SOUND SENSE ISSUE005
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Wine, wireless and song
A vintage year for FĂŞte des Vignerons
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Rock solid success
In the zone at Beta Boulders
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NEXO celebrates 40 years
Pioneering innovators
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
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Wine, Wireless and Song
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9 10 11 12 14
A Warm Welcome at Usine
Eleven networked Yamaha digital mixing systems make 2019 a vintage year for Fête des Vignerons
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High quality cuisine in Stockholm
Royal Greens Golf & Country Club A prestigious installation fit for a king
YoungCapital recruitment agency Enterprising Dutch project employs Yamaha
Celebrating 40 years of NEXO ... and the technical teamwork for outdoor opera
Rock solid success Copenhagen’s Beta Boulders enjoys life on the Flipside
Making the headlines... Reporting on a successful media installation
f you ask anyone about products from Switzerland, they might think of cheese, chocolate and watches. But the main feature in this issue of Sound Sense is about a celebration of Swiss wine... and what a celebration it was! Having immersed myself for well over a week of the summer in writing about the audio system for Fête des Vignerons, the sheer size and complexity of it is still highly impressive. There are few live events big enough to need a total of 11 (yes, eleven!) Yamaha RIVAGE PM and Nuage digital mixing systems, all interacting with each other via two parallel Dante networks. But this was achieved without a single glitch, to produce a ‘once in a generation’ show which was truly breathtaking in its scale and spectacle. As Fête des Vignerons only happens once every 20 years or so, one of the interesting things has been to compare the audio production of the 2019 event with previous ones. In this way, each Fête effectively provides a snapshot of where the professional audio industry is at a particular point in time - not only in terms of technology and what is achievable, but in audience expectations as well. This year’s show undoubtedly highlighted how far we’ve come..
SOUND SENSE Editor and Scribe: Robin Johnson | robin@9016.uk Commissioning Co-ordinator: Images in this issue are courtesy of: Ibrahim Alsaleh, Karl Christmas, Beta Boulders, Luca Carmagnola, Confreriedes des Vignerons, JeanClaude Durgniat, Isabelle Durgniat, Eßlinger Zeitung, Fête des Vignerons 2019, Celine Michel, NEXO, Philippe Pache, Jan Prins, Samuel Rubio, Axel Thijssen, Usine Group, Watt & Volt Sverige AB.
Sound Sense is published by The Yamaha Corporation of Japan. Any views expressed within are those of the individual authors and contributors and do not necessarily represent those of the publishers. All contents © 2019 Yamaha Corporation of Japan or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. The publishers cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information.
Karl Christmas | karl.christmas@music.yamaha.com Contributors: Miguel Angel Aguado, Gregor Baumann, Elwin van de Beek, Marine Bréhonnet, Ingo Brucker, Andy Cooper, James Cooper, Karl Christmas, Jean-Pierre Decollogny, Florian Eustache, Julien Fehlmann, Ginny Goudy, Walter Haerle, Niklas Hamrin, Ruben Haringsma, Jan Prins, Francesco Ragazzi, Martin Reich, Emilia Tuomela, Zuhair Sarhani, Arun Vijaykumaran, David Weber, Markus Zimmer. Executive Publisher: Ron Bakker | ron.bakker@music.yamaha.com
COVER | STORY
WINE, WIRELESS AND SONG Eleven networked Yamaha digital mixing systems ensured a ‘once a generation’ Swiss spectacular enjoyed a vintage year
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pproximately every 20 years, the ‘once in a generation’ Fête des Vignerons takes over the Swiss town of Vevey for a month in July and August. Featuring 6400 performers, musicians and singers, 2000 lighting fixtures, 612 loudspeakers and over 300 channels of wireless microphones, 11 networked Yamaha digital mixing systems were needed for the centrepiece production of the 2019 event. Fête des Vignerons has taken place since ‘the dawn of time’ (“or more likely the 17th century”, say the organisers, Confrérie des Vignerons). A spectacular event which pays homage to the centuries-old wine making traditions of the Lavaux region of Switzerland, it’s the first living Swiss tradition to have been recognised by UNESCO. The centrepiece production takes place in a temporary arena,
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built on the town’s market place, on the banks of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) and depicts a year in the life of the vineyard over 20 scenes. Taking place from 18th July to 11th August, this year’s production comprised 23 shows, plus the Coronation of the Vigneron-Tâcheron (wine-grower’s hand), traditionally regarded as the ‘keeper of the immemorial know-how’. It saw a quantum leap in the staging and production since it last took place in 1999, with today’s technology meaning the audio production could surpass the highest audience expectations. Martin Reich, head of Swiss company Audioconsulting AG, was in charge of the production’s audio concept and system design, working closely with Gregor Baumann. “I was approached by the show’s technical director François Mottier around two years ago,” says Martin. “The show design was for five stages - one in the centre, plus one on each side of the arena - so sound coverage was a complex issue. For the previous event there was an audio system on a single tower in the middle, so all of the sound came from one point. Audiences were not satisfied and François wanted to make sure that the mistakes from last time weren’t repeated.” A vital part of the technical planning was to improve the sound localisation, something which the event’s artistic director Daniele Finzi Pasca was also very keen to address. In the world of professional audio, 2019 is of course a world away
