Pro-Systems News September/October 2015 by Sun Circle Publishers

September / October 2015

R38.00

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

Cover Bidvest Story on Broadway AV in the corporate sector Theatre in the spotlight SACIA industry news Expert opinion column

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In This Issue EDITOR

CONTENTS NEWS

Hello everyone, and welcome to the new edition of Prosystems Africa News. In keeping with our approach to focus on a particular end-user industry sector in each issue, our attention in the new edition is taken up with the Corporate AV market. International research company IDG has just produced their annual report investigating the global market, calling it the Unified Communications and Collaboration sector. They estimate that growth in the sector will be strong, with a majority of businesses planning expansion and investment in equipment and solutions to enable better communications and collaboration through their AV systems. Budgets, likewise, are expected to grow over the next few years. In this issue we run a handy infographic on the market and its future outlook, as well as stories on many of the specialised companies in the SA market operating in the space. New to this edition is the provision of some space to industry voices and experts, as a service to our industry. In what will be a regular feature from now on, we highlight some SACIA news, as well as a Code of Conduct for professionally accredited practitioners in the industry. Elsewhere, Abrie du Plooy from Electrosonic offers his expert opinion on laser projection equipment. Our live events section continues our focus on the Corporate world, with our cover story being the massive annual Bidvest show staged by Gearhouse, as well as other corporate live events. In a ‘sidelight’ special section in this issue we focus on specialised AV and staging work done in the theatre, a traditional area for AV companies, but often overlooked these days. This special section is dominated by an interview with Helen Surgeson, a prominent woman in a largely male-dominated environment as the technical operations manager for theatre rental company Gearhouse Splitbeam. Don’t forget that we’re here for you – as your resource for key industry information, trends and product news. If you want to talk about any of that, have suggestions, or comments on anything you read here and in our regularly updated website and newsletter, don’t hesitate to let me know. I’m on james@sun-circle.co.za. Enjoy the read! James Sey

Live Events

New Managing Director for Stage Audio Works............................................3 Peripheral Vision is on the move.....................3 A tribute to industry legend, Ron Selby..........4 Avid Everywhere unleashes new version of Pro Tools...................................4 Cape Town company uses world’s most advanced visual tech at International Award Ceremony......................6 SACIA and TPSA Council to host 'Rigging Imbizo' soon................................6 New agencies at Peripheral Vision broaden portfolio..............................................8 Over 1 000 EV loudspeakers provide extensive sound solution in Doha...................8 Fine Art launches FINE 600L SPOT....................9 DiGiCo rocks with Kasabian on summer festival circuit................................9

SACIA SPOTLIGHT New professional designations recognise skills and experience in the broadcast and AV industry...............................................10 SACIA Code of Professional Conduct..........11

Bidvest on Broadway with Gearhouse.........32 Huawei launches new ...................................36 P8 at prestigious event...................................36 Inspirational technology solutions at PLASA 2015..................................................38 Lucidity remains only option for SAIA...........40 Innibos Music Festival 2015............................42 Sounds Ideal steps up for Ugu Festival 2015.............................................44 Sister Act shines at Joburg Theatre...............46 Helen Surgeson – Splitbeam’s leading lady...............................48 Supporting the theatre sector in southern Africa............................................52 South Africa’s National Arts Festival ............52 New controls for National Theatre of Namibia.......................................................53 DWR in the footlights......................................54 Chris Bolton – present expert, future teacher.................................................56

OPINION Laser Projectors in the spotlight.....................58

LIVE EVENTS – REVIEW CORPORATE AV Integration

BOSE F1 System................................................60

Unified communications market in SA.........12 The next level of enterprise communication............................14 Electrosonic puts Kramer in the corporate AV spotlight...................................18 Crestron opens up South Africa office.........22 Omega Digital – corporate cost and efficiencies the byword.........................24 Tech trends for corporate AV........................26 Questek and Televic makes inroads in corporate conferencing market...................30

Social Adamson launch in SA with TID....................63 CEDIA training.................................................63 Kramer K-Touch 3.0 seminar .........................64 Smaart training Surgesound..........................64

Cover photo by Pieter Joubert

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

Elaine Strauss | A journalist and photographer, with experience in writing articles featuring a broad range of subjects, Elaine is also currently working towards completing her Masters degree in Visual Studies, while making her mark in the audio and AV industries. With a keen interest in lighting design and film studies, she is a peoples-person with a fascination for all things new and shiny. With experience in journalism, videography and marketing, she brings to her writing a passion for and understanding of various fields.

Editorial Disclaimer The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, positions or strategies of Pro-Systems Africa News or any employee thereof. Sun Circle Publishers makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use. Sun Circle Publishers reserves the right to delete, edit, or alter in any manner it sees fit comments that it, in its sole discretion, deems to be obscene, offensive, defamatory, threatening, in violation of trademark, copyright or other laws, or is otherwise unacceptable. All contents of this publication are subject to worldwide copyright protection and reproduction in whole or part, in any form whatsoever, is expressly forbidden without the prior written consent of the Publisher.

www. pro-systems.co.za

Publishers & Projects

news

New Managing Director for Stage Audio Works Stage Audio Works has recently made some leadership changes, to further realise their maxim of supplying complete solutions to the industry. According to Will Deysel, (former managing director of Stage Audio Works), Gustav Barnard has taken over the role of managing director at the company full time, while he himself has moved into the role of Group companies development. “Gustav started with the company at a tender age and has been with us for more than 14 years. He is a committed, responsible, hardworking and driven young man and I could not have chosen better for this position. After all these years of holding the reigns at Stage Audio Works, the decision was easy, the timing was right,” Deysel says about the change. According to him, the main focus of these changes is to focus more on customer relationships and manufacturing expansion. “We have always strived to be the best complete solutions company in South Africa, providing a full range of video, staging, lighting and audio solutions to clients,” Deysel says. “The expansion and acquisition of other

Will Deysel (left) hands over the reigns to Gustav Barnard

companies further reinforces our philosophy of offering complete solutions. We are also one of, if not the only, company that manufactures our own product range besides our import and distribution business units. This means that we can now offer even more.” “We are focussing on developing and adding value to the South African and the African economy and empowering our customers through our complete product offering and training seminars. This is further enhanced by our innovative Stage Plus

products manufactured and designed by industry people for industry people in our factories. We are building strong long-term relationships with our customers,” Barnard says. “By manufacturing our own products we are not only supporting the South African industry, but we are also providing products that are not linked to global volatility,” Deysel said. “Over the past few years our prices have stayed constant, which again, is a great value-add to our customers.”

Peripheral Vision is on the move On 1 October 2015, Peripheral Vision will be operating from a new base at 34 Kyalami Boulevard in Kyalami Business Park. After more than a decade in their current office, their business, partner, personnel and product base has increased to the extent that they are no longer able to squeeze into the previous space. Their larger and custom designed new office will offer Peripheral Vision’s partners a comfortable space where they will be able to bring their clients to meet in one of three boardrooms, Peripheral Vision’s new offices each demonstrating the ease of integrating the company’s product portfolio council chamber or any other AV to create the ideal boardroom VC room, application. Peripheral Vision’s technical

team will also be given extended space and a fully equipped training room, to enable them to continue the high levels of support that they currently offer their partners. A comprehensive demo area, and a well-appointed reception area to welcome clients aims to enhance the experience. The company boasts that their coffee machines and entertainment areas are always ready to welcome any clients. Peripheral Vision’s contact details remain the same: 011 840 0860.

news

A tribute to industry legend, Ron Selby. The sudden death of musician, sound engineer and designer, Ron Selby, early in August, shocked the performing arts and entertainment industry of South Africa. Ron’s family posted a message on the Selby’s Productions South Africa Facebook page, just days after his death: “On Sunday morning, the Selby’s Team lost a great man and leader with the passing of Ron Selby. The Selby family would like to express once again their sincerest thanks to the family, friends and industry professionals who came from near and far to pay their respects at the memorial service at Westville Country Club. A huge thanks also to all those who assisted in making the evening a memorable one and helped lift the load for Selby’s SA.” According to the website of Selby and his wife Lynn, (boogieband.co.za), Selby began his musical career with his sister Dawn. The two formed their first session band at only nine years old, called It’s A Secret and went on to record a 7-single entitled I Know A Man. The band had a name change to Third Eye during the late '60s and their recording of Fire was successful enough to remain on the

Ron Selby

LM hit parade for six weeks, although it was banned on SABC. As times changed, Third Eye proved to be a popular show/dance band during the '70s and '80s and Selby kept the band going with Craig Ross on lead vocals, Gerald Knott on guitar, Ryjk van Gelder on drums, Brett Saunders on keyboards, with himself playing bass. The venues they frequented included the Los Angeles Hotel, Wagon Wheel’s Rainbow Club, German Club and Hotel Killarney’s Club Med. According to boogieband.co.za, Selby was a 'well respected businessman and sound engineer / sound designer. He

formed his company Selby’s Productions cc in 1980 which has successfully served the Audiovisual industry of SA for the past 30 years. Ron is one of the few very select engineers who can successfully sound mix an orchestra together with a live rock band, mixing the classical idiom with a rock feel.' Several key figures in the industry said their final goodbyes to one of the greats, at Selby’s memorial service. According to Duncan Riley, Director of DWR, Selby was a gentleman and an inspiration for everyone. “I had the honour of meeting Ron in 1996 or 1997. He was one of the founders of the industry we are privileged to work in today. His dry sense of humour, his humility and his passion for the industry and for family will never be forgotten,” Riley said. “Ron Selby, we will miss you. You were an example of a great human being and we thank you for the time we could share together. Respect, sir.” Ofer Lapid, Joint Managing Director of Gearhouse SA, also attended the funeral. “It is with great sadness and respect that I had to say goodbye to Ron Selby, a pioneer in the live event rental industry, a perfectionist with a great passion for music and a mentor to newcomers like me. Hamba Kahle Ron,” he said.

Avid Everywhere unleashes new version of Pro Tools Avid's new version of Pro Tools offers more plug-in bundles, new features and lower prices. Industry-standard digital audio software is now even more affordable and delivers greater value to upgrade plan and subscription customers – with more plug-ins and enhanced workflow features… Avid® recently announced a new software update for the industry-standard digital audio software, Avid Pro Tools®, bundled plug-ins that deliver even more value to upgrade and support plans, and a new reduced price for perpetual licenses. According to Avid, these latest developments further deliver on Avid EverywhereTM by making industry-standard software more accessible to independent artists and aspiring professionals, while enabling audio professionals to stay up to date and have access to the most current, powerful workflows. It is also aiming to provide more value for Pro Tools and Pro Tools | HD customers with annual upgrade and support plans and subscription licenses, a new release that includes access to premium AAX plug-in

bundles, and a host of new features. Avid's new Pro Tools upgrade and support plans provide more value and flexibility to stay on top of the latest updates, access creative tools and get professional support. Pro Tools customers with monthly and yearly subscriptions will also have access to the new bundle of 17 plug-ins, in addition to the latest updates and professional customer support. For Pro Tools | HD, the new annual upgrade plans that were recently updated with a lower renewal price now also include access to 16 new stompbox effects and nine additional premium AAX plug-ins. Customers with active upgrade plans will get access to this plug-in bundle during the term of their plan, while all new Pro Tools | HDX and HD Native systems come bundled with the new annual upgrade subscription, according to Avid. The new version of Pro Tools includes several key enhancements that are among the most requested by the Pro Tools community and will enable audio professionals to use advanced mixing

workflows like VCA Masters, extended metering, gain reduction metering and Disk Cache for high-performance playback and record, even when using slower storage. The new Pro Tools 12.2 update is now available and is free of charge to Pro Tools 12 customers with upgrade plans. The Annual Upgrade Plan for Pro Tools | HD systems starts at R9 132 + VAT for the first year and includes upgrades, access to the HD plug-in bundle and standard support for one year. All new Pro Tools | HDX and HD Native systems come bundled with this plan which can be renewed for R8 057 + VAT each year thereafter. Starting in 2016, plans that lapse can be reinstated for R13 436 + VAT.

news

Cape Town company uses world’s most advanced visual tech at International Award Ceremony

MTV Africa Music Awards 2015

Formative Bespoke Stage and Production Design were recently contracted by MTV Networks out of the UK to produce all screen visuals and awards animations for the MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA) on 18 July 2015. Formative created all of the 3D awards sequences and a combination of 2D and 3D visuals for 10 collaborative performances from top local and international artists, which included Neyo, Jhene Aiko, AKA and P-Square. All the performance visuals were custom designed for each artist. Each had a unique backdrop, lights and set changes that the team were able to visualise, create and run through fully ahead of time. A number of performance visuals were synced to track via time code, which made for an

incredible all-round sensory experience. “We pre-made most of the visual content in the studio and spent a week on site in Durban programming, testing and modifying the sequences to fit in with the creative design for each performance,” says Grant Orchard, Creative Director of Formative. “We created three brand new performance sequences on site.” “The beauty of having a full animation and graphics team on site meant that we were able to take our creativity to a new level, using the stage design itself to inspire some of the special touch-ups we were able to achieve,” says Orchard. “The creativity started back in the studio, but really came to life when we were able to play around using the dynamics of the stage on site.”

For the MAMAs, Formative was tasked with providing the content playback system. The company is currently the only production design and motion graphics company in Africa to own and operate the d3 Technologies video production suite, leading-edge software and hardware playback technology. “We work with one of the world’s most advanced graphic and video production suites, known as d3 Technologies,” says Gareth Hadden, Business Director of Formative. “It is a state-of-the-art, fully integrated playback system that allows us to pre-visualise and pre-programme the show to the nth degree in a 3D space. "We can do anything we’re able to imagine for our customer’s live events, and we are the only people in Africa with this technology and the know-how to tap into its powerful capabilities.” Formative is well known for the work on Skouspel 2014 and the upcoming 2015 music concert where the company will be creating the set design and video content. For the last two years Formative has done stage, set and visual design for many projects of varying types, from broadcasts such as Afri-Visie to the V&A Waterfront’s annual New Year’s Eve parties, one of which was one of South Africa’s largest projection mapping experiences. “In an industry sometimes beset by a lack of creativity, we are excited that a South African company is ahead of the curve in terms of the latest technology and creative effects,” says Hadden. “We’re really looking forward to seeing what lies ahead for the entertainment industry in South Africa.”

