large and small-format mixing consoles.

Ian Dormer | A regular technology news contributor to Screen Africa.

Born in Zimbabwe, Ian received his training in the television industry at the SABC in the 1980’s. After a long stint with M-Net in it’s early years, Ian left to pursue his interests in the technical field of broadcasting and has been a consultant to the industry since 1998.

Simba Nyamukachi | A graduate in journalism and has an honours degree in Media & Culture Studies. He grabbed the opportunity to join Sun Circle Publishers in his first position as a journalist for Pro-Systems News.

He has an immense passion for the AV and live entertainment industry and is furthering his AV integration knowledge by completing an online accredited AV training program.

Publisher & Editor | Simon Robinson | editor@pro-systems.co.za

Sub-Editor | Tina Heron

Louise Stickland | Professional journalist and photographer with huge passion and enthusiasm for technology and the production industry.

Louise initially worked and toured as a lighting designer after graduating from university. She has many years experience in the music and live event sector, and works closely with leading international designers, production companies and technology manufacturers.

Andy Stead | Trained as a television engineer in the UK after which he immigrated to South Africa, and joined Video Sound Studios. Stead founded ZSE TV which pioneered live transmission for the fledgling Mnet television services. After a period as marketing Director of Sasani Limited he resigned and took up freelance writing for several publications.

Geny Caloisi | An accomplished technology journalist, who has been travelling the world to cover events, speak to industry pundits and see the latest technology products since 2001. She started working in the broadcasting technology sector, as Editor of online publication advanced-television.com and continued with the audiovisual industry.

Geny was Assistant Editor at the UK’s leading trade publication, AV Magazine for five years.

Sarah Rushton Read | A co-founder of Women in Stage Entertainment; Chairman of the Knight of Illumination Rock Award and editor of the Association of Sound Designers magazine The Echo. She has previously lit a medal winning garden at the Chelsea Flower show, been employed as deputy editor on Lighting and Sound International, deputy lighting manager of Glyndebourne Festival Opera among others.

In-house Journalist | Simba Nyamukachi | news@pro-systems.co.za

Advertising Sales | Claire Badenhorst | claire@pro-systems.co.za Design | Trevor Ou Tim | design@sun-circle.co.za Subscriptions | Albertina Tserere | data@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

www. pro-systems.co.za 2

news

Questek brings Vidyo to SA Questek Advanced video conferencing needs.

Technologies recently The patented announced its VidyoRouter™ architecture appointment as a introduces Adaptive Video service provider for Layering™, which Vidyo, a leading dynamically optimises the provider of personal video for each endpoint telepresence for the leveraging H.264 Scalable enterprise that enables Sales director Fraser Dean from Vidyo UK Video Coding (SVC)-based HD multipoint video compression technology conferencing and video and Vidyo’s IP. collaboration.

Adaptive Video Layering eliminates the The company officially launched Vidyo at MCU and offers unprecedented error an event held at their Johannesburg offices resiliency, low latency rate matching thus in May. UK-based Fraser Dean of Vidyo enabling natural, affordable, high-quality attended the launch and helped Questek video to work over the Internet, LTE and 4G introduce their clients to Vidyo’s networks. The platform allows users to quickly communication and collaboration software leverage the latest hardware innovations based platform. and new consumer devices, making it The Vidyo communication and uniquely attractive to partners. collaboration platform is software-based, Vidyo has been active driving H.264 SVC highly flexible and can be easily customised and SIP videoconferencing interoperability in for individual enterprise and vertical market various standard bodies since 2005.

SA Idols Shure of success Sound professionals, Wild and Marr, boast a proud legendary association with the country’s biggest television talent search competition, M-Net and Mzansi Magic’s, Idols SA. Shure microphones, exclusively used on Idols SA since its inception in 2002, are still being used in the production. This year’s top 10 finalists have each walked away with a Shure PGX24 handheld wireless system, courtesy of Wild and Marr.

“Shure PGX wireless systems deliver professional quality sound and true freedom of movement for vocalists, musicians and presenters,” says Darren Durbach of Wild and Marr. “Wild and Marr’s participation in Idols is not only an affirmation of a great

production; it’s also a valued contributor to young performing artists in South Africa.”

Idols SA, which has produced stars like Heinz Winckler, Elvis Blue and Lloyd Cele, is broadcast on M-Net on Sundays at 5.30pm and Tuesdays at 7.30pm. This year’s finale is scheduled for 2 October.

Audiosure introduces ASPEN

Audiosure recently held a two-day sales and technical workshop for Lectrosonic’s ASPEN new range of digital audio processors. The workshop, which was presented by Jim Bakker of ASPEN in France, covered the fundamentals of a wide range of topics including processing, applications, uses and programming. Attendees also got the opportunity to see the power of the digital signal processing (DSP) in multiple uses such as boardrooms and fixed installs.

“My training covered the tip of the iceberg of what ASPEN is capable of doing by its mere processing power, superior automatic mixer, low latency and Dante interface,” said Bakker. “In the US a large majority of the ENG and Film industry works with our wireless microphones and we have installed thousands of courts and board rooms with our automatic Matrix Mixers that are easy to install.”

The ASPEN series provides operators with a powerful array of features and technology like Optimised Architecture® for an error-free audio pathway and the patented Proportional Gain Algorithm (PGA) for seamless auto-mixing. It also has Centralised Echo Cancellation that supports bridging for multi-location telepresence along with simultaneous TELCO and video conferencing.

Prosound takes Eurotruss to Zambia Prosound recently sold their first Eurotruss 10 x 8 ARC Roof to Zambian-based SoundWave.

SoundWave, a new age music company that has rental division and a music festival management service, previewed their purchase on 31 July when ProSound presented the Eurotruss roof to the local market.

The purchase marked the first time a Eurotruss aluminium structure was exported to Zambia. The roof will make its debut at

Salief Keita’s concert, which will precede a Sean Paul show.

Commenting on his acquisition Dave Ter Steege of Soundwave says: “Our purchase of the Eurotruss ARC roof was Dave Ter Steege and Arnold Sibalwa of SoundWave based on the exceptional service received from Prosound over the The transaction comes weeks after years, plus the ease of assembly and Prosound’s appointment as the exclusive fantastic price and quality of the Eurotruss Eurotruss distributor in South Africa and ARC Roof.” sub-Saharan Africa.

3

news

New Chairman for SACIA Bruce Genricks has been elected Board since it was established. as the new chairman of the “I feel really honoured to Southern African Communications have been elected by the Industries Association (SACIA). board and will strive to Genricks takes over from Gary continue the excellent work Atkins who served as chairman that Gary has done over the since the association was past two years. Having done Bruce Genricks established in 2010. the ground work in establishing “I have thoroughly enjoyed my SACIA, we now need to carry two years as chairman and am pleased at the momentum into the next phase,” stated the progress we’ve made in promoting the Genricks. “I am confident that together with adoption of professional standards in the Kevan and the rest of the board, and with broadcast and professional AV industry,” says the assistance of the members of SACIA, we Atkins. “I will continue to support Bruce and can create even more value for our the new board as they continue in their members.” quest for truth, honesty and the pursuit of SACIA is a non-profit organisation excellence in all aspects of the audio visual specifically designed to promote the profession.” adoption of professional standards within the Genricks is also the managing member of broadcast and professional AV industries Electrosonic SA and has served on the SACIA throughout southern Africa.

Wild and Marr Pro Audio Showcase Wild & Marr, a distributor of audio equipment in southern Africa, hosted a Professional Audio Showcase and Conference from 9 to 11 July at Killarney Country Club in Johannesburg.

The event had two fully equipped lecture halls and a state of the art show room displaying Wild & Marr’s flagship brands like Shure, JBL and Soundcraft.

Gert Sanner, tour and sound manager EMEA, Harman Pro, was a keynote speaker at the event. Sanner, who is Deep Purple’s former FOH Engineer and a long standing

Gert Sanner

Soundcraft user, also provided training for Wild & Marr’s newly purchased VTX system.

Gearhouse increases L-Acoustics stock

Peter Day, Robyn D’Alessandro, Ofer Lapid and Helen Surgeson from Gearhouse with Tim McCall from L-Acoustics

Gearhouse South Africa recently added more L-Acoustics components to its inventory. The new equipment comprises of 48 Kara, 12 ArcsII and 12 Kudo WST line source cabinets, eight SB28 and 24 SB18 woofers and 22 LA-RAK touring racks installed with LA8 amplified controllers.

With South Africa’s increasing role on the international touring circuit and the increasing domestic market, Gearhouse decided to invest further in L-Acoustics to service the largest of these events. The company reportedly also wanted to update its amplifier platform with the LA-RAK and LA8 platform.

The company describes its new ArcsII purchase as ‘a perfect extension’ to the LAcoustics range it already owns. “The small footprint and options in stacking and flying make it an extremely versatile product,” says Andreas Furtner, audio operations manager at the company’s Johannesburg branch.

Clay Paky signs up DWR Italian professional lighting systems company, Clay Paky, announced that it has appointed DWR Distribution as its exclusive distributor for South Africa. The appointment is in direct response to South Africa’s continued growth in the creative and entertainment industries.

“I’m delighted to be adding the Clay Paky range of lighting fixtures to our portfolio of professional lighting products. Clay Paky is spearheading some of the most innovative and exciting developments in lighting technology design and the resulting

4

products respond directly to the needs of end users,” states Duncan Riley DWR Distribution founder.

According to Pio Nahum, chief commercial officer for Clay Paky, his company is delighted to welcome DWR Distribution as the exclusive distributor for South Africa.

“Our fixtures are specified in every sector of the entertainment market from TV to opera, live events to rock n’ roll. We believe that Duncan Riley and his team have the

DWR Distribution’s Bruce Riley, Duncan Riley and Nick Britz

right contacts and business attitude to bring valuable focus to our brand in the region,” he comments.

now exclusive Eurotruss distributor in South Africa

MIDAS release affordable Pro1 Digital Audio Console — the latest addition to the Pro-Series family

Tel: +27 (0)11 470-6800

Johannesburg (Head Office) Hillfox Centre, Weltevreden Park Email: audiosales@prosound.co.za Visit: www.prosound.co.za Branches in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban

news

SLMC makes a come back

SA companies win CEDIA Awards Two South African companies walked away with honours at this year’s Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) Awards held earlier this year in London, UK. Cinema Architects won this year’s CEDIA Award for Best Home Cinema below £40 000 while HFX Systems scooped the Best Cinema Award in the £40 000 to £100 000 range.

Established in 2006, the prestigious CEDIA Awards recognise and promote high quality system design, installation and integration within the home automation industry. The awards also set the standard for CEDIA Electronic Systems Professional members across CEDIA Region 1 which covers the UK and Europe, Russia, the Middle East, Africa, India and Pakistan.

HFX Systems cinema

Cinema Architects home theatre

Dataton wins awards at InfoComm

Swedish multi-image display and presentation software creators, Dataton, enjoyed its most successful InfoComm trade show to date by walking away with two prestigious awards.

For the second year running Dataton scooped a Commercial Integrator Best

6

Award in the Media Server Category and also took home an InfoComm Rental & Staging Award in the General AV Product category.

The company also delivered its Academy programme which saw partners and users from all corners of the globe attend to catch up on the latest features of WATCHOUT, share knowledge, exchange ideas and discuss future projects. Bart Kresa, a world-class projection designer and guest speaker at the academy, discussed his latest projects, techniques and experience.

Dataton WATCHOUT is available in South Africa courtesy of Penmac Audio Visual.

The Stage Lighting Master Class (SLMC) is back this year after a five year hiatus. SLMC, a two-day master class about the art and craft of stage lighting design, is the only event of its kind in South Africa. This year it will take place in Johannesburg at the Market Theatre Laboratory on 27 and 28 September 2012 and will be in Cape Town at the Artscape Opera Stage on 2 and 3 October.

The classes are aimed at anyone who is interested in stage lighting and theatre, from technicians to designers, stage managers, event crew, directors, choreographers and students.

The classes will cater for every stage of knowledge from the basics to the more advanced design techniques, tips and tricks.

Visit www.slmc.co.za for more info.

Tadco restructures Tadco (The Audio Distribution Company) was founded in 1995 by Simon Oates, who has over 30 years of expertise in the pro-audio industry. The company is a supplier of leading audio brands such as Nexo, Camco, Audio-Technica and the most recent acquisition, Coda.

Tadco has made some changes to their business model resulting in a refocus on what they do best and that’s audio.

“Over the years, due to client demands, Tadco has embraced other disciplines. There is a new world around us that requires a new way of thinking. To this end, Tadco has decided to go back to its roots and concentrate on audio, thereby providing a more focused service to its clients and sticking to our philosophy of being committed and determined to provide quality products and service to our clients in the audio sector,” comments Oates.

As a result of this restructure, Richard Barnes and Sasha Sovilj have left Tadco to form a new Company called Proxio AV. As the new supplier of TVOne, their core focus will be on the Pro Video market.

news

Christie sets up new African office in Johannesburg Christie, a global visual technology company, has announced the opening of a new office in South Africa – its first in the Southern hemisphere.

The setting up of Christie’s new office in Africa, effective from June 1st, 2012, underpins the company’s long commitment to the territory. This new office will provide facilities for demonstrations, customer and Partner training, as well as inventory management.

The move has been in the planning for almost a year, and Dale Miller, Christie EMEA Vice President, said: “Over the last 3 years we have been working to develop the right relationships to grow our business. As an organisation we invest heavily in training and believes this lies at the heart of quality service and support. So we look to the same commitments from our Partners.” He adds, “Just over a year ago Stage Audio Works put their service team through our advanced level service training to become Christie’s first Certified Partner in South Africa. In addition to their investment in a significant spares and product inventory, Stage Audio Works went and took the Christie training they had received to their own customers both in South Africa and in Africa. That’s when we knew we were ready to make additional investments. And we are looking forward to developing further programmes with Stage Audio Works and other like minded Partners.”

Heading the operation as Territory Manager, Africa, will be Phil Lord, a 12-year veteran of Christie, who has spent half that time in South Africa. “Christie is committed and dedicated to supporting the African market,” he says.

“And with the help of our Partners we have been growing the business for some time. We all felt there were additional commercial opportunities that could be realised by further Christie investment and now is the time to add extra resources.”

The new operation will be based at Fourways, Johannesburg, Gauteng. Alongside office and service facilities, it will provide larger space for product demonstrations, training and storage of critical spares inventory for our Partners to draw on. As with other Christie branch offices, Christie Africa will offer an open door policy to Partners and customers who can use the facilities for their own

customer meetings.

Phil Lord confirms that logistically, Johannesburg represents the obvious base. “It is the ‘central hub’ for business in South Africa and the best location for supporting the Africa territories.”

“Christie believes that the African market has massive growth potential over the next ten years, and investing in local resources and training now will ensure that Christie will be well placed to enjoy the benefits of that expansion over a longer term, and establish Christie as a major player within the African continent.”

The advantages of creating a dedicated Christie office are self-evident. “We will be able to offer local technical and customer support as well as quick response times to our trusted Partners and end users – with more efficient service” continues Lord, who will be supported by experienced office manager Annalise Hodgson, as well as a local technical engineering resource, in addition to Christie’s extensive, global service resources.

Christie, through its existing Partner network, including Stage Audio Works, will sell, service and support the African continent (as far as Egypt) including the Indian Ocean and Israel, the only exceptions being the French-speaking North African countries, which will be managed by the Christie office in France.

“Trusted Partners like Stage Audio Works has been putting a tremendous amount of time and effort to educate the market in the last couple of years, and the opening of the Christie new office in South Africa will only reinforce the flourishing business relationship with this loyal, cornerstone Partner in the region.” Lord concludes.

Commenting on the new office, Gustav Barnard, Stage Audio Works Technical and Education Manager said: “Our position as a distributor of professional AV equipment is key within South Africa and the African continent. We have contributed to develop the Christie brand in the region to a diverse range of customers by providing them the technical support they need, holding product stock and offering real value-added solutions including financing and Stage Plus flightcases for a gig-ready package. We are looking forward to having Christie on board locally to support us and strengthen our position further.

7

Photo courtesy InfoComm International

System Integration INFOCOMM Report

By Simba Nyamukachi

Growing AV industry showcased InfoComm 2012 solidified its status as the mecca for professionals in the audiovisual and systems integration industries, by recording an upswing in visitor and exhibitor figures when it was held in Las Vegas in June.

Held annually InfoComm provides attendees the opportunity to explore tens of thousands of audiovisual products and services while offering more than 300 educational seminars, workshops and labs.

This year’s three-day show saw 925 exhibitors showcase their audiovisual products and services to over 34 000 attendees from over 90 countries (up by 4%) on a trade floor spanning more than 45 000 square metres.

During the trade fair, InfoComm International announced that a new Market Definition and Strategy Study (MDSS) sized the current AV industry at $78 billion.

The MDSS, which was conducted by Acclaro Growth Partners on behalf of InfoComm International, also projected that audiovisual

8

products and services will become a $115 billion global industry by 2015.

“The AV industry is strong, despite a challenging global business environment, because society relies on AV technology to facilitate essential communications,” said Randal A. Lemke, Executive Director and CEO, InfoComm International. “To meet the future needs of our customers the audiovisual industry will require a well-trained workforce to respond to ever-growing customer needs.”

The findings of the MDSS, which include a global overview and information by regions including North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Africa-Middle East, can be purchased in its entirety or by regional section.

INFOCOMM Report System Integration

Conferences InfoComm 2012 did not only consist of an exhibition boasting the latest industry technology trends and solutions but also a cutting-edge conference programme, with more than 300 educational sessions that covered topics from acoustics to video conferencing.

This year’s popular courses were Future Trends and Certified Technology Specialist (CTS) Prep. Other popular classes included Service Level Agreements, Business Symposium and AV Signals Gone Wireless. During the AV Signals Gone Wireless seminar Pete Putman examined the technical requirements and challenges of wireless audio, video and data transmission, including minimum bit rates, compression formats, spectrum requirements and new, proprietary wireless protocols such as WHDI. The Business Symposium, which is designed for c-level professionals, focussed on the latest marketing results from InfoComm’s MDSS survey and examined ways for companies to maximise profits and performance. The business symposium also included an engaging mini-workshop on ‘Adaptive Innovation’ – a systematic and disciplined process for identifying key market trends through a strong portfolio of relationships, testing new market opportunities and the ability to quickly move from concept to commercialisation.

At this year’s show AV professionals were also exposed to practical advice, expert solutions and technical education with InfoComm University training. With 65% of new sessions, this year’s education programme was full of practical tips and concepts attendees could apply immediately at their work places.

Display Barco promoted three new heavyduty HD projectors for its rental portfolio – the HDF-W22, HDF-W26 and HDQ-2K40. The projectors offer 22 000, 26 000 40 000 lumens light output respectively.

In addition, the HDX-W18, HDF-W26 and HDQ-2K40 projectors will be available with an adjustable brightness feature later this year. Thanks to this unique ‘light-on-demand’ technology, rental companies can standardise their fleet on three projector models to generate any brightness from 10 000 up to 40 000 lumens.

Distributed by www.questekadvanced.co.za projectiondesign made its presence known by showcasing their new F35 series of projectors. The F35 series is available with a choice of WQXGA, WUXGA or 1080p resolution, and up to WUXGA at 120Hz 3D Active stereo. With the range of options and resolutions, the F35 enables the set-up of high-density displays with fewer projectors, a valuable benefit for multi-channel systems requiring the highest resolution possible. Updated functionality to the F35 series adds 3G-SDI, HDMI 1.4 and several other I/O options through its unique modular XPort™ extension system. XPort also adds

Audiovisual products and services will become a $115 billion global industry – Acclaro Growth Partners

advanced back-end signal processing options for the projectors to be forward compatible with future formats and systems, generating a more future proof and healthy investment, with a longer service life and lower TCO. Distributed by www.questekadvanced.co.za Christie introduced six new 3LCD projectors across two platforms at this year’s show. The Christie LW401, Christie LW551i, Christie LWU421, and Christie LWU501i (pictured) feature wide-screen capabilities and provide from 4 000 to 5 500 lumens along with professional functionality and complete the product line introduced earlier this year with the Christie LX501 and Christie LX601i.

A highlight from Elite Screens was the AcousticPro-4K. It has an ultra-white front projection screen surface with a 1.1 gain that provides excellent colour neutrality for superb colour reproduction along with wide diffusion uniformity. The angular weave is designed to handle 4K (4096x2160) and 1080P (1920x1080) projectors while eliminating the visual artefact known as moiré effect. The dense mesh of the material with its ultra-fine perforations creates a projection canvas that almost identically resembles our best-selling and award-winning CineWhite material. The virtual absence of the acoustic perforations means sound is not compromised and a clear sonic transparency is achieved.

Distributed by www.electrosonic.co.za Sony debuted three new portable projectors at InfoComm, including the VPL-DX120 (XGA at 2600 lumens), VPL-DX140 (XGA at 3200 lumens) and VPL-DW120 (WXGA at 2600 lumens). All three projectors weigh 5lbs 7oz. They are incorporated with Sony’s ‘off and go’ feature for removal immediately after use, have auto keystone adjustment and keystone distortion and include a carrying case. In addition, all three projectors have an Auto Mode (auto brightness adjustment function), where the brightness of the lamp’s output is automatically adjusted depending on the brightness of the projected image, to avoid unnecessary power consumption. Sony claims that this feature helps the lamps to last about 7 000 hours.

9

System Integration INFOCOMM Report Panasonic announced their new interactive plasma displays, the PB1 Series. The new displays offer pixel-for-pixel accuracy, full whiteboard and presentation capability, and are ideal for higher education settings as well as corporate meeting rooms.

The PB1 Series features high-speed and simultaneous multiple-input drawing capabilities via the new electronic pen system. This system detects and displays the pen position 60 times a second on each pixel. The system allows up to four pens to be used at once for actions such as written annotation, drawing and moving items independently around the screen.

Additionally, the system includes handwriting recognition software.

Because the technology is based on fixed location pixels, the device requires no calibration, which decreases total installation time as well as follow up maintenance.

AMD publicised immediate availability of the AMD FirePro™ W600 professional graphics card, the company’s first professional graphics card to leverage AMD’s Graphics Core Next architecture and 28nm production technology. For use in high-resolution, content-rich, multi-screen display wall environments.

With this launch AMD addresses a growing need for large, dynamic screens that are easily updated with new content.

Vivitek Corporation debuted the super-bright D8800 projector, which features dual lamp technology and interchangeable colour wheels for more diverse applications and installation experiences.

The projector is designed for the Pro AV staging business and has a native WUXGA resolution (16:10 format), allowing for full HD resolution and boasts 8000ANSI Lumen. It is built using DLP technology, single chip 0.67” DMD and offers broad connectivity including HDMI, DVI, BNC Component, RJ-45, HDSDI in/out. It has 2x400Watt lamp and weighs about 30kg. This projector can be stacked up to four times.

Distributed by www.audiosure.co.za

Panasonic announced a lamp-free projector series with HDBaseT technology. These new projectors replace a conventional lamp with new LED / laser diodes to realise long lasting high brightness. The one-chip DLP PT-RZ470 and PT-RZ370 Series projectors will be made available in two different resolutions, 1080p (1920x1080) and WXGA (1280x800). The new lighting technology offers 20 000 hours of maintenance-free operation.