COVER | STORY
from two decades ago. This time digital networking could make sound distribution a very different proposition to what it was in 1999. “I decided that each of the five stages should have its own PA system that would cover the whole arena, to really nail down the audio at that position,” continues Martin. “It could have been done with a lot of small speakers on a lot of small poles, but there would have been the problem of obstructing sightlines. So I chose to combine eight main PA towers with speakers all the way around the outside and the centre of the arena, plus subwoofers under the seating. This was the best solution in a situation where any part of the PA can be 130 metres from the furthest audience point.”
Yamaha and Dante When it came to mixing and routing the many channels of audio that Martin knew would be required, he only had one choice Yamaha and Dante. “We chose Dante because of its flexibility,” he says. “I realised it would be a very creative process to put everything in place once we were on site, because we wouldn’t necessarily have the information we needed up front. We had to be able to react at short notice to the production demands. Dante would allow that, because it only needs a click of a mouse to change something quickly and reliably.” The audio production featured two parallel Dante networks one for the live audio inputs to the audio mixers and from them to the PA, with the second for playback of backing tracks, live recording and virtual soundchecking. Martin also spoke to Arthur Koll of Yamaha Music Europe to discuss how to achieve his aims using Yamaha RIVAGE PM digital mixing systems. “The advantages of RIVAGE PM were the sound quality, flexibility and the high channel count available on Dante here we had 288 inputs on each system,” says Martin. “Another was that Yamaha has worked with Dante for years, so there is a high degree of integration between the two. And with these advantages also came great reliability. With Yamaha we knew exactly what we would get.” For 2019, the organising committee wanted to work with a single dry hire material provider, with French group Dushow winning the tender. In April 2019
Fête des Vignerons 1999, with the single PA tower that led to audience complaints
Dushow’s Swiss partner Hyperson SA hosted an in-depth technical seminar for the audio crew, with Yamaha’s Andy Cooper, Delphine Hannotin and Jean-Pierre Decollogny also training engineers on the RIVAGE PM systems. Also in April part of the crew travelled to Dushow’s Paris Roissy premises where a full audio network buildup and test took place. Martin’s choice of three Yamaha RIVAGE PM10 and six PM7s was a practical answer to dealing with over a thousand singers and musicians across five stages. “I wanted the mix engineers to be controlling the sound at all times and it’s important that if an engineer moves a fader, he hears what he is doing. Five stages meant that I needed five engineers, so we put a RIVAGE PM7 on each one, with a second PM7 on the main stage,” he says. “However, the sheer number of inputs - including 324 channels of wireless microphones - meant that pre-mixing was essential to reduce the individual workloads. So I included two RIVAGE PM10s for mixing the choirs and a third PM10 for mixing the brass band. The premixed stems were then routed to the PM7s, where
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COVER | STORY
Dante delight T
he task of designing the Dante networks fell to Gregor Baumann. “Dante let us link everything to everything - any source could be routed to any desk, intercoms, systems, in-ears - everything was on the network. The input/output grid was something like 6000/6000. It was effectively a huge free audio space to deliver the production’s needs,” he says. “One of the key design aspects was that it had to be very flexible on a large scale, so we chose a design of three hops with two central switches - one for the primary networks, one for the
Martin Reich
Gregor Baumann
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secondary networks, with 12 leaf switches per star. We had to use 10Gb fibre links between the core and leaf switches to have enough bandwidth. But that’s another advantage of Dante - if you need some more bandwidth, you can just take some. It scales with the network. “We wouldn’t have been able to do it with any other solution than Dante, thanks to the state of the art technology, product availability and inter-operability by products from different brands. It gave us the flexibility needed to do fast changes, if needed, and it was rock solid. We started the switches before rehearsals started, had audio running through the system continually for several weeks and we never had a drop or a problem. We just started it and that was it.”