SACIA and TPSA Council to host 'Rigging Imbizo' soon Over the past few months SACIA and the TPSA Council have been working with the PSA in the UK and the VPLT in Germany to establish rigging standards that can be applied in South Africa. They are keen to adopt a standard that can be consistently applied across the country, and that will form the basis of a future training and certification programme aligned with international standards and recognised by

our colleagues around the world. They are also keen to ensure that these standards are embedded within the education programmes delivered by universities and training academies active in the South African market (such as Tshwane University of Technology’s degree/ diploma programme in Entertainment Technology or certificate programmes offered by SARA and the Gearhouse Kentse

Mpahlwa Academy.) To this end, they are planning to host a 'Rigging Imbizo' in Johannesburg soon. The meeting is open to all SACIA/ TPSA members working in the staging and live events industry. If anyone would like to participate, they can send an RSVP to rigging@sacia.org.za

PAVIRO Public Address and Voice Evacuation System with Professional Sound Quality Flexibility right from the start

PAVIRO is the first of a new breed of Public Address and Evacuation Systems. Not only does it provide Professional Quality Sound, it makes specification and installation faster, simpler and more efficient than ever before. Consultants will save time and define a complete system with just a few parameters. Installers will avoid unexpected costs thanks to the systemâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extreme flexibility. Building owners will benefit from the low power consumption resulting in lower energy costs and fewer and less expensive batteries. Find out how you can take advantage, contact your nearest Bosch representative today or visit: www.boschsecurity.com

news

New agencies at Peripheral Vision broaden portfolio Peripheral Vision recently acquired several prestigious new brands, including Bosch Communication Systems, Da-Lite Projection Screens, Chief Mounting Solutions, SurgeX and SVSi, which in turn has been recently acquired by AMX by Harman. According to Peripheral Vision’s CEO, Wynand Langenhoven, maintaining the superior marketing and unsurpassed technical support that has become synonymous with the company, could only be achieved if they were able to offer complete solutions with products that have been tried and tested. Representing new products also means having the in-house expertise necessary at Peripheral Vision. “As a company, we became aware of our partners’ increasing need for a centre of excellence that offers complete solutions to the market. This need resulted in our integration of formerly disparate product lines to create seamless solutions for the technologically advanced southern African market. The products that we now represent have broadened our portfolio with this strategy in mind,” he says. With regard to their recent growth and future plans, Langenhoven makes it clear that ‘brand collecting’ is not Peripheral Vision’s goal. “The intention is not for Peripheral Vision to

The Peripheral Vision team

become a brand collector. The products recently acquired were specifically selected to complement our portfolio. Our immediate plan with the new products is to offer training to our partners to enable them to market, install, commission and maintain their installations with confidence and competence.” What Peripheral Vision wants their clients to know, first and foremost, says Langenhoven, is that Bosch Communications Systems – a business unit of Bosch Security Systems – is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of professional audio, wireless, life safety and communication equipment. “Bosch Communications Systems

Over 1 000 EV loudspeakers provide extensive sound solution in Doha After several years in construction, a new tourist attraction opened recently near Doha: Souq Al Wakrah, with restaurants, shops and cultural installations. Helmet Trading & Contracting installed over 1 000 Electro-Voice ZX1i loudspeakers driven by Contractor Precision Series (CPS) power amplifiers, to provide distributed sound to the quarter, which extends over two kilometres. Twelve N8000 matrices handle the loudspeaker processing, and the entire system is controlled with ease via touchscreen. Electro-Voice was chosen as the company’s partner for the project; the reason was simple, as engineer and project

Mahmoud Fahmawi von Helmet shows the installation

manager Mahmoud Fahmawi from Helmet explains: “Our past experience with the support and quality provided by ElectroVoice made this decision a no-brainer.” For the design and simulations, Helmet’s technical experts could count on support from the Electro-Voice team. Together they designed a virtual sound concept that included over 1 000 ZX1i loudspeakers, twelve N8000 matrices and Contractor

offers complete system solutions for the world’s most critical, high-profile installations and events. One of our new product ranges is the Bosch PA / EVAC, which, if designed, installed and maintained correctly meet (and exceed) the SANS 7240 standard for voice evacuation in South Africa,” Langenhoven says. Other new products include: the Bosch DCN Multi Media, an IP based congress system, the Da-Lite Idea, Parallax and UTB Screens, the Chief ConnexSys™ Video Wall bracket, the SurgeX SX-1215i and the SVSi N2000 family, which delivers JPEG2000 based video anywhere on a Cat5 network or the N3000 family, which offers web and WAN applications based on H.264.

Precision Series (CPS) power amplifiers. “With this system, we have succeeded in providing homogeneous coverage of the entire area – including the 500-metre-long parking lot,” says Mahmoud Fahmawi. “The sound performance of the loudspeakers is great. They are equipped with high-end, lightweight components and are also extremely robust and weatherproof, making them the perfect choice for outdoor installations. With so many cabinets, the integrated QuickSAM heavy-duty, strongarm mounting kit really proved useful. It made the installation easy and straightforward – saving us a great deal of time and money.” To blend harmoniously into the historic appearance of the Souq Al Wakrah, all the loudspeakers were hidden in recesses and covered with fabric matching the colour of the walls. Not only is the high performance and quality of the system immediately evident but it is also user friendly. The entire system – with custom-designed IRIS-Net graphical user interface – can be configured, controlled and supervised via touchscreen.

news

Fine Art launches FINE 600L SPOT Fine Art recently launched the FINE 600L SPOT moving head light. FINE 600L SPOT is a LED spot moving head light that uses 600W LED modules as its light source that combines various state of the art lighting technologies. It combines the latest technology of intelligent fan control, encoder positioning, Gamma correction dimming, unique optical design and the wide optical lens diameter of 180mm to output uniform spot light, which reaches the light efficiency of a 1500W halide lamp with luminous flux exceeding 26 000lm. The light has the non-negotiable attributes of long life span and low power usage. It saves the power consumption cost greatly and reduces the need for replacing the lamp when compared with halide computer lights. It is suitable for TV stations, theatres, stages and large-scale performance spaces.

• Lamp source: 600W LED module • Beam angle: 9° – 55° • CMY infinite colour mixing • Linear CTO adjustment • Independent frost soft effect • Prism: 2 rotatable 4-facet prisms + 1 gradient prism, available to rotate bi-directionally • 5-100 % fast electric iris adjustment with macro function and multi effect changes • Control channel: 28 (standard)/ 31(16 bit)/ 36(extended) • Protocol: standard DMX512, Art-Net and wireless DMX512 for option • Menu display: 3.5 inch LCD display • RDM bidirectional data transmission • Power supply: AC100-240V 50/60Hz

DiGiCo rocks with Kasabian on summer festival circuit

DiGiCo’s SD7 console in action

As Kasabian embarks on the 2015 summer festival season – with two warm up shows at Utrecht’s TivoliVredenburg and Groningen’s De Oosterpoort in The Netherlands, at Belgium’s massive Rock Werchter festival and then headlining multiple festivals across Europe – Front of House engineer Paul Ramsay and monitor engineer Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Sargeant explain why DiGiCo’s SD7 is their console of choice. “We’re not taking any PA on this run, just FOH control and monitor system,” explains Ramsay, who has been working with the English rock band since the end of 2011. “But due to distances between some of the shows we’re carrying two separate, but identical, systems (A and B), so we can physically get the equipment to all the shows.”

Ramsay’s SD7 system is equipped with two Waves extreme servers running Waves plugins. “I have a Lake LM44 for system EQ with a wireless tablet and Waves BCL hardware unit over the master buss,” he says. “Other than this I’m using no external outboard. I use the internal SD Gates, Compressors, Effects and Waves plugins as required.” Ramsay uses one full SD Rack of inputs, with 56 channels from stage, around 10 stereo effects engines and a few playback stems, giving approximately 90 inputs in total. For outputs he takes AES feeds into his Lake LM44 for PA inputs, but also has some stems for sub mixes for the broadcast truck. Ramsay carries out a virtual sound check every day using a DiGiGrid MGB, both with near fields, to tidy up Snapshots, work on

songs and in the PA itself in the morning as the band are not able to do sound checks at any of the festivals. At monitors Sargeant is new boy to the Kasabian fold, having started working with them at the beginning of this year. “As a monitor engineer I need to get around things quickly and confidently and, ideally, not take my eyes off the band. I feel that I can do that with the SD7 because I can custom build any of my fader banks, inputs and outputs – in fact, everything.” Like Ramsay, Sargeant’s outboard rig is almost non-existent. “Everything is on the SD7,” he says. “It’s got great EQ and Multiband Compression and that’s really all I need for monitors. I don’t need any outboard other than a TC D2 and that’s simply because [guitarist and vocalist] Sergio [Pizzomo] particularly likes it. “To give myself a fighting chance, I run virtual soundcheck to tune and balance the festival sidefills – as Ramsay said, we don’t have any rehearsals. I’m also using an iPad running the DiGiCo SD App to EQ while away from the desk. Sargeant’s set up is, he says: “A simple system that is compact and bijou. I try to fit everything under the desk, then I have the SD Rack as well. I have a total of 56 inputs and 32 outputs as a general rule, but for a lot of the headline shows we also have a four-piece string section, which will add to that. I could have had a smaller console, but I have dual redundancy backup here. It’s all about not messing up really, isn’t it?”

SACIA SPOTLIGHT

New professional designations recognise skills and experience in the broadcast and AV industry In February 2015 SACIA was formally recognised by SAQA as the professional body for the broadcast and professional AV industry in Southern Africa. Professional bodies are required to develop and award industry certification programmes that recognise the skills and talents of individuals working in their sector.

guidelines to be used for the award of professional designations. Under Nic’s guidance, the Council has identified an initial group of 125 industry professionals who have been invited to apply for the CertAVprof designation. These individuals can all demonstrate 15+ years relevant work experience in the audio visual sector and are recognised as experts in their field. Since it was established in 2009, SACIA’s primary membership base has been made up of corporate, government and institutional members. Since its recognition as a professional body, SACIA had a growing number of individual members and over the next few years, we anticipate that it is the individual membership that will shape the future of the Association. As individual membership increases, it’s also important to recognise the difference between SACIA as a professional body and the many trade unions active in our marketplace. Membership in a trade union is open to all workers in an industry sector and their primary purpose is to engage in collective bargaining on behalf of members. SACIA does not engage in collective bargaining and individual membership is only open to industry professionals who hold a professional designation and agree to abide by the Association’s Code of Professional Conduct. Our members promote the adoption of professional standards and ethical business practices for audio-visual professionals working in the industry. We also back up this commitment with a disciplinary process that holds members accountable for their actions.

SACIA has registered three professional designations for the audio-visual sector, an Associate level designation for entry-level technicians who can demonstrate a broad understanding of the AV industry, a Practitioner level designation for industry technologists who can demonstrate a deeper understanding of the science and technology behind today’s modern AV systems, and a Professional level designation for individuals able to demonstrate an in-depth knowledge in an area of specialisation related to audio or visual communications technology. In each instance, the candidate needs to prove that they have the requisite qualifications and work experience to qualify for the designation. Individuals also need to sign and abide by a Code of Professional Conduct that commits them to a higher level of ethics and service. Individuals awarded a professional designation are listed on the National Learners Records Database so it’s a formal recognition of an individual’s skills and experience, but it’s important to understand the difference between an academic qualification awarded by a University or College, and a professional designation awarded by a SAQA-registered professional body. In the case of a degree or diploma awarded by a University, the ASSOCIATE PRACTITIONER PROFESSIONAL qualification is awarded based on an evaluation of skills and knowledge. The qualification is held QUALIFICATION NQF-4 NQF-5 NQF-6 indefinitely by the recipient without any requirement EXPERIENCE Min 1 YEAR Min 3 YEARS Min 7 YEARS for further training or professional development. EXAMINATION YES YES EXAM + SPECIALISATION In the case of a professional designation, recipients start with a relevant qualification but are only awarded the designation when they can demonstrate related work experience, are a member of their professional body, The SACIA Certification Council is also aware that many and have made a commitment to a code of ethics and professional professionals working in the audio visual industry lack formal training conduct. Furthermore, in order to maintain their professional and qualifications, and have learned their craft through on-the-job designation, individuals need to participate in a continuous training and real-life work experience. In order to recognise these programme of professional development. individuals, we have introduced an RPL programme (Recognition of In order to fast-track this process, Nic Bonthuys, previously general Prior Learning) that allows people who do not hold an underlying manager with the SABC’s Outside broadcast division, has been academic qualification to earn a professional designation based on appointed to establish an independent certification council to draft proven competence .

SACIA SPOTLIGHT

SACIA Code of Professional Conduct Members of SACIA who are practitioners and professionals practicing in the broadcast, communications and professional AV industry are required to subscribe to the code of professional conduct. Five values underpin this code, namely: 1. Honour: Showing respect for myself, my organisation, my industry and the community of clients that I serve by behaving in a manner that reflects favourably on my profession. Acting above reproach. Avoiding compromise of professional judgement by conflicts of interest. 2. Integrity: Acting with honesty and openness. Displaying trustworthiness. Showing consistent good behaviour over time. Ensuring that my words and actions correspond. 3. Reliability: Undertaking what I am competent to do and fulfilling commitments that I have made to my organisation, my industry and the community of clients that I serve. 4. Honesty: Being truthful and accurate when executing my job even when it sometimes might be difficult. Not misrepresenting my own or my associateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s academic or professional qualifications. Only undertaking assignments that I am competent to perform by way of my education, training and experience. 5. Accuracy: Ensuring that what I say, do and write are correct and reflect the information that is required to complete the job. Where this is not possible, ensuring that my organisation or my client understand the factors that could influence the accuracy of the information I have provided.