Sharp demonstrated their PN-L802B 80” Class Aquos Board LED interactive display system with full 1920 x 1080 HD resolution that offers a high quality, high impact alternative to interactive projectors in many corporate, government and educational settings.

Use it as a digital whiteboard; as a multipurpose business tool with the included Sharp Pen Software™; use it as a data display for presentations; command and control and data viewing; use it as a remote collaboration tool to conduct webinars and video conferences; use it as an interactive signage monitor for wayfinding; and other interactive applications.

Video Conferencing Vidyo Inc. and Barco showcased a joint effort to integrate Vidyo’s awardwinning software-based video communications platform with Barco’s innovative imaging solutions on display at InfoComm 2012.

At the show the companies unveiled a technology demonstration which conveys the integration of two platforms: the first 4K immersive video conferencing and collaboration system. The integrated solution offers unprecedented flexibility, multi-modal content display capabilities, with rich multi-point HD video communications. The system enables flexible layouts on a single screen and displays up to 16 high quality streams totaling eight mega pixels – including

Industry professionals’ perspectives on InfoComm 2012

10

Eugene Coetzee – Electrosonic

Marc Atkinson – Teljoy Audio Visual

“I would say that InfoComm lived up to previous tradeshows. There were many manufacturers who had improved products, or second and third generation versions of products.

Although I spent most of my time at Crestron, Kramer, Elite and NEC, one particular product that caught my eye was the transparent LCD displays by Samsung.

One of the biggest trends I saw is not a new one – the move to digital and it is being adopted by the South African industry already. In fact, we are running regular seminars on this subject to expose our integrators to the concept.”

“As a first time attendee I was excited about InfoComm because it was a platform for networking and product R&D. The new products and technology that caught my eye were cloud based VC services, UC interoperability and updates from the Crestron, Smart and AMX stands.

There were a few notable new trends at the exhibition – specifically the software based applications for mobility and even infrastructure within the UC sphere. Our suppliers launched several products that we look forward to bringing to South Africa.”

ultra-high resolution data sharing up to three megapixels. Barco’s complete 140” virtual canvas offers this unlimited layout flexibility at the highest resolution for participants, content or both on the same screen.

Distributed by www.questekadvanced.co.za LifeSize, a division of Logitech announced its Unity Series, including LifeSize® Unity 50™ and LifeSize® Unity 500™. These sleek, all-in-one HD video conferencing solutions are designed specifically for simple setup and ease of use, enabling companies of all sizes to reap the benefits of HD telepresence without the hefty price tag or the need for a room makeover.

Optimised for video, audio and presentation the LifeSize Unity 500 is built with best-in-class HD video, audio and presentation components in an all-in-one video collaboration solution. The product also boasts that it is easy to use and can be completely set up in just minutes.

Taiden exhibited its HCS-8300 Series Paperless Multi-media Congress System. The system is especially designed for high-end meetings, such as summits, congresses, parliaments and city councils.

HCS-8300 Series Paperless Multi-media Congress System based on TAIDEN independent intellectual property mMediaCongress™ platform, never subject to viral infection, hacker-proof, safe and reliable. Paperless Multi-media Congress Terminal – equipped with a 7”/10” high-resolution LCD touch panel and an integrated 3 million pixel camera, realises interactive conference control functions (speech, voting, SIS), paperless meetings, video conversation, various video service and conference service.

Distributed by www.audiosure.co.za

Orchestrate!

Go ahead – create truly sensational multi-display shows with Dataton WATCHOUT™ production and playback software. Orchestrate virtually all types of digital media, including 3D, live feeds and streaming. Manipulate the content in real-time, and show it on multiple, synchronized displays. Check out award-winning version 5.

Van Gogh Alive: WATCHOUT shows art on a huge scale in a travelling exhibition, more info: www.dataton.com. Image courtesy Grande Exhibitions.

Rand Merchant Bank Annual awards: Eleven synchronized WATCHOUT feeds to mapped screens and LED panels.

Trevor Peters – Matrix Sound “On the audio side it was interesting to see just how many manufacturers are developing applications for their mixing consoles and control gear, which enables them to be accessed and manipulated remotely using tablet computers. The most interesting of these developments was from a company which has developed a wireless system which enables musicians to control their own monitor mix on a show using their personal iPads.

On the video side the most notable development was the presentation of LED projectors. While this technology is still relatively new, it could potentially revolutionise projection in both the live events and installation industries.”

www.dat aton.com/watchout

Phone: +27 11 4762066 av@penmac.co.za www.penmac.co.za

ProSystems SA halfpage_July12.indd 1

2012-07-20 18.51

System Integration INFOCOMM Report beyerdynamic introduced the fifth generation of the wireless conference systems, Quinta. The control unit of the Quinta system meets all requirements regarding operational safety, reliability or transmission security. There are three frequency bands (2.4 / 5.2 / 5.8GHz) for the reliable wireless communication. Switching the channels is either automatic or manual. In any case, frequency changes during operation are completely silent. The numerous functions, with which the meeting can be controlled, include the simple operation and configuration via smartphone or tablet PC.

Microphones Shure extended its ULX-D™ Digital Wireless Microphone System with new multi-channel receivers, a High Density mode that enables 47 systems to operate in just six MHz of spectrum, and integrated Dante™ digital audio networking.

The new ULXD4D (pictured) dual channel digital receiver and ULXD4Q quad channel digital receiver pack two or four channels of wireless into one rack space, with individual gain controls, LED meters and XLR outputs for each channel. Like the single-channel, half-rack ULXD4 digital receiver, the new dual and quad receivers feature fully digital audio processing and RF transmission as well as AES 256-bit encryption.

Distributed by www.wildandmarr.co.za Clear-Com highlighted their latest additions to its line of professional headsets, the CC-300 and CC-400. The CC-300 (singleear headset) and CC-400 (double-ear headset) offer extra comfort, better performance and more flexibility for users who constantly employ intercoms for long hours. These headsets are compatible with Clear-Com’s wide range of wired and wireless intercoms.

Audio MIDAS launched the latest addition to its PRO Series of digital consoles, the Midas PRO1 live audio system. The PRO1 breaks new ground for MIDAS digital consoles in several areas.

Featuring an all-new, lightweight aluminium frame, PRO1 is the first stand-alone MIDAS digital console, setting new standards of portability and performance for a compact digital console. The PRO1 is easy to configure and operate and will appeal to engineers who are new to MIDAS Digital and those familiar with the platform.

Compatible with the complete range of MIDAS Digital consoles, the PRO1 allows existing show files to be loaded and worked on straight away.

Distributed by www.prosound.co.za DB Technologies showcased DVA S30 subwoofer. DVA S30 Subwoofer Features a dual 18” subwoofer pairing in a bass reflex housing, the DVA S30 packs a muscular, ultra low-frequency punch. It delivers very powerful performance indeed with a range extending down to the lowest frequencies. This sub-bass powerhouse is the perfect addition to large PAs and an excellent complement to DVA T12 mid-/high-range units in stacked arrays.

Distributed by www.vivaafrika.co.za HARMAN’s JBL Professional introduced the CBT 200LA-1, the newest and tallest model in the popular CBT Series of constant directivity column loudspeakers.

At 200 cm tall, this array of 32 drivers (each measuring 50 mm) provides consistent pattern control over a wider bandwidth than is possible with shorter columns or fewer drivers. Vertical pattern coverage is adjustable to either 15 or 30 degrees to match the architectural characteristics of a wide variety of venues, and a variety of mounting heights.

In addition, an innovative asymmetrical progressive-gradient coverage mode can be selected, which makes the speaker function similarly to the popular CBT 70J, directing more sound toward the far areas of the listening space to help reduce variation in SPL levels from front to back throughout the area.

This can make for a more pleasant and intelligible listening experience, regardless of listener location.

Distributed by www.wildandmarr.co.za

Industry professionals’ perspectives on InfoComm 2012 Randal A. Lemke – InfoComm International “InfoComm continues to be the one trade show where most professional AV service providers make their important buying decisions for the year. The AV marketplace has enthusiastically embraced InfoComm as the place to make their purchasing choices, network with product and service providers and enhance skills through our robust educational programme.”

12

InfoComm 2013 will be held at Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center’s West Building, June 12 to 14.

InfoComm 2014 will be held at Las Vegas Convention Center’s North and Central Halls, June 18 to 20.

INFOCOMM Report System Integration Yamaha introduced the CL series digital mixing consoles that offer an evolved experience in accessible mixing. Plus sonic purity and advanced sound shaping capabilities that will give the most imaginative engineers unprecedented creative freedom.

Yamaha CL series digital mixing consoles represent a new level of refinement. The CL series embodies the leading standards in live sound in their most advanced, most expressive form.

Alcons Audio launched the Sentinel12 amplified loudspeaker controller. The main focus with this proprietary-designed, four channel, DSP-based controller was bringing Alcons famous pro-ribbon sound into the digital amplification domain, while increasing the system’s performance even further. Features include a four input / four output router, high-end hi-fi class-D amplifier stages with 192kHz capability AES/EBU inputs and are AVB network-prepared. Full intuitive control is achieved via a large, full-colour TFT touch screen and illuminated multi-colour encoder.

Distributed by www.matrixsound.co.za dbx Professional introduced the new personal monitor controller (PMC). The PMC is a remote control for a digital monitor mix solution.

PMC control surface allows users to control their personal mix of 16 channels of audio via BLU link. The PMC’s built-in wizard allows you to quickly set up your digital monitor system including individual panning, effect, tone and level controls savable to 16 user presets. Lexicon courtesy reverb with mix control per station allows everyone to dial in THEIR mix exactly as THEY want it, in real time. For the first time this level of sophistication will be available for the customer at a price they can afford. The PMC works great with headphones, in-ear monitors, powered wedges and traditional wedge monitors.

Distributed by www.wildandmarr.co.za

Connectivity and control Crestron showcased the DMPS-300-C, a complete presentation control and signal routing solution for boardrooms and classrooms. Integrating the control system, multimedia matrix switcher, mic mixer, audio DSP, amplifier, and DigitalMedia distribution centre all into a single three-space rackmount package.

The DMPS-300-C affords substantial signal routing flexibility and high-performance signal processing without the need for separate components.

Distributed by www.electrosonic.co.za

AMX announced the immediate availability of the 7- and 10-inch Modero X® Series Touch Panels.

The smaller, widescreen versions belong to the multi-awardwinning family of touch panels that were expressly designed to incorporate multi-touch capabilities such as gesturing, swiping and tapping that mobile phone and tablet users have come to love and are so comfortable with.

Barco showed off its PDS series of switchers. The PDS series consists of three models: PDS-701, PDS-901 and PDS-902.

The PDS-901 and PDS-902 models feature four DVI-I inputs with full HDCP 1.0 support, whereas the PDS-701 features two DVI-I inputs. All models include one 3G/HD/SD SDI and four universal analog inputs. All analog and DVI inputs support the EDID 1.3 specification. Users can capture and store up to three images that can be used as a logo source during presentations. Built-in test patterns are also provided.

Distributed by www.questekadvanced.co.za Kramer Electronics announced the introduction of the VP-690 ProScale nine input digital presentation scaler / switcher, which is the first Kramer scaler / switcher to include a 3G SDI input and it offers 2K support.

This is a high-performance scaler/switcher for 3G SDI, HDMI, computer graphics video, composite video and component video signals. It scales the video, embeds and / or de-embeds the audio, and outputs the signals to one of three output connectors consisting of an HDMI output connector, a 15-pin HD output connector and a set of five BNCs output connectors for an RGBHV video output; together with digital and analog stereo audio outputs.

Distributed by www.electrosonic.co.za

Digital signage LG expanded its popular digital signage line up with new ‘transparent’ outdoor displays.

LG Electronics also expanded its line of business solutions with innovative LED transparent screen TS30MF, offering the possibility of combining digital signage with a glass display for retail applications and even museum exhibits.

Available in 26 and 47 inches, these displays offer HD quality video, full HD 1080p model 47 inches. The ability to combine digital signage with a glass screen expands the options for end users and architects.

Both the content and the product behind the window are visible digital display allowing increased physical display and add messages or information simultaneously.

13

System Integration DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY

Display technology in the corporate AV market

By Geny Caloisi

South Africa has become a favoured location for international corporations and blue chips have set up headquarters that require the best AV for working locally and across borders.

When it comes to choosing displays for corporate applications, one size doesn’t fit all, but getting it right is key to business success. For this reason Pro Systems News chatted to South Africa’s top installers and integrators to ask them about what display technologies are most appropriate or most popular in the corporate market.

George van Gils Questek Advanced Technology

14

Danie Venter BIS

Adré Joubert F.R.O.G. AV

Warren Tree Audio Visual Centre

Stuart Pringle Omega Digital

Kevin McMillan Craig Audiotech

Christiaan Stoop Symantix

Display Technology System Integration As the leader of information and communication technology (ICT) development in Africa, and boasting a 99.9% digital telecoms network, the South Africa’s corporate AV market has been growing steadily in the past few years. However, the country is not impervious to the global financial crisis and it is still recovering from its own 2008/9 recession.

“The financial crisis has brought about changes in procurement policies within large corporates,” comments Stuart Pringle, MD at Omega Digital Technologies. “Due to this sales cycles are longer, competition is fiercer and therefore margins are under huge pressure.

“Clients still spend their money, but unlike the USA, the financial crisis didn’t turn the lights off immediately, but rather heighted the need for companies to watch where they spend money and how much they get in return for their investment. Relying on hardware margins alone is not possible anymore. A mature services business is an absolute must for all AV integrators such as ourselves that wish to compete in the SA market today.”

In fact, according to recent reports, South Africa’s economy is expected to grow 2.5 % this year, instead of the 3.1% the World Bank estimated in November 2011 and the 2.7% the government predicted in February. The less optimistic forecast for economic growth comes as a consequence of a global slowdown and high unemployment in the country. In a move to bolster the economy the South African Reserve Bank has cut interest rates by 50 basis points, from 5.5% to 5%.

Pringle says: “I don’t expect a major impact for our industry in the short term due to the drop in interest rates, but every bit of relief is a step in the right direction.”

Says Questek MD, George van Gills: “The technology trend in projection is DLP, due to its low cost of ownership. However we find for smaller facilities flat screen (LCD) is gaining more ground.” Questek uses Barco projectors for high-end installation and projectiondesign and Optoma for smaller installations.”

Danie Venter from BIS, a specialist in dynamic as well as complex AV & ICT solutions, says: “Projection technology will maintain its rightful place in larger environments but flat screen is a favourite in the smaller collaboration environments.”

Adré Joubert, director at systems integrator and video conferencing specialist F.R.O.G. AV agrees: “For video conference applications we are using flat screen LCD or LED displays or a combination of projector with LCD or LED screens. Educational institutions use a combination of interactive whiteboards and projectors.”

F.R.O.G. AV is a distributor for Dell projectors in South Africa. These projectors, which go only up to 5 000 ANSI lumens, are suitable for medium and small end installations. For large auditorium installations the company supplies other brands such as Epson, Vivitek or Panasonic.

In the corporate market system integrator Audio Visual Centre (AVC), works with large global or local stock-listed corporations installing mainly boardrooms and training facilities. Warren Tree, AVC’s technical director, agrees that price is important when choosing technologies.

Size isn’t everything Whether you are thinking of revamping a boardroom, an auditorium or a training facility, the size of the screen is only one of the many factors you need to take into account. The number of people expected to use the space, its ambient light, the type of network connections and connections with mobile devices are all essential components of today’s corporate installations. For applications where a larger image is needed, projectors are the usual choice.

However, with flat screen prices going down and screen sizes increasing, they are becoming a viable alternative to projectors.

He describes the three typical corporate installations: “In boardrooms we usually use LCD projectors, but there is a significant shift to flat screen displays. Due to the low-cost of maintenance and the reduced pricing of LCD and LED technologies, more corporates are implementing these types of displays over LCD / DLP projectors, specifically in venues with a pax of less than 10.

“Auditoriums are larger venues which need displays greater than 120”. LCD projectors with a higher brightness are the most cost effective way to achieve these sizes. For training facility we tend to use DLP projectors.”

AVC’s brands of choice for high-end installation are: NEC, Sony and Projectiondesign. Epson is used for medium sized installations and for the lower end projects it uses Sony, Optoma and Vivitek.

Omega’s Stuart Pringle details some of the technical requirements: “The most important point in specifying the projection system is the ability to create the correct real-life contrast at the correct resolution.

This is a function of the brightness of the projector, the ambient light in the room and the room size. Other contributing factors are the ability to use lens shift and the lens throw distance.

15

System Integration DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY “Most boardroom applications require a projector that produces in the region of 3 000 ANSI lumens. Most often, LCD technology is deployed for these mid-brightness situations. In certain instances, flat screens are used in conjunction with projectors in the same boardroom to ensure that all participants in the venue can clearly see the correct amount of detail.

“Brightness requirements for auditoriums usually exceed 6 000 ANSI lumens (sometimes substantially more). We often deploy DLP projectors in this segment and, where required, specify three chip DLP machines.”

When it comes to choosing a manufacturer, Omega tends to base its selection on the range they have, their robustness, the quality of their products and the after sales service that they offer. “We attempt to limit the number of manufactures we use and even the amount of different models from their line up to ensure that we can support our clients best (loan equipment),” he explained. “We use Christie, Panasonic or NEC projectors.”

Pringle adds: “Flat screens are neat and quiet, offer terrific contrast, they are increasingly better at motion handling, increasing in size and also decreasing in cost. The consumer market is driving the manufacturers to innovate continuously while making the technology cost effective.

DIGITAL SIGNAGE: KPMG foyer installation by Questek Advanced Technologies

“Flat screens are often deployed with a signage solution in a foyer area outside of an auditorium to display notices, schedules or even as way-finders. Interactive whiteboards are almost exclusively used in training venues. These are highly collaborative areas that require the trainer to capture and hold the audiences’ attention while explaining concepts. They also offer the opportunity for the audience to participate. It is vital that whiteboards are complimented with powerful software including galleries and data sharing capabilities.”

Kevin McMillan Craig from Audiotech doesn’t see that much of a shift from projection technology to flat screens. “Projectors are capable of anything an LCD can do and both technologies have their place.”

Christiaan Stoop Technical and Operations Manager at Symantix, says: “Although the LCD projectors deliver a sharper quality picture especially for spreadsheets, I still prefer to install DLP projectors as I find LCDs not as reliable in the South African climate. We usually install LCD flat screens when we do a video conference setup whereby the LCD screens are used for the video and a projection screen in the centre for data sharing.”

Symantix works with Vivitek projectors and PVision flat screens, “due to a good after sale service, pricing and quality,” adds Stoop.

Craig explains that Audiotech normally uses LCD projectors because of their brightness, better colour spectrum and larger image.

As the company is very much focused on the integration of audio, devices with built-in Wifi and good networkability are a must.

16

Collaboration All the respondents agree that the main driver for audiovisual solutions in the corporate market is the need to effectively communicate ideas and information. This applies to the day to day running of the business as well as to collaboration with remote parties and other companies.

“In today’s business world, the need to reduce costs is most important,” comments Pringle “Using video and audio conferencing along with rich collaboration tools is vital in this quest as there are direct benefits when compared with the costs of travel and the efficiencies created from the time saved.”

Tree adds: “Collaboration is the main driver for AV adoption in our customer base, closely followed by training.”

Stoop from Symantix provides an example: “We do on site support for Kumba Iron Ore, part of Anglo American. The company relies a lot on AV, for instance for planning how and where to mine, different departments use it to streamline their operations. Then you have the training facilities that are used on a daily basis. On the operations side of the business they collaborate between different sites sometimes with up to six different sites at once. Then of course you get to top management, which is scattered around the world and need to have a meeting once a week. Smaller companies will mainly use AV for staff training and supplier info sessions.“ Joubert says: “We find that clients that benefit from video conference systems are keener to adopt fully integrated audiovisual systems. Once clients see the value in converging audio, video and data and start to share resources and interact with each other over various communication transport media; they get quicker return on their investment.”

BIS’ Venter and McMillan Craig from Audiotech also recognise a growing demand for AV systems that cater for the integration of personal devises; from laptops to iPads, tablets and mobiles.

Pringle explains a further use of tablets: “At times when training is done remotely via video conferencing, interactive tablets are often used instead of white boards so that the trainer can be in view of the remote audience while making annotations.”

Checklist top tips Our experts advise when choosing an AV integrator and before making a purchasing decision best suited for your business, there are various things to consider.

Adré Joubert encourages you to ask the following questions: • Is the company selling an AV product or service to you a specialist in their field?

• Can they support and maintain the product or service sold to you?

Danie Venter emphasises: • Skills and training are very important in delivering high-end solutions.

• The budget supplier is often not better skilled.

• Cost of ownership (warrantees and long life lamps) along with manageability (network) and wireless display are important factors.

• DLP or LCD is not a selling point as both technologies have pros and cons.

• LED optical engines in projection devices will be an important factor in the future.

Display Technology System Integration Joubert points out: “In South Africa price always plays a role. Clients want brightest projector at best price. We have found that lamp replacement cost does affect the decision the client makes. We are looking forward to higher lumens LED projectors. Currently they are only made for applications with display size up to 70”. These projectors have an average of 20 000 hours life cycle which means you never have to budget for replacement lamps again.”

Van Gills confesses that Questek’s end users tend to look at primary specifications such as resolution and light output, rather than technical support and cost of ownership. However the company has found ways to optimise resources for its clients. A good example of this is the work it has been doing for KPMG in South Africa.

they have an active cooling system.

The projectors also feature RealColor, which is projectiondesign’s unique colour management calibration suite. Each F32 projector is uniquely characterised during its manufacture. With RealColor, it is possible to match any number of projectors, and ensure they all project the same primaries and grey scale, without going through a very complicated process.

Distributed by www.questekadvanced.co.za

Christie HD10K-M 1080 HD DLP projector

“We have streamlined KPMG operations by standardising on the same equipment, reducing stock holdings of consumables.” – George van Gils From the users point of view this is also an advantage because they are familiar with the interface of the devices in their various facilities.

Coupled with this, we have two full time staff on site supporting the operation.”

Tree also mentions the ‘Analogue Sunset.’ “End users are not making their AV venues’ cable infrastructure digitally ready, although their displays can accept these types of signals. When AV sources (Notebook, PC, Video Codec) no longer have analogue outputs, these customers are going to have to do major AV upgrades.”

All companies agree that corporate clients need to check whether their new installations are interoperable with existing and legacy equipment; if it is scalable to accommodate future upgrades; whether it can be integrated with personal devices; used for collaboration; and what is the return on their investment.

Following this advice from the experts should ensure corporate installations are fit for purpose and future poof.

projectiondesign F32 series

The projectiondesign F32 series of professional grade DLP projectors is a single chip model that gives out up to 8 000 lumens brightness. Fitted with an adjustable iris and lamp power it enables many variations in light output to fit various requirements. It is specifically designed for graphically challenging applications, such as multi channel seamless visualisation walls, domes and high-resolution imaging.

The F32 series features WUXGA, 1080p, or SXGA+ resolution options for optimum application fit. They are designed to operate 24/7 and

Christie’s HD10K-M 1080 HD DLP digital projector is a flexible, threechip high definition unit that provides 10 000 lumen. Designed on a sleek, compact chassis the dual lamp (350W) projector, it offers high efficiency and low cost of ownership by drawing a maximum power of 1320W providing more brightness while using less power. The lamp life is of 1 500 hours or up to 2 000 in eco mode.

