Pro-Systems News September/October 2016 by Sun Circle Publishers

September / October 2016

R38.00

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

Cover The evolution Feature of AV Corporate Spotlight Bad Weather Productions Videowall Technology Live Multi-tracking

In This Issue EDITOR Hello everyone, and welcome to the latest edition of ProSystems Africa News. Our Spring edition is once again a very full one, with birthday celebrations and industry acquisitions in the news, an extended technical spotlight and a focus on the corporate sector which compares different brands of the corporate AV staple, the wireless presentation system. Our news focus has significant birthday news for several prominent local AV companies, as well as interesting international news on acquisitions by Riedel and BlackMagic. The acquisitions are being driven by expansion rather than consolidation, which, along with solid growth estimates for the Middle East AV market, spells good news for the global sector. In significant local news, Wild & Marr have acquired distribution rights to the Avid pro-audio portfolio. This issue features some news on some intriguing installations, and we kick off our installation section by sticking with the birthday theme. Electrosonic SA turn 25 years old next month, and we talked with MD Bruce Genricks to assess exactly how the AV industry has changed in that time. Our cover feature is focused this time around on the corporate sector, which is becoming more and more of a staple market for integrators as the AV/IT convergence phenomenon continues apace. A special section in this feature compares key aspects of different wireless presentation systems on a like-for-like basis, and we get to know the portfolios of some of the distributors of these products a little better. Our live section has news on a couple of interesting theatre installations, paradoxically, including big news from the Playhouse Theatre complex in KZN. And we have reports on a raft of live gigs with some special technical flourishes. We have an extended interview with precocious new technical production kid on the block, Cape Town’s Bad Weather Productions, Finally, our technical spotlight section has some meaty articles this time around, with industry personalities Abrie du Plooy laying it down about videowall technology and Richard Smith providing real insight to what has happened in the world of live multi-track recording. 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, newsletter, and social media feeds, don’t hesitate to let me know. I’m on james@sun-circle.co.za. Enjoy the read! James Sey

CONTENTS Crestron Fusion delivers for global HR firm...28

NEWS Audiocenter makes an entrance...................3

Case Study: Kramer VIA Connect PRO........30

DWR celebrates bitter-sweet

Case Study: Kramer VIA Connect PRO

10th anniversary................................................4

working for small business..............................30

Gearhouse – shaping the

WePresent makes waves...............................32

future of events.................................................6

Christie shows presentation Brio....................34

Imago brings Pexip to South Africa................7

Wireless presentation systems:

Prosound offers Meyer Sound

a comparison..................................................35

training to local industry...................................7

Live Events

DiGiCo SD7s aid audio perfection on Adele 25 Tour...............................................8

AFDA updates theatre heritage...................36

DWR Lighting Workshop offers basic

Electrosonic reinstalls The Playhouse

background for industry newcomers.............8

Theatre in massive upgrade..........................38

Blackmagic Design announces

The Parlotones take

the acquisition of Fairlight................................9

on Johannesburg in style...............................42

Riedel acquires ASL Intercom BV

Sound Corporation looks after Innibos.........46

and DELEC.........................................................9

LEDVision screens

Multi-Media 25 years......................................10

Johnny Clegg and Friends.............................48

Wild & Marr scoop Avid agency...................12

Rigging and such ...........................................52

MUSIC brings Paul Bauman on board..........12

Silver linings for Bad Weather........................54

PROLIGHT + SOUND SHOW REPORT

TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT

Prolight + Sound Middle East market

The Bigger Picture...........................................58

value of US$707 million by 2018 ...................14

Live event multi-track recording...................60

Social

INTERVIEW The evolution of AV.................................16 – 18

Meyer Sound Training – Prosound.................62 Basic Lighting Training – DWR Distribution....62 DWR 10th Birthday – DWR Distribution..........63

Integration & INSTALLATION System Solutions throws a curveball.............20 Corporate AV – Power in the Boardroom....22

Maxi Dome Lite launch – Gearhouse SA.....64 Multi-Media 25th Birthday – Sasani Studios..64 L-Acoustics Training – Sound Harmonics......64

CORPORATE Integration & INSTALLATION Extron’s Sharelink.............................................24 ClickShare in South Africa..............................26

Contributors Elaine Strauss | A journalist and photographer, with experience in writing articles featuring a broad range of subjects, Elaine also has a honours degree in Visual Studies, and is 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. Abrie du Plooy (CTS, CERT AV PROF) | Abrie is the NEC, Galaxy and ZeeVee product manager at Electrosonic SA. He writes for us in his personal capacity.

Richard Smith | Richard is the managing member of well-known local rental and integration company Sound Harmonics. He writes for us in his personal capacity.

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.

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Audiocenter makes an entrance

Audiocenter outdoor demo

Earlier this year saw audio brand Audiocenter make a grand statement of intent about the local market when it demo’ed its flagship ranges of TS series and KLA line arrays and sound systems for indoor and outdoor events and venues at a special launch in the Western Cape. The high quality speaker and amplifier manufacturer has been a premium international brand since 2006, with a global R&D operation sourcing the highest quality components for their equipment, and building their products in China at competitively low manufacturing costs. Audiocenter is distributed in Southern Africa by well-known distributor Viva Afrika, who, along with major Western Cape dealer BC Electronics, came up with the concept of a unique launch event in the local market in the comparatively underserviced Western Cape region. Audiocenter sent their product application engineer Roshan Malim and their product marketing specialist Esperanza Liu to facilitate a range of indoor and

Astrid Castle, MD of BC Electronics

outdoor demos of the Audiocenter products, under the auspices of BC Electronics. Says general manager at BC Electronics Astrid Castle, “Our idea was to bring more awareness of the Audiocenter brand to our event-focused dealer network in the Western Cape. Our own approach is to provide across the board pro-AV product mainly to the wholesale market in the region, but we wanted to take advantage of the strong

support and backup we enjoy from Viva Afrika to showcase the Audiocenter brand here.” The demos consisted of a range of programmed music for the KLA 28DSP, 210SP and 218DSP outdoor arrays, playing crystalline sound for 40 metres across a soccer field, as well as a demo of the entire range of their TS series for indoor venues of varying sizes.

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DWR celebrates bitter-sweet 10th anniversary “We’ve been wanting to get together for a celebration for a while because of our ten-year anniversary. The opportunity came with Dave leaving for the United Kingdom and his birthday being on the same day, ” says DWR Distribution Director Duncan Riley. He emphasises the bitter-sweet nature of celebrating the company’s 10th anniversary and the celebration held at DWR’s offices in Johannesburg on 10 August on the same day as saying goodbye to one of their longest serving and most influential members of staff. Already a fixture on the South African entertainment and event lighting scene, DWR has grown rapidly to become one of the most prominent professional AV equipment suppliers in the market. The amount of industry individuals who showed up to their celebration – roughly 500 people- attests to their influence in the industry and the fact that the company’s motto, ‘it’s all about the people’, resonates in all of its business relationships. The evening also held some emotional moments, especially when Riley and DWR Technical Training Director Nick Britz gave their farewell to Dave Whitehouse. “I truly feel that it’s not just DWR who is losing an amazing friend, but the entire

Bruce Riley, Duncan Riley, Dave Whitehouse, Nick Britz and Robert Izzett

South African entertainment industry losing a skilled professional,” Riley said, fighting back tears, before presenting Whitehouse with a parting gift. Whitehouse, who worked in Sales and Training at the company and has known Riley for over twenty years, has been in the entertainment industry for several decades and loved training young industry individuals. Of his final training session at DWR, which took place 28 July, he told Pro-Systems earlier: “I have really enjoyed running the course and training is one thing I’m really going to miss, because I have a passion for the industry and I want people to start off on a good footing.” The rest of the evening focussed on celebrating, with popular South African rock band, Prime Circle, providing entertainment with their most well-known songs, including She Always Gets What She Wants, As Long As I Am Here, Doors, as well as a new

song Ghosts. Riley sums up the evening and what it meant for DWR: “Basically it was a chance to get the entire industry together in one place. It ended up being an industry get together rather than a DWR get-together. It wasn’t based on selling equipment or doing product demonstrations, but really just to meet up with people you don’t see every day and being in a relaxed environment. To top it all, what better way than to celebrate it with Prime Circle and our amazing customers and friends. We really would like to thank everyone for being there with us. We are heart-broken that Dave has left us. He has been part of the family, been instrumental in our growth and we would like to wish him everything of the best for the future.”

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Photos by ZooM Photography

Gearhouse – shaping the future of events

The Kiffness performing at the Gearhouse Welcome to Tomorrow Launch 2016

'Welcome to Tomorrow' was the catch phrase used to introduce some of Gearhouse Group’s latest technology to 600 of the organisation’s top clients and suppliers. The launch was housed in the inaugural build of the Maxi Dome Lite Venue, a bespoke temporary structure designed and built in South Africa by Gearhouse In2Structures, the Group’s specialist design and manufacturing company. One of the selling points of the In2Structures Dome Venues is their ability to transform any stretch of land into an event space within 4 to 5 days and this build was a prime example. Matthew Mole

Guests were transported to the 'future of events' as they stepped from a hot and dusty Bezuidenhout Valley car park into the climate-controlled, theatrical environment of the new venue. Maxi Dome Lite is a mid-sized iteration of the In2Structures design range and was used for this launch in a 3-bay configuration (27m wide x 40m long). The improved design uses 700Mpa steels throughout with easy rigging access and increased strength; in fact the 11.5 tons of equipment hanging in the roof for this event did not use even half of the load capacity available. A 6 bay build of the Maxi Dome Lite will accommodate 700 people in Banquet style for a gala dinner or 1450 cinema style for a conference and easily packs down into a single interlink to save time and money. The Gearhouse event aimed to give clients a 'wow event experience' with MC Jason Goliath, Pixel Poi Performers from Dreams of Fire, The Kiffness, Matthew Mole

and The Muses pulling out all the stops; LEDVision’s panoramic 23 metre by 7 metre high curve of 3mm LED Screen behind the artists provided a talking point all of its own. AV content ran seamlessly across all 3, 16:9 screens or as picture-in-picture with live camera feed during speeches, on a display that delivered on its promise to provide outstanding colour processing and clarity in a breath-taking backdrop to the event. LEDVision now holds over 100sq metres of this HD ROE Black Pearl product which can be configured in any number of screen sizes. LEDVision also clad sections of the interior venue walls with flexible ROE LED Strips. These were incorporated into the overall screen display design, providing an additional linear creative dimension and an immersive LED experience. Gearhouse System Solutions’ latest product, an ultra slim portable signage display product was used in the greeting area at the registration counter. iMira plug-and-play 2mm pixel pitch digital led poster frames can be used in a variety of ways. Although they have an integrated fold-out stand, unique wall mounting brackets also give the capacity to attach displays horizontally or vertically to innovate brand communication at venue entrances, exhibition stands or point of sale. iMira features multiple display modes of 1, 2, 3 or 4 screens via Wi Fi or USB – no PC required. By all accounts a great time was had by all and according to the sales team at Gearhouse, judging by the amount of clients asking for quotations for the exact same setup, it seems that the technological impact of the event was also a great success.

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Imago brings Pexip to South Africa Efficiency and savings have become the focus areas of business in South Africa’s no-growth economy, driving a management quest for flexible solutions that deliver high performance without locking a company into a proprietorial cul-de-sac. The market insight comes from Marius van Wyk, Technical Director at Sandton-based Imago Communications, a leading supplier of communication and video conferencing solutions to both major corporates and small and medium-size enterprises via a network of certified channel partners. “Today, all businesses have to work harder and smarter with less resources both human and financial,” says Van Wyk. “That’s why the channel community response to the launch of the Pexip Infinity meeting platform has been so positive. Its cross-platform capabilities allow Pexip Infinity to connect to almost any communications tool and video and audio conferencing technology for a seamless meeting experience. Businesses facing cost and marketplace pressures can

Marius van Wyk

upgrade to a new level of meeting experience and get the most out of their existing, even aging, technology without building an entirely new solution from the bottom up. In today’s tough economy Pexip Infinity finds a great fit at companies committed to sweating all their assets.” The introduction of one of Pexip’s flagship products follows the signing of a distribution agreement between Imago and Pexip, the

international technology developer and supplier. John Harald Grønnigen, Pexip’s senior vice-president for Europe, Middle East and Africa, comments: “We’re excited to team up with Imago Communications as our distributor in South Africa. Their broad experience, technical expertise and commitment to long-term customer relations are second to none. Imago shows deep understanding of their customers’ business objectives and challenges. Together, we are well suited to address all of these issues.” Initial reaction has been invariably positive, says Van Wyk. “High quality performance and the cross-platform flexibility of the Pexip meeting platform allow for an extraordinary user experience for those customers requiring an on-premise, cloud or hybrid video infrastructure solution. With the ability to connect from any device, software client or browser, users are able to meet when they want on the platform and device of their choice. The challenge for efficiency-focused management is to get the most out of meetings, no matter what technology is being used at various locations. Pexip Infinity meets that challenge brilliantly.”