SACIA identifies that a practitioner interacts with various stakeholders when delivering their services. To this end, it is important that professional conduct be upheld when engaging with colleagues, peers, employers as well as industry role-players. To this end, a practitioner needs to uphold certain principles when practicing in this industry, namely: 1. Avoiding conflict of interest: This means understanding when a conflict of interest arises and speaking up to the parties present about the possible conflict to ensure that my integrity and honesty are not brought into question. This includes opportunities when I might be given information that I could use to my own advantage, but that could undermine my integrity and honesty. 2. Building and enhancing relationships: When acting in the best interest of my client, my focus is on building and enhancing long term relationships that are built on trustworthiness and reliability. 3. Upholding safety, health and welfare of the public: As a competent practitioner who is proficient in what I do, I have the required insight and understanding into the laws, codes and principles governing safety, health and welfare of the public within my area of responsibility. I therefore ensure that the work I complete is compliant with these laws, codes and principles to ensure the well-being of my client, as well as the public that I affect. 4. Remaining in good standing: As a practitioner in this industry, I need to remain in good standing in terms of the laws governing South Africa. I also need to ensure that I abide by the codes set out by international counterparts within this industry. Finally, it is important that I realise that the certificates, logos and marks entrusted to me as a member of SACIA remain their property. Should, for any reason, our relationship be terminated, I am responsible to return this property to their care.

Peripheral Vision are a team of technically skilled people who are dedicated to giving our customers our best attention. Offering custom designed solutions, using only reputable

Is proud to announce our appointment as a distributor of Bosch Security Systems

products that we have tried and tested in our own pre-sales environment before successfully installing in many projects throughout Africa. www.peripheralvision.co.za sales@peripheralvision.co.za +27 11 840 0860

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Unified communications market in SA

The Unified Communications and Collaboration market refers to the contemporary tendency for the use of corporate AV systems to provide a common platform for communication either regionally or even globally, through internet-based communications systems that are increasingly able to carry high quality audio and video signals. The growth of the market reflects not only the maturation of the technology but the need in many corporate markets to reduce costs and increase efficiencies. We spoke to Stefan Mayer of local AV integrator Corporate AV Integration for his view. Now that the costs of bandwidth have tumbled and fibre-based broadband has become commonplace in office parks and suburbs in South African metros, many companies are looking to invest in unified communications solutions to improve collaboration and reduce costs. That’s according to Stefan Mayer, managing director at Corporate AV Integration, who says that his company is seeing rising demand for corporate AV solutions to support unified communications deployments at companies of all sizes. This reflects a global trend – IDG’s 2015 Unified Communications &

Collaboration (UC&C) Study, for example, finds that 56% of large and 66% of SME organisations plan to implement or upgrade UC&C solutions within the next year. Mayer says that South African companies are becoming particularly interested in videoconferencing and telepresence elements of unified communications. In the past, internet connectivity was too patchy and too slow to support these bandwidth-hungry applications, particularly among smaller companies that used to depend on ADSL lines. “We are getting many queries from companies who want to use high-definition video for virtual meetings, training, workshops and more,” he adds. “For these purposes, a notebook and Skype are not good enough. Companies also need robust video displays and audio systems that deliver crisp video and clean sound so that users can work together constructively.” Mayer notes many companies are becoming aware of the business benefits that the videoconferencing and telepresence elements of unified communications can bring as they try to keep business costs under control while enhancing productivity. Roombased videoconferencing and telepresence allow people to stay focused, work together constructively and avoid the misunderstandings that are common in electronic communication. The technology creates the illusion that meeting participants are in the same room. Telepresence offers virtual high-definition communication that is the next best thing to meeting face-to-face. Its directional audio and crystal-clear, life-size video promotes natural interaction and collaboration. On a softer level, when people see each other, they can also more quickly build a rapport that promotes teamwork. People can share files and data on-screen, allowing for better collaboration and more

productive discussions. With the basic AV and network infrastructure in place, it becomes a simple and affordable matter to put videoconferencing or telepresence solutions in place. This means that companies can include employees and other stakeholders in meetings without them needing to travel, according to Mayer. He adds: “We’re seeing a few big drivers for adoption of such solutions: the rising costs of international travel because of the battering the rand has taken; the need to reduce corporate carbon footprints; and growing traffic in the major cities. Companies realise that reducing air and land travel is a good way to help the environment. It also improves workplace satisfaction because most people don’t want to spend their lives in traffic or in airports.” Says Mayer: “To determine the best AV solution to support their unified comms needs, companies should partner with knowledgeable and reputable integrators. The good news is there are many opportunities to optimise management of AV solutions and reduce operational costs because of the convergence between IT and AV. Companies should select platforms that are energy-efficient, automated and easy to integrate with their IT architectures.” While convergence is a buzzword that has been around a while, it is really the maturation of internet-based communications systems and networks that underpin the corporate AV revolution and market growth. Also, it provides employees, business partners and others to use a variety of devices, even personal smartphones and tablets, to patch into the network and collaborate – what is termed BYOD. For corporate markets, the improvement of security protocols and the rise of cloud computing means that AV integration – the provision of high quality audio and video systems delivered through the cloud – turns the potential benefits of the technology into a reality.

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The Next Level The Next Level of of Enterprise Enterprise The Next Level Communication ofCommunication Enterprise Emerging UC & C Tools Emerging UC &Growth C Tools Influence Business Communication Influence Business Growth UC&C UC&C DEFINED DEFINED

UC&C

WHAT’S DEFINED

Emerging UC & C Tools Influence Business Growth

Unified communications and collaboration (UC &C) solutions are designed to provide flexible ways of delivering, managing and supporting of the various Unified communications and collaboration (UC &C)allsolutions are designed types oftoIPprovide communications that an organisation requires in both horizontal flexible ways of delivering, managing and supporting all ofand the various verticaltypes industry processesthat and an applications. * requires in both horizontal and of IPbusiness communications organisation vertical industry business processes and applications.* Unified communications and collaboration (UC &C) solutions are designed MAJOR UC&C TECHNOLOGIES IN 2012 INCLUDED: THESE TECHNOLOGIES ARE STILL to provide flexible ways of delivering, managing and supporting of the various PREVALENT IN 2015, BUTall THERE ADVANCED TELEPHONY CALLING UC&C TECHNOLOGIES INCLUDED: THESEFOCUS TECHNOLOGIES ARE STILL IS INCREASED ON:horizontal types ofMAJOR IP communications thatINan2012 organisation requires in both and AND MANAGEMENT PREVALENT IN 2015, BUT THERE vertical industryADVANCED business processes and applications. * TELEPHONY CALLING IS INCREASED FOCUS ON:

WHAT’S CHANGED CHANGED SINCE SINCE 2012? WHAT’S 2012? CHANGED SINCE

AND MANAGEMENT UNIFIED MESSAGING (UM)

COLLABORATIVE APPLICATIONS

(ENTERPRISE SOCIAL, FILE SHARING)

(EMAIL, F AX, AND VOICE MESSAGING COMBINED)

COLLABORATIVE APPLICATIONS

(ENTERPRISE SOCIAL, FILE SHARING)

UNIFIED MESSAGING (UM) MAJOR UC&C TECHNOLOGIES IN 2012COMBINED) INCLUDED: (EMAIL, F AX, AND WEB C ONFERENCING , VOICE MESSAGING

VIDEO CONFERENCING AND THESE TECHNOLOGIES ARE STILL TELEPRESENCE SYSTEMS PREVALENT IN 2015, BUT THERE AND EQUIPMENT CONFERENCING AND IS INCREASEDVIDEO FOCUS ON: TELEPRESENCE SYSTEMS

AUDIO CONFERENCING , CALLING AND ADVANCED VIDEOWEB CONFERENCING C TELEPHONY ONFERENCING , AND MANAGEMENT AUDIO CONFERENCING , AND VIDEO(IM) CONFERENCING INSTANT MESSAGING

EQUIPMENT MOBILE UCAND & C HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND APPLICATIONS COLLABORATIVE APPLICATIONS MOBILESOCIAL, UC & CFILE HARDWARE, (ENTERPRISE SHARING) SOFTWARE AND APPLICATIONS

UNIFIED MESSAGING (UM) (IM) INSTANT MESSAGING

(EMAIL, F AX, AND VOICE MESSAGING COMBINED)

VIDEO CONFERENCING AND TELEPRESENCE SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT

WEB C ONFERENCING , AUDIO CONFERENCING , AND VIDEO CONFERENCING

2012?

SIGNIFICANT GROWTH AHEAD SIGNIFICANT GROWTH AHEAD

MOBILE UC & C HARDWARE, SOFTWARE AND APPLICATIONS

INSTANT MESSAGING (IM)

of organisations plan to implement/ currently use/run upgrade UCto & implement/ C solutions % % organisations 61 plan 5555UC%& Cofcurrently solutionsuse/run within 3 years UC & C solutions 61% upgrade SIGNIFICANTUC GROWTH & C solutions AHEAD within 3 years 62% ENTERPRISE / 49% SMB 62% ENTERPRISE / 49% SMB

55 % 3333 %

56% ENTERPRISE / 66% SMB 56% ENTERPRISE / 66% SMB

use/run = INCREASED UC & C solutions % currently % upgrade IMPLEMENTATION PLANS SPENDING UC & C solutions within 3 years IMPLEMENTATION PLANS = INCREASED SPENDING of organisations

plan to implement/

62% ENTERPRISE / 49% SMB EXPECT THEIR 56% ENTERPRISE / 66% SMB OF ORGANISATIONS

UC & COF BUDGET TO INCREASE ORGANISATIONS EXPECT THEIR UC & C BUDGET TO INCREASE 39% ENTERPRISE / 28% SMBs

39% ENTERPRISE / 28% SMBs = INCREASED SPENDING IMPLEMENTATION PLANS

9 %9 %

ON AVERAGE, BUDGETS AVERAGE TOTAL $4.3 M WILL INCREASE BY UCTHEIR &C BUDGETTOTAL OF ORGANISATIONS EXPECT ON AVERAGE, BUDGETS AVERAGE $4.3 M & C BUDGET WILLUC INCREASE BY TO INCREASE UC & C BUDGET $/ $551K SMB $8.1M ENTERPRISE

33 %

39% ENTERPRISE / 28% SMBs

$8.1M ENTERPRISE / $551K SMB

of organisations use/run % 55 currently UC & C solutions

plan to implement/ UC & C solutions % CORPORATE AV Integration 61REPORTupgrade within 3 years

62% ENTERPRISE / 49% SMB

56% ENTERPRISE / 66% SMB

IMPLEMENTATION PLANS = INCREASED SPENDING

33 %

OF ORGANISATIONS EXPECT THEIR UC & C BUDGET TO INCREASE

39% ENTERPRISE / 28% SMBs

ON AVERAGE, BUDGETS WILL INCREASE BY

$4.3 M

AVERAGE TOTAL UC & C BUDGET

$8.1M ENTERPRISE / $551K SMB

WHERE ARE ORGANISATIONS FOCUSING THEIR BUDGETS?

47 %

44 %

WEB, AUDIO AND VIDEO CONFERENCING SERVICES

42 %

IP TELEPHONY (IPT) CALLING & MANAGEMENT: IP PHONES

EMAIL, FAX & VOICEMAIL, INCLUDING UNIFIED MESSAGING

PRIMARY DRIVERS FOR UC & C INVESTMENTS ARE ...

43 %

42 %

IMPROVE EMPLOYEE COLLABORATION

33 % INCREASE FLEXIBILITY FOR EMPLOYEES/MORE MOBILE WORKFORCE

INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY

ENTERPRISE LEADS INNOVATIVE UC & C MOVEMENT of enterprise orgs in % 44 willvideoinvestconferencing & telepresence systems and equipment

VS. 32% SMBs

42 %

of enterprise orgs will invest in mobile UC & C hardware, applications

VS. 31% SMBs

EMERGING TECH SOLUTIONS FOR ENTERPRISE How important is the use of video conferencing to your organisations UC & C solutions?

Does/will your organisation invest in telepresence technologies?

CRITICAL/VERY IMPORTANT

SIGNIFICANT/MODERATE INVESTEMENT

54 % 34 %

65 % 51%

ENTERPRISE

SMB

$ $

VIDEO RISING AMONG EMPLOYEE AND CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION

SMB

$ 51$

ENTERPRISE CORPORATE AV Integration REPORT

SMB

ENTERPRISE

SMB

VIDEO RISING AMONG EMPLOYEE AND CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION VIDEO USES FOR

INTERNAL COMMUNICATION

VIDEO CONFERENCING

(desktop/screensharing (desktop/screensharing where where participants participants cannot cannot physically physically see see one one another) another)

64% ENTERPRISE 44% SMB

VIDEO CONFERENCING

(room (room system) system)

TELEPRESENCE TECHNOLOGIES

(Facetime, (Facetime, Skype, Skype, Google, Google, Hangouts, Hangouts, etc.) etc.)

57% ENTERPRISE 25% SMB

32% ENTERPRISE 17% SMB

34% ENTERPRISE 32% SMB

VIDEO USES FOR

EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION

VIDEO CONFERENCING

(desktop/screensharing (desktop/screensharing where where participants participants cannot cannot physically physically see see one one another) another)

53% ENTERPRISE 47% SMB

VIDEO CONFERENCING

TELEPRESENCE TECHNOLOGIES

VIDEO CONFERENCING

(room (room system) system)

(Facetime, (Facetime, Skype, Skype, Google, Google, Hangouts, Hangouts, etc.) etc.)

39% ENTERPRISE 24% SMB

23% ENTERPRISE 12% SMB

33% ENTERPRISE 37% SMB

NEXT 22 YEARS YEARS NEXT

CURRENTLY CURRENTLY

UC & C HEADING TOWARDS THE CLOUD 49 % 55% 42 %

Premises-based (100%)

22% 25% 19%

Hybrid

(majority (majority premises-based premises-based with with some some cloud) cloud)

18% 17% 19%

Premises-based (100%)

71%

13% 7% 20%

Hosted/cloud (100%)

26% 32% 22%

Hybrid

(majority (majority premises-based premises-based with with some some cloud) cloud)

7% 5% 8%

Hybrid

(majority (majority cloud-based cloud-based with with some some on on premises) premises)

20% 15% 25%

Hosted/cloud (100%)

OVERALL OVERALL ENTERPRISE ENTERPRISE SMB SMB

21% 22% 20%

Hybrid

(majority (majority cloud-based cloud-based with with some some on on premises) premises)

OVERALL OVERALL ENTERPRISE ENTERPRISE SMB SMB

of organisations currently using UC & C solutions say cloud computing has impacted their plans.