The Christie M Series projector has a true HD native resolution of 1920 x 1080 with two HD input channels that allow 4:4:4 HD signals. It also comes with embedded Christie Twist™ image warping and edge-blending and colour matching.

Although landscape is the most common use for these projectors, the Christie HD10K-M, has built-in portrait capabilities for more installation flexibility. Its Intelligent Lens System (ILS) automatically recognises and calibrates a lens when it is installed.

Low Power & Energy Efficient

Sony monitors

Sony’s B-Series LCD displays monitor models are ideal for corporate applications. The FWD-55B2, FWD-46B2 and FWD-42B2 offer approximately 30% less power consumption than a conventional CCFL monitors thanks to its LED backlighting.

These screens achieve high brightness of 450 to 500 cd/m² and a high contrast ratio of 4000:1*. This quality helps to enable excellent colour reproduction and high visibility in indoor applications.

Because they use commercial-grade LCD panels and cooling systems, these displays can be positioned either vertically (portrait) or horizontally (landscape) with no change in the backlight level or service life.

Users can monitor the display status and control multiple displays over a LAN, VPN or the Internet using Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 or later.

17

System Integration DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY NEC NP PA550W

NEC’s 5500-lumen PA550W is a widescreen, advanced professional installation model that appeases corporate and higher education users. With integrated RJ45, optional high-speed wireless (LAN IEEE 80.11b/g/n) and a multitude of simple-to-use asset management technologies, the PA550W helps users present seamlessly.

It comes with built-in stacking correction capabilities (up to four projectors) allowing the projectors to boost an image brightness of up to 22 000 lumens, ideal for larger-sized screens and environments with heavy ambient light.

Its ECO Mode technology helps extend lamp life and lowers power consumption.

Distributed by www.electrosonic.co.za

Vivitek D535

The Vivitek D535 digital projector is distinctive in design, lightweight and packed with user-friendly features. Connectivity options for the D535 include HDMI v1.3 and is 3D-ready, make it ready for the latest multimedia applications. With a high brightness level of 3 200 lumens and a weight of only 4.2 lbs, the Vivitek D535 is the portable solutions to deliver sharp, vibrant pictures and presentations.

The DLP chipset-based D535 can play HD, 3D or SD content, thanks to its various connections: VGA for PC or laptop, HDMI and video input for everyday video devices, right and left audio, audio-in, Rs232c, and S-Video for composite video.

Distributed by www.audiosure.co.za

Barco’s LDX-55

Featuring LED backlit LCD technology, the LDX-55 boasts a high brightness and durable LED backlight technology and provides an exceptionally thin and space-saving design. Available in native full high definition (1920 x 1080 pixels), the LDX-55 is a high-quality display for long-term usage.

The LDX-55 combines the typical benefits of liquid crystal technology (such as low maintenance costs) with energy-efficient LED backlights, reducing image burn-in and colorations, which makes it suited for long-term usage.

The wide viewing angle (178°) and large surface are very beneficial in collaborative environments where detailed information is viewed by multiple participants.

The LDX-55 is based on Edge LED technology, meaning that the LEDs are positioned around the outer rim of the screen which provides the LDX-55 with a thin and space-saving design.

The display has been designed for easy installation of high-quality standalone applications or as a complementary visualisation solution in modern control rooms.

The screen shows large amounts of data in accurate and highquality images. Any input source can be shown pixel-on-pixel, which avoids unnecessary scaling artifacts often found on lower-resolution displays. Combined with the displays’ non-glossy professional LCD panel and anti-image retention functionality, the LDX-55 delivers bright and crisp images that do full justice to high-resolution graphics and video.

Distributed by www.questekadvanced.co.za

PVision DID Range

Epson EB-G5650WNL

The Epson EB-G565WNL has been designed for large installations. It comes with a WXGA native resolution, 4 500 ANSI lumens and white and Colour Light Output (CLO). It also has wireless connection, and EasyMP Network functions for online monitoring.

The quality of the image caters for spreadsheets and data, allowing audiences to see everything as it is displayed on a widescreen computer as this format offers 30% more pixels than XGA.

18

The PVision DID (Digital Information Display) LCD ranges of product offer commercial connectivity with high-impact picture quality.

Display management is made easy with RS232C* control and incorporate measures to protect the display controls in a public environment, e.g no buttons on the bezel.

The DID range of Video monitors features: • Matte black steel cabinet • Built-in video wall capability up to 12 x 12 • Daisy chain via composite • Timer ON/OFF Control • DVI-D; HDMI; VGA; RGB-HV; Composite; Audio In/Out Available in Sizes: 32”, 40”, 42”, 46”, 55”, 65”, 70” and 82”.

Creating AV magic MultiChoice Auditorium

KPMG Digital Signage

Questek – the leading suppliers of corporate audio-visual solutions: •

Boardrooms

•

Auditoriums

•

Training Rooms

•

In-house Digital Signage

•

Parliamentary and Municipal Chambers

•

On-site Technical Support and Service Level Agreements

Supplying systems that integrate audio & video by embracing new technologies such as remote management, cloud video Johannesburg Council Chambers

conferencing and the total automation of the system.

Present, share and communicate information effectively.

KPMG Auditorium

Telephone: +27 11 706 0405 Email: George@questek.co.za Website: www.questekadvanced.co.za19

System Integration Digital Signage

Out of home advertising in the 21st century

By Geny Caloisi

In the past few years, screens and digital billboards have mushroomed across the streets, subways, shopping centres and airports in all major cities around the world. Digital signage (DS) represents a new medium and communication channel in its own right. Understanding how it works and what effect it has on its audience is essential to reap the greatest benefits from digital out of home (DOOH) networks.

Cities have had advertising or information posters pasted in their walls for centuries and it has been a good way of bringing a message to a vast number of people. But it has always been difficult to know how much of an effect these have and how good their return on investment is (ROI). DS has changed the story.

DS is not television. In fact TV ads don’t work for DOOH. Neither should it be used as an electronic way of posting a succession of static posters on a loop. The most effective DOOH ads are the ones that include animation or video.

Finally, with today’s wide spread of mobile devices, the medium is no longer passive. QR codes, near Field Communication (NFC) and image recognition allow audiences, and potential clients, to interact with the content. They can take it with them if they want to, forward it to their friends through social media and also purchase. The convergence of out of home technology, such as mobile devices and screens, is set to create new revenue streams for virtual impulse buys.

DOOH inhabits spaces where it coexists with other traditional media. In fact many media owners take advantage of this and use wraps, posters and digital screens to create a more of an impact. A good example of this is London’s Euston Station, which includes over and underground transport. The site has nine billboard screens plus six sheet posters and escalator screens. For some campaigns wall wraps are also used (see example bellow).

What DS offers that traditional advertising doesn’t is the ability to accompany its audience through out their commuter journey, its daily routine or its shopping trip.

What is DOOH’s real impact?

Media owner Eye, which operates in transport, airports and shopping centres in the USA, Australia and the UK, has carried out several studies

20

to try and bridge the gap to understand how consumers respond to Out of Home advertising. Using neuro science techniques they took a look inside consumers’ minds and measured their emotional response to advertising.

Not surprisingly, the results show that different environments, formats and creative treatments have a profound impact on how consumers think and feel about the brands advertised, which is key to influencing future buying behaviour.

For instance, certain brands can really benefit from using DS in airports. Eye survey unveiled that 52 per cent of people say they have more time to shop and browse at the airport than they do when they are on the high street. Fragrance buying is at the heart of the experience; 53% would not leave the airport without buying any and 60 per cent are more likely to buy a new brand of fragrance at the airport than anywhere else. 72% of people agree the airport is the right place to advertise beauty and grooming products.

Neuro Imaging also gave insight into how brands can create the most effective creative campaigns. The human brain likes puzzles and stories; so having to put some work into solving a campaign, making the connection back to the advertiser, means that the advertised brand is more likely to be committed to long term memory. And there is certainly a growing trend to using interactivity to achieve this.

‘Airport Stories,’ a piece of research from JCDecaux one of the world’s largest outdoor advertising companies, showed that airports are ideal places to spark the ‘touch dialogue.’ Respondents said they would like to see more interactivity and opportunities to download to their mobiles. This is a great chance to establish interaction with the screen and generate ‘talk media’, for example word-of-mouth recommendations. 91 per cent of respondents believe that brands benefit from advertising at airports.

Airports are one example of a specific sector; retail, hospitality,

Photo by Stuart Monk

Digital Signage System Integration Digital technology encourages more than just higher engagement.

It also offers higher frequency, thanks to its flexibility and longer viewing, either because the person is attracted to the moving image or because of the repetition of the ad though out the journey.

Me, us and the billboard

corporate, have their own dynamics. In any case, how does this influence and brand recall result in real sales? Historically it was believed that the customers’ experience on their purchase process was like a funnel: they would start with a wide range of options, which then narrowed down and resulted on the final buy. This is also known as the AIDA (Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action) model.

However, ‘The Customer Journey,’ a study carried out by the Outdoor Media Centre (OMC), a trade and marketing body representing the interests of the outdoor advertising industry in the UK, found that this model no longer applies.

The purchasing process is not linear. The new path is convoluted with feedback loops. The decision to buy is influenced, changed expanded and narrowed, by diverse stimuli and several times along the way. From online and word-of-mouth to social media, they all play a role. Advertising media was found to be a more effective stimulus to purchase, with a higher share of effective encounters than nonmedia.

A previous research by the OMC called ‘The Last Window of Influence,’ revealed that shoppers are indeed influenced by the advertising they see just before shopping, and outdoor advertising was noticed by over 80% of the people interviewed. 72% of shoppers said they could be swayed towards a product by recent outdoor advertising and only 17% stick to a pre-determined shopping list.

Using show cards, interviewers probed which media each shopper had been exposed to in the 30 minutes leading up to the start of their shopping experience. 40% of shoppers recalled seeing an outdoor advertisement. Other media fared less well. 8% of shoppers had heard a radio ad, 4% each had seen a TV or Internet ad, 3% a newspaper ad and 2% a magazine ad. Of all the 274 respondents who said they had seen or heard an advertisement in the half hour preceding shopping, 88% had seen outdoor advertising.

DOOH networks provide a social experience for oneself and for others around us. The content needs to be relevant, timely – offered at the point of sale (retail) or point of wait (transport and airports). Good DOOH elevates the smart lessons that online offers – using interaction and social networking – and make it even better. A good example of this was the Lynx campaign using augmented reality for its ‘Lynx Excite Angel Ambush’ ad in London Victoria (you can find it on YouTube).

This year, the UK National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV) launched an interactive billboard campaign called ‘Drag Him Away’ at Euston Station in London to raise awareness about how people can intervene to help put a stop to domestic violence. Created by JWT London and produced by Grand Visual, the campaign, runs on JCDecaux’s large format e-motion screens and encourages passers by to get involved in the advert by controlling the scene using their mobile phone. The participant is able to control the characters by dragging the man away from the woman and onto on that adjacent billboards. The screens then synchronise to urge people to report any domestic violence situations to the NCDV so that they can intervene on the victim’s behalf.

The five-screen execution is supported by four additional e-motion screens plus D6 formats featuring QR codes that take the user to the website to activate their phone as the remote control. Handing the public control of on-screen content is a powerful call to action, which fosters a deeper level of engagement among outdoor audiences.

Another remarkable campaign at Euston Station was the one for breast cancer care. The campaign demonstrates how everyday, women have a thousand and one things to check upon and take care of. The call to action was to include observing their breast health into these. JCDecaux, which owns the media at the station, worked with creative agency Iris to create a campaign that used nice feeds running live information; from horoscopes to the date and the time in Tokyo and Paris, detailing the little things consumers are compelled to ‘check on’ every day. A great awareness campaign.

Digital screens bring cities to life. They allow brands to continue the conversation that start online. But above all technology has to be an integral part of the daily experience helping with navigation, information and advice, as well as promoting products.

It can help to flex the touch points in the customer’s journey and remove the barriers to purchase, but it has to be people-centric in order to work.

21

System Integration Expert Opinion

Sun is setting on analogue

By Wynand Langenhoven Why is it happening?

In our audio visual industry, we most often deal with analogue or digital audio and video (collectively called media) and similar reasons apply for both.

The need for a transition from analogue to digital is driven largely by the fact that changes (even small changes) to an analogue signal represent a distortion of that signal.

With a digital signal small changes (even fairly significant changes) in the signal are much less serious, because the original signal can be reconstructed (called regeneration), as long as not too much change has taken place. This fact alone is very important as analogue and digital signal types are continually changed by many factors.

A second vitally important reason is that once a signal has been converted into a digital signal, digital techniques make it possible to manipulate that signal to achieve advantages not possible with an analogue signal (for example, it can be compressed with or without loss of information; it can also be encrypted).

The third reason is the need to encrypt the video and audio.

Analogue media (such as movies) can easily be copied. Once converted to digital, it is possible to prevent the media from being copied (through encryption the data is essentially locked).

A fourth factor that drives the transition to digital is the presence of ubiquitous digital networks around the world, which can be used to transport digital media. We use these digital networks regularly to gain access to audio and video (for example, when browsing the Internet).

This would be impossible if this media were not first converted from analogue to digital.

Finally, almost all high definition (HD) video content is only available digitally (except for some very rare HD analogue video content).

Keeping the entire signal path from the source to the display digital, will best take advantage of this HD video content. HD video (copy protected or not) is a big driver for the transition to digital systems.

There are many more compelling reasons for the world to make a transition from the use of analogue media to digital media; these benefits vary in the many arenas where it is used.

To what extent will it happen?

Analogue signals will never disappear (we live in an analogue world), but the devices that we use on a daily basis are (more and more) becoming digital.

The picture and audio connections out of devices will become

22

more digital over time (the intention of many manufacturers regarding this is clearly stated; a trend towards digital only connectivity). For example, laptop computers will have less analogue connectivity, driven by the same reasons as given above.

Media players (such as BLU Ray players) will have reduced analogue connectivity for the same reasons, but mostly for the need to protect media from being copied. There are global controls driven by an ‘Advanced Access Content System (AACS) license agreement’, resulting in something called the ‘analogue sunset’, which is expected to disable (or reduce the quality of) the analogue outputs on devices that are able to play back media governed by this license.

However, analogue connectivity will probably not disappear completely.

In many cases, at least for reasons of copy protection, the behaviour of the analogue connections on devices will change. For example, on a laptop the images that are not copy protected will continue to behave normally at the analogue outputs, but content that is protected will likely not be available at the analogue outputs on the laptop. But copy protection is not the only reason for the transition to digital but copy protection will bring some challenges. Try and explain to a user why his analogue system works fine most of the time, but not some of the time!

What to do Besides copy protection, the combination of all the reasons for the transition makes it hugely advantageous for users to embrace systems that are digital, starting now!

Get to know the advantages of digital in the applications that you offer. Inform your customers about the challenges that will result from not embracing the transition, and the advantages for adopting it (there are some very compelling business reasons in some applications). Offer your customers two solutions, an analogue one (typically significantly less expensive nowadays), and a digital one and explain the difference! Make the argument(s) a standard part of your business proposals.

Expert Opinion System Integration

Designing better restaurant audio systems

By Justin Mamulis

There are many things that go into designing a new restaurant.

From the initial design phase, that could change multiple times before being decided on, to the seating layout, the kitchen layout and utilities, the bathrooms, the menu, the flow, maximising space to allow for more bums on seats, the HVAC, the lighting, the point of sale system, the stock, the staff, the office, the training, the opening, the marketing, and so on and so on‌

But what about the sound?

Audio is usually the last thought in the design phase, one that is almost always left until the end, and is almost always underestimated.

Psychology plays a massive part in putting together a restaurant – everything from the colours, the type of seating, menu layouts, lighting, the position of the bathrooms, the dÊcor; all play a part in adding to the ultimate experience of the patrons.

Many studies have been done on how music affects the human psyche, especially in hospitality environments such as restaurants, casinos and stadiums. All you need to do is type a search for these studies into Google and read through the many results.

Although there are many contradicting studies, the common trend throughout is the fact that music (or sound) does in fact play a massive part in affecting our behaviour. Whether the aim is for a fast food joint to get us in and out as quickly as possible or for a fine dining establishment to make us so comfortable and content, so we stay, eat and drink to our hearts content, the type of music or lack of defines how we will behave.

So why is it that we are the last ones to be called in? In my opinion, there is a huge misunderstanding of the differences between domestic and commercial sound systems. Domestic sound systems are designed to be used in the home, played for only a few hours a week with minimal handling. Commercial sound systems on the other hand are designed to be used in the busiest of environments, played for hours and hours on end and probably being handled by multiple people throughout the day and night.

Low cost domestic loudspeakers are designed to cover small areas, at lower sensitivities to commercial loudspeakers. Why is this important? Well because it is the difference of the loudspeaker actually covering the intended area or not.

So, how do we take all of the above information, and use it to design better restaurant audio systems?

Understanding the type of restaurant you are designing the system for is an important factor. The same distributed audio system that works in a fine dining establishment may not work quite as well in your local steakhouse pub.

Asking as many questions as possible will give you an idea as to what your client is expecting of the sound system, as well as give you the opportunity to educate them.

As previously mentioned multiple factors need to be considered before deciding on the correct loudspeaker for your restaurant audio system design. There are numerous physical attributes that will affect our decision. These are listed on the opposite page.

Understanding reverberations and reflections play a major role in loudspeaker choice and placement. As with everything you do over and over again, this will become easier with experience. Knowing what loudspeakers are available and what the individual specifications are assists you in making the correct decision.

23

System Integration Expert Opinion

Reverberation: In an enclosed space, when a sound source stops emitting energy, it takes some time for the sound to become inaudible. This prolongation of the sound in the room caused by continued multiple reflections is called reverberation.

Reverberation time plays a crucial role in the quality of music and the ability to understand speech in a given space. When room surfaces are highly reflective, sound continues to reflect or reverberate. The effect of this condition is described as a live space with a long reverberation time. A high reverberation time will cause a build-up of the noise level in a space. The effects of reverberation time on a given space are crucial to musical conditions and understanding speech. It is difficult to choose an optimum reverberation time in a multifunctional space, as different uses require different reverberation times. A reverberation time that is optimum for a music programme could be disastrous to the intelligibility of the spoken word.

Conversely, a reverberation time that is excellent for speech can cause music to sound dry and flat.

Reflections: Reflected sound strikes a surface or several surfaces before reaching the receiver. These reflections can have unwanted or even disastrous consequences. Although reverberation is due to continued multiple reflections, controlling the reverberation time in a space does not ensure the space will be free from problems from reflection.

Reflective corners or peaked ceilings can create a ‘megaphone’ effect potentially causing annoying reflections and loud spaces.

Reflective parallel surfaces lend themselves to a unique acoustical problem called standing waves, creating a ‘fluttering’ of sound between the two surfaces.

Reflections can be attributed to the shape of the space as well as the material on the surfaces. Domes and concave surfaces cause reflections to be focused rather than dispersed which can cause annoying sound reflections. Absorptive surface treatments can help to eliminate both reverberation and reflection problems.

(Source: Acoustics 101 on www.acoustics.com)

Matching the amplifiers Once you have chosen the loudspeakers you are going to use in each area, you will need to power them with amplifiers. There are two types of systems – low and high impedance systems. This plays an important factor in choosing the correct amplification.

24

What is the difference between the two?

High-impedance systems are also known as constant-voltage systems, meaning at maximum output, the voltage stays the same. It allows for long-distance runs without signal loss. This voltage stays constant and is not affected based on the number of speakers.

It’s imperative to fully understand these differences; I have seen too many blown amplifiers because of improper loading. This results in wasted time and money and can often lead to a frustrated customer.

Because these systems use a constant voltage and step-down transformers, they can be used for longer-distance runs. This would be particularly well-suited for paging and background music-type systems for hospitals, hotels and large retail and restaurant spaces.

In a low-impedance system most amplifiers are only rated to handle a load down to 4Ω. Some provide ratings as low as 2Ω; however, reliability in some lesser expensive amps can be extremely compromised at a 2Ω load rating. If you had an application that required eight speakers, and each speaker was rated at 8Ω, you would effectively require four stereo amplifiers – using two speakers on each amplifier channel, wired in parallel. This would therefore present each amplifier channel with a 4Ω load.

It has always been my practice to design systems running at 4Ω. I have used 2Ω on occasion; however, this was when I specified large touring amplifiers that were proved to handle these loads reliably.

Understanding ohms and impedance In order to understand the rules for speaker connection, we need a bit of electrical theory.

You probably had this as a lesson in high school at some point, but were more interested in other things at the time. To relate it to something you are more familiar with, let’s consider the ordinary garden hose. Print this off and go outside, hook up the hose (no nozzle) and turn on the water. Pretty soon water should start flowing out the end of the hose. This flow of water through the hose is similar to an electric current, which is usually described as the flow of electrons through the wire and is measured in Amperes.

Now put your thumb over the end of the hose and try to stop the flow of water. Feel the pressure? This pressure is similar to voltage, which is the force of electricity that pushes the electrons through the wire. Notice that if you succeed in plugging the water flow, (no current) the pressure is still there. This is like an amplifier with no speakers attached, or an AC outlet with nothing plugged in. Voltage is present, but there is no current flow.

Finally, move your thumb a bit to allow some water to spray. By varying the position of your thumb, you can control how much water comes out of the hose. Your thumb is restricting the flow of water. In an electrical circuit, things that restrict or control the flow of current are said to impede current flow and are described as having impedance.

In a hose we use a nozzle to restrict the flow. In an electrical circuit the device that uses electrical energy and has impedance is called the LOAD. It should be apparent by now that there is a relationship between pressure (voltage), flow (current) and restriction (impedance). Since voltage or pressure is what moves the current, increasing the voltage pressure should increase the current, assuming the impedance doesn’t change. Decreasing the voltage should decrease the current.

On the other hand increasing the impedance by restricting the

Expert Opinion System Integration flow of current will cause the current to decrease, like turning the nozzle toward ‘off’.

Lowering the impedance is like opening the nozzle to allow more flow. This relationship was analysed by a fellow by the name of George Simon Ohm a long time ago, and he identified a simple formula that is extremely important in electricity and electronics which bears his name: Ohm’s Law. Ohm’s Law states: In an electrical Voltage circuit, current flow is directly Current = Impedance proportional to voltage and inversely proportional to impedance.

Mathematically, this becomes: Current (in amperes) equals voltage (in volts) divided by impedance (in ohms).

So now that we understand the differences between high and low impedance systems and what impedance and ohms are, we can now match the amplifiers to the chosen loudspeaker system.

I like using high impedance systems when using multiple speakers in a zone where only background music is required. For anything more than background music I will always go with a low impedance option. However, I have often mixed both solutions into a single zone, like when the distributed system is used for standard dining times, and a low impedance system used for the DJ who may come on certain nights to start the party. In this case I may use the 100volt line system as a fill to the low impedance system.

Once we know what loudspeaker and amplification system we are using, we can look at zoning. This will dictate what kind of mixer will be used.

There are multiple options available in the market today when it comes to choosing a preamplifier for a restaurant application.

Typically restaurants today have four zones – main dining, patio or

smoking section, bar and the bathrooms. The questions that need to be asked are whether the owner would like different sources to be played in the different zones, and whether they would like to control this from within the individual zones or from a central point?

Other options would be whether any local inputs are required in any particular zone, such as a band or DJ input in the bar.