Prosound offers Meyer Sound training to local industry Prosound recently held a two day Meyer Sound Line Array Theory and Best Practice training event in Johannesburg and Cape Town. The training was headed by Chris Mead, Technical Support Manager at Meyer Sound Middle East, and offered theory during the first day of training, with a practical session on the second day. “Education is very important for Meyer Sound, because we make premium products and do a lot of research and development and testing and everything else that goes into making a loud speaker,” Mead said. “It is obviously then very important that the customers who are setting up and using the speaker systems then set them up correctly and to use our systems to the best performance possible for the system.” Prosound’s Technical Director Mark Malherbe emphasised the importance of continuous learning in the industry and why attending training courses like this is always beneficial. “I always try to keep learning new things in the industry, especially when it comes to new products,” he says. “When you stop learning

Mark Malherbe, Mauricio Saint Martin, Chris Mead and Lee Thomson

you should leave this industry.” According to Malherbe, this training also offers a good opportunity to bring people in the industry together for something worthwhile. Mauricio Saint Martin, Director of Middle East Sales at Meyer Sound, was also at the event. “This training is not about a specific product, but rather a more general training of speakers,” Martin said. According to Victor Vermaak, Pro Audio Sales at Prosound, industry professionals can look forward to similar training events, which will be held in the near future. “I hope everyone found the training of

high value and I’m sure everyone would feel their time was well spent by attending. We were all privileged to have the likes of Chris Mead share his technical expertise and insights with us,” he says. “A massive thank you goes out to Robyn, Alistair and Johann at Splitbeam JHB for supplying the Meyer Sound M1D array, Galileo and UPQ’s for the JHB Training. The same thanks goes out to Tom Gordon, Nell Kirsten and all at Gearhouse Cape Town for supplying the Meyer Sound Mica, 700HP’s and Galileo out of their rental stock, not to mention the projector and screen, as well as supplying The Grand West Arena for the Cape Town Training.”.

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DiGiCo SD7s aid audio perfection on Adele 25 Tour This year, Adele made a welcome return to the stage with 25, her first arena tour, which received rave reviews during its European leg. Now travelling round the US, the tour’s much anticipated nature, and Adele’s status as one of the world’s favourite artists, prescribed a production with values that aim for nothing less than perfection – right across the board. In audio world, that aim is aided by the use of DiGiCo SD7 mixing consoles, which are situated at both the Front of House and monitor positions. Front of House engineer Dave Bracey has been using DiGiCo consoles since the company first started manufacturing 14 years ago but is new to the Adele crew. Whilst Joe Campbell at monitors is new to the desks, he has been working with Adele since her 21 tour. Both are happy that they have all the right tools for the job. The audio design for the show is complex, with several points where Adele moves from the A to the B stage, with the audio following her from one to the other. “We also have complete arena coverage from the B stage,” says Bracey. “I don’t know that anyone’s ever done that before. Normally, if a singer walks out to the B stage, you’d be looking at her there, but still hear her coming from the A stage. That’s not the case for this show, we follow her around, which has its own challenges.” The audio system was designed by Bracey

Dave Bracey mans the FOH position. Photo: courtesy Alexandra Waespi

and systems engineer Ulf Oeckel. “Richard Young, the Production Manager for the show, came up with the initial idea and we worked out how to do it,” smiles Bracey. The pair have previously worked together on tours for Pink and Cher with great success and their tried and tested teamwork has undoubtedly helped to pull together a piece of audio engineering that threw up new challenges. Working with a tool as familiar as the SD7 is to Bracey, has undoubtedly helped. “It does everything that you want it to do,” he says. “If I think of something I need to do, I can always work out a way to do it on

DWR Lighting Workshop offers basic background for industry newcomers DWR Distribution recently held a Basic Lighting Workshop in Johannesburg, presented by Dave Whitehouse and Gareth Chambers. The two-day course was condensed into a day for the event, emphasising the definition and objectives of lighting design, examining core principles, like visibility, composition and mood, and giving an overview of where to start, the science of light, as well as health and safety. “Because the industry companies are so busy, they don’t have time to teach students

Dave Whitehouse and Duncan Riley

and guys going into the industry the basics,” Whitehouse said. “All this course is, is a bridging course between what they’ve

that desk. For me, as a live engineer with my particular needs, I don’t need any more than that does.” In monitor world, Joe counts 130 inputs and around 55 outputs, the vast majority of which are stereo. “We’re using all in ears, so we have quite a lot of ins and outs, which the desk easily handles,” he says. “Most other consoles you come across would struggle with such numbers. With Bracey’s expertise on the SD7, there hasn’t been much requirement for support from DiGiCo. However, there are those times when a quick phone call is necessary.

picked up second-hand and what the theory behind it is.” “We get a lot of guys doing this course who are either just coming into the industry or they’re interested in going into the industry and it’s kind of taking a step back and looking at the basics again, because they go to a job and they just do that job, but they don’t know why they’re doing that job.” According to Duncan Riley, owner and director at DWR Distribution, industry training is very important in South Africa. “There is such a need for training in the country,” he said. “There are so many passionate people in the industry, but many don’t know the basics and there are very few places where they can go for short, one day courses.” What is also very important for a course like this one, according to Riley, is the fact that it is not related to a specific product. This training course also marked the last time Whitehouse presented a course before his departure from DWR Distribution.

Blackmagic Design announces the acquisition of Fairlight Blackmagic Design recently announced its acquisition of Fairlight, which creates professional digital audio products for live broadcast event production, film and television post production, as well as immersive 3D audio mixing and finishing. Fairlight has an impressive history of designing and manufacturing integrated audio control surfaces and software that are renowned for their speed, flexibility and exceptional sonic quality. Fairlight Live products feature consoles that are designed for the most demanding on-air and live productions, giving customers

Riedel acquires ASL Intercom BV and DELEC

With its recent acquisition of both ASL Intercom BV and DELEC, Riedel Communications has not only significantly extended its portfolio of intercom technology optimised for demanding live entertainment and broadcast production environments, but also strengthened its portfolio of advanced communication solutions and Dante capabilities. ASL Intercom products are acclaimed worldwide for their exceptional voice intelligibility, dependable operation, and user interfaces suited to fast-paced production. The

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leading edge audio processing and control surfaces that range from 12 to 60 faders, along with audio I/O interfaces with full redundancy for mission critical work in broadcast facilities, outside broadcast trucks, performing arts venues and houses of worship. For post-production solutions, Fairlight creates everything from compact desktop audio post systems to large format mixing consoles with dedicated controls. Fairlight audio engines can deliver up to 1000 tracks which lets customers create complex productions without premixing, along with a massive 64 channels of monitoring. Fairlight’s editing software and fully featured audio post consoles give customers complete

tactile control along with unique features like time compression and expansion that allows audio within a single clip to be precisely aligned to picture. Designed for the film and television post production markets, Fairlight also creates immersive 3D audio workstations so customers can deliver 3D sound in formats such as 5.1, DTS MDA, Dolby Atmos, NHK’s 22.2 and more. Fairlight’s 3D audio workstations are large format mixers with complete support for both 2K and 4K video playback. “Fairlight creates the world’s most powerful digital audio software and hardware for video production,” said Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. “The exciting part about this acquisition is that it will add incredibly high end professional audio technology to Blackmagic Design’s amazing video products. We look forward to working with the Fairlight team to build even more exciting new products for our customers!”

company’s flagship ASL FLEXUS intercom system is notable for allowing multiple standards — Dante/AES67/AVB and RAVENNA — to coexist in a single system. “ASL Intercom has a strong portfolio in digital partyline technology, and the company’s products adapt readily to a wide variety of applications, both small and large,” said Thomas Riedel, CEO at Riedel Communications. “Intercom applications remain a core element of our business, and we are confident that we’ll quickly be able to leverage the complementary technologies of ASL Intercom to serve an even broader array of customers that can benefit from exceptional communications systems.” Given the strong reputation of ASL Intercom and its high-quality, European-built products, Riedel Communications will maintain the ASL Intercom brand identity going forward, and current ASL Intercom Managing Director Eric de Bruyn will stay on in his current role. “Riedel Communications is dedicated to quality, innovation, and service, and we are

confident that ASL Intercom’s technology and customers will be in good hands,” de Bruyn said. “The joining of our companies presents exciting opportunities for everyone involved.” The acquisition of DELEC, a developer and manufacturer of digital intercom and communication systems, enables Riedel to also welcome new engineering talent “DELEC has long been known for its visionary ideas and strong technology, and the company’s products complement and augment the Riedel portfolio in a way that will bring even greater versatility to our customers,” said Riedel. “The entire DELEC team will become part of the Riedel family, and this is exciting news not only in terms of our ongoing development of high-end solutions, but also for our growing customer base — including current DELEC customers. Together, we are better positioned than ever to provide forward-looking solutions that address current and future communications requirements, and we are committed to providing existing DELEC customers the great service Riedel is known for.”

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Multi-Media 25 years

The Voice set in Johannesburg

2016 marks a special time in the history of local event staging and production company Multi-Media – the company has been in business for 25 years. To mark the occasion, Multi-Media recently hosted a party for clients, suppliers and staff on the set of The Voice, a production for which they have been supplying all the technical staging since its first local recording in September 2015. Confidence in Multi-Media’s abilities is indicated by the fact that to date, The Voice has been done for Angola, South Africa and Nigeria, while the production for Afrique Francophone countries is currently underway. Multi-Media was founded by Rob Fish in October 1991 in the dining room of a humble residence in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town. Rob had previously worked as salesman of air brake systems and spares in the trucking industry, and a chance conversation with his friend Ron Harries, led him to assisting on the launch of the Audio 500 – a freelance job that changed the course of his life.

Working hard at trying to portray the image of a sizable staging business, Rob managed to win over his first client, one of South Africa’s leading life insurance companies at the time, and so the business got the jump start it needed to get off the ground. It wasn’t too long and the business had to find more suitable premises, moving first to Tamboerskloof in the Cape Town city bowl, and then to Retreat Industria. The team continued to grow under Rob’s mentoring – and it is testament to the fundamentals he instilled that many of them have gone on to grow their own successful businesses in the industry. The key values at the time Multi-Media espoused were doing good work, being ethical and leading by example with Integrity. In 1997, Rob’s son, Tim, joined the business after showing an interest at an early age, assisting with a few roadshows during his school holidays. Tim started at the bottom as the youngest member of the team, and being Rob’s son, was mindful of the fact that special treatment couldn’t apply. Tim applied himself and progressed fairly quickly in both technical expertise and

character, soon developing into a junior team leader running with his own handful of clients, traveling the length and breadth of the country in doing so. Wanting to develop further, Tim posed a challenge to Rob in 2001 and asked if he could open a small support office in Johannesburg to assist in servicing Gauteng, Central Freestate and Natal. Rob agreed and at the tender age of 23 Tim opened the Johannesburg office. Within five years the Johannesburg office was the same size as the Cape Town office, which was then one of the leading players in the industry within the Western Cape. The first major corporate client for the business in Johannesburg was one of the big four banks, and this was the break Tim needed to really advance the Joburg office. In 2007 the Cape Town and Joburg branches were split into two separate companies. Cape Town had been taken over by new owners, who also operated the business. Tim Fish, meanwhile, acquired a 50% stake in the Joburg, wile father Rob retained the other 50%. Unfortunately, the new CT office proved unsuccessful under the new owners, and the business closed two years later. By 2011, Tim had purchased the balance

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Tim Fish from Multi-Media

of the shares in the Joburg office through the success of doing good business, developing his people, living the values and leading by example. At the same time, efforts were made to revitalise the Cape Town business with Tim at the helm, and the growth of that branch is now an integral part of the company strategy. Two years later, with a wealth of experience gained through his time at

Chris Delancey from Multi-Media

Gearhouse and Strike Productions, Jason Fritz joined the business. In 2013 Fritz became a shareholder following his efforts and the impact he had had on the business. In late 2014 Chris de Lancey joined the company to yet again add to the strength of the team. Chris also applied himself and today has also become a shareholder in the business. Multi-Media is about the people, relationships with key clients, staff and

suppliers, always remaining true to the core principals of honesty, integrity and plain old hard work. Over the last few years, MultiMedia has continued on a growth path that is the envy of many, while still servicing clients that have been with the company for the full 25 years of its history. The 25th birthday party provided the perfect opportunity to thank all those that had been part of this great success story!

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR VALUED CLIENTS, STAFF AND SUPPLIERS FOR MAKING THE LAST 25 YEARS POSSIBLE. LOOKING FORWARD TO MANY MORE... tin co ol lig h

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T: +27 11 315 3585 F: +27 11 315 3219 www.multi-media.co.za Unit 3 Midrand Axis cnr Old Pretoria Rd & Le Roux Str Midrand PO Box 1088 Midrand 1685

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Wild & Marr scoop Avid agency Well-known local AV distributor Wild & Marr have announced the acquisition of distribution rights for the SADC for the audio products of listed media technology business Avid. Wild & Marr have acquired the rights to distribute Avid audio products in the SADC region to an extensive client network, including its world-famous Pro Tools suite Gustav Teitge, sales and system engineer at Wild & Marr, is also its Avid product specialist. “There’s a lot of synergy between the companies,” he says. “When Avid approached us to possibly take over the sole agency for its professional audio products, we of course saw huge possibilities in creating new markets, in being able to dedicate sales and support resources to the products, and to ensuring that their famous brands are well looked after.” Jacques Di Giovanni, the territory account manager for Avid’s pro audio products, agrees with this view of the fit between the companies: “We were looking for a distributor with the requisite customer base, but also the quality of service, support, and technical knowledge to do Avid products

Joe Copans and Jacques Di Giovanni.

justice. Distributors also need to be a strong point of contact between the brand and the dealer network. Market growth depends on these characteristics – and strong local market knowledge. We believe Wild & Marr ticks all of these boxes. It’s a big plus for us that the company has exposure to and knowledge of our major market segments, in the broadcast sector and in post-production

and studio environments.” Concludes Joe Copans, MD of Wild & Marr, “We feel proud to be trusted with the great brands in the Avid pro-audio stable. We certainly see the two companies as having many synergies, and we’re looking forward to investing resources and capacity into growing the Avid footprint in southern Africa.”

