psne march 2014 digital edition

Frankfurtpreviewp14

PSNEUROPEThe only way is SX

MARCH 2014

Powersoft and D.A.S. Audio boostSupercross to new heights

How pro audio

is taking off at the airport

Tonmeister courseupgrades with

an 88D

p60

p28

p52

Frank ’n’ Steinberg p66

THE BUSINESS OF PROFESSIONAL AUDIO www.psneurope.com

FRANKFURT IS upon us – as you read this, in fact.But I’m writing this editorial two weeks beforehand.And – whisper it – this is the first time I can rememberin many a season when I haven’t been able to write:“Wow! Amazing! Wait until you see the blah!”

Last year it was the SSL Live desk; in 2012, theMeyer Sound low-end box. For PL+S 2014, as of 27 February, 5pm – I’m still waiting for my exclusiveheads-up on the newest shiny box. Sigh.

However. Frankfurt NEVER lets us down, and Iknow there’s some killer kit on the way. Powersoft, for one, has made me a big promise: let’s see if theycan – literally – change the game this year. (We lovethat phrase at PSNEurope. But we’d like to use itproperly for once...)

There is a game I know of where the goalposts areconstantly shifting, and where the referee keepsaltering the rules of play. That game is called SellingOff The Spectrum. Fortunately, the UK has a verystrong competitor in this game: Team BEIRG.

And like the greatest of marathon runners, TeamBEIRG needs a solid support network to make sure itcan stay in the race and make it to the finishing line.Especially as the race organiser has turned a road raceinto a steeplechase, and thrown another raft ofhurdles into the way.

Over the page, one of BEIRG’s anchormen, AlanMarch, explains the challenges looming on the courseahead. If you have ANY link with wireless microphoneor IEM technology, you should be cheering them on.Even better, jogging alongside them, plying them withenergy drinks. Or cash. They’ll accept that too.

Dave Robinson (twitter: @psneurope)

“Team BEIRG needsa solid supportnetwork to make sureit can finish the race”

IIN THIS ISSUE...

NEWS4 Organisational restructure at PLASA6 Avid delists from NASDAQ8 Industry appointments10 Events and expos12 New products

STUDIO18 MPG Awards: the winners20 The Church Studio: story so far24 Teatro delle Voci Studios opens in Italy28 University of Surrey unveils new studio31 Feature: Replicating classic kit

BROADCAST38 Broadcasting sound from the Winter Olympics39 Lectrosonics kit used for Johansson thriller40 New audio suites at Birmingham City University44 Cast BlackTrax expands into 3D Audio

LIVE46 VUE opens European HQ in Berlin47 Indochine tour with Adamson48 Soundart facilitates sound for German Supercross54 Yamaha desk used on arena dance tour

INSTALL58 Inytium installs Adamson in Namur59 ArtSpaceHotel boasts Aviom Pro64 network60 Feature: high spec audio for airports

BACK PAGES65 Hither & Dither: MPG special66 Industry talk: Frank Simmerlein of Steinberg

www.psneurope.com March 2014 l 03

welcomeEDITOR’S COMMENT

Prolight + SoundPreview p14

Phot

o: Ja

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oung

By Dave Robinson

PUBLISHING GIANT NewBayMedia – whose portfolio includesPSNEurope – has appointedMark Burton to the post ofmanaging director of NewBayMedia Europe/Intent Media.

Burton, who most recently ledIncisive Media’s Insurance Groupas its group publishing directorand was responsible for a wideportfolio of branded mediaproducts and events, took up his

new post on 17 February.“Mark is an accomplished

media executive with an impressivetrack record,” states Steve Palm,CEO, NewBay Media. “He is theright person to further developour magazine, digital, and eventcapabilities and aggressively growour European business. I amexcited to have him join our team.”

Burton’s most recent stable ofbrands at Incisive Media includedPost, Insurance Age and InsuranceHound. During his time there he

was instrumental in launchingdata-driven digital products,expanding the insurance eventsportfolio into new territories, and gaining substantialsubscription growth throughdigital corporate licenses.

Burton has also served as publisher of Incisive’sComputer Reseller News (CRN),Accountancy Age and Financial

Director. Earlier experienceincludes executive positions atVNU Business Media. He takesover the position from StuartDinsey, the Intent founder wholeft the company in October 2013.

In other NewBay news, CharlesWeiss has joined the company as apublisher in the US-based AV/ProAudio Group where he will haveresponsibility for titles includingPro Sound News, Music FestivalBusiness, and the AES Daily.

Additionally, Weiss has beencharged with increasing theeditorial and sales coordinationbetween NewBay US andEuropean AV/Pro Audio brands,including PSNEurope,Installation and Audio Media. �www.newbaymedia.com

04 l March 2014 www.psneurope.com

news

THE PLASA boards and staffhave recently completed newstrategic and operating plans toguide the organisation throughthe next years of its development.

Fundamental to the successfulimplementation of both plans isa revised senior managementstructure comprising threeexecutive directors (CEO, CFOand COO), plus six divisional

directors – of membership,international programmes, sales,marketing, events and media.

Matthew Griffiths and ShaneMcGreevy currently fill thepositions of CEO and CFOrespectively. The COO post willbe recruited in the first part of2014 and will be based out ofPLASA’s New York office. LoriRubinstein will retain her

executive director responsibilitiesin North America during thistransitional period until the newCOO is fully in place.

“Assuming we can find the rightperson we hope to have them inthe post by the summer of thisyear,” Griffiths tells PSNEurope.

“The point is that it’s a globalorganisational change, so bydefault does involve Europe. In

terms of senior managementchanges, we did them last year,”Griffiths adds in reference toChris Toulmin’s appointment to PLASA director of events in 2013.

Toulmin will be joined by a newdirector of marketing and directorof media, who will join thePLASA organisation within thenext 12-18 months, says Griffiths.

These initial staff changes arepart of a wider reorganisationalstructure and according to PLASAit will take two to three years toassemble the full staff highlightedin the operational plan. �www.plasa.org

Professional Lighting and Sound Association finish realigning the transatlantic structure, finds Erica Basnicki

WORLD

PLASA CEO Matthew Griffiths withLori Rubinstein, director ofinternational programmes

Organisational restructurecompleted at PLASA

EUROPE/UNITED STATES

For the latest news www.psneurope.com

New faces at NewBay

Burton: new MD for Intent Media

Charles Weiss: coordinating USand European titles

news

THE PRO Sound Award wasnice, but the RF struggle is farfrom over.

Formed nearly a decade ago,the British EntertainmentIndustry Radio Group (BEIRG)recognised early on that changeswere on the way with regards tothe usage and allocation of thefrequencies that our industry usesfor the deployment of wirelesssystems. To that end, BEIRG setout to engage with our regulatorto ensure that Ofcom UK werefully informed as to what ourindustry does, how it does it andwhat our requirements will befor the future. And we’ve beensuccessful: helping Ofcom tounderstand that we could not, asan industry, bid for spectrum inan open auction process, andsecuring the funding to assistwith the migration from Channel69, are just two examples.

BEIRG was presented withthe inaugural Grand Prix trophyat the Pro Sound Awards 2013for its unwavering commitmentto the spectrum crusade. Now,our current level of engagementhas never been at a higher level, as there are still manyhurdles ahead. This year willprove to be a definitive one for

the PMSE (Programme Makersand Special Events) sector’sfuture, for three reasons.

One, there is likely to be a re-allocation of the 700MHzband for new mobile broadbandservices (4G and beyond).BEIRG must ensure that suitablemitigation is on offer: principally,the assignment of newfrequencies for PMSE (wirelessmicrophone and IEM) use.

Two, White Space Devices(WSD) are likely to be introducedinto any remaining interleavedUHF frequencies soon. Here,

interference to wirelessmicrophones and in-ear monitorsystems must be prevented.

And three, we must fullyengage in a new project that isset to explore future use of thewhole of the UHF TV band(that’s the majority of all thefrequencies in use forprofessional wireless systems).

But fighting the cause for thepro-audio industry requires timeand financial support.

Do not underestimate thepower of the mobile sector’sability to lobby – the telecoms

giants are pressing their case (ahighly questionable one, as far asBEIRG is concerned) for theallocation of greater chunks ofspectrum to deliver their servicesat every level. Meanwhile, thisyear has seen the beginning of thefirst live testing of WSD.Developers such as Microsoft andGoogle are now coordinatingrelated projects. BEIRG continuesto resist the introduction of theseunlicensed devices unless absoluteguarantees can be given that theywill not result in interference forour industry. This can only beachieved by fully engaging withthe testing programme, whichBEIRG is doing.

BEIRG, in conjunction with Ranelagh International(political consultants), continuesto engage with UK-based (andinternational) politicians inorder to further the cause of ourindustry. This work is essential ifwe are to secure a satisfactoryoutcome for our industry sector in light of pressure fromother industries.

In 2013, BEIRG respondedto many of HM Government’sconsultation documents(‘condocs’) on behalf of the industry.

Examples are:� Multiple consultations onthe operation of WSD in TVwhite space� Award of the 600MHz band� Future use of 700MHz band� Ofcom’s long-term spectrummanagement strategy

This involved writtenresponses in addition toongoing high-level face-to-facemeetings, in an effort to ensurethat our industry has a wirelessfuture. In 2014, there will beeven more.

We’d like to express a big‘thank you’ to all thoseorganisations that recogniseand continue to support thework of BEIRG: radio micmanufacturers, audio rentalcompanies, theatre producers,trade associations and so on.However, there are many, manynames missing from the list at a time when BEIRG’swork is paramount.

With increased help from thePMSE community, BEIRG canrepresent and protect the bestinterests of the pro-audioecosystem that it serves.

For more info, please dropBEIRG man Duncan a line... �[email protected]

EUROPE

The work of BEIRG, the award-winning partnership of pro-audio protagonists formed to manage and safeguard the long-term future ofthe radio spectrum, has never been more critical. Alan March explains why it’s important for more industry businesses to take heed


BEIRG issues further call for industry support

By Dave Robinson

THE GROUNDBREAKINGspace drama Gravity was therunaway victor at the Bafta Awardsin London last month. The sci-fithriller, starring George Clooneyand Sandra Bullock, won sixBaftas, including Best Sound andBest Original Music.

The victory for audio was welldeserved by the team fromSound 24, Glenn Freemantle’spost-production service based atPinewood Studios, who beganworking on Gravity in late 2010.

Freemantle, in the role ofsound designer and supervisingsound editor, led the Best SoundBafta-winning team of Niv Adiri

(sound design editor/sound re-recording mixer), Skip Lievsay(sound re-recording mixer),Christopher Benstead (musiceditor and sound re-recordingmixer) and Chris Munro(production sound mixer).

“There’s no sound in space…but there you go, we’re all right!”joked Freemantle on receiving theaward. Munro, Freemantle andLievsay have already won theinaugural AMPS award forexcellence in the craft of soundfor their work on Gravity. The team used mainly DPAmicrophones for gatheringmaterial for the project.

Steven Price won the BestOriginal Music award for the

Gravity soundtrack, recorded inpart at Abbey Road (through theAMS Neve 88RS console) andBritish Grove (also AMS Neve).“Thank you to my Mum and Dadfor having such a great recordcollection and starting this wholething off,” said Price at the podium.

While some mixing for 5.1 and7.1 was performed at De LaneLea Studios in Soho before thefinal Dolby Atmos mix, otherwork was undertaken inChiswick: “Although we are onlycredited as ‘Recorded at’ – as wedid a couple of days of string andother pick-ups – we actually didthe 7.1 music mix here over 17days,” David Stewart of BritishGrove told PSNEurope.

“[This was] a quiteextraordinary and complex featinvolving three MADI-linkedPro Tools, hundreds of audiotracks, Apogee and Prism AudioI/O analogue interfaces, four

offline suites and a direct ISDNlink to Los Angeles.”

During the Bafta Awards, held at the Royal Opera House on Sunday 16 February, audiopioneer Ray Dolby and soundeditor David Campling (The Terminator, Platoon) wereremembered in a tribute to leadinglights of cinema who passed awayin the last 12 months. �www.bafta.orgwww.sound24.co.uk

Baftas submit to the force of GravityUNITED KINGDOM

(L-R): Olga Kurylenko, Niv Adiri, Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro and actor Richard E Grant, for Best Sound

The now-familiar site of the 2012 Olympics: but without suitable spectrumprovisos and the lobbying efforts of BEIRG and Ranelagh, the smoothrunning of the comms during the event could have been very different


news

By Erica Basnicki and Dave Robinson

THE FIRST Avid S6 controlsurface has been delivered in theUK. However, news of theinaugural shipment, heraldedahead of the BVE show atExCeL last month, wassomewhat tempered hours laterby a report stating that shares inthe company had been delistedfrom the NASDAQ.

Bristol-based Films at 59 hasthe honour of being recipient ofthe first S6 as part of a companyswitch to a fully integrated Avidcontent creation initiative.

Gina Fucci, managing directorof Films at 59, says, “With ever-decreasing budgets, fasterturnaround times and the needfor producers to find moneyacross territories to fund aproject, we needed an agileworkflow based on open andtightly integrated solutions.”

Films at 59’s new audioproduction infrastructurecombines Avid Pro Tools andthe S6 console into its existingMedia Composer and ISISshared storage video contentcreation workflow.

“With shared storage, theability for productions to shareaudio and vision, and the

flexibility to pick up a mix in anyroom to accommodate schedulechanges are tremendousbenefits,” adds Fucci.

“Films at 59 was the first UKfacility to adopt our ISIS 5000shared storage solution, and isonce again leading the way withits investment in our S6 modularand customisable controlsurface,” says Tim Hurrell,director of EMEA Audio at Avid.

Purchased through Avid Elitereseller, Digital Garage, Films at59 plans to add additional S6consoles to its workflow later.

News of the sale came justahead of Avid reporting that, “as expected”, its shares hadbeen delisted from theNASDAQ Stock Exchange.

“Following the suspension of

trading of Avid’s common stockon NASDAQ, the shares will begintrading on the OTC Markets [OTCPink Tier] under the tradingsymbol AVID,” said the company.Avid says it intends to “completethe restatement and regaincompliance with its SEC filingrequirements as soon as practicable”,setting itself a target of mid-2014.

Avid’s financial woes werespotlighted this time last year,when it announced that it hadpostponed the release of its Q4and full year 2012 financial resultsin order “to provide additionaltime... to evaluate its current andhistorical accounting”.

The share price hit an all-timelow of just under $5 before thedelisting on 25 February. �www.avid.com

UNITED KINGDOM/WORLD

Revealed at IBC2013, Avid’s S6 control surface has arrived in the UK

The only way is S6...but Avid delists

By Erica Basnicki

YAMAHA MUSIC Europe hasrecently undertaken changes toits marketing, sales andtechnical support within theEuropean Commercial Audioorganisation, which sees thecreation of new positions thecompany says will “underpinYamaha’s strengtheningposition in the installed and livesound markets”.

At ISE this year, thecompany launched severalmajor additions to itsCommercial InstallationSolutions (CIS) series – EN54-24 certified versions of the VXCand VXS loudspeaker lines,which are designed primarily forPA/VA voice alarm systems.

Supporting Yamaha’sexpansion are dedicatedcommercial installed soundspecialists who have been addedto its commercial audio salesteams in France and Germany.

Commercial installed soundspecialists are also being recruitedin the UK, complementing therecent appointment of new staffto the UK commercial audiosales force.

A completely new position,based in London, has also beencreated to strengthen its global PAapplication engineering capability.

Meanwhile, following therecent decision by Nick Cook toleave Yamaha to form his ownstrategic marketing company,the role of the marketingdirector commercial audio willbe assumed by the current

European marketing directorpro music & pro audio, Nils-Peter Keller.

“The latest creation of newpositions for global PAapplication engineering andcommercial installed soundunderlines Yamaha’s strategy toboost its position as a highquality pro-audio manufactureracross decisive fields oftechnology within the industry,”says Ryo Kasai, senior directorat Yamaha Music Europe.