An extremely important factor is where the equipment is going to be installed. Space within a restaurant environment is very limited and equipment is installed mainly into the office or at a waiter station. One thing that I always insist on is that a fully furnished 19” rack is used to install the equipment into. I do this for a number of reasons, but mainly because the only other option is to stack the equipment up on a shelf somewhere, leaving it accessible to, well everything. A rack will supply the perfect environment to guarantee the longevity of the equipment used, if it is installed correctly of course.

Another important factor is the power supply to the audio equipment. It is always best to request a dedicated power circuit to the equipment so that you are guaranteed that you are not sharing the same power with the fridges, ovens or even the HVAC system. I cannot tell you how often this is overlooked and the equipment is ‘just plugged in’ to the first available point. Buzzes and overloads take away from everything you have worked so hard for – and can completely discredit the sound system installation.

Of course in a perfect world it would be so easy to get everything we ask for, and the installations will be perfect time and time again.

However, we do not live in that perfect world we so often talk about and (in the real world) we have to learn to compromise and use what we have instead of what we want. Focus on the correct equipment for the job, the correct loudspeakers with the right coverage matched to the right amplifiers – and you can’t go wrong.

WHICH OF THESE LOUDSPEAKERS SHOULD BE USED WHICH OF THESE LOUDSPEAKERS SHOULD BE USED IN THIS RESTAURANT?

IN THIS RESTAURANT?

MASK4

??

MASK8

MASK4

CM4T

MASK6

CM4T

COLS81

SPH16

MASK8

SPH16

CM6T

MASK6

CMX20T

COLS81

CM6T

MASK2

CMX20T

MASK2

APART SOUNDS LIKE THE RIGHT CHOICE A great sound system is a must-have in your line of business but when there is so much equipment to choose from, how can you be sure you will ultimately get the result you want? We specialise in fixed installed sound systems and are here to guide you towards the solution that is right for you.

A great sound system is a must-have in your line of business but when there is so much

APART SOUNDS LIKE THE RIGHT CHOICE

equipment to choose from, how can you be sure you will ultimately get the result you want? We specialise in fixed installed sound systems and are here to guide you towards

info@apart-audio.com the solution that is right for you. www.apart-audio.com

info@apart-audio.com www.apart-audio.com

iLED PTY LTD 011 958 2529 www.iled.co.za sales@iled.co.za

System Integration Industry Experts integration player – System Solutions

(A Gearhouse Group Company).

After an interesting tour of the premises in Bez Valley, we sat down with general manager Roger Feldmann.

Durban-based MD – Sean Stewart, escaped the face-to-face interrogation process with an electronic interview.

Here’s what the two had to say:

How long have you been in the AV industry and how did you get into it?

Sean: Like many of us in this industry, I got myself work pushing boxes and assisting the tech crews on the earlier international tours when I was a student. I had initially wanted to become a Tonmeister but I was tired of being broke so when I finished studying at the music school at UND I moved to Johannesburg in the early 90s and worked briefly as a freelance recording and production engineer.

The music production scene was very insular and if you weren’t in the right clique, the work was sparse and not very inspiring.

Conversely the local live music scene at the time was positively buoyant and the work varied and was exciting. I was very lucky in the early days and got to work and tour a lot with some of the greats like Stimela, Tsepo Tshola, Sankomoto, Bayete and Hugh Masekela among others.

I was also working my way up the food chain in the international touring scene when the Gearhouse Group acquired the equipment rental company that I had been getting most of my work from and so I began my career in this fascinating industry.

A year later I moved back to Durban to open a new Gearhouse branch with industry stalwarts Bill Lawford and Hugh Turner. This was extremely tough but I learned a lot about the industry and developed some management and financial skills which were to stand me in good stead when we opened System Solutions a few years later, following a very large installation and integration project.

Roger: I am not actually from the AV industry. I did Civil Engineering from 1990 to 2000 at a company called Frankipile. From there I bought a signage franchise which I ran for 10 years.

I joined System Solutions after World Cup 2010. I was in limbo during World Cup and a friend of mine, Dion Strydom from LEDVision, asked me if I’d like to help them with some of their fan parks. I looked after the fan park at Montecasino for them. During the World Cup period, this position became available at System Solutions, so I applied for the job and a couple of months later I got it.

I guess my forte lies in management. I’ve got a bit of an understanding of the technical side from the experience I have gained, but for me it’s all about sales at the end of the day; understanding the staff and having good relationships with your suppliers and customers. So really, what I’ve brought to System Solutions is more the business end.

What are some of your favourite recent projects that you’ve been involved in?

Sean: We are currently involved with a very innovative project at Freedom Park with a SkyRoll™ retractable LED screen from Lighthouse Technologies. It is the first of its kind on the continent and we are very proud to be a part of it. We are also currently involved with a digital-cinema complex in Mauritius.

Roger: One of my major projects that we’ve recently concluded is the installation of two outdoor LED screens for a new stadium in Gabon.

26

Sean Stewart

Pro-Systems recently interviewed two of the faces behind AV

Roger Feldmann What has been your proudest project to date?

Sean: There are many projects that come to mind but I guess that the Johannesburg and Durban stadiums for the 2010 World Cup would stand out above them all. Firstly it was amazing to be part of the event and they were also the biggest projects we had been involved in up to that point. We installed over 400m2 of high res Lighthouse LED screens which were driven by Christie X20 scaling switchers. Both stadiums also had large scale digital signage and IPTV systems and both projects ran concurrently. I was very proud to be part of such an amazing team on such an amazing project.

Roger: The LED screens in Gabon, definitely! I was involved in the project from day one. In my previous company we did a lot of business in Gabon so I was very comfortable in the environment. There was a lead that came through and I asked Sean to give me the chance and let me go up and secure this business. Everyone was sceptical but I flew up and the rest is history. When they signed the deal they placed the order for two screens instead of one, totalling $2.2 million.

What do you do in your spare time?

Sean: I’m sorry I don’t understand the question…I bought a beautiful old house earlier this year and I seem to always be fixing something. I still play music which I find very rewarding and I try and spend as much time as possible with my family. I used to be a bit of a movie buff when I was a younger and have started to get back in training.

Roger: Cycling and golf!

Holiday destination of choice?

Sean: A holiday for me is usually when my phone doesn’t ring too often and I don’t have to respond to email. My wife’s family lives in Swaziland and we love going there.

Roger: New Zealand – my folks, brother and sister have immigrated so that’s on my radar right now.

Venue Solution Installations

Bespoke demo theatre

By Greg Bester

I’m coming off the bat to say that I’m a great fan of the World of Yamaha.

Where else can jet skis, motorcycles, sophisticated sound equipment and delicately crafted musical instruments all mingle into one magical place? And as if that couldn’t be more impressive, they somehow pulled a theatre out of nowhere and placed it behind the coffee bar.

But to call it just a theatre is a misnomer. It’s so much more and was purpose built to handle almost any event including theatre acts, live music, industry training and broadcast events with equal precision. It’s an event managers’ dream, to be sure. Another arm of the initiative is to offer technical support and to test and display new technologies, which seems to be a symbiotic relationship for all and a welcome gift to the industry.

Upon my arrival at the building I was greeted by Bryan Michael of Global Music. Bryan is the man behind the installation at the facility and he had a big hand in its construction and configuration. He kindly obliged to give me a peek into the inner workings of the theatre and it’s coming into being.

The Yamaha Theatre is a dedicated music venue with a fully integrated AV setup and is quite large. It can accommodate about 300 people in a standing event and 200 sitting. The room is fully sound proofed, has high ceilings and contains a permanently installed movable stage, a projection wall and HD projector for events such as DVD launches or HD film viewing. There are four utility panels, one for each wall which are connected to a routing matrix that makes them available at any time in the control room. This also means that an event can be orientated in which ever direction you prefer. There is three phase power available on each utility panel as well and, thankfully, the power grids between audio and lighting are separated, a welcome feature of the venue.

The audio system, all Yamaha of course, is set up in 5.1 surround sound and incorporates two DSR 115s for the front right and left stacks, five flown DSR 115s for the surround array (LCR, SL, SR), and two DSR118 subwoofers. Speaking of the DSRs, this new series of speakers were of

particular interest to me because they are manufactured in a joint venture between acclaimed speaker giant Nexo and Yamaha.

Incorporating what Yamaha terms its Xtreme D technology, these speakers integrate several technologies, namely Integral Digital Tuning, Intelligent Dynamic Control, Powerful Digital Drive and Extensive DSP Protection.

The audio control centrepiece of the theatre is the ubiquitous Yamaha M7CL, a very versatile mainstay of the audio industry and a great looking helm.

Probably the slickest part of the whole operation is the utilisation of the Ethersound protocol to interconnect each system and distribute the audio throughout the facility.

An efficient and powerful system to manage high channel counts of high resolution digital audio. Three DME64s handle DSP duties for the theatre, the studio showroom and background music, and are configured via DME Designer software. In addition, on the multi-track recording side, the DANTE protocol has been selected which handles recording duties via a DANTE expansion card installed into the back of the M7CL, all on one CAT5 cable. As long as you have the virtual DANTE sound card software installed on the destination computer, you can record up to 64 channels of multi-track, high resolution audio straight from the M7CL. Although, currently the Ethersound network at the Yamaha Theatre can currently only supply 48 channels but that’s more than enough for most applications and, as always, its upgradeable if need be.

Moving into the control room you are met with a large desk containing three consoles namely (all Yamaha of course), an O1V96, an O2R and a DM2000, the main control console for mixing and recording events from the theatre – and the entire range of Yamaha studio monitors. Once again, the Ethersound and DANTE protocols work seamlessly hand in hand to feed and record the audio from the Theatre: Ethersound into the console; DANTE out into the recorder via the DANTE expansion card in the back of the DM2000. Neat!

The Yamaha Theatre is a shining bastion of professional audio and AV. It’s slick and clean and can certainly accommodate anything from live music broadcasts to a cosy film premiere. Not to mention, the rental cost of the venue is very affordable and includes the complete facility of the building and many amenities. Yahama have done the entertainment and AV industries a great service with this theatre and I wish them many years of success.

27

Installations Theatre Solution

Soweto Theatre – a dream realised Photos by Sarah Rushton-Read

by Sarah Rushton-Read

Loud and proud, there’s nothing modest about Soweto Theatre. A vibrant marker of positive change, the new theatre stands high on the Jabulani plain, adjacent to the famous Jabulani stadium. Visible from miles around, its three primary coloured cuboid theatre spaces shimmer in the bright South African sunshine joyfully exuding pride and optimism. For pure iconic status South Africa could not have done any better than the fabulous Soweto Theatre.

Soweto Theatre, built as part of a multi-million rand regional regeneration project, opened on Africa Day – 25 May 2012. The inspired design of architects Afritects theatre consultancy was provided by respected set and lighting designer Denis Hutchinson.

From conception to completion the venue has embraced local skill and talent that has worked alongside local distributors and entertainment technology specialists: DWR Distribution, Prosound, Electrosonic SA cc, Sound Harmonics among others. Between them they supplied Aubrey Nndaba’s Sowetan installation firm, Muthiyane Trading, with the entertainment technology, support and expertise he required.

“A key part of the project has been to involve the local community,” explains Hutchinson.

“This is where Aubrey and his team came in. Aubrey lives in Soweto and employs and trains local people. He has worked in close co-collaboration with the South African Roadies Association (SARA) – a training organisation – to ensure the next generation of backstage workers have the opportunity to work at the theatre.”

Soweto Theatre comprises three primary coloured, tiled cuboids each of which encapsulates a theatre: red is the main proscenium theatre with a capacity of 436, blue is the large studio (capacity 152) and yellow is the small studio (capacity 88).

All three are linked, both backstage and FOH, by curved metal clad exterior walls sculpted at the base to provide camber for skateboarding. FOH a high tensile, tented terrace leads into an airy, full height, glass fronted foyer looking out across the sprawling Soweto landscape.

Inside the main auditorium, and bringing an irresistible sense of intimacy to the space, steeply raked, plush red seating is arranged in a traditional horseshoe circle along with the three-dimensional

28

acoustic wall linings focus down onto an impressively large stage.

Packed with the latest technology, the theatre will provide a training ground for many an aspiring local young designer director or technician.

Because of this theatre making is not hidden and equipment has been chosen for its robust usability, efficiency and flexibility.

The backbone of the lighting in all spaces is a number of ETC Source Four fresnels and profiles supplied by ETC Distributor Pro Sound. “The Source Four Fresnels were a late entry in the running.

The output is impressive for a 750w fixture. They’re well built and because all they share the same lamp it reduces the stock the theatre has to hold,” says Ian Blair of Prosound.

“We supplied 216 Source Fours spread between the three performance spaces including 72 new Source Four Fresnels, introduced into South Africa in January this year.”

Prosound also supplied accessories including barn doors, top hats, irises, Gobo holders, boom arms and lens tubes.

In addition Electrosonic SA supplied ADB Warp/Ms front of house and Martin TW1s onstage – chosen for their quiet operation.

“Dennis’ selection of these fixtures make the statement that tungsten automated lights still have a place in the theatre industry in spite of the advances in discharge and LED technology,” says Bruce Schwartz from Electrosonic. “This was the first use of the Martin TW1 in South Africa. We’ve been working with Dennis for a while to get them included in a prestigious theatre installation, finally that chance came with the Soweto Theatre and we’re extremely proud.”

Hutch also specified a number of Philips Selecon Arena 2k Fresnels. “I selected the Arena for the necessary punch required for key light,” says Hutch.

Theatre Solution Installations

With such high profile technology featuring in three very different venues the significance of Soweto Theatre cannot be ignored. It is one of a number of indicators to the world that there is positive economic and social change happening on the ground in Soweto.

“The Arena is one of the best 2kW Fresnels on the market – and I’ve worked with most of them! They feature a smooth, even field and excellent light output.”

Hutch asked Duncan Riley at DWR Distribution to advise on the latest in LED lighting. The result was the specification of a number of Robe Robin 600E Spots and 300 LED washes. “The Robe Robin 600 Spots have a fantastic light output for the power consumption and are great for delivering gobo washes and beam effects while the 300LEDs are Parcan killers for saturated colour back light. While not as quiet as the Warps and TW1s the 600s are very usable in a dramatic situation as well as for a little flash for musical programmes.”

To save space and negate the need for dimmer rooms or long cable runs Hutch specified Philips Strand Lighting Wall Rack dimmers in each space. DWR’s Duncan Riley discusses: “Hutch wanted to maximise working performance space and capitalise on flexibility without the need for dedicated dimmer rooms. The super compact Philips Wall racks were an ideal solution.”

“In all spaces the lighting and distribution system comprises a number of multicores terminated with Socapex outlets, which are deployed around the spaces and on the bars, feeding back to the dimmers,” explains Riley. “This solution presents the simplest and most efficient way to distribute dimming to exactly where it’s needed.”

Lighting control is via a GrandMA2 Light and in the studios, GrandMA2 Ultra Light. Hutch is a self confessed MA addict. He chose the consoles for the flexibility and stability they offer: “They maybe small but they’re extremely powerful. I wanted to keep the same protocol running throughout the venue and of course they are all compatible with the rest of the grandMA range.”

Over the main stage are 43 counter-weight fly sets: “Motorised sets are really not affordable for us and given the high unemployment rate in the country it’s better to create a few more jobs,” says Hutch.

The theatre also has a simple orchestra pit. “We have been careful to design a venue that is compatible with other the drama venues in the country. We’re a great deal better equipped than most, so visiting companies should find they can do a little bit more here.”

The studios are equally functional. A mezzanine technical gallery runs the full circumference of each. From these technicians can

access fixed lighting bridges offering almost every conceivable lighting position. Dimming is neat and discrete in the form of Philips Strand Lighting Wall Racks – 120 ways in the larger blue studio and 96 in the small yellow one.

Drapes hang from the inner edge of the mezzanine galleries and facilitate a masked off passage in any configuration. Numerous facility panels on both the upper and ground levels make the spaces accommodating in any layout be it thrust, end on or promenade.

In terms of seating Hutch specified a system of Prolyte rostrum, built bespoke by Prosound Pty, to maximise the space available. “The Prolyte system has been a triumph,” says Hutch. “Built of aluminium it’s extremely lightweight and quick to build. Some rostra have been built to custom size to enable us to use each space as effectively as possible.”

Lighting kit for both studios comprise ETC Source Four profiles and Fresnels and a scattering of Robe 300 LED Washes. DWR’s Riley says: “The great thing about the Robe 300 LEDWash is that they offer great flexibility and excellent homogenisation of the light source. Colour mixing is smooth and the range of colours achievable is vast. In addition, for a moving head it is lightweight, quiet and compact, ideal for studio theatre use for back light and stage colour washes where space and accessibility can be an issue.”

In terms of sound all venues, including the main house, feature L-Acoustics PA. Richard Smith of system supplier and installer, Sound Harmonics, explains: “We worked in close collaboration with Hutch, the acoustician Ivan Lin and Aubrey of Muthiyane Trading to deliver the best possible solution for the three venues. Hutch specified

29

Photo by Sarah Rushton-Read

Installations Theatre Solution

Tech Box Lighting: • • • • • • • • • • • •

Philips Selecon Rama Fresnels Philips Selecon Aurora 4 way floods Philip Strand Lighting – wall rack dimmers Robe 300 LED Washes Robe 600 Spots GrandMA2 Lite & Ultra-Lite ETC Source Four Profiles ETC Source Four Fresnels City Theatrical Accessories ProLyte Rostra ADB Warp/Ms Martin MAC TW1s

Audio • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

30

L-Acoustics KILO Low Extension L-Acoustics KIVA Line Source Array Sub-bass – L-Acoustics SB18i L-Acoustics 12XTi 12” Co-axial Speaker L-Acoustics 8XTI 8” Co-axial Speakers JBL JRX100 monitor wedges L-Acoustics LA4 amplifier Amp Rack Crown XLS1500 stereo amplifiers Yamaha 01V96 – 32-channel mixing console Yamaha LS9 -32 – 64-channel digital mixing console Shure ULX receiver, beltpack & handheld – SM58 capsule Shure WL93 & WL184 lavalier, condenser microphones Shure UA-845 & UA-844 Antenna Distro Shure UA870WB antenna Shure SM57 Dynamic Microphone Shure Beta52 Kick Drum Mic Shure Beta98A Clip on Tom Mics AKG C1000 condenser microphones Active DI boxes – dBX DB12 K&M microphone stands

L-Acoustics KIVA / KILO PA for all venues with Yamaha digital control.”

“This is actually the third prestigious venue in South Africa this year to choose an L-Acoustics KIVA/KILO system.” says Smith “The main house PA comprises four L-Acoustics KILO Low Extension Speakers and twelve Kiva Line Source Array speakers augmented with four of SB18i Sub Bass Speakers and JBL JRX100 Monitor Wedges. In addition there are a number of floating boxes for the main house and installed in the studios. These include L-Acoustics 12XTi 12” Co-axial Speakers and L-Acoustics 8XTI 8” Co-axial Speakers.”

Amp set up comprises: four L-Acoustics LA4 Amplifiers for the main house and one each in a flight case for the studios. The main house also uses four Crown XLS1500 Stereo Amplifiers to power eight JBL JRX100 Monitor Wedges.

“The L-ACOUSTICS KIVA system is ideal for the variety of applications this venue will host. Anything from an intimate play to a big musical production,” Smith explains. “KIVA is an effective solution for focusing energy on the audience, with headroom to spare.

Because there are three venues (all different sizes) scalability was crucial. We knew that whatever we put in would be moved from venue to venue.”

Mixing is via a Yamaha 01V96 – 32 Channel Mixing Consoles in the studio theatres and a Yamaha LS9 -32 – 64 Channel Digital Mixing Console for the main house. A wide range of mics were specified because at the time the theatre did not have a clear idea what it would produce.

In addition Sound Harmonics specified the audio cabling and design of the facility / patch panel lay out in each venue along with the stage management desk and calls system, comms and video relay for all spaces.

With such high profile technology featuring in three very different venues the significance of Soweto Theatre cannot be ignored. It is one of a number of indicators to the world that there is positive economic and social change happening on the ground in Soweto.

Just a few decades ago the very suggestion that Soweto could have a theatre on this scale or attract the audiences to fill it would have seemed inconceivable; today the theatre symbolises everything that is remarkable, proud, hopeful and inspired about the country’s people and the long held determination of the closely knit South African arts community as a whole.

Imported by

www.audiosure.co.za

Installations Venue Solution

...And action! PE’s latest live entertainment venue opens Photos by Pieter Wolmarans

A rejuvenated Boardwalk Action Bar opened its doors at PE’s Boardwalk Casino in June.

As part of Sun International’s billion rand upgrade to the Boardwalk Casino, the old SuperSport Bar has been completely gutted and given an extreme makeover to offer patrons a state of the art live entertainment venue – suitable for anything from sporting events on a big screen to live events on stage.

Avitech Systems was contracted to provide the design, supply and installation of the sound, lighting and audiovisual systems in the venue.

In a coup for Port Elizabeth, the venue features the very first Bose RoomMatch line array loudspeaker system installed in South Africa.

“The design brief was to provide a sound and AV solution that could be simply operated by day staff, but could also provide the sophistication and level of control required by live stage acts and sound engineers,” explains Lawrence Bricknell, project leader from Avitech Systems. “We have succeeded in providing this, and more, using a combination of products from Bose, Biamp, Allen & Heath and Crestron.”

Audio An Allen & Heath iLive digital mixing desk provides control of the live sound, while a Biamp Audiaflex digital signal processor allows automatic selection of preset audio configurations, and simple iPad-based control when a sound engineer is not on duty.

According to Lawrence: “More and more visiting stage acts demand a digital mixing desk at the venues that they perform in, so we considered a digital desk a “must have”. We chose the A&H iLive system for its ability to position the patching and mix engine in a rack backstage, and connect via one CAT5 cable to the control surface in the sound booth. We also liked the ability to control the mix from an iPad.”

32

Front of house sound is provided by six Bose RoomMatch loudspeaker cabinets. “Past experience at action bars showed that decent front-of-house sound systems are needed to give the venue the desired punch and ‘wow’ factor. Contractor type loudspeaker systems just don’t make the grade in this type of environment, and the venue ends up hiring in loudspeakers ends to satisfy the sound engineers using the system. We were determined to provide a system that could handle anything from bingo evenings to live bands, and having heard the Bose RoomMatch system in action at the recent launch at Emperor’s Palace, we were convinced that we made the right decision,” adds Lawrence.

Driving the loudspeakers are three eight-channel Bose PowerMatch

amplifiers, providing a total of 12 000 watts of audio power to the venue. “The PowerMatch amplifiers provide extreme flexibility for this type of installation – each amplifier can be configured in any combination of channel formats ranging from 1 x 4000w to 8 x 500w.

The fact that each amplifier can be powered off a standard 15A mains outlet is also an advantage,” comments Lawrence

Lighting Lawrence called on the expertise of Dave Whitehouse from DWR Distribution. Dave’s lighting solution comprised a Philips Strand 200 Series 24/48 lighting console; 12 Longman F1 High Power LED parcans; 10 x Longman 002 LED parcans; 6 x Longman Stage bars; 1 x LSC DMX Splitter; and 5 x custom manufactured lighting bars.