the engineers mixed them with the live most reliable. With so many inputs and outputs signals from each stage. on a complex show like this, the reliability made “Having multiple PM7s also gave us us that bit more relaxed.” a failsafe,” he adds. “We set it up so that each one and its engineer acted as a Virtual soundchecks backup for the one to the left. If there “With so many wireless microphones, the idea was any problem, the backup could take of splitting the Dante network into two was over.” to use the functionality of the RIVAGE PM7s Yamaha Rio3224-D2 Julien Fehlmann with the RIVAGE PM10s I/O units were installed with each PM7, used as distributed microphone preamps and as system outputs to in-ear monitoring transmitters and the distributed loudspeaker system. “The idea was to reduce the workload for the mix engineers, so they could really concentrate on the overall sound from each stage,” confirms head of premixes Julien Fehlmann. “We acted as ‘reducers’, also sending and PM10s to allow virtual soundchecks,” adds stems to broadcasters.” Gregor Baumann. “We put a second HY144-D It was the first show on a RIVAGE Dante interface card in each system and had two PM10 system for former touring Nuage systems and four 128-track recorders as a engineer Julien, but he was impressed recording pool, which we could assign dynamically at how familiar it is for engineers used per production day. It gave us flexibility of choice to other Yamaha digital mixers. “It was and having the parallel production and recording really reassuring that the layout is so networks running on the same physical layer was familiar. With PM10 you are in known no problem.” territory, which it makes it much faster “The virtual soundchecking really was a breeze,” to learn. In my touring years I used a lot adds Julien. “The way the system was set up we of products, but Yamaha was always the could, for example, independently record the
COVER | STORY
brass band, then come in here the following morning and work with the recording, without anyone needing to play it back from elsewhere.” He continues, “The RIVAGE PM systems saved us a lot of time. The copy and paste functions are close at hand for any type of setting - with hundreds of channels, that was a huge time-saver. I believe that’s a major point of being in the digital environment, yet is something that some brands don’t seem to have thought about too much.” Talking of cool, Julien was also very impressed by the quietness of the systems. “Sitting with three mixing surfaces in a booth at the height of summer, I was wondering if fan noise would be an issue, but they were totally silent,” he says.
Nuage Nuage had been a core part of the production from the beginning, being used to record the orchestral score. “We pre-recorded the Gstaad Festival Orchestra, because we were not able to move it fast enough from one stage to another David Weber with Nuage
during the production,” smiles Martin. “We could have put it under the stage but we felt that, if you cannot see it, you might as well pre-record it.” Used for the live playback of the orchestral score and sound effects, as well as recording and playing back rehearsals for the virtual soundchecks, another advantage of using Nuage was, like the RIVAGE PM systems, its close integration with Dante. “Nuage really became the studio tool of the Fête,” says the head of SFX and virtual soundcheck David Weber. “The design of the audio system meant that we could use a lot of surround sound for effects. Also, as the show developed during rehearsals, timings changed and I was able to make some pieces of the music shorter or longer.” The Nuage system was also used to create alternative monitor mixes, where the dynamic sound of the orchestra was needed for playback, but for some of the performers’ in-ear monitors it was better to have a less dynamic mix.