“We are more than pleased to have been able to assume theresponsibility for global PAtraining content and applicationengineering for the most complexaudio network applications from the London R&D officelocation. The restructuringallows us at the same time tofocus staff competence onto the installed sound market more locally, which is aprerequisite for achieving thebest service level in the Europeaninstallation markets.”�www.yamahacommercialaudio.com

EUROPE

Yamaha steps up with shake up

Nils-Peter Keller: commercial intent

For the latest news www.psnseurope.com

Andreas WeingaertnerMartin Audio

Ignazio VagnonePreSonus

Klaus HausherrK-array

Noel LarsonHarman Professional


Simon KerrNUGEN Audio

John HolmesThe Studio People

Malcolm WallMediaCity UK

Patrick MaloneGoldcrest Post

MAX LINDSAY-JOHNSONhas been made responsible forensuring the continued growthof international sales forCommunity. Lindsay-Johnson’sprevious roles have includedinternational sales andmarketing manager for DuranAudio BV, and managingdirector of Harman Pro UK.“I am thrilled to be joining theCommunity team at such anincredible time of innovationand growth within the

company,” says Lindsay-Johnson. “Community is aworld leader in outdoorloudspeaker technology and itsengineering excellencecontinues to drive expansion inits established position in theinstalled/engineered soundmarket. I look forward to beingpart of the team that bringsthis broad spectrum ofsolutions to the forefront of thepro audio business,” he adds.www.communitypro.com

industrymovers

Community Professionalclaims Max benefit Loudspeaker manufacturer appoints industry veteranLindsay-Johnson as international sales manager

NUGEN Audio hasannounced the

appointment of Simon Kerr aschief marketing officer. Kerrserved as director of marketingcommunications for CanonUSA previously, achieving topmarket share for the CinemaEOS line of cameras within twoyears after leading the launchand marketing campaign. Kerrwill oversee the NUGENAudio’s global marketingstrategy and manage the NorthAmerican Office. www.nugenaudio.com

John Holmes joinsrecording facility design

team, The Studio People, fillingthe role of technical salesmanager. Holmes’ experiencelies in the sales, support andeducation sectors and he willnow be overseeing the expansionof the company’s acousticproducts and furniture ranges.As well as exploring newbusiness avenues as the companyexpands into new markets.www.studiopeople.com

Malcolm Wall has joinedMediaCityUK-based

media service provider dock10 asthe company’s new non-executivechairman. The appointment was made following DavidHoldgate’s retirement from theMediaCityUK board. Wall hasenjoyed a long career in theglobal media sector, acting asCEO of Abu Dhabi Media and most recently leading a

joint venture in China forPinewood Studios. www.dock10.co.uk/

Patrick Malone has beenappointed as managing

director at market leadingsupplier of Academy Award andBAFTA winning post-productionservices, Goldcrest Post. The jobwill require Malone to overseethe growth of the company’sdigital intermediate departmentas well as strengthening theexecutive management of theexisting award winning soundfacility. The company’s extensivelist of credits include LesMiserables, Twilight and HarryPotter. Malone says ‘I can’t waitto get started.’www.goldcrestfilms.com

Martin Audio has appointedAndreas Weingaertner as its

new international accountmanager. Weingaertner comments:“I had been approached in recentyears by other loudspeakermanufacturers, but theopportunity to work for such apioneering manufacturer asMartin Audio was a prospect toogood to pass by.” Bremen-basedWeingaertner has over 26 years ofsales and marketing experience inthe pro-audio industry rangingfrom MI and rental to fixedinstallations. www.martin-audio.com

Ignazio Vagnone hasjoined PreSonus as sales

manager for Europe, the Middle

East and Africa. Vagnone hasover ten years of industryexperience, runs a personalstudio and is a dedicated guitarand bass player, designer andassembler. “It is a great honourand an equally great challengeto join one of this market’s mostforward looking companies,where excellence is the onlystandard,” comments Vagnone.www.presonus.com

K-array has appointedKlaus Hausherr as product

specialist for its concert series.Hausherr will now be responsiblefor identifying key customerneeds, and as well as the analysisof market trends. ‘I was drawn toK-array’s concert line when Iheard its long serving KH4 at atrade fair. I was blown away bythe performance and sound/sizeratio,” comments Hausherr. www.k-array.com

Harman Professional hasannounced the

appointment of Noel Larson asdirector of marketing for theSignal Processing Business Unit.Larson is responsible formarketing the BSS Audio, dbx,Lexicon and DigiTech brands.Harman senior director, TJ Smithsays: “Noel’s extensive experienceand deep understanding of ourbrands and the markets we servemake him uniquely equipped tohave an immediate impactleading marketing for the SignalProcessing Business Unit.”www.harman.com

Industry movers is sponsored by

Prolight + Sound12-15 MarchFrankfurt, Germanywww.prolight-sound.com

CeBIT11-15 MarchHanover, Germanywww.cebit.de

CABSAT 201423-25 MarchDubai, UAEwww.cabsat.com

NAB5-10 AprilLas Vegas, USwww.nabshow.com

PALME Middle East15-17 AprilDubai, UAEwww.palme-middleeast.com

PLASA Focus30 April-1 MayLeeds, UKwww.plasafocus.com

The Great Escape8-10 MayBrighton, UKwww.escapegreat.com

Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final10 MayCopenhagen, Denmarkwww.eurovision.tv

Rock im Park6-9 JuneNürnberg, Germanywww.rock-im-park.com

Pinkpop7-9 JuneLandgraaf, Netherlandswww.pinkpop.nl

PEVE Digital Entertainment10-11 JuneLondon, UKwww.screendigest.com/events/peve

ABTT11-12 JuneLondon, UKwww.abttheatreshow.co.uk

Isle of Wight Festival12-15 JuneIsle of Wight, UKwww.isleofwightfestival.com

Download Festival13-15 JuneDonington Park, UKwww.downloadfestival.co.uk

InfoComm 201414-20 JuneLas Vegas, USwww.infocommshow.org

Glastonbury25-29 JunePilton, UKwww.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk

EVENTS Your complete calendar of expos and conferences for the months ahead


For more events news visit www.psneurope.com/events

expos&events

NAB (the National Association of Broadcasters show)attracts over 93,000 media and entertainmentprofessionals from over 150 countries. There are around1,550 companies represented at NAB, all spread over81,600sqm. Visitors will be able to attend speeches, workshops, conferences and training sessions ranging from broadcast engineering to media management on thecloud. Pro-audio manufacturers that have already confirmed their attendance at NAB 2014 include Avid, DPA Microphones, K-array, Merging Technologies,Focusrite, Lectrosonics, Calrec Audio, CEntrance and Cedar Audio.

The show takes place in three venues, the Las Vegas Convention Center where the main exhibition space is located and the Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, where theshow’s opening keynote speech will be held. The Las Vegas Hotel and Casino is also home to the Broadcast Education Association, the NAB Show’s largestconference partner. Finally, the Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Hotel will host the Content Market, which features executive meeting spaces where content buyers andsellers can conduct business.

SPOTLIGHTNAB 20145-10 AprilLas Vegas, Nevada, USAwww.nabshow.com

EDITORIALPLANNERAPRILf Italy Focus

f Theatre Sound

f Prolight + Sound review

Deadline: 20 March

Distribution: 4 April

MAYf The Radio Studio

f Business in BRIC regions

f AES Berlin preview

Deadline: 16 April

Distribution: 1 May

PSNLIVEf The annual report will be

redesigned and published two

months earlier this year!

JUNEf World Cup/Sound for Stadiums

f Widgets and Essential Kit

f On the Road (diary)

f ABTT + InfoComm previews

Deadline: 21 May

Distribution: 4 June

JULYf The Modern Conference

f Commonwealth Games preview

Deadline: 30 June

Distribution: 10 July

136th AES Convention26-29 April

Berlin, Germany

www.aeg.org

Inside the Reichstag...


technologynew productsErica Basnicki compiles this month’s list of hot new products

D&B AUDIOTECHNIK

D80 What is it? A 4-channel high power density 2RUamplifier that incorporates digital signalprocessing to provide configurations for theentire d&b loudspeaker range.

Details: Each of the four channels integratedinto the D80 features a signal delay of up to 10seconds and two 16-band equalisers, providingparametric, notch, shelving and asymmetricfilters. Additionally, specific functions for d&b

RTW

LQLWhat is it? LQL, or LoudnessQuality Logger is softwaredeveloped for logging, true-peak data analysis andreporting compatible withRTW’s TM7, TMR7 and TM9TouchMonitor line of productsrunning with Logging DataServer license (SW20014).

Details: Once activated, LQLenables measured loudnessand TruePeak data to bederived directly via an IP-connectionfrom a capable TouchMonitor audiometer, as well as from external storagemedia such as a USB stick. The softwarealso includes dual limit weighting, statusinformation, marker and various other

reporting features. The software is free of charge to users; however theSW20014 Logging Data Server license isrequired to enable a TM7, TMR7 or TM9series meter to be compatible with dataexport and additional display functions.

And another thing: The TM7 visualisesup to 40 sources at the same time, whilethe TM9 visualises up to 48 and theTMR7, specifically designed for radiobroadcasting, visualises up to four. www.rtw.com

BBE

What is it? The BBE SM500 Sonic Maximizer is a modular single-channel signal processordesigned to be used specifically with500 series racks.

Details: The single-channel BBESM500 is engineered to brighten,clarify and add fullness by adjustingphase relationships and augmentinghigh and low frequencies, revealingmore of the sound’s natural textureand detail. Features include +23dBuheadroom and a bypass switch forcomparison of processed tounprocessed signals.

And another thing: The SM500 uses the same processing engine as

BBE’s882imodel,and thesameprocessthat hasenhancedrecordingsforrecording

engineers andproducers fromRyan Hewitt

(Avett Brothers, Red Hot Chili Peppers,Flogging Molly) to Ed Cherney(Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt) toTony Visconti (T. Rex, David Bowie,Alejandro Escoveda).www.bbesound.com

SM500

loudspeakers, such as CUT (Cut mode), CPL(Coupling), HFC (High Frequency Compensation)and CSA (Cardioid Sub Array) are included.

And another thing: All four outputs can deliverup to 4,000 Watts into 4 ohms and aredistributed through either the single NL8connector, or the individual loudspeakeroutputs.

The LoadMatch function electronicallycompensates for loudspeaker cable properties,without the need for an extra conductor. This issaid to result in increased accuracy of audioreproduction over a bandwidth of up to 20kHz,preserving the tonal balance when using cablelengths of up to 70m. www.dbaudio.com

PROLIGHT +SOUND 2014 is finallyhere, and will

undoubtedly attract all theleading industry professionals,hankering to get a first glimpseof the latest pro-audiotechnology. PSNEurope will becovering the event in full, sokeep your eye on our Twitterfeed and the PSNEurope websitefor all pro-audio relatedannouncements from Frankfurt.Here, in alphabetical order, iswhat we know about…

Australian-based designer andmanufacturer of digital and

analogue interface and signalprocessing products, AARXSystems, will show the Blue DIBluetooth Direct Box at Prolight+ Sound. This product is the

latest addition to the company’sAudiBox range of precisiontools for audio professionals.ARX’s managing director, ColinPark says: “ARX’s engineering

Prolight + Sound 2014A round-up of the finest new gear in all of Frankfurt

GERMANY

When? 12-15 March 2014showpreviewProlight +

Sound 2014


teamdeveloped theBlue DI to fulfilthe demand for atruly professionalwireless Active Direct Boxinterface allowing users toconnect today’s and tomorrow’sBluetooth enabled devices to thepro audio world of balancedsignals and XLR connectors viaa robust wireless connection ofover 12m range.”

The Blue DI is compatiblewith Bluetooth Version V2.1EDR, 3.0 and 4.0 and can bepowered by +48VDC phantompower from a mixing console, oran external DC PSU and featuresindustry standard balanced left &right line level XLR outputs.

Allen & Heath will debut thelatest addition to its Xone DJrange, as well as the recentlylaunched Qu-24 compact digitalmixer and Xone:23 DJ mixer.Also on display: the MEpersonal monitoring system,Qu-16 rack mount digital mixer,GLD and iLive digital systemsand analogue mixers from theMixWizard4 and ZED series.

Oregon-based AudioPrecision will be making its firstappearance at Prolight + Soundthis year. The company will bedemonstrating its APxConverged Audio Test, whichprovides a single platform thatcovers all aspects of audiotesting, allowing rapid sharing ofprojects and data between designand production. The companywill also present the APx Electro-acoustic software suites thatprovide acoustic measurementsfor loudspeaker drivers andenclosures. President of AudioPrecision, David Schmoldt, says:“With the new Electro-acoustictest suites, AP has a solution thatcovers every aspect of audioproduct creation. We are excitedto expand our offerings to reflect the changing needs of ourcustomers, who continue to relyupon AP to provide the last wordin audio test.”

Audient will showcase its new 8-channel mic pre. TheASP880 is the first product tobe released under the newdirectorship of Simon

Blackwood.Chief technical officer

Tom Waterman explains:“Listening to feedback fromAudient users has beenessential. As a result, we workedclosely with David Dearden todevelop the PSU cooling systemfor absolutely silent, fan-lessoperation, and invested in new,improved Burr-Brown convertertechnology to ensure even bettersound quality and each channelhas insert points for enhancedflexibility or direct converteraccess.” Apart from improvedsound quality, the front panel of the ASP880 has alsobenefited from a redesign.Waterman says: “Each channelof ASP880 is now clearlydefined, facilitating visibility andfunctionality in a busy rack –great for touring rigs or dimly litcontrol rooms. On top of allthat we made the constructioneven more bombproof!”

DPA Microphones will beshowing off its d:facto vocalmicrophone featuring new gridswith gold and nickel finishes.CEO of DPA MicrophonesChristian Poulsen says: “We sawa demand in the market to attainthe d:facto sound with more thanjust the traditional black grids.”The company will also useProlight + Sound to showcase itsrange of d:vote 4099 instrumentmicrophones and d:dicaterecording microphone range.

Allen & Heath Xone:23: DJskills with style

ARX Blue DI: from the front!

DPA Microphones d:facto grids

“Our d:vote microphones havealways been popular withclassical musicians because theydeliver such fantastic sound andallow musicians to capture thetrue sound of their instruments,”says Poulsen. “However, in recentyears we’ve noticed a steadyincrease in sales to rock bandssuch as Metallica, D-A-D andParamore, who have experiencedhow the DPA sound enhancestheir performance. With our

Rock Touring Kits we are makingthe sound engineer’s task so much easier.”

Nürtingen-based Fohhn Audiowill unveil the latest addition toits Focus Series range ofsteerable line array systems.Focus Venue is a new series forlarge live sound applications. It isdesigned to complement theloudspeaker models currentlyavailable in the manufacturer’sLinea Focus and Focus Modularseries. The new loudspeakersoffer all the standard elements ofFohhn beam steering technology,including real-time remotecontrol and monitoring viaFohhn Audio Soft software. Thecompany’s Airea-Series compact,fully digital, networkableloudspeaker will also be makingits first tradeshow appearanceThe new loudspeakers will offerall the standard elements ofFohhn beam steering technology,

including real-time remotecontrol and monitoring viaFohhn Audio Soft software.

British loudspeakermanufacturer Funktion-Onewill showcase several newproducts at Prolight + Soundthis year. Visitors will have theopportunity to try out the newproducts and talk to designersTony Andrews and JohnNewsham. Firstly, the PSM318DJ Monitor will be on display,which has already been installedin several venues and festivalsaround the globe, includingSpace in Ibiza, Sound in LA,Output in New York, Miami’sUltra Music Festival andSerbia’s Exit Festival. DJ CarlCox comments: “Just as youthought Funktion-One couldn’tget any better, they designed thebest monitors I have ever workedon.” In addition to the PSM318,the Resolution 3 SH Evo andEH Evo loudspeakers will alsobe on show. The Resolution 3SH Evo and EH Evo have beeninstalled in Space, Moscow,where the main room, mainterrace, VIP terrace and VIPLounge are all equipped withFunktion-One sound systems.

Denmark-based soundreinforcement company, MachAudio is making its tradeshowcomeback after beingmothballed for some time. Machwill be demonstrating its DSPdriven loudspeaker system andlight weight power amplifier formobile and fixed applications.The company has alsoannounced the new MELAseries line array speaker series,the multipurpose CX12 andCX15 loudspeakers and lastlythe Shine Series plug and playsmall column speaker cabinets.

MXL Microphones hasannounced that it will beshowcasing its CR77 Live StageDynamic Vocal Microphone. The CR77 is the latest addition to the CR Series microphones.The grill has smaller holes toeliminate feedback onstage and afoam windscreen is built behindthe grill to further filter outbackground noise. The mic alsofeatures a built-in shockmount toreduce handling noise. Head ofproduct development for the

CR77 Scott Krueckeberg, says:“This is an ambitious project forus to move out of the studio,where we’re comfortable, andmove into the live stage worldand provide a high quality,dynamic microphone. We testedand perfected this capsule overmany months to come up withthe exact tonality we wanted. It’sa modern, brighter tonality michoused in a vintage body, andgreat for performers looking for a stage mic with character.”

Pan Acoustics has announcedthat its new product, the PanPowerline, will make itstradeshow debut. The newtechnology allows the installationof the active digital Pan Beamloudspeaker systems using onlytwo wires (I.e. YSTI wiredexisting old 100V-systems)providing audio, steering dataand power. Installation of PanBeam’s new product is incrediblysimple; as there is only the central control Unit and thecorresponding Pan Beam PPLthat needs to be connected to anexisting two-wire cable.

Universal Audio isshowcasing the UA 610 TubePreamp & EQ Plug-InCollection for the UADPowered Plug-Ins platform and Apollo audio interfaces. The 610 plug-in collectionincludes both the classic 610-A model and modern 610-Bhardware, and represents thefirst comprehensive modelling of this hallowed preamp design – including its tube and transformer componentsand unique distortioncharacteristics. The company hasalso recently unveiled the UADPowered Plug-Ins Software v7.5,which is UA’s new Unisontechnology to Apollo QUADand Apollo DUO interfaceshaving added several keyfeatures for Mac users. TheDangerous BAX EQ Plug-InCollection will also be featured.Dangerous BAX is the first andonly authentic plug-in emulationof the hardware studio staple,available exclusively for UAD-2DSP Accelerators and Apollo-equipped workstations. Presidentof Dangerous Music, BobMuller says: “We wanted to dosomething special and unique,more of a tone control-stylefinishing EQ that would notalter the essential character ofthe audio. The Bax EQ plug-in isa wonderful rendering of theessential characteristics of thehardware design. The guys atBrainworx did a fantastic job!”

QSC is bringing a range ofnew products, including the newCXD-Q Network Amplifiers. The CXD-Q is designed for usewith the Q-Sys Network AudioPlatform. QSC senior productmanager Dale Sandberg, says:“As Q-Sys products, they operatelike other Q-Sys peripheralsutilising the same standard Layer3 networking technology foraudio streaming, control andmonitoring.” The QSC TouchMixSeries Compact Digital Mixer willalso be demonstrated, followingits European tradeshow debut atISE in Amsterdam. The companywill also be showcasing the nextgeneration of Q-Sys EnterpriseCores. The new models, the Core 1100 and the Core 3100 arecapable of double the processing

speed of the preceding models.QSC install DSP productmanager, TJ Adams says: “Thesenext-generation server cores areuniquely suited to manage theextensive audio processing needsin larger deployments such asconvention centres, entertainmentvenues, hospitality settings andtransportation facilities.” �www.audient.comwww.ap.comwww.arx.com.auwww.allen-heath.comwww.dpamicrophones.comwww.fohhn.comwww.funktion-one.comwww.mach-audio.comwww.mxlmics.comwww.neutrik.comwww.pan-acoustics.dewww.qsc.com www.uaudio.com

NEUTRIK XIRIUM BRINGS WIRELESS AUDIO

NEUTRIK HAS announced thatseveral products will be featured,including Xirium, the DWA (digitalwireless audio) plug’n’play systemthat removes the need for trailingcables. The company says: “Xiriumcombines digital reception andtransmission routes in a bidirectionalnetwork and delivers uncompromisingaudio quality at the highest level.”Neutrik sales executive John Perryfurther revealed to PSNEurope that he has used Xirium at a Brit Awardafter-show party connecting to MeyerMINA and Subs across a marble floorand around two bars “where cableruns would have been difficult,

unsightly and time-consuming”.Perry says his team has built up anumber of similar reference projects,which PSNEurope will be discussing ina future article.

Neutrik will also demonstrate thenew spring-loaded sealing coverSCCD-W, which shuts automaticallyafter unplugging the cable connector,will also be on show. It seals thechassis connectors against dust and water according to IP65. Therange of Neutrik powerCONequipment connectors will also be ondisplay, including the powerCONTRUE1, powerCON 32 A andpowerCON 20 A.

Pan Acoustics Powerline control unit

Fohhn AudioFocus

Where? Messe FrankfurtshowpreviewProlight +

Sound 2014


Funktion One DJ Monitor

John Perry demonstrates Neutrik Xirium

THE MUSIC Producers Guildraised the bar to a whole newlevel at the sixth edition of its annual Awards ceremony,held last month at the PlazaRiverbank Hotel in London.The now must-attend evening oftrophy-giving in recognition ofoutstanding work in professionalrecording was trumped by a liveperformance by Trevor Hornand his band, with a rareappearance by singer Seal.