WITH ADOPTION COMES CHALLENGES TOP UC &C IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES

COST/FUNDING

41%

38% ENTERPRISE 43% SMB

SECURITY/PRIVACY CONCERNS

36 %

39% ENTERPRISE 34% SMB

INTEGRATION WITH EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE

33 %

36% ENTERPRISE 31% SMB

41%

43% SMB

38% ENTERPRISE 43% SMB

36 %

39% ENTERPRISE 34% SMB

REPORT

% 33 CORPORATE AV Integration 36% ENTERPRISE 31% SMB

36% ENTERPRISE 31% SMB

HOW CAN VENDORS SUPPORT ADOPTION? HOW CAN VENDORS SUPPORT ADOPTION?

TOP FACTORS WHEN EVALUATING TOP FACTORS WHEN EVALUATINGVENDORS VENDORS

SECURITY/ABILITY

TO MEET SECURITY/ABILITY REQUIREMENTS TO MEET REQUIREMENTS

58 %

63% ENTERPRISE 54% SMB

EASE OF USE

% 46 %

EASE OF USE

42% ENTERPRISE 50% SMB

LOW TOTAL COST

OF OWNERSHIP LOW TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP

45 %%

40% ENTERPRISE 51% SMB

2015 Unified Communications & Collaboration Survey, IDG Enterprise For more information, visit:www.idgenterprise.com/contact-us www.idgenterprise.com/research-reports

2015 Unified Communications & Collaboration Survey, IDG Enterprise *SOURCE: IDC For more information, visit:www.idgenterprise.com/contact-us www.idgenterprise.com/research-reports *SOURCE: IDC

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Electrosonic puts Kramer in the corporate AV spotlight Well-known local distributor Electrosonic represents the Kramer Electronics brand in southern Africa. The US headquartered specialised electronics business started out as a video technology company, but rapidly branched out into bespoke product solutions in the audio and signal processing fields. Kramer’s unparalleled product R&D processes mean that many of its products are uniquely positioned to take advantage of current developments in the convergent corporate market. We asked Bruce Genricks, MD of Electrosonic, to tell us more about where they see Kramer moving in the corporate market.

Bruce Genricks

Where does Electrosonic see growth happening in the corporate market for Kramer products and solutions?

Bruce Genricks: We definitely see growth happening in the wireless collaboration area, with products such as Via connect and Collage. The ‘Bring your own device (BYOD)’ approach is quickly being adopted with the expectation that any device (laptop, tablet, smartphone) can simply and easily be connected wirelessly to conduct interactive presentations. Kramer’s new control product, K-Touch is the way, I believe, all control will be done in the future. It can utilise and control ‘off the shelf’ tablets and smart phones. The Kramer VP-772

programing is quick, easy and powerful and is application based. No dedicated touch panel or control processors are required, making it affordable and therefore a big growth opportunity for Kramer in South Africa.

Is convergence and application-driven IT driving AV growth in the corporate sector? If so, how do Kramer products fit the bill?

BG:Very much so. Not only do Kramer’s wireless collaboration devices drive growth in this sector, most, if not all, of their control products are application based, with the programming software sitting in the cloud.

CORPORATE AV Integration REPORT

Kramer K-Touch

Has Kramer’s R&D approach changed in line with the move to converged technology and ‘unified communications’? If so, how?

BG:Yes. Kramer now has products that leverage on industry standard video/audio conference products such as Skype for Business and Go to Meeting. They have also invested heavily in R&D in these sectors, as they continually do with all their product lines.

Are there any differences or anomalies in the approach in the southern African market – eg. network constraints? How is Electrosonic addressing these with regard to Kramer products?

BG:The issues that the AV industry faces in South Africa are mostly related to network capacity, unstable power supply, and, particularly in Johannesburg, lightning. While larger corporations generally have adequate network capacity, small to medium sized companies can be hugely disadvantaged by network constraints. This often results in a different solution. Power surges and lightning can be addressed by specifying more fibre products and devices that include high voltage protection. Kramer has many products in their range which address these issues.

Kramer VSM-4x4HFS

Insight: K-Touch BYOD control Kramer has recently introduced the K-Touch version 3.0 platform, a state-of-the-art cloud-based solution for designing and producing user-friendly BYOD room-control and automation eco-systems ideally suited to corporate applications or for distributed office spaces. The platform enables integrators to design advanced control and automation for room elements such as lights, screens, sound, HVAC, thermostats, and any existing A/V system. Designers can scale to over 100 devices in the cloud, all controllable from any tablet or mobile touch screen. Kramer puts a lot of stock in the ability of the K-Touch 3.0 to easily programme and scale, extolling its’ cost-saving potential to both integrators and end users. The system can be operated from any iOS or Android touch screen and is designed for a wide variety of distributed AV environments, but is especially suited to corporate offices. The product has a drag-anddrop design interface which replaces expensive programming, and comes with a range of on-board pre-programmed modules for easy control system design. It also enables the control of room elements via Ethernet. With a variety of controllers, room elements can be controlled via RS-232, GPIO, relays, or IR. Kramer claims significant cost savings and higher ROI for users by allowing integrators to provide remote cloud-based support and updates to customers without having to be on-site.

Kramer VP-773A

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Crestron opens up South Africa office

By James Sey

RoomView for Outlook

In line with the company’s global strategy of servicing the market and expanding it’s global presence, Crestron is selling direct to the professional dealer network in the SADC region. Moving away from a longstanding distributor relationship, is motivated purely by business logic, says Rupert Denoon, regional manager of Crestron in South Africa. “One of the biggest reasons for this is that Crestron has multiple solutions under one roof offering an end-to-end solutions to its integrators and customers.”

Mediamanager product line

Denoon expands on Crestron’s strategic positioning: “Crestron see South Africa very much as a bridgehead into the major African markets, which are in turn seen as emerging economy growth markets. So, while our line of reporting here in SA is to the EMEA region as a whole, our sales and support focus is very much on southern Africa and Mauritius, where we have a flourishing market that we are looking to build and develop.” The focus for brand building, according to Denoon, is on the provision of Crestron’s specialised product range to its regional network of dealers, and then to support them with the technical skills and expertise of locally-based Crestron staff. The regional southern African dealer network is large and diverse, and each has a different business model. This means supply requirements are specialised, and customised attention is a non-negotiable. As far as the corporate AV sector is concerned, Denoon is excited about the possibilities: “We

REPORT CORPORATE AV Integration

This has a lot to do with compatibility and interoperability standards, as well as the guarantees and warranties Crestron offers.”

Getting above the cloud

Mediamanager product line

are attuned to the need for market education around Crestron products in the local corporate sector. As the concept that ‘AV is IT’ gains traction, our current and potential customers understand that real benefit from corporate AV systems will come from investment in interoperability and collaborative systems. This is the most efficient and cost-effective way not only to add capacity and to properly scale systems and improve functionality. To an extent there is a need for our customers to be educated about the advantages of integrating different products from one manufacturer like Crestron.

Denoon points out that the move to cloud computing is driving a new wave of IT and AV integration – there are fewer large boardroom installations in the enterprise, and more huddle and breakaway rooms that require a more reliable system of distributed control. This extends to facilities management, the booking of different spaces, and asset tracking and monitoring, among others. “We see the Bring Your Own Device trend in computing as an extension of each employee’s personality into a managed space. While IT professionals are driving the maturation and adoption of cloud computing systems in the corporate world, they are also mindful of the security risks it entails,” says Denoon. “Our advantage is being able to offer certification documentation accepted by the US government to use in highly secure IT environments, which tends to allay any fears. This also helps with the fact that most corporate IT installations of our products are often carried on existing corporate networks. When IT departments see the operational success of our installations, and the ease of use, progress becomes easier. In addition, many of the sustainability advantages of the products we offer – such as energy and asset management and control systems which only engage electricity, aircon and AV systems when a meeting is taking place – chime in well with the corporate drive for environmental responsibility and best practice.”

2015

LONDON | 4-6 OCTOBER, 2015

World renowned business event for the Live Entertainment Technology industry Featuring a brand new format with sector focused hubs for AV, lighting, audio, staging and broadcast; live demonstration zones, new exhibitors and new feature products. All backed up by PLASA’s renowned Professional Development Programme hosting five seminar streams with 150+ industry leading speakers.

GLASGOW | 20-21 JANUARY, 2016

@PlasaShow

#PlasaShow

55%

specify or are final decision makers, that is more than 5,000 key buyers

86%

of visitors use exhibitions as a key source to find product/service information

44%

of visitors haven’t visited any other show in the past year

LEEDS | 10-11 MAY, 2016

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Omega Digital – corporate cost and efficiencies the byword

With more and more attention being paid to AV solutions in the corporate enterprise space as a means of linking new forms of IT connectivity with workplace productivity and communications, local solutions provider Omega Digital is ahead of the curve. We spoke to Managing Director Stuart Pringle.

Omega Digital specialises in visual communications solutions for business applications in the workplace. These generally fall into two categories: AV solutions for pause areas, meeting rooms, boardrooms and other physical meeting spaces in corporate offices; and video conferencing solutions designed for business applications where collaboration with remote participants can take place. Pringle has seen changes in the way corporates are approaching these solutions in recent years: “Enterprise IT budgets are big, but they are often initiated and shaped by the line of business executives in the company. IT is seen as a fulfilment area for the business, but this perception has shifted somewhat with the convergence of IT and AV technology. AV is increasingly seen as a requirement for the business. On the conferencing side a big driver, especially in a corporate world where companies often have globally distributed offices, is cost savings.

By James Sey

Cost saving in the cloud Along with the reduced costs enabled by remote conferencing solutions, the move to cloud computing is also helping to reduce the need for additional physical and IT infrastructure, says Pringle. Omega’s focus on blue chip customers means that the understanding of and use of cloud based solutions is more mature. “Our competitive advantage in this area,” continues Pringle, “is being able to calm our client’s perception of risk. Security risk is always an issue with cloud-based applications, and we can address it effectively through our association with respected vendors like Polycom and Cisco. Their encryption is world-class for solutions like internet telephony, for example.” Omega sells services and solutions for Cisco and Polycom. While this provides them with the credibility of these trusted global brands, their route to market is to an extent product-agnostic. “What we really focus on,” says Pringle, “is our installation capabilities, our commitment to providing support for our client’s systems and installations, and our commitment to our relationship of trust with our clients.” Omega offers master certified engineers for the ‘immersive telepresence’ products from Cisco, and is also well-versed in the best-of-breed suite of AV solutions from Polycom. “We’re confident that our offerings from both Cisco and Polycom are the best and most innovative end-to-end teleconferencing solutions on the market.”

Moving up the value chain Omega is determined to keep innovating and growing in the corporate AV space. “Obviously the biggest player in the teleconferencing area is Microsoft, with their Skype for Business suite of solutions. Omega is in the process of becoming a Gold Certified Microsoft partner, specialising in integrating Polycom ad Cisco products with the MS platform,“ says Pringle. “Our goal is to be seen as a partner who can design, implement and support a range of physical or infrastructural AV solutions in offices and physical corporate space, as well as all the company’s teleconferencing needs. While we have a consultative approach, and make recommendations about the solution, and what products are

available to our clients, our real value comes from saving them money and improving efficiencies as quickly as possible,” concludes Pringle. More and more corporate AV solutions are focused on reducing the need for additional IT or physical infrastructure as a means to both control costs and increase efficiencies. The growing maturity of remote teleconferencing solutions, with the reliability of the connectivity, bandwidth, screens and control systems that form an integral part of the solution, is beginning to make the dream a reality. Companies such as Omega are ideally positioned to take advantage of what will continue to be a growth market as cost pressures continue and technology systems improve and grow more accepted and user-friendly.

CORPORATE AV Integration REPORT

Tech trends for corporate AV

From HDCP 2.2 to spectrum space to walking, talking data, the AV landscape will change over the next few years. Here’s how to keep up. Before we get to the trends you need to be paying attention to, here’s a few of things that won’t be included, and while important, you are already behind the curve if you haven’t already at least started incorporating them into your business.

By Josh Srago

This list won’t include AV/IT specifically, but some ancillary influencers of its future. No AV as a service (AVaaS), because if you aren’t at least exploring remote services I promise your competition is. Also excluded is video conferencing/unified communications because it is already a vital tool in the AV arsenal. This isn’t about disruptive technology or manufacturers that are going to change the products you turn to as a go-to solution. This list will have things that might be outside your purview, the things you hear whispered about in smaller pockets of this industry and discussed loudly by some of our partner trades.

U O Y 4 E R MO

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1. HDCP 2.2 & other copyright/ content protection issues High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP), version 2.2, is going to cause the AV industry problems, but it is still only starting to make its way to the main stream. Why is HDCP 2.2 so important to the AV industry? Because it is a completely new Intel chipset designed to protect copyrighted digital content from being pirated. This means that your older equipment operating with HDCP 2.0 or 1.X chipsets in them will not be firmware upgradeable to the newer content protection levels. It also means that if your signal path has an HDCP 2.2 chipset anywhere in it, all proceeding devices must also operate at 2.2. The good news with regards to this content protection is that HDCP 2.2 is capable of receiving and processing content protection from the previous generations. Display manufacturers are currently only implementing the HDCP 2.2 chipset on a single HDMI 2.0 input for their latest displays making it important to note which HDMI input that is going to be, otherwise you may end up with an extremely limited signal path, particularly if you have more than one HCDP 2.2 source. To make matters more confusing, while it seems that all HDCP 2.2 inputs are going to be HDMI 2.0, not all HDMI 2.0 inputs will be HDCP 2.2. That means that if the AV switch manufacturers that have been claiming 4K compliance for the last few years aren’t also working to update their content protection chips and you attempt to run a 4K player with HDCP 2.2 through it, you might not be getting signal. In turn, as more people opt for 4K displays and want to view true 4K content via the HDMI 2.0 input, current systems are going to need upgrades to accommodate this request, or a patchwork solution must be found. HDCP, though, is only one part of protection issues for AV to watch. There is still a long, ongoing debate over the need for updated copyright laws. There has been much talk about the need for real copyright reform, with little progress. At a recent conference held by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the current copyright laws were compared to building a tail by tacking on tape piece by piece to provide regulation over each new case not previously addressed. Copyright law is still inconsistent and must be watched; we cannot predict what new piece of hardware or app will come about to change how we look at a project. If something saw widespread adoption across the industry because of its usefulness to our everyday lives, only to then have the creator or manufacturer get caught up in a legal dispute over the ownership of the copyright, the possible damages could be far reaching. It’s up to our regulators to implement copyright legislation that moves beyond the concept of a physical medium, and explores the ways that it must be applied in modern technology.