MUSIC brings Paul Bauman on board MUSIC, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of professional audio products, has today revealed plans to develop its presence in the live sound touring market with its TURBOSOUND, LAB GRUPPEN, LAKE, MIDAS and KLARK TEKNIK brands. The company has appointed industry pioneer Paul Paul Bauman Bauman as Director of Product Portfolio – Touring Sound, to execute on a bold vision to deliver ground-breaking touring sound solutions. Bauman, formerly leading JBL Professional’s and L-Acoustics’ touring sound speaker innovation, is clear about his mission to introduce industry-leading solutions: “My

priority is to reawaken TURBOSOUND by leveraging the incredible power and passion of MUSIC’s 4000 people organisation together with its industry leading technologies of LAB GRUPPEN, LAKE and MIDAS. I am extremely excited to be part of a mission to design the most innovative and end-to-end solutions for our customers.”

Bauman continues: “For years I’ve been following MUSIC’s incredible growth and admired the company’s philosophy to reinvest all earnings back into the business. The company’s state-of-the-art in-house manufacturing facility and the world-class 400 people engineering teams are something I have never seen before. I especially love the company’s obsession for customer experience, innovation and dedication to make a difference! This is the company I want to be part of.” MUSIC’s SVP of Enterprise, Andy Trott, adds, “Paul has the most phenomenal track record in the industry, spanning three decades. He helped revolutionise the live sound market at companies such as Harman JBL and L-Acoustics, and his incredible passion and knowledge means that TURBOSOUND and the touring sound division is set for an amazingly exciting future. We are proud to have legendary Paul Bauman leading our Los Angeles Innovation Centre, and to design the line array systems and customer solutions of the future. Fasten your seat belts!”

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PROLIGHT + SOUND Show REPORT

market value of US$707 million by 2018

Economic growth, rising tourism, and the completion of several mega projects are the key drivers of the UAE’s professional AV market, with demand for related equipment and services estimated to grow by nearly eight per cent over the next two years, new research has revealed.

According to a report by Euromonitor International (EMI), the UAE’s professional AV market is estimated to value US$707 million by 2018, up from the expected US$656.2 million in 2016, as the industry shakes off a market slowdown caused by declining oil prices over the last 18 months. The August 2016 report said growth is due to the UAE government’s strong focus on diversification toward a service and tourism-oriented economy, while the imminent completion of major projects such as the Guggenheim and Louvre Museums in Abu Dhabi, and Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid City, will fuel demand for professional AV and lighting installations. Mohammed bin Rashid City alone will be home to 100 hotels, five theme parks, and a marine life park once completed, but the biggest impact may be in 2019, as AV equipment integration comes at the last phase of projects in the final countdown to the Dubai Expo 2020. Research gathered by Messe Frankfurt Middle East, the organiser of Prolight + Sound Middle East 2016, indicates that related industries such as hospitality, retail, education, and MICE (Meetings, Incentives,

Conferences, Exhibitions), also present ample opportunities for the AV and entertainment market, and major players are responding. According to Messe Frankfurt, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has 1,559 hotels, 142 shopping malls, and 245 exhibitions, all of which require the latest professional AV technologies and services to enhance the visitor experience, whether for festivals, special events, and corporate functions, or for night clubs, concerts, restaurants and shops. The Gulf is also home to 99,321 mosques, which translates to regular upgrades of PA systems to the latest digital models for broadcasting daily prayers, while the 34,302 educational institutions dotted across the region is also a big market for integrated AV systems. This will come as good news to the 80-plus exhibitors from more than ten countries at the inaugural edition of Prolight + Sound Middle East, which runs from 31 October – 2 November 2016 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. The three-day event is the Middle East’s premier international trade and networking event dedicated to technologies and services for the

Show REPORT PROLIGHT + SOUND

entertainment, events, creation and media industries, and has attracted several industry heavyweights. Prolight + Sound Middle East 2016 will include several special features, such as Stage On, an outdoor live demonstration area for PA and AV systems; and Music Corner, a specialised area dedicated to musical instruments and DJ equipment. Ahmed Pauwels, CEO of Messe Frankfurt Middle East, the organiser of Prolight + Sound Middle East, said: “In addition to urban centres such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, Jeddah, Doha and Kuwait, the demand for audio visual and entertainment solutions spans the wider Middle East, which is one of the more exciting markets in the world today. “With the region holding out immense potential to become a leading market for audio visual and entertainment equipment, Prolight + Sound Middle East brings together leading international players and their range of products under one roof to enable easy access for regional trade buyers,” he added. Buyers will be from key customer segments such as rental companies and event organisers, which according to the EMI report, account for nearly 50 per cent of the UAE market share, due to frequent purchases every 3-5 years of the latest equipment for customised and temporary event-based applications. Meanwhile, the government sector too will be a key target customer segment for fixed professional AV applications, as it continues to invest in expanding and upgrading infrastructure projects and public services such as airports, metro stations, cultural, and religious institutions. “With market trends indicating the demand for pro lighting, sound,

and audio equipment is heading in the right direction, we’re delighted to present an annual platform of ground-breaking products dedicated to the entertainment industry,” said Pauwels. “In Prolight + Sound Middle East, we’re providing a highly interactive networking, developmental and sourcing platform, where the world’s premier brands will present their latest product lines, from stage lighting and DJ equipment to special effects and multimedia, or audio and AV systems to infrastructure and furnishings.” More than 70 per cent of exhibition space at Prolight + Sound Middle East 2016 has been booked, with the biggest names in the business throwing their hats into the ring. The latest to confirm its presence at the three-day event is GSL Professional, the official Middle East distributor for Harman Professional audio brands such as JBL, Soundcraft and Crown. Other notable international exhibitors at Prolight + Sound Middle East 2016 include Bose Professional Middle East; Monacor International, a German manufacturer of PA, stage and event technology; Bosch Communications; Adam Hall; and the show’s founding partners, Martin Professional, and Sennheiser, two leading manufacturers of consumer and professional lighting and audio systems.” The annual regional showpiece event is the fifth instalment of the international network of Prolight + Sound events worldwide, and is co-located with Light Middle East 2016, the region’s dedicated exhibition, conference, and awards for lighting design and technology. More information is available at: www.prolightsoundme.com.

INTERVIEW

The evolution of AV

By James Sey

Caption

Electrosonic has been a prominent business in the SA pro-AV industry for an impressive 25 years. With this momentous birthday celebration in the offing, we asked Electrosonic’s MD Bruce Genricks for the benefit of his experience of the local industry over that time. What has changed, what stays the same and where does he see the industry in the future?

“It doesn’t seem such a long time ago,” remarks Genricks, “that we were doing temporary event installations, and even some permanent installations such as the Wits Planetarium [see sidebar – editor] with slide projectors as the main technology! It was only when we could begin setting up ‘videowalls’ as part of an installation, which could be seen in brighter environments, that we had an alternative. Slide projection and CRT video could basically only be seen in the dark. From the business point of view we were both distributors and integrators in the early days, working with events companies and the end-user clients to put on shows involving AV.” Genricks points to the innovation necessary for videowall technology in the early days, at which Electrosonic was adept. But things were even more inventive on the control technology side of the business. “In those days there was no access to Crestron or AMX

technologies, for example. We manufactured our own customised control systems depending on the requirements of each job, doing some quite sophisticated electronics design! Some of the customisation was of course less sophisticated. We designed a machine to move and tilt screens in boardrooms which ran off a windscreen wiper motor and a bicycle chain – and it worked well for years! When we moved on to off-the-shelf technology, initially we used programmable logic controllers in our designs for clients, but then began to import meeting room controllers (MRCs) from our partners at the time, Electrosonic UK. We weren’t sure these would have the necessary uptake in the SA market because of the cost, but when we began to market them, they cut down on installation time and were cost-effective in terms of the total cost of ownership, so we began to use them more. From a business point of view, we grew into

INTERVIEW

the control market along with the brands that we began using in the beginning – Crestron for control, and Kramer for switching and distribution, and of course they began to grow globally as brands also. “ The entertainment lighting side of the business, now prominent for Electrosonic as the total market has grown apace in SA, also grew from humble beginnings. “We dealt with Martin from day one in the business,” explains Genricks. “They originally sold smoke machines for live events, which we bought from them, and only later moved into the high-end entertainment lighting market. There were very few moving head fixtures or intelligent lighting systems twenty-odd years ago, but that has fundamentally changed now, and our relationship with Martin Professional Lighting, now owned by HARMAN, has grown as they have grown. “What we found from early on is that there was a lot of synergy between the control technology side of the business and the entertainment lighting side, broadly speaking, in the sense that having both lent stability to the business by taking some of the risk out of the business cycle. Either side of the business tends to have different business cycles, so having expertise in Electrosonic across the board helps to mitigate risk.”

The technology curve “From a technology point of view there has been an enormous amount of change over the last 25 years. The rise of videowall and LED screen technology has been meteoric, and the progression in lighting from PARCans to tungsten to LED has been just as impressive. Likewise with control technology, early controllers and MRCs have given way to fully programmable touch panel systems, and now systems controlled through apps in the cloud with distributed programming. In the early days of AV technology there were also no real control standards for the technology. Partly this was because a lot of the installation and integration work we did was completely customised for specific installations and client needs. Gradually the control technology has progressed through various proprietary technology standards to a more standardised, usually Ethernet control system. So many devices can be controlled through a control system which can operate in the cloud now. The trajectory we’re now on, heading towards the Internet of Things, also means no more proprietary standards, but complete standardisation.”

INTERVIEW The business curve Genriccks has also seen many changes in the way the pro-AV industry does business in these decades. “When we started out South Africa was still a closed market, with no real internet infrastructure. Key to successfully marketing new technologies was the ability to import and support them, which remains an important part of the distribution model. But technology now means that internet-based support through downloadable manuals and schematics to an extent disintermediates the support role played by the distributor. Having said that, relationships remain vitally important between distributors, their clients and their brands. It’s also important that a distributor has focus – in the early days we acted as both distributor and integrator, but decided that was bad for our market. Internationally things have also changed – there has been much consolidation, and SA has become more integrated with the international markets. For local distributors this means more competition from brands, and more pressure to remain relevant and to add value to their brands and products. For us, local knowledge is important, and holding stock and support for products locally is too. Also, training in how to install and use products remains vital, despite the availability of resources on the internet. The equipment still has to work optimally, and providing an infrastructure to enable that is an important role for us.”

The way things are now “When we first started out,” concludes Genricks, “there were importers, manufacturers and installers of equipment, many of whom were engineers. Now, as technology has evolved into off-the-shelf systems, non-engineers are part of the sales and technology cycle, and dealer networks have become more extensive. Also, IT companies are increasingly becoming competitive in the space. Specialist AV companies have to adapt to survive – but since the global market is opening up and growing, they can also thrive!”

An oldie, but a goodie The Johannesburg Planetarium contains a working AV installation installed by Electrosonic at the very beginnings of their existence. On 12 October 1960 the first full-sized planetarium in Africa, and the second in the Southern Hemisphere, opened its doors to the public. Some years later, around 1980, an initial AV system consisting of 36 Kodak slide projectors and 12 x Electrosonic ES4003 Dissolve units (three projectors per unit) was installed to supplement the magnificent Zeiss star projector that is the centrepiece of the building. This AV system is still largely intact and working today! The original controllers that send information to the dissolve units have been replaced. These controllers also controlled the dimmer units and light circuits and each show had a single show-start button that would coordinate slides and light modes. This installation was done around 1980 by Lourie Coetzee, through a company that he owned at the time called Twin Imports, partnered with Electrosonic UK.

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Integration & Installation REPORT

System Solutions throws a curveball

By James Sey

Gearhouse Group company System Solutions, who offer a full range of AV integration sales, support and solutions, recently installed the first doubled curved LED screen in Africa, in the Cresta shopping mall in the north-west of Johannesburg.

The company recently won the tender to install the ambitious screens in the food court of the shopping centre, tethered above a gigantic aquarium-type fish tank. When fully installed – the fish tank was not up and running at time of going to press – the screens and miniaquarium will make for a spectacular consumer content and digital signage experience for local shoppers. “We were awarded the tender partly because we had installed a similar curved screen – just one though – in Menlyn Park shopping centre, for the same client, the property development company concerned. It’s been a great success, so we had a good track record to show the client,” comments Karen Blyth, operations manager for the Cresta installation. “ Blyth explains that the whole structure supporting the screen build

had to be secured from the roof of the building – a total weight of around 5.6 tonnes. The load-bearing and safety specifications had to be guaranteed by the property company before work could commence, with safety considerations paramount. “We used Foreground 6mm outdoor screens, with a total of 66 panels measuring 768mmX768mm each making up each curved final screen. The large curved screens are 2.3m high and have a circumference of almost six metres. We configured the screens in three rows of 22 panels each, and each large curved screen can be split into a 4X2 configuration for different types of content to play simultaneously, or the entire curved screen can show one image source. A total of eight DSTv decoders provide content for the passing shoppers, split into four per screen,” explains Blyth.

Conference room solutions

An elegant content management solution has been put in place for the installation, whereby each screen is fed content from the DSTv decoders through four BrightSign digital signage media players, all of which are operated remotely from the System Solutions office. Control over the screen content, as well as any maintenance issues, can be immediately addressed. “We black the screens out at 11.30 each evening, and they go on again at 7.30am,” continues Blyth. “We went with these outdoor screes partly for their durability and reliability, with an average lifespan of five to eight years, depending on workload. They’re hooked up with almost 600m of fibre cabling, which goes into the shopping centre control room, and out to the screens themselves. Currently we’re running mostly TV content, but the plan is to use the screens more and more for digital signage and marketing-type content.” For System Solutions, despite the unique nature of the doubled screens on top of the aquarium, this was another rock-solid installation. “The whole thing to us about 48 hours to install," concludes Blyth." The main concern for us was the safe load-bearing capacity of the cabling attaching the two platforms and the screens themselves to the roof of the centre. Once we were assured that all was safe, the screen install was relatively straightforward – and it looks really great!”