This year’s top Producer ofthe Year accolade – andautomatically the winner of the2014 Brit Award for BestProducer – was clinched bypartnership Flood (Mark Ellis)and Alan Moulder for theirwork on Foals album Holy Fire.

When PSNEurope suggestedto Flood that it was “about timehe won the award”, he wasquick to refute the idea. “No.

No. It’s not about time we wonit, it’s about time more peoplewere recognised for the workthat they do. There’s not a singleblack or R’n’B producer here,and I find that very difficult.

“This man [Alan Moulder] ismy best friend,” he continued,“and I’ve worked with him for30-odd years, and we sit thereevery day, and do our job, andare totally passionate about it.But there are so many people, inthe same position, that don’t getrecognised at these awards. Ithink more people should be.”

The UK Album of the Yeargong, sponsored by UniversalAudio, was also bagged by HolyFire. Everything Everythingclaimed the Shure-sponsoredUK Single Song Release of the Year for Kemosabe – thefour-piece were nominated foralbum of the year two years ago, but missed out to Adele’sall-conquering 21.

The MPG Innovation Award,sponsored by Genelec, wasawarded to style maverick DavidBowie, and accepted on hisbehalf by long-time producer-cohort Tony Visconti.

The Special RecognitionAward, sponsored by Protapeand Transco Blanx, waspresented to vinyl-cuttingveteran Sean Davies by BillWyman: the former RollingStone recalled how the first everacetate of a Stones song hadbeen cut by Davies in the ’60s.Davies admitted to having kepta copy of the cut – which wouldnow have an estimated worth of“£15,000” – but gave it away “to a girl I hardly knew”.

Rak Studios was victorious in the Studio of the Year stakes,with Radiohead’s ColinGreenwood presenting thetrophy to Rak’s Trisha Wegg.“It’s an OMG moment!” saidthe elated studio manager.

Breakthrough Producer of the Year, sponsored byFocusrite/Novation, went toDisclosure (Lawrence brothers

For the latest studio newswww.psneurope.com/studio

StudioThe Soho-based subsidiary ofScrub, HHHB Communications hassupplied equipment and services toReal World Studios for upgradesto Avid Pro Tools HDX and version 11 software. Real Worldrecording engineer Patrick Phillipscomments: ”These Pro Toolsupgrades ensure that we are at theleading-edge of audio technology,and the enhanced sound qualityand efficiency of the equipment willbe passed onto our clients.”www.hhb.co.uk/scrub

AKG reports that sound engineerDonal Hodgson (Sting, Jeff Beck,Primal Scream) has recentlyupgraded his recording set-up to include a pair of AKG K812s, the top-of-the-line referenceheadphones with a £1,000 price-tag introduced in Octoberlast year. Hodgson recordedRonnie Wood’s performance atBluesFest at the Royal Albert Halllast year with the ‘phones, and willbe using them on his next Stingproject. “The K812s are amazing,”he says. “They’re incrediblycomfortable, and although theyfelt quite heavy when compared tomy long-standing headphones,wearing them is a different story. I hardly noticed I had them on.”www.akg.com

Focusrite Audio Engineeringhasannounced the release of a newdocumentary about the history of its consoles and the people that usethem, featuring the company’s firstrecording console, the FocusriteForté, the predecessor to thestreamlined Studio Console. Only 10Studio Consoles were ever made andsix remain in operation to this day. www.focusrite.com

Amadeus Audiorevamped the interioracoustical and architectural designfor each of the ten studios at CreativeSound in Paris. Owner of Creative,Cristinel Sirli, says: “I encounteredAmadeus designer Michel Delucfollowing the recommendation ofPhilippe Guerinet, director ofinternational sales at SSL. Michel’sphilosophy, passion and approachabout sound, acquired through hiswork with musical and electro-acoustical fields, seduced me.” www.amadeusaudio.fr

SOUNDBITES

One Flood we don’t mind…UNITED KINGDOM

The sixth outing of the MPG Awards saw the Foals producer share the bigaward of the night, and the Brit Award, with his collaborator Alan Moulder.Meanwhile, Seal shone on stage with Trevor Horn. Dave Robinson reports

(L-R): Flood and Alan Moulder withFoals’ Edwin Congreave

Genelec’s Jarmo Masko handed David Bowie’s Award to Tony Visconti (right)

Show-stealers Seal and Trevor Horn (centre) with Fran Nevrkla of the PPL


Guy and Howard), whileBreakthrough Engineer of the Year, sponsored by Prism Sound, was secured byDan Cox.

Producer Trevor Horn washonoured for his OutstandingContribution to UK Music –and he brought his band TheProducers along, as if toreinforce the point. After theceremony, composer AnneDudley joined Horn, Lol Crème,Ash Soan and co on stage for ajoyous jaunt through the ex-Buggles’ pop portfolio, includingTwo Tribes (Frankie Goes toHollywood) and Video Killed the Radio Star. The audience of 400 were thrilled as guestvocalist Seal stepped up to singGrace Jones’ Slave to the Rhythm, Yes’ Owner of a LonelyHeart his own Horn-producedhits, Kiss From A Rose andCrazy. 10CC’s Eric Stewartfurther guested on a rendition ofI’m Not In Love.

Now in its sixth year, theMusic Producers Guild Awards

recognises the contribution made by recording professionalsto the success of the UK’s musicindustry. This year’s event,sporting a new host (comedianRich Hall) and a new venue afterfive years at the Café de Paris,once again highlighted theessential relationship betweenartist and recording professional,with many artists attending theceremony to present theirproducer with an award.

Steve Levine, chairman ofthe Music Producers Guild,said: “Our winners highlightthe creativity that is inherent in UK music production, and when you look at theamazing work these recordingprofessionals have done in thepast 12 months it is no surprisethat Britain’s recording talentremains the envy of the rest ofthe world.”

The complete list of winnersand sponsors for the 2014Awards is available on the MPGAwards’ website. �www.mpgawards.com

Disclosure: Breakthrough Producer

Comedian Rich Hall was the host

studionews


Trisha Wegg (centre) and the RAK Studios crew: Best Studio

Sean Davies with Bill Wyman (right): Special Recognition Awad

NORTH LONDON’S ChurchStudios has been undergoing itsfirst test sessions, born again asproducer Paul Epworth’s newestrecording facility.

In October 2012, approveddevelopment plans to convert thestudio (then owned by musicianDavid Gray) into flats appeared tohave put the final nail in the coffin

for the facility, first convertedinto a studio by the Eurythmics’Dave Stewart in 1984.

A year later, producer PaulEpworth bought the historicfacility following a proposal by

Gray. At the time, Epworth toldPSNEurope: “David approachedme as a last call to see if hecould keep the building as astudio rather than let it go toresidential. It’s a fantastic placeand I intend to refurbish thestudio to make it a viablecommercial business. I hope wecan keep it as a recording studiofor the next 10-20 years with abit of luck.”

Redesign of the studio wasdone by New York’s Walters-Storyk Design Group, withMiloco Builds carrying out theconstruction. Once open, thestudio will be managed andbooked by Miloco.

Last month, engineer Matt Wiggins put the main live space and the studio’s 72-channel vintage EMI Neve(reportedly the only such

console in London) through itspaces, in preparation for thefirst sessions proper.

The desk comprises twosections: one once belonging toAbbey Road Studios, the otherfrom the famed Pathé Marconistudios in Paris. Renown studio technician and vintageNeve specialist Blake Devittassembled the console.

Miloco MD Nick Youngsays: “We are close tocompleting Phase One of Paul’s vision for The Church. Itis incredible that he bought thestudio and the more we work onthe building the more excitingthe project has become.

“The arrival of the vintageEMI Neve was one of those ‘Eureka!’ moments.We are now busy preparing forthe first session starting nextweek with a test session today.Meanwhile the SSL mix roomand the writing studio are well under way. The Church is and will be an incrediblestudio complex.” �

www.miloco.co.uk

Engineer Matt Wiggins checks out the vintage Neve, while a celebratory bottle of champagne awaits some ice…

studioreport


The Church Studios rises againUNITED KINGDOM

Saved fromredevelopment into flats by Adele producerPaul Epworth, TheChurch Studios is bornagain as a Miloco-runrecording space. EricaBasnicki reports


By Erica Basnicki

DESIGN agency The StudioPeople Ltd has designed andconstructed a new fullyresidential music studio inWarwickshire called VadaRecording Studios.

Producer and studio ownerMatt Terry (Noisettes, OneNight Only, Ocean ColourScene), contacted Studio PeopleMD Peter Keeling back in April2012 with a view to purchasing aproperty that included old barnsideal for the new facility.

“Initially I planned for abuilding company to take careof the residential build whileStudio People handled the

studio side of things,” saysTerry. “You watch [the ChannelFour’s] Grand Designs and yousee all these disasters andcontractors who can’t work witheach other, so it was a reliefwhen Peter agreed to take on thewhole project.”

The facility includes a five-bedroom residential sectionalongside the main barn, whichhouses the large live room, a 48-channel SSL control room,drum booth, machine room andedit suite.

“The finish is superbthroughout the whole place,”says Terry. “Someone asked meif there was anything I wouldchange about the new Vada,

but after 17 years of working instudios I knew exactly what Ididn’t want to see in a studio, sothis is the culmination of allthat experience. I wouldn’t

change anything about thisplace. Everything is just perfectas it is.” �

www.studiopeople.comwww.vadarecordingstudios.com

The UK’s newestresidential studio

UNITED KINGDOM

studionews

Matt Terry with his 48-channel SSL at the new Vada Recording Studios

By Murray Stassen

FOCUSRITE AUDIOEngineering has announced arecording competition tocoincide with the company’s 25thAnniversary and 29 years since thecreation of the Focusrite brand.

The winners of this once-in-a-life time recording opportunity willrecord a track with Grammy andMPG award-winning producerGuy Massey at the world-renowned Air Studios in London.

Massey has worked with starsranging from the Manic StreetPreachers to Ed Sheeran. Thecompleted song will then be sentto one of London’s leadingmastering engineers.

The prize includes an allexpenses paid weekend at AirStudios for the winner and threeband mates. Air is home toFocusrite’s original Rupert Neve-designed recording consoles.�www.focusrite.com

Luck is in the AirUNITED KINGDOM

By Dave Robinson

A NEW home for London’sAlchemy Mastering officiallyopened its door at the end oflast month. Clients, associatesand friends were invited to therenowned studio’s new mewsHQ in Brook Green, nearHammersmith in west London,to view the facilities and meetthe team.

Alchemy Mastering firstopened its doors 17 years ago inLondon’s Fitzrovia, with BarryGrint (Abbey Road) and RowanLaxton (West End Music) at thehelm. In 2003, Alchemy made adramatic expansion to a stunning

location atop the Centre Pointtower in central London. Itwasn’t to last: five years later, adispute with the incumbentlandlord led to a sudden closureof the studio and a period ofregrouping by the directors.

Grint recalls a difficult time:“The closure was terribly sad, as the company was very wellrespected and profitable. For aperiod afterwards we managedto find some temporary space,before settling in Smithfield EastLondon. Despite having brandnew studios, it soon becameclear that the location would notwork for our mastering clients.

“It was a difficult decision to

separate into two companies, but it made commercial sense,”he continues. “Fellow directorPhil Kinrade – who joined thecompany in 2000 from Chop ‘EmOut – Rowan and I were knownfor the Alchemy name so, thevoice-over element has becomeAlchemy Post still in Smithfieldand our new company remainsAlchemy Mastering.”

Former Alchemy and AirStudios mastering engineer MattColton has re-joined Grint andKinrade as a director and equalpartner. Colton says: “The moveto Brook Green came at a pointwhere I felt I wanted to move onfrom being an employee and

working with Phil and Barrywas an excellent way to pursuethat. Together, we have created a

fantastic boutique facility in awonderful Mews property onthe doorstep of the MajorRecord Labels”.

Recent projects include James Blake’s Overgrown(Colton) and Gabrielle Aplin’sEnglish Rain (Grint). �www.alchemymastering.com

LOCATED JUST a shortdistance from the airport ofTreviso, a town in north-easternItaly’s Veneto region, Teatro delleVoci (The Theatre of Voices)Studios is an incredibly flexiblestructure offering a wide range of facilities for artists andperformers. The recording studiocomponent, although onlyrunning since last year, hasrecently embarked on anupgrade, with new main monitorsand numerous other additions toits already wide assortment ofoutboards and effects.

The multi-functionphilosophy took shape at thedrawing board stage, when thearchitects and structuraldesigners working on a newproject for what once the site ofa cinema were joined by JohnFlynn and Claudio Belletti ofAcoustics Design Group, whosebrief was not only to ensure that all the structural aspectsregarding the acoustic treatmentof the various areas weredesigned and constructed insuch a way as to obtainoptimum insulation betweenrooms and prevent sound

transmission outside thebuilding, but also to provideclients using the main (450sqm)room an infinite choice ofacoustic conditions.

ADG’s solution was a variableacoustic set-up that, by changingthe configuration of themotorised wall panels all roundthe room (on floor andmezzanine level), and loweringother huge panels flown fromthe 12m high ceiling, enablesvirtually any requirement to be met: from hard rock tosymphonic music and everythingbetween, as far as recording isconcerned, but also allows tohost live shows (there is a stage,seating for a 300-strong audienceand a grid and fly facilities forlighting and scenery).

Located on the mezzanine atopposite ends of the room, the

two controlrooms arecabled withall the otherrooms andControlRoom A, whichhosts a 32-channel Solid StateLogic 6000 E, brought in fromfacility manager and soundengineer Emiliano Maggiotto’sprevious studio, also featuresPro Tools HD, AlesisMasterlink ML-9600 HD,Tascam DA-30 MkII Pro andHHB CDR-830 recorders.

Here, Maggiotto gives aninsight on the latest upgrade:“Three months ago, we tookdelivery of a pair of ATCSCM150ASL main monitorsand six weeks ago the latestadditions to our selection ofoutboards arrived, chosen for

their ability to add a variety ofsonic ‘colours’ to our projectsand enable us to concentratefurther on mastering work…these include the ChandlerGermanium pre-amp, Compand Curve Bender, Daking MicPre/EQ and FET compressor II,Empirical Lab Fatso EL7,Maselec MEA-2 mastering EQand MCA-2 mastering

compressor, plus ThermionicCulture’s Phoenix masteringPLUS and a new brand for us –Cartec Audio – we’ve now gottheir EQ-Pre 2.”

The company called in for thecomplex acoustic work aimed at guaranteeing musicians andengineers optimum recordingconditions, ADG, is aninternational practice specialisedin designing broadcast studios,performance spaces, musicrecording studios, film postproduction and mix studios andother acoustically demandingspaces, and its wide experience is

based on more than 250 prestigeprojects worldwide.

Partner Claudio Bellettiexplains “All the systems (airconditioning, electrical, security,lighting, scenery, AV cabling, etc)had to meet precise acousticcriteria and, after installation,the components for thetreatment of the various areas(main room, control rooms andvocal booths) underwent strictoverall tests. Each wall andceiling panel has an absorbentside and a reflective one, soeffectively there are endlessacoustic combinations.”

Recording projects completedto date that have taken advantageof the variable acoustics haveranged from rock bands to theninety-piece Orchestra RitmicoSinfonica Italiana, and, apartfrom the room’s great flexibility,not many other studios are alsoable to provide theatre, danceand concert rehearsal facilitiesand areas equipped for holdingAV training courses as well ashosting (and recording) liveevents, showcases and TV shows.

Maggiotto enthusiasticallyconcludes with the latestequipment news, “Negotiationsare under way for the purchaseof a Neve VR60 console withmoving faders, which should be going into Control Room Aand the SSL moved to ControlRoom B.”�www.teatrodellevoci.com

Giving voice to the performing arts

studionews


ITALY

Mike Clark reports on anew Italian facility forclassical music, dance,theatre and TV

Acoustic flexibilityis paramount

SSL 6000E inthe control room

Alchemy celebrates new Hammersmith HQ

Let’s play master and service: Alchemy is ready to go in Brook Green

UNITED KINGDOM

By Tanyel Gumushan

CREATIVE SKILLSEThas announced that theBBC Academy will beoffering five new CreativeSkillset-funded initiativesfor freelancers in the UK.

The five-day studiocourses are aimed atimproving key industryskills for freelancepractitioners in studiosound, studio lighting, studio cameracraft and vision mixing.

Courses on offer include ‘high-endcraft training’ and ‘comedy studio craftskills,’ the latter of which will be hostedin partnership with a leading Europeanmedia provider, Dock10.

The course will run in differentlocations around the country in order to create a wider pool of talent withdifferent key skills so as to improveoverall employability in the industry.

Kate O’Connor from CreativeSkillset says: “The TV Skills Fundexists to ensure that freelancers aresupported by offering heavily subsidisedtraining to take up new opportunities

or to develop new skills where we haveidentified a shortage.”

“The BBC Academy will deliverworld-class training and by supportingthese initiatives we are developing adiverse and skilled freelance community,which in turn will contribute to thegrowth and success of TV production in the UK as a whole,” she adds.

The BBC Academy’s head of businessdevelopment, Andrew Carmichael says:“We are delighted that these initiatives,with funding from Creative Skillset, will make our training available andaffordable to broadcast freelancersworking across the UK.” �www.bbc.co.uk/academy

studionews


Creative Skillset and the BBC Academy: improving key skills

By Murray Stassen

GRAMMY-NOMINATED soundengineer Ben Findlay is mixing theaudio for two Peter Gabriel concertsfilmed at the O2 Arena in London inOctober 2013, ahead of their release asa cinema feature and DVD.

According to Findlay, SonnoxOxford plug-ins are playing afundamental role in the mixing of theproject: “Most of the EQs in this mixare Oxfords, and the Inflator is my

secret weapon. I use it primarily onPeter’s vocal channel, to give it apresence that dominates the mix. It’sproved extremely effective in bringingextra life to the drum bus as well.

“When we played the show mix backto Peter we put the ‘Warmth Function’on the Dynamics plug-in across theentire mix, which he loved. The wholeshow has that process added to it invarying degrees. That made the sign-offprocess much easier!” �www.sonnox.com

Big time help from SonnoxUNITED KINGDOM

Findlay: Shaping it up in his Sonnox world

BBC training boost UNITED KINGDOM

THE UNIVERSITY of Surrey,home to the revered Tonmeistersound recording degree, unveiledits revamped Studio 3 in January.The four-year Tonmeister courseis taught at the multi-studiorecording complex on theuniversity’s Guildford campus.“The first in-take was in 1970 –I think this will be our 40th year of graduates,” saysTonmeister programme director,Dr Russell Mason.