2. Making room for wireless It’s the ultimate goal for many of our customers to remove clutter, cables, and just walk into the room, have devices connect to the system and share content. In its simplest form this already exists today with devices from several manufacturers that allow you to either connect with a dongle, to the device through a built-in wireless access point, or through a client’s own wireless network. The issue we’re going to be facing as we look to the future is going to be closely related with the same issue we have with wireless microphones -space in the spectrum.

Satellite television channels are being squeezed for frequencies because the cell phone providers are seeking more space. It’s impossible to deny the fact that creating more space for the wireless providers is beneficial given that so many of us carry at least one device that’s connecting to a network at all times. It is not just the cell networks that we need to be wary of moving forward. There also must be consideration of the requirement of wide coverage Wi-Fi. With the continuing development of IoT and the Internet of Everything (IoE), the urban areas are experiencing an exponentially increased demand for connectivity of all devices. That demand is only going to continue to tax the networks as they exist and are implemented today, resulting in the need for expansion of services like city-wide Wi-Fi. User devices will dominate this landscape, so the commercial AV industry will be hard pressed to find a case where the connectivity of our devices, including wireless microphones, wireless video transmission and reception, and control will be of greater concern to users than the connection of their smart watch. The competition in this landscape will continue to stretch physics to the limit as the need for larger bandwidth while maintaining transmission over distance will require the manufacturers to get creative to provide solutions that integrators and customers are going to need.

3. Turning to fibre The types of signals that the AV industry is starting to incorporate into our systems are reaching the point of being entirely massive. It’s well documented that just because a device says it is 4K compliant only means that it abides by some version thereof. What is the refresh rate? The bit-depth? Is it actually 4K content or is it just UHD? These massive video signals have to get from point A to point B and transporting them is becoming increasingly complicated due to the sheer amount of bandwidth required. There are physical limitations to passing signals over copper cabling. There are continuing improvements with compression ratios to allow us to send more content with less data. There is also the option to packetize the signals and send them over IT networks -- not necessarily shrinking the amount of data, just changing how it’s transported. The end result is going to be an increased need for more fibre terminations in local systems to handle the required capacity of the larger signals like 4K video. Ultimately, when considering where fibre is going to be needed in AV solutions, the answer is everywhere. Even when we start to packetise the data, that will not resolve the issue of there being more data than ever to be transported and solely copper networks, while still immensely useful, are going to hit a breaking point where they will not be able to support the amount of information that must be moved.

It won’t just be the local networks that need to see more fibre implementation. The ISPs are rolling out more and more fibre networks across the country for the uses of residential and commercial networks, but in many cases, that fibre is the backbone with copper being the connection to the homes and businesses themselves. It will reach a point where it will need to be fibre into the buildings.

4. Embrace of smart devices Our world has become increasingly about data. AV-as-a-Service has emerged, giving us the capability to monitor not only the behaviour of the technology that we deal with, but the activity of the people that are utilising that technology. The next progressive step is tying it all together with control and automation that the AV industry provides to clients in their offices and homes. Smart devices provide users the ability to interact with simple technology to accomplish tasks, be it texting, tracking information, or even making an actual phone call. They also provide a direct line of communication for companies to access that tracking information. Applying the use of big data in order to follow people’s habits beyond exercising and purchasing products, and then hacking them to perform never intended tasks is the next logical step in the progression to achieving a room that recognizes your personal presence; putting smart device’s APIs to use in all new ways. The amount of data being acquired about us every single day is astounding. It’s not difficult to take the next step and apply that data to interact with the world around us. AV will play a role beyond providing finely tuned devices for the optimum solution. It will help incorporate communication between those devices as well as interaction with the people that use them. Technology’s presence in our daily lives gets more significant with each rotation of the clock hands. We must take action to prepare ourselves for how this web of interconnectivity between devices and data, devices and people, and intermingling industries is going to coalesce. There must also be diligence in the study of where things are going. We must be steadfast in the fight to protect the rights of individuals using the technology, even participating in the defence of the right to use it. Reprinted by permission of Commercial Integrator: www.CommercialIntegrator.com

CORPORATE AV Integration REPORT

Questek and Televic makes inroads in corporate conferencing market

By James Sey

Televic uniCOS Multimedia Conference System

Televic supplies award-winning digital conferencing solutions around the world. They are distributed locally by Questek, and both companies see great potential market growth for the networked digital conferencing solutions.

As would be expected in a sector of the market that is underpinned by IT networks and IT applications, the corporate AV customer is demanding AV solutions designed to integrate or at least co-exist with their IT networks and applications, creating a more seamless workflow for users and a more standardised management and support environment. Pro AV manufacturers are compelled to deliver converged AV/IT solutions that aren’t just innovative and of the highest quality, but solutions that the marketplace actually needs. One of the challenges in this rapid evolution is for Pro AV manufacturers and integrators to provide IT departments with solutions that facilitate the intersection of standards-based IP networks and the typically proprietary and closed nature of legacy AV solutions. AV solutions that don’t seamlessly integrate with IT networks are increasingly being ignored by purchasers or discarded by users, to be replaced with solutions that are truly an extension of the IT network. Televic is leading this evolution in the conferencing solutions arena with a fully digital product range designed in consultation with operators and end users of their systems. Televic conference solutions are solely distributed and supported by Questek in southern Africa, extending the formidable Televic installation base to our shores. Televic’s conferencing systems are designed on the Plixus network, a network which is both closed and open at the same time. The Plixus Engine acts as a gatekeeper handling all communication between the outside world and the mission critical part of the conference system. Cat5/6 cable connects chairman and delegate units to

each other and the Plixus engine, allowing controlled, tunnelled transfer of audio, HD video, IP, document and conference control data. Furthermore Televic’s intelligent system redundancy provides guaranteed uninterrupted conferencing, and strict separation between the conference data and IP traffic through IP tunnelling means that viruses have absolutely no access to the mission-critical part of the system. The Dante interface on the Plixus Engine ensures open communication to third party Dante enabled systems, creating a wealth of possibilities for signal routing and signal processing. Each delegate unit and the Plixus Engine have on-board DSP capabilities so that each audio stream can be tweaked, whether it is to adapt to the speaker’s tone of voice or to accommodate for acoustical challenges in any part of the conference room. If desired, the raw audio streams can be routed to an external DSP, processed there and fed back into the conference system or any other audio system. In this way Plixus combines the best of both worlds and offers an open yet secure interface at the edge of the conference network. Televic’s Plixus powered range of wired and wireless solutions are designed to facilitate simple moderated discussions, and discussions requiring simultaneous interpretation, recording and voting. Televic solutions include wired multimedia units, wired audio only, wireless audio only and interpretation units for quick and simple set up and use. Currently Televic is the only conference solutions manufacturer that enables any combination of delegate units to interoperate seamlessly

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on a single network for a single event. Certain delegates may require the touch-enabled multimedia UniCOS units to view agendas, live HD video and conference documentation, while other delegates may require audio only Confidea or D-Cerno units. Additionally, certain delegates may require wireless units as an extension of a fixed venue when larger delegations are required in a conference. This creates flexibility for organisers and meaningful use of venues for a variety of forums. In May this year, a panel of 16 independent AV experts judged Televic’s UniCOS multimedia conferencing system, first, in a direct shootout against other leading systems. UniCOS was rated best in Audio quality, ultra-low latency Video display, Microphone quality and Event preparation. Televic’s Lingua Interpreters Desk won the coveted iF Design award in February 2015, the Rave award at Infocomm 2015 and has been nominated for a German Design award in 2016 – recognising Televic’s shift in product development strategy towards user-centric design. Lingua complies fully with the new ISO standards and also has an HDMI port to facilitate connection to any size display directly from the desk without the need for an additional video network. Questek is in the process of installing Televic conference solutions to replace existing outmoded systems and equip globally represented customers with state-of-the-art conference facilities. The company is also working with local and African integrators to establish an élite channel presence in the region, where growth in the corporate AV/IT integration and increased appetite for unified communications solutions is driving sales and market expansion.

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LIVE EVENTs REPORT

By James Sey

Photo by Pieter Joubert

Bidvest on Broadway with Gearhouse

The annual Bidvest Awards Gala Dinner corporate function is one of the largest on the SA corporate calendar. The international Bidvest Group, with almost 150 000 employees in countries all over the world, gathers to celebrate excellence and take stock of their performance. An international gathering this prestigious demands a special event for its entertainment.

Usually held over three nights, the event comprises of a banquet each night and a performance of a specially created stage show for Bidvest’s top executives and employees, who travel in from all over the globe for the event. In keeping with the event in recent years, the production team for 2015 was once again headed by creative director Debbie Rakusin and producer David Bloch, who are always given the same mandate by the charismatic CEO of Bidvest, Brian Joffe – to come up with an innovative, captivating, boundary-pushing show.

Bidvest on Broadway That mandate was answered by one of the most spectacular but also technically advanced shows ever mounted for the Bidvest event. Built on the theme of ‘Bidvest on Broadway’, a cast of singers, dancers and

bona-fide star name Broadway entertainers took an enthralled audience through a compilation of the greatest Broadway musical hits ever performed. The live band for the event comprised of top local musicians, once more under the lead baton of musical director Bryan Schimmel. Gearhouse South Africa once again designed the event’s lighting, visuals, sound, as well as setting and implementing the technical parameters, working closely with Rakusin and Bloch. The company is renowned for the ability to not only deliver cutting edge product and support, but also to provide among the best technical and creative expertise in the country. Particularly for the demands of this kind of large, one-off event, Gearhouse’s global experience in design, lighting, staging and sound helped overcome many of the potential logistical and technical challenges that inevitably arose. For the Bidvest on Broadway show, Gearhouse stalwart Eyal

REPORT LIVE EVENTs “Providing the perspective and the physical environments of the sets through graphics and lighting, as well as set changes, meant that the cumulative intensity of the LED panels had to be controlled to the nth degree. Even a slight miscalculation would have meant the performers being obliterated for the audience by the background set.” – Tim Dunn

Yehezkaly project managed the crack team of lighting, audio, content and staging specialists, which also featured Bidvest event veteran Pieter Joubert from Gearhouse company SDS as the set and technical director. Gearhouse luminary Tim Dunn brought his vast knowledge and expertise to the event as show and lighting director. Dunn is renowned for pushing the envelope on his shows in terms of aesthetics, imagination and technical ambition. This year’s Bidvest event was no different. Given a fair amount of free rein in terms of content and technical delivery, Dunn and the Gearhouse team decided on the ultimate virtual set for this year’s show. Graphics, video and full 3D on an amazing stage set comprised of 1001 LED panels meant that Tim and the lighting and content teams could go to town – in this case, New York – providing all the backdrops, scenery and virtual environments necessary on a set which never physically moves! Each ‘stage set’ on the LED panels reflected a particular Broadway or New York street scene, vista or interior, in keeping with the show-stopping musical number being performed. A team of singers and dancers performed each musical number. Two musical highlights stood out. First, South African performer Amra-Faye Wright, who has played the role of Velma Kelly in the musical Chicago for many years with distinction on both London’s West End and Broadway itself, was brought out to headline the Bidvest show. She was supported by

YouTube and Off Broadway singing impressionist sensation Christina Bianco, also brought over especially for the show. They performed against a set that could stage spectacular, and instantaneous, switches between the advertising billboards of the classic Broadway vista familiar from a thousand Hollywood films, and various outdoor and street scenes, including one memorable number set in a beautifully lit and entirely believable Central Park. All these scene shifts were seamlessly accomplished. Of course, Dunn and the Gearhouse technical team are renowned for going where no-one else dares, and winning. In this case, putting a purely virtual LED set behind the live crew of dancers and singers brought some risks. As he says: “Providing the perspective and the physical environments of the sets through graphics and lighting, as well as set changes, meant that the cumulative intensity of the LED panels had to be controlled to the nth degree. Even a slight miscalculation would have meant the performers being obliterated for the audience by the background set.” Graeme Baker, the LED systems supervisor on the team, adds: “The amount of detail that went into the on-screen content was amazing. For example, clouds scudding across the skyline in an exterior scene, as well as all of the moving billboard scenes, demanded that our content managers and producers, our programmers, lighting teams – in fact, everyone involved behind the scenes on the tech and

Photos by Pieter Joubert

LIVE EVENTs REPORT

production crew, had to collaborate fully to achieve the results we and the client wanted. A good example was the way in which the programmers incorporated the live footage of the Bidvest award winners into the 3D set – we achieved levels of detail that were no small feat given that we were working with around 2 million individual LEDs.”

Collaboration first The collaboration theme continued with the incorporation of the sound and musical direction into the lighting, visuals and virtual set cueing. Says Dunn, “We designed a system in which the Wings media system would run multitracks out through a Dante network to the Watchout timecoding. We were using the new version of Watchout on this production, version 6.” Jako De Wit, the audio systems supervisor, takes up the narrative: “The cueing from the musical director was completely integrated, through the Wings and Watchout systems, with the audio, lighting and video cues, thus creating a tightly integrated technical backbone for the show. Our sound

systems were appropriate for large theatre space. The bulk of the speaker setup was from L-Acoustics, with a Klark Teknik network bridge for the audio control. A straightforward left-centre-right configuration gave us a great sound spread and coverage through the Convention Centre space, and we used Shure headset mics for a visually sleek look for the performers. The main characteristic of the set-up, though, was how we were able to integrate the sound, cueing and lighting with the musicians, performers and the amazing LED set.”

Pushing the envelope Each iteration of the Bidvest Awards Gala brings a new opportunity for the Gearhouse team to stretch their imagination and creative technical expertise. The spectacular virtual LED set for this year’s production of Bidvest on Broadway was no exception, and again took the event to new heights of technological and theatrical innovation.