2019 Fête des Vignerons: Selected production statistics
Five stages in a 20,000 seat, 4000 m , 30m high temporary arena constructed from 700 tons of steel. 11 months to build and another three months to remove the arena. Six Yamaha RIVAGE PM7, three RIVAGE PM10 and two Nuage digital mixing systems. 10 Yamaha R-series I/O units. 324 channels of wireless microphones. 35 kilometres of fibre optic for audio networking. 2
Eight main PA towers, each with between 48 and 54 line array loudspeakers. 204 additional loudspeakers for sub-bass, surround, fills and monitoring. 2000 lighting fixtures. 870m2 LED floor and four 50m2 LED screens. Cast of 5500 actors. Over 1200 musicians and singers, plus the pre-recorded Gstaad Festival Orchestra. Production crew of 170 plus 150 volunteers
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Sleeping soundly By the end of July, three weeks into the month-long run of the 2019 Fête des Vignerons, Martin’s confidence in the audio system had already been well-rewarded. “It really was like a huge matrix,
Wireless challenge
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major challenge faced by the audio team was the 324 channels of Shure Axient wireless microphones that were needed for the production. “I don’t think even Shure had ever seen so many Axient receivers on one production,” says Martin. “We needed all the bandwidth from 400 to 700mHz, including some receivers in the upper bands which were not too easy to find in Europe, so they had to be brought from the US. “We were making the most of every available frequency and, for the duration of the event, we were allowed to tell other users to switch off.”
where we just did the clicks where we needed the sound,” he says. “My main concern was about the network, but we used it 24/7 for all the sound, as well as all the communications, and we didn’t have a single hitch. Gregor did an incredible job, he built software to overview the system and he could see everything that was happening anywhere on the system. It meant I was able to sleep at night!” With the Yamaha RIVAGE PM and Nuage systems also running faultlessly (and continuously) for several weeks, the complex audio production was certainly a world away from that of 1999. We can only wonder what more advances will be made in professional sound over the next 20 years, when Fête des Vignerons returns to Vevey in the late 2030s. In addition, there was the challenge of managing a huge number of wireless in-ear monitors. “It was the biggest radio system I’ve ever worked with and quite a task to manage so many channels,” adds head of RF Chris Hauri. “The receivers were all connected via Yamaha Dante interface cards into Macintosh computers running Wavetools monitoring software. It allowed us to select any of the wireless channels to monitor during the show and, of course, for line checking. “We also ran RF over fibre to transmitters at various locations, some of which were over a kilometre away from the central monitoring location, allowing us to check the system via iPad.”
2019 Fête des Vignerons audio production engineers Martin Reich Head of Audio Gregor Baumann Assistant Head of Audio / Head of IP Network Chris Hauri / Arnaud de la Rosa Head / Assistant Head of RF Julien Fehlmann / Samuel Chapuis Head / Assistant Head of Premixes Boris Gerber / Daniel Laurent Principal Engineer / Assistant Principal Engineer Main Stage Malvina Ruota / Marco Nüesch Principal Engineer / Assistant Principal Engineer West Stage Colin Roquier / Kevin Koch Principal Engineer / Assistant Principal Engineer North Stage Gwenael Bonfanti / Karim Pandolfo Principal Engineer / Assistant Principal Engineer East Stage Benoit Boulian / Bruant Perrinjaquet Principal Engineer / Assistant Principal Engineer South Stage David Weber / Benjamin Vicq Head / Assistant Head of SFX and Virtual Soundcheck Gabriel Fitzner Show Control Each show also used 40 Percheman - volunteers and sound engineers holding poles with wireless microphones for the choirs
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H O S P I TA L I T Y | F O C U S
French flair, Swedish style and a warm welcome await at Usine
Located on a tree-lined avenue in Södermalm, Usine is a popular destination for business and leisure in Stockholm, Sweden. Offering high quality catering and two floors of conference facilities, a warm welcome to visitors is enhanced by a high quality audio system.