34 Kyalami Boulevard | Kyalami Business Park South Africa +27 (0)11 840 0860

www.peripheralvision.co.za

Integration & Installation CORPORATE

Corporate AV – Power in the Boardroom In our regular cover feature in this issue we focus on AV in the corporate sector. As more and more interoperability and open standards become the norm in the risk-averse world of corporate IT, so IT departments in the enterprise are interacting more with AV technologies and integration. Security in cloud-based and wireless network applications have become more robust of late, as has the reliability of these networks to carry and process signal effectively, As a result more and more enterprises are seeing the benefits, especially in time and cost savings, of bringing in sophisticated corporate AV applications and technologies. These impact on everything from room space allocation and scheduling, to temperature and environment control, to the varios mission-critical technologies corporate companies need to do their work. In what follows we have lined up several relevant case studies for various corporate AV technologies, as well as taking an in-depth look at perhaps the most widespread of all corporate AV applications – the wireless presentation system.

Corporate AV should be Exceptional Businesses work and communicate more effectively – internally and with the public – when they use expertly designed and integrated audiovisual systems

An exceptional experience in corporate AV = > CONTENT Impactful presentations, digital signage and audio/video collaboration formatted and delivered so people can comprehend

50:1

The minimum projected image contrast ratio required to support analytical decision-making.

90%

say it would be useful if they could display content on-screen from their smartphone or a tablet during a meeting.

> TECHNOLOGY The perfect AV and IT systems, seamlessly integrated and flawlessly functioning

CONTENT

SPACE

TECH

> SPACE Perfect lighting, acoustic and environmental conditions that make communication and collaboration more effective

79%

say typical meetings would be more effective if information from more than one person could be visible at the same time.

CORPORATE Integration & Installation

75%

Employees are more likely to watch a video than to read documents, email or web articles.

80%

100 million

of communication consists of non-verbal visual cues, therefore when video is added to a meeting, participants are more likely to stay focused.

people worldwide used over

100 billion minutes of audio conferencing in 2014

63% Digital signs capture

400%

say the biggest screen is the best screen for viewing video.

views than static signs.

76%

of the people like to be connected anytime, anywhere.

Original source: InfoComm

In our corporate feature section in this issue, we start by interviewing a number of key vendors of wireless presentation systems about their products. We then wrap up our corporate section by comparing different presentation systems on a like-for-like basis for their technical features and usability.

Integration & Installation CORPORATE

Extron’s Sharelink

Q: What are the product's key target market sectors? A: The corporate sector is by far our biggest market for the Sharelink product, but we also target the education sector, especially at higher levels.

Q: What do you see as ShareLink’s key competitive characteristics – that is, what gives it a competitive advantage in its different target markets? A: The ShareLink 250 Series offers the ability for users to connect from a wide variety of devices from Windows and Mac computers and laptops, mobile devices such as tablets, and smartphones and USB memory devices. This is an advantage in the corporate sector and higher education where a variety of devices are used in collaborative spaces. For Apple iPads and iPhones we are adding support for mirroring so users can connect quickly and easily the way they would connect to AirPlay devices. This will be a free firmware update and will be available in September 2016. Moderator mode is another feature that customers like since it enables someone to control which users have access to display content, which is an advantage in the education arena where a wide range of users can be connecting to the display at once. On the other end of the spectrum, for corporate environments, collaboration mode allows individual attendees to control the presentation display and this works really well for interactive meetings, presentations, and group collaboration where free and ready access to the display is needed. Playing audio, video, image or MS Office files from a USB stick, connected to one of

ShareLink’s USB ports along with a mouse, is another way to share a presentation that works well in education or training applications, without requiring a separate computer. Finally, Extron’s dedicated mobile app, MirrorOp for Extron ShareLink, provides reliable content sharing for Android and iOS devices when users want easy access to content stored in the cloud such as Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud and OneDrive. These features combined with Extron’s renowned S3 Service, Support and Solutions ensures that customers can expect ShareLink to work reliably and that support is readily available when needed.

Q: How is the product doing in the local market? A: Interest is increasing and we see more and more interest in the corporate and higher education key market segments.

Q: Are there any criteria or product features for which you think ShareLink is significantly better than its competition? Why? A: In addition to the moderator/collaboration control and iOS Mirroring, PoE is an advantage that allows the unit to be mounted behind a display or in another discrete location without having to provide significant infrastructure such as power. For implementations where the unit needs to be mounted without a lot of infrastructure, such as in educational environments, the units plenum rating and PoE feature allow it to be located most anywhere with minimal effort and expense.

CORPORATE Integration & Installation

Q: What product features would you consider crucial for the product? A: • Dedicated mobile app • For reliable Android and iOS sharing • Security code • Ensures secure content delivery • Web viewing, to view content via web browser in addition to the display • Lite (runtime) software versions • For personal computers to minimise software installs • No admin rights required • Simultaneous HDMI and VGA outputs • SNMP support for remote monitoring • Plenum rated enclosure, for installation above ceilings • UL 2043 • Warranty • 3 years

Plug into simplicity.

Tap into

ClickShare

amazing

Share your big ideas, and watch them grow Creativity is one of the core assets of an organization. With ClickShare, you make sure big ideas receive the attention they deserve, by simply sharing what’s on your laptop or mobile device, on a presentation screen. With a single click, you transform a meeting into a complete sharing experience, bringing ideas, people and content together. No cables, no set-up, no waiting to join in. Meetings keep their flow, and you keep your cool! For more information contact Imago Communications, an authorized Barco ClickShare distributor Tel: 011 463 0013

Email: info@imagosa.co.za

Web: www.imagosa.co.za

www.barco.com/clickshare

16106.BARCO.ad.ClickShare.Imago.indd 1

1/06/16 15:17

Integration & Installation CORPORATE

ClickShare in South Africa

Local AV distributor Peripheral Vision recently, in April this year, took over responsibility for the distribution of the majority of the products of European AV giant Barco in the Southern African market. Part of that deal involves the distribution of Barco’s benchmark wireless presentation product ClickShare, along with co-distributor Imago.

In other parts of the world, ClickShare has rolled out extensively as a standard wireless presentation system for large corporates. In Australia, for example, the corporate sector has adopted ClickShare extensively, and after only three years of the product being launched there, 2500 units are being sold annually, with exponential market growth. In Europe and the UK, the uptake figures are similarly impressive. In total, Barco have sold over 160 000 ClickShare units globally since the launch of the product a few years ago. Its adoption in South Africa, however, has not taken place to the same extent as in other countries. Says Wynand Langenhoven, MD of Peripheral Vision, “We believe that more potential exists for the product in the local market, but that to this point it has not quite been correctly positioned.” “Barco ClickShare is an extremely easy to use USB, Plug-and-Play technology that is often compared to alternative wireless presentation systems, but should in fact be compared with wired room-based switching systems,” he continues. “This is because, instead of ClickShare being brought into the wired architecture that may already exist in a venue, it in fact (in most cases) replaces the wired hardware in venues completely. There are entry level versions of the product that cater for the straightforward wireless connection from multiple computers and BYOD devices to a display, but there are

more extensive versions which support multiple computers and BYOD devices to multiple display devices while supporting 4k images. The transition from one presenter to the next is slick and very easy to achieve. Users just love using ClickShare!” The ease of use of the product is one of its competitive hallmarks vis-à-vis its competitors. Peripheral Vision is looking to maximise the impact of the product by offering proof-of-concept implementations locally. Aside from the ease of use, Langenhoven points to a number of other factors that make the product very interesting to the corporate and government market sectors: • While it is a wireless presentation system, it is standalone. There is no need to integrate it into the customer’s corporate network (although this is possible in a very secure environment). There is no need to connect to a different Wi-Fi network to present, a feature of ClickShare that is considered unique! Users can remain connected to their own Wi-Fi network with their laptop while this button connects to its own Wi-Fi base unit separately using different frequencies (e.g. 2.4GHz or 5GHz) with the option to adapt the signal strength. • It is a Plug-and-Play architecture. There is no need to install any software on the user’s computer (although there are software

CORPORATE Integration & Installation

Second Presenter

First Presenter

Third Presenter

Fourth Presenter

elements that make it that little bit easier). Visitors can arrive with any computer device – ClickShare operates as a USB button that plugs into the USB port of the user’s computer. There is therefore no need to cater for HDMI or VGA in the existing AV system in the boardroom, since every computer has a USB port. Support is offered for almost all operating systems, including Windows, MacOS and Linux. So, no administrator rights are required by the laptop or device user. • It is remarkably easy to install. A sales person can make the sale and complete the installation before leaving the customer’s premises. The product also has the option of implementing the system as an add-on in an existing or a more extensive wired solution, an API is available for integration with third party control systems. • From a security point of view, Barco ClickShare is rigorous. Between the wireless button and the base unit, WPA2 Personal is used to encrypt data. If users want to access the Web UI HTTPS is

used. The firmware updates for the base unit and the buttons use a signed firmware file security method of verification. • A ClickShare management software suite is available for enterprise enabled implementations, which is a free downloadable programme available from Barco. This allows the enterprise to manage all its ClickShare units centrally. • The product ships with a standard three-year warranty which can be extended to five years. The application of the product is in any presentation venue, and is not limited to corporate applications, says Langenhoven. Government, conference centres, and the hospitality sector all have big demand for the product. Compared to alternative wireless solutions which place more demands on the user from a technical point of view, ClickShare is more expensive. But compared to complex wired solutions, it is very inexpensive and solves many of the technical problems experienced in the average presentation venue.

Integration & Installation CORPORATE

Crestron Fusion delivers for global HR firm

Effective resource management is vital for any modern business, which covers a multitude of disciplines and functional areas. In addition to personnel management, businesses need to effectively manage their technology and facilities. With a wealth of SNMP, BACnet, and other platforms available to manage disparate resources, businesses are looking for new user-friendly solutions that can centralise control of multiple systems to support and improve their organisational performance. A recent installation by BIS, at the Belgium Head Office of global recruitment company Randstad, provides a strong example of how a sophisticated, centrally managed resource system can deliver maximum benefits for large companies.

Crestron Fusion Enterprise Management software was the ideal choice for this project thanks to its impressive ability to manage multiple devices. The Crestron Fusion software enables users to view room status, track maintenance on devices, schedule the end-of-day shutdown, book meetings in rooms, provide remote help desk assistance, capture and distribute multimedia presentations, and more — all from an easy to use web-based interface. With a total of 58 meeting rooms over eight floors at Randstad, it’s important that these facilities are managed seamlessly to ensure maximum usage. Easy to use Crestron 7” touch screens are installed outside each room to provide access to real-time room availability and functionality data as well as an instant room booking service. From the asset management point of view, the BIS solution provides

a wealth of information. Accurate and relevant data on the building’s usage is consolidated in the Crestron Fusion portal, with a number of reports available at the click of a button. In addition to the meeting room occupancy and performance levels, information is also gathered from the Crestron control system. As Kris Casier, Sales Manager at BIS explains, “The Crestron Fusion system results in a more efficient building management solution for our client, where the equipment is connected to a centralised dashboard, meaning that technical malfunctions are immediately visible and can be addressed quickly. This saves substantial time and means that the building runs very efficiently.” The BIS Solution is comprehensive and comprises: Meeting Bubbles: Flexible working is strongly promoted by Randstad. These ‘bubbles’ offer a space for short, ad hoc meetings to take place. Each meeting room is equipped with a 55” display and a Crestron keypad control panel. This is connected to the network and can be accessed from any location via Crestron Fusion for a status update. The movement and sound sensor means that AV and lighting are automatically switched off as soon as the last person has left the room, ensuring the most energy efficient performance. Meeting rooms: The control of all large meeting rooms works by means of a powerful Crestron CP3N control system, which is intuitively managed with a 7-inch Crestron touch screen. Digital Signage: The digital signage system within the building encompasses 18 displays, throughout different departments ensuring that everyone in the building is kept informed about what is happening within the company. Each department can individually post content to the displays and company news is constantly being streamed to the screens. The look and feel of the display was provided by BIS, to ensure that the layout of various templates support the Randstad corporate identity. The Crestron Fusion system allows Randstad to successfully manage their vast head office building in a simple, reliable and user-friendly manner. The installation has also resulted in improved time management; employees no longer waste valuable time searching for laptop cables or setting up audio ahead of meetings, as devices are connected instantly via the Crestron Fusion system. In addition, available meeting rooms can be found instantly, saving even more time for employees. For a global brand that prides itself on HR optimisation, the Crestron Fusion system couldn’t be better placed in the new Randstad offices.

NEW DMPS3-4K

PRESENTATION SYSTEMS ALL-IN-ONE SOLUTIONS FOR ANY SINGLE-DISPLAY APPLICATION › No programming required › 3-Series Control System®

› Internal 4K scaler › Auto-switching

Direct communication with Crestron Fusion® network management

DMPS3-4K-50

4 VGA with analog audio inputs

› Auto display on/off › .AV FrameworkTM configuration and network deployment

4 HDMI®, DVI, or DisplayPort inputs

HDMI output scaled up to 4K

Line level with volume controlled audio output

Plug-and-play up to 4 Crestron Connect ItTM cable caddies

Cresnet® expansion for more control options

DMPS3-4K-100-C

All DMPS3-4K-50 functionality, plus:

Mirrored DM® or HDBaseT® 4K output for long distance transmission to display

Microphone input with phantom power, gating, and compression

DMPS3-4K-150-C

All DMPS3-4K-100-C functionality, plus:

2 DM or HDBaseT 4K inputs for remote sources

2 relays and 2 digital inputs

crestron.eu/dmps3 All brand names, product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Certain trademarks, registered trademarks, and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Crestron disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. Crestron is not responsible for errors in typography or photography. ©2016 Crestron EMEA

Integration & Installation CORPORATE

Case Study: Kramer VIA Connect PRO When the technology director at the graduate school of Health Sciences at a major southeastern University in the US heard about the Kramer Electronics VIA Connect PRO, he immediately wanted a demonstration. The sales team at local AV installer CI Audio Video obliged, showing him the wireless collaboration solution that has become a popular alternative to fully wired, more involved presentation systems.