LIVE EVENTS REPORT

Photos by Duncan Riley

Huawei launches new P8 at prestigious event

At a high profile cocktail party in Johannesburg recently, Huawei launched the new P8… Huawei’s new flagship handset model, the P8, was launched on 2 July, at the Johannesburg Country Club. Tinderbox was responsible for all the technical production at the launch, which had an impressive list of performing artists, including Micasa, Veranda Panda, Pascal and Pearce, and the Muses, and led by the two MCs on the night, Jeannie D and Eugene Khoza. The event was also attended by industry-leaders, media, local celebrities, including John Smit and Victor Matfield. The 800 guests consisted of media, key stakeholders, international guests from Africa, celebrities and industry experts. Considered the biggest launch event in Tinderbox’s history, the event required a comprehensive technical setup, utilising the best

equipment currently available in the country. The launch needed to be technically-oriented to communicate the technological prowess of the Huawei P8. The overriding creative was centred on the phrase 'Inspire Creativity' and Tinderbox crafted the experience to reflect this message. The technical/build teams were headed up by Clinton Seery, who was the dedicated site manager and overall technical manager. Project manager Jason Beck ensured all elements were seamlessly blended to create a unique experience for guests. “To create a truly unique venue, we decided to build the event venue from the ground up. A 6-bay Supadome as well as a 6-bay CombiDome were erected, with the help of a 90-tonne crane, to comfortably house the 800 guests,” said Seery. “For its central location and ease of access The Johannesburg Country Club in Woodmead was selected. It took 13 days to erect the structures and be show ready. These structures provided a staggering 3 602 square meters of floor space and split into four distinct areas.” The presentation/reveal area consisted of a projection screen measuring 27m wide by 7m high. Tinderbox used three Christie Roadstar HD20k (3 chip DLP HD1080p) projectors seamlessly blended

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served to guests to ensure they could mingle and socialise while being fed. The menu catered to the eclectic audience with various influences from Asian to Italian used in the various dishes. With the launch taking place in winter Tinderbox also provided cappuccino stations and each guest received a heart-warming Gluhwein/Sherry welcome drink to reduce some of the cold winter chills.

to create a stunning, crisp image for presentations, supplemented with an impressive audio setup, which included x8 JBL VRX928 subs, x12 JBL VRX928 and x11 JBL VRX932 line arrays that were flown into the roof of the SupaDome. A professional lighting system was also installed consisting of x8 Clay Paky Alpha 1500 Profiles, x24 Robe Robin 100 LED Beams and Robe 700 ColourWash Electronic Ballast’s. A team of 11 technical experts ensured a flawless, premium experience for guests. A sophisticated and clean minimal look was used for the décor and furniture, with Huawei’s primary brand colours of white and red used. Various furniture setups had to be used to cater to each area’s specific requirements and to create conducive environments for the guests and this created a natural flow for guests to follow, visit and experience each area. One of these areas was a product demonstration zone where guests were encouraged to pick up a P8 and test out some of its features, but in the end, the P8’s light painting feature stole the show, giving guests the opportunity to see it in action. Primarily a cocktail function, a large selection of canapés was

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Inspirational technology solutions at PLASA 2015 By Elaine Strauss

PLASA, now 38 years old, is the annual exhibition that connects the international live entertainment technology industry and ranks as one of the premier shows of its kind…

Taking place at London’s ExCel, the PLASA Show runs from 10am to 6pm on Sunday 4 October, 10am to 8pm on Saturday 5 October and 10am to 4pm on Tuesday 6 October. PLASA presents ground breaking technology and exciting new launches by the world’s greatest designers and engineers to an international audience of pro audio, lighting, broadcast, AV and stage technology experts. The programme will include inspirational sessions from world-class Lighting Designers, audio, video and set-design specialists and panel sessions discussing topics such as the 4K content revolution, digital console architecture, noise issues, ethernet for live sound and lighting, traditional light sources to LED and the future of stage technology. There will also be training sessions from industry experts on live sound, projection mapping and lighting in film and television, general industry issues ranging from the development of apprenticeships for live event technicians and freelancers’ rates of pay, to the impact of arts funding cuts and updates on current legislation such as CDM 2015 and sessions from a wide cross-section of industry organisations including BECTU, ASD, ISCE, IPS, Soulsound, ALD, STLD, PSA, ABTT and The Theatres Trust. Seminars in the pro audio, AV, broadcast and stage, as well as lighting and industry initiatives can be attended from early morning on Sunday, to early afternoon on Tuesday.

Seminars to look out for include: • The Technical Standards for Places of Entertainment seminar, 11.15am to 12pm on Sunday, presented by the ABTT (Association of British Theatre Technicians). • The What could possibly go wrong? Planning the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 seminar, 4:30pm to 5.30pm on Sunday, presented by

Fredrik Jönsson (Lighting Designer) and Ola Melzig (Technical Director) of Eurovision 2016. • The Lighting and Video Design seminar, 1.15pm to 2pm on Sunday, presented by ALD (Association of Lightning Designers) Panel. • The Making Music Look Good seminar, 11.15am to 12pm on Monday, presented by Gideon Berger and Stephen Gallagher from Block9. • The From Pixels to Pictures: The Cinematography of Pixar’s Films seminar, 2.15pm to 3pm on Monday, presented by Danielle Feinberg (Director of Photography) at Pixar. • The MORE MIDI, PLEASE – Mixing monitors for artistic temperaments seminar, 12.30 pm to 1.15pm on Monday, presented by Jon Burton from Soulsound and Phil Ward (Chair) from Pro Audio Panels. • The Delighted audience. Happy neighbours seminar, 2.30pm to 3.15pm on Tuesday, presented by Steve Jones (Application Support & Education) at d&b audiotechnik. • The How to use lights seminar, 11am to 11.45am on Tuesday, presented by Ian Hider from Media Trainer. • The Taking the WEEE – whose responsibility is waste electrical and electronic equipment? seminar, 12pm to 12.45pm on Tuesday, presented by Tim Atkinson from Entertaining Sustainability. This year’s show also includes a fewer number of longer sessions for the Rigging Conference, taking place on Monday 5 October, from 9am to 6pm, in North Hall Gallery Rooms, alongside PLASA 2015 at ExCeL London. Each session will deal with key topics of interest to riggers all over the world. The conference will begin with a keynote presentation by Hedwig de Meyer, StageCo’s founder and president whose long experience of building ground-breaking structures for the entertainment industry speaks for itself. Sessions following this will focus on the management of chain hoists, the impact of CDM regulations, an update from PLASA on the NRC and trainee rigger scheme as well as the subject of trusses and their design. Now in its sixth year, it’s the go-to event in the calendar for riggers, rigging companies, venue management and safety professionals alike. For more information about the show, all other seminars, exhibitors and awards, go to: www.plasashow.com.

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LIVE EVENTs REPORT

Lucidity remains only option for SAIA

By Elaine Strauss

For all the technical, set and staging for this event, Lucidity stepped up to the plate for the eighth year, taking on this three day conference and their gala dinner with a brand new PA system – the Martin MLA Mini. The 18th Southern African Internal Audit Conference recently took place at the Sandton Convention Centre for around 1 500 delegates. For all the technical, sets and staging for this event, Lucidity stepped up to the plate for the eighth year, taking on this three-day conference and their gala dinner with a brand new PA system – the Martin MLA Mini. According to owner Paul Newman, he believes he has found the quintessential PA system for both small and large scale corporate events. “In a nutshell, the speaker management software allows for you to steer and control the sound for different situations, as well as allows you to have the audio stop at a particular point in the room without having to re-rig or re-hang the PA,” he says. “The beauty about the MLA Mini system is that it is completely versatile and modular and allows you to either ground stack, pole-mount on the floor or hang in an array of up to 16 boxes a side. This was evident in the gig we did for Microsoft the very day before we set up and rigged the full system in the pavilion. We ground stacked 8 boxes a side over two sub MSX cabinets and ran a three-day Microsoft conference and turned the room around for the gala

dinner on the fourth day.” This event also had the biggest MLA Mini speaker set up in the country so far. “This is quite a revolutionary PA system and we have received nothing but positive feedback from the client,” Newman says. On the AV side, Lucidity ran an 18m x 4m screen three projector blend using three Christie 14K HD projectors. They ran four Watchout 5 systems for all the AV control. “A lot of production went into screen animation and AV content for the conference,” he adds. “One thing we’ve done differently this year is taken screen surfaces and placed flat borders around them, which we projected on as well. This created active borders, instead of the usual static borders, which changed the entire look and feel of the screens.” With these, he created two seemingly three-dimensional earth globes adjacent to the main stage that rotated during the conference, on flat round screens. For the gala, all the screens portrayed a crackling fire, while the earth globes were turned into two moons, to create a different atmosphere to the same venue. “The entertainment for the gala evening changes every year and this year it was a performance by Conrad Koch as well as a 60-piece choir with three or four solo vocalists.” The lighting rig included 12 Robe Pointes, 12 Robe LED 300 Washes, eight Robe LED 600 Washes and eight Clay Paky Alphas and 64 Robe LEDForces. The lighting side was controlled by a GrandMA2 desk.

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LIVE EVENTs REPORT

Innibos Music Festival 2015 By Elaine Strauss

MGG took on the task of delivering the full technical production supply for this year’s Innibos festival, with more lights than ever and an incredible PA system for the event… The 11th Innibos music festival, that took place in Nelspruit earlier this year, was a huge success and for MGG, one of the country’s leading technical production specialists, it was the first time they have been involved in delivering the full technical production for this event. Denzil Smith, General Manager of MGG, took over the event from a technical organisation perspective right from the word go. He had able support from the MGG crew, who are rated top in their fields, from Fanie Pieterse, who is Head of Audio, right through to Herman Wessels in lighting. MGG took four days to load the full technical into a stage that was built by SS Stage Structures, which then left them two days for programming. By the time the general sound checks had been done, the day before the start of the festival, it was all go for the wide variety of entertainment that ranged from between 10 to 20 different artists per evening. They were then ready for a hectic five days.

Sound Pieterse used JBL exclusively on the PA System, and Innibos featured the biggest JBL VTX system used in the country to date. “For the main PA, we used 12 VTX V25 Dual 15” Line Arrays a side with six VTX S25 Subs flown behind that. They also had 16 x VTX G28 Subs stacked on the floor. They had three delay towers, consisting of VTX V20 Dual 10” Line Arrays, totalling 32 boxes,” he said. “It’s a brand new PA that’s been out for about two years and is only now starting to get proper traction, becoming the touring PA of choice for some international artists. The linearity in the boxes, literally from front of house all the way to 160 metres back, was incredible.” Everything was powered by Crown HD Amplifier V-Racks, HD 35000, HD 12000 and HD 5000 for monitors and side fills, all networked

and run by Performance Manager. Soundcraft took care of FOH with a Vi6 and a Vi3000 Digital Console with the UAD Real Time Rack Plug-Ins. According to Pieterse, a DiGiCo SD10 console was used for the monitoring which he mixed himself, along with the new VTX F15 Series of monitors. All RF was supplied by Shure, totalling 86 channels of wireless, all monitored on a touch screen using Shure Axient Spectrum Manager. "My mix units were also used by the house band for the Saturday evening event. The feedback from the artists and media was very positive."

Lighting and Video On the lighting side, a range of Clay Paky, Phillips and about 70% Robe made up the lighting rig. There were almost 300 lights in the rig, ranging from Robe 1200 LED Wash, 600 LED Wash, Pointe, Sharpys, LED 100s to B-Eye K20s to RGB Nitros and finishing off the stage with some Cuepix Elation panels, said Smith. The festival had double the amount of lights than previous years, he said. “Using so many lights is great because it gives you so many more options – you can do more creatively.” At FOH were 4 Robert Juliat Aramis Follow Spots, which had to be complemented by awesome follow spotters. A Grand MA 2 full lighting desk was used at control, with a MA on PC, backstage for systems. “On the video side we had a 4m wide x 10m high Vuepix 12mm LED screen per side. For the nights leading up to the Saturday evening event, which is the main event, there was a 6mm LED screen on stage for all sponsor and supporting content. We also double stacked two Christie Roadstar HD20K’s for the Saturday evening show. This was for

a screen that covered the front of the stage, for the beginning of the show. All the video was controlled using Barco FSN-1400,” said Smith.

Challenges According to Pieterse, one of the main challenges from the audio side was fact that there were three stages around them that played simultaneously. Another challenge was that they were not allowed to sound check with the PA on, during the event days, due to the other, smaller stages running during the day. “We had a PA design that was quite focussed on the area and the fact that the boxes are so linear helped us to focus energy where we needed and try to eliminate spill,” he said. “We had to sound check with two monitors at FOH and the stuff on stage. Luckily, with the PA design we had, we could eliminate a lot of noise on the stage, so when the PA actually came on in the evenings it wasn’t too much of a change. So it actually worked out very well.” According to Smith it was wonderful to be a part of the event and the fact that everything went well and the client was happy, made it rewarding. “It was an honour to be a part of the show, since Innibos is now the biggest music festival in South Africa. There were over 150 000 people who attended the festival over the five days. The main show, which was Saturday night, catered for 45 000 people,” he said. “It went extremely well and we experienced such professionalism from the organisers. The event was well managed and everyone made us feel at home, which made everything a lot less stressful.”

www.alustage.eu 43

LIVE EVENTs REPORT

Sounds Ideal steps up for Ugu Festival 2015 By Elaine Strauss

Sounds Ideal Productions provided all the technical production for this year’s Ugu Jazz and Culture Festival that recently took place in Port Shepstone, KZN…

The Ugu Jazz and Culture Festival 2015 was staged at the Ugu Sports and Leisure Centre in Port Shepstone earlier this year. Sounds Ideal Productions supplied the full technical, including screens, lighting and staging for the first time, since the festival’s start, nine years ago. The festival, one of the biggest multi-act jazz festivals in the KZN region, attracted well over 10 000 people this year and featured local and international talents, including Lira, Ringo Madlingozi, Zakes Bantwini and Nabeel Khemir.

According to Nadeem Moosa owner of Sounds Ideal Productions, the size of the system deployed at the event was a first for the V Series that went up in South Africa. “We chose to use the d&b V Series speaker systems because of its amazing coverage , level and the unbeatable d&b sound quality. The system was set up four days prior to the event for sign off by the client and various stake holders. We also used our 12 x 9 TFL roof with wings, which gave the event that much more of an international look and feel,” he said.