AV The Action Bar features 12 LCD Samsung DE46A professional display panel TV sets, a large format Epson EB-G5650 data projector and an Elite CineTension2 150” 16:9 tab tensioned screen. With AV input facilities on stage and at the sound booth. For sport lovers, a bank of DStv decoders are fed from the Boardwalk central IPTV server.

Integration

Avitech Systems used a Crestron CP2E processor to automate operations in the venue and present a simple control interface on an Apple iPad. From this touch screen staff can: open and close stage curtains, control house lighting, select and adjust music volume, control the 12 LCD TV sets in the venue and control the projector and motorised screen.

Presets allow simple venue setup for the weekly bingo and draw events. “We want to provide a simple preset-based operation platform for the Action Bar staff – in the past, an AV company had to be brought in to assist with setting up even the simplest of events.

Crestron processors combined with their iPad app provided the functionality to automate venue operation in a way that even the barmen could understand, all at a very affordable price,” says Bricknell.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the project,” comments Lawrence. “It was great fun putting it all together, from FOH sound, stage lighting, projectors and screens, to the Crestron Control operated from an iPad. It’s a fantastic venue.”

Cheslyn Botha of CB Entertainment heads the casino’s audiovisual department and runs the AV, sound and lighting in the Action Bar. “The AV solution has absolutely exceeded my expectations,” says Cheslyn. “The Bose PA system is state of the art and the Crestron integrated system and Allen & Heath Mixing Desk are WOW! I have absolutely no disappointments.”

The up-market Boardwalk Action Bar comfortably seats an audience of 200 people and is set to become the centre of live entertainment in Port Elizabeth.

33

Installations Venue Solution

New school audio

by Greg Bester

When you think of a professionally installed sound system you do not immediately think it would be in a school. Indeed, the first thing that would pop into your mind would most likely be a live music venue or a conference centre or possibly even a theatre. However, let’s not forget that school students need to hear what’s going on as well, and when there are over 1 800 of them at an assembly or screaming and shouting at a sporting event, rest assured a simple system is just not going to cut it.

One company that specialises in audio installations of all kinds, including those for schools, is Surgesound based in the northern suburbs of Joburg. Situated conveniently between Midrand and Johannesburg, they are the sole importers and distributors of brands such as EAW, Lab Gruppen and Van Damme Cabling. – They took on the installation at the newly built multi-purpose hall at the Redhill School in Morningside, Sandton.

I was met there by Ruan Joubert, Technical Product Manager for Surgesound, and he was kind enough to show me around the installation for this review.

Redhill School is a “105-year old, co-educational, multi-faith, independent school” and its heritage shows as the property is huge and took quite a while to navigate through to the hall. In terms of size the hall is 40 x 20m with a 3.6sec RT60 decay, it can accommodate over 1 800 students, and as previously mentioned, was designed to be multifunctional which means that it will be used for everything from assemblies to sporting events and everything in between. That being the case, it’s not surprising that coverage was the main focus of the installation. It will also primarily

34

be used as a speech reinforcement system although it was designed to handle events of all kinds as well, including live bands.

Getting to the technical specifications of the system, an active line array from Italian manufacturer FBT was selected as the core loudspeaker array. Consisting of two 1200W Mitus 212FSA DSP active subwoofers and six 900W Mitus 206LA DSP active mid/high enclosures per side (the system is a dual array) flown high above the hall floor. Each array gets around 100 degrees of horizontal coverage and 10 degrees vertical per mid/high box, which means that there is about 60 degrees of vertical coverage each side.

The amount of enclosures and their configuration was selected specifically for the hall’s coverage requirements. Taking a walk around the venue I found that there was indeed a very even dispersion, no doubt aided by the inherent reverberation of the large empty hall, but even none the less.

The quality of the sound was consistent and clear and I’m sure that when 1 800 students are in the hall, the sound will clean up nicely.

System processing duties are all handled by an FBT DLM26 Digital Loudspeaker Management unit, which was installed into a rack in the control room, for easy access from the engineer operating the analogue console. An analogue console was selected because it is easy to use and it best matched the audio requirements of the school.

Tying it all together is cable from the London-based cable manufacturer Van Damme, which is also a Surgesound product.

Probably the strongest point of the Redhill School system is its simplicity and security, ensuring a long life with minimal maintenance.

In actual fact, the entire system consists of a mixer, two CD players, the two arrays and the DSP unit, plus the 16-channel wallbox (16 mono lines and four returns) and cabling. The subwoofers are flown above the mid/high boxes, keeping them away from idle hands and the wall box is conveniently located dead centre in the hall making for easy access.

To conclude, I think that Surgesound has provided a fantastic system to meet the budget and coverage needs of Redhill School and, as an audio engineer who is also a parent; the school is somehow more appealing!

Photo by Pat Bromilow Downing

Theatre Production LIVE EVENTs

Cue sound, cue lights, queue audience – it’s the Phantom!

By Andy Stead

Broadway’s longest running musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, has experienced sell-out seasons around the world and recently played to packed audiences in Johannesburg at The Teatro at Montecasino. Behind the extravagant and awe inspiring stage production is an equally complex and impressive array of technical facilities not least of which are the sound and lighting departments.

Glenn Duncan is head of lighting and has been with the production since the commencement of the South African leg in Cape Town. He started his career in lighting with Richard Loring at the now defunct Sound Stage in Midrand, and as a freelancer, he has worked with Pieter Torrien and other theatre productions for several years before joining Phantom. The attention to detail in the hand over process is extreme.

“When Phantom moved into the Artscape Opera house at the end of October,” says Duncan, “it gave the production a full four weeks before the fist preview on 22 November 2011. The South African version of the show is the Australian touring production, although it is an entirely local cast. We had a large contingent of mostly Australian technical and creative staff helping us put it together,” Included were Ken Roach and Rob Baker from Australia and

Michael Odam as associate lighting designer. Some of the moving lights had to be changed to a different model on this tour, so in addition to the usual updates and tweaks for a new venue there was a fair amount of programming to be dealt with to get the show looking and feeling right.

“Roach and I handled this under Odam’s direction,” says Duncan. Lighting positions, cable runs and dimmer placements were all worked out ahead of time after a site visit by the international contingent earlier in the year.

“Apart from the conventional lighting fixtures and moving lights, there is also a large amount of set electrics to be dealt with – everything on the set that lights up needs a power cable and a control method. We were shown how this all links up – as the show has been around for a long time there’s a well-established set of

35

LIVE EVENTs theatre Production procedures for getting it all up and running.

The Johannesburg production was Michael Odam’s 43rd Phantom production. “Twenty six years ago I was having planning meetings with Andrew Bridge the original lighting designer about the first production in London,” he says. “In those days I was the production electrician along with Howard Eaton. This was in the days before scrollers, dmx, lap tops and mobile phones were common.

“Johannesburg was the fourth time I’ve been lucky enough to work in SA and my limited experience of SA venues has been very good,” he adds. “All the crews I’ve met have been very friendly and helpful.

In Europe we have a mountain of health and safety regulations which I don’t think you have to the same extent. I have seen a few things in SA that we would not dream of doing in the UK. “As the show slowly took shape, the local crew were left increasingly to their own devices,” continues Duncan. “By opening night the Australians were mainly just observers and shortly afterwards there was not a single foreign passport on the show. The support since has been brilliant – even with the time difference, questions are answered immediately and help and suggestions cheerfully and promptly given. I’m looking forward to seeing them again for the next move to Manila.

“The fact is that the production follows a standard configuration

CUE LIGHTS: Michael Odam Associate Lighting Designer

36

that dictates the format and size of the theatre used. The company does intensive site visits of the venues and measurements and calculations are made to ensure that the theatre is suitable.

“Once the theatre has been given the thumbs up it takes about a week to do all the required rigging. When the lighting rig is established it is left pretty much alone other than the routine maintenance which we do once a week in our own. We also do ongoing trouble shooting, but other than this there is only a small amount of re-programming required.

“Mohammed Cloete is the second operator responsible for lighting, and this allows me time for maintenance and a stage plot, and to keep an eye on what the show looks like. The show runs for six days a week with eight shows a week and requires lighting to be on set at 5.30pm until the show ends at 10.45pm – and earlier if maintenance is required, so it’s quite a tough schedule.

“There are a total of 95 moving lights which is a big rig. This version of the touring show has the most moving lights out of any of the international shows. The moves are all pre-determined and moved on cue. There is a mix of fairy lights, Martin lights and some High End studio lights. We use an active tower to access the overhead rigs and the lighting towers. There are six follow spots on the show then two on each side, and two are built into the set. There are six follow spot operators which includes a head follow spot operator.”

The lighting control room houses the lighting control desk which is a German made MA desk with full back up. There are signal processors as well. This is Duncan’s base during the production where he is in full communication link with stage manager and everyone on stage.

“Lighting has its own comms loop,” he says, “mainly for set ups, as when the designer is in we will be doing programming updates etc.

There are more than 300 lighting cues called by the stage manager for each performance. The follow spots also have their own loop. I also have a picture monitor which shows areas that I can’t see from the control room.”

Head of the sound department is Strett Spies. Deputy Head and second operator is Mpho Taiwe; Tabo Kunutu, first radio operator; and Emily Adams, second radio operator. Understudy Taiwe (called number two) learns the show as well and gets up to three shows a week to operate.

Spies has also been working on Phantom since Cape Town, and again all the audio equipment came out from Australia. “The idea of being a first operator on a show like Phantom may come across as something fantastic (don’t get me wrong – It is!),” he says, “but like everything in life there will be hard times. When it comes to strikes, bump in, techs and production week, 12 to 16 hour days of physical work are a standard. Once the physical work is done, the mental stress of mixing a show of a world class standard, lingers over you. It sounds overwhelming and at times certainly is, but when you get through it, it yields a fortune of knowledge and experience.

“It does help if you have a pro-active and constructive design team. In this case, it was exactly what I had experienced. Shelly Lee (sound designer) from Australia and David Greasly (system tech) were both inspiring and constructive. Both were easy going yet knew exactly what they wanted to achieve. Shelly has a special way with people that brings the best out of them yet will challenge your abilities constantly. I would have to say that this experience has helped me grow as a human being as well as operator.”

The objective is to ensure that the sound quality, the mix and the levels are as close as possible from one production to the next. The standard is exceptionally high and must be maintained that way.

“There are in the region of 100 channels for the show,” adds Spies.

“All the radio microphones for the cast come through my desk, including some 30 orchestra microphones which include AKG D414s and others. There are also off stage microphones as well.”

There are some 28 radio microphones used by the cast. The actual microphones are woven into clothing, or come out through the front of their wigs. The set up of these microphones is done daily.

They are removed, cleaned, checked, batteries replaced and then re-set up for each performance.

“These microphones are Sennheiser MKE Platinums,” says Spies.

“They are high fidelity microphones which are very robust. There is a huge budget in place for microphones as they are prone to damage and replacements are necessary.

“There are also two directional studio microphones – the classic Neiman U87s, which are used off stage for the chorus, and there are also floor rifle / boundary microphones which are used if there are radio microphone failures.

“We also use outboard gear which includes processing. There are some rack mountable Mac Minis running Timex for surround sound playback. We have a bunch of speakers all around the theatre for this application and the surround is used mainly for effects. There is also change over gear for redundancy and a CD player for testing the system. We have a Lexington 48L which is a sought after reverb, old but a true classic. It has algorithms that rock every ones ears, I guess!

“I do all the mixing live for each performance although there is some automation. I ride each microphone dependant on whether it should be live or not. We have an A/B left / right system. Some of the orchestra for instance will go left speakers and some right. I am not sure the exact number of speakers, but there are many.”

The amplifiers and some of the other sound equipment is housed in the ‘bunker’ which is behind the orchestra pit area. “It’s mainly Yamaha amplification,” says Spies, “and the levels are controlled by a Galileo systems made by Meyer sound which controls not only the level but a lot of the equalisation, all of which is networked together by my computer connected via wireless. This bunker room is basically operator free.”

Spies is also a freelancer based in Johannesburg. “Before Phantom I was doing some location sound and have worked all over the place.

I was offered the number two position when the show moves to Manila, but I have chosen to remain in South Africa.

“I must say I love Phantom; I enjoy the complexity. I love the interaction from the audience who are close to the sound control.

They are always inquisitive and ask questions. Sound is the means of connecting the orchestra and cast to the audience and this is what I do.”

The dedication of enthusiasm of both Spies and Duncan is apparent. While they may not be on stage under the lights, their expertise on a technical level is a great contributing factor to the great success The Phantom of the Opera has achieved during the South African season.

A team of specialised technical supply professionals for corporate, television, theatre and music events.

Sales & Rental of Pro Audio Equipment

Lighting Supplier and 3D Lighting Design

Advanced Video Presentation Technology

37

LIVE EVENTs INTERNATIONAL Trade Show

PLASA 2012 turns up the volume

PLASA 2012 announces a brand new, free-to-attend Professional Development Programme – confirming its position as one of the largest knowledge-sharing events in Europe.

Created to encourage the exchange of important ideas, the new Pro Development Programme puts unrivaled focus on content provision, significantly developing the show’s educational offering.

The four-day programme consists of 80 free-to-attend sessions taking place in four brand new, purpose-built seminar theatres on the show floor. Organised into 9 distinct categories, the new format provides unparalleled access to entertainment and installation technology’s leading thinkers and doers.

The first category is Future Trends, a series of sessions looking at the current direction of technology and where it might lead us. This programme includes the headline session ‘Are we near to Perfect Sound?’ – presented by Director of R&D at Martin Audio, Jason Baird, and d&b audiotechnik Product Manager, Werner ‘Vier’ Bayer, plus a representative from Meyer Sound. Also featured will be ‘What’s left in the Black Box?’ – looking at how much further we can improve loudspeaker performance, featuring Tony Andrews of Funktion-One and d&b audiotechnik Acoustics Specialist Matthias Christner, plus representatives of JBL and other leading manufacturers.

The Emerging Technologies programme focuses its telescope on the horizon and explores the cutting-edge technologies which might one day make their way into the entertainment technology toolkit.

From nanotechnology to memristor memory, LED / laser data transmission, gesture recognition, quantum computers, T-rays and holograms, what will the future hold?

International & Major Projects is a unique series of sessions designed to provide money-can’t-buy access to the most creatively ambitious and technically challenging projects out there. Headlining the programme are Durham Marenghi and Tim Routledge with their fascinating account of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert, while Tapio Ilomaki looks at the new Helsinki Music Centre, and Ola Melzig joins a panel discussing the Eurovision 2012 production in Azerbaijan.

‘The Olympics Uncovered’ is the first ever top secret seminar programme at the PLASA Show. Immediately after London 2012, PLASA 2012 will be the first to celebrate our industry’s contribution to this monumental occasion with a series of top secret sessions. A panel of leading production personnel will explore the highs and lows of the

38

nail-biting hours of the Games’ opening ceremony.

The ‘Breaking New Ground’ category examines the role of originality in driving technical development in entertainment.

Headlining is Lucy Ockenden, who reveals the work behind Björk’s jaw-dropping video on her Biophilia Tour and Dave Swallow’s Audiothinktank, presenting forward-thinking audio for forwardthinking sound engineers.

‘Safety Issues’ is a must for all active practitioners in every area of the industry; this programme includes a look at safe working practices for outdoor structures and other pressing issues.

The ‘Sustainability Programme’ explores how to reconcile the needs of an energy-hungry industry with responsible environmental practices. Organisations such as The Theatres Trust and Julies Bicycle show how putting sustainability into practice, making it an intrinsic element of the music, theatre and creative industries, can pay dividends for your business.

Marketing, networking and effective publicity are all vital to healthy business development; the new Business Issues category examines the most cost-effective and productive methods of communicating your company’s message. Attend a ‘Social Networking Masterclass’ specific to the entertainment technology industry and learn how to make it work for you.

And finally, ever had a question you were burning to ask?

‘Back to Basics’ focuses on the fundamentals of audio, lighting and audio-visual technology, providing something for newcomers to the industry and all-important refresher sessions for seasoned campaigners.

These exciting developments underpin PLASA’s commitment to providing an unparalleled experience for visitors and remaining a leader in the provision of education, professional development and knowledge sharing across our industry.

Visitor registrations are now over 11 800 but visitors can still gain entry to the entire four-day event for only £10 – a saving of 50% on the full price of £20. Pre-registered visitors will be notified when seminar booking opens online!

Register now to save 50% on your ticket

Bigger picture | Brighter ideas

The essential international event for entertainment & installation technology • 300 exhibitors • 500 new products • Free four day Professional Development Programme Book online now and save 50% off the ticket price

www.plasashow.com

LIVE EVENTs Concert Report

The 18th South African Music

Photos by Duncan Riley

By Eddie Hatitye

The SAMAs were staged at the Super Bowl, Sun City in April and beamed live to millions of people on SABC 1. Produced by top production company, Vertical Limit Productions (VLP) on behalf of the Recording Industry of South Africa (Risa) – the production has been touted by audiences as being one of the best editions yet.

The technical production of the prestigious SAMA event was handled

by Dream Sets – a Johannesburg-based production company that has grown remarkably over the past few years.

As the technical production contractor, Dream Sets worked closely with a number of reputable sub-contractors including MGG Productions, AV Unlimited, Audio Logic and independent lighting designer Joshua Cutts of Visual Frontier. Nevermachine, headed by Gavin Wrattle, produced the show for television.

A substantial amount of the equipment was supplied by Dream Sets together with AV Unlimited and MGG Productions. The later also supplied several peripheral events that took place throughout the SAMA weekend.

The set The set was one of the most impressive elements of the yearly event.

Designed by Robert Hoey of Dream Sets, it featured giant inflatable tubes that sprawled into the venue’s ceiling to support seven projection rings. This was closely linked to the elegant stage design, which comprised separate ‘organic’ spaces and curved video walls.

“Part of the brief was to create little areas on the stage for different things and provide a dynamic background,” says set designer Robert Hoey.

Dream Sets had never built a set like that before and it took Hoey about four days to conceptualise. He worked with a number of professionals including AV Unlimited’s Guillaume Ducray, who helped

40

incorporate the audio-visual elements.

It took about three weeks to build the set offsite and seven days to assemble in the Super Bowl. Five Dream Sets pentac trucks transported gear to Sun City and at least 50 people worked on the set alone, off and on site. The original set design incorporated a fair amount of plywood and other materials but this was changed to fit the budget. On site, the main challenge was hanging the inflatable in the ceiling. Hoey also realised that a dedicated person had to maintain the pressure in the inflatables – a process that continued throughout the ceremony.

Lighting Independent lighting designer Joshua Cutts was brought on board about a month before the show. His task: “to create a vibrant MTV type design that would change the venue and stage from one saturated colour to another.”

The set covered a lot of the roof space and demanded a wellthought out rig layout which was a challenge. Part of Cutts’ solution was to light the inflatables externally and incorporate a curved trussing solution, including nine and 11 metre sections extending out into the audience.

The design employed the biggest lighting rig Cutts had ever used before and it took four to five days to rig under the direction of lead rigger Thomas Peters. It incorporated mostly Robe moving lights (over

Concert Report LIVE EVENTs

Awards

Tech Box Audio The sound design was done by Marius Marais of Audio Lagic – a regular at the awards.

His rig incorporated various elements of the in-house d&b audiotechnik system, including 16 J8 loudspeakers, four J12 loudspeakers (wide dispersion),12 Q1 loudspeakers and 10 J sub-woofers. Mixing was done on a Soundcraft Vi6 and radio mics were all from Shure.

On stage Marius had a combination of Audio-Technica, AKG, Shure and Bayer microphones. The set design did not allow for monitors so he spent a great deal of time getting the non in-ear performers used to the myMix in-ear monitoring system employed.

His crew comprised eight members and he worked closely with six engineers in the SABC van.

Video

200) and Clay Pakys (12), Avolites and Robert Juliat fixtures. Programming took two days and was done on site using a grandMA 2 full size console. To overcome signal-distribution and logistical challenges an extensive LumenRadio CRMX wireless DMX / RDM system was employed throughout the sprawling set.

AV Unlimited was tasked to supply AV equipment, as well as to handle projection onto the inflatable set.

Working under the direction of Dave Thompson, the AV crew plotted and tested all the projection distances and angles off site. A major challenge was that there was little space to project from and this was solved by incorporating beaming mirrors.

For graphics they employed Coolux Media Systems’ Pandora’s Box together with two servers and four outputs, all full HD. They also had four full HD inputs feeding from the OB van that were sent to four separate outputs.

Seven Barco FLM HD14s and two Barco FLM HD20 projectors were used.

Audio • • • •

d&b audiotechnik J-Series and Q-Series Soundcraft Vi6 mixing desk Mics: Audio-Technica, AKG, Shure and Bayer myMix in ear monitoring system

Lighting • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

• • • • • • • •

16 x Robe ColorWash 2500e ATs 6 x Robe ColorWash 700e ATs 21 x Robe ColorSpot 700e ATs 36 x Robe Robin 600 LED Washs 18 x Robe ColorBeam 700e ATs 12 x Clay Paky Sharpys 36 x Robe Robin LED Beam 100s 36 x Robe Led4ce 7s 12 x Robe Led4ce 18s 24 x Robe CitySkape 48s 6 x Robe CitySkape Extremes 34 x Longman Colorme LED Battens 12 x Longman LED Par 64s 16 x Martin Atomic Strobes 55 x Selecon SPX 36 deg Profiles 12 x ADB F201 Fresnels 12 x Selecon Arena 2Kw Fresnels 72 x Par 64 CP-62s 4 x Chameleon Starcloths 1 x Look Solutions Viper NT Foggers 1 x MDG Atmospheres 2 x Strong Super Trouper 2s 2 x Robert Juliat Cyranos 1 x MA Lighting GrandMA 2 Full size 2 x MA Lighting GrandMA 2s OnPC with Command Wings (full tracking backups) 1 x MA Lighting NPUs 6 x Proplex 8-Port Buffers 4 x LSC 10-Port Buffers 1 x Lumen Radio Dual TX with Supernova software for OSX 1 x Lumen Radio Single TX 9 x Lumen Radio RXs 1x Avolites Art 2000 48-Way Rack, 2 Hot Power Bays, 2 Dimmer Bays 2 x Avolites Powercubes

Video • • •

1 x Coolux Pandora’s Box System (1 Manager Machine and 2 Servers) 7 x Barco FLM HD14s 2 x Barco FLM HD20s

41

LIVE EVENTs Concert Report

Branching out to rig Zahara’s

By Louise Stickland

Multi South African Music Award (SAMA) winning singer / songwriter and poet Zahara – among SA’s hottest young talent of the moment – recently recorded a live DVD shot over two nights at Carnival City Big Top.

The show presentation, set, lighting and video concept was designed

by Tim Dunn and full technical production – rigging, lighting, video, set and sound – supplied out of Gearhouse South Africa’s Johannesburg facility.

Dunn’s brief included having to fit several elements into the performance space including 20 members of the Soweto Gospel Choir, a nine-piece string section, a DJ, numerous dancers and an 11-piece backing band.

The design also had to maximise the relative tight available stage space and present an appropriate visual backdrop for Zahara’s distinctive music and style, which looked good both on camera for DVD director Paulo Areal and for the capacity live audiences.

Dunn created an iconic structural baobab tree as a scenic centrepiece with eight facets and featuring eight different lengthed strips (branches) of Lighthouse R16 LED video screen emanating from it each side. At 9.5 metres high, the tree only just fitted into the available headroom.