The VIA Connect PRO can be used with any laptop or mobile device for viewing, editing and commenting on documents in real time. Users can also share files and chat with individuals or multiple participants simultaneously. Up to four screens can be shown on the main display. In addition, the VIA Connect PRO offers full HD wireless video streaming, supporting full HD 1080p/60, MP3 files and photos. As a result of the demonstration, the University installed a VIA

Case Study: Kramer VIA Connect PRO working for When executives at Words and Pictures, a New Jersey, USA-based advertising and marketing agency, needed a collaboration tool for meetings, they chose Kramer VIA Connect PRO for a simple, wireless solution that works with any laptop or mobile device. It enables simultaneous viewing, editing and commenting on documents in real time, making it ideal for meeting rooms, boardrooms, conference rooms and classrooms.

Rhonda Smith, owner of Words and Pictures, said the system has been a big success for her company. “We love how it easily brings everyone in the meeting onto the same page and allows us to step in and show our ideas, and even present new ideas in real time.” Smith also noted that the solution was especially appealing because it did not require software or a significant hardware

Connect PRO in its Health Sciences conference room to meet the needs of faculty and administrators. The conference room seats ten at the boardroom table and has a capacity of 16 people. The unit is connected to an LCD display, where meeting attendees can collaborate on documents together. “The client was hoping to do away with a wired system altogether, and using the VIA Connect PRO has been beneficial,” said Tim Rice of CI Audio Video. “The staff and faculty are always in a hurry, and the VIA Connect PRO is simple to use and takes very little time to get connected for a meeting.” The school’s technology director concurs. “The VIA Connect PRO is very reliable. It’s so easy for anyone who comes into a meeting to use, and it works every time,” he said. The system supports both MAC and PC, as well as Android and iOS mobile operating systems. Not only can files be instantly shared by Cloud connection, but VIA Connect PRO’s powerful security features make sure no data is compromised. Rice concludes that the success of the unit in the conference room has set the stage for other applications at the school. “The cables and connectors to wired audio video units in classrooms have taken a beating, and the wireless VIA Connect PRO is an ideal way to eliminate this problem,” he explained. “The conference room success is the first step to the possibility of wireless units throughout the campus.”

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Be bright, Be bright, choose right. Be bright, choose right. choose right. In our fast-changing world, new forms of entertainment

are popping up at breakneck speed. Are you confident

In our fast-changing world, new forms of entertainment investment, and it was compatible with her company’s current your future investments? Inabout our fast-changing world, new forms of entertainment computer network, thus making it viable for small and medium are popping up at breakneck speed. Are you confident are popping up at breakneck speed. Are you confident enterprises. Up to four people’s screens can be shown on the main your future investments? Inabout our fast-changing world, newthrough forms of Ranging laser projection to entertainment show control, about yourfrom future investments? display, and users can also share files and chat electronically with are popping up at breakneck speed. Are you confident image processing, 4K, and fl exible LED solutions, we individuals or groups during the session. Ranging from laser projection through to show control, about your future investments? In addition, the VIA Connect PRO offers full HD wireless video empowerfrom you laser to wow your audiences in new ways. Ranging projection through show control, image processing, 4K, and flexible LEDto solutions, we streaming, supporting full HD 1080p/60, MP3 files and photos. Smith image processing, 4K, and fl exible LED solutions, we empower you to wow your audiences in new ways. said the video quality far surpassed other typical formats. “The ability Ranging from laser projection through to show control, With a focused approach on events, Barco leverages empower you to wow your audiences in new ways. its to playback HD video is amazing. The image is seamless, without the image processing, 4K, and flexible we expertise to create technology you canLED relysolutions, on. usual stuttering from playback over WiFi,” she noted. With a focused approach on events, Barco leverages its empower you to wow your audiences in new ways. The Kramer VIA Connect PRO system supports both MAC and PC, With a focused approach on events, Barco leverages its expertise to create technology you can rely on. as well as Android and iOS mobile operating systems. It gives multiple expertise to create technology you can rely on. users the ability to edit and control the main display at the same time, With a focused approach events, Barco leverages its Be bright, choose right. on Choose Barco. and users can annotate, illustrate and edit on the device’s expertise to create technology you can rely on. Be bright, choose right. Choose Barco. whiteboard. Not only can files be instantly shared by Cloud Be chooseplease right. Choose connection, but users can be confident that their systems are secure For bright, more information, contact us Barco. with the VIA Connect PRO’s powerful security features, including user Be bright, choose right. Choose Barco. authentication, 1024-bit encryption, and a dynamic room code. Because it is wireless, the Kramer VIA Connect PRO can be installed and ready for use in less than one hour. The Kramer team, led by Electrosonic in South Africa, provides set-up support and www.barco.com/events +27 (0)11 840 0860 sales@peripheralvision.co.za training on the system. www.peripheralvision.co.za www.barco.com/events “The Kramer Electronics VIA Connect PRO system has dramatically changed the way we collaborate, and I can’t imagine our www.barco.com/events 16160.BARCO.ad.resize.Be bright.indd 1 26/08/16 conference room without it,” Smith enthuses. www.barco.com/events 16160.BARCO.ad.resize.Be bright.indd 1

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WePresent makes waves A wireless presentation system with a wide range of corporate applications and users in South Africa is Dutch product WePresent. The system is imported into the region by distributor Product2Market, and is sub-distributed under a sole distribution agreement by AV brand specialists Alpha Technologies.

Brett Minnie is the local WePresent representative with Alpha. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Because we have a sole distribution arrangement in SA, we can fully support the product with extended warranties and swapped-out units if necessary. The product uses wireless RF installation via a standard dongle on any internal network or through the wizard-

guided onboard WiFi system. Since there are no software installations the ease and speed of use also makes the product very useful in the education market, where the interactive board function can be used for learner and teacher input and marking, etc. â&#x20AC;&#x153; Minnie points to the ease of use and the flexibility of monitoring and

CORPORATE Integration & Installation

control functions WePresent has as a major advantage for its uptake in various market segments. “Architects or distributed corporate environments, for example, need some measure of control when there are a group of people sharing the system for meetings or shared planning activities,” he says “The moderator function of the WePresent system can control an entire 48-seater boardroom on the

monitors concerned, by bringing up onscreen whatever connected device is relevant, either in fullscreen or different quadrants. The moderator can also lock the screen and take over input content to control the pace and progress of discussions. The major competitive advantage is the wireless compatibility of the product, and the fact that it is platform and device agnostic.” What Minnie points to is the ability of WePresent to override device differences, and to offer an across the board enterprise solution as a result, including downloadability for smart phones. It has a highresolution output, with up to 64 simultaneous connections possible, and a full range of media options available via streaming, media server, and USB, with cloud sharing capability. While the normal frame rate is up to 30 fps, the streaming function can run inn full HD with no frame dropping. “We believe we have very good uptake with the corporate sector,” says Minnie. “A major feature of corporate IT is concerns over the security of their networks. With the advent of Bring Your Own Device the network, especially if it is in the cloud, has to be even more risk-averse and security conscious. The WePresent system offers great peace of mind for shared corporate users with different devices, because it piggybacks on existing networks, and its 128 bit standard encryption offers security. In addition the system offers the requisite user and moderator control to filter out unwanted input. Our price point comparison with similar systems is very reasonable, and we also offer our Access Point feature for shared presentations in temporary event spaces – a feature that really adds to the popularity and flexibility of the system for corporates and the hospitality/event sector,“ Minnie concludes.

Integration & Installation CORPORATE

Christie shows presentation Brio

The Christie Brio is a meeting room presentation and collaboration solution that has been on the market for a few years now, and has a sizable corporate footprint in the Southern African market. It takes the hassle out of single and multi-site workplace meetings, and enables multiple attendees at meetings to run audio and video presentations from their own devices, without scrambling for matching display cables and adapters, plugging in dongles or installing and configuring new software to get it working.

Brio uses wired or wireless connections to automatically share multiple presentations showing simultaneously on either one or two meeting room screens. Whether participants use Macs, PCs, iPads, Android tablets or smartphones, presentations can be added to a meeting as a thought occurs, with their information showing on that meeting room display. The system connects, collects and shares content through a single unit. Each element of the system was designed with the user in mind – from device connection to viewing content in-room or across locations. Once you connect your computer, smart phone or tablet to a Christie Brio unit, your content is automatically presented on your classroom or meeting room display – it’s as simple as that. Brio is a network-enabled presentation and collaboration solution that makes it easy to simultaneously share and compare up to five presentations. After connection to the local area network, a few quick keystrokes or taps on your wired or wireless device allows you to share your audio, high definition video, whiteboards, and other information in a single room or with multiple people in multiple locations. A wide variety of source devices are supported including PCs, Macs, and iOS and android devices such as smartphones. Content can be wirelessly streamed from up to five devices through Ethernet or a wireless access point. For maximum content detail, Christie Brio also supports up to two DVI-D connected displays of up to 4 Megapixels WQXGA: 2500 x 1600) each. Using HID touch displays allows an intuitive interface with the system, including whiteboard and other capabilities. Christie Brio will automatically tile sources as presentation content on a display with automatic adaptation to source aspect ratios and easy user

control over the layout if desired. A collaborative meeting solution should integrate easily into an organisation’s existing IT structure and be compliant with in-house IT policies. Christie Brio supports several different methods for connecting units to an internal network depending on purchase options. Ideally, meeting attendees or collaborators in an enterprise should be able to walk into meetings with their own devices and start participating immediately without requiring a training session or a visit from the IT department beforehand. That’s exactly what Christie Brio provides. Content from devices is streamed over either the local area network or a dedicated wireless access point using standard protocols that are already a part of the devices’ operating system. Meeting attendees don’t have to install any special software or drivers on their devices to share presentations nor does Brio require the use of dongles. The solution works with industry-standard protocols including AirPlay (OSX and iOS devices), Network Projector (MS Windows®), and Miracast™ (Android™, Windows 8.1 and later). Meetings are essential but they don’t have to be ineffective. Easy and meaningful collaboration is the key. Today’s technology can enhance the sharing of information vital to the decisionmaking process in ways that were never before possible, regardless of the physical location of participants. By fulfilling all of the major requirements for a meeting collaboration solution for both business and education, Christie Brio is one of the most effective and easy to use solutions on the market.

Kramer VIA Connect Pro

Barco ClickShare

WePresent Extron ShareLink

Crestron AirMedia

255 64 64 4 32

y y y y y

Frames per sec

User Queue

Lan port

n y y y y

Security (128bit)

Own device as main display y y

y y y y y

y y y y y n

no info

Android 5.0 or newer

y, on mobile device

up to 4

n Original source: Lyle Tarby, Electrosonic SA

n y n n n

Cloud Based File Sharing y

n n n n n

Voting

Lync / Skype / WebEx n n n n n

up to 4 devices

n n n n n

Licensing

1-to-many distribution

Onboard video player y y y y n

USB Doc/media player y y y y y

Multi-touch control y n y y y

Android mirroring

iOS mirroring

y, to mobile device

y y y y y

Save Annotations

no info

y n/a y y y

n n y y n

PoE

Gigabit lan

OnScreen Annotation

Interactive Whiteboard

Touch Screen control y y y y no info

USB Input control

Customised start screen n y y y y

Customised logo

Use mobile device as remote y y y y y

y y y n y

Conf Control/Moderator y

USB Dongle

Security (1024 bit) y n n n n

4 4 4 4 4

Users per display

Access Point integratable y y y y

y y y y y

60 30 30 30 15

1080p Res

y y y y y

Cross Platform

Product Features

Wireless presentation systems: a comparison

CORPORATE Integration & Installation

Integration & Installation REPORT

AFDA updates theatre heritage

By James Sey

The engaging and bohemian city suburb of Observatory in Cape Town is home to AFDA’s campus, and provides a suitably arty home for the institution’s multi-media student body. When AFDA recently restored a beautiful heritage building in Obs to act as their theatre laboratory, Electrosonic SA and installer Eden Electronics were called in the assist.

AFDA bought over a charming local community church building in Lower Main Road, Observatory, with the aim of converting the building to become a fully-equipped theatre laboratory for the campus’s drama students. A year-long rebuild followed, orchestrated by architect Shaun Adendorff. Adendorff was also responsible for the refashioning of the famous Fugard Theatre in Cape Town, and his firm specialises in the restoration of historical buildings. As with all such rebuilds, the early twentieth century church building had to remain in substantially the same condition, and the decision was made, in the interior of the new theatre, to repurpose as much of the original wood and fittings as possible. Says Emeritus Professor Chris Weare, head of AFDA’s drama

department, “The space itself is intimate, but there should always be an intimate relationship between the performance space and the auditorium. That was an important part of our brief, and we also needed an adequate backstage area, as well as to retain the aesthetics of the original building. It was a tough ask!” Weare explains, “Since this is a teaching theatre space there needs to be a certain professional technical standard that we can expose our students to. But that’s the theatre’s role for roughly half the year. For the rest of the time we are looking to use the space for professional productions – in both scenarios, the more sophisticated and up-to-date the theatre tech is, the better service the theatre can provide. That’s why I called in Electrosonic.” Electrosonic SA provided a full lighting and control set-up for the theatre, installed by Cape Town-based Eden Electronics. The compact and intimate nature of the space lent itself to a range of high-end theatre-specific fixtures and controllers, but on a scale commensurate with the space. These include a Martin M-Touch controller with all-in-one touch PC, four ETC Lustr2 with 15-30 degree zoom lens modules, four Martin Rush LED CT Zoom Par Cans, and the rig rounded out with ten Martin Rush LED RGBW Zoom Par Cans. “The new lighting and control set-up works wonders for the professional approach; we can have to both teaching and productions,” says Weare. “With more lamps, and state of the art ones, we can cross-light more, and bring the depth of the stage area into play in our work. The fact that the bulk of the new lighting rig is LED also provides more versatility and flexibility. We’re very happy with it, and Eden Electronics managed a very pain-free installation for us!”