Sound For the sound during the festival, Sounds Ideal made use of 24 d&b V8s, 12 d&b V12s, 8 d&b VSubs, 20 d&b B2s, 5 d&b D80s and 12 d&b D12s. The FOH console was a Yamaha CL5 with Rio Boxes at FOH, the monitor console was a Yamaha- M7CL- 48 and the on stage monitoring was done with a Quest QM700S and Nexo PS15s powered by Nexo NX Amp4x4s.

Lighting The lighting rig included 6 ACME XP15R spots, 24 Robe Robin 600 LED washes, 12 Robe Robin Pointes, 10 Robe MMX spots, 6 Robe 700 washes, 12 Chauvet Legend 230SR beams and 10 2K LDR 2K fresnels. “All the lighting was controlled with an Avolites Tiger Touch,” said Moosa. Sounds Ideal also made use of 48 AOTO R16 LED panels, controlled by two RGBlink LINSN processors. "We upgraded from normal KwikStage scaff to stage plus 360 scaff for the LED and delay towers, which just makes it that much easier for bracing and getting engineers to sign off the structures,” he said. Some of the challenges they faced during the festival, according to Moosa, was the fact that the generators were booked for show days only, forcing Sounds Ideal to use house power for the builds. “At times this delayed us because of load shedding times, but in the end it wasn’t that much of a problem because once the roof is up, array calculation was done and everything just fell into place.”

LIVE EVENTs REPORT

Photo by Louise Stickland

Sister Act shines at Joburg Theatre

An incredible musical theatre rendition of the popular film, Sister Act, recently entertained sold-out audiences at its debut on the South African stage…

A new South African production of the popular musical production Sister Act was recently onstage at the Joburg Theatre, in downtown Johannesburg. For this incredible show, the AV and lighting, as well as the set up before the show, was done by lighting specialists Gearhouse Splitbeam. The company made use of 6 Varilite VL3500 Spots, 8 Varilite VL2500 Spots, 2 ETC Source 4 Revolutions, 6 Chroma Q Broadway Scrollers, 12 Chroma Q Plus Scrollers, 3 Chroma Q PSU Splitter 12Ways, 24 Robe Robin 600 LED Washlights, a Robe Robin LED Wash 1200, 6 ETC Source 4 26Deg Complete fixed 750w, 12 ETC Source 4 Pars, a GrandMA NPU, 48 MARTIN MAC 101 LED Lights and 8 Large Mirrorballs, for the lighting rig. Alistair Kilbee, Managing Director of Gearhouse Splitbeam, said that the show was programmed and run on a grandMA2 full size, and the AV consisted of 2 SAMSUNG 20” LED Monitors, 2 Mac Mini 1Us, a Panasonic PT-DZ 12000E Projector, 2 Catalyst Dongles, 2 Fibre Ethernet

Remote 100m, 2 Fibre Ethernet Remote 50m, 4 Lightware DVI-OPT-RX 110 Fibre Extenders, 2 TP-Link Ethernet Switcher 16P, 2 1 in 2out DVI DA and 2 Kramer KRAVS41HDCP. One of the prominent features of the show was a spectacular ‘rose window’ – made up of 89 x Robe LED moving lights. Production Designer Declan Randall united all visual elements – lighting, video and set – in a beautifully colourful collage of finesse and visual imagineering to match the pace and vibrancy of the show. With a cast featuring some of the best South African musical theatre talent, directed by award winning Janice Honeyman and produced by Bernard Jay, it received rave reviews and sold-out audiences. For the centrepiece, Randall started with a single LEDWash 1200 in the centre and then incorporated 24 x LEDWash 600s, 16 x LEDWash 800s and 48 x LEDBeam 100s. The LEDWash 800s were pulled from the theatre’s own in house rig and the LEDBeam 100s were supplied by MJ Event Gear (facilitated

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by DWR Distribution). All the fixtures were run in wide mode giving individual ring control for extra dynamics, and the whole piece consumed 7 DMX data universes for control. In terms of an overall look for Sister Act, Randall wanted it to feel cinematic. The show is based on the hit movie starring Whoopi Goldberg and Maggie Smith, and although, naturally, lit in a completely different style, Randall wanted to evoke the same sense of ‘suspended disbelief’ as good film lighting would also do. The show featured both front and rear projection and much of the

meticulous scenic detail was created with content stored and replayed via a Catalyst media server. Randall worked alongside Assistant Designer Joe Lott, one of his second year creative lighting control students from Rose Bruford College in Kent, where he is also a part-time tutor. Lott took care of the AV programming, editing and content creation. They spent a month on site during the tech period, and before then, heavily WYSIWYG’d the rose window and were also able to complete a good amount of previsualisation. Another Rose Bruford student, Andrew Bruce, assisted with the WYSIWYG programming. “The production design by Declan Randall is sumptuous, magnificent … The scene changes are as razor sharp and effective as film editing... Sister Act is better than the movie could ever be. It dazzles with its finely timed choreography and sweeps you off your feet with its dazzling ensemble acting and spirited, enthusiastic dancing. It will blow your mind right out of the winter chills,” effused critic Leon van Nierop.

LIVE EVENTS INTERVIEW

Helen Surgeson – Splitbeam’s leading lady By James Sey

War Horse at The Teatro, Montecasino

Helen Surgeson is the unassuming, hugely experienced and efficient Operations Manager of Gearhouse Splitbeam, the well-known specialised theatre rental business in the Gearhouse group. Surgeson is a professional theatre stage manager by training, with a long background of experience in various theatres all through the 1990s. She has been associated with the Gearhouse Group for around 15 years, first as a venue technical manager at Caesar’s Palace (now Emperor’s), where she first worked with her longstanding colleague Alistair Kilbee, the well-known LD and now technical production manager. Surgeson worked through the ranks, first with the Gearhouse Inhouse Venue Technical Management operation and latterly, for the past few years, as ops manager for the Gearhouse Splitbeam company. Gearhouse Splitbeam is a specialised theatre rental lighting company and the preferred suppliers for the Teatro at Montecasino, where they stage many large-scale productions. They provide a professional equipment hire service and stockholding that meets the specific needs of the theatre industry, priced favourably towards long-term rental. Over the past few

Helen Surgeson

INTERVIEW LIVE EVENTS

years, Splitbeam has worked on international productions such War Horse, Lord of the Dance, Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia!, Sister Act, West Side Story, Madam Zingara, The Sound of Music and many others. These major musical productions usually have exact technical specifications written into their rights agreements. Surgeson initially joined as the Operations Manager while Alistair Kilbee provided the technical direction work. “Alistair would be busy on his big productions while we were putting equipment into the theatre. I noticed the gap. It wasn’t enough for us to just supply the staff or the equipment, there needed to be an element of production management and technical expertise as well.” She has since taken on those roles for several shows, working hand in hand with Kilbee. “Splitbeam recently turned five,” she continues, “and its upward growth into what it saw as a niche market opportunity has meant expanding into a full suite of technical equipment long-term rental offerings to the theatre sector, including lighting, audio, rigging, AV and power supply. We look for long-term rental deals, and offer a rental price that is more competitive than buying for the production run, or buying equipment outright. The big difference we saw from the start in our business approach is that we’re not just renting equipment, we’re offering a real depth of intellectual capital and expertise. This doesn’t only apply to myself and Alistair, but to others in our team like Michael Inglis and Marcel Wijnberger. Our business is the only strictly theatre-focused rental business in the country, and that gives us a lot of credibility – as does the extensive networks and

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LIVE EVENTs INTERVIEW

Lord Of The Dance – Dangerous Games at The Teatro, Montecasino

Alistair Kilbee

relationships that Alistair and I bring. A good example was with a big production like Lord of the Dance, where Alistair did a lot of the substitution and changing of equipment, seeing what was locally available and what the production wanted, to finalise the quotation that would match their needs. But then, when he was away I was on site with the load in and working with the internationals on the production. Our new guy Michael Inglis also does a lot of deputising for Alistair. He has taken over a key operations role for Splitbeam. While Alistair opened Singing in the Rain in New Zealand, Michael stepped in to maintain the running in Johannesburg. It’s a well-oiled machine now,” comments Surgeson. The fact that Kilbee works this way on big international franchise musical theatre shows is a good indicator of how the international market works now, as Surgeson points out. South African expertise is in demand on large touring productions, which traverse Asia-Pacific markets and other emerging economy regions. The technical staff on such productions often bring their expertise back to SA to run shows. Surgeson is typically diffident and thoughtful about being a woman in a male-dominated technical field. “You need to have a feel for the world of theatre to do this work. It’s not the rock ‘n’ roll concert scene, where physical labour and humping gear does make a difference. For designers and other staff on the technical side in theatre, more ‘female’ traits such as patience and consistency are often more valuable. And I’ve certainly seen female roles in the technical industry changing in the last ten years or so, with female technicians prominent in many venues.” Her commitment and love for the industry is always evident, and Surgeson doesn’t see herself leaving it anytime soon. “But you’ve got to have a lot of energy,” she says. “And I think the industry needs young people. When I started at Gearhouse, management were in their 30s and now they’re in their 50s. Younger people don’t always calculate the risks and risk taking is good – being able to say, ‘yes, let’s give it a shot.’”

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LIVE EVENTs REPORT

Supporting the theatre sector in southern Africa

The Washerwoman and the Moon at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown

South Africa’s National Arts Festival Prosound has a long history in the SA theatre sector, and recently offered their expertise to several productions on this year’s National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. The National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape, is an important event on the South African cultural calendar, and the biggest annual celebration of the arts on the African continent. The technical support for the festival was done by industry stalwart Prosound, who noticed that many of the venues for the festival suffered from similar issues: excess heat and lack of power. One such venue, Vicky’s, is a small school canteen converted into a fringe theatre with a 150 seat capacity – but in previous years, the power supplied to the venue could not sustain its demands. To reduce the issues caused by the lighting, this year they decided to go all-LED, thanks not only to assistance from Prosound, but also to sponsorship from ETC. Prosound’s Mac Makhobotloane, who was responsible for lighting technical support, said: “We used ETC Source Four LED fixtures, due to their beautiful dimming curve as well as their impeccable capability to replicate the behaviour of tungsten. They were able to give us a wide range of saturated colour, making them by far the best for the job. To that, we added some of the new ETC ColorSource PARs, which provide an incredible colour spectrum and spectacular dimming curve, at a superb low cost.” National Arts Festival venue technician Salvatore Hamilton Mdluli complimented both the ColorSource® PAR and the Source Four® LED, saying: “I have yet to come across an LED PAR fixture in this price range that is this good. They were spectacular RGB-L LEDs and had a wide range of both round and oval diffusers.” “The Source Four LED fixtures were very reliable, even at different colour temperatures,” he continued. Nicci Spalding, technical director of the festival, said the units were given a very positive showcase: “From our perspective it was fantastic to be able to provide the artists in Vicky’s with a more substantial rig,

something that has not been possible to date given the severe power constraints of the building.” Over in St Andrew’s Hall, another venue lit with the support of Prosound and ETC, an Element console replaced the Festival’s previous control desk which had reached the end of its life. Lighting technician Natalia Van Eck, who had never used an ETC desk before, said she was “surprised to be able to just power up and go without the help of the manual.” Elsewhere at the festival, well-known South African LD Denis Hutchinson lit two shows in the Victoria Theatre, with ETC Source LED Four Series 2 Lustr® luminaires and an ETC Ion® control desk, which he’d specifically requested. Between his two shows, lighting student Koketso Linda Maponya took control of the Ion. “I found it powerful and magical compared to my usual control desk,” she said. “It was very user friendly, making programming and operating shows a great pleasure.” One of the main theatres at the festival was the Guy Butler Theatre, where an ETC Gio® was used alongside ETC Source Four LED Series 2 Lustr fixtures. Lighting designer Faheem Bardien lit the first show of the festival, ‘Spring and Fall’ by the Cape Town City Ballet. After the Ballet, the desk remained in the theatre for rest of the festival, where it was taken over by lighting technician Abby Thatcher. Two other halls benefitted from ETC sponsorship: Alex Mullins, and the Memory Hall. “We are enormously grateful to Prosound for their support of the Festival this year, and were especially excited by the increased support from ETC. I have always been a fan of their control systems and having such fantastically solid and stable lighting consoles in such key venues went a long way to ensuring a smooth festival experience for our presenting artists,” said Spalding. “We were able to provide top of the range equipment to our artists without blowing the budget sky high. There were 150 technicians who came to Grahamstown to work on the Festival, many of whom were just starting out; giving them constant exposure to new technology and professional advice is vital for their growth as theatre practitioners.”

New controls for National Theatre of Namibia

Asser Kauazunda LD at National Theatre of Namibia Y

The partnership between Prosound and ETC continued in another theatre installation recently, the delivery of an ETC Ion® control desk, to the National Theatre of Namibia.

CMY

A large scale integration and installation project for Prosound in Namibia resulted in their expertise and experience in the theatre sector being called upon while they were in-country. “We recently did an extensive upgrade for the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, and on one of our follow up visits we called in at the National Theatre of Namibia, where we met Technical and IT manager Jack Francis Jnr and Head of Lighting Asser Kauazunda,” said Prosound’s general manager, Ian Blair. “Asser and Jack advised that their current old theatre console had reached the end of its life – but, with the upcoming Independence Theatre Festival, they really needed a new desk, and fast.” Blair recommended the ETC Ion control desk, plus fader wings for additional hands-on control. “We couldn’t offer an Ion straight away, because all our demo desks were out at theatres in South Africa – but we were able to get an ETC Gio to them, which runs the same software as the Ion. That way, they’d be able to get used to the software and its features, and check if it was right for them, while waiting for their new desk to be delivered,” he said. The theatre’s staff was delighted with the arrangement, said Blair, and are now fully up to speed with their new Ion, which will soon be upgraded with software v2.3 – adding new functionality to effects and implementing Open Sound Control. It also introduces new colour controls that provide multiple options for colour spaces, new tinting tools and live colour fade options.

LIVE EVENTs REPORT

DWR in the footlights

A thorough recent overhaul of the landmark Etienne Rousseau Theatre in Sasolburg threw the spotlight onto the specialist work done in the theatre sector by Dave Whitehouse and Rob Young at DWR Distribution.