To ensure the branches and other elements of the tree – which also provide the major lighting positions – were in exactly the right places involved substantial bridling of points in the roof, which came down to the skills and experience of lead rigger Kendall Dixon.

They used 24 inverted motors for hanging the eight video branches alone – slightly staggered – which ended up with less than 30cm space between each one. In the process, they had to negotiate their way around the complex network of AC ducts in the roof to get drops correctly positioned.

Dixon and his team of seven also installed trussing for other lighting positions including over the audience and for the PA hangs – entailing 97 points in total – achieved in an intense 12-hour operation.

Dunn used about 150 moving lights across the rig, including several LED lightsources which he likes for many functional and

42

imaginative reasons.

A mix of Robe ColorWash and ColorSpot 2500E ATs were utilised as the main moving and effects lights, with 48 Martin Professional MAC 101s hung beneath the ‘branch’ video panels.

Robe ROBIN 600 LED Washes were used for band and stage washes and MAC Auroras for audience lighting together with Robe REDWash 3192s for stage and auditorium.

The trusses were toned with 60 i-Pix Satellite LED ‘bricks’ and there were also 24 i-Pix BB4 LED blinders dotted around.

Dunn created special ambient video visual content using a lot of stills and masks to complement the lighting and add an extra dimension that really helped set the individual mood and tone for each song.

Using the tree for rigging much of the lighting made the focusing very dynamic and flexible, enabling Dunn to hit the multiple onstage positions with ease.

He also had a white back-cloth upstage which took light effectively and added depth to the overall picture, with the rest of the stage trimmed in black.

Dunn programmed both lighting and scenic video over a single night and operated the show from a grandMA full size console, which also ran the two MA VPU servers storing the video content. He went straight into the first show with no rehearsals or run throughs – nothing like a bit of pressure!

Photo courtesy TS Records and EMI South Africa

set

FOH sound engineer Andreas Furtner’s main challenges included ensuring that the stage noise – with lots of people, activity and open mics – was controllable through the mix.

They used wireless DPA cardioid headset mics for the choir and Countryman contact mics for the strings which reduced bleed of the onstage noise into these microphones considerably.

Some of the band and Zahara used Sennheiser IEMs further reducing the levels on stage. Zahara used a wired Sennheiser M2000 mic with a 965 capsule and Sennheiser supplied all the drum and backing vocal mics, which was organised through Barry Turner at Sennheiser SA. The main PA system was L-Acoustics Kudo, eight speakers a side which is the venue’s in-house system, to which Gearhouse Audio added side/out hangs of six dv-DOSC a side plus another six single dv’s as front fills.

They boosted the house’s four L-Acoustics SB28 subs with another four of their own to ensure nice low end radiance throughout the venue.

The side fills comprised two ARCs cabinets a side each flown with an SB28 underneath, with a dv-DOSC for drum sub and 16 Clair Brothers 12AM wedges.

The L-Acoustics components were all powered by their own LA8 amplifiers and the Clair wedges by their proprietary units.

Both FOH and monitors were run from 96-channel DigiDesign Profile consoles, with a third stationed in GP Sound’s recording unit. Furtner mixed FOH, Gearhouse’s Kolofelo ‘Rasta’ Sewela was the monitor engineer and Richard Mitchell took care of the recording side.

The shows were an incredible success and hugely well received, and the DVD will add some serious profile to Zahara’s rapidly burgeoning career on the world stage.

43

LIVE EVENTs International Factory Tour

International designs manufactured in China Claire Badenhorst reports from Shenzhen, the export hub of China

When we see the words ‘Made in China’ printed on a product, the immediate reaction is to think that the product is of an inferior quality. After recently having the opportunity to join Audiosure’s top performing Wharfedale reps and dealers on a trip to visit the IAG (International Audio Group) facility, this perception has somewhat changed.

The 1.5 million square foot production facility is located in the industrial area of Shenzhen, China, where they manufacture among others Wharfedale Pro, Wharfedale HiFi, Albion Guitar Amplification, COEF, F.A.L and Apogee Lighting, AudioLab, Quad, Mission, Castle, Ekco, LEAK and Luxman.

R&D groups are based in the UK and USA while manufacturing takes place in Shenzhen where around 1 million Pro Audio products are churned out annually. Another plant, four times the size of the Shenzhen operation, has been built in the nearby area of JiangXi, Ji’an where all operations will eventually be moved.

Few can really conceptualise that building anything from scratch involves the use of real raw material, skilled staff and a real production line. This statement may sound blatantly obvious but physically seeing a speaker being made from a steel rod is something special and somewhat mind blowing.

The fully ISO9001 approved factory is set up in a series of five story buildings. In total there must be more than ten. Each floor is more than three rugby fields in size and houses plenty of workers. The work force ranges from unskilled labour doing the simplest of jobs like tinning the pigtails on HF diaphragms to personnel loading, checking and

44

fault-finding completed component boards, through to operating monster machinery.

We were first taken to the tool shop, a full production suite where they manufacture their own tooling. This is where the injection moulds are made with dies and jigs. One thing astounding about the IAG factory is the fact that they produce virtually all components in-house leaving very little to outsourced companies. The high level of vertical integration allows them to manufacture the smallest of components from nuts and bolts to chassis manufacture to winding the voice coils and manufacturing the PCBs for the crossover, even the packaging is made onsite. This allows them total control of the quality they produce, delivery times and costs.

In an operation of this magnitude one would expect to find the majority of the work to be done by machinery; sure there are machines, extremely advanced ones at that, but the incredible thing is to see how many human ‘machines’ actually make this wheel turn, with over 2 000 permanent staff at the Shenzen factory alone.

During the tour, we were shown each intricate process involved in making a speaker. In short: 750 metric tonnes of kinetic force press a 30mm steel rod into the part that the voice coil fits over (they call it a

International Factory Tour LIVE EVENTs and has been for over a decade. “Wharfedale Pro has been Audiosure’s biggest agency and has been in that number one position for as long as I can remember. The Wharfedale sales in South Africa rank very high worldwide, especially if you compare our actual sales to the size of the South African market,” adds John Silver, General Manager – Pro Division.

Thank you to our friends at Audiosure and the IAG Group for a fantastic experience. To the reps and dealers in the running for next years’ trip – sell your hearts out, you don’t want to miss this one!

QUALITY CONTROL: Mubashar ‘Ali’ doing routine inspections

T-bar). The speaker cone literally gets sucked into a pre-determined mould in exactly three seconds then is dried by an extremely hot jig.

The magnet is ‘charged’ in three seconds and everything gets tested a couple of times over.

The manufacturing is the responsibility of the general manager – personified in this case by the slim but not tender Mubashar Ali, simply introduced to us as “Ali”. Ali joined the IAG Group more than 10 years ago. He previously worked as a communications specialist (microwave) in the Royal Marines and eventually moved on to work for the renowned British Formula 1 firm, McLaren.

Ali comes over as a very relaxed person, but in his joking sarcasm you can tell he is really set on his reputation, in particular, the reputation of the quality his name is tied to. It takes a special character to run an operation of this magnitude; he has a big staff contingent and a huge amount of investment to look after. From what I saw during my visit to the factory, quality control is a top priority and I’m sure that anyone who has had the opportunity to visit the factory would strongly agree.

Wharfedale Rewards Programme: Audiosure’s winners and hosts at Hong Kong Harbour Audiosure is the sole distributor for Wharfedale Pro in South Africa

E100. More power 2U. 4 x 2.5 kW, 12 kg, Class D Power Amplifier

Sometimes less is more: less space...more power. Delivering high powered, superior sounding amplification in a compact format, E100 guarantees exceptional sound quality and utmost reliability in the most demanding conditions. Our advanced 92% efficient Class D output stage runs cool and draws less power from the mains.Backed by a 5 year warranty, get more, for less.

Find the full specs at www.mc2-audio.co.uk.

Imported by

www.audiosure.co.za 45

LIVE EVENTs tracking Technology

Allen & Heath ZED60-14FX

Allen & Heath has launched the ZED60-14FX, a highly compact analogue mixer that is ideal for small bands and venues.

ZED60-14FX is a companion to the ZED60-10FX launched earlier this year, and employs the same high quality 60mm faders but with the addition of an extra four mono/mic channels.

Two of the eight mono channels have high impedance jack inputs that can take a normal line level or a low level input from a guitar pickup, so guitars can be plugged straight into the mixer without the need for DI boxes. These inputs have been crafted to recreate the sound of a classic tube preamp in a combo or head amp for incredible definition and warmth. Two stereo inputs are provided for MP3 / CD players or keyboards.

The ZED60-14FX also comes with configurable USB audio in / out, making it easy to capture a stereo recording at the gig or in the studio. The mixer is equipped with professional XLR main stereo outputs, a flexible monitoring section with headphone and speaker feed outputs and 16 high quality digital effects.

Distributed by www.audiosure.co.za

L-ACOUSTICS Arcs Wide / Arcs Focus L-ACOUSTICS’ new Arcs Wide and Arcs Focus systems are based on two constant curvature enclosures holding distinct directivity pattern and SPL capabilities.

Intended for medium-throw applications in rental productions and fixed installations, these line sources deliver remarkable acoustic properties and unmatched versatility for many applications, including FOH L/R systems, central clusters, side-fill monitors, distributed systems and complementary fills.

The main systems components consist of the following: • ARCS WIDE (H x V: 30° x 90°) element, wide coverage, operating from 55 Hz to 20 kHz; • ARCS FOCUS (H x V: 15° x 90°) element, focused energy, operating from 55 Hz to 20 kHz; • SB18m low frequency extension, operating down to 32 Hz; • LA4 or LA8 amplified controllers.

The Arcs Wide or Arcs Focus line sources provide high SPL with perfect acoustic coupling, a solid LF performance and constant tonal balance over distance. Both systems can be deployed either as a horizontal array or as a vertical array.

46

Martin Mac Viper With an exceptional feature set and highly efficient optical system that outperforms market-leading profiles in the 1200-watt range, interest in this first moving head in the Viper family has been fantastic.

The MAC Viper Profile houses a 1 000W HID source that is convincingly brighter than 1 200W fixtures. It kicks out 26000 lumens of top-quality light – flat and uniform – making it over 30% brighter than veteran 1200watt products. With a power consumption that is surprisingly low, the bottom line is an impressive 55% increase in efficiency.

The MAC Viper Profile offers all the qualities of a better industry workhorse to outperform any market-leading profile in the 1 200watt range. Martin’s Viper family will encompass a complete series of automated fixtures in multiple variants: MAC Viper Profile™, MAC Viper AirFX™, MAC Viper Wash™ and MAC Viper Performance™.

Distributed by www.electrosonic.co.za

ClayPaky Alpha Profile 700 The Alpha Profile 700 is the only 700W automated spotlight with framing system available on the market.

Focal distances have been optimised for an effective framing of well-focused patterns, with triangles and quadrangles of all shapes and sizes.

Programming is enormously simplified, thanks to the colourmacros and the Dyna-Cue-Creator function; the extraordinary (patent-pending) Stay-Sharp-Zoom function keeps images in focus while the zoom runs from one beam angle to another, even when projected effects are located on different focal planes.

Distributed by www.dwrdistribution.co.za

tracking Technology LIVE EVENTs

High End Systems Technospot

Soundcraft® Si Performer Not only is Si Performer a major advance in terms of audio functionality, it’s the first audio console to include DMX functionality, for which they have a patent pending.

This enables a single operator to adjust audio and lighting functions from the same surface, a major benefit in applications such as small theatres, corporate events, music venues, houses of worship and gigging bands.

Enhancements over the Si Compact include: • Up to 80 inputs to mix • Four-band fully-parametric EQ on all channels and busses (switchable bell / shelf on HF and LF) • Eight VCA Groups • Eight Mute Groups • 20 Mix busses, plus four FX, eight Matrix and LCR • Fully free assignable layers – mix inputs, outputs and DMX masters on any layer • True LCR panning mode • Freely assignable insert points • Colour backlit LCD displays for channel naming, graphic EQ fequencies and bus / mode identification • DMX512 port and functionality The DMX functions are accessed by a set of ALT fader banks and can control up to 30 DMX addresses on faders.

Distributed by www.wildandmarr.co.za

Designed for a wide variety of small and medium scale performance applications, Technospot is a compact hard-edge luminaire with exceptional value and performance. A full featured fixture designed for club, stage and studio applications where environmental durability and high quality output are required.

Technospot features smooth CMY color mixing and a fixed color wheel. Two rotating Lithopattern® wheels, each with six patterns plus open, provide a large number of output patterns and images. The output can be further enhanced with a rotating prism and an animation wheel.

Following the professional lighting, large exiting aperture trend, Technospot features a prominent 5.3 inch lens, 11° to 34° zoom, and over 12 000 lumens of output.

With its incredibly efficient optics, Technospot outperforms other luminaires in its range and projects clean crisp images that cut through any wash. Rotating and animating patterns, four-facet prism, fast iris, unique animation wheel, and superb color systems make Technospot a great value in low-cost automated lighting.

Distributed by www.questekadvanced.co.za

Nexo NXAMP firmware

ETC Desire D40 Luminaire The Desire D40 luminaire combines 40 Luxeon® Rebel emitters onto one unit, for bright, efficient lighting.

The PAR-shaped washlight is a multipurpose tool that can be combined into a rig with conventional fixtures or used by itself.

The user-interface on the rear of the unit puts the control in your hands – Desire luminaires can be managed by any RDM-enabled controller or on their own.

Each fixture offers Quick Setup options, so you can quickly and easily adjust the luminaire’s performance. Stage, XT (Exterior)/ Architectural, High-Impact, Studio and General settings further customise the light output for specific uses.

Distributed by www.prosound.co.za

The NXAMP firmware Load 3_01 is now available for download on http://nexo-sa.com.

After two years of work, the R&D team has generated a new family of set-ups. Linear phase has now been applied across the NEXO range, so you can mix and match products from early PS series onwards. There are new FIR filters for the GEO S12 in active and passive mode and new set-ups for the PS15 which deliver the same quantum improvement in quality as for the PS10-R2.

The long-awaited set-up selection per channel is now implemented. Being able to programme per product per channel, combining all systems with perfect phase and amplitude match is an astonishing leap forward in the versatility of the NXAMP. Highlights include: • Set up selection per channel • Linear phase on all set-ups • All systems compatible 20Hz-20kHz Distributed by www.tadco.co.za

47

LIVE EVENTs Sponsored Editorial

Soundcraft SI-Compact

– versatile, professional, responsive Freelance Entertainment projects made an acquisition that revolutionised their role as front of house and monitor mixing sound engineers.

The Soundcraft SI-Compact 32 was purchased last year for the Oude Libertas Amphi Theatre in Stellenbosch. The company has been responsible for audio in this venue since 2008.

Oude Libertas is an outdoor venue therefore the console is not permanently fixed but is constantly set up. The unit’s durability and size make this process less cumbersome.

“The Soundcraft SI-Compact was the perfect choice because it is versatile, easy to use, it has a small footprint and, above all, for its excellent audio quality. At the Oude Libertas Amphi Theatre, shows range from music performances to drama as well as classical and opera productions. The console is easy to set up, easy to operate and very reliable, even in an outdoor environment.”

Stephan Kruger & Riaan Rademan Soundcraft SI-Compact: Distributed by www.wildandmarr.co.za

Imported by

www.audiosure.co.za

48

Freelance Entertainment Projects

LIVE EVENTs Concert Report

By Louise Stickland

Heating up the desert – for opera Photos by Louise Stickland

Israeli technical production solutions company The Design Group returned to the site they created in 2010 at the foot of Masada Mountain on the shores of the Dead Sea, for the 2012 Israeli Opera Festival’s fiery production of Carmen, which proved every bit as hot as the searing desert temperatures!

The fantastic ‘bare stage’ Carmen production took advantage of the arid, boundless expanses of the boulder strewn natural environment; this was literally ‘ground breaking’ as the set was radically bulldozed and sculptured out of the barren desert terrain.

Featuring William Orlandi’s stunningly visual production design, Carmen was directed by Giancarlo del Monaco and conducted by maestro Daniel Oren with lighting design created by Avi Yona Bueno (aka Bambi).

The Design Group team was led by production director Eyal Lavee and site and production manager Elad Mainz, who built on the massive learning curves of the previous two years; the site is now a real practical working environment.

Lavee and Mainz worked with up to 150 crew and technicians on site over a sustained two-month period.

The technical package included creating the performance area, supplying seating tribunes to accommodate 7 500 people each night and all the necessary site and production infrastructure.

The process involved close collaboration with the opera’s production team led by events and operations manager, Uri Hartman.

Leading UK rental companies HSL and Britannia Row were again engaged by The Design Group to provide the very best quality in stage lighting and sound.

With three years of experience working in the toughest desert environment, they all knew what to expect – including the complete unpredictability of life, nature and technology out in the desert!

This was just one of many ephemeral threads making it another magical and completely unique production at Masada.

Setting the scene At a quick glance the set may not have looked like anything but sculpting the rocks and sand of the former sea bed into the sultry Seville backdrop for Carmen took enormous effort and meticulous planning.

Working with the bare stage required: “A completely different

50

approach and entering a different visual head-space,” explains Elad Mainz.

Plenty of technology was ensconced in the set – larger items like wedge monitors and lights together with copious amounts of cabling, and to maintain the best site lines, a new lower orchestra pit was excavated.

Wide, stripped back and sparse, the whole space took an on almost filmic appearance.

Several large set pieces were constructed including a 15-metre long train consisting of an engine and three wagons, plus 50 metres of railroad track upstage.

A large 120 square metre dance stage was comprised of 20 segments that had to be carried onstage and assembled and removed in three and a half minutes.

At the back of the performance area set company Irgunit (part of The Design Group) completed an industrial scale installation with electricity pylons and telegraph poles, juxtaposing starkly with the barren desert.

As a piece of open air staging, the passion, drama and wellbalanced accessibility of Carmen worked beautifully and organically.

Lighting It was HSL’s crew chief Ian Stevens’ third stint at Masada, and although the same demanding working conditions existed; experience and acclimatisation also made it much easier.

He was joined by Matt Brown and they worked with three top Israeli lighting technicians – Tsafrir Dagan (Saffi), and Itay and Ran Hafner.

Director Giancarlo del Monaco had a very clear vision about the naturalistic lighting he wanted, and Bambi had his work cut out to bring exactly the right amount of layering, texturing and specific lighting quality needed to paint the bigger picture.

The daylight scenes were based around subtle different colour temperature whites and ambers, while the night ones were around rich, sumptuous shades of blue.

Concert Report LIVE EVENTs Simple, traditional, effective.

The challenges of working with restricted colour palettes also added resonance and depth to the production. The 150 moving lights were all Robe – specified for numerous reasons including their propensity to withstand rugged environments.

The 82 Robe ColorSpot 2500E ATs and 32 x ColorSpot 1200E ATs were also picked for their intensity, needed to cover the long throw distances to the stage of up to 80 metres from the side and front gantries. Thirty Robe REDWash 3Ÿ192s were stationed upstage embedded in the ‘scenic’ mountains.

Other lighting from HSL included about 200 ETC Source Fours, Strand 5K Bambino fresnels fitted with Chroma-Q M5 Mk II colour scrollers, an assortment of single PARs and Raylites and several strings of 250W and 600W ACLs, plus all dimming, distro and cabling.

Masada Mountain was lit at strategic moments with sixty 5K Panther searchlights and 20 sets of 600W ACLs, all running off a City Theatrical wireless DMX system.

Alon Cohen programmed and operated the show using a CompuLite Vector Red console.

The lighting department also surpassed themselves; backstage hospitality included well stocked fridges and freezers, pleasant chill out areas with the best Wifi hotspots and the now legendary Stevens Café & Grill, where Ian’s toasted sandwiches have become Masada site folklore!

Sound Several new faces appeared on the Britannia Row crew of 10 this year including crew chief Tristan Farrow, who wasn’t fazed by any of the challenges of the desert and embraced the camaraderie and good working atmosphere.

The L-Acoustics Kudo sound system that worked so successfully last year was back again, with 14 Kudos in the main hangs, seven in the sides and six SB218 subs per side on the floor.

The 55-metre wide stage aperture presented its own audio issues together with the large orchestra pit and general loudness of the singers onstage. They relied heavily on precisely positioned infills – four stacks of three-high dV-DOSC and three dV SUBs – to focus as much ‘weight’ as possible into the middle of the auditorium.

L-Acoustics 108 speakers formed the delay rings – a row of eight behind the first tier of seating and another half way up the bleachers to freshen up the high end.

FOH engineer Barry Bartlett mixed the show using a Midas XL8 console. Monitors were mixed by Dee Miller from the comfort of a climate controlled container backstage.

Operas don’t usually utilise monitors when performing in venues,

but in the unique ‘without walls’ scenario at Masada the essential monitor system function was to mimic a room sound.

The front-of-stage ring of Turbosound TFM420 wedges – completely buried in the earth of the stage floor – were delayed to the conductor’s position in the pit.

A side hang of 1 x dV-DOSC SUB and four dVs pre side covered the side ‘walls’ in the mid-stage position, with upstage stacks of two-high dV-DOSC giving a back wall effect at the rear of the space – concealed in the scenic mountains. The concept worked extremely well in terms of creating a sound field for the performers.

The mics were all DPA 4061 headsets. The 10 principals and 30 chorus performers were close-mic’d, with a selection of shot-gun mics for ambient pickups onstage and 54 channels of Schoeps for the orchestra.

The Sennheiser 5000 radio system consisted of 48 x 3782 Mk II receivers and 48 x 5212 belt packs, running via eight antennae dotted around the stage, routed into a custom distro system from Sennheiser.

This was looked after by Barry McLeod who encountered some surprises when discovering the ‘real’ RF interference levels – and sources – present in an empty desert space!

Moving on Carmen was another major creative and technical achievement for both the Israeli Opera and The Design Group, uniting many disciplines, skills, talents, energising some great teamwork and producing awesome results.

Having quickly built an international reputation for this fresh and invigorating festival phenomena – literally right out of nothing in the desert – the Opera Festival will continue next year with a new production of Puccini’s Turandot.

Imported by

www.audiosure.co.za

51

LIVE EVENTs Concert Report

Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert Photo by Jennie Marenghi

By Louise Stickland

A an elegant crown shaped set designed by stage architect Mark Fisher was installed in front of Buckingham Palace, London, to host a long line up of international artists in a free concert celebrating HM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee (QDJ).

Lighting was designed by Durham Marenghi and the show was enjoyed by around 250 000 people in and around The Mall and live broadcast worldwide by the BBC. The stage formed a roof over the circular stage and via its supporting structure and horseshoe shaped trusses, provided the lighting positions, kept minimal to preserve the transparency of the roof.

Six grandMA lighting consoles and over 200 Clay Paky moving lights were utilised in programming, and Marenghi worked closely with Associate LD and Lead Programmer, Tim Routledge on lighting this part of the event.

Marenghi and his visual team also lit the huge crowds that amassed to catch the action, and were responsible for the stunning lighting and projections onto the front of Buckingham Palace which made such an impact.

To handle all the audience and TV key lighting, Programmer Alex Passmore used another grandMA2 full size and worked closely with Television Lighting Director Steve Nolan.

Programming lighting inside the Palace compound itself was LD Dave Hill, with another grandMA full size for control.