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Integration & Installation REPORT

Electrosonic reinstalls The Playhouse Theatre in massive upgrade

By James Sey

REPORT Integration & Installation

The venerable Playhouse Theatre Company in Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal recently issued two major tenders for complete upgrades to their AV systems. The tenders were for the supply of new theatrical lighting fixtures and for the supply of a large, stage-set LED screen. Along with the tenders the Playhouse management called for demonstrations on the products they required. One of the country’s most experienced theatrical lighting designers, Denis Hutchinson, was called in by the theatre to consult on the submissions and demonstrations and advise ultimately on the best options. With Hutchinson and the technical theatre crew under the auspices of Dylan Heaton driving the process, all local distributors of the products required were invited to show their particular portfolios, allowing the theatre to make a decision based on what they had seen and experienced first-hand from different suppliers. This demo process formed part of the tender requirement. Says Hutchinson, “The tender process is an arduous one, and in this case was especially complicated. We couldn’t simply compare the brightness or output of different products, especially when it came to the LED screen. For tender situations like this, a shootout is an essential part of the process to compare what products will do in an actual theatrical situation – for example, if they have smooth dimming curves, an essential part of the theatrical lighting mix. The shootout process also enabled us to demonstrate to the whole of the tender committee of the theatre what the fixtures, LED screen and consoles could do, since some of them are not technical experts. In the current market, we can’t simply go with a particular brand, because the

products in the market are all much closer to each other in terms of functionality and reliability. So factors such as relationships with the theatre technical staff, the reliability of product support and backup, were crucial factors. Some of these factors are obviously more difficult to score on a tender scorecard than others! With the eventual award of the tender, a big factor was the total cost of ownership of the new product, not just the list price comparison – for example, would extra training be required for theatre staff? The fact that staff was familiar with existing equipment was therefore important, and one of the reasons Electrosonic was awarded the tenders.” After a thorough process of assessment and discussion involving the input of many different suppliers, the decision was made to award prominent local distributor Electrosonic SA both tenders

New lights going on For the significant first tender of the two, the supply of the Playhouse’s theatre lighting fixtures, a big part of the decision to go with Electrosonic was the fact that the theatre had been working with a previous purchase of Martin Professional lighting for more than ten years. These fixtures had proven their reliability and their sophistication and engineering excellence as far as the build quality and optics were concerned. The technical management at the theatre were therefore confident that newer Martin fixtures would give them at

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least a further ten years of the superb theatrical lighting that they required. With the fixture upgrade went a new look at the lighting control systems too. Similarly, the theatre’s logic was that they should replace control systems with newer versions of the kit that had worked for them previously. So both the theatre’s lighting control systems were upgraded on this basis. When it came to lighting their cycloramas with an LED based fixture, the ETC Lustr Series 2 with cyc attachment proved to be the most suitable. Some of the key criteria for theatrical productions in such control systems focus on colour mixing, output and Innovative optics – all catered for by the levels of engineering specialisation and service support ETC, as a world-class theatre technology supplier, could offer In fully satisfying the tender requirements, Electrosonic supplied and installed a range of high-end lighting equipment. Two Martin M6 lighting controllers with extended DMX Universe licence packs took their place alongside two Luminex MK8 Artnet units for DMX data distribution. In the rig itself, 24 Martin Mac Quantum Profiles offered the requisite white LED lighting source, while another 20 Martin Mac Aura XB fixtures catered for the sophisticated needs of theatrical colour mixing with the requisite levels of brightness. An impressive rig of 40 ETC Lustre Series 2 with cyc attachment catered for the lighting of the Playhouse cyc with the spread of light thought the full spectrum that productions require.

Screening innovation The second aspect of the tender process required the supply of a stage LED screen. The installation of such a screen was a serious creative decision for the theatre’s management, since it was their first foray into equipment to allow for video scenery as a part of their production design. Again, they decided to go with the best demo performance in the tender process, along, obviously, with the best priced product. The tender requirements included a black-backed high contrast LED to be used, as well as all rigging and cobbling to be black, allowing the complete wall to be hidden in the darkness of the stage when it is not used. When it does come to life therefore, it is theatrical illusion at its finest. The screen solution eventually settled on is the biggest LED wall

installed into a theatre in Africa, comprised of 175 Show-LED X series indoor 6.25 extruded 500x1000 black LED panels making up an impressively huge 12.5x7 Meter LED videowall. This massive piece of equipment is fitted with two Kramer 4LC fibre cables with transmitters and receivers to send HD video from the FOH control booth to the LED wall on stage. A Kramer video distribution system is installed for splitting and processing the video used for the wall. Controlling and sending signal and content to the wall are two Green Hippo AMBA media servers, supplying a full HD signal and capable of 4K quality. With the use of these particular media servers the theatre technical crew are able to control the content displayed on the wall with the compatible Martin M6 lighting controller programmed in via DMX/Artnet. Safety and security is a key concern with equipment this large and heavy, so the LED wall rig includes five Milos structural systems 4GS-62 3 metre trussing, supplied of course in black, which is used to mount the rigging bars that hold the LED wall. This is a heavy duty highly specific trussing used in such heavy lifting situations – in this case it is holding just over two tons of LED Wall on a 15 metre length. Robbi Nassi is the technical sales and support executive at Electrosonic. He comments, “This two-part tender has been an awesome project to work on, and we are very proud of the work we have been able to do thanks to Denis Hutchison, Dylan Heaton and the rest of the technical team at The Playhouse. The lighting rig is now state of the art for any theatre in the country, and we are especially proud of our part in installing the first LED wall we have put into a theatre.” Concludes Heaton, “It was a pleasure to work with the Electrosonic team for the installation of the equipment required by the two tenders. The installation had to done in a very short space of time. With Robbi Nassi at the head of both projects, the team was always on the ball and prepared to go the extra mile to make sure everything was in place. So a big thank you to the install team at Electrosonic SA, comprising Omar Sharfoodeen, Alphas Nkomo, Jesse Dullabh and Evan Lyle. We were always confident we would get the service levels we have been getting for many years from Electrosonic.”

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LIVE EVENTs REPORT

The Parlotones take on Johannesburg in style

By Elaine Strauss

The Parlotones recently proved that their unique sound can do almost anything, with their Parlotones Orchestrated Live performance in Johannesburg…

The Parlotones recently took to the stage at the Teatro at Montecasino in Johannesburg, for Parlotones Orchestrated Live. For this concert, the band performed with an 11-piece orchestra backing, vocalist and conductor. With a chamber ensemble, arranged and conducted by composer and musician Brendan Jury, who also played the Viola, the well-known music of the band had a fresh sound for the audience. With Gearhouse Splitbeam supplying all the lighting, subcontracted by Eastern Acoustics, who themselves supplied all of the audio for the show, Eastern Acoustics’ systems engineer David Classen and audio engineer Johan Griesel on FOH, as well as lighting designer Kevin Stannett from Crosslight programming on a grandMA2 light, as always, the concert took a turn… for the great!

LIVE EVENTs REPORT Lighting According to Gearhouse Splitbeam’s Key Accounts Manager, Helen Surgeson, it is always interesting working on different genres in the Monte’s Teatro Theatre. “We do mainly theatre productions there and doing a “rock” type concert challenges us to look at the space differently. Kevin’s fresh approach to the space combined with our technicians’ extensive working knowledge of the venue came together to create magic,” she said. “Kevin was an obvious choice for us as lighting designer for the Parlotones. We have tried to get him on board to light for us for a while and it finally came together for the Parlotones. He gave up attending the Naledi Awards to do the production and landed up winning the Best Lighting Design Award for Nataniel’s production of Animals at the Naledis.” The lighting rig was made up entirely of Philips Vari-Lite fixtures. It comprised of six VL4000 Spots, six VL4000 BeamWashes, three VLX Washes, six VL2500 Spots, six VL2500 Washes, six VL3500 Spots and two VL3000 Spots. FOH consisted of 24 ETC Source Four 19°. Two MDG Atmospheres created the haze, an imperative part of the show. “The look I wanted to create, because of the additional orchestra, was somewhat more theatrical than what The Parlotones are used to,” says Stannett. “The band gave me a rough brief of what they wanted, but were happy for me to do what I do. They really are professional.” According to Stannett, he personally approached the show from a theatrical angle, keeping the lighting design very subtle yet effective, despite the band’s rock genre and tried to make all the looks emotionally merge with the music. As the concert marked the first time he used the VL4000 Spots, which were rigged on an overhead bar behind the orchestra and BeamWashes, he was amazed at the speed and zoom of the fixtures. “All the Vari-Lite fixtures are theatrically perfect but the additional output of the 4000s made my life very easy, they really were amazing,” says Stannett. “I used the VL4000 BeamWash on the floor to achieve some incredible beams. I was impressed by the super accurate control, but was pleasantly surprised by the speed of such a large fixture. “The zoom of the VL4000 spots was incredible, allowing me to wash the entire orchestra and band with gobos as well as individually highlight specific members. Even at a very wide zoom the beams were exceptionally crisp.” According to him, the Parlotones have a very unique sound and are also very artistic in their approach to live shows and music videos and he found that accommodating the orchestra, while keeping with the Parlotones’ feel, a bit of a challenge. “I have been involved with the Parlotones before from the lighting side, but on only on smaller shows. It gave me a good understanding of what was required – however the orchestra was a new twist. The band obviously have a very unique sound, but it’s about the entire picture and not just the music,” he says. “It was a challenge

accommodating the orchestra, making sure they had enough light to see their instruments but not too “rock n roll” to blind them. And all the while keeping the looks rich, interesting and in keeping with the Parlotones’ feel.” The professional technical service presented by Alistair Kilbee and his team at Splitbeam, make working in the Teatro a pain free and pleasurable experience, according to Stannett. “I would like to mention Splitbeam for their incredible attention to detail and complete involvement in the event,” he says. “Great service as always.”

Sound According to Classen, for Eastern Acoustics, the whole concept behind the recent tour was the use of a full string section backing the usual rhythm section. “In that regard it was different having a full string section perform accompanying the Parlotones although a seemingly difficult addition, Parlotones Orchestrated did an amazing job of fusing the band and string section together,” he says. “This really was something you had to experience to really appreciate – the amount of work that must have gone into such an amazing production.” The rig was mainly made up of d&b audiotechnik, Shure and Sennheiser, with a Digico SD9 and two 32 channel D-Racks making up the FOH console. The rest of the rig included a full d&b audiotechnik PA system with 28 Q1’s, 16 Q-SUBs, four E8s a d four Q10s and six D80s. The monitor system, also full d&b, consisted of four M6s, four M4s and two D80s. IEM consisted of 16 Sennheiser G3 IEM systems

and the microphones for the show included 12 Audio Technica ATM 350s, six Sennheiser E604s, two Sennheiser E906s, a Shure Beta 91 and Beta 52, four Shure SM81s, six SM58 wireless systems and 12 Radial DI boxes. “Our FOH engineer Johan Griesel has worked with the Parlotones on countless shows and concerts over the years,” says Classen. Having worked on so many Parlotones productions in the past, a mutual respect and trust is evident between FOH engineer and musicians, making the sound check and show almost effortless – besides setup and strike of course. Soundchecks and monitor checks are reasonably stress free due to this fact.” According to Classen, the Digico SD9 effortlessly ran the show with a massive count of IEM systems and a pretty large channel count. Monitoring was also controlled via the Digico iPad app, eliminating the need for a separate monitor desk or split system. “For a console with such a small footprint it really outdid itself on Parlotones Orchestrated Live.” Even with the relatively stress free FOH, there were two main challenges Classen faced during the show, namely amplification of the string section and a short get in and set up time. “Amplification of the string section was a challenge due to it being alarmingly close to the rhythm section in certain venues, therefore making it a slight issue when it comes to amplification,” he says. “Overcoming this problem was a marriage of direct mic’ing of strings as well as constant chats with the rhythm section where it was possible if they could restrain themselves slightly for the overall good of the show and to get the cleanest possible sound on the string section. Microphones used on the string section were Audio Technica ATM 350s.” With regards to PA system at Montecasino’s Teatro the challenge for Classen was having a short get in and set-up time. “The possibility for hanging under balcony delays and upstairs delay was completely out of the question and besides that, the venue itself has a fairly difficult angle to cover, especially audiences in the last row,” he says. “We firmly believe that every last seat counts and as best as possible giving each seat similar audio tonality is our ultimate goal. To combat this issue we implemented a d&b Q1 system (14 aside with two flown subs each side) on the main PA, which we had to ensure were flown at a trim height low enough to cover downstairs from first row to last, as well as cover to the extreme last row upstairs. For this we used four d&b E8s and four Q10s for added front fill energy. Subs we used were d&b Q-SUBs deployed in an arc array placed in the front of stage. All in all it was a challenge overcome and we succeeded in providing quality coverage across the entire venue.” According to Classen , what makes the Parlotones stand out is the willingness to try something out of the ordinary or think out of the box when it comes to their performances. “Using an orchestra in this environment was a bold move which was clearly well received and their performance on stage is also second to none,” he says. “I would like to give special mention to the Parlotones production for allowing us – as Eastern Acoustics – the privilege to be a part of the team. Also to the Parlotones Orchestrated stage crew who are as much to thank for the success of the event as any other supplier or musician.”