By James Sey

seats just over 450 patrons, and has an orchestra pit large enough for a full symphony orchestra. Since its inception it has had a full programme of Afrikaans theatre and musical productions, as well as choral and jazz festivals and art exhibitions. As with many such institutions, long years of use and a steady loss of qualified technicians in the theatre world means that refurbishment can sometimes be major. Dave Whitehouse and Rob Young of DWR Distribution are specialists in theatre lighting and staging, with one of Sasolburg is the town rather uniquely created especially to provide a the longest track records in the country behind them. They were home for employees of the original Sasol oil from coal factory in 1954. called in to get the Etienne Rousseau back up and running smoothly. Over the years it has expanded, and has been provided with “The first phase of the work,” relates Dave, “was the mechanical numerous institutions and additional infrastructure by the Sasol refurbishment. We’re lucky to have Rob on board for this, since he is company, as it also expanded. It also now runs itself as a large and one of the only specialised theatre engineering people in South fairly populous Free State town. Africa.” A notable, and long-standing institution in the town is its landmark Rob takes up the story: “We had to refurbish and replace many theatre, the Etienne Rousseau components at the theatre. Dave Whitehouse (DWR) and Pieter-Jan Kapp 'Kappie' (PJK Project Management) Theatre. Named, naturally, for The flight tower was the founding Managing refurbished, and new Director of Sasol, the building is Prolyte trussing installed. The a representative example of proscenium bridge hand contemporary Modernist winch and its drive unit were architecture, and was built in replaced by a 1 ton electric 1975 at a cost of R1.1m, of which hoist. We replaced 30 Sasol donated R750 000 as a gift lighting and storage bars in to the townspeople. The theatre total, placing them onto a

REPORT LIVE EVENTs new hoist system for the proscenium, which measured 8mX12m. The bar installation included a new lighting bar on the front of stage area, and two storage bars on the side stages for spare lights. Another important part of our refurb was to fix the main curtain track, motor and pulleys, complete with a new control panel.” Dave was responsible for the major lighting upgrade for the Etienne Rousseau. As he says, “replacing equipment and lights is relatively straightforward, but often in these refurbishments the infrastructure, such as cable and power supply, needs to be upgraded to enable new technologies to work optimally. For the Etienne Rousseau we did a lot of rewiring and upgrading of cabling, as well as installing dimmer racks and other control equipment. We installed a set of Robert Juliat followspots, cyc lighting and a set of Robe LED wash and spotlights in the effects lighting set-up. The entire refurbishment went very smoothly. Ultimately we work from the point of view of understanding the theatre environment as a whole, including its specialised lighting demands, and the demands of the creative environment. That specialisation we see as a big competitive advantage for us in the industry.”

The DWR cue card The team at DWR have a long roll call of similarly specialised work in theatres all over the country. In recent times these include: Installing a new set of Robe LED washes in the Joburg Theatre; A replacement of ropes and pulleys and safety upgrade for the flight tower of the Roodepoort Theatre; A new MA control desk for the Market Theatre; and new LED house lights for its sister Laager Theatre. An extraordinary job for the production of musical West Side Story for the Artscape theatre. This Fugard Theatre production required two towers to move across the stage, both 9m high and weighing one and a half tonnes each. For safety’s sake these were suspended from trussing and fitted with a runner and pulley system for movement across the stage.

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LIVE EVENTS INTERVIeW

Chris Bolton – present expert, future teacher By Elaine Strauss

“I have always liked sharing my knowledge and I am one of the few designers that I feel actually really, truly shares my knowledge. If anyone wants to know things I am more than willing to teach them.” – Chris Bolton The passion and perseverance of Chris Bolton, Production Director and co-owner of Keystone Productions, know no bounds. With roughly 20 years’ experience in the lighting design industry, facing many challenges and overcoming them with a fierce determination, Bolton has had a passion for lighting and all it entails, for years. Developing a love for technology in high school, Bolton went on to study electronic engineering at the Natal Technicon, but later switched over to performing arts technology.

From electronics to performing arts technology “I wanted to find a way to merge my knowledge of electronics, the technology side, with the creative side. When I finished school I worked as a performer at a play house where I did two musical, Fiddler on the Roof and Annie, as a performer, and that was kind of

the final nail in the coffin that made me fall in love with performance arts technology. At that time I was still doing electronics and I then switched over from electronics to performing arts technology and found sound engineering,” he said. “Because there were no moving lights in those days – it was all static lights -, I found lighting quite boring actually. The day I saw moving lights I was working at the Sneddon Theatre in the University of Natal, with Brandon Bunyan and Michael Broderick and Michael had brought in, at the time, the first moving lights. I was sold. It was basically the start of my very long journey in lighting over the years.” In 2003, after working in the industry for a few years, Bolton, together with Warren Liss and Jonathan le Roux, started Keystone Productions, which after 12 years, has expanded into the Keystone Group of Companies that include Keystone Productions, Keystone Gear, Keystone Studios, Space Light and Soundscapes.

Going the distance “What finally put me ahead of a lot of my peers was Martin Show Designer, which gave me a way of showing people what I can do with a 3D drawing. At that time, there was only one other person in South Africa using it and there was no training available,” he said. That did not stop Bolton, who contacted the company in Holland, Lighthouse, who had developed the software for Martin, and went to meet the developers. “It’s been a very long relationship of 13 to 14 years that I’ve been one of their beta testers, working on the development part of the software and eventually I did five tutorials for them on Youtube, teaching people the basics of show designer. It was such a huge success that they flew me to the UK in 2011 to go and be a demo artist on the stand for them, teaching people Martin Show Designer.”

From expert to teacher According to Bolton he has always enjoyed teaching and would like to teach full time sometime in the future. “What I get a lot of joy out of, is teaching people skills and watching people grow from not knowing much in the beginning, to knowing a substantial amount and then becoming someone that you can work with closely. I find that very rewarding. That is where I will be one day, I will be a teacher. One day, I definitely want to have a production school of sorts that trains youngsters basically all the information that I had to go about the long way of finding out myself.” People that have influenced his life, according to Bolton, are John Roughly and Michael Broderick. “They were the first lighting people that blew me away, showed me stuff and gave me the time of day, which was cool, he said. “Michael was definitely one of the first guys who inspired me to become a proper lighting designer.”

Chris Bolton with Nick Britz of DWR

Though he loves specific products, Bolton is not a designer who links himself to a particular brand. “I have more product than brand favourites. One of the products I love is the MA2 Console. For me, it is the way to go now. Others include Hippotizer Media Servers, Robe Robin Pointe, Martin MAC Viper, Clay Paky B-EYE and the MDG haze machine, which is CO2 based and the only one I use when doing television work. There are hundreds of manufacturers that make fantastic products, so no, I’m not really brand specific.” With regard to future aspirations, Bolton seems content yet determined, stating his goal of being the best he can be, rather than focussing on comparisons or achievements. “Aspirations for the future… For me there is nothing specific. I just want to keep being the best I can be and with that comes constant research, constant developments, constantly pushing myself to be better, to make the next show better and make the next cue tighter. I think that sums it up.”

OPINION

Laser Projectors in the spotlight

By Abrie du Plooy

There is a saucy new item on the projector menu called lamp-less laser projection. Not only is it dripping with solid state lighting goodness but it is also served with a large side order of benefits.

Laser projection, albeit topical, is not just the flavour of the day. With light-source life expectancy of up to 20 000 hours and almost no maintenance, the low cost of ownership is the main appeal. This makes for nearly 10 years of operation on an 8 hour daily, 5-day week basis. The advantages pile up, with higher brightness levels, higher contrast ratios and better colour and brightness uniformity. Also, low thermal emissions result in low noise due to the reduced cooling requirements. Along with a near-instant on/off feature, these projectors really tickle the taste buds and also if that is not enough, lamp-less technology results in an absence of mercury, which makes for a fully Abrie du Plooy recyclable, environmentally friendly product. Traditionally, projector selection has been based on resolution and brightness, irrespective of the light source. The imaging-technology did play a role but unless it was specified in a system design, it didn’t influence the decision process. Conventional projectors use UHP (Ultra High Performance) and HID (High-Intensity Discharge) lamps. These high-cost lamps operate at extremely high temperatures and offer on average only 2000 to 4000 lamp hours depending on the projection conditions. Such limitations just accentuate the giant leap forward achieved by laser technology. With projector imaging engines being light-source agnostic, laser is an added advantage to current DLP (Digital Light Processing), 3-LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) technologies. Laser – along with LED and OLED – is classified as Solid State Lighting (SSL) and utilises a collection of semi-conductors to

convert electrical energy into artificial light as opposed to traditional bulbs with energised filaments and gasses (fluorescent and incandescent lamps). The benefits of SSL technology include life longevity and high-quality light intensity sustained over time. It’s also durable, compact and energy efficient. Laser light systems use low intensity beam-expanded laser and can be divided into three sub-technologies namely, RGB laser, laser phosphor and hybrid laser. RGB laser systems have three primary colour laser sources: Red, Green and Blue laser light in distinctive frequencies is delivered directly onto a DMD (Digital Micro-mirror Device) or LCD imaging chip. RGB laser systems produce a very bright image with extra wide colour gamut and brightness uniformity. Unfortunately, they are bulky and expensive, but are ideal for the digital cinema market. Laser phosphor systems optimise one blue laser beam onto a coated phosphor surface which excites a variety of primary colours that are processed to create a full colour spectrum image through a 3-LCD or colour-wheel DLP engine. Great colours, with a fairly compact design and high brightness are all positives. Hybrid laser projectors use a combination of laser and LED light to enhance certain primary colours. Contrary to this enhanced colour technology, it results in a narrower colour gamut and struggles to reproduce some colours in the spectrum accurately. Lower brightness is another limitation. Laser projection is a game changer with an extensive list of benefits which cannot be ignored. It brings a new dimension to the projector market and will remain in the limelight for quite some time.

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LIVE EVENTS REVIeW

By Jimmy Den-Ouden

BOSE F1 System

Bose is a company that has always liked to do things its own way. The F1 system is no exception to this – I literally can’t think of anything on the market today which is remotely similar. Our test system comprised the F1 Model 812 flexible array loudspeaker with the optional F1 subwoofer. A removable frame is integrated into the rear of the subwoofer, and once this is unlatched and slotted into the top of the subwoofer, it forms a platform onto which the Model 812 can then be placed. The frame includes cable management slots, and as you’d expect from Bose, the entire system is neat and attractive in its appearance.

I’ve chosen my words carefully in this story, since my default practice of referring to the 812 as a 'top box' would be a bit inaccurate. The 812 comprises a single 12” LF driver mounted behind eight 2.25” mid-high drivers, mounted on an adjustable baffle. Crossover frequency is 600Hz, nominal horizontal coverage is 100 degrees, and frequency response is listed as 52Hz – 15.5kHz (+/-3dB). So you see, the 812 is closer to a full-range speaker than a mid-high. The mid-high drivers are individually mounted on waveguides, and this is where things get really interesting. The centre two drivers are fixed in position, but the upper and lower sets of three waveguides and drivers can be independently tilted backward, allowing the vertical coverage of the Model 812 to be adjusted. Each of the upper and lower sections snaps into place in the forward or backward position courtesy of magnets concealed within the enclosure. As each section snaps into place, subtle changes are made to the internal processing of the array to adjust the nominal vertical coverage. The Model 812 is internally biamplified, so presumably the processing changes relate to level. Four modes are available – straight line, J curve, reverse J curve, or C curve. This allows the Model 812 to be used in a variety of different situations – the F1 website illustrates this very well with diagrams. As physics has taught us, the lower the frequency you wish to steer, the longer the array you need to do this. For an array which is just a little over 66cm high, the Model 812 does quite a good job of directing sound in response to changes to the baffle configuration. It sends the sound where you point it, which (assuming you point it in the right direction) is a big win in reverberant spaces. The back panel of the Model 812 includes IEC power connection and rocker switch, as well as dual audio inputs. The first input uses a combo XLR/TRS connector and it can be switched between mic and

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line sensitivity, while the second input offers dual RCA or a TRS jack. Independent level control and input signal LED is provided for each channel, and there’s also a 'full range / with sub' switch, as well as a switch to control the front panel LED function (power, limit or off). The rear panel shows a power LED as well as an amp limit LED, and try as I might, I was unable to drive the amp into limit before clipping the input channel. We ran pink noise into the Model 812 in full range mode, and at 1m recorded a maximum SPL of 117dBA(slow). Granted it wasn’t sounding quite itself at this point, but it went way louder than I was expecting it to. When you’re not completely wringing its neck, the Model 812 sounds really good. Sonically it’s the most well-balanced Bose speaker I’ve ever heard. Impressive as it is some users will require more low-end extension than the single 12” offers. The good news is that the F1 Subwoofer matches up nicely with the Model 812. It comprises a pair of 10” drivers, and physically it’s just a bit larger than the 812, and at 24.9kg it’s still fairly manageable for one person. The integrated stand is a really nice idea, I just can’t help but wish they’d made the whole thing a bit taller to give the 812 some more elevation. The F1 subwoofer has dual XLR/TRS combo jack inputs with line outputs and common level control. Slide switches allow for polarity reversal and HPF on the line outputs. While the F1 sub is clearly designed as part of the F1 system, it’s also generic and flexible enough you could use it in conjunction with other products. It strikes me that this is almost a new level of ‘interoperability’ for Bose, and I think it’s a very positive move indeed.

I’m of the opinion that Bose has always made good subs, and the F1 sub is no exception to this. It pushes out very respectable level for a compact little unit, and I found I needed to turn it down a little from the centre detent to prevent it from dominating the system. I was not sure what to expect from the F1 system. I thought the flexible array thing would be a bit of a gimmick, but having played with it I can see it being quite useful in real-world applications. I like how the system sounds, and the way it’s refreshingly compatible with other gear. Most of all, I like the price, which is around the same as you’d pay for a 12” and horn and subwoofer system from any other reputable manufacturer. F1 is market competitive to start with, and the flexible coverage options only add to its value.

Retail Information Brand: BOSE Model: F1 System F1T Flexible array top R45 999 F1S Dual 10" Sub R45 999 RRP for complete unit, incl. VAT, R91 998. Price correct at time of print and subject to change

Product info: http://worldwide.bose.com/pro/en_us/web/f1_model_812/page.html Distributor info: www.tidistribution.co.za

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Adamson launch in SA with TID â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Barnyard Theatre, Rivonia

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