Studio 3 was built in 1999, theinitial purpose being to increasethe number of students that couldbe enrolled on the course. Theroom has now undergone a majorrefurbishment in terms of bothacoustic design and layout. The96-channel Sony Oxford consolefrom that era has now beenreplaced by an AMS Neve 88D.

Mason explains that the needfor a new console was a decidingfactor for the refurbishment:“The main reason was to replacethe Oxford,” he says. “We tookit as an opportunity to redo theacoustics in here – to turn theroom around to make the spacemuch more flexible so we canhave listening seminars in hereas well and to do it up.”

John Flynn and acousticianSam Toyoshima of AcousticsDesign Group carried out theredesign work. The partnershiphas undertaken projects atlegendary facilities such asAbbey Road and Sarm West, an indicator of the quality ofwork that was sought by the

Tonmeister academics.The new AMS Neve 88D

features a classic analogue front-end with up to 1,000 channels at24-bit/96kHz. Tutor in soundrecording and studio supportengineer, Alan Haigh, adds: “It’s got the same back-end as the

DFC (AMS-Neve DFC Gemini),the big film console, so they canlearn the software from that, andits got Encore Automation whichis the same across all Neves likethe 88RS, so [the 88D] sort ofticks every box, really.”

Due the multi-disciplined

nature of the Tonmeister course,it was important to the courseadministrators that studentshave access to a desk that would prepare them for high-end studios and dubbingtheatres. “We looked at a lot ofdesks and actually visited a lot

of manufacturers and tried them out,” explains professorTony Myatt.

“We were looking forsomething that was a musicmixing desk but also a desk thatpeople could mix to picture —something that you would find inthat sort of environment. TheNeve sits in the middle of thosetwo worlds,” says Myatt. The newconsole carries two quad MADIcards and runs on two DSPengines of 500 channels each.

“The reason we’ve done that isthat if anything goes down wecan carry on while we’re gettingthe other one replaced withoutlosing the room,” explains Haigh.“We’ve got 56 in and outs of ProTools and also Pyramix here aswell because we use that in theclassical studio, and you can mixfrom that in here equally well.”

The refurbished studio is nowequipped for mixing in stereoand 5.1 surround sound.Monitoring is courtesy of a 5-channel ATC system, while aGenelec subwoofer handles lowfrequencies. “The monitorspeakers are the same as before,ATC 100s,” says Haigh. “We hadthem in the year 2000 and we’vegot them in the other studio aswell. If the place burned downwe’d buy them again. The designhasn’t changed, its one of thesegreat things, they cost a lot tostart with, but once you’ve got,you’ve got them forever.” �www.surrey.ac.ukwww.ams-neve.com


studionews

Refurbished recording facilities have been unveiled at The University of Surrey, keeper of the acclaimed Tonmeister course, reports Murray Stassen

Studio 3.2 for Surrey sound studentsUNITED KINGDOM

A close up of the AMS Neve 88 D whichwill be used by Tonmeister students

The refurbished Studio 3features ATC SCM100

Tonmeister sound academics from L-R: Alan Haigh; Michael Price; Prof. Tony Myatt; Dr Russell Mason

By Mike Clark

ROME-BASED STUDIOdesigner Dino D’Ambrosiorecently completed work onItaly’s first cinema mixingfacility catering for DolbyAtmos, at Margutta DigitalInternational A/V post house.

The facility, which works onItalian productions and Italianversions of foreign films, is inVia Margutta – a few yardsfrom Piazza di Spagna – in a

building hosting cinema soundfacilities since the days ofFederico Fellini. Work hasalready begun on the firstAtmos projects – the new film 300 – Rise of an Empire,followed by the latestSpiderman adventure and thenew Godzilla movie.

D’Ambrosio, describingDolby Atmos as the “audioequivalent of 3D” explains:“Sounds in this case areidentified from a spatial point of

view by their polar coordinates,so my job, after a few smallchanges to the 15 x 11m room’stuning, was to design theAtmos-compliant JBL system,guaranteeing its coverage anglesby precise positioning of the 18SCS 12 THX and 22 8350 THXeffects speakers.”

Since the buildings in thisarea of Rome are classified, theforty FX speakers are installedon a special Litec trussstructure, designed by HSE, who

also customised the rig toeliminate vibration. The roomhas a main JBL screen systemcomprising three 4675 and a SW4181 sub, plus a pair of 3635rear subs, and the all-Crown DSipowerhouse has 12 2000 and 141000 models. Processors includethe all-important Dolby AtmosRMU (Rendering andMastering Unit) while theconsole is a 48-fader Avant Plus.

The seal of approval for the Rome room was not

granted by Dolby Europe’scertification team, led by JamesSeddon. D’Ambrosio has sinceannounced that he has beencommissioned to upgrade threemore Rome studio, with a fourthproject being negotiated. �www.dinodambrosio.com

First Italian Dolby Atmos mixing room inauguratedITALY

Dino D’Ambrosio: Atmos fearless

We are inviting project entriesin the following categories:

• Public display/retail• Education• Sports and performing arts• Corporate and industrial• Residential

For entry form please visit:www.installawards.com/categories

within the AV industryexcellence

Celebrating

For tickets & tables reservation:contact Sarah Harris –

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[email protected]+44 (0)20 7354 6000

1 2 t h J u n e 2 0 1 4 • H i l t o n L o n d o n W e m b l e y

A TVBEurope event

WHO SHOULD ATTENDDirectors of Technology, Heads of Production at independent production companies, Directors of equipmentrental or hire, Heads of Outside Broadcasts, Production Man-agers, Senior Directors, Heads of Cameras, Chief Engineers, Programme Operations Managers, Stereographers, Producers, Directors of Broadcasting, StudioDirectors, Technical Consultants, Research Engineers

TARGET AUDIENCE ORGANISATIONPublic broadcaster, commercial broadcaster, production com-pany, niche channel provider, playout provider, post production and facilities, rental and hire, outside broadcast and events service, freelance professional, business television, broadcast equipment vendor, broadcast equipment channel provider

WHY ATTEND?Discover the media eco-chain for ultra-HD Hear from theworld standardisation leaders Case studies from high-profile production trials Find out the future for 3D TV inEurope Tech insights into frame rates, codecs, formats Meetthe key market influencers and vendors Network with technology & production colleagues Know what the Beyond HD roadmap looks like

PREVIOUS ATTENDEES INCLUDEOrange, ITV, Sony Pictures, Arqiva, 20th Century Fox,Telenor, Panavision Europe, BBC, S4C, Discovery Networks Eu-rope, Sky, Pro TV, Siemens, MTV International, Dolby, EDU, Digi-tal TV Group, Deluxe, Cambridge Research Systems Ltd,BKSTS, Bath University, Atlantic Productions, Finnish Broad-casting Co.,Fountain Studios, France Telecom/Orange Labs

To book your tickets visit: www.beyondhdmasters.comor call Sara Mather +44 (0) 20 7354 6001For details on sponsorship opportunities, please contact:

Ben Ewles on +44 (0)207 354 6000 or [email protected] Steve Connolly on +44 (0)207 354 6000 or [email protected]

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Date: Tuesday, June 3rd 2014 Venue: BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London

SAVE £100!by booking the

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Next in the series of Beyond HD Masters events for TVBEuropeIf high definition is the new standard definition, then what’s beyond HD?

Is 4K the next target for high-end TV production, broadcast and display - or 8K?What is going to drive the European television technology industry into the future?

Follow us on Twitter@@BeyondHDMasters

THE BLOGS are agog withclassic gear. Here’s a recentsample from Gearslutz.com:“My brother [is] about to shopfor some real nice gear-candy,such as a Teletronix LA-2A,Urei 1176, TubeTech CL1B,Avalon M5, Avalon 737-SPand a Sony C800G. Cananyone tell me where to findthis stuff ? This guy wants

the real deal!”

Immediately you see aperceived gap between the “realdeal” and anything else, whetherthat be a software emulation orone of a growing inventory ofhardware replicas reproducedwith varying degrees of faith,hope and charity. Faith, becausetechnical accuracy is at the mercyof your sources; hope, becausesuccess is at the mercy of yourtechnical accuracy; and charity,because many replicas are built

with no commercialintentions at all. A smallcommunity of followersshare their enthusiasm like asecret sect.

PPATH OF LEASTRESISTANCETake Keith Andrews, whocut his technical teeth in theheyday of Amazon Studiosin Liverpool and is nowtechnical engineer at FullSail University in Florida.“I’ve concentrated onbuilding some ‘replicas’ of

my own,” he says. “I have acouple of processing racks withthe usual suspects in them and,when [producer] Mick Glossopcame to Florida a couple ofyears ago, I happily loaned himwhatever he wanted, since we goback a bit and I always enjoyedworking with him.”

More recently Andrews hasbeen toying with a couple ofhybrid ideas, combining the bestof more than one unit in a waythat sidesteps the issues of

Intellectual Property – notunlike creative sampling inmusic. The other challenge, he says, is consistency. “Oneproblem is that there’s a wide range of standards of re-creation. Some builders aren’t perhaps as diligent orknowledgeable as the originalcreators, so you sometimes haveto build a few of them to playwith and discover where theshortfalls are. Some builders willonly build one, for personal use.

The most common motivation isjust to have a rare piece of kitwithout spending ‘genuinerarity’ dollars. For that reasoneven the same schematic can be built to many differentstandards by different people.”

But despite the insularity ofsome corners of the replicascene, the commercial potentialof reinvented racks is beginningto make itself felt. Andrewshimself has partnered withfellow Brit Dafydd Roche tocreate Expat Audio, a goingconcern that supplies PCBsbased on popular classics, whileeven ‘in-the-box’ pop producerHal Ritson is attracted by thecombination of retro outboardand new-build reliability.

“I’m not averse to the conceptof re-makes,” he reveals. “If I wasto buy a second microphone today

Re-make/re-model

Phil Ward examines attitudes towards replicaclassics, and finds that there may be a market forclassic replicas…

Say “Snap!” if you spota box you already own

studiofeature


A ReFill plug-in for Propellerheadusers: can you think of a reason why not?

“Chandler has workedwith original TG gear foryears, so that has dictatedour initial push intohardware” Mirek Styles

�

I’d be quite interested in a classicmodel – but one that doesn’t haveall the maintenance problems ofsomething 40 years old. I’d betempted by that idea. Otherwise I run with one microphone,doing huge numbers of vocalsessions that end up on chartrecords and, for all you mightwant to get into gear porn, noone ever comes in and asks whatmicrophone we’re using. It’s amid-range Neumann, and it does

virtually everything. Occasionally,if we’re mic’ing up a drum kit ina certain way, then we’ll trackdown something in detail.

“This stuff is so delicate,people don’t tend to let it out oftheir hands – so it’s not rentablein that sense. It gives a case for a specialist commercial niche, a reason for certain recordingstudios to still exist. Having awell-curated, well-maintainedcollection of old equipment is

one USP – the other being alarge, unique acoustic space. The studio has to answer thequestion: what can it do that youcan’t do at home?”

PPURPLE HAYESSome studios can answer thatquestion easily – and give yousomething for home, too. AbbeyRoad’s replica hardware partneris Chandler Ltd, based in Iowaand founded by Wade Chandler.

“Wade is doing TG-inspiredhardware, based on our TGcompressors, EQ units andpreamps,” explains Mirek Stiles,Abbey Road’s head of audioproducts and an experiencedsession recording engineer here. “Itcomplements our software plug-inpartnership with Waves. Software ismore popular in terms of numbers,because it’s cheaper, moreaccessible and more convenient forpeople to use, but there is still amarket out there for hardware. Theunits sell in steady numbers everymonth – not huge, but steady. It’squite surprising, in a way.”

Propellerheads’ ‘Abbey RoadKeyboards’ software bundle wasclearly branded and marketed tomake the most of association withthe name, and the TG modulesare no different. “Absolutely,Chandler markets the AbbeyRoad Range, including our logo,”Stiles confirms. “We fully endorsethe products.” And what makesthe studio decide which elements

of its own signal paths to offerup? replies Stiles. “We sit downwith Wade and the schematicsand try to work out what wouldbe popular, what is needed by therecording community. It’simportant to us to release whatpeople will be excited by.”

Before sending test signals toChandler or Waves, Stiles hasthe privilege of being able to

studiofeature


“I try to avoid collecting huge amountsof hardware,” admits pop producerand Young Punx co-founder HalRitson. “It takes up a lot of space andit sucks up all your money. I have aMoog Voyager, a reinvention of theMini-Moog; I use all the softwareplug-in versions – keyboards, desks,EQs and so on; and I use Line 6 Variaxguitars to model vintage tones.

“I mostly stay working in the box,then if I need the real thing I use thestudio of a friend who collects all thisgear. He tends to collect the real,vintage originals. He wouldn’tcomplain about buying a new re-make, but he tends to hunt down the

actual one The Beatles used, orwhoever. If you’ve got one sound thatyou’re after, then get the gear for that one sound. If you need a lot ofvariety, you’d end up with hundredsof racks to maintain and hundredsof thousands of pounds worth ofequipment to use on a song once a year. It’s a bettereconomic model to haveone guy who collects itall and has people come to him to rent it, while everyone elsehas a lighterpackage for useevery day.”

THE (FLIGHT) CASE AGAINST

Curve Bender close up: Blunt or Med Blunt..? �

�

Hal Ritson:avoiding

visit the EMI archives in Hayes,Middlesex and relay any notesand schematics he can find thatrepresent each chosen piece ofequipment. “Over in Hayes iswhat used to be EMI’s factorywhere the records were allpressed – along with televisionsets, radios and gramophones,”he continues. “You name it, theydid it! It has slowly dwindledand there’s no originalmanufacturing any more, butthe archives are still there. Allthe tapes are there, all of ourpaperwork and the EMI ArchiveTrust is based there, with a small museum showing TVs,microphones, tape machines andso on. It’s an amazing building,very well preserved and curatedby the Trust, which is aregistered charity. Luckily, I cango down there and I’m allowedto dig my nose in and see what Ican find! Notes, scribbles, bits ofpaperwork… blow the dust of abox, and it might be somethingrelated to any one of thoseclassic recordings.”

The association between AbbeyRoad and Chandler Ltd has, sofar, resulted in the TG ChannelMkII, a re-creation of severalvintage circuits; the TG1 AbbeyRoad Special Edition Compressor,hewn from the legendary EMITG12345 mixing console; the verypopular TG12345 Curve Bender(see boxout TOP FOUR); and theTG12413 Zener Limiter.

DDEMOGRAPHIC EQA generation or two raised onlaptops may raise a paintedeyebrow at all this, but MirekStiles detects a natural evolution.“There’s a market for people of

any age wanting something that’sa bit unusual,” he points out.“Obviously a young producer orengineer gets his first laptop orDAW with a basic set of plug-ins, but as you get to learn thoseyou get curious about what elseis out there. There’s plenty ofinformation in the media aboutclassic gear and the producerswho love them, word getsaround and you get inspired toexperiment and explore. It’s likean adventure. Once you startchipping away here and diggingthere, before you know it you’veopened yourself up to this entireworld of possibilities. I think

studiofeature

34 l June 2013 www.psneurope.com

Mirek Stiles, Abbey Road: “The onethat Wade, myself and many of theengineers at Abbey Road would pickout is the one we’ve called the CurveBender, a TG EQ unit. It’s a beautifulsounding EQ, very creative and verymusical with a huge amount ofoptions. It crops up on trackingnotes everywhere.”

Keith Andrews, Expat Audio: “Aguy called Larry Janus in SouthernFlorida founded the TubeEquipment Corporation, and hemakes the Blackbird – not a straightreplica of the Fairchild 670 but adevelopment of it. For him, it’s not just about cloning. I like thissaying: there’s two types of fool inthe world: one that says somethingis good because it’s old; and onethat says something is betterbecause it’s new. Age itself is notthe criterion.”

Kevin Walker, Unity Audio: “Toni Fishman in Connecticutstarted by simply makingreplacement polar-pattern selectorswitches for the old Telefunken ELA

M 251 microphones – and ended up buying the rights to the namefrom Germany and manufacturingthe whole mics all over again. Theyare superb: at one comparison withthe originals at British Grove theywere indistinguishable. Geoff Fosterat Air Lyndhurst – one of thegreatest collections of mics in theworld – recently bought three ofthem from us.”

Guy Davie, Electric Mastering: “Istarted using the EAR 822Q EQ, aPultec copy, then managed to get acouple of originals – and went backto the EAR! I actually prefer thereplicas: they have a sweeter topend. Old Pultecs, old Fairchilds, oldanything else… they vary quite a lot,and recapping the valves can goeither way.”

TOP FOUR BOXES

Kevin Walker of Unity

Tube Equipment Corporation Blackbird: “Not a straight replica of the Fairchild 6570 but a development of it”

�

�

there’s a genuine interest outthere. It’s like someonediscovering a band from the ’60sor ’70s – but you wouldn’t havebeen able to try this equipmentup until about five years agowhen this all began to kick off.”

Just as sampling quickly grewout of trying to be authentic andbecame an exciting departure forsomething new, re-modelledsignal processing can – andperhaps should – be a differentkind of path: one to newhorizons rather than ancientlandscapes. “It’s also a chance forAbbey Road to keep the legacyalive,” adds Stiles, “otherwise thisequipment might well becompletely forgotten about.”

NAMM saw a jointannouncement with Waves thatAbbey Road’s fabled ArtificialDouble Tracking (ADT), atechnique so favoured by John Lennon, is to appear as theReel ADT plug-in. “It’s neverreally been done before,” saysStiles, “firstly because nobody’shad access to the gear andsecondly because nobody’s hadaccess to the definitive guide tohow Abbey Road used to do it.It’s such an important effect thatAbbey Road created – KenTownsend, of course – and it’sfinally going to be available toeveryone. I’m really excitedabout that because it’s beenmisunderstood so many timesover the years.”

Abbey Road clients might beforgiven for asking to try theoriginal units so well preserved inthe racks and walls of thebuilding, as opposed to enquiringabout copies. This market is notabout providing studios withattractive replicas – at least notyet. But could a mid-rangemarket open up if the replicasbecome alluring enough to justifypopulating a room with a rent-able brace? The originals won’tlast forever and, if their legacy isindeed secured, it’s the replicasthat will have to carry the market.