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LIVE EVENTs REPORT

Sound Corporation looks after Innibos

Photo by Benno Stander

By James Sey

Innibos is a unique music and arts festival dedicated initially to the Lowveld community where it is still staged. Already thirteen years old this year, its focus and local knowledge has stood the festival in good stead when other similar events, such as Aardklop, are struggling to keep heads above water.

Since its inaugural staging in 2004, local sound, lighting, staging, AV and event integrator and supplier Sound Corporation has been heavily involved with ensuring the successful staging of each year’s festival. Working closely with festival director Andy Lubbe and Philna Scholtz, who are responsible for the staging of all the festival’s theatre productions, Sound Corporation liaises directly with all productions and supplies each venue with its unique set of show specific requirements. Since Innibos is a true community festival, the range of venues converted to put on music and theatre productions varies hugely, as do their AV and staging requirements. Says Sound Corporation’s technical manager Tertius Kurver, “The venues range in type and requirements massively – everything from small setups with one microphone; to school halls that become theatres; to the Nelspruit Civic Centre and even several shows in the Sudwala Caves, with all the AV challenges that go along with that! Most of the schools in the area become converted venues, with a total of five venues in the Hoërskool Nelspruit alone, and a range of venues in smaller schools in the area which usually don’t have much AV infrastructure to speak of. On top of this, in the town of Nelspruit itself, every venue that can possibly be converted into a live event venue is – from cafes to church halls and tea gardens! The Sudwala caves itself features four venues, and a musical programme in which audio clarity and lighting using the unusual architecture was paramount. But we managed to equip all venues with the required sound, lighting, AV, backline, staging and

structures needed for successful productions.” Each venue, explains Kurver, gets rigged in one set-up period in the days leading up to the start of the festival – no small task for the Sound Corporation and their associated crew, since there were a total of 21 sound and lighting systems at the festival for 2016. All crew make Nelspruit their home for the two weeks of the set-up, performance and load outs. “We make a big effort to recruit sound and lighting technicians, operators and engineers, and to match each individual’s level of expertise with his/her venues’ requirements,“ says Kurver. “We had a 15-strong crew this year, just for the 15 theatre venues that we were responsible for.” It’s an insight into the huge amount of work that goes in behind the scenes at festivals like this, that Kurver also points out Sound Corporation’s taking responsibility for all logistics leading up to the festival, including transport for all equipment and crew as well as their accommodation! “As a means of giving back to the industry we also involve training institutions like the Tshwane University of Technology and the Academy of Sound Engineering in order to give sound and lighting students the opportunity to gain access to the industry and the experience that it offers. Ultimately, someone has to take the responsibility to co-ordinate all this, and myself and audio genius Andre Schoeman makes sure that the festival runs from the first rig, through rehearsals, shows and load-out, until the last truck is closed and drives off.”

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A Festival kit list The amazing amount of work that goes into multi-day, multi-media festivals involving different venues is better understood when we look at a small proportion of the enormous amount of equipment committed to Innibos by Sound Corporation. Different venues require different sound, lighting and staging depending on their size and acoustical and other charactistics. The range of kit – even the highlights mentioned here – demonstrates the size of the undertaking.

Yamaha amplification • Yamaha R12M wedge monitors with Yamaha amplification • Wharfedale 15” powered subs • Wharefedale Titan 12 wedge monitors with Yamaha amplification

Mixing Consoles: • Yamaha M7-48 Digital mixing console • Yamaha LS9-32 Digital mixing console • Behringer X32 Digital mixing consoles • Allen & Heath QU24 Digital mixing consoles • Soundcraft Spirit FX8 • Soundcraft Spirit Live 3

Backline:

Sound equipment: Speakers: • EAW KF850 & SB850 speakers with Crown amplification • Yamaha R112 & R118 speakers with Yamaha amplification • JBL S1502 & EV MTL2 speakers with Crown amplification

Monitors: • Wharfedale Twin 12 wedge monitors with Yamaha amplification • Nexo PS10 wedge monitors with

• Yamaha Stage Custom drum kits • Ampeg V4BHW bass amplifier with SVT410-HE cabinet • Trace Elliot AH350 bass amplifier combo • Peavey TNT115 bass amplifier combo • Fender ’65 Twin Reverb 2x12” guitar amplifiers • Marshall JCM2000 guitar amp combo’s • Peavey Classic 50 guitar amplifier • Roland RD700SX electric piano

Microphones: • Shure, AKG & Audio Technica wireless handheld & beltpack microphone systems

• Shure & AKG wired vocal microphones • Shure & AKG wired instrument microphones • Shure, AKG & Audio Technica headset microphones

Lighting: • PAR64 1000w Parcans • PAR56 300w Parcans • Strand 600w, FAL600w & Source 4 750w Profiles • FAL 1000w & Selecon Acclaim 650w Fresnels • LED RGB Parcans • Robe 575AT Zoom Moving Head Washes • Robe 575AT Moving Head Spots • Martin Mac2000 Profile Moving Head Spots • Zero88 BetaPack Dimmers • GrandMA Dot2 Lighting controllers • Avolites Pearl Tiger Lighting controllers • Strand 200 Plus 24/48 Lighting controllers • Eurolight LC2412 Lighting controllers • JBsystems CMX24 Lighting controllers

AV: • Draper 8’x6’ Projection screens • Draper 12’x9’ Projection screens • Christie LX45 4,500 lumens LCD projectors • BenQ MP515 2,5000 lumens DLP projectors • P12.5mm LED mesh screens

LIVE EVENTs REPORT

LEDVision screens Johnny Clegg and Friends

Photos by Jina Min

By Elaine Strauss

Johnny Clegg’s return to the Teatro, Montecasino after more than three years, saw the celebrated artist share the stage with not only several other local artists, but also the newest LED screen from LEDVision…

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The two Johnny Clegg and Friends concerts at the Teatro recently, Johnny Clegg’s first performance at Montecasino in over three years, not only guest starred an array of well-known talented South African artists, but also debuted LEDVision’s latest, impressive Radiant BP3 LED screen. The show was opened by three-time SAMA nominated singer/ songwriter Tailor, while Johnny Clegg was also joined on stage by the Soweto Gospel Choir, Ross Learmonth of Prime Circle and Francois Van Coke. Gearhouse South Africa was front and centre at the two shows, with audio supplied by Splitbeam and LED supplied by LEDVision, while all other technical aspects were covered by Gearhouse South Africa. The Gearhouse team, led by Project Manager Jaco Saaiman, featured audio designers Friedrich Wilsenach and Harry Langer, who designed and set up the PA system and industry legend, lighting designer Tim Dunn, responsible for all the lighting design. Owner of Eleven Entertainment and mix and master engineer Verny Scholtz, did the audio mixing of the shows, while LEDVision Director, Richard Baker and LED technicians Zakhe Shabangu, Sanele Mzobe and Themba Mtshali also worked on the shows. “Gearhouse has been working with Johnny Clegg for years and several of the people working on the show, including Tim, have worked on his shows before,” says Saaiman. “Knowing the artist and working at a venue like the Teatro, where the infrastructure is perfect for this kind of performance and set-up, ensured that we had no significant problems or challenges to cope with.” According to Saaiman, the fact that both concerts were sold-out, added to the flow of the technical aspects during the shows.

Photos by Jina Min

LIVE EVENTs REPORT

“Working on a show like Johnny Clegg, an incredible artist with such a massive following, makes getting a feel for the show easier for the audio and lighting designers, by seeing the reaction of the audience,” says Saaiman. “This really helps us make the production better.” Though Gearhouse South Africa has worked with Johnny Clegg before, both Saaiman and Dunn felt that the guest artists added to a unique and different feel to these particular shows. “It really allowed us to be creative, especially with the other artists, while keeping with the flavour of Johnny Clegg,” says Saaiman. “It gave the shows a very unique quality, which I believe added to the success of the shows.” According to Dunn, who has worked with Johnny Clegg several times in the past, knowing the music makes preparing for the show easier. “It becomes easier once you know the music, to put the lighting rig or the video stuff together for a show,” he says. “We did something quite different this time, instead of using the old videos that he’s been using for quite a number of years and we just had a bit of fun with the show. It was a good old Johnny Clegg rock show and with the other artists it was just a different dynamic than usual – again it is all about just learning the music and preparing properly for it.” Dunn’s favourite Johnny Clegg song is Impi, because, according to him, it always has massive dynamics to light and the crowd all know it as well, which makes the energy in the audience great. The kit list for the shows included a grandMA full size, grandMA lite, grandMA Dot2 XF, FOH Network Rack, grandMA VPU, 72-way Avo dimmer, 48-way Avo dimmer, 48-way 5Kw Avo TV rack, single DMX dimmer, Robe 2500 spots and washes, Mac Vipers, Mac 2000 spots and washes, Robe 700 spots and washes, Robe DLX, DLS and DLF, Robe 300 spots and washes, Mac250 washes, Mac 250 Entours, Robe red washes, Robe 600 LED washes, Robe Pointes, Mac 101, 5 K Xenon and 2 K Xenon, BB4 washes, City Scape 48, Longman RGB, Martin Rush RGBW Zoom, Robe Ledforce18, Tri Tour 1 Led Par, Atomic Strobe and Phillips Nitro Strobe. “When working with LED screens on a live show you’ve got to be very specific. Screens and content all have to work together, because you can have the screens nice and a low intensity for some images and then all of a sudden there is a bit of white background and then you’ve lost everything on stage again,” Dunn says. “You’ve got to be

very careful and very specific about the content and the intensity of the screens and the position and the way that you light. You can’t just keep adding light to a stage… it’s all about balance. Balance on stage is good. With the Radiant BP3 LED screen it was easy, especially since it allows you to control intensity and different options from the lighting desk as well, always giving you that option of dropping intensity to whatever you need.” According to Jessica Green, from LEDVision, ROE Visual’s BP3 has an innovative design which supports a fast and simple set-up for both flown and ground-supported set-ups well suited to the needs of large events, concerts and exhibitions. For the show, content was played back via a grandMA-server. “Featuring a HD pixel pitch and outstanding colour processing, the product promises high-end performance in all indoor applications,” she says. “Featuring the latest in LED screen processing the new range of ROE visual screens are offered with Brompton Processing, industry leaders in screen processing.” The Radiant BP3 LED screen was a lot of fun for Dunn to work with and he emphasised the ease and versatility of the screen. “It was the first time that the 3mm LED Screen, called the Black Pearl, was used in South Africa,” says Dunn. “It was quite special to us, to be able to use it. It’s amazing!.” Dunn made use of the screen in strips as well, to test its versatility. “Being the first time I used it, I also used it in strips, looking to how I can apply it in future. I wanted to see the resolution on the strips, because when you’ve got high resolution on such thin strips you can do some really nice things with it,” he says. Another memorable use of the screen during the show was a tribute to France, since the show took place right after Bastille Day. The horrific attack in Nice, France, which occurred on 14 July, saw a 19 tonne cargo truck deliberately driven into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais, which resulted in the death of 86 people and injury to 434 more. “There was a really moving section during the show where, because of all the horrific stuff that happened in Nice while the show was on, we used the LED Screen to bring up some images from France. Not horrible images, but you know, some quite emotional images,” says Dunn. “It was quite an evening. The show had a very nice intimate feel to it.”

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LIVE EVENTs EXPERT OPINION

Rigging and such:

Stick to the nodes! In a previous article it was explained that the node points are the positions in a truss structure where the truss must be supported and application of (serious) loads must take place. This in turn results in the quest to define the useable area around the theoretical scientific node point.

Node points – a viewpoint There are some different points of view on node points in our business. This is caused by the fact that welding in aluminium alloys causes a weakened area in the material in and around that weld, known as the HAZ (heat affected zone). We know that almost all trusses do have a multitude of welding positions that will meet in node points and can be heavily present in the connection part areas. Obviously there are several types of joining aluminium, and each of them has its pro’s and con’s. We see all different kinds of noding, in truss design, depending on the truss type; from 2-point noding to 5-point noding. One argument is that the pattern of diagonals and braces should be arranged in such a way that the HAZ in the chords remains as small as possible (e.g. 2-point noding). True in a sense, but all too often

A series by Rinus “Rhino” Bakker

that particular point comes from manufacturers who don’t know (or care) much about how arrangement of braces can affect the safety of slinging. A combination of many details, beyond the drawing board, leads to a safe and sound truss. Calculating with several strengths inside one cross section of the material ignores the fact that the weak area can initiate a failure as well. After all: a chain is no stronger than its weakest link.

Structural Calculations Any structural report must be based on safe and sound engineering principles. Where the weakening by the fusion welding process is present, this must be included in the loading data resulting from it. However, it’s easy to find a way to cheat on data, and move into competition politics. Welded nodes are a normal thing in a truss module, and they are the points where the forces supporting it, or the load application to it must be transferred into that module, being either 4- or 2-point noding. Therefore, it’s good practise to really try to understand the basics behind what is presented – if it’s too complicated, let someone explain it to you.

EXPERT OPINION LIVE EVENTs

What do we see in the drawing? The horizontal truss is assembled from several modules (1) into a span (2) between the supports points (2A).

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LIVE EVENTs REPORT

Silver linings for Bad Weather

By James Sey

New kid on the production block is Cape Town-based Bad Weather Productions. Headed by young turks Jonathan Bandli (creative director) and Andrew Bosman (managing director), they style themselves as a turnkey creative technical production agency, and are gaining traction in the local market, having already worked production and staging for major live acts locally, and a recent museum installation in Dubai, among other notable projects.