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he Usine Group’s business is named after the French word for ‘factory’, recalling the time when the building was a charcuterie. Its three restaurants include the 200cover French/European lunch restaurant ENVY, bistro Poche 36 and a breakfast bar/takeaway. High quality cuisine is a key part of the business, including takeaways and food for those using the conference facilities. However, Usine takes care to make sure customers enjoy every part of their experience. “It is very important for us to put the focus beyond fantastic food and great service. We do a lot of planning of the details, even for the people who just want to come down to the bar for a drink and a game of shuffleboard after work,” says Usine Group booking manager Emilia Tuomela. Emilia Tuomela
“We put a lot of effort and love into providing a warm, pleasant atmosphere. To achieve that we work a lot with both music and lighting.” The music is supplied by a zoned Yamaha audio system, designed and installed by AV specialists Watt & Volt. “We wanted a system that would sound great and be easy to use for all staff members, but using products that would blend seamlessly into Usine’s industrial theme,” says Watt & Volt managing director Niklas Hamrin. The system is divided into nine zones, covering the restaurants, bathrooms and an outdoor seating area in the front of the building. It is controlled by Usine staff via eight surface-mount
control panels, while three XLR panels are provided for the connection of audio inputs, providing the flexibility to host DJ sets and live performances. “The Yamaha products are a perfect fit. By installing the fullrange speakers high on the walls and suspending the subwoofers from the ceiling, they not only provide excellent coverage but look like a part of the industrial infrastructure,” says Niklas. “The system is straightforward for the staff to use and weekend DJ sessions are set up in minutes.” “We have a morning-to-night customer base, with people from a wide demographic. We vary the music according to the time of day, to make Usine inclusive and inviting to everyone, ” says Emilia. “If you are ever in Södermalm, whether it is sunny or snowing, we will give you a warm welcome.” You can see a video about the Usine installation on Yamaha's official YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/UX4kJ4HpMuc
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PRESTIGE | PROJECTS
Royal Greens system is fit for a king Royal Greens Golf & Country Club is a new development at King Abdullah Economic City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Located on its 18 hole championship golf course, the Royal Greens clubhouse needed an audio system which would satisfy the demands of such a prestigious facility.
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s well as its golfing facilities, Royal Greens Golf & Country Club includes fine dining, the private VIP Oryx Club, a ballroom, health club, the Mandora Spa, a gym and nearby residential villas. With a panoramic view of the Red Sea coast as its natural backdrop, the state-ofthe-art venue is designed to appeal to golf connoisseurs and beginners alike, as well as to anyone looking for an exclusive lifestyle experience. The audio system in the Royal Greens clubhouse had to complement the high quality offered throughout the complex. Mr. Zuhair Sarhani of Riyadh-based systems installer aDawliah Electronics Appliances discussed the project with Mr. Anubhav Khurana of Yamaha Music Gulf FZE and specified a system based on MTX series matrix processors, approved by the club’s main contractor Al Hosseini Contracting & Al Maqbool Contracting.
The system covers the ground and first floors of the Royal Greens clubhouse and is divided into 13 zones. Managed by an MTX5-D and two MTX3 matrix processors, VXC6W full range ceiling speakers are installed throughout both floors. Inputs to the system are from Yamaha BD-S477 Blu-ray players, T-S500 AM/FM tuners and SD card. Calls to prayer naturally have to be prioritised over all other input sources. These are managed by an Al- Harameen HA-4010 Azan clock, routed through the system’s priority input. The volume of all other sources is automatically muted when the call to prayer sounds. The system is controlled by DCP1V4S surface mount controllers, Wireless DCP iOS/Android app and iPads running Yamaha’s proprietary ProVisionaire Touch.