“It could be a more efficient use of studio space,” adds Keith Andrews, “if it was forsignal processing only. Thetraditional recording space isessentially redundant, onceyou’ve finished the overdubs.”No wonder one ‘Nils F’ recentlyposted on the US-based VintageKing web site: “Guys, I wish you had an office here in Europe.We also deserve a Vintage King! Looking forward to allfuture business with you guys.Thumbs up! ” Like I said, theblogs are agog. �

studiofeature


According to Marco Pasquariello,engineer-manager at London’s SnapStudios (right), theres a real case forthe re-make that adds somethingnew rather than simply replacingsomething old. “I’d say they weremodern re-creations as opposed toreplicas,” he says. “Our RetroInstruments 176 is a new take on the

UA 176, and I think it does somethingquite unique. Plus the originals are sohard to come by and quite hard tomaintain, so it made sense. We alsorecently got a modern version of theUrei 1176 the WesAudio Beta76 andI think it’s great. It sits next to anoriginal Revision D and Revision Fbut it offers something different. It’s

a lot smoother and it’s cheap – we’renot snobs!

“The people who use our studio arefamiliar with this gear and expect it,especially the older generation ofengineer. But the guys who come fromcomputer backgrounds can beintroduced to something that’s asimilar take on the vintage gear but

with a modern twist differentfunctionality. The originals have beendeveloped, not just copied.”

SNAP DECISIONS�

Marco Pasquariello

THE 2014 WINTER Olympicshas come and gone, with theParalympics quicklyapproaching. An ostentatiousopening ceremony in theRussian city of Sochi saw one ofthe Olympic rings fail to deploy,with an equally grand closingceremony making reference tothe mishap, treating viewers tosome knowing Russian humour.The broadcast operation atSochi was no laughing matterthough, as various leadingmanufacturers made thecoverage of this large-scale event possible.

At the start of the Games,PSNEurope reported on whatbrands were to be featured at the Olympics with the littleinformation that was available atthat time, but we are now finallyable to provide you with a muchmore detailed overview of whofacilitated the sound of Sochi.

Mediagroup announced thatits Stagetec Aurus, Auratus andCrescendo mixing consoles,Nexus audio network equipmentand Delec commentary systems

featured in the newly builtstadiums, OB trucks ofparticipating broadcasters aswell as in a major installationfor Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR. Managing director atSalzbrenner StagetecMediagroup StephanSalzbrenner, says: “The demandfor high-quality mixingequipment and reliable audionetworks is so high that we havesent a number of additionalcomponents to Sochi to extendthe existing set-up temporarily.”

American-based NBCOlympics used MergingTechnologies’ Horus andOvation systems to managecontent play out from Sochi.NBC also used Artemis consolesthat were provided by CalrecAudio. Ovation and Horussystems were connected to the Artemis consoles viaAES/EBU. Ovation was used tocue music and stings as well asbumpers in and out ofcommercial breaks with a livevoice over channel cued up forany live announcements.

NBC Olympics alsopurchased multiple CEDARDNS 8 Live dialogue noisesuppressors. CEDAR salesdirector Clive Osborn says: “We have removed crowd noise,equipment noise, studio noise,and even vuvuzelas to helpensure the highest qualitybroadcasts from all of theseevents. NBC Olympics firstpurchased several DNS1000sfrom us in 2003 for the 2004Summer Olympics in Athens,and we are delighted that theyhave now added these DNS8 Lives to their arsenal in 2014.”

Global broadcast servicesprovider Bexel announced that it used Lawo’s audio and video-over-IP networking technology.The system configurationincluded a Lawo mc256 mixingconsole and a DALLIS (Digital, Analogue, Line LevelInterface System) frame with the analogue I/O linked to theconsole’s HD Core usingRavenna over a single Cat-5 line. Bexel project managerJohnny Pastor, says: “Operators

were impressed not only withhow good the Lawo consolessounded, but also with ease of operation.”

Riedel Communications’MediorNet fibre-based networksupported the transport of HDvideo and audio signals, data,and Riedel Artist intercomsignals throughout the event. A Riedel Mass Cast deploymentincluding 14 transmitters andthousands of receivers andearpieces provided supportduring the opening and closingceremonies. Riedel supplied andcoordinated the installation of90 discreet radio channels andmore than 1,300 radios and1,000 headsets.

German public broadcastersARD and ZDF chose Fairlightaudio post-production systemsfor their coverage. Bothbroadcasters offered theirviewers extensive coverage ofthe games in HD from theInternational Broadcast Centreand the Mountain BroadcastCentre, using ARD and ZDF’s mobile production unit.The surround-sound audio post production for this eventwas completely based onFairlight’s Crystal Core MediaEngine technology.

Broadcast rental specialistPresteigne Broadcast Hiresupported broadcasters fromaround the world such asJapan’s Nippon TelevisionNetwork (NTV) as they sentcoverage back from the Sochislopes. NTV rented a number of XDCam decks for recording,editing and ingest. Technicaldirector of NTV Yujin Suzukisays: “As Olympic coverage isnot an everyday event, we needto supplement our ownequipment with rented kit. Wehave been working withPresteigne Broadcast Hire forsome years now to cover anumber of events.”�www.sochi2014.com

For the latest broadcast newswww.psneurope.com/broadcast

broadcastNHK is using a new media fileextraction and re-formattingsystem to add audio descriptiontracks to archive programmes.The work is an extension of theJapanese public broadcaster’sproject to make its library ofmaterial on P2 solid state digitalvideo cards compliant withloudness regulations. This beganin late 2012 using UK developerEmotion Systems’ eFF (EmotionFile Finish) system to bring thedata-based programmes in linewith the TR-B32 standard.www.emotion-systems.com

Sirius XM Radio in New Yorkrecently took delivery of twoChaterOak SCL-1 DiscreteCompressors for use on the livemusic broadcast mix at HowardStern’s 60th Birthday Bash, heldin the Hammerstein Ballroom atManhattan Center in New York.Chris Gibbons, senior manager of studio operations for Sirius XMsays: “Mixing a number ofdifferent style performancesmakes live sound for broadcastchallenging, the CharterOak SCL-1’s worked perfectly and the soundwas spectacular.”

TSL Products reports that BBCSport has implemented the TSLSoundField X-1 Upmix/DownmixProcessor as an integral part of itsproduction process at MediaCityUKin Salford. The X-1 takes stereocontent within the productionprocess and converts this into phasecoherent 5.1 for HD transmissions.“We recognise the need to have ahigh-quality upmix system in ourarsenal of equipment to ensure thatwe offer consistency of image to oursurround sound viewers,” says Dave Lee, lead sound supervisor forBBC Sport.www.tslproducts.com

HHB Communications introducedthree new products last month at BVE,held at London’s ExCeL Centre: thenew TC Electronic Reverb 8 algorithmfor the System 6000 audioprocessing platform, an unbalancedAES I/O option for the DB6Broadcast Audio Processor and a newLoudness Quality Logger (LQL) forthe TM7 and TM9 TouchMonitors. www.hhb.co.uk

SOUNDBITES

The icing on the OlympicsRiedel, Stagetec, CEDAR and Lawo all added to the broadcasting of the Games, says Murray Stassen

RUSSIA


Russia won the highest number of medals during the Games

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UNITED KINGDOM

Lectrosonics thrills on Scarlett’s chiller

UNITED KINGDOM

Belden to purchase Grass Valley

By Murray Stassen

UNDER THE Skin was adaptedfrom Michel Faber’s 2000 novelof the same name, and is aboutan alien (played by ScarlettJohansson) sent by anintergalactic corporation to preyon unwary hitchhikers inScotland. The film was wellreceived at the Toronto andVenice film festivals in 2013 andis set for release in the UK on 14 March 2014.

Location sound expert NigelAlbermaniche, who has over 50 feature film credits to hisname, acted as the film’sproduction sound mixer.Albermaniche utilised Digital

Hybrid Wireless equipmentmade by Lectrosonics to capturemuch of the sound for the film.

The equipment that was usedincludes two Octopack portablemulticouplers outfitted withSRb dual channel slot mountENG receivers, multiple SMQVand UM400a transmitters,UCR411a receivers, two T4 IFBtransmitters, and 22 R1a IFBreceivers – all of which wasaugmented by the use of fourALP500 log periodic dipolearray antennas.

Albermaniche explains: “The quality of audio of thisequipment is phenomenal and,no matter how difficult thecircumstances were, everything

worked without a hitch. In onecase, Jonathan (Glazer) was in abuilding close to the street wherewe were shooting and I was atthe traffic light – the midpointbetween the director and theaction – while Scarlett wasanother building away gettingready to come around a corner.Using the IFBs, he managed tocommunicate to her without anydropouts. All the while, I was inthe middle getting perfect rangeon her SMQV.

“The ALP500s wheresquashed in a sports bag andyet, they performed just as they should. The audio quality,range… everything, it all worked beautifully. Simplysensational! I’ve never beenhappier! I have the utmost trustin this equipment.” �

www.lectrosonics.com

broadcastnews


BELDEN, THE cable andnetworking giant, has submitteda binding offer to purchaseGrass Valley for $220 million(€160.6 million). Belden intendsto combine broadcast productsmaker/technology developerGrass Valley with its ownMiranda Technologies business,which last year was awarded apatent for a new process toreduce audio delay on its rangeof NVISION 8500 series hybridrouters. Grass Valley’s namewill remain.

The transaction is subject toregulatory approval in the USand elsewhere and is to consultwith Grass Valley’s foreignlabour works council, afterwhich Belden will enter into adefinitive agreement. “We areextremely excited to have GrassValley join the Belden family.By combining Grass Valley andMiranda, we will create thebroadcast industry’s largest andmost complete portfolio,” saidJohn Stroup, president andCEO of Belden.

“Market demand appears to bestable in the majority of our end-markets,” added Stroup. “Evenafter completing the acquisitionof Grass Valley, our funnel andbalance sheet will remain strong.We are confident that theseinitiatives position us to performwell, and we remain comfortablewith our previously announcedearnings outlook for 2014.”

Belden believes that theability to purchase an end-to-end solution from thecombined businesses will reduce complexity and increasefunctionality, ease-of-setup, and maintenance andoperability. The company aimsto provide access to the mostcomprehensive, innovativeproducts in the broadcastinfrastructure industry throughone organisation. �www.miranda.comwww.grassvalley.com

Scarlett Johansonn on the set of Under theSkin, adapted from Michel Faber’s 2000 novel

Belden will continue to promote the Grass Valley brand under theleadership of Miranda presidentMarco Lopez

Nigel Albermaniche with the Lectrosonics

wireless equipment

By Kevin Hilton

BIRMINGHAM CITYUniversity has opened a new five-studio media centre,featuring audio suites, a radio studio and wirelessmicrophone capability.

The project was broughtabout by the relocation andmodernisation of threedepartments within theuniversity; the Faculty ofPerformance, Media andEnglish, the Faculty ofTechnology, Engineering and

the Environment and theBirmingham Institute of Artand Design.

All three now have access tofive studios and supportingfacilities, as opposed to theprevious single studio set-up.The new media centre was

installed by CVP, which selecteda range of technology andequipment, including Sonycameras, OLED monitors andwireless microphones and AvidPro Tools.

Of the five TV studios, whichare all acoustically isolated,three have control areas withaudio capability. The largest ofthem, Studio A, has a galleryarea with a separate soundcontrol room based round a 152 IO Studer Vista 5 consolewith a Pro Tools system workingon Mac Pro featuring a selectionof plug-ins.

Studio C also features ProTools and a Vista 5 but with 64inputs and 72 outputs. Studio Dis a dedicated news area with acombined vision and audiocontrol area, featuring aSoundcraft Si Compact 16mixer, plus Pro Tools.

Wall boxes in each studioprovide sources for the galleries.Microphone selection includesSony UWP-X8 handheldwireless mic units and UWP-X7lavaliers, with Sanken Cos 11 mic heads, Sennheiser E840s and RØDE shotguns. Presentertalkback is carried over SennheiserEK200 in-ear monitors. Allstudios communications arethrough a networked TrilogyGemini intercom.

The media centre housesfour craft editing suites, one ofwhich is a dedicated Pro Toolsroom. This has a C24 controllerand a 5.1 loudspeaker systembased on Genelec 8030s, whichalso feature in the audio areasof Studios A and C, along with 8020 nearfield monitors.Studio D’s control room has8020s only.

There is also a general-purpose audio studio with avoice booth. The control room is set up for 5.1 and features Pro Tools with C24, a Pioneer DJ submixer andTechnics turntables.

Radio is catered for with sixstudios each with three Axiadesks. CVP’s head of systemsintegration, Philip Hatch,explains that these can be usedfor self-operation or one studiocan act as the control area foranother. Other equipmentincludes Sonifex HY-03telephone hybrids.

“The facilities were designedto full broadcast standardsbecause the University is aimingto hire them out commerciallyas well as use them for teachingand training,” comments Hatch.CVP is also providing technicalsupport and consultancy on atwo-year contract. �www.bcu.ac.uk

UNITED KINGDOM


broadcastreport

Studer Vista 5 is the centrepiece of Studio A. Top: media ahoy!

Bolstering broadcast at Birmingham City University

All Im

ages courtesy of the Business D

esign Centre

Only pro-AV event to be ledby the main stakeholderswithin the key verticals

4th September 2014 Business Design Centre - London

Only dedicated UK eventfor systems integrators/pro-AV installer /AVconsultants and end users

Only UK pro-AV conferenceto be supported by atechnical exhibition andtraining breakout sessions

A new one-day conference and expo brought to you by

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By Murray Stassen

THE UK’S longest runningsoap opera, Coronation Street,was recently relocated fromManchester’s Quay StreetStudios to the eight-acre studioand production facility on theTrafford side of MediaCityUK.BroaMan and Optocore fibredistribution devices are playinga key role in the automationsystem at the new location. The relocation has also seen theinstallation of Harman’s digitalStuder Vista 1 – the first Studersale to an ITV facility.

The show’s technical manager,Stan Robinson, conceived theaudio, video and data transport

solution. System integrationspecialist TSL carried out theinstallation, testing andcommissioning of the newsystem. TSL deployed 10Optocore DD2FR-FX devicesto transport native MADI overthe fibre network.

TSL project engineer Phil Cooper, says: “The broaddesign was based on theprevious set-up in Quay Street with the intention ofstreamlining, and improvingwherever possible. This wascarried out using a combinationof contemporary technologysolutions and TSL’s industryexperience, along with thevision of Stan.”

Cooper continues: “We knewthat the ‘automatic homing’ ofthe Optocore system, wherebystage boxes will find their homegallery from any live connectionpoint, would be a valuablebenefit. However, the main USPof this Optocore system is theability to plug a stage box inanywhere and be connectedautomatically to the correctgallery or OB van.”

“I needed a solution that was not too taxing for theoperational crew – little morethan plug and play. I also wanteda box that when connected byfibre and all the level signalswould be there,” says Robinson.He explains that compatibility

with the fibre network wascrucial when choosing the newmixing platform.

Following a demonstration ofStuder’s Vista 5, the team optedfor the 22-fader Studer Vista 1.“We realised the Vista 1 wouldoffer more or less the samefacilities and also that it wascompatible with Optocore fibredistribution. We have all beenextremely happy with the decisionto back the Studer platform, andit has been extremely wellreceived,” adds Robinson.

Production on the newCoronation Street set started inearly January. “We were given ashort lead time of just one weekof rehearsals at the new site, soeverything had to work first time and be operationally easy to use,” concludes Robinson.

“We are delighted withBroaMan and Optocoresolution, which has offered us anincredibly flexible solution.”�www.broaman.com www.harman.comwww.optocore.com

BroaMan, Optocore andStuder key for Corrie

UNITED KINGDOM


broadcastreportThe Studer Vista 1 at the

new Coronation Street set


broadcastnewsCANADA

CAST BlackTrax attacks 3D audio market By Kevin Hilton

BLACKTRAX, PART of theCAST group of lighting designand video imaging softwaredevelopers, has appointedChristopher Jenkins (pictured)to run its new audio operation.

Jenkins is president and chiefexecutive of US sound post-production facility BISBYCorporation and has worked asa re-recording mixer as well ashaving been an executive atUniversal Studios and Todd-AO.

The stated aim of BlackTraxAudio is to adapt its parentcompany’s 3D image positioningand tracking technology for the sound domain to producespatial systems for television and film production, as well aslive events.

Bruce Freeman, chairman ofthe CAST Group, comments thatwith 3D already being done forvisuals, new audio technologycombined with BlackTrax’s livedata streaming system can do thesame for sound.

“BlackTrax delivers the datawhich pinpoints the 6D precisetarget information to bring ‘live’alive and life into playback,” hesays. “While 3D audio is theHoly Grail for sound engineers

and scientists, it’s audiences thatare the big winners.”

Speaking about his new role, Christopher Jenkins says,“BlackTrax is a beautifulcreative tool that will transformthe way that we experienceaudio integrated with lighting,visuals and performers toengage, thrill and immerseaudiences.

Taking advantage ofdevelopments in audio digitalsignal processing technology,we’ll be actively embracingopportunities for BlackTrax inEurope and the Americas.”

BlackTrax states that it will“accelerate and increase itsinternational presence over the next few months in theaudio world.” �

www.blacktrax.ca

BlackTrax Audio’s Chris Jenkins

RadioDNS has announced thatRadioDNS Hybrid Radio is nowintegrated into three SamsungGalaxy smartphones. Chair ofRadioDNS, Nick Piggott, said: “Thisis an exceptional opportunity forradio broadcasters.”radiodns.org

Presteigne Broadcast Hiresupplied around 55 Sennheiserwireless mic systems for theaudition phases of ITV’s Britain’sGot Talent, which is due to air inspring 2014. Systems engineerDavid Handley says that BGT “can’tget much bigger” because ofchanges in frequency allocation.www.sennheiser.com

SOUNDBITES

By Murray Stassen

A NUMBER of new productsand features were launched atthe BVE tradeshow in Londonlast month, which took placefrom 25-27 February at theExCeL Exhibition Centre.

Included were HHBCommunication’s new TCElectronic Reverb 8 algorithmfor the System 6000 audioprocessing platform, theunbalanced AES I/O option forthe DB6 Broadcast AudioProcessor and a new LoudnessQuality Logger (LQL) forTouchMonitors.

Sennheiser showcased severalnew products, including the RFOver Fibre system, whichextends radio microphoneremote receiving aerials todistances of up to 25km fromtheir associated receivers. Newstudio-monitoring equipmentwas exhibited too, such as theNeumann KH 310 and KH 120monitor loudspeakers alongwith their associated sub, theKH 810, the Sennheiser HD 26Pro headphones and the HMDMk II Series broadcast headsetsand LimitEar HDM Pro.