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Bad Weather positions itself in a fairly unique space in the local market. As a ‘technology studio’, they conceptualise, design and execute creative technical productions, with a focused balance between the creative and the technical sides of the equation. They see themselves as collaborators with the rental companies and AV integrators, but much of the time occupying a rather different space in the whole mix of skills and technology which brings events, installations and other productions to life. Says Bandli, “What we do requires a bit of an education process for the rental or distribution companies on one side, and the client on the other, so that everyone understands we’re in a different space that has to be budgeted for separately in the whole mix for the event or installation. Our services are quite specific – like pre-visualisation, timecode planning, design drawings, content creation, management of suppliers, etc, – and then we also execute where necessary by bringing in crew and equipment. We’re trying to add value to the process that usually would go through the rental and distribution companies; value that isn’t just providing more moving head fixtures or LED screens, but a crucial part of the creative planning and execution.” “Because we’re still a small company,” adds Bosman, “we can be selective about our client engagements. That’s what has led us into the system integration and installation field, rather than sticking with the live event sector. Our recent work in Dubai for the government, a transport museum, is a good example – but we are still small, so have to be selective, and don’t necessarily want to be competing with rental companies all the time. We have good relationships with rental companies and distributors, where we can do design work that they

can provide equipment for.” Bandli continues, “We’re positioning ourselves to move from live events to advise and consult to these high-end fixed installations – in the museum sector the technical integration and design planning is very demanding. The positioning is important to us, because we’re not about boxes – we are about people with skills – we need collaborative working arrangements, and working with skilled people, because we can’t just work in live events, or in fixed installations, or whatever, if new work presents itself.” “In the live sector it’s increasingly difficult to be creative locally, because budgets are so tight on big local festivals. But the live music sector has been a great testing ground for us – we have a long association with PHFat for example, and GoodLuck, whose creative brief was very demanding! It was basically a lighting show that could fit into a piece of carry-on airline luggage with no extra crew to operate! We designed an Ableton and Midi solution which fitted the bill. Half the fun for us was designing the solution with so few resources. Our breakthrough was getting a design gig with PHFat for OppiKoppi, where we worked with Stage Effects, and that was a zero budget solution.” Both Bosman and Bandli understand the value of the relationships they continue to build in the local AV industry, and how important they are in growing their own niche. “We think Josh Cutts and Chris Bolton are seriously good at what they do,” says Bandli. “But they went out of their way to help us, as newbies in the industry. There is a direct series of links between getting help from people who are established in the industry when you’re starting out, and us getting ongoing installation and integration design work in Dubai. We really

LIVE EVENTs REPORT

want to respect that and give back to those people. On live events especially, there’s a huge team that makes things happen. Our job is to try to design and plan to firstly make the show better, and secondly to make things easier for the LD and the rest of the staging and creative team.” “Our niche is enabling artists or installations to up the ante to the highest international levels of design or staging without it being on an international budget, “says Bosman. “Our African landscape is quite unique and we want to specialise in that. And also we never want to leave our roots in the live event industry behind.” “That’s very important to us,” continues Bandli. Though we are moving in to the fixed installation market, for example in Dubai, it’s our background in live event design and execution that has got us into that position. As far as possible we want to continue working in both markets. People want to have experiences, whether or not they’re fixed installs or in the concert space. We want to be doing the full gamut of work to set us apart from integrators who are fixed in one space. But we put about 40 moving lights in the Dubai museum, which was only about 200sqm. The client was blown away, but our background made it possible.”

“We’re very proud of where we’ve come from, and that we’ve got here so fast. But it wouldn’t be possible without our clients first of all, and then the amazing relationships we have with distributors in the local market. Those companies don’t owe us anything, we’re not their biggest clients, but they are completely generous with their time and advice. The beauty of where we are is that Africa is an entrepreneurial landscape, and as young guys starting out, that’s crucial.”

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TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT VIDEOWALLS

The

Bigger Picture

By Abrie Du Plooy

Videowalls are sexy! Any individual who has ever witnessed a single image stretched across multiple display screens will agree. Videowall technologies are growing in popularity and most modern-day retail spaces have at least one videowall to show off to the public.

There are many ways to display a single image across multiple screens but in order to get true videowall functionality, a video processor needs to manage the various inputs and content displayed simultaneously on the larger display area. To AV professionals without deep expertise in videowall technology, the idea of a videowall is a huge mountain of information which most choose to avoid. It seems like too intricate a system to even start understanding. But in reality, videowall basics are pretty straightforward. Essentially there are only two components to a basic videowall: the display hardware and the video source content to be shown. In order to create a videowall, the hardware element requires multiple relevant display screens, with ultra-narrow bezels, installed in a specific array. The most common configuration is a four screen set-up in a ‘2x2’ arrangement. This indicates an extended display area with a width of two screens and a height of two screens. Other basic configurations include 3x3, 4x4, or even bigger arrays. However,

the bigger the video wall, the more pixelated the image will appear. These type of arrays are typically used in large scale venues with greater than normal viewing distances, meaning that the viewer is not very close to the display surface and pixelation detail will not be noticeable. When designing a basic videowall displaying a single image, it is important to keep the height and the width of the display area in equal proportions to ensure that any image displayed maintains the correct aspect ratio. The ‘aspect ratio’ is an undefined value pertaining to the shape (ratio of width to height) of any display. There are various different aspect ratio standards globally but the most common is 16:9, used for HD video and also the standard in which LCD screens are manufactured. Should a single-image video wall design include more screens in width than in height, or vice versa, it will result in video images appearing out of shape. In order to display one image across multiple screens, a simple

VIDEOWALLS TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT

set-up is required. This can be done without the use of a videowall processor if the correct screens are used. Almost all display screens manufactured for videowalls (with ultra-narrow bezels) have a software feature built into the standard menu structure that allows the configurator to set up image sharing or tiling. This feature allocates identities to each screen forming part of the combined set-up as well as its location within the overall configuration. One complete video image is then distributed to each screen either through a ‘daisy chain’ set-up or ‘star’ formation distribution system. Each individual screen will only display the section of the incoming image, based on its identity in the tiling set-up. The user however will experience an impressive giant image displayed across multiple screens – processor free. Not all videowalls are this basic. More often than not, large display areas are created with custom aspect ratios to service numerous users or viewers simultaneously. In layman’s terms, many operators would view one massive videowall but each individual will only be focusing on a selection relevant to their own contribution. They will be able to view other areas of the wall should an event in another window require their attention. The specific window could then be enlarged across the entire wall, or duplicated in multiple windows for all users to view. In a solution such as this one, it is important to display multiple different sources on the same videowall. For this functionality, a videowall processor is required to manage the incoming signals as well as the extended display area. Custom solutions will require systems to be uniquely pre-configured in order to complement a client’s needs. Many videowall configurations will thus be different from each other. The videowall processor itself has subcomponents, the most important being the chassis and processing power. Different size frames are chosen to accommodate system requirements. Frame selection is based on processing capacity and slot availability which is to be populated with input and output cards. Many frames can be selected with dual power-supply units and dual hard drives for redundancy in mission critical solutions where unplanned downtime could have catastrophic results. These redundancy components are hot-swappable and can be replaced without interrupting system

operation. The next two components are the input and output cards, which are required to capture the source video and supply the correct graphics to the display screens. A range of input cards are available to capture various video formats such as HDMI, 3G-SDI and compressed video streams from TCP/IP systems. Output cards are mostly standard but capable of transmitting both digital and analogue signals to the videowall. The final component is the wall control software. The videowall software empowers the user to create multiple windows, each displaying an individual source, anywhere and in any size on the entire video wall display area, independent from one another. Videowalls can be used for many custom requirements – from digital signage applications and retail spaces to information centres. The software component is also designed to allow input signal manipulation and it is possible to rotate, flip and custom-crop input signals to display an attractive out-of-the-ordinary display solution intended to catch the eye. Albeit not necessary, external touch-panel control systems are popular to control videowall functionality. Bigger touch panels allow for sufficient real estate to display a graphical layout of the videowall itself and the available input sources and provides a user-friendly dashboard from where the entire videowall layout can be controlled without having to access the configuration software. A final, but very important part of the videowall installation is the use of a professional manufacturer for the mounting frame. The architecture of videowalls is symmetrical, with multiple square components and careful design and precision installation practice is essential for a pristine appearance. The screens need to be mounted against each other with a micro ventilation space between each screen bezel. The display surface of each screen should be perfectly aligned with the adjacent screens in the wall to provide a flush overall finish. If any of these elements stray from the symphony of exact displays, it will accentuate the imperfection and make the entire videowall appear untidy. In a nutshell, videowalls are simple. The processor is the palette. The video wall is the canvas. The configurator is the artist.

TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT LIVE RECORDING

Live event multi-track recording

By Richard Smith

Like its cousin studio recording, event multi-track recording has undergone fundamental changes in recent years, which have been driven largely by technology and also by the demands of the industry.

As with most disciplines within the technical production industry, the ease and speed with which we can do things today would have seemed like a fantasy fifteen, or even ten years ago! When I use the term “live multi-track recording”, I am referring mainly to the process of recording each channel of a live show separately, but of course I cannot neglect the whole process involved and the fact that the word “live” is included. This infers that it forms part of a bigger whole, in which there is live mixing of an event going on, and that by recording multiple tracks, there will be some sort of post-production involved.

Where we have come from In the good old analogue days, this discipline was the preserve of a few, often specialist, companies and some broadcasters, as the technology required was very expensive and a certain amount of infrastructure was needed. For the most part, a truck was required, which housed a large format console or two, racks of outboard gear, and bulky recording machines that were so noisy they needed to be in a separate compartment from the control room. There were large patch panels and places to store big drums of cable and splitters and so on. The control room would be acoustically treated to the highest standard and many of the trucks were fitted with hydraulics to extend the

useable interior space, when the trailer was in position. Quite often, the audio truck was separate to the video/television truck, purely due to the space needed to house everything. The amount of capital outlay meant that these travelling “studios” could fetch a good rental price and, by extension, the best people worked in them and they were maintained to the highest standards. In a typical situation like an awards ceremony for television or a live recording of a concert, analogue splits would have been designed into the live system and the truck would take the ISO/broadcast output of the split into their console. They would track the recording through the best preamps available onto a large format tape machine. In most cases, the live broadcast might be mixed by a separate mixer, so the tracking engineer could monitor the recording from the tape heads to ensure the best quality. In the early digital era, the set-up stayed almost the same but, in some cases, the recorder and/or the recording console may have been digital, while the splits and most of the signal path were almost certainly still analogue. Audiophiles were adamant that digital was not up to scratch and so for a long time people held out against the tide of this perceived evil. When the early pioneers of digital consoles like Yamaha, Innovason and others, started producing more affordable consoles that had higher channel counts, with smaller frame sizes, people started to see the possibilities. The transmission protocols were still proprietary but the

LIVE RECORDING TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT

stage was being set for a new world. For a while after digital became more affordable, things weren’t as rosy as they seemed. There were the sticky issues of formats, protocols and the interlinking of it all. The areas of word clock and synchronisation were minefields and of course, people were nervous about entrusting their only shot at recording to a computer that might crash at any time! After all this wasn’t a studio, where you could just reboot or do another take. So the next generation of digital had many devices in the system. There were formats like ADAT, AES, Tascam and others but the channel count per device was low and so invariably you would need multiple cards or interfaces and, in the case of the old faithful Alesis HD24, multiple recorders sync’d together to achieve the desired result.

Where we are now Fast forward ten years and things look very different. Now, multiconsole systems that feature analogue in the signal path are the exception and not the rule. When you look in the loading bay of an event venue, you’re more likely to see a small van or trailer that could be towed by an SUV, rather than a big horse and trailer truck for audio. In fact, much to the purist’s horror, you may not even see an OB vehicle at all! Fast forward just a few more years and you arrive in the current digital heaven many perceive this to be. In this world we now have transmission protocols that are high bandwidth/high channel count, fail-safe and bidirectional, and use thinnest cable around! Thanks to manufacturers like Digidesign (now Avid), Digigram and Audinate, we often don’t even need an actual sound card for our computer to be able to record and playback 64 channels on a laptop! With just a single Ethernet cable between the console and the computer. So what does a system look like these days? Well, you still get the large expensive systems and the broadcast/recording console may still live in a van, but you may also find it in a back room in the venue. In cases where the show is purely being recorded, the computer could even be located at FOH or monitor land, with no separate recording console at all! This last scenario is the equivalent of the cheap PC and DAW, that

revolutionised the recording industry, gave birth to the home studio and changed the way things were recorded forever. I am not going to pass judgement on what that has done to the quality of work and the integrity of the audio produced, but one thing it has done is given many more artists access to the means to record the music. The situation is similar with live multi-track recording. Ten years ago, if you’d recorded a Live CD or DVD in South Africa, the tracking alone would have cost probably R15 000 to R20 000 per day and required two to three people, who the producer would’ve had to pay, feed and possibly house. Today, you could still hire a van which will cost R10 000 per day, but the owner will battle to get his daily fee for rehearsal days, and will possibly only charge for one person. Then, enter the guy with an iMac, equipped with Logic or Cubase and a virtual sound card. The consoles for the event are there anyway and most now feature a multichannel output, whether it be Ethersound, Dante, MADI or AVB. So what you pay for is a computer and sometimes a dedicated operator to monitor the recording. Total cost, from R3000 to R10 000! If a band has a regular sound engineer, he will often record every show – costing the artist absolutely nothing at all. Like with all IT technology, it is inevitable that the price of audio equipment will fall as components become cheaper and production costs drop, but at the top end of the scale, top manufacturers are still pushing the envelope in terms of quality and so are the world’s best audio professionals. So yes, the entry point to multi-tracking an event has dropped remarkably, like the size and amount of equipment required. Where only a select few could do this 20 years ago, today it is common on most tours and a weekly occurrence in many churches. Some use it to do a virtual sound check, and others to evaluate performances, but more and more are using the recordings as the source for commercial product. Is the recording quality better? Probably not! Is the quality of the end result better? It is hard to say, but with some planning, a good FOH engineer monitoring his gains on the event and a high quality mix engineer in studio, people are certainly getting away with it in their droves!

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