Lighting equipment for the QDJ celebrations in this area of central London was supplied by Neg Earth, together with a crew chiefed by Fraggle (Andy Porter).

The Palace lighting – 32 x Alpha Wash 1500s for the front facade, with four Alpha Spot QWO 800s to light the band Madness playing their set on the roof – augmented a projection system designed by Marenghi with Steve Greetham and Andy Joyes of XL Events.

The projections were a major highlight of the event and once darkness fell, featured the amazing animations created by Sam Pattinson, Trunk and UVA. XL Events supplied the 36 Barco FLM HD 20K projectors arranged in 6 stacks of 6 to produce the projections, plus twelve Barco Image Pros and two Lightware DVI matrices.

XL Events also provided approximately 600 tiles of Pixled FX-11 LED which formed the large wraparound screen on the main crownshaped concert stage, for which visuals were created by Miguel Ribeiro and Paul Clutterbuck.

The onstage screens were additionally fed with an IMAG mix of the array of superstars performing, who included Kylie Minogue, Will.i.am, Jessie J, JLS, Ed Sheeran, Stevie Wonder, Sir Tom Jones, Robbie

52

Williams, Gary Barlow and many more, using XL’s Sony Z-series HDV cameras, Panasonic camcorders and monitoring.

Britannia Row supplied the PA, with FOH engineer Josh Lloyd specifying a substantial control network comprising two MIDAS PRO9 consoles and a MIDAS PRO2C for FOH and an XL8, another PRO9 and a PRO6 for monitor world.

With so many quick changeovers, it was important to be able to change settings on a scene-by-scene basis which was made fast and simple by utilising the MIDAS set up. Lloyd also mixed the house band on the PRO9.

The main system requirements were that the PA needed to be heard but not seen, so they chose an Outline Butterfly system for most of the coverage due to its compact size and weight, while still being able to provide a big sound from a small box.

The system comprised ten stacks of four high Butterflies on decks around the stage of the Queen Victoria Monument (QVM) to cover the audience area between the QVM and the seating blocks. The low end was produced by a large sub line around the QVM’s perimeter.

The main bleacher seating area was covered by eight stacks of six high Butterflies to cover the seating blocks and periphery areas above. These were stacked on decks with a single sub beneath each one. The bleachers also had a ring of 32 Turbosound Impacts to help fill in the first few rows and 16 x L-Acoustics 108s to cover the upper area.

Outfills and infills of L-Acoustics Arcs and Outline Butterfly covered the entrances and exits into the audience area, and L-Acoustics 108 lip-fills dealt with the downstage area.

Down The Mall, they used eight hangs of 8 deep L-Acoustics V-DOSC with three SB28 on each position. Two systems within St James’s Park featured main and delay stacks of V-Dosc positioned on the north and south sides.

All this was networked together via Britannia Row’s fibre returns system, entailing over 6.5km of fibre, using Audinates Dante for transport, with 48 Labgruppen LM Series processors and two Yamaha DME64s for matrixing and control.

Overall technical production for all these sections of the QDJ was co-ordinated by Kenny Underwood and Albert Lawrence for Robbie Williams Productions. with event design by Malcolm Birkett.

AQ series

Stadium series

Tel: +44 (0)1494 535312 Fax: +44 (0)1494 438669 E-mail: info@martin-audio.com

Wavefront series www.audiosure.co.za

The Martin Experience

www.martin-audio.com

Blackline series

sales@audiosure.co.za

Marius Marais

LIVE EVENTs Industry Expert Marius Marais is one of the most sought-after sound engineers in South Africa.

With over two decades in the professional audio industry, he has engineered all kinds of big

gigs, from Skouspel to Idols and the Fifa World Cup Concert. He is also a recipient of two Technical Production Services Association (TPSA) awards for Best Engineer Of The Year (2006 and 2008). We recently chatted to him.

You qualified as an aircraft instruments technician. How did you end up behind the sound desk?

Marius: As much as I hate to admit it, I have always been interested in the game. When I finished my apprenticeship in the air force, I decided to pursue my passion and applied for a position in the sound department at the State Theatre. Even before I finally left the Air Force I started freelancing. I strongly believe that sound is in your blood, and once you realise that the passion is there and you survive the first years of late nights and long hours, you are then hooked!

Can you share some of the defining memories of your early years in the industry?

Marius: Starting at the State Theatre was definitely baptism by fire.

Thrown in at the deep end, had to learn quickly. After only three weeks I was put behind the console to mix my first show. Pressure was huge but it’s the best way to learn. Back in the early 90s the theatre scene was very busy and my time at the State Theatre and later at the PACOFS theatre complex in Bloemfontein has left me with fond memories of great shows. From big scale musicals to brilliant jazz.

days on end with little rest, spending days away from your family, then you will enjoy every moment. Getting the perfect balance between the work and a social / family life is very difficult. In saying that, I do not believe that there is another career that will provide job satisfaction as this one does.

What sort of challenges are associated with running a company like Audio Logic in South Africa?

Marius: One of the most difficult things to sell is skill. As the old saying goes... “you are only as good as your last gig�, is so true. My goal with Audio Logic is to provide a specialty service to clients. Not competing with the PA rental business but rather concentrate on providing a specialist solution with high end consoles and microphones for events that require lots of inputs and is of large scale. By no means does this mean that Audio Logic only does big or large scale events, we also do small events and I do get booked as a FOH engineer by lots of artists. I believe in approaching every gig with the same attitude, no matter the size or type.

What do you love the most about your job and what has been your proudest project?

Marius: I have quite a couple of events that I am very proud of. Being involved with certain projects like Skouspel from almost the start, seeing the event grow into one of the largest events in South Africa.

Spending long hours planning and designing the show to make sure that every one of the audience members that attend have a memorable experience. Also working with the top artists in the country, to ensure that their experience at every performance is perfect. It is a fact, if you have a happy artist performing, you have a good show.

How do you feel about the overall shift towards digital?

Four years ago you established your own company, Audio Logic. What were your goals then and have you achieved any?

Marius: Through the years there has been shows that I wanted to do and artists that I wanted to work with. I had a list and started ticking off the events one by one. Years ago I did SAMAs, and like lots of events that come and go, I wanted to get back on it. I did it again in 2010 and 2012.

There are still a whole lot of productions I want to get involved in.

The larger challenging events are what drive me the most. Designing and operating large events has always been my passion, and every production fuels the fire to do better and I learn from every event. I build Audio Logic on the belief that delivering good service and a professional product will ensure repeat business. This gives me the opportunity to better each event, upping the standard every time.

Marius: It took me a while to do the mental shift towards digital.

Working on the analogue platform for most of my career, I found the digital platform quite intimidating. After realising the advantages going digital, and with technology changing, and with digital desks sound improving, it was the logical thing to do. If I had to compare the events that I do now using analogue, it would take racks and racks of outboard gear and multiple consoles to achieve the same goal. With technology changing at such a rate the digital consoles create the platform to grow and experiment for better shows.

What do you do when you are not behind the desks?

Marius: I am a huge custom motorcycle fan. I love going for a ride. I like to think of it as therapy. Difficult to explain. Then obviously family time. With the amount of time spent away from home, days of spending time with family is worth gold.

Favourite song of all time?

54

What is the most important thing a person who enters the audio industry must know?

Marius: Rammstein.

Marius: Any discipline in this industry takes its toll. The one thing that stands out is the long hours; if you are willing to cope with working

Holiday destination of choice?

Marius: Budapest, New York and the far east..

EXPERT CHOICE Studio & LIVE

By Greg Bester

Sound engineers’ microphones of choice Some say that microphones are like colours on a palette and that our ears are the canvas. They spill audio on the proverbial pages in our sensory mind and the colours mingle into something unique.

But alas, despite this garish metaphor, they are often the most overlooked tone shaping components in the signal chain and my professional worth his salt knows that the selection and placement of a microphone is an art form in itself and the first line in tonal achievement. Just a slight move of a fraction of a centimeter can transform a sound completely, which is why it is crucial to know your microphones intimately and to have foresight of the end result. This can only come from experience.

Professionals in the audio field, particularly those involved in recording and live sound reinforcement, spend their careers in search of better and better microphones to suit their needs.

Some microphones are magical. They sound great no matter where you put them and the esoterica as to why is almost as

nebulous as the meaning of life itself. When a specimen like that is found, you’ll be hard pressed to pry it out of dead hands. For this reason, most experienced audio professionals will have amassed a large collection, or at least a large list of ‘go-to’ microphones, that they can’t work without. These require minimal processing to get the job done, and will deliver the goods.

Here in South Africa we have many professionals of this caliber. We have some of the best audio engineers in the world, if you ask me – just ask who Eddie Kramer or Mutt Lange is – and they are just as discerning. I had the opportunity to interview six of the best about their choice of microphones and the results were interesting to say the least.

Gavan Eckhart

DPA – 4099 Stereo pair

Gavan Eckhart is a freelance sound engineer based in Johannesburg. A chameleon of the industry, he works in virtually all disciplines of the audio field, notable by the wide variety of his client list – Miriam Makeba, Stimela, Philip Miller, William Kentridge, Marcus Wyatt, Freshlyground, 340ml, Afronaut and Ladysmith Black Mambazo among many more.

“The DPA 4099s, to me, are revolutionary microphones. They are really astounding in their open-ness and clarity and I find myself using them extensively in theatre, studio and live recordings. They are just so natural and open and require very little EQ to get the sound you’re after. When you’ve got a situation where you have an open lid piano, you can really get them right up to the strings without getting that focus-central tonality from one string.”

Garrick van der Tuin Neumann M269 Valve – Vocals “I really love standards like Neumann mics. I own a vintage M269 valve mic and it really sounds good, when it finally works, because it takes a while to warm up. But this is always an issue with vintage mics that require a lot of maintenance.”

Neumann TLM103 – Vocals / general purpose “The TLM103 has a clean transistor sound that I like for spoken word and for certain vocalists that belt quite a lot. It has a sound similar to the U87 but not as well-rounded and sometimes requires a little more ‘massaging’ into place.”

Schoeps CMT 55 – Percussion and piano stereo pair “During the recording of the score of White Lion, we tried using a couple of PZM microphones for the piano, but they didn’t work as expected so we ended up going with a stereo pair of vintage Shoeps CMT5s. I like to use them on percussion as well because they have a really clean transient sound with a fair bass response.”

Garrick van der Tuin is a drummer, producer and sound engineer. He has been working with Hugh Masekela for the past five years. When they are not touring the world they are recording and developing Masekela’s new studio and record label, House of Masekela. Garrick is also the drummer for art-rock band Albinobeach and co-producer of African lounge groups Afronaut, Mpemba Effect and the latest offering Africa Lounge Collective on the African Cream Music record label.

Kick – Audix D6 “There are many kick drums out there and as many kick drum mics. At this point my first choice for a kick drum mic for live shows is the Audix D6. It’s actually quite a funny sounding mic on its own.

It’s one of those mics that works well in the mix but on it’s own you really start to question where the rest of the kick drum is. It’s obviously pre-EQed by a less deaf guy than the Shure Beta 52, that’s for sure, but it just works because it has a good attack and nice solid bottom end without the massive, booming bottoms of the Beta 52.”

55

Studio & Live Expert Choice AKG C414B ULS (pair) – Overheads, percussion “On our rider I spec a stereo pair of AKG c414 ULSs as a first choice for overheads. They are beautiful sounding overhead mics that I often use in a figure of eight in indoor shows. They have no shelf in the top end and they are great for cymbals. They are very versatile in their polar patterns and I often use them for most overhead duties, such as overheads for percussion.”

Bruel & Kjaer 4011 – Guitars “If I had it my way I would stick with the B&K 4011 for guitar because it’s just so flat and true. With the amount of different guitar amps you can get from gig to gig, I just want to hear what’s really happening; what tells the story of the guitar player, and the B&K gives me that.”

Shure KSM9 Capsule 22:00/24:37 – Lead vocal “Hugh has a very particular voice; in fact you could say that he has two voices. There are subtle distortions in there – a high distortion and a low distortion – that can excite a lot of mics, so I would say my first choice is the Shure KSM9 cardioid capsule. It’s dry but it’s present and almost sounds like it’s going through tubes somewhere.

It’s got a grainy, dirty texture at the top end and if you’ve got a screechy voice, it handles it well. I find myself using a lot less EQ with this mic on Hugh’s vocals.”

AKG D40 – Snare, floor tom 17:45 “I stumbled upon the AKG D40 by accident. I wouldn’t call it a cheap mic although cost-wise it’s its not very expensive. I like to get the darkness out of a snare instead of it just cutting into the mix; I like it fat and full and the D40 gives me that. It’s got a rubber clip that clips onto the rim, so it eliminates the stand issue. It also works great on a floor tom.”

Shure 181 – Strings “The Shure 181 is a mic Shure just launched. It has interchangeable capsules that you can change to a cardioid, hyper-cardioid, and omni, by just changing the capsule. They are outstanding.”

Trevor Peters Trevor began his career as a musician before joining 8th Avenue Sound in 1992 where he learnt the sound trade. In 1998 he opened Matrix Corporate & Theatre Sound, a company which to this day specialises in supplying sound equipment and expertise. Trevor has designed sound for theatre musicals and corporate events across the African continent, in the USA, the West End and Australia. He has won a Naledi Theatre Award for sound design.

DPA 4065 – Speech

Marius Marais Marius Marais is an experienced Johannesburg-based sound engineer and owner of Audio Logic. He has been working in the professional audio industry since 1991, despite having qualifying as an aircraft instruments technician in the SA Air force. He has his roots in, but not limited to, the arena of professional theatre. Marius has also worked with such high profile musical acts as Dione Warwick, Elaine Page and Johnny Clegg and his corporate client list includes the SAMAs, SA Idols, Discovery Health and Microsoft.

AKG CK91 w/451 Preamp / AKG P170 – Woodwinds “All microphone selection is application orientated. The old CK91 capsule on the 451 preamp is brilliant on woodwinds, but they don’t make them any more so if I can’t get that I use the AKG P170, which for me, is just as good.

There is always an application for the P170.”

Audio Technica – ATM350 – General purpose “I am a big fan of the Audio Technica ATM350. It works on percussion, drums, brass; whatever you slap it on, it will work. If you stick it inside a harp you get the most brilliant low end. I own 56 of them now, which I use mainly for strings because it’s got the Velcro fastener and it can handle close proximity micing without getting strident.

It’s a good sounding, general use microphone.”

56

“Generally we use the Countryman E6 for speech but when we need more gain; my mic of choice is the DPA 4065. I don’t like the 4066 because it goes under the ear; I like the 4065 over the ear. I get a lot more gain out of that. DPAs are also quite hardy so when guys bump and knock them they don’t break as quickly as the E6.”

Sennheiser MKE2 / Gold – Traditional theatre “Traditional theater, where you don’t actually want to see a headset stuck on the performers’ face, we use the Sennheiser MKE2 or MKE2 Gold, which is another, slightly more sibilant option. It’s an old mic, it’s been around for ages, and it doesn’t sweat out too easily. If it does sweat out you can remove the pop filter and blow it out with compressed air and it’s back to normal again. In traditional theatre that’s the kind of mic I can hide it in a wig, it’s not too noticeable and it gives tons of gain.”

AKG D112 – Kick drum “When it comes to kick drums I have always been partial to the AKG D112. I like to have a flat sound and then process it how I want to. If it’s a jazz gig, I want it to be a jazz gig; I don’t want to have to get rid of click on the kick drum.”

Crown Boundary Layer – Piano “I generally use two of them; one on the highs, one on the lows at half stick, sometimes on full stick, but generally on half stick, and they give you a very nice ‘full’ sound, not just a string sound. The Crown works very nicely and it’s a mic that you want to have in your stock. There are of course, many boundary mics available, but I’ve always used the Crown.”

EXPERT CHOICE Studio & LIVE Mark Malherbe Mark began his career in the professional audio industry back in 1978 and currently holds the position of technical director at Prosound.

He is a well respected sound engineer in the industry and has engineered a number of international and local artists. Some of his crowning achievements include mixing for Mandela’s home coming, Chris Hani’s funeral and the 1994 presidential inauguration, among others.

Mark has also established himself as a leading sound designer for theatre productions and has been awarded Naledi awards. He also designed the original sound system for the Playhouse Theatre in Durban and for a host of casinos, airports and conference facilities.

Along with the rest of Prosound’s system design and engineering team Mark also designed the sound systems for nine of the 10 World Cup 2010 stadiums.

DPA 4061 – Violin, guitar, piano, voice 6:30 “The DPA 4061 levalier, or the miniature capsule, is my Swiss Army Knife. I’ll put it on a violin. I’ll put it on a guitar. I’ll put it in a piano. Then I’ll put it on a voice. It’s my ‘fix it in the mix’ mic.”

EV RE20 / RE320 – Vocals, kick drum “I’ve been an EV man through and through! The RE20 has been the staple diet but now’s there’s the RE320, which I use a lot. They’re good sounding, rugged mics.”

Shure SM57 or Beyerdynamic M201 – Snare “The SM57 is the “classic” snare sound you’ve heard on a zillion records. The Beyer is a more ‘hi-fi’ version of the same basic sound in some respects.”

Sennheiser MD421 or EV ND408 – Toms “The MD421 is the SM57 of toms. THE sound you’ve been hearing your whole life. The ND408’s sound like a smaller version of the same thing with a much better footprint for close micing a lot of drums, or tightly clustered drums.”

Schoeps MK4 or MT Gefell M295 – Overheads “Oh boy. I use these ‘CAUSE I CAN’. They are almost always eminently workable and you pay stupid loot for them so you feel OBLIGATED. HOHOHO. But kinda true as well.”

Shure SM81 or AKG c460 – Ride “The SM81 will give you a more focused and controllable ride cymbal collection point than anything else I know of. They are EXTREMELY directional, which can be the biggest distinction between success and failure in this particular application. The AKG 460 sounds more like the source, if the ride cymbals physical placement and expected downstream utilisation in mix permits or requires this.”

EV N/D468 – Vocals “The EV N/D468 is that funny little ball mic. I use that for a lot of instrumentation. I use it on brass; I use it on the drums. Again, it’s just a, robust, good sounding mic.”

AKG 451 or MT Gefell M300 – Hi hats “The 451EB is the classic SDC. Usually sounds quite a bit like the source and doesn’t kill you on the snare bleed if you know how to place it.”

Shure SM57- Snare “I still use the SM57 on the snare. They’re just a natural, go-to choice.”

Neumann U47 or U67 – Mono room

Tim Gilles Tim Gilles has mixed, produced and mastered literally hundreds of records, ranging from self-funded to independent and major label projects in his 30 year career. He founded Big Blue Meenie recording studios in 1988 and has worked with such acts as 36 Crazy Fists, The Misfits, Taking Back Sunday and Thursday.

Outline what compels you to choose a microphone and why?

“More ‘classic’ room stuff you’ve been hearing your whole life. Easy to EQ and compress after the fact, or on input.”

MT Gefell 930 or AKG 414EB – Stereo rooms “Stereo rooms could be ANYTHING as far as LDCs go.

These two are just the first two that came to my mind for some silly reason. SOME THINGS you’ve got to learn for yourself... and if you’re expecting that to ACTUALLY happen by reading a recording article, you’re delusional.”

EV RE20 or AKG D112 – Kick drum

Beyerdynamic M160 and AEA R84 – M/S

“The RE20 for a more ‘real’ kick sound without the scooped midrange; the D112 for when you got to hustle and you’re sure you’re going to be ripping the mids later in the process.”

“Trade secret. Not explaining this.”

57

Studio & Live Expert Choice EV RE20 or AKG D12E – Bass “Once again, a couple of decent choices in LDDs. I can think of about a dozen other mics you could easily use.

The transducers in these two are pretty big for dynamic mics. They pick up the bottom octave.

Sounds stupidly obvious? There you have it. The RE20 is going to be WAY bigger sounding on the bottom than the D12e UNTIL you start to twist the EQ like a madman. Then... you MIGHT find the shoe is on the other foot... depending on the source.”

Shure SM57 and Sennheiser MD409 – Guitar “Nothing gets a listener closer to an electric guitar than a Shure SM57.

Nothing. Ever. Do you LIKE that sound? Oh I dunno. Nobody’s agreed on what a good guitar sound is since the 1950s. The MD409 is a 57 that ate too much as a kid. It’s also the easiest LDD to place EVER. Just stick it EXACTLY where you NEVER put a SM57: right in the middle of the speaker, pointing directly at the nipple. It may not end up there EXACTLY, when you get done tweaking your mic placements. But it probably won’t be FAR from there.”

MT Gefell UM900 or U67 – Vocals “Discussing WHY one uses a particular mic on a particular voice is an utter waste of time. I won’t do it. It’s impossible. I mentioned these two because they OFTEN work in a VERY GENERAL sense.

Choosing an ideal vocal mic for any particular singer is why: 1. You can’t escape having SOMEBODY spending substantial loot on an extensive mic locker if you’re going to make a LOT of records for a LOT of people. Get over it.

2. A big part of what separates the boys from the men in tracking engineers.

3. A hilarious exercise in ‘yield futility’ as GREAT SINGERS will basically sound alarmingly like THEMSELVES on just about anything more complicated than a Tandy doorbell transducer. ......Sad irony there.” – Tim Gilles

17 – 19 July 2013, the Coca-Cola dome Northgate, Johannesburg, South Africa advanced technology trade show

www.mediatech.co.za

Africa’s largest Media & Entertainment Advanced Technology Trade Show

With multiple acclaimed productions under his belt and a catalogue that spans nearly two decades, SAMA-award winning record producer Crighton Goodwill is a major player in the local music industry. He is the man behind

Good Noise Productions, a prominent recording studio focusing on all aspects of audio production from music albums to TV commercials and film soundtracks. Over the years, he has produced hits for the likes of Loyiso Bala, Elvis Blue, Lloyd Cele and Garth Tailor.

We recently had the opportunity to sit down with Crighton.

Do you remember the moment when you realised that a career in music was what you wanted to do?

Crighton Goodwill

INDUSTRY EXPERT Studio & Broadcast

Crighton: I grew up in a very musical family. My father (Clive Goodwill) is a well-respected vocalist and keyboard player in the SA music industry. I always knew that I would be involved with music in one way or another. I actually started out as vocalist and recorded about five albums for K-TV, M-Net starting at the age of 15. We toured around the country and sold hundreds of thousands of albums. However, I came to the realisation during that time, being in studio was where my true passion lay more than performing on stage.

You’ve worked with a multitude of great producers and musicians alike, is there anyone who you have particularly enjoyed working with and why?

Crighton: I have a long standing relationship with Brian O’shea, a mentor and fellow producer who has taught me a great deal about how to get the best out of an artist and a song.

What has been one of the most important lessons you have learnt over the years?

Crighton: The more honest you are with yourself, the quicker you can identify and work on your weak areas. Human nature always strives for comfort. I would suggest throwing yourself into the deep end more often than not. For me I had to break out on my own (comfort zone) to find out what it was like to fend for myself. This forced me to confront my fears and deal with people not only on a creative level but on a business level as well, something we creative types don’t usually like to do. In the long run, it was the best decision I have ever made.

What is distinctive about a Good Noise Productions?

Crighton: I would say one of my main strengths is that I have been quite successful in re-creating different genres authentically. Usually artists and producers are quite specific with their style of music. I like the challenge of learning all the various production techniques and musical subtleties within music today.