German-based BroadcastTechnologies exhibited itsVirtual Studio Manager (VSM)

system. VSM provides userswith tools for 4K, remoteproduction, streaming, signalpath visualisation and multi-channel broadcasting. VSMprovides users with tools for4K, remote production,streaming, signal pathvisualisation and multi-channelbroadcasting. It can be used tomanage On Air and rehearsalrequests as well as monitoringthe signals and devices in theMCR environment.

Professional voicecommunications provider Clear-Com, unveiled the new EclipseHX-Delta Digital Matrix System,the extended HelixNet PartylineIntercom System and theupgraded Tempest 2400 WirelessIntercom System at BVE.

TSL Products demonstratedits SoundField surround soundmicrophones, control units andupmix/downmix processors. The microphones that were ondisplay were the battery poweredST450 portable microphonesystem and the DSF-1 digitalperformance microphone. �www.bvexpo.comwww.l-s-b.dewww.clearcom.comwww.hhb.co.ukwww.sennheiser.comwww.tslproducts.com

BVE 2014: in short!UNITED KINGDOM

TWO-YEAR OLDmanufacturing start-up VUE Audiotechnik, the soundreinforcement loudspeakerspecialist founded by US-basedindustry veterans Ken Bergerand Jim Sides, is to open awholly owned European base inBerlin. VUE AudiotechnikEuropa GmbH (VUE Europe,for short) is to be located inBerlin’s Media City in the south-east of the city, andrepresents a serious consolidationof VUE’s ambitions to showcase groundbreaking audiotechnology worldwide.

Speaking exclusively toPSNEurope, Berger explains thescope of this latest dimension to his company. “VUE Europewill serve both as a technicalsupport, sales and marketingorganisation for the whole ofEurope and as a distributor forGermany, Switzerland andAustria,” he says. “The newstructure allows more people to access and experience ourproducts, and will help inestablishing distribution to allpoints of the continent. We willbe building and training a supportteam that will allow us to provideapplication and engineeringsupport, product support andservice throughout Europe.”

At the helm of the Europeanventure is managing directorHolger de Buhr, who a year agobought into the VUE franchiseby securing distribution of itsportfolio in Germany, Austriaand Switzerland for MediaLogic, the company he foundedin Berlin in 2006. Now making a full-time commitment to thebrand, de Buhr will continue toguide VUE’s expanding range of loudspeaker products intothose territories as VUE Europetakes over their distribution from Media Logic. Holger deBuhr has also joined VUEAudotechnik’s board.

Before founding Media Logicde Buhr worked for German MIretailer Just Music with a specialinterest in music technology andstudio sales, while in the 1990s his company AudioSonic handledregional distribution for d&baudiotechnik as well as inheritingNeumann’s mixing consolebusiness from Sennheiser – atelling combination of live and studio experience. His three-tiered role encompassesmembership of the Board;product management, especiallyas required by the European fixedinstallation market; and settingup distribution partnerships.

“The requirements for bigtouring systems are very similarall over the world, but thepermanent installation marketsvary,” he says. “In German-speaking countries, especially,you won’t find many activespeakers installed in theatres, forexample: the Tonmeister ‘bestpractice’ is to keep amps andspeakers separate, particularlyfor maintenance. That’s not tosay that tightly integratedelectronics are not important;

they are, but in a rack rather thanwithin the speaker cabinet.”

“For setting up the newpartnerships I will be frequentlyjoined by Jim Sides, who’sexperience here is invaluable.I’ve known Jim for quite sometime, especially since his timespent working in Germany, andimmediately became aware ofVUE Audiotechnik when it waslaunched at Frankfurt two yearsago. I went over to the US tolisten to the systems in the latesummer of 2012, and after 10 seconds I was completelywon over – especially by theperformance of the berylliumcompression driver in the h-12and the new ACM (ActiveCompliance Management) bass technology.

“After Jim’s visit to Berlin inlate 2012 we started doing somework in the German-speakingterritories, and by early in thefollowing year I knew that thefinancing was in place for someserious investment in Europe.”

Under the auspices of MediaLogic de Buhr was able to gaugethe necessary adjustments to the

American model needed formulti-lingual and cross-borderdistribution of VUE products onthis side of the Atlantic,notwithstanding the vicissitudesof EU trading. By Novemberlast year he had decided to investin the brand himself and secure asenior management footing.

“We decided it would be veryhelpful to establish a subsidiary,”continues de Buhr, “given theissues of structure, language andthe different behaviour of theEuropean market – especially inpermanent installation. There arelots of small countries withoutmajor distribution, so it’simportant to establish a full lineof demo stock and make itavailable. We’re currently buildinga fantastic, acoustically high-enddemo room in Berlin that willattract people from all overEurope. Their listening experiencehere will be the proof of whatVUE Audiotechnik is doing.

“Berlin is culturally rich anddiverse enough to supply a widerange of performance styles thatwe can use to showcase theversatility of the portfolio, fromtechno to theatre and from operato rock festivals, and has a greatpopulation of engineers who cansupport us with projects andsystem designs.”

This includes EASE pioneerDr Wolfgang Ahnert, who’sBerlin-based Acoustic DesignAnhert (ADA) is now workingwith VUE Audiotechnik on newbeam steering technology.

“We want to emphasise that itis not our intention to go direct interritories beyond Germany,Austria and Switzerland, and thatwe will be supporting our existingdistributors,” adds Berger. “It willalso be VUE AudiotechnikEurope’s mission to establishindependent distribution in allremaining European territories asquickly as possible.” �www.vueaudio.com

AAPG equipment has been usedfor the third season of theFrench version of BBC TV hitThe Voice. The equipment was specified by Paris-basedaudio suppliers, Silence! APGapplication support engineer,Mathieu Delquignies explains:“The Voice is a fantasticreference for APG and atestament to the quality of the products and the flexibility of the solutions that we can provide.”www.apg.tm.fr

Capital Sound is supplying aMartin Audio MLA system,comprising MLA, MLAc andWS218x subs with LM front fillsfor the Australian Pink Floydtribute band’s Europeantour.Capital Sound’s generalmanager Paul Timmins, says:“We’re delighted to be workingwith such a phenomenon. It’s a demanding tour and asalways, audio quality is at theforefront of their requirements.We’re looking forward to a great tour.”www.martin-audio.com

Rental and production company DB Audio invested in a pair of Midas PRO6 digitalconsoles for two ‘secret’ Prince gigsthat took place at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, London at thebeginning of February. Theconsoles were supplied by LMCAudio for front-of-house andmonitor duties. Fineline MediaFinance, an asset financespecialist, helped to fund thenew equipment. www.lmcaudio.co.uk

Liverpool-based rental specialist Adlib suppliedlighting, sound and expertise for the reunion tour of Scottishalt-rockers Del Amitri. Thesound system comprised of 12 Coda LA12 speakers for each side with eight Coda SCPsubs. Coda ViRay cabinets were used for balconies, in and out-fills. The mix wasmanaged from an analogueMidas H3000 console.www.adlib.co.uk

SOUNDBITES

Jim Sides (left) with Holger de Buhr: “Very helpful to establish a subsidiary”

For the latest live news www.psneurope.com/live


Loudspeaker company establishes base in Berlin’s Media City. By Phil Ward

liveVUE looks to European HQ

EXCLUSIVE

Recent VUE installation in Oslo

livenews


By Murray Stassen

FRENCH NEW wave rockband Indochine is usingAdamson Systems Engineeringsound reinforcement on itsBlack City Tour of France,Belgium and Switzerland, with afinal performance planned forthe Stade de France in June.

The band’s sound engineerPhillipe Dubich specified the

Adamson Energía system, and engineer Julien Poirotdesigned the installation layout, with assistance fromWilfried Lasbleiz.

Dubich and Lasbleiz haveflown 12 E15 enclosures for themain PA. For outfill, left andright arrays consisting of nineE12 enclosures were flown. Inaddition to the E15 and E12units, 20 T21 subwoofers have

been installed in two columnsof ten units each for adequatelow frequency delivery.

The second part of the venueis blanketed by two more E12arrays, made up of six enclosureseach. Two more downfill arraysof four E12s each were installedin the scenic grill.

Poirot explains: “The E15 isa system that combinespowerful dynamics, clarity and

precision. I lovethis system; itwould be ideal formany differentprojects. Indo onthe E15/T21/E12combinationworks well andgives us animpressive sound homogeneitythroughout the venues. Theresult is top-notch.” �

Indochine front man Nicolas Sirkis singshis heart out with sound reinforcementprovided by Adamson Systems

Indochine tour with AdamsonFRANCE

By Dave Robertson

YORKVILLE SOUND hasbegun a campaign to relocatethe manufacturing of itsproducts back to its native soil.The company is moving theproduction of most of the activeand passive loudspeakers in itsYX Series back to the Canadianmanufacturing facility inPickering Ontario from factoriesin Asia.

Vice president Jeff Cowling,said: “We’re very happy to

re-shore this popular and cost-effective PA series for a varietyof reasons. It keeps our NorthAmerican facility busy, itprovides us with an improvedtime-to-market factor, and givesus more control over quality and performance.”

“The YX series is still abudget oriented series, but thesound and build quality we can provide is extraordinary,”adds Cowling.

Yorkville made theannouncement just after the

NAMM show in January,where the company presentedadditions to its ParaSourceActive loudspeaker range. Jeff Shorthouse,

Yorkville has also confirmedits plans to seek out and engagewith more distribution partnersin Europe and beyond in 2014.The company celebrated its50th anniversary last year and currently employs over 250 staff at its HQ in a suburbof Toronto. �www.yorkville.com

FRANCE

Jeff Shorthouse, Yorkville productdevelopment, with PS15P and

PS12P portable speakers

Yorkville Sound picks Pickering, Ontario

SENNHEISER UK and HighWycombe. While not quite asinseparable as Hansel andGretel, there’s certainly been a‘bond’ between the Germanheadphone/microphone brandand the Buckinghamshire town.

Until recently. The UK operation has, after

15 years, relocated into newpremises. It might just be a fewmiles down the road but – if you will – it’s like being in afairytale in comparison.

Goodbye, cramped corridorsof the 6,000sqft Century Point unit.

Hello, stylish, 15,000sqftopen-plan HQ in a tree-linedcorner of Marlow.

“We were looking around,and this building came along,”general manager, Phil Massey,tells PSNEurope. “It fits whereSennheiser needs to go. It’sbigger than we need, but offersus the ability to expand.”

Now all the management,support, ordering, after-serviceand back office tasks areperformed in the newsurroundings – with hot desksfor the sales guys, just to keep them on their toes, ofcourse. “No one has an ‘office’,” confirms Massey.“Transparency is key.”

There’s lots of glass walls,certainly, but there’s still plentyof identity, as the managementagreed the new home deserved a splash of character. Hence thecompany enlisted the artistictalents of students from nearbyBuckinghamshire NewUniversity (where Sennheiserhas already established links) todesign the wall designs, thetable-tops and so on. Rooms arenamed after musical styles:Rock, Classical, Jazz, Pop. Thedecor propagates the theme:hence there’s a picture offamous Sennheiser user KylieMinogue on the wall of the Poproom, and so on.

With room to grow then, what is the expectation?

“We will grow 5% this year,and next year a little bit more,”says Massey. “We’re not acompany that wants to makeleaps and bounds. Our twostrategic areas will be theMiddle East and telecoms; pro audio as well.” Financially,Sennheiser is doing very well,thank you: global revenues areup 51% from 2008-2012, tosomewhere near the €600million mark.

Gerry Forde, director of salesand marketing, backs this up:“Sennheiser is strategic and

methodical, ” he says, strategicallyand methodically. “Changes won’tbe made without good reason.”

He references the HD25headphone, which is,appropriately, around 25 yearsold: “We’re still selling that,”says Forde. “Selling productsthat have life.”

Massey pays a backhandedcompliment to the Beats brand:“They showed the market that you could pay more forheadphones... and so we aredoing better in that [segment].”

“We reckon we’re the second orthird time around,” quips Fordewith a smile. “You buy a pair ofheadphones, then maybe anotherpair, but eventually you realise, youneed something of a quality, whenthe others have broken. That’swhen they you come to Sennheiser:when you’re a little bit older….”

While the first big change for SE (Sennheiser Electronics)UK has been the office move, the second is a focus on

integrated systems. Hence therecent creation of an IntegratedSystems division (lining up nextto Professional Audio and MI);the November appointment ofNick Pemberton to a marketdevelopment manager role; andthe launch of TeamConnect, an‘all-in-one solution for meetingrooms’ at ISE.

“It’s not an indication thatwe’re going to become anintegrated systems solutionscompany,” remarks Forde. “Wewill remain an audio company.”

Sennheiser will also take a

“bigger picture view” and workwith third parties where required,says Forde. “Rather than beingknown as ‘installed sound’,speakers on a wall and so on, wewill begin to work more in the ITarea. IT people understand whatthat ‘Integrated Systems’ means,more than ‘Installed Sound’ or‘Audio Visual’. We’ve changedthe terminology for the marketwe’re addressing.”

Other “headlines” this year, says Forde, will be thestrengthening and expansion ofthe Sound Academy trainingprogramme, as well as activeparticipation in whatever thenext round of radio spectrumdevelopment brings forth.

The shift to Marlow happenedat around the same time last yearas Sennheiser HQ in Germanyexpanded its factory. Is there an increased empathy with theHanover parent for the UK arm?

“We were in a tin shed,basically,” reviews Massey, “and now we’re in a properoffice that suits the Sennheiserbrand and environment.

“We were proud to do themove, and for [SennheiserGermany] to allow us to do itwhen they were making thechanges, in difficult times, wasgood for everyone.

“Mind you,” he shrugs,“agreeing a move seemed quiteeasy. On the day you move acompany that’s been in place for15 years, you find out whatyou’ve been carrying. How doput all that stuff into a newspace? We had to throw a lot ofstuff away…”

Sshhh, Phil, you’ll ruin the fairytale. �http://en-uk.sennheiser.com

Gerry Forde (left) and Phil Massey inthe new Marlow HQ

15,000sqft gives room to expand


livereport

Marlow magicSennheiser UK has found a new home in a newtown. Dave Robinson packed his picnic basketand went for a peep

UNITED KINGDOM

By Erica Basnicki

PLASA Focus: Leeds 2014 hasrevealed details of the firstaudio sessions of itsProfessional DevelopmentProgramme. The show takesplace at the Royal ArmouriesMuseum on 29-30 April, 2014.

According to the exhibitionwebsite, “all seminars anddiscussion sessions are designedto give you an insight into thetechnology, techniques andtalent that will boost yourbusiness prospects in the year ahead”.

Audio highlights include:

�� What Does Good SoundSound Like?A trio of audio experts willexamine what we perceive as“good sound”. Tony Andrewsand John Newsham ofFunktion-One, and thelegendary sound engineer RogerLindsay, will demonstrate theinfluence of individual links inthe audio chain and aninteractive discussion ofindividual perception will takeplace. Questions will then betaken from the audience.

� Getting a Foot in the Door –How To Make Your Way In TheLive Sound IndustryDarryn de la Soul will provideaspiring sound engineers withadvice on how to approachpotential employers and how toget a response to your CV. Theprinciples that will be discussedare equally applicable to thosetrying to get into other parts ofthe entertainment technologyindustry.

� An Insight into the World ofRF – Is it a Dark Art?Tuomo Tolonen of ShureDistribution UK will unravel themysteries of RF, enablingengineers to be confident intheir dealings with radio micsand IEMs which are now anintegral, yet oftenmisunderstood, part of the pro-audio skill base.

� Live Drum Micing TechniquesVeteran sound engineer Justin Grealy will demonstratea variety of drum micing

techniques to help you get the best out of any situation,whether it be your local pubwith a low budget, or a massivegig where money is no object.

Free registration for PLASAFocus: Leeds is now open, withmore session announcementsexpected soon. �www.plasafocus.com/leeds

livereport


Learning in LeedsUNITED KINGDOM

Xxx

A captive audience at a sessionfrom last year’s ProfessionalDevelopment Programme

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Toul

min

By Murray Stassen

AUSTRIAN-BASEDENGINEERING andmanufacturing companyPollmann recently held its 125thanniversary celebration in thesports hall in Waidhofen an derThaya in Austria.

The event saw over 800 guestsin attendance and Austrianrental company, StagesoundEvent Technology, supplied thesound equipment.

Stagesound used two AKGGN30 gooseneck microphoneswith CK31 high-performancecondenser microphone capsulesfor each speaker.

System engineer atStagesound, Markus Koubasays: ”Although the majority ofspeakers were professionalpresenters, the event alsofeatured several untrainedspeakers. For theseinexperienced speakers wewanted to make the system aseasy to use as possible while stillproviding a clear sound to theaudience. The AKGmicrophones more than met thatrequirement.”

Two AKG C414 B-ULScondenser microphones were

used for drum overheads andseveral D112 microphones wereused for the kick drum and bassamplifiers. Stagesound also usedfour C518 M miniature clamp-on microphones on the tomsand snares.

“The AKG microphonesimpressed, with clear soundand simple handling,” addsKouba. “We are very satisfied

with the performance and with AKG in general for all of our events around Austria.It is important as a rentalcompany to have equipmentthat will withstand the uniquetechnical riders for each event,as well as the transportationand wear and tear during each project.” �

www.akg.com

TThe AKG mics can be seen onstage atPollman’s 125th anniversary party


livenews

AKG shines at 125thanniversary bash

AUSTRIA

By Murray Stassen

THE WORLDfamous country-rockguitarist, Albert Lee,performed twoconcerts at theCadogan Hall inLondon at thebeginning of March,in celebration of his70th birthday.

Hall and his bandperformed with varioushigh profile guestmusicians – Joe Brown,Chas & Dave, MartyWilde, Bruce Welch, ,Andy Fairweather Lowand Ralph McTell toname just a few – and the concertsand the build-up were filmed fora forthcoming documentary.

Concert producer DavidMann decided to use KV2Audio’s “Very High Definition”VHD System, instead ofCadogan Hall’s in-house system.

The VHD System, builtaround the VHD 2.0 Mid/Highunit, features a large format 3-inch compression driver, two8-inch transcoil mid-rangedrivers and two 12-inch low/middrivers accompanied by VHD2.16 double 15-inch subwoofersand associated VHD 2000 andVHD 3200 amplifiers.

In addition to the FOHsystem, the monitoring systemalso consisted of KV2 products:eight ESM 12 and ESM 26speakers as well as KV2 AudioESP amplification.