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“By choosing a complete Yamaha system, we could provide the customer with the exceptional audio quality that a venue as prestigious as Royal Greens required,” says Mr. Zuhair. “The MTX processors provided all the flexibility we needed and having the audio distribution and Blu-Ray/AM/FM equipment all made by Yamaha gave the client total confidence in the system’s performance.” ProVisionaire Touch allowed aDawliah Electronics Appliances to provide a bespoke control solution for the system which, despite the system covering 13 zones, has made it very easy to control for clubhouse staff. Once Mr. Zuhair had shown the IT manager at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club how to control the system, he was quickly and easily able to instruct the staff. “The main contractor, Mr Zuhair Sarhani, and the Royal Greens technical team are very happy with the sound quality and flexibility. They have said ‘the system is amazing!’’” says Mr. Zuhair. “Our business depends on providing high quality solutions and we sincerely thank Yamaha for providing them, which satisfy all the requirements of our customers.”
ENTERPRISE | EXCELLENCE
YOUNGCAPITAL RECRUITMENT AGENCY EMPLOYS YAMAHA Established in 2000, YoungCapital has grown to be the largest recruitment agency for young people in the Netherlands, with 1300 employees at 35 locations, including two in Germany. The company’s headquarters has recently been completely updated, including the installation of a Yamaha networked audio system.
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oungCapital’s headquarters is in a large block in the town of Hoofddorp. With 350 staff, it has grown to almost fill the building. The company claims that 14000 people find work through it daily. In 2018 it started a major project to update the facilities, including renovating and redecorating the spaces with a modern look. At the same time the audio system was completely renewed, with the specific aim of installing one that would satisfy the company’s young adult demographic. The system had to cover the reception area, restaurant, a hall/meeting space, an ‘urban’ environment (with moveable walls to create one large room, two medium rooms or four small ones), a gym, outside terrace and nine restroom areas. Elwin van de Beek and Ruben Haringsma
YoungCapital’s IT project manager Elwin van de Beek contacted Ruben Haringsma of Soest-based installation company HiFi Choice to discuss the company’s needs. These included online streaming music sources, local inputs at various locations, ease of use and the ability to easily expand the system for new applications. Ruben designed a zoned system around the Yamaha MRX7-D matrix processor and a Dante network, which would make it possible to easily expand with additional hardware. Because the building is in use during the week, Ruben could only install equipment at weekends. He found that new ideas and applications were regularly being requested, meaning he had to expand the system even while installing it.
Three remotely-controlled WXAD-10 wireless streaming adaptors feed music to every zone, with a fourth unit feeding only the gym. Here a WiFi access point allows users to choose their own selection of music. The ‘urban’ environment includes additional Aux inputs for laptops or other external audio devices, while the reception and restaurant areas have inputs for a laptop presentation or DJ to plug in to the system. Yamaha’s increasing range of ceiling and surface mounted installation loudspeakers meant that Ruben could ensure high quality sound was delivered to the different acoustic environments of the various spaces, including the outside terrace. A total of 16 x VXC4 full-range ceiling speakers and 14 x VXS5, eight VXS8 and one VXS10S two-way surface mount loudspeakers were used for the project, powered by two XMV8140-D, one XMV4140-D and two MA2120 amplifiers. Five DCP series digital control panels and Yamaha’s Wireless DCP app make it very easy for users to control the system. With the company’s age demographic in mind, it includes a ‘partymode’ preset to relay DJ sets throughout the building. “The Yamaha VXC and VXS series loudspeakers deliver the full dynamic range and power of the EDM favoured by many of YoungCapital’s staff,” says Ruben. “It’s a very versatile system, able to deliver a range of source audio and is so flexible that I was able to accommodate expansion requests even while the installation was under way. YoungCapital is a fast-growing business and the system expansion is ongoing.”
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COMPANY | PROFILE
40 years of pioneering innovation 2019 sees NEXO mark its 40th anniversary as one of the world’s leading elite manufacturers of sound reinforcement equipment. A strategic business unit of Yamaha for the past 11 years, NEXO’s pioneering technology, innovative designs and sonic excellence enhance live events across the globe, gaining the respect and trust of sound professionals everywhere.
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NEXO’s expertise in largeformat fixed installations has enabled the company to assemble a stellar reference list
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Optus Stadium, Perth
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ounded in 1979 by Frenchman Eric Vincenot and Englishman Michael Johnson, NEXO designs all its ground-breaking sound reinforcement solutions in Paris, from which headquarters it has built an international network of more than 80 distributors as well as working with Yamaha sales subsidiaries around the world and maintaining its own national sales operations in four countries. Always taking a distinctively independent approach to audio technology design, NEXO’s engineering achievements can be recognised in its portfolio of patents. One of the first companies to promote line and tangent array designs, its compact GEO S8 Series became
the world’s best-selling line array system upon its launch in 2001, building on the market success of the classic point-source Alpha Series (launched in 1996) which, 23 years later, remains a much loved front-of-house choice. But perhaps the most instantly recognisable NEXO product remains the PS Series, now 25 years old, and used by virtually every sound engineer in the world. The application of convergence-inspired design has resulted in such innovations as the NXAMP Series of powered TDControllers which provide full integration of speaker and amplifier control, and console management of PA systems over the latest and most popular digital networking protocols. In recent years, NEXO’s expertise in largeformat fixed installations has enabled the company to assemble a stellar reference list, with high-profile sports venues front and centre. GEO S Series loudspeakers, first developed for the Stade de France in Paris, now perform in the Etihad Stadium, home to Manchester City FC, at Croke Park Stadium in Dublin and at the Optus Stadium in Perth, Australia.
COMPANY | PROFILE
Other line array speaker modules can be found at the All England Club, Wimbledon, and Stade Roland Garros - the homes of two of the world's highest profile Grand Slam tennis tournaments. With the arrival of the STM Series modular line array system, NEXO introduced the industry to a contemporary concept of scalability. STM’s international user network successfully uses the same inventory to service live audiences ranging from 500-50,000. Many of the ideas developed by R&D for STM Series are now being utilised on other line array and point source systems. NEXO seeks not only to enhance the audience experience through the development of increasingly more transparent and consistently controllable sound systems, but also to serve the wider public through the improved directivity of its systems. The company is wholly focussed on serving the environment, through the adoption of more sustainable
and less polluting manufacturing processes, and through the development of systems that are ever more compact, easier to transport and less demanding to set up.
STM line arrays on the FCKNYE festival, Brussels
Technical teamwork to amplify outdoor opera
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EXO STM Series line arrays and Yamaha RIVAGE PM series digital mixing systems are the perfect complementary solution for amplifying live events, and one of the more challenging is the annual open-air production by Opera Wroclawska in Wroclaw, Poland. Audio rental company PogoArt was commissioned to handle sound reinforcement for a spectacular outdoor performance of Verdi’s La Traviata, staged in Wroclaw’s Plac Wolnosci, in front of an audience of nearly 2500. 2019 was the third year that STM and RIVAGE PM, running over Dante, was the event's audio system of choice. Having mixed Nabucco and Faust in previous years, Tanel Klesment was asked to return as Front of House engineer, working with the PogoArt team to mix the sound of a huge cast which included a 130-strong choir and 30-person ballet corps, as well as the opera company. For the main system, PogoArt specified NEXO’s STM Series modular line array, using 12 per side of the compact M28 enclosures as the main modules, plus 16 S118 subwoofers. Additional M28 cabinets were used for frontfill, with the whole system driven by 14 NXAMP4x4s. Tanel mixed the show on a Yamaha RIVAGE PM7, flanked by Rio3224-D I/O units.
“Producers specifically asked us to replicate the in-the-house opera experience and feeling. It wasn’t easy, because Wroclaw Opera does not use any PA at all in the opera house. So my main goal was to provide a sound system which can deliver as natural and uncoloured sound as possible,” says PogoArt’s Lukasz ‘Synek’ Lison. “The faithful reproduction of natural dynamics was also a critical issue for the producers. The spectacle included a vast range of extreme pianissimo and fortissimo parts, which had to sound as natural as possible, without any distortion or any other unwanted artefacts.”
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FITNESS | FOCUS
Rock solid success When Flipside Soundsystem managing director James Cooper was approached to work on the audio system for a new 10,000ft2 bouldering gym in Copenhagen, he didn’t hang around.
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ames’s eyes light up when he says “Pretty much everyone at Flipside enjoys a fair amount of indoor bouldering, so we were both surprised and excited when we were approached. Our first instinct was to want to achieve something that sounded better than the gyms we climb in.” Although the Danish Beta Boulders facility has state-of-the-art climbing and training areas, it is much more. With a yoga studio, cafe and co-working spaces, it is designed to bring people from all over the Copenhagen area together. “We connect people through climbing, work, culture and needed an audio system that could be used by any staff member, but flexible enough so it could be used across different types of events and scenarios,” says co-founder Francesco Ragazzi. “We wanted to make the space come alive, without the background music being too low or sounding too different across the various spaces. And we needed it in a short time-frame.” The brief meant Flipside had to cover both large, reverberant spaces in the climbing zones, where higher SPLs would be needed, and more intimate zones for the yoga studio, cafe and changing rooms. The answer was 36 Yamaha VS4 and VS6 full range, surface mount loudspeakers in a multi-zone system managed by an MTX3 matrix processor. The system’s seven zones cover the main climbing area, competition bouldering area, training area, yoga studio, reception
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and bar, changing rooms and the office space, with control by four Yamaha DCP series wall panels. “For the main climbing space, we had to work out an asymmetrical speaker pattern which allowed for the irregular shapes of the bouldering walls,” says James. “We chose VS4s for all areas except the competition area, where we went with the slightly larger VS6s to allow extra headroom for big events, where microphones and louder music would be needed.
Go-to processor “The system is managed by the MTX3, which is our go-to matrix processor, with the DCP wall panels providing simple and convenient control of the system from throughout the building.” “Flipside provided a product flexible enough to allow for alterations to the final installation after the equipment was delivered, producing a top-quality system in an extremely short time frame,” says Francesco. He continues, “We love how the installation sits in the background without being visible, but the sound level is absolutely homogeneous across the different spaces. It has undoubtedly improved the customer experience and perception of our facility, compared to a traditional gym. The sound level is clean and homogeneous, without the obvious loud / silent spots you can find in most climbing facilities. It’s been such a success that we are already planning an expansion to the system.”
MEDIA | PROJECTS
Making headlines at Eßlinger Zeitung
B
ased in Esslingen, near Stuttgart, Eßlinger Zeitung covers news and events in the Baden-Württemberg region of Germany, as well as national and international news, entertainment, sport and travel. It publishes in print and online, as well as having a dynamic online television channel
(ES-tv), YouTube and social media presence. Used for meetings, presentations, interviews, staff and media briefings, the new conference room needed a flexible, high quality AV system, which could be easily controlled by any member of staff. events creative GmbH - based in nearby Hochdorf and with over 25 years in the AV installation and live production business - was asked to design and install the system. Managing director Markus Zimmer specified a Yamaha solution, based on the MTX3 matrix processor and the MCP1 advanced surface-mount control panel, because it could deliver flexible control as well as high quality sound. With up to 36 parameters assignable to the MCP1’s home page and its six sub-pages, it has allowed the entire system - including the inputs and power to an Epson laser projector, as well as the audio system - to be controlled from the same panel.
The upgrade of a multipurpose conference room at a regional German newspaper has notably enhanced the facility for staff and customers.
The system also includes a pair of wallmounted Yamaha VXS8 full-range loudspeakers and a floor-mounted VXS10S sub, all with white finish to blend with the room’s décor. They are powered by an XMV4280 multi-channel amplifier, with an SWR2100P-5G L2 network switch supplying PoE to the MCP1 control panel. “Thanks to the GPI connectors on the MTX3, we could not only supply a system with great sound, but with very versatile control,” says Markus. “The MCP1 is programmed with a number of presets, allowing members of staff to press a single button and instantly make the system ready for any application.” Ingo Brucker, project manager of Eßlinger Zeitung, is very pleased with the new system. “I am full of praise for it,” he says. “Markus suggested a great solution, which has surpassed what we thought was possible. The Yamaha system has made our conference room much more user-friendly and significantly improved the quality of our presentations to staff and customers.”
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The Yamaha system has made our conference room much more user-friendly and significantly improved the quality of our presentations to staff and customers
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SOUND | SENSE
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