What are your thoughts on the continual volume increases in the industry, where pop music has just gotten louder, or more crushed, at the expense of dynamic range?

Crighton: I’m not too bothered by this. There is an art to getting the most out of a mix and when done correctly the fullness can be quite impressive.

What other producers, songwriters and/or artists do you see as your primary inspirations?

What do you like to do for fun outside of the music industry?

Crighton: Max Martin (Backstreet Boys and Brintey Spears), Lukasz Gottwald (Katy Pery and Pink), Guy Sigsworth (Seal and Madonna), Imogen Heap and Brian Transeau.

Crighton: My two main hobbies, which I think have some parallels to music in some ways, are beer brewing and cooking. A major parallel for me is ‘what you put in, you get out’.

Besides you, who do you think is getting it right in the industry?

Favourite movie of all time?

Crighton: I have always looked up to Loyiso Bala as a guy who has positioned himself very wisely through hard work, determination and sound strategy. People sometimes criticise pop artists but I have great respect for artists who have been able to sustain their careers for more than five years. It doesn’t happen by accident.

Crighton: The Matrix – it truly warped my mind.

Favourite chord?

Crighton: Plain old Cmaj or Amin. It’s a starting point for most compositions.

59

Studio & Broadcast INTERNATIONAL Trade Show

IBC Preview

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: will.i.am

60

By Ian Dormer

INTERNATIONAL Trade Show Studio & Broadcast

IBC 2012 in Amsterdam looks set to reveal new products, new techniques and new ideas in a year that has already seen some quite dramatic changes. As the world switches to digital transmission and regulators get heavy on audio loudness, there is much more emphasis on audio surfacing in this year’s proceedings and it is nice to see an even mix emerging after years of video heavy topics of conversation.

Japan’s national broadcaster’s NHK Science and Technology Research Laboratories (STRL) have been selected to receive the International Honor for Excellence, the highest honour bestowed by IBC. This honour is presented each year to an outstanding organisation or individual that has fostered or contributed to the relationship between technology and creativity in the broadcast, movie or media industries.

NHK Science and Technology Research Laboratories, which recently celebrated its 80th anniversary, have been at the forefront of research in broadcasting technology. NHK STRL pioneered highdefinition television, including the development of plasma displays. It recently received an IEEE Milestone Award for introducing the world’s first direct to home satellite broadcast service in 1984.

Among its recent work, NHK STRL has developed Super Hi-Vision, its implementation of high-resolution broadcasting offering a screen resolution 16 times greater than today’s HDTV and 22.2-channel immersive surround sound. NHK STRL engineers are working on the complete chain – from high-resolution, high-speed CMOS cameras through recording and transmission equipment to screens and projection displays.

It also addresses the second screen, helping a consortium of broadcasters launch an experimental service, Hybridcast, which synchronises content on a tablet with the programme on television.

“The contribution to broadcasting technology made by NHK cannot be underestimated,” said Peter Owen, chair of the IBC Council, the body responsible for making the award. “Their work has always been revolutionary, but equally important, NHK has been generous with its efforts, collaborating with international bodies like the ITU, ABU and SMPTE, along with its contribution to global standards like MPEG.” One of the more interesting keynote addresses has to be Black Eyed Pea and The Voice personality, international recording artist, technologist, entrepreneur and Intel’s Director of Creative Innovation, will.i.am, who will present a unique and thought provoking session.

Titled ’Creativity and Technology Forces Combine – Transcend the Barriers of Convention and Rethink What Can Be Achieved’ this unique and insightful session promises to examine how the application of new technology can be a catalyst for new thinking and creativity.

“We want people to rethink what they believe is possible,” says the seven-time Grammy Award winner. “I’m always thinking about tomorrow. What are the new beats? What is the new music? What will people like? What will we be capable of doing? Technology allows us to amplify our ideas, amplify our creativity, and find new ways of solving our problems and genuinely start living in those future tomorrows, and that’s what I want to share at IBC.” This will be an important session for the broadcast industry in

particular. Engaging his fans via social media while on tour, or starring in top-rated television programs, will.i.am is an adept user of social media tools. In today’s multi-screen viewing environment, broadcasters need to embrace current and evolving communications and community building tools to build, connect with and retain audiences.

Transcending the barriers of convention is unlikely to prove a problem for the man who brought us ‘The Internet is a trumpet’.

Re-thinking what can be achieved shouldn’t be too tricky for him either, given his myriad side-projects and laudable charity work back home in Detroit, not to mention his position as creative director at Intel.

The keynote sessions are the centre-piece of the conference and feature some of the most significant figures in the industry today, from traditional broadcasters to advertising giants, including The Walt Disney Company, Samsung, BBC and Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide.

The speakers will deliver insightful sessions on the hottest topics, providing strategic overview and opinion, while offering a unique insight into their business experiences.

One such session will focus on the standards adopted by the EBU and others on audio loudness. This session presents a comprehensive explanation of the problems encountered in audio loudness for multi-platform and connected world applications.

The practice of focusing on loudness in mastering audio recordings dates back to the days when vinyl records were played on jukeboxes in clubs and bars. Any recording that was mastered louder than its competitors was more likely to gain the attention of the audience, and so disks were produced to replay at the loudness limit of the medium. Fifty years on, modern computer-based digital audio effects processing allows mastering engineers to have more intricate control over the loudness, compression and quality of a recording. Therefore with the recent rise of international broadcast standards, ‘audio loudness’ has become one of the most important and debated topics in broadcast and pro-audio today.

The broadcast industry has evolved rapidly from one reliant on a single form of analogue delivery – whether PAL, NTSC or SECAM – to one where a multiplicity of formats coincide. Video and audio content in 2012 has to be repurposed and standards-converted on the fly for different formats and different platforms. There are already many differing flavours of HD and, with an array of ‘future formats’ including 4k and Super Hi-Vision in the pipeline, not to mention ongoing work developing a stereo 3D standard, there is plenty of potential for confusion.

How will the Internet and mobile TV cope with the increase in traffic as more and more content is delivered via their networks?

Well IBC is the place to be to catch up on what’s new and evolving in an ever changing broadcast world.

61

Studio & Broadcast OB REVIEW

Producing sweet sounds from OB 4

By Ian Dormer

SuperSport’s sweet new addition to its OB fleet at their new SuperSport OB City premises in Strydom Park, Johannesburg, is an engineer’s dream and the technology makes it the perfect platform for live

Photo by Ian Dormer

broadcasts.

62

The new OB 4 HD was commissioned last year; the impressive coachwork was carried out by ASGB in Colchester, England before being equipped by Sony South Africa Broadcast & Professional Division at the Sony Basingstoke Head Office UK. Particularly interesting is the careful thought given to the audio requirements and the selection of top class equipment fitted. The core of the audio production chain in an outside broadcast unit is obviously the audio mixer and the SuperSport engineering team chose to continue doing business with award winning UK-based Calrec Audio Ltd. Calrec manufactured the world’s first stereo broadcast console back in 1977 followed by another world first, a digitally controlled assignable mixing console in 1981. OB4 pushes all the limits of possible space capacity too. Space is always an issue in an OB van so the Artemis Beam was chosen over the bigger Apollo module but without compromising on the requirements needed for today’s multi channel broadcasts. Artemis is equipped with an enormous routing and processing capacity which certainly belies its mid-size footprint.

Hydra2 is the Artemis’s backbone, linking the control surface to a 8192² router. The Artemis configuration in OB4 offers 128 channels in 12 layers with eight main outs allowing the broadcaster to push out eight simultaneous 5.1 surround sound mixes plus it mix down in stereo and mono at the same time. A typical example would be a rugby match

OB REVIEW Studio & Broadcast where Sky Sport New Zealand requires a 5.1 mix, SuperSport needs a stereo mix for SuperSport One and a 5.1 mix for the HD channel and other broadcasters require only a mono mix. The flexibility of the Artemis provides all these seamlessly and simultaneously. The implementation and use of Madi technology throughout, also gives audio engineers the opportunity to sub-mix off the main desk with another desk if required, allowing production teams to become more creative with their approach to the final product.

Genelec are the preferred suppliers for audio monitoring with 5.1 being standard both in the audio and production areas. The use of CD players and mini disc for music, jingle and effects playback in the OB vans has been replaced by hard drive playback systems using South African designed software solution called QuickFire™.

Real-Time Coffee Shoppe Interactive Multimedia Solutions originally designed the playback system for a popular international TV game show where instant cueing was critical to enhance the mood atmosphere in the production of the programme. The system has become so successful that it has been adopted by numerous broadcasters around the world.

For comms SuperSport’s decision-makers, opted for a solution from RTS/TELEX. The nerve-centre of the installation is a 144 x 144 Advanced Digital Audio Matrix (ADAM) from RTS linked to numerous keypanels, microphones and headsets securing communications both inside the control rooms and out. This system is fully compatible with OB6 and can be cascaded allowing inter-communications between the two vans at larger sporting events such as the Nedbank Million Dollar Golf Tournament.

In terms of the greater outdoor audio experience, SuperSport has upped the anti with the purchase and implementation of Schoeps Super CMIT microphones allowing the viewer at home to enjoy enhanced close ball effects.

These digital microphones were first introduced by Schoeps as a test in 2010 at the World Cup Soccer championship. The resultant success earned them great accolades.

These mics have higher directivity than a long shotgun but also greater sonic neutrality, because both their directionality and the additional suppression of diffuse sound are evenly maintained across most of their frequency range. These digital microphones have changed the whole ambiance of televised live events and the atmospheric vibe is felt at home by the viewer thanks to this digital technology. The preservation of the digital signal as much as possible is important in the production chain and in a typical sporting event for example Calrec Hyrda I/O boxes are placed on the edge of the field close to the mic sources with a short copper link back to the van.

Digital technology is used throughout the van, and although every millimetre of space has been utilised, it is thanks to changing technology that SuperSport is able to cram more and more features into this limited space. What previously used to fit in 4U rack units now comfortably sit in 1U boxes, allowing more ‘bells and whistles’ to be added, giving the home sports enthusiast a greater experience… schweet!

63

Studio & Broadcast Studio REVIEW

A unique sound space Most recording studios are hidden in dungeons and perceived somewhat as sacred places where the general public is prohibited. This is definitely not the case with Openroom Productions, writes Eddie Hatitye.

For more than a decade, Openroom Productions has stood out as one of South Africa’s best recording and production facilities. Uniquely tucked between some of the busiest restaurants at the cultural hub in Greenside, this state-of-the-art production facility has taken the art of music making to a completely new level.

The studio was established in 1999 by Grammy Award winning record producer Darryl Torr, who has for many years reinvented it to offer South Africans an inspiring artistic environment of international standards. His most recent and possibly best upgrade ever came in 2010 when he moved Openrooom Productions from its original base at the SABC complex in Auckland Park to Greenside.

The studio boasts a gigantic 6m x 4m glass window that faces onto the street, giving fans a rare opportunity to see their favourite bands recording. Artists, in turn, get motivated and are drawn closer to their fans. “It is really amazing to be in the studio and watch cars drive past without hearing a thing inside the studio,” explains Torr. “I’ve always had a dream to build a professional studio that involves the public, giving them the opportunity to be more informed and involved in the creative process within music and I think this is exactly what I envisaged.”

Inside the studio, you find all kinds of high end recording and production equipment, from simplistic guitar pedals and other tone enhancing gadgets to analogue outboard gear and mixing consoles that define the end result of Openroom’s sound. The studio comprises three main working spaces, one more suited to live recordings and the other aimed at pre- and post-production jobs.

The third is reserved for TV productions. Key production gear include a Soundtracs cm4400 (soon to be upgraded to a SSL 6000 E | G series),

64

a Digidesign C/24 .C|24 desk, a Vintage Wurlitzer and many more. .

The interesting thing about Openroom is that they are not only focused on bands but are also actively involved in the broadcasting space, with TV and radio broadcast credits for shows such as MK’s Studio 1 and 5FM’s Live @ 5 under their belt. They are also currently facilitating a small TV production unit that records activity in the studio and streams live to the Internet as a way of promoting bands. Over the years, they have worked with an array of top acts, including Soweto Gospel Choir, Ashtray Electric, Freshlyground, Louise Carver, Zebra and Giraffe and HHP. The studio is driven by a humble and passionate team comprising studio manager and sound engineer Tammy Goldenberg, project manager Alan Shenton, full-time sound engineer Wesley Ayliffe and Torr himself.

Tech Box Studio A: •

Monitors – Genelec 8050, 5.1 system

•

Analogue desk – Soundtracs cm4400 (soon to be upgraded to a SSL 6000 E | G series)

•

Software – Protools 9

•

DAW – Protools HD 3

•

Foldback – Hearback system

•

Sennheiser HD 380 pro headphones

•

Dolby DP600 Programme optimiser

Studio B: •

Monitors: Genelec 8050s and Yamaha HS80s

•

Digidesign C/24 .C|24 desk

•

Outboard: Universal audio LA610

•

Software: Pro Tools 9

•

DAW: Protools HD 3

•

Bose system L1

PRODUCT REVIEW Studio & Broadcast

Plugged in at last

With the release of Reason 6.5, Propellerhead has come to terms with the fact that they can’t do everything alone. For the first time since the first version in 2000, developers are now able to create their own instruments and effects for the popular software.

The latest update introduces a new technology called Rack Extension which opens up their flagship music production workstation (Reason) to third-party developers.

The technology promises a completely new experience to music producers who have waited many years for this functionality. The question, however, is: does the technology justify the long wait the industry has endured? Well, it’s difficult to tell as yet but what we know for sure is that music producers are spoilt for choice.

One of the most interesting instruments introduced courtesy of the technology is Polar, an old-school harmonising and pitch-shifter effect with a host of modern tricks up its sleeve. The effect is ideal for classic harmonising, stereo-widening and real time pitch-shifting, or experimenting with buffer looping and audio freezing to create effects.

Up next is the Radical Piano, an innovative instrument with three sampled pianos (home grand, deluxe grand and upright) paired with the technology to make an infinite number of different sounds. Thanks to its blend between sampling technology and physical modelling, Radical Piano provides sounds for many situations. The character settings also allow producers to change the mood at the flick of a button. In addition, it comes with a built-in EQ, reverb and compressor, as well as tons of preset sounds.

By Eddie Hatitye

There is also Pulsar LGM-1, a dual channel modulation powerhouse that can be turned into a powerful synth. For tweakers Pulsar is said to make every single thing in the rack a little bit better. It comes with patches containing a large library of sounds from lush evolving pads to the grittiest of wobble basses.

It’s also ideal for modulation and seamless frequency manipulation. All these plug-ins inherit the classical Reason rack design to offer the same functionality, including automation, unlimited undo and cables on the back, as well as integration with Reason’s patch browser.

Another noteworthy addition is Bitspeeka, a pitch-excited linear prediction codec effect, which takes audio input, breaks it down into synthesizer parameters and reproduces the sound using an oscillator, noise and a formant filter. The Buffre Beat Repeater is another great invention for audio manipulation. iZotope have also joined the Reason bandwagon with Ozone Maximizer, an audio mastering tool with great functionality.

There are currently 13 companies that have signed on to support the new format, most of whom have devices currently for sale in the newly-launched Propellerhead shop. Heavyweights such as Korg, Rob Papen, Sonic Charge, Audio Damage and iZotope are supporting the format, and there are more than 20 new plug-ins on sale at the moment.

Reason 6.5 was released together with its scaled down version, Essentials 1.5. Both are available as free upgrades for all owners of Reason 6 or Reason Essentials version 1.

65

Social

TPSA Best New Comer Lighting Designer Mike Jones on behalf of Johnny Scholtz – MJ Event Gear

Best New Comer Sound Engineer Johan Griemsehl

Best New Comer AV Engineer Guillaume Ducray on behalf of Sazi Mgaga – AV Unlimited

Favourite Backline Company Paul Newman on behalf of SA Backline

Favourite sound rental company Gearhouse – John McDermott

Favourite Lighting Rental Company MGG Productions – Mark Gaylard

Favourite Technical Venue Sandton Convention Centre – Karin White

Favourite Special Effects Company Laser X

FAVOURITE AV RENTAL COMPANY AV Systems – Alvaro Rodrigues

Best Set Designer of the year Sean Hoey on behalf of Robert Hoey – Dream Sets

Best Rigger of the year Robert Hack on behalf of Zeeks Sebatjane – MJ Event Gear

Lighting Designer of the year Joshua Cutts – Visual Frontier

AV Engineer of the year Paul Newman on behalf of Sean Moss – Lucidity

Sound Engineer of the Year Marius Marais – Audio Logic

Production manager of the year Guillaume Ducray – AV Unlimited

Favourite set and stage company Dream Sets – Sean Hoey

Hall of Fame Bonnie Pon – Starburst Pyrotechnics

66

Favourite technical staging company Gearhouse – John McDermott

Hall of Fame Robin Wilter

Martin M2GO Roadshow – Hosted by Electrosonic , Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town

GRCC, Gold Reef City Lyric Theatre Demo

Leswyn and Steven

Paul Pellitier and Costa

JP Wilson

Llewellyn Hannekom

Social

Keith, Philip and Abesh

Wharfedale Pro Trip with Audiosure – China and Hong Kong

Audiosure’s winners and hosts at the IAG Country Club in Shenzhen, China

John Silver and Claire Badenhorst

Pieter and Johanna Preller

David Lorriman, Devan Naicker, Derrick Dryan and Chaz Nielsen

Chaz Nielsen and André Burger

Nadia van den Berg, Rudy van den Berg, Tracey-Lee Derrick Dryan and Edwards, Theuns Joubert, David Lorriman and John Silver Steve Grindrod

Theuns Joubert, André Burger and Astrid Castle

Wild and Marr’s Professional Showcase & Master Class Seminars – Killarney Country Club, Johannesburg

Clint Smith, Aadil Matwadia and Neville Rumble

Darren Durbach, Marius Marais and Gary Furman

DK Mokgope and Jack Motsoetla

Samuel Mutero and Jorn Gornitzka

Gavin Thompson, Faizel Fakier, Andre Swart, Bertram Davids, Gary Furman, Stephen Hoy, Raymond Rix, Bradley Ellapen and Dean Coull

Urgar Dogan, Tyrone Hall and Marlo van der Walt

Werner Louw, Ugar Dogan, Gert Sanner and Gustav Teitge

Romeo Lekoba, Thabo Mafokeng and Arnold Chiluane

Johannesburg TPSA Awards – Melrose Arch

Stuart Andrews, Simon Oates and John McDermott

Charlie Izzett, Mark Gaylard and Sherryn Riley

Kenneth Mali, Percy Olayne, Luciano Lottery and Gladwin Soutter

Linky Ramadzuli and Patrick Croning

David Whitehouse, Schalk Botha and Keith Pugin

Pearl Harris, Ricardo Gressel and Mbali Mokoena

Robyn D’Alessandro, Remember Chaitezvi, Lefa Tsiane and Helen Surgeson

Graham and Nicolene

Jaco Saaiman, Johann and Mathew Griemsehl

Tshidiso Mabuso, Siyabonga Tshabalala, Basinki Sekoni, Freedom Sibanda and Tebello Hatla

67

Social

ClayPaky Roadshow – DWR, Johannesburg (also held in Durban and Cape Town)

Gianluca Breda, Duncan Riley and Massimo Bolandrina

Allan Dickinson, Neale Harvey and Theo Rood

André Westraad and Jaque Pretorius

Theo Rood and Gerda Kruger

Mike Jones, Nick Britz and Francois van der Merwe

Epson Lumen Projector Launch – Johannesburg

Conrad Pearson, Neil Barkman and Grant Jewell

Dane Bush and Sandile Mguli

Marray Mathews and Brian Carl Brown

Neville Rumble

Tarryn Chetty, Murray Matthews, Don Matthews, Frederic Haton, Belinda Wilson, Hennie Crous, Ryan Hodgskin, Dean Jules and Hugh Davies

Karthi Nair, Tristan Ratali and Zipho Nkosi

Percy Radyba, Steven Ntlatleng and Barend Nel and Marius de Beer Mike Guerin

Fredric Haton

Jannie de Jager, Chenn de Wet and Kevin Stannet

Renter Smit and Phillip Kruger

ETC Layers of Light Roadshow – Prosound, Johannesburg (also held in Durban and Cape Town)

Gerda Kruger, Graham Bruner and Jolene

Grant Boswell

SACIA Breakfast – Johannesburg

Bruce Genricks

Elaine Shellard

Gerald Newport and Will Klopper

Kevan Jones

Patrick Mbatha, Akhona Bozo and Enos Ramoroko

Taiden Full Digital Congress System Training – Audiosure, Johannesburg

Pheko Mathibeli, Lebelo Serutla and Francois Du Plesis

Pravin Rarath, David Louw and Alwyn Burger

Roland Naicker, Sammy Ramasodi and John Barahemana

Andries Swarts and Archie Swarts

Stefan van der Walt, and Brendan Venter

Wenand Bezuidenhout, Marnus Swart and Riaan Kloppers

Mondli Khumalo and Khotso Radebe

Nathan Ihlenfeldt, Phumulani Ruiters and Burton Reid

d&b Line Array Workshop – Stage Audio Works, Johannesburg

Bonginkosi and Sipho Masanabo

68

Gavan Eckhart

Gustav Bernard, William Taylor and Fanie Pieterse

Joseph Hlapolosa and Mojalefa Mashokawe

Lightweight cost, Lightweight mass

! h c n u p t h g i e w y v a He

•

Small footprint and light weight

•

DVA T12 and DVA T4 are totally compatible to fit together

•

DVA Composer predictive software manages the complete set-up – which includes the DVA S30N Subs, DVA T12 and DVA T4 line array enclosures – ensuring limitless combinations, to suit venues from clubs to stadiums and everything in between

•

RDNet Software manages the system during shows

With stats to produce a technical knockout

DVA T12

DVA T4

DVA S30N

3 Way Active Line Array Module 3 Way Active Line Array Module

Subwoofer

Frequency Response (+/- 3dB):

Frequency Response (+/- 3dB):

Frequency Response (+/- 3dB):

60 – 19000Hz

80 – 19000Hz

30 – 120Hz

Max SPL: 136dB

Max SPL: 128dB

Max SPL: 141dB

HF Drivers: 3 x 1” Neo Compression Driver

HF Drivers: 2 x 1” Neo Compression Driver

LF Drivers: 2 x 18” Neo

MF Drivers: 2 x 6.5” Neo

MF Driver: 1 x 6.5” Neo

Power Rating: 3000 W

LF Driver: 12” Neo

LF Driver: 8” Neo

Weight: 72Kg

Power Rating: 710 + 350 + 350 W

Power Rating: 220 + 100 + 100 W

Dimensions mm:

Weight: 29.9Kg

Weight: 13.8Kg

1100(W) x 580(H) x 720(D)

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

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

viva afrika

Viva Afrika Sound and Light (Pty) Ltd Unit 2, 2 Drakensburg Road Longmeadow Business Park 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

Unit Unit 38 Graphite Industrial Park,Park, Cnr Cnr Commercial & Fabriek Street, Strijdom Park 38 Graphite Industrial Commercial & Fabriek Street, Strijdom Park Tel: +27 11 793 Fax: Fax: +27+27 11 792 5076 Tel: +27 11 5066 793 5066 11 792 5076sales@dwrdistribution.co.za sales@dwrdistribution.co.zawww.dwrdistribution.co.za www.dwrdistribution.co.za