Yamaha was an officialpartner for the anniversary gigs,and so a CL5 mixing consolewas chosen by Mann for FOHsound. Yamaha instruments atthe show included PHX PhoenixDrums and N3 AvantGrandhybrid piano, plus two CP1Stage Pianos, a Motif XF8synthesizer and a Yamaha SLB-200 Silent Upright Bass. �www.kv2audio.com

KV2 for Albert Lee’sbirthday celebration

UNITED KINGDOM

Legendary country-rock guitarist, Albert Lee, at 70

THE WESTFALENHALLENin Dortmund has a history ofstaging major rock concerts andsporting events, including thetraditional motorsport seasonopener when Supercross (SX)offers the audience a uniqueblend of action, sport andentertainment within a4,700sqm oval arena.

In order to host the largestsuch event in Germany – theADAC Supercross, with itsdedicated fanbase of some 9,000 -10,000 each day – theinterior of the hall is convertedinto 300m-long courses with 200 truckloads of dirt shippedso that riders can compete in theSX1 and SX2 categories (withthe grand finale on Sunday).The Red Bull Freestyle finale,when two-wheeled daredevilsdefy the laws of physics with

their stunts and jumps, thenraises the backgroundcacophony to new heights.

Local pro audio company(and D.A.S. Audio networkpartner) Soundart GmbH, whofirst became involved in theevent three years ago, is used to balancing the necessary SPL to overcome the sound of throttling bikes and evenlouder audience horns withinthe tight thresholds imposed bythe German authorities. Therental house is also familiar withthe compromises involved inflying a 360° rig around anexisting infrastructure, with no floor space and minimalrigging points.

This year, D.A.S. Audio’sbusiness development manager,Claus Behrens, chose to partnerwith electronics specialistsPowersoft for his amplifierneeds. The Italian company’s K6

touring switch-mode amps,providing power of up to3,600W per channel at 2 ohms,would drive the 24-box Aero 50s(divided into four hangs) for thelong axis of the hall. Soundartalso trialled 24 of the smallerAero 40-A three-way poweredsystems for the first time (also in four hangs). While the Aero50 needed to fire over distancesof 35-40m, the Aero 40-Aprojected around 26m across the shorter wings.

Connectivity to the Powersoftcontrol environment enabledremote system monitoring andcontrol to be carried out via itsproprietary Armonía Pro AudioSuite software.

Benjamin Hartmann, CEO ofSoundart, says the decision toswitch to Powersoft was“inspired”, noting that in“slimming down” for the firsttime while driving the Aero 50,it had offered the best weight-to-efficiency ratio on the market.

“The analogue amplifiers wewere using previously were non-intelligent, quite heavy and old fashioned. Also theprocessing we were running itwith was being discontinued sothere would be no furthersoftware updates.

AADAC Supercross is the sport’sbiggest event in Germany


livereport

Muddy tracks,crystal sound

UNITED KINGDOM

A pairing of Powersoft with D.A.S. Audio provided a breakthrough for supplierSoundart at the biggest German Supercross event. Dave Robinson reports

Left: D.A.S. Aero 50 and 40-A linearrays flown in the arena

Hold on tight for thrills and spills ...

“Claus looked around andPowersoft offered the bestsolution. The Aero 50 is a passivesystem which needed powerfulamps, and we were aware just howmuch Powersoft had grown.”

In fact two amp racks, eachcontaining six of the K6 amps,were deployed to drive differentelements of the open three-waysystem. “The K-series is brilliant –digital, very lightweight, compactand powerful, with processing onthe amp. It occupies far less truckspace and having the wholeprocessing and monitoring [withAESOP Ethernet interface] is a bigadvantage,” says Hartmann.

Claus Behrens had alsorecommended Powersoft becausehe favoured their presets, which he knew would bring a newoptimisation to the Aero 50. “Theshort, medium and long-throwpresets were impressive and wewere easily able to recall and EQthese directly via the Armoníasoftware on the PC,” notesHartmann. “It’s very user friendly.

“D.A.S. had recommended thissolution as being stable andefficient – this is the first try-outfor us at this event and we havehad nothing but a good reaction.”

The challenges faced were notonly in providing even patterncontrol through a 360° venue, so that everyone in the housecould benefit from the sameexperience, but when handing over to the broadcaster (Wiege)the sponsors’ commercials couldbe played in seamlessly.

There were no issues withobstructing sightlines, either.“With D.A.S., we have been ableto present the whole 360° solutionin a much better way, as the Aero50 and 40-A enclosures have 90°coverage, so with four clusters wecan achieve the full 360°.”

To complete the coverage,another rental stager, HWSVeranstaltungstechnik placed a further 20 Variant 25A speakers,from D.A.S.’ installation portfolio, on the balcony upperlevel for infills.

The source feeds include livepitch commentary from two mics,commercials and music play-ins,provided by the broadcaster, fromline devices.

The spectacle would not becomplete without a dynamic visualand special effects presentation.This year flames (machines firingup to 12m high at the start of eachday), strobes, fog machines onspecial rigging, and other specialeffects, lasers (16 separate RGBlasers), lighting and video allfeatured in the mix.

Benjamin Hartmann shares his belief that from a technicalperspective, things couldn’t havebeen better.

“When the sound is loud, theintelligibility is good and the system works, then everyone is happy,” he says. �www.soundart.dewww.powersoft.com


livereport

Six Powersoft K6 amps powered the main system

“The short, medium and long-throwpresets were impressive and we wereeasily able to recall and EQ thesedirectly via the Armonía software onthe PC. It’s very user friendly”

Benjamin Hartmann, Soundart

By Murray Stassen

THE POPULAR BBC1programme Strictly ComeDancing has just completed a21-date live arena tour, wherefans had the chance to watch thecelebrity participants and theirprofessional dance partnersstrut it up on stage.

South Wales-based Sonalysthas designed the sound for the Strictly tour for severalyears. Managing director Rory Madden chose a pair of Yamaha PM5Ds, an M7CL and an LS9 to mix the2014 production.

Head of audio, Gareth Lewisexplains that one of the biggestchallenges of the show is mixingthe monitors. Lewis mixesmonitors on a second PM5D,with an LS9-32 acting asswitcher for two playbackmachines, dealing withpresenter talkback, some overallshow relay and as a line driverfor the ‘voice of god’.

“I love mixing on the PM5D.It’s really comfortable to use,you can do everything on thesurface and wherever you areyou can see everything that’sgoing on,” explains Lewis. �www.yamahacommercialaudio.com

FFab-U-Lous! It might be Studer desks in the studio, but Yamaha takes the Strictly experience to the masses, darling...


livenews

Strictly Yamaha on arena dance tourUNITED KINGDOM

By Murray Stassen

IT HAS been revealed that d&baudiotechnik systems providedthe sound for the Mein Schiff 1,a heavy metal themed cruiseliner conceived by WackenFestival founders, HolgerHübner and Thomas Jensen.

The 30,000 tonne luxury shipset off from Hamburg and madestops in the UK, France and theNetherlands, collecting around2,000 metal fans along the way.

There were three live venueson board and the ship’s theatre,casino and pool deck werekitted out with over 100 tonnesof lighting and sound systems

supplied and crewed byKarlsruhe-based Crystal Sound.

Crystal Sound projectmanager André Ballweg,explains: “Some people thinkmetal music is a bluntinstrument and any PA will dobut you might be interested tolearn that metallers, more thanmany music fans, have learnedthat good quality sound,undistorted at high volumes,enables them to listen more andfor louder and longer.

“That’s why we installed onlyd&b audiotechnik systems onboard, specifically V-Series andJ-Series,” says Ballweg.

More than 20 bands provided

a slab of everything metal onthe cruise, even, reports d&b, a“rusty sea shanty version of theclassic Death Spunk Explosionfrom those funsters fromFrankfurt, Infested Intestines”.

“Of course people willwonder why we didn’t alldisembark with bleeding ears,”observed Tungsten Torstein, afan from Tanhaus, “But, thenwe don’t share the secret ofgood sound with just anyone;d&b doesn’t just stand fordecibels you know? Das istArtze, as we say in thebrotherhood.” �www.dbaudio.comwww.crystal-sound.de

d&b buoys heavy metal cruiseGERMANY

It might look like a normal cruise ship. But onboard, it’s pure “MEEETTTTAAAALLLL!”

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nson

WORLD

SWEDISH HEAVY metal bandSabaton are preparing for theWorldwide Plagues tour, duringwhich they will perform with a full complement of Sennheisermicrophones and wirelesssystems. Monitor engineer OttoKroymann comments: “JoakimBrodén, our lead singer (above),has such a wide dynamic rangethat we have had real problems

finding a suitable microphone.However, when we had the chanceto test the Sennheiser SKM 2000wireless system combined with theMMD 945 capsule, we knew thatour search was over.” The bandreturns to European soil at the endof May where they will beheadlining at some of Europe’sbiggest heavy metal festivals.www.sennheiser.com

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By Murray Stassen

ONE OF London’s longestrunning independent live musicvenues, the Half Moon inPutney, has installed a new FlareAudio sound system.

Last month, PSNEuroperevealed that pro-audio supplierOrbital Sound has become thefirst distribution partner anywherefor Flare Audio Limited.

The installation includes thebrand new SM15 stage

monitors and V15C 15-inchhigh SPL point sourceloudspeakers, making the HalfMoon the first venue to havethese installed. Q218 ultra subcabinets and the flat panel SB21deliver the low frequencies.

Chief engineer at the HalfMoon, Stevie Wyatt, comments:“Having seen various PA systemscome through the Half Moon inmy 15 years here, this is the firstrig I can run virtually flat – it justsounds right… Everyone is reallycomplimentary about the rig.There’s some very clever designgoing on here, I’m definitely nowa Flare convert and I lookforward to seeing what else theybring out in the future.” �www.flareaudio.com


installationBy Dave Robinson

TM AUDIO has reported twosignificant installation “wins” as Peter de Foew returns to theDutch distribution company asmanaging director. In the role ofdistributor for (among others)Powersoft, Martin Audio,Renkus-Heinz, DiGiCo andAllen & Heath, TM has closed2013 in “excellent shape”, saysthe company head, back withthe Ampco Flashlight Group(AFG, parent of TM Audio)after 12 years.

“Because of the Europeaneconomical crisis in the past fewyears, we decided to operate ourbusinesses with great care and toreturn to our core business withthe strongest possible team,”says AFG CEO Dick vanBerkum, who invited de Foewback to the fold after himserving as a director at rival(Harman) distributor Audio XLfor over a decade. De Foew waspreviously responsible for salesat Ampco Audio Products; he

fills the MD role vacated lastsummer by Marc Kocks.

The installation “wins”include the tender for musicvenue ‘De Nobel’ in Leiden,Netherlands, in December 2013.The installation incorporates aMartin Audio W8LCi line arraysystem for the main room and a H3+ system for the secondroom, all powered by Powersoft

amps. Processing is managed byXTA DC1048 and DP424 units.Piloting the systems are threeDiGiCo consoles (SD8s withnew D2 Racks as FOH in both rooms, plus an SD9 onmonitors which can be movedbetween the rooms). An Allen& Heath ZED420 serves thecafé space, and all cabling and stagebox infrastructure

will be completed withLink/Eurocable gear.

TM also reports a secondwin: the sale of five DiGiCodesks by product specialist JaapPronk to the new five-hall TivoliVredenburg muziekpaleis in the city of Utrecht. The biggestspace within the complex iscapable of hosting an audienceof 2,000.

De Foew adds: “Allen &Heath’s Q16 has shown recordsales numbers where at the sametime we managed to close agood quantity of high profileinstalls with Martin Audio’sMLA Minis.

“Now that the organisation isback on track and healthy, wecan start looking forward.”

De Foew’s appointmentcoincides with Ampco FlashlightRental becoming the latestAdamson Energia partner.Ampco has added 32 E15 and16 E12 line array loudspeakerenclosures to its inventory.

“We have been looking for an additional line array systemthat enables us to complete our current growth,” says vanBerkum. “The starting point hasalways been based on the bestpossible specifications that willprovide more efficient solutionsand outstanding performance.Purchasing the new AdamsonEnergia system helps us achievethis goal.” �www.tmaudio.nlwww.ampco-flashlight.com

For the latest installation newswww.psneurope.com/installation

An early Victorian church inEssex, St John’s, has had a newHHarman professional soundsystem installed by New DayAudio. The speakers comprisefour CBT70-J line arraycolumns, four CBT70-JE bassextenders and four JBL Control25s. Two Crown XTi 14002aand two XLS 2000s provideamplification. “Everyone hasbeen hugely impressed with thesound system,” says New Daydirector Derek Clare.www.newdayaudio.co.ukwww.harman.com

Alliances Integrated Systems(AIS) has carried out the designand installation of an AudicaProfessional audio system for the first McDonald’srestaurant in Vietnam. Businessdevelopment manager of AIS, VuViet Tung, explains: “Our teamproposed a solution providing thecoverage, zoning and functionalitythe restaurant required, but thedecision was only made after wegave a demonstration to show the system’s capability andaudio quality.”www.audicapro.com

ArtAV has installed VUEAudiotechnik’s i-Class i-2x4.5loudspeakers at the Victoria MiroGallery in London, for thepremiere of video artist IsaacJulien’s seven-screeninstallation, Playtime. ArtAV’sLez Barker says: “We have beensearching for several years to finda high performance loudspeakerline that would fulfill our strictsound requirements, at a costthat more of our customerswould find more affordablewithout sacrificing quality. Wehave found that with VUE.”www.vueaudio.com

Belfast-based A/V presentationspecialist Niavac has upgradedits rental inventory by investing inAKG’s CS3 conference system.Managing director James Conlonsays: “ I did a complete trawl andthen contacted distributor SoundTechnology, placing an order fora 30-station system.”www.akg.com

SOUNDBITES

A first for Flare Audio

SM15 stage monitors debut in Putney

Peter de Foew: back with TM Audio after 12 years away

TM Audio feisty withde Foew at forefront

UNITED KINGDOM

NETHERLANDS

THE MAISON de la Culture de laProvince de Namu is a cultural centre inthe French-speaking south of Belgium –with an average of four events per week,the centre is a popular venue forconcerts, theatre, dance, cinema andother events.

For the installation of the in-housesound reinforcement system, BeneluxAdamson distributors Inytium won thetender to supply and install equipment forthe 460-capacity, two-level main venue.

In the past, the Province de Namur’s ‘central dispatch service’ has

supplied the audio system for the centre’sactivities. Now, with a fixed installation,the centre can operate more independentlyfrom the province’s services. “In doing so,we can offer a standard technical rider anda pool of skilled in-house engineers – atrend that was initiated two years ago,”explains Bruno Spagna, audio engineerwith the Maison de la Culture.

Since 2006, the former congresscentre has been gradually acousticallyadapted to become a concert and theatrevenue. Spagna says the acoustics are stillbeing upgraded.

“In view of the hall’s acousticspecifications, and the great variety ofevents, the choice for Adamson Metrixwas quite obvious,” opines LudovicVandegoor, distribution director ofInytium. “The Metrix speakers are verydiscrete in terms of visibility, they arecompact and yet very powerful, andtheir 5˚ vertical coverage pattern isexactly what the venue needs. We’vedealt with part of the acousticalproblem by adjusting the alignment ofthe arrays.”

The FOH system in the venue consistsof a flown Adamson Metrix array

on either side of the stage plus twoMDC2 sub bass cabinets, powered byLab C484 SP4000 and FP7000 amplifiers.The FOH mixer is a Yamaha LS 9/32.

By using slightly more powerfulamplifiers in combination with theMetrix’s 16 ohm impedance, we managedto hook more speakers to one amp,making the installation for the upperbalconies less expensive,” continuesVandegoor. “Just recently, the centrebought two extra Metrix install speakers– they could be connected withoutproblems thanks to the Lab.gruppen’sauto-adjusted output impedance.”

Eight Nexo PS 15, two LS1200 subbass and four PS 10 speakers are beingused as monitoring system, controlled by a Soundcraft JP4 desk.

Spagna admits that the sound on the upper balconies was quite difficult to optimise – two additional AdamsonMetrix were put in place last November, substantially improving the listening comfort

“The general idea with the manyexternal sound engineers that work onproductions here is very positive aboutthe configuration – the audio on thebalconies will certainly add to the result,”concludes Spagna. �www.inytium.com


installationreport

With Adamson’s Metrix, theNamur Cultural Centre offers ahigh quality standard fixed audiokit for a broad range of events,notes Marc Maes

French rocker Axel Bauer playsat the Cultural Centre in Namur

The Namur of the game

“The Metrix speakers are very discrete interms of visibility, they are compact and yetpowerful, and their 5˚ vertical coveragepattern is exactly what the venue needs.We’ve dealt with part of the acousticalproblem by adjusting the alignment of the arrays” Ludovic Vandegoor, Inytium

Adamson stack featuring Metrix cabs

AN AVIOM Pro64 audionetwork allows artists torehearse and record anywherethey are comfortable at theArtSpaceHotel: a unique resort in the Alentejo Litoralregion on the south-west coastof Portugal.

Director Kai Vieweg’sbackground in the recordingindustry led him to create thisspace that is ideal for musicians.

The audio network thatconnects the creative spacesthroughout the ArtSpaceHotelwas designed by RayFinkenberger-Lewin, with the help of Aviom distributionpartner S.E.A. Vertrieb &Consulting.

The FOH console used in thespace is a Yamaha DM2000with two Aviom 6416Y2 A-NetCards. These two cards sendand receive 32 channels ofaudio from the Aviom Pro64audio network. The cards areconnected to two MH10Merger Hubs, installed at eitherend of the resort. The MH10sare connected to one anotherand to 10 other locationsthroughout the facility. A rackcontaining two 6416m MicInput Modules, one ASI A-NetInterface, one A-16R Rack-mounted Personal Mixer, andan A-16D Pro A-NetDistributor can be connected atany one of these locations.

Hooking up A-16II PersonalMixers means musicians cancreate their own monitor mixes.The A-16R Personal Mixersends a stereo signal to theresort’s PA system so that theperformance or session can beshared around the space.

While the ArtSpaceHotel hasnot officially opened its doors tothe public, the resort has alreadywelcomed some talented groupsto test the equipment andfacilities: Brazilian guitaristZélia Fonesca, German jazzartist Wolfgang Haffner, andPortuguese percussion projectTocá Rufar Orquestra, whohosted a workshop at the resort.

Vieweg says, “The emotionalresponse of guests andparticipants has surpassed ourexpectations. Artists feelcomfortable and free to do whatthey want at any time. TheAviom system has helped tomake this possible.” �

www.aviom.comwww.artspacehotel.com www.deli-studio.de


installationnews

Art anywhere with Aviom Pro64PORTUGAL

Director Kai Vieweg shows off some of the technology available at ArtSpaceHotel

Any and every kind of guest is welcome, but the ArtSpaceHotel in Portugal has something special set-upfor musicians, writes Erica Basnicki

installationfeature


NEW AND emerging safetyrequirements such as EN 54-25– a mandatory standardaffecting fire detection and firealarm systems – have been a

major driver of A/V upgradework in airports over the lastfew years, as regular readers of PSNEurope sister titleInstallation will be acutely

aware. But aside from thisspecific spur to action, it seemsthat airport audio has also been the subject of a moresubtle shift.

With transport hubs derivingmore money than ever beforefrom non-aeronautical sourcessuch as retail, a significant partof the emphasis has been ongenerating a more appealingsonic landscape – in terms ofboth messaging and music – fortravellers to pass through ontheir way to the gates. MaxLindsay-Johnson, internationalsales manager for CommunityProfessional Loudspeakers (and, until recently, with DuranAudio), says: “Over the past few years there has been amindshift [with regard to]airport installations with clientsdemanding a far moreperformance-based product toenhance the travel retailexperience whilst also complyingwith VA requirements.”

Given the penchant of thepost-Norman Foster generationof architects for incorporatinghuge swathes of glass andconcrete into their designs, thiscan be easier said than done.Beam-based speakertechnologies that allow precisedirectivity of sound have donemuch to address the resultingacoustical issues, and manymanufacturers now offer onevariation or other of theseapproaches. But such solutionsare not necessarily inexpensive,so with clients no less money-conscious than they ever were,audio suppliers have had to be highly conscious of the“performance and ease/speed of

installation” balance observedby Lindsay-Johnson.

To match every one ofHeathrow’s quintet ofterminals, PSNEurope hasselected five current trendswhich indicate that althoughthey might not quite match thelast two decades’ progress in

Question is, will she havethe chicken or the beef?

TRAIN IN VAIN...?

MANY OF the manufacturers whocontributed to this piece also havenotable stakes in other areas of thetransport market, but contrary to whatthe casual observer might expect,there are actually plenty of differencesin system design between airportsand, say, hub-status railway stations.

“Train stations have fewer zonesthan airports, but each zone is usuallylarger so you need a more powerfulsystem with fewer zones,” saysGraeme Harrison, executive vice-president of marketing, BiampSystems. “They also need thecapability of paging between stations,whether it’s the next stop down or atthe end of the line.”

Sonically and operationally, railwaystations can also prove to be a tougherchallenge than airports. “Train stationsare also more of an open-airenvironment, whereas airports areclosed environments within structures.Messages could bleed into surrounding

areas and could negatively impactresidential areas around train stations,”remarks Harrison, who points to theANC (ambient noise compensation)technology in Biamp’s Vocia system asone method of addressing the problem.

Xavier Meynial, technical director ofActive Audio, also highlights some

more specific challenges inherent tothis environment – but makes it clearthat there are compensating factors:“The environment is harsher in railwaystations, both in terms of air pollutionand electromagnetic pollution. On theother hand, visual integration is oftenmore demanding in airports.”

Tannoy speakers were installed in Glasgow Central : railway

travellers’ needs can be different tothe provision for air passengers

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Regulatory changes have had a significant impact on audio system design, butequally compelling has been the desire to create an inviting sonic landscapethat encourages passengers to spend more time – and money – in the airportspace, writes David Davies

High-spec soundtake-offcleared for

“A future-proofed system

provides anairport with the

ability toreconfigure

aroundconstruction,and add ontothe system asconstruction is

completed” Graeme Harrison,Biamp Systems

architectural design for sheersensory impact, airport audio is witnessing something of aquiet revolution…

1. There are more airports… andthey are getting biggerMost suppliers report growingbusiness in the airport sector,and no wonder given that theCAPA Airport Constructionand Capex website currently listsover US$385 billion worth ofprojects globally – with 69regional airports on the booksin China alone.

Not only are more airportsbeing constructed, they are also“in a constant state ofexpansion and upgrade,” saysBiamp Systems’ executive vice-president of marketing,Graeme Harrison. “Theseregular changes translate into a need for an audio system to be expandable – specifically,flexible expandability. A future-proofed system providesan airport with the ability toreconfigure around construction,and add onto the system asconstruction is completed.”

So a reasonable level ofredundancy in a system andsome sophisticated DSP arepretty much obligatory if one is to create “a truly future-proofed system [that] can beemployed and grow as needschange and develop.”

2. Airports are also busier than ever… so effective zoning is essentialLarger spaces and more activity– ticketing, security checks andso forth – “naturally increase thelevel of stress travellersexperience. So more airports arelooking for inexpensive ways todecrease traveller and employee

stress, increase efficiencies, andimprove the overallenvironment,” says Harrison.

Translated to technical means,this spells a greater focus on“controlling and bettermanagement of the audiothroughout the airport via easilyreconfigurable, zoned pagingareas” that can help to reduce“the aural clutter and provide a quieter environment”. Inparticular, Harrison – who pointsto Biamp’s own Vocia DSPs andTesira scalable audio system aspopular choices for airportinstalls – hails the benefits of“granular zoning, [which] allowsfor the spaces to be addressed as large combined zones, ordrilled down into very specific,smaller spaces, all dependentupon the need and the messagebeing communciated.”

3. Effective intelligibility andsubtle soundscaping are vital

As Lindsay-Johnson hasalready indicated, sound alsohas a role to play in encouragingretail sales. Hence some airportsneed speakers able to deliversubtle ambient soundscapes.And this capability can deliverreal results, with a three-monthpilot trial at Glasgow Airportusing an ambient soundscapeplayed in busy walkways helpingto generate a 10% increase insales for airport retailers(source: Biamp Building inSound, white paper 2012/TheSound Agency).

But with new regulations suchas the latest additions to EN 54and, in the US, NFPA 72coming through, ensuringperfect intelligibility of thespoken word is even morecrucial. “As regardsloudspeakers, compliance with

EN54-24 in European airports isoften mandatory, includingobtaining correct speechintelligibility,” says XavierMeynial, technical director ofActive Audio.

Making reference to thecompany’s own Iconyx DigitallySteerable Column Arrays,Renkus-Heinz VP sales andmarketing Rik Kirby describessteerable columns as “natural solutions” to ensureintelligibility. “They allowintelligible sound to be aimeddirectly at the passengers,

while avoiding thepredominantly hard surfaces,like glass and concrete, thatcreate reflections and makeannouncements harder tounderstand,” says Kirby.

A manufacturer’s attainmentof compliance with ISO 9000 –a series of quality assurancestandards developed by theInternational Organisation forStandardisation – can also playan important role, “especially indeveloping countries wherethere may not be specificgovernment regulations around

safety and quality,” saysHarrison. “Safety and reliabilityare things everyone expects, but may not think of how they would be provided untilyou begin discussing their needsin detail.”

4. IP-based intercoms and pagingcontinue to become more prevalentDavid Gostick, product managerat Barix, observes that thecompany has been producingaudio-over-IP hardware for morethan a decade, with its currentoffer including the AnnuncicomIP intercom range. There has, hesays, been a steadily increasingacceptance of this approach.“With increasing bandwidth andspeed available, and with theemergence of trusted standards,the IP backbone hastransformed into a way ofdelivering incremental serviceswhile saving costs,” he says.

Now we should alsoanticipate the introduction ofmore IP-based Help Points thatenable customers to contact


installationfeature

ALONGSIDE THE recent opening of itsnew 1.9 million sqft Terminal 3,McCarran International Airport in LasVegas has also revamped and renovatedthe original Terminal 1 – a programmeof work that included the installation ofan updated sound system featuringdozens of Renkus-Heinz Iconyx digitallysteerable array loudspeakers.

Kansas-based Coffeen Fricke &Associates, Inc (CFA) designed thesystem, which includes 32 IconyxIC16-R-II arrays to cover theexpansive baggage claim area, as well

as 22 more IC16-R-II columnsmounted every 50 feet overlookingthe main ticketing lobby.

Robert Ledo, CFA’s senior vice-president, comments: “The Iconyxsystem actually enabled us to providebetter intelligibility than an overheaddistribution scheme. It can concentratethe energy right at the people and cutthrough the background noise.”

Eduoard Charland, VP of CFA, alsoemphasises the ability of the Iconyxsystem to deliver audio precisely whereit is required. “The Iconyx systems

enabled us to create customisedcoverage patterns to fit each space,and afforded us a degree of control andmonitoring over the systems that afacility like McCarran InternationalAirport demands,” he says.

The entire system is linked viaRenkus-Heinz RHAON networkingtechnology, allowing for complex DSPprogramming to custom-steer eacharray independently using multiplebeams. The RHAON software and on-board contact closures also monitoreach array for proper operation.

LAS VEGAS MCCARRAN REVAMPS TERMINAL 1 WITH RENKUS-HEINZ ICONYX

Active Audio RayONR100 column in Paris

“With increasingbandwidth and speedavailable, and with theemergence of trustedstandards, the IP backbonehas transformed into a way

of delivering incremental serviceswhile saving costs” David Gostick, Barix

�

installationfeature


their airline’s central help deskwithout incurring roaming fees.“Recent research by the EUrevealed that more than aquarter of travellers turn offtheir phones when travelling toavoid high charges,” saysGostick. “Opening up sparebandwidth to providecentralised customer servicefrees local staff at the airportand provides the customer withhelp when they need it, at nocost to themselves.”

5. Full networking is increasinglyvisible on airport radarsThe quickening page of airportexpansion means that, as Harrison remarks, “massiveanalogue cabling infrastructure”is no longer an ideal solutiongiven the obvious scalinglimitations. Digital networkingis therefore rising up the prioritylist – not least because it canalso deliver “cost savings [with]data, audio and video [able to]be put on one network; ease ofuse for both the end-users and

the system managers; systemredundancy using standardnetwork protocols; and system-wide monitoring, both locallyand remotely,” he continues.

Dante and CobraNet arepopular choices for airport

installs, whilst Harrison suggeststhat AVB could have “a profoundimpact” in the near-future. It also looks like the new AES67standard – which was very muchthe toast of ISE last month andwill provide a Layer 3-based

meeting point between differentnetworking technologies – couldhave real potential. But as Kirbyobserves, networking remainssubject to a “state of flux”, sothe onus is on manufacturers toaccept all protocols. Of Renkus,Kirby says “we are designing ourproducts to handle multipleaudio protocols. As the final linkin the signal chain, we need to beable to receive whatever thesystem is sending us.”

ACTIVE AUDIO is the onlycompany to venture a specificcontribution made by airports to its overall business(“approximately 10%,” saystechnical director Xavier Meynial,who cites the deployment ofActive’s RayOn R100 columns atParis Roissy Airport Terminal 2among its recent project-stack),but all suppliers cite it as agrowing market.

The recent project list describedby Biamp alone for installationsfeaturing Tesira, Audia, Nexia or Vocia systems traverses

Copenhagen, Malmo, HongKong, Kazan, Canberra and NewDelhi, among many others. Andgiven the scope of current airportbuilding programmes, one canexpect the BRIC and MINTnations (the latter a morerecently-coined neologismreferring to the economies ofMexico, Indonesia, Nigeria andTurkey) to loom ever-larger onmanufacturers’ order books.

But above and beyond itsobvious growth potential, it maybe the sheer scale and profile ofthese projects that confirms whythe airport market should never be underestimated. ConcludesMeynial: “The market ofteninvolves rather large orders, andthen there is the fact that airportsare frequently quite prestigiousplaces” – meaning, in short, thatthey can provide an audio systemshowcase par excellence. �www.activeaudio.frwww.barix.comwww.biamp.comwww.communitypro.comwww.renkus-heinz.com

Dante and CobraNet remain popular choices for airport installs

�

www.prosoundawards.com

AWARDSPROSOUNDAWARDSThursday 25th September 2014

COMING SOONSAVETHE

DATE!


hither&dither

Hither and TrevorThe MPG Awards: this year, with a live band. How do they follow that?

Please send all contributions for possible publication to [email protected]

CONTACTSEditorDave ‘Steven’ Robinson (thank you, Udi!)[email protected]

Staff Writer Murray [email protected]

Advertising ManagerRyan O’[email protected]

Sales ExecutiveRian [email protected]

Head of Design and ProductionAdam [email protected]

Editorial Production ManagerDawn Boultwood [email protected]

Production ExecutiveEvan Graham [email protected]

Digital Content ManagerTim [email protected]

Office ManagerLianne [email protected]

PublisherSteve Connolly [email protected]

Correspondents: Mike Clark (Italy), Marc Maes (Belgium/Holland), Phil Ward (UK),

Contributors: David Davies, Erica Basnicki,Kevin Hilton, Nigel Lord,

PSNEurope Intent Media London, 1st Floor, Suncourt House, 18-26 Essex Road, London, N1 8LN. Editorial: +44 20 7354 6002Sales: +44 20 7354 6000

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A special edition of Hither & Dither this month, as we celebrate the extraordinary evening that was the MPG Awards 2014. You saw the winners with their gongs back on page 18:now see who you can spot in the audience. (No prizes for members of 10CC though.) And yes, there is at least one member of Radiohead here... swoon!

WITH MORE than a little helpfrom marketing director FrankSimmerlein, audio softwarepioneer Steinberg has come along way from the days of geekycomputer mavericks. And likeApple, the company is celebratingits 30th birthday this year: a good parallel, because the worldhas adapted to the lifestyles and techniques prompted by both organisations in a wayunimaginable in 1984. But this isno Orwellian dystopia. Steinberg’spartnership with Yamaha since2005 has provided audioprofessionals with an ever expandingbox of tools to which there seemsno limit, as over 1.5 million usersworldwide will testify.

When, why and how did you jointhe company?I started out my relationshipwith Steinberg more than 25 years ago. At the time I wasworking at an advertisingagency; I was also an activemusician using Steinberg’s firstsequencer, the Pro16. It sohappened that I spotted aSteinberg advert in a Germanmusic magazine and I rememberbeing appalled by the entirecampaign. This made me reachout to Steinberg and from thenon I was commissioned withcreating their ads. Soon after, Ileft the agency and co-founderManfred Ruerup asked me tojoin Steinberg. And that’s whenI joined the company in 1989.

What was the flagship product atthe time, and what was the nextbig breakthrough after that?The second release, the Pro24sequencer sporting 24 MIDItracks, was the bestseller backthen, although soon after theinitial version of Cubase runningon the Atari was released togreat acclaim. After introducingthe world to sequencing softwareI personally believe the next bigbreakthrough was our VirtualStudio Technology, finally givingusers the freedom to connecteffects and so on, similar to areal-life studio environment.

What was your educationalbackground and which othercompanies have you worked for?My interests have alwaysrevolved around the creativearts. While my educationalbackground was in art, which Istudied here in Hamburg, I hadbeen taking piano lessons andplaying in bands. Soon after Ibecame a composer for jinglesand industrial films. I alsoworked for smaller and larger

agencies, with tenures as artdirector and ‘FFF’ (film, radioand television) producer.

Steinberg-Yamaha, Sonar-Roland, Soundscape-SSL... whatare the advantages of owning boththe software and the hardware?Usually, every company has aspecial qualification in its businessfield. One would hope thatbringing both worlds togetherresults in providing bestsolutions to the market. This iscertainly easier in theory than inpractice. Take Yamaha andSteinberg’s collaboration forinstance: both software andhardware have entirely differentdevelopment cycles, a completelydifferent approach. It’s not aneasy accomplishment but theadvantage lies with those that areable to align the differences.

How does Nuage benefit?Nuage is a good example of the potential for co-operativeresearch: decades of experience

in building rock-solid hardwareon one side and the flexibility ofsoftware integration on theother. The Nuage system withNuendo integration hasperfectly turned the theoreticalpossibilities into a reality.

Thinking of DiGiCo-WavesSoundGrid (anotherhardware/software project), what potential does Steinberghave in the live touring market?Alongside the thousands of soldYamaha live-mixing consolesthat come with our Nuendo Livesoftware, our company looksback on a long tradition in thefield of live touring. Over theyears Steinberg software hasbeen used for recording or

playback at many shows, such asat last year’s Eurovision SongContest in Sweden.

What kind of piracy solutionshave you considered? Forexample, both Adobe andMicrosoft are now ‘leasing’ theirpackages like subscriptions,rather than sales...We listen closely to ourcustomers’ demands, and this isone of the reasons we hosted auser survey. The results left noroom for doubt: the largemajority of our customer basedoes not favour a subscriptionmodel. This may change in thefuture but for the time beingthere’s no demand in ourmarket, no need for us to offer


industrytalk

Cubist master

similar business models, and wecan respect this.

Should used software be re-saleable, like second-handhardware?Software licenses offeredthrough Steinberg are re-saleablelike any other product you own.

Ravenna, Dante, AVB... whatworks for you?In my opinion, networking is thenext big thing. Nuendo alreadysupports Ethernet collaborationin the same network. And withour VST Connect technologywe’re opening up a whole newworld to our users wheredistances no longer exist andrecordings between continentsare milliseconds away. I’ve madeintensive use of this tool and I’mcompletely blown away by thepossibilities that it has to offer.

VST: how did you do it? How didyou overcome the pitfalls thatseem to hold back other‘universal’ standards?From today’s perspective, it’sindeed a bit baffling. It was 1996,which I’d still refer to as the ‘theearly days’, and everything waspossible: Charlie Steinberg waswriting the code and I wascontributing the interface. Wedeveloped software that wewanted to see in our own smallstudios. It was that simple. Sointroducing this technology tothe world was easy, there was noreal alternative to VST. And aswe’ve always been open-minded

at Steinberg, we decided not tohold back with this beautifultechnology. Manfred alwayscalled it “die Demokratisierungder Mittel” – the democratisationof the means.

There’s Cubase in Stade deFrance, Nuendo in the NationalSpace Centre museum, UK: whatpotential does Steinberg have inthe install/AV market?We’re open to any marketrelevant to audio and music. Thisis our domain, and our customerscan benefit from our many yearsof experience. And with Yamahaas our parent company, we areable to respond to a very widevariety of situations. �www.steinberg.net

Frank Simmerlein has been associated with Steinberg andCubase for over 25 years. On a (piano) roll: Phil Ward

“Networking is the next big thing. Nuendo alreadysupports Ethernet collaboration in the same network.And with our VST Connect technology we’re openingup a whole new world to our users” Frank Simmerlein

psne march 2014 digital